The journey to success… or conversely… to failure is not linear! And for as many NFL stars as there are that come seemingly out of the blue from unheralded backgrounds, there is a collection of high school phenoms that eventually turned into NFL disappointments or busts.
Let’s take a look at these 10 players, who were once the cream of the crop, boasting 5-star recruit status, only to have the transition to the pros not pan out as expected. Let’s delve into their journeys.
Which former high school standouts became NFL busts?
Laquon Treadwell, WR, 23rd Overall (2016)
Coming out of Crete-Monee High School in Illinois, Laquon Treadwell was the kind of wideout who looked like an NFL pro as a teenager. Big, physical, and dominant in contested catch situations, especially against high school competition.
He was the number one wide receiver and a consensus five-star recruit in the 2013 class and signed with Ole Miss where he immediately showed why the hype was real, becoming a reliable target in the SEC and rewriting school receiving records along the way.
Treadwell’s stock was trending up—his hands, size, and catch radius had evaluators believing he’d be a top-flight possession receiver at the next level.
Minnesota grabbed him 23rd overall in 2016, but his transition to the NFL was anything but smooth.
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In four seasons with Minnesota, he totaled just 65 catches and two touchdowns—numbers you expect from a journeyman tight end, not a first-round receiver.
Robert Nkemdiche, DT, 29th Overall (2016)
When you’re the top overall recruit in the entire country, as Robert Nkemdiche was in 2013, the expectations are seismic.
The 6’3″, 296-pound wrecking ball from Georgia looked like a future Pro Bowler.
He had freak athleticism, raw power, and positional versatility that made him one of the most recruited prospects in recent memory. He landed at Ole Miss, where he flashed dominant traits… just not consistently.
Still, his upside kept scouts interested, and Arizona rolled the dice at 29 in the 2016 NFL Draft. It didn’t take long for the cracks to show.
In three years with the Cardinals, he tallied just 4.5 sacks and was eventually cut. From there, it was a parade of short-lived stints—Miami, Seattle, San Francisco—none of which stuck.
When your Wikipedia reads that you most recently played for the Edmonton Elks—that is when you know your bust status is solidified in the NFL!
Josh Rosen, QB, 10th Overall (2018)
Unfortunately for Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals, who drafted him number 10 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, there’s a big difference between being “pro-ready” on paper and being cut out for the grind of the NFL.
“Chosen Rosen” was brought in to be the franchise’s savior and bring the Cards out of quarterback purgatory, but saviors don’t thrive behind collapsing pockets and outdated playbooks… In Rosen’s defense, he didn’t exactly walk into the best situation. Steve Wilks was in over his head, and Mike McCoy’s offense looked like it time-traveled from 2003.
He became shellshocked early and developed skittish footwork, messy mechanics, and lost any semblance of an internal clock. The kid who was supposed to be unflappable looked broken before Halloween.
One year later, he was gone. Replaced by Kyler Murray and offloaded to Miami for pennies. What followed was the painful, his own personal version of quarterback purgatory, bouncing from team to team, never given a real runway to reset, stuck in QB rooms as an afterthought.
At its core, the Josh Rosen saga is a lesson in how even blue-chip prospects can combust if thrown into chaos, especially if they don’t have the passion for the game to match the heights of their recruitment profile.
Jeff Okudah, CB, 3rd Overall (2020)
Jeff Okudah was the kind of cornerback you only see come through once every few recruiting cycles—if that. A five-star alpha out of Grand Prairie, Texas, Okudah had it all.
He was fast as could be and had the size, fluidity, and press-man traits to wow scouts alongside his senior year skills tape.
Okudah signed with Ohio State, became a Day 1 starter, and lived up to the billing, dominating in the Big Ten and flying up draft boards. By 2020, he wasn’t just a surefire lockdown cornerback—he was one with a top-3 grade, which almost never happens… for a reason—the Lions would soon learn.
Detroit bit at three and took him, and it went predictably bad, at least in the eyes of cornerback skeptics.
Okudah got cooked early and often in Matt Patricia’s system and quickly it became clear that his once unshakeable confidence was shook. Then the injury bug bit him, requiring core muscle surgery, causing hamstring issues, and, of course, the devastating Achilles tear in year two.
By the time his body was recovered, Detroit had moved on.
Okudah isn’t a bust in the traditional sense. He is still kicking around in the league, and the tools still exist. But when you’re drafted third overall, when you were a five-star lockdown artist in high school, you don’t get quite as much grace in the “bust” conversation.
Isaiah Wilson, OT, 29th Overall (2020)
Isaiah Wilson was a walking prototype coming out of high school—a five-star offensive tackle out of Brooklyn who looked like he’d been designed in an SEC lab.
At 6’6″, 350 pounds with rare athletic traits for his size, Wilson dominated prep competition and became one of the top lineman recruits in the country. Georgia scooped him up with the expectation that he’d become the next great mauler in a long line of Bulldogs trench legends.
Wilson started at right tackle in the SEC, opened NFL-style holes for NFL backs, and played with the kind of violent power and size that made scouts drool.
Tennessee took him 29th overall, hoping to anchor the right side of their line for a decade. He played four snaps in his rookie season. Four.
Off-field issues piled up faster than playbook installs, and he reportedly couldn’t keep up with them. The end result was multiple suspensions, COVID list violations, team rule infractions, even legal trouble, and no success on the field to speak of.
The end result was ugly… In fact, no first-round draft pick has played fewer snaps than Wilson, with the exception of Jim Detwiler, who never played after being drafted in the first round of the 1967 NFL Draft. Yikes.
Reuben Foster, LB, 31st Overall (2017)
In high school, Rueben Foster was a force to be reckoned with. His speed and violent tackling ability made recruiters salivate, especially when they watched his tape. His football instincts jumped off the screen!
At his peak, Foster was the number one linebacker prospect in the country and evolved into a five-star lock almost immediately.
He signed with Alabama and continued to dominate in Nick Saban’s defensive system, so much so that by his junior year, he was widely viewed as one of the best defensive players in the country.
There was, however, a dark side to the aggression that made him such a force on the field, as whispers about his maturity, health, and off-field decisions dropped his stock.
San Francisco rolled the dice, taking him 31st overall—and for a hot second, it looked like a steal.
Foster flew around the field in Year One, but unfortunately, the red flags didn’t vanish; they metastasized.
Particularly once injuries limited his availability. Then came the arrests… one for marijuana. Then a weapons charge and domestic violence accusations—serious ones. Though charges were dropped, the damage was done. The 49ers cut ties in 2018.
Washington took a chance on him, hoping to be the beneficiaries of his redemption arc, but Foster tore his ACL and LCL before ever playing a snap. That was four years ago. He’s since bounced through workouts and comeback rumors, but the window is all but closed.
Taco Charlton, EDGE, 28th Overall (2017)
Taco Charlton had the kind of name that stuck in your head—and a high school résumé that made scouts take notice.
Coming out of Pickerington Central in Ohio, Charlton was a four-year standout with five-star size and explosiveness, with all of the raw traits needed to entice colleges all over the country to pursue him.
He committed to Michigan and developed into a steady force on the Wolverines’ defensive line, culminating in a breakout senior season that vaulted him into first-round consideration.
Dallas bit at 28th overall in 2017, seeing a high-ceiling pass rusher who could bolster their pass rush for years to come, but unfortunately, he struggled to develop.
In college, he won with size and effort. In the pros, that wasn’t enough. He lacked bend, struggled with hand usage, and never showed the counter moves needed to thrive in a league filled with massive tackles that are also technicians at their craft.
His rookie season was quiet. Year two, quieter. By year three, he was released.
Charlton bounced around after that—each stop shorter and more forgettable than the last, a quick and mighty fall.
Kelee Ringo, CB, 105th Overall (2023)
Kelee Ringo looked like a cornerback built in a lab coming out of high school in Arizona. He was a dominant force on the gridiron and the track, and earned a five-star grade with his 6’2″ frame, blazing 10.4 100-meter speed, and physicality that made him a menace at every elite camp.
He was the number one corner in the 2020 class and committed to Georgia, where expectations were sky-high before he even stepped on campus.
And to his credit, he delivered on the big stage, at least in the college ranks.
He was a key piece of Georgia’s back-to-back title defenses, using his speed and length to suffocate college receivers, and his pick-six to seal the 2022 national championship is already legend in Athens.
But as the NFL Draft approached, the cracks started to show. Ringo’s hips weren’t as fluid as advertised, and he lacked the footwork to stick to NFL-caliber route runners.
The Eagles, in part because of their love for Georgia products, took a flyer on him in the fourth round, hoping for a high-upside project.
What they got was a corner who still played like a high school five-star, relying on athleticism instead of working on his technique.
Ringo struggled in limited reps, never found traction in Philly’s secondary, and has been buried on the depth charts.
He is a classic case of what seems to plague certain five stars in trying to make the transition to the pros… The NFL demands more than raw traits. It demands refinement, instincts, and situational savvy.
Ringo is still chasing that, for now, but with each passing year, he gets further from that five-star label, and the louder the clock ticks.
Trevor Lawrence, QB, 1st Overall (2021)
Trevor Lawrence wasn’t just the top recruit in 2018—he was a generational quarterback prospect. Out of Cartersville, Georgia, Lawrence dominated high school football like a varsity version of Thanos: 13,000+ passing yards, 161 touchdowns, and a state-title pedigree. He looked like a Sunday starter before he could vote.
At Clemson, where he led the Tigers to a National Championship, his legend only grew.
By the time the 2021 NFL Draft rolled around, it wasn’t “if” but “when” he’d be taken first overall.
The Jacksonville Jaguars made it official. And since then, the roller coaster has been… chaotic.
His rookie year was a disaster, though not entirely his fault. Urban Meyer proved to be one of the worst coaching hires in NFL history, and Lawrence looked lost in that dysfunctional offense.
Still… in the time since, it hasn’t been great. And while it may not be fair to call him a full-blown BUST yet—the jury is still out on Lawrence… and if he can’t turn it around in the next couple of years, especially now with Liam Coen taking over the offense, the whispers are going to get MUCH louder.
Rashaan Evans, LB, 22nd Overall (2018)
Rashaan Evans was built in the Bama factory—explosive, disciplined, and aggressive. A five-star linebacker out of Auburn High School, Evans was the nation’s top-rated OLB in 2014, topping out as the 11th overall prospect in the country, and looked every bit the part.
He joined Nick Saban’s defensive juggernaut and developed into a heat-seeking missile at the second level. Smart, instinctive, and productive, Evans anchored the Tide defense and parlayed that pedigree into a first-round selection by the Titans in 2018.
As a pro, Evans struggled in coverage and often looked lost in space—an increasingly fatal flaw for modern linebackers.
He couldn’t adjust his game, and by year four, Tennessee declined his fifth-year option.
Since then, Evans has become a classic journeyman—signing short-term deals, competing for backup roles, and never finding a home. He’s still in the league, but far removed from the player scouts once saw as the next great ‘Bama linebacker.
K’Lavon Chaisson, EDGE, 20th Overall (2020)
Chaisson came out of North Shore High School in Houston with freak athleticism and edge-bending potential. He dominated in spurts at LSU, capping his college career with a national championship and then entering the draft early.
Jacksonville made him a first-round pick in 2020, hoping to find the next great pass rusher—but through four seasons, Chaisson has logged just 5.0 sacks and hasn’t developed into a consistent threat, as evidenced by the multiple teams he’s played for during this stretch.
In his defense, he’s battled injuries and scheme changes, but when you are a five-star recruit and a first-round pick, people are going to expect more out of you.
