I don't understand how going to one of the premier college football programs in the nation, playing good enough to become a top 5 pick, and having an 8 year NFL career makes you a loser. Sure he wasn't the QB he was expected to be but reaching the pinnacle of your profession and having an 8 year NFL career does not make you a loser in my book. How many people here played HS football and never even sniffed a division 3 scholarship.
Division III doesn't have athletic scholarships :wink. I agree with everything else you said, though.