Tony Mandarich Cheated His Way Into A Top NFL Draft Pick (Then Everything Fell Apart)
The Problem With Taking Shortcuts in Life
Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)
The year is 1989, and if you had a top 5 pick in this year’s NFL draft, you’ve got the greatest odds in draft history to select a future Hall of Fame player.
Four out of five teams drafting in the top 5 walked away with franchise cornerstone pieces. Meanwhile, one team walked away with one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the league, Tony Mandarich.
Now I started this video off talking about the 1989 NFL Draft. But I want to re-anchor this story to a different draft entirely.
A draft that took place in 1984, 5 years prior to Tony Mandarich being selected. In 1984, Tony’s big brother John was taken in the first round of the CFL draft.
Tony had followed his big brother’s blueprint; whatever John did, Tony would follow. Big bro was the only reason Tony picked up a football, but he was also the reason Tony picked up a syringe…
But with John’s dying words, he renounced his decision to use and get his brother caught up with steroids. His final request from the physician overseeing his treatment was for him to warn the football world about the dangers of anabolic steroids. But by then, the damage had already been done.
Steroids ruined one brother’s career, but the other brother believed they may have shortened his life.
Chapter 1:
A Goal Without a Plan Aint Nothing But a Wish
The Mandarich brothers were born and raised in Oakville, Canada. John had the experience and know-how, so Tony listened to every command his big brother gave. John wasn’t perfect, but he wanted the best for himself and Tony. The choices he made were with both of them in mind. They both had dreams of NFL glory, and big brother John would get the first crack at making that a reality.
In the early 80s, John Mandarich received a scholarship to play football at Kent State in Ohio.
Meanwhile, little brother Tony, who was still in Canada, wasn’t attracting the same attention. But Big Bro was determined to get his little brother on track to the NFL, so they formulated a plan.
They convinced their parents to let Tony move all the way from Canada to Kent, Ohio. John, by this time, was about to be a senior in college. Tony would be going into his senior year of high school. At that time, Tony had never smoked or drank, and he’d never even considered taking steroids. But the small town of Kent, Ohio, would be his introduction to all those things, and they’d very, very slowly grow out of control.
Chapter 2:
Cold Muscles = Cold Muscles
Like any other kids this age, the Mandarich brothers did their share of partying, but they never lost sight of their ultimate goal. They wrote out the plan on paper: they'd both play in the NFL, and they worked out daily, trying to grind their way there.
The two brothers worked out together every evening, along with one of John’s friends who was a bodybuilder. Even though he didn’t always get everything right, John taught Tony many valuable lessons.
One day, Tony didn’t feel like working out but still had to go to the gym because John was his ride home. John felt his little brother who’d been getting attention from a few colleges, was allowing complacency to creep in. So Tony taking a day off from lifting sent John into a big bro rage. He screamed on Tony and cursed him out pretty heavily. He was so mad that he decided to teach his brother a lesson. He made Tony walk home from the gym… it was a 3 mile walk in a damn snow storm.
John wanted to make sure Tony kept his eye on the prize. Tony got the message and locked back in after that.
Chapter 3:
Guts & Glory Cuz Skills Are Boring
The brothers weren’t drawn to the stories of perfect footwork, hand placement, and leverage. They were drawn to the stories of guts of glory, something they thought they could achieve through physical strength and sheer toughness.
Before steroids ever entered the picture, Tony was seen as a raw lineman who had some innate ability. He had enough to earn a scholarship offer from coach Nick Saban, who was an assistant at Michigan State at the time.
Tony had the potential to become a solid pro, but he’d need to focus on technique as much as he focused on strength. Had he decided to go that way, his story would have gone much differently.
Tony had been slowly introduced to a few new substances. Alcohol and marijuana were not uncommon among kids of that age. Plus, John wouldn’t let him take things too far; he did his best to keep him in line, but let’s be real, he was just a kid himself. But John made one miscalculation in his own life, which would eventually infect his little brother as well.
In 1984, John Mandarich was drafted in the first round of the CFL draft. It wasn’t the NFL glory he‘d always dreamed about, but as a Canadian himself, it was plenty good enough. John was always a solid player, but something had changed; he was bigger, better, and nastier than before.
The reason for the change was obvious to most, as John got the telling nickname “The Juice”.
Not because his initials were the same as orange juice, but because… well, you get it.
Tony didn't explicitly say, but it’s reasonable to assume that the bodybuilder who worked out with the Mandarich brothers when Tony was in high school was the source of their steroids early on.
It would explain how they knew (prior to the internet age) the best practices for taking them, getting the most out of them, and not getting caught.
The improvement in John’s play was so profound that John wanted to share this gift with his little brother. So he introduced Tony to anabolic steroids a few months before his college career started.
This is telling of Tony’s natural ability because it shows that he earned his scholarship before the steroids were in the picture. But he chose to take a shortcut to fast-track his strength gain, but that shortcut actually put him on a path to failure.
The two brothers began to see steroids as the gateway to the NFL, they convinced themselves this was the only way to get in.
Reading between the lines a little bit, it seems that (at that time), John may have regretted not using steroids earlier in his career. Maybe in his mind, he felt that if he had, he could have made it to the NFL instead of the CFL.
So in big bro fashion, while this time it was misguided, he introduced it to Tony before his college career started, in hopes that this would give him the boost he needed to get over the hump and into the NFL.
It was the first dishonest part of the brother’s grand plan, and in the end, it was the one that would ruin everything.
Chapter 4:
Don’t Get High, on Your Own Hype
In college, Tony became so dominant that he forgot all about his bad technique. Thanks to his steroid use, he could now easily overpower his opponents and win reps. His game stopped developing right then and there.
Between 1987-1988, Tony won back-to-back Big Ten Lineman of the Year awards, UPI Lineman of the Year, and even finished 6th in the Heisman voting.
As an offensive lineman, he got 3 first-place votes, finishing above Deion Sanders and Derrick Thomas (2 future Hall of Famers that he’d also be drafted higher than).
But why didn’t his dominance continue in the league? We’re still in the college portion, but this next part will answer that question.
Tony is on record talking about how mediocre the NCAA steroid testing was at the time. He’s admitted to not only taking steroids but quote on quote “taking them well”. Both pills and injections, understanding how to cycle, and going all out in his training to maximize his results. He was fully dedicated to them and understood them far better than the people who were trying to catch him via steroid testing.
When asked about it, he would say things like “I never tested positive for steroids”, as opposed to an outright denial. His system for using was so locked in that college was an absolute breeze. That’s when Tony started believing his own hype and fully getting lost in the smoke and mirrors.
Tony called out a prime Mike Tyson to a boxing match. (I guess he wanted to catch up on his sleep.)
He started rocking that old school body builder swag and started branding himself as something larger than life. These were calculated moves. Tony was a marketing major.
But what he hadn’t calculated were the long-term effects of his heavy steroid use, or what he’d do if he had to stop taking them. He hadn’t considered what would happen after he made it to the NFL, whose steroid testing was more stringent than college.
But there was no time to worry about that now, it was time to absolutely wreck the NFL combine. Tony measured in at 6’6, 330 lbs with only 11% body fat bro. He looked more impressive than any NFL lineman in history, still to this day, with a muscle shirt on.
Then he destroys the combine like it’s never been destroyed before or after… Yes, I said it.
This man bench pressed 225 for 39 reps. Which likely puts him in the top 20 all-time. But he wasn’t just strong, at 6’6 330, this offensive lineman ran a 4.65! Do you understand how fast that is for a 300 lb man?
His hype was already up there, but after the combine, the hype would grow to reach legendary levels.
He was called the greatest offensive line prospect ever due to the absurdity of his measurables. The marketing genius sold himself so damn well that he was drafted amongst all Hall of Famers.
Imagine having an 80% chance to draft a Hall of Fame player. Four out of five of these guys will be all-time greats. And you reach your hand in and pick the one bust out of the pile of Hall of Fame talent.
That was the reality for the Green Bay Packers.
While the Cowboys got future Hall of Famer Troy Aikman.
The Lions got future Hall of Famer Barry Sanders.
The Chiefs picked up future Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas.
And the Falcons walked away with future Hall of Famer Primetime Deion Sanders.
The Packers missed with the 2nd pick and didn’t just pick a guy who would be solid but not live up to the draft billing. They picked a guy who would never be able to fully function in the NFL, a certified bust of legendary proportions.
Chapter 5:
Big Bro’s Dying Plea
Because drug testing was far more sophisticated in the NFL, Tony had to leave his steroid routine behind. While he thought he would only lose about 10% of his strength, the reality was far more significant than that.
When he removed the steroids, his body had to go through withdrawals… And he ended up replacing them with a different drug. It was a drug that the league may not have tested for, but it could eventually be detected with the naked eye alone.
Pain killers and alcohol, the same concoction Ryan Leaf struggled with, Tony struggled with well before him.
Over the course of 2 seasons, he lost 40 pounds of muscle. He lost his energy, his edge, and even his hair. In those same 2 years, he gave up 21 sacks and 36 QB knockdowns. Defenders like Reggie White used to toy with him.
Over in Canada, Tony’s big brother John wasn’t dealing with the same issues with testing. For a while, Tony thought he was the lucky one. That was until around 1991.
It was around that time when John was diagnosed with cancer. Tony’s hero was struggling and fighting for his life. Tony was so far gone on pills and alcohol, he says he didn’t process any of this until years later.
John was grateful that his little brother had given up steroids, even if it meant he wouldn’t have the career he had hoped for. John seemed to believe that his steroid use was connected to his cancer, which may or may not be the case.
Steroid use has been linked to certain forms of cancer, but John’s original diagnosis was melanoma, a skin cancer. That’s not one of the types of cancer typically associated with steroids, but doctors’ information is obviously limited, so we can’t be sure.
What we do know is that even on his dying bed, John went out of his way to warn against the dangers of steroids. It was a message that he desperately wanted to get out there. I’m sure he was desperate to make sure his brother didn’t decide to reopen that door.
At just 31 years old, John Maranovich passed away. Tony was losing everything in his life, and now he’d lost his hero as well.
The two brothers had come a long way from a couple of kids with a dream. They worked honestly for years and then decided to take the ultimate shortcut when it comes to athletics. That shortcut put them on the fast track to success, but also accelerated their fall to the bottom. Now John was gone, and Tony was alone; he always followed his brother. What would he do now?
Tony fell deeper into a haze of drugs and depression. He was a joke, a broken-down fun house full of weed smoke and mirrors. A few months after his brother’s passing, he suffered what was believed to be a mild concussion in the 1992 preseason, but after that… He never returned to the Packers.
Who can say whether or not he truly suffered the concussion, or was this his way to get himself away from the public? He told the doctor the concussion caused him to have “the shakes”. But he’d suffered bouts with that affliction since putting down the steroids.
Either way, this was ultimately the correct decision. He needed time to mourn, and he needed time to heal. After reporting that mild concussion he suffered in a preseason game, he didn’t walk on a football field for the next 5 years.
Application
I opened this video with this quote:
“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)
Tony started out on the right track. With a solid plan and the willingness to work hard to achieve it. But he eventually lost patience in the process and introduced steroids as his shortcut. While this didn’t lead to poverty from a financial standpoint, it led to a spiritual emptiness, a different kind of poverty. It was so bad that when he lost his big brother and hero, he was too far gone to even mourn properly at the time.
When I started out on YouTube, I was broke and had a kid on the way. My friend bought me a lottery ticket, and we got into an argument about it. I was so pissed that he “tried to rob me of the process”.
Today, my son is 9, and I won’t lie, it would be harder for me to turn down the ticket. But I gotta tell you, I think the young me got it right. The shortcut can be alluring, but the longer path is lined with lessons that shape and mold your character. They turn you into the type of person who will fully appreciate and maximize their gift when they finally reach their goal.
The guy who takes the shortcut to reach his goal still has never actually reached it. He’ll have to undergo another, tougher test if he ever truly wants to reach the finish line.
And guess what, while the longer road might seem harder and more uncertain, who’s to say you can’t accomplish that goal and keep your morals intact? 5 years after Tony flamed out of the league and got lost in addiction, he made a comeback!
At 31 years old, he returned to the NFL and played 3 more seasons. He started 32/48 games, even at an older age, he was an NFL starter.
No juice, no hype, just Tony Mandarich. Meaning the dude had it in him the whole damn time. The thing you're searching for is already within you. Quiet the noise around you, and listen to that voice.
Great article! I love a comeback story.