Here’s a hint: The most important ingredients are all mental, not physical.
Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Christian Ponder, David Carr, Joey Harrington are all former high first-round picks who had every bit as good of physical tools as Mitch Trubisky but were colossal failures.
On the other hand, second-round pick Drew Brees, third-rounder Joe Montana and, most famously, sixth-rounder Tom Brady — who was passed on in the NFL draft 198 times before being selected by the Patriots — are three of the greatest of all time and they possess none of the unique physical gifts of the quarterbacks on my list of first-round busts.