Tony Mandarich and the fact that he was an NFL draft bust for the Green Bay Packers is hardly a surprise at this point. Over the years, there has been all kinds of talk about just why he turned into that bust. Drug use and abuse have long been thought to be the problem, but a recent interview shed light on just how many drugs he was taking during his playing days.

The former offensive lineman, who was selected by the Packers to be their building block on the offensive line recently sat down with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap. According to Pro Football Talk said the talk with Schaap was one of the longest talks he's ever given about just what went wrong.

College life was easier to fake for the Green Bay Packers pick

The biggest issue, according to Mandarich was that he had a real problem getting off steroids. Mandarich said that he got hooked on those when he was playing at Michigan State in college. He claimed that he never took them while he was playing for the Packers, or later, the Indianapolis Colts.

Mandarich said that he started taking steroids at Michigan State because he wanted to get to the NFL. Once he made the pros, he decided he needed to stop taking the 'roids because the league's testing policy was quite a bit more stringent than what he saw at the NCAA level. That doesn't mean he stopped taking drugs altogether.

“I was taking 40, 50, 60 painkillers a day, and drinking,” Mandarich said of his playing days with Green Bay.

Stil, it appears the offensive lineman thinks the real problem was that he lost too much strength when he stopped taking steroids.

The Packers second-round draft pick in 1989 says he thought he would only be losing about 10 percent of his strength when he stopped taking steroids. The lineman says he actually lost quite a bit more.

That was why he could never be the player Green Bay thought they were drafting.

Never living up to the hype

The Green Bay Packers took Mandarich in the 1989 draft ahead of NFL greats that included Barry Sanders. Considering this wasn't a team that most fans are used to, one that is competing for the playoffs if not the Super Bowl, he was considered someone who could help turn the franchise around.

In 1989, he played in 14 games, and he played in 16 in 1990. He played in and started 15 games in 1991, but he missed all of 1992 due to injury. Even while the Packers were giving him every opportunity to show what he could do, it became readily apparent quickly he wasn't the earth mover they thought they had drafted.

He was out of the game for several years because of that 1992 injury, and his lack of effectiveness when he came back. In 1996, he was signed by the Indianapolis Colts and played in 15 games, starting six of them. In 1997 he played in and started 16 games for the Colts started ten games in 1998. Eventually, his body broke down for good, and his career came to an end.
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