Day 3: Busts

Here’s Day 3 of our busts for the upcoming NFL season. We have another running back, a young tight end, and the first overall pick of this year’s draft. Enjoy.

Greg Olsen – TE (Bears) – With new offensive coordinator Mike Martz in town, the Bears total offense might have high hopes, but not so much for Martz TE's. Any place Martz has had his hands on the offensive play calling; TE's have not had very much success. The best numbers came from Ernie Conwell in ‘01 with the Rams when he had 431 yards and 4 TD's. Now in 99 the year the Rams won the super bowl and displayed the “greatest show on turf” Roland Williams did have 6 TD's from the TE position, but only 226 yards receiving. Greg Olsen is coming off his best season of his so far short career with 612 yards and 8TD's with 3 of those TD's coming in a losing effort to the Cards. Another thing playing against Olsen is the fact that Cutler has never really been a throw to my TE kind of guy. No Cutler TE has ever had 700 yards receiving in a season, as Olsen’s season last year displayed the best numbers for a tight end Cutler has been able to throw to. Look for this ugly pairing of Mike Martz with the Chicago offense to hinder the success of Olsen.

Steve Slaton – RB (Texans) – Some think Slaton may have just experienced the sophomore slump... NOT ME. I think he was a rookie one season wonder and is someone who you shouldn’t have high hopes for this upcoming season. Slaton showed us his ability to put the ball on the ground last season with a total of 7 fumbles with 5 of those lost. Slaton’s chances didn’t get any better when the Texans moved up in the 2nd round of last year’s draft (after they moved back) to land running back Ben Tate. Tate’s running style fits the Texans scheme very well and this should push Slaton to a 3rd down back or in passing situations only. As if this wasn’t enough to not like Slaton for this upcoming season, he is also coming off of off-season neck surgery. He will be eased in at camp, but it looks like Ben Tate will be the guy to have at running back in Houston.

Sam Bradford – QB (Rams) – The Rams and Sam Bradford still haven’t come to an agreement on a contract, but are close. When Sam Bradford is ready to report to training camp, he will have the weight of an entire franchise on his shoulders. He lacks the wide receiving talent to make an immediate impact on the league and may find himself handing the ball off to Steven Jackson often, at least at the beginning of the season. His offensive line is towards the bottom of the league allowing 44 sacks in the 2009 season. This won’t be the same guy who constantly ran a no-huddle in Oklahoma and put up inflated numbers against the rest of the Big 12. In Oklahoma, he had the great offensive line, a great tight end, and all the weapons to put himself in a position to be great. Can he be great all on his own? Make sure you keep Bradford’s shoulder injury in the back of your mind too. He may be healthy now, but it could creep into his own mind when he falls awkward like he did when he first experienced the injury.

Day 4 will bring 3 more guys you don’t want.