I'm rating him as a draft bust, as he was huge. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated going into the draft as "incredible bulk" and three years later, he was on the cover again, as "incredible bust". They are running a special on SportsCenter about him now and it will also air on draft day this weekend. I met him recently at Barnes and Noble in Scottsdale at his book signing. He talked for a while about how people thought he was a bust because he got off steroids when he entered the NFL. He said that was part of it, but he actually was able to bench more when he trained w/out the steroids. He said the main issue was that when he got off steroids, he became addicted to alcohol and pain pills, taking 50-60 different pain pills per day, completely robbing him of his strength. When he left the Packers, he retired for 3 years, then made a comeback and actually played well and was a starter with the Colts for 3 years before a career-ending shoulder injury. Although he had a repulation as a real jerk back in the day he's a heck of a nice guy now and I wish him well.

The best body that 'roids could provide. . .remember the hype surrounding this guy?  The 'can't miss' prospect that would be a dominant lineman for 10 years?  That should remind you to not take Saturday's draft all that seriously. . .

Man, what a bust! An arrogent bust at that. Mandarich complained that he should have been the number one over all draft choice instead of Troy Aikman, complained that he wasn't given enough money, then claimed he could beat Mike Tyson in a boxing match. Unfortunatly, those were the highlights of his NFL career. When he was briefly on the field he was mediocre at best, then the whole drug thing broke. Last I saw him he was weighing about 180lbs and probably stocking shelves somewhere.

Take away the performance enhancing drugs and what do you have... A Bust!

Looked good on the cover of SI, couldnt block a DE to save his life.

SI cover jinx??

Big, strong, not very skilled. Juiced up bowling ball with no real technique.

This guy was a huge bust. --He was a total monster at Michigan State, but we all knew the 'deal' with that... he was a doped up freak.

He was Barry Bonds before Barry Bonds ... except Bonds is a juicer who excelled in his sport. I believe Mandarich was picked (I'm not 100% on this) just before Deon Sanders in the NFL Draft. I remember the monster cover they had of him on Sports Illustrated in the late 80s. There were even preliminary discussions between his agent and Mike Tyson's people about him fighting with the heavyweight champ. I recall very clearly that he promised on a national talk show to give Tyson a rematch if he beat him. Ahahahahahahahahhaaaaaa! Boy that would have been amusing! The closest thing I can think of to a legal snuff film would have been him climbing in the ring with Mike Tyson during the time he was dishing out the type of whaling he gave Michael Spinks. Apparently, Mandarich was able to overpower his Big 10 opponents. But when he got to the pros, his lack of footwork and technique was his undoing.