Chicago Bears: Top 10 draft busts of the 21st century

8. Defensive End Dan Bazuin, Central Michigan

Part of me feels bad for placing Dan Bazuin on this list. The former Central Michigan stud defensive end was drafted by the Bears in the second round in 2007 at no. 62 overall. Pace would have loved a guy like this coming out of college — it really wasn’t Bazuin’s fault his career panned out the way it did.

Bazuin was coming off a season where he won the MAC Defensive Player of the Year and his third straight season on the  All-MAC First Team. He had set his school record for career sacks.

Doesn’t he sound like a guy Pace would have loved to draft? I kid you not, there was a lot to like with Bazuin.

Unfortunately, Bazuin’s career was derailed by knee injuries and he actually never ended up playing a down in the NFL. The Bears put him on injured reserve for his rookie season. The next year, he ended up having surgery on the same knee and Chicago waived him before his sophomore season could begin.

Bazuin was signed by the Houston Texans to fill out their practice squad in 2008, but his professional career would end after that season. If he had never dealt with nasty knee injuries, who knows, he could have had a heck of a career.