It’s one of the most iconic trophies in American sports — the Heisman. First awarded in 1935 to University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger, the Heisman is the most recognizable symbol of college football, and the so-called “elite fraternity” of winners become instant legends of a game originating back to the mid-19th century.
It would stand to reason that the winner of the Heisman Trophy would, more often than not, go on to reach stardom in the NFL. Judging by recent history, though, that has not been the case. Of the 16 Heisman winners since 1999, only four have made at least one Pro Bowl, and none have made more than two. Two Heisman winners during that span — Eric Crouch and Jason White — never even played in a single NFL game.
That got us thinking — who are the biggest Heisman busts? To answer that question, PointAfter examined the NFL careers of each Heisman winner since 1970, the year of the NFL-AFL merger. After analyzing the numbers, we then came up with a “Bust Index” to help us get a true picture of which Heisman winners were the biggest letdowns.
The Bust Index has three main components:
- Statistical evidence: This one’s pretty self-explanatory. It judges a player based on the (lackluster) numbers he put up during his career. The worse the stats, the higher the score. A primary guideline for this category is Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value stat, which is an attempt to put a single number on the value of a player. This is not a be-all and end-all stat for judging a player, but it served as a useful guidline for making comparisons.
- Role in team success: Typically, missing on a first-round draft pick (which most of these players were) spells doom for a team’s success. Players whose teams consistently struggled scored higher in this category.
- Expectations: This one is probably the most critical component. For a player to truly be a bust, there must be a certain level of expectation of him being successful in the NFL. Heisman winners who were first-round draft picks were typically viewed as being bigger busts than later-round picks.
Each component is graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing the biggest bust score. The player with the highest aggregate score for all three categories earns the dubious honor of being the biggest Heisman bust in the modern era. But hey, at least they have that cool trophy.
*Note: All stats for active NFL players are through Week 8 of the 2015 NFL season.
