Tony Mandarich
| No. 77, 79 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Offensive tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | September 23, 1966 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Oakville, Ontario | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 330 lb (150 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Michigan State | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1989 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Games played: | 86 |
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| Games started: | 47 |
| Fumble recoveries: | 2 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Ante Josip "Tony" Mandarich (born September 23, 1966) is a former football offensive tackle of the NFL. He was the first round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1989, second overall behind quarterback Troy Aikman, and ahead of the third selection, running back Barry Sanders, the fourth selection, linebacker Derrick Thomas, and the fifth selection, cornerback Deion Sanders. Mandarich is the only player of those five not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is tied with Charles Rogers and Clint Jones as the second highest drafted Michigan State player ever (behind Bubba Smith). He is also the highest-drafted Canadian-born player in NFL history. In 1989, Sports Illustrated called him "the best offensive line prospect ever", but he is now considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history.
Mandarich played his senior year of high school football at Theodore Roosevelt High School (Kent, Ohio). Recruited to Michigan State University by defensive back coach Nick Saban, Mandarich played in the 1988 Rose Bowl, was named as a First-team All-American, an Outland Award finalist and a two-time Big Ten Lineman of the Year. Upon his entry into the 1989 NFL Draft, both scouts and media (most notably Sports Illustrated, which did a cover story on him, nicknaming him "The Incredible Bulk") began trumpeting Mandarich as the best offensive line prospect ever, touting his "measurables", "He weighed 330, ran the 40 in 4.65 seconds, did a standing long jump of 10' 3", leaped vertically 30" and bench-pressed 225 pounds an unheard-of 39 times". He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice and was also a colorful character, illustrated by such instances as challenging then–Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson to a fight, missing scheduled public appearances due to being drunk or hungover, his well-documented love of the band Guns N' Roses (he had a dog named Axl and also a tattoo of the cross-design from the cover of Appetite for Destruction on his arm), and referring to Green Bay as "a village".
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