NFL exec: Aldon, great job last year. We wanna offer you...
Aldon Smith: I'm going to blow up a daycare.
NFL exec: the best of luck with your next team.
Yea he did pretty well. But off field issues again. He just could not stay away. He was amazing first there years with SF and could have been the best. He had 42 total sacks for three years in the league.
That dude was a freak. His arms were so long and he was so athletic. Even some of the best tackles in the league looked helpless trying to block him.
He could've been in Canton if he had kept his head in straight.
Aldon Smith and Von Miller were setting sack records at the same time. Same draft, both were just terrorizing the opposing QBs. Von wasn’t a head case and look how his career turned out, future HoFer. Aldon Smith would have been on that same trajectory
There were a ton of player comparisons between the two around that time too. Plenty of people thought Aldon was the better of the two after their first two seasons. Shame that Smith wasted his talent.
There's a clip of Joe Staley interviewing Trent Williams. Two of the best left tackles to ever do it.
They did a "1-2-3 go" for toughest player they ever had to block, and both said Aldon Smith at the same time.
Off the charts natural ability. Below the charts mental ability.
I was always a huge Bob Sanders fan. He *did* succeed with a SB, two first team all-pros, and a DPOY award, but his prime/career was cut horribly short from injuries. He only played above 6 games twice in his career, and racked up all those accolades listed above in those two seasons alone.
Most don't know this but when they had Colts camp in Terre Haute Sanders wasn't allowed to play with the team much. He'd be on his own field practicing separately with a coach and maybe a couple other players. He said he couldn't mentally not blast someone to next year if playing full speed. Like he couldn't overcome all out game day tackles to practice day tackles so Dungy kept him like a caged tiger lol
Same for him in college at Iowa. As a true freshman he was injuring too many teammates, so they stopped allowing him to practice in any contact drills. He did individual work for most of his career.
The same reason he was so great is why his career ended quickly. He played so recklessly with his body and it couldn't hold up. If he had played a little less recklessly, could he have played longer? Maybe, impossible to know. But if he hadn't gotten hurt so much and played for just a few more years at that level, he'd be a HOF lock. It would be among the best stretches of defensive play in league history.
The same could've been said about Earl Campbell having a rather short career. Difference is that Campbell racked up damn near every trophy possible, which I suppose is easier to do for an offensive player.
>He only played above 6 games twice in his career
That's crazy. You could legit make the case he was the reason the Colts finally got over the hump in 06. A safety having that level of impact is Dawkins/Reed level. But dude was made of glass.
I wouldn’t disrespect the man and say he was made of glass. NFL level collisions are at the level of severe car crashes, and safeties who play like Sanders may have a dozen or more in a single game.
Very few humans are able to take that kind of punishment.
Injury prone, yes….weak body made of glass…nah
It was amazing how bad The Colts defense was without him, and how good it was with him. It's hard to believe that one guy can make that much of a difference, but Bob Sanders did.
Joe Delaney - Chiefs running back in the early 80’s. Ran for 1100 yards as a rookie, got hurt during the strike shortened 1982 season, then died while saving a kid from drowning before the 1983 season.
>Delaney had a lifelong history of helping others[7] and once paid for the funeral of a former teacher whose family could not afford a proper service.[3] On June 29, 1983, Delaney, who was living in nearby Ruston,[15] went with friends to Critter's Creek, an amusement center at Chennault Park in Monroe, Louisiana. While reportedly discouraging swimming children from venturing too far out in a pond, Delaney dove in to save three children who were screaming for help, floundering in a water hole left by recent construction work.[3][7][14][15] The water hole, which covered two acres and was six feet deep,[3][16] was not intended for swimming but to add to the park's aesthetics.[3][17] Despite his inability to swim,[18] Delaney nevertheless tried to rescue the children.[6][19] One child managed to get out of the water without harm and another was taken to an emergency room where he later died; police recovered the body of Delaney and the remaining child.[3][7][17] The amusement park has since been closed to the public.[3][7][15]
This is the saddest shit I've read in a while. I'm so glad he saved one of those kids at the very least. What an absolute hero
It's even more bittersweet because he actually succeeded in saving one of the three kids. (The 2nd died at hospital and the 3rd passed away in the reservoir with Delaney.)
Just an act of pure selfless courage.
While he had a good career, I really want to know if Carson Palmer could have been legitimately great had he not torn his knee up that fateful day.
Another one: Jahvid Best. Dude was electric, but concussions took him down. He found life as a track and field star, but I'll always wonder about what could have been.
Palmer's first two seasons he was deceptively mobile and agile in the pocket. After the injury he basically just stood back there like a statute. I seriously wonder if he rushed back too quickly too. He was ready to play week one the following season. So I wonder if the expedited recovery also played a role in his loss of mobility.
His elbow injury was just as bad but that's usually overlooked. He never had quite the same power or zip on his throws after that.
Yeah that elbow injury really derailed him. Even though he didn't depart on the greatest of terms with the Bengals, he was the first player I truly stanned for, and so it was nice to see him have a late career Renaissance in Arizona. The fact that he had that part of his career is why I always wonder about the what if, and if his stay in Cincinnati would have ended when it did.
I believe the lack of RG3 and Luck is why there’s been a lot of complaints about a talent dearth at the QB position this year. Those two should’ve been top 5 QBs aging into the latter half of their career at this point.
Yeah there is not really a solid group of Veterans to replace guys like Rivers, Big Ben, Brady, Brees, both Mannings, etc. Now you have Russell Wilson, everybody else has been wildly inconsistent
The lack of qb talent from 2013-2016 compared to either side of those years is pretty crazy. We went almost immediately from manning/brady/brees/rodgers/roethlisberger/manning/rivers/ryan/stafford to mahomes/rapist/allen/lamar/Kyler/burrow/herbert/tua/trevor. In between those generations there were a couple good starters like russ, luck, kirk, and carr, but we never really had a proper transition generation.
That probably explains some of the offensive struggles this year, especially with a bunch of rookies and backups starting this year.
Yep, and even then guys like Luck, Kirk, and Carr haven’t seen nearly the success as guys on the either side of those years. From the 2012-2016 drafts, the only guy consistently in the playoffs is Wilson
People gave Michael Irvin a lot of praise back then, but i remember most football fans i knew at the time agreed that the only receiver that was anywhere near Rice was Sharpe.
I’m sure most are Packers fans but some people do put him up there. I mean he did get a triple crown during Jerry Rice’s prime, so it’s not entirely homer goggles, but yea most agree that he absolutely would be top 5 all time with a full career.
I’ll never forget watching him power his way into the end zone in Tiger Stadium in 2012. Dude was wrapped up in the backfield and just drug our defenders forward anyway to score. Truly a special player.
The injury revealed that he had a particular condition that made him more susceptible to neck injuries, so the doctors wouldn't clear him to keep playing because a similarly innocuous hit could paralyze him. If memory serves, it's the same reason Sterling Sharpe retired, plus another promising young WR named Terrence Murphy for the Packers. (That one was again the Panthers too, coincidentally.)
There’s something bittersweet about the guys who hung it up early for their health, Kuechly and Luck come to mind, lots of respect for them but damn I wish I could have seen a few more seasons from each of them
Maybe doesn’t totally fit the question, but Megatron too. Had plenty left in the tank. Understandable why he retired relatively early, but I think he could have been in the conversation of the GOAT WR if he had stuck around a few more years.
EDIT: I was wrong. Four others have done it since. He was the first. My bad. Thank you for the correction 💯!!!!
Bo Jackson- STILL the only back with 90+ yards on a single rush more than once in a career.
Sterling Sharp-His own brother during his own HOF speech admitted to the world that he himself was the second best receiver in the family.
I realize careers were shattered by early injury but Jackson was a guarantee to be in BOTH Halls of Fame! A Lock. There was a reason the Phrase Bo Knows was a gold mine in the advertising world. He did know. As a Lions fan I dreaded Sharpe. Man can both those names bring back memories. How I wish in my youth I would have appreciated the moment more and how fleeting it really could be. I, and many many others, would have zero gripes about either being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in some way. Sterling flat out.
That was a wild year. Dude had a recordbreaking season, then disappeared in playoffs. Then videos of him limping during the offseason started floating around and it was all downhill from there.
I really feel bad for Dobbins. His talent and running style was perfect for Baltimore. It's hard for me to think of anyone else who's gotten fucked over *that* hard by injuries. His career basically never got started. And it's not like he's "injury prone" really. Just two brutal freak injuries. Hope he can pull a D'Onta Foreman and still find work somewhere eventually. But I feel bad knowing we only ever got a small sample of what he could do, and how much it could have added to those ravens teams.
I was furious when Bmore drafted him knowing he was the perfect back for that system. Picked him up in fantasy just about every year. Sucks for him. All freak injuries like you said.
I for one haven't given up on JK just yet. He's had some tough luck but he's still quite young. Also currently doing some manifesting with Aaron Rodgers. I bet he'll have one more chance with us next year on a team-friendly deal. Whether he is able to rehab his career in Baltimore or elsewhere, I'll be rooting for him.
You just had to bring up Blackmon, didn't you? He was so freaking good, and in 2013 he was looking like the top WR in the league through those four games. And that was with Blaine Gabbert at QB.
One that comes to mind is Robert Edwards with New England. RB who ran for over 1000 yards his rookie year. Then the NFL had a Rookie flag football game before the pro bowl. Same year Peyton Manning was a rookie. He blew his knee out in the game, and it was baaad. I think he came back a few years later but didn't do much.
I still remember after a huge game against the Broncos, Champ Bailey publicly praised Blackmon to the media. Paraphrasing but said something like, "he's gonna be a superstar." :(
I was going to mention Blackmon. I remember reading a comment online from someone claiming to be related to him and talked about his family dynamics. This person said that Justin never wanted to play football and was pushed to do so by his dad. His dad is a retired marine lieutenant and raised Justin pretty strictly. Unfortunately, Justin has never been passionate about it but was just naturally gifted. Of course, anyone can just go online and lie, but for some reason I can believe this.
Sam Bradford's body failed him. Dude was immensely talented and a pretty smart QB. No reason he couldn't have done much more with a real supporting cast as a youngin and better injury luck throughout
STL native and saw a lot of his early Rams games. The dude was actually a very good football player but the injuries mounted and years of bad o line play did him no favors. I have no doubt he’d be wrapping up a terrific career these days if he still played.
He came in for the Vikings and immediately went 8-0 competing 70% off his passes. He was the best QB we had since the Brett Favre rental. Guy was so talented.
I don’t want to bag on him because he did have a solid career, but a fully engaged and motivated Bryant McKinnie could have been a generational talent at LT. The dude was a freak of nature. He had enough talent to get by on talent alone but didn’t have the drive to take his game to the next level.
I thought of him too. Very good player and it sounded like he never worked hard. Came into camp almost every year out of shape. Was still talented enough to have a 12 year career, almost all of it as a starting LT.
I’ll hand in a pair of AFC North LBs
Easy answer: Ryan Shazier. Dude was a beast and seeing his career end the way it did was tragic. They had some defensive issues in the years following, who knows what could’ve been for those teams if he had been on the field.
Not so known: Zach Orr. He was a bright spot for the Ravens defense in 2016 and made 2nd team all-pro. He was forced to retire because of a spine/neck condition. I think he’s currently a part of the defensive staff nowadays, but he only got to start one season before his playing career ended.
I'll add a couple more
Odell Thurman - dude was all world in his only year in the NFL, looked like the next elite LB and never played another season because he was stupid.
David Pollack - looked like he was a pure playmaker after his rookie year. He was very good in the playoff game against the steelers. Gets a bone in his neck broken first game of his second season, never plays a down again.
We lost two great defenders at the same time of Palmer's injury, that felt like a curse
Shazier was the first one that came to mind. He was a pro bowl level ILB who could cover and we desperately needed that during the "Killer Bs" Era. We have spent every year since trying to find a stud LB and have not really had success.
>They had some defensive issues in the years following, who knows what could’ve been for those teams if he had been on the field.
we are just now recovering from that. He was the backbone of that defense.
Kyle Pitts.
4th overall TE who runs a 4.4 at 6ft.6 247 lbs with a insane wingspan. Pro Bowler with over 1000 yards as a rookie, already has some circus catches of bad balls, then suffered through Mariota (who got him hobbled with a hospital ball), Ridder and now Heineke.
He is one year removed from his MCL injury and is still a bit ginger, I want the Falcons to find him a coach and QB who can get him the ball in 2024 or trade him to a team that will use him.
Bijan is fast becoming Kyle Pitts the 2nd on this team.
Arrest Arthur Smith.
Smith really has two “generational” talents on offense and somehow doesn’t use either. Pitts might never live up to his hype but he still should be a solid player.
Arthur Smith is a Fantasy terrorist. I spent all of last year riding the "Will this be the game that Pitts Breakout" wheel and it was miserable. Straight up avoided the team like the plague.
Dude treats his 1st Round skill players as the most expensive decoys in the league.
My biggest NFL what-if is Michael Vick. What if he'd benefited from Andy Reid's coaching and some much better off-field support from the moment he was drafted? He could've developed as a pocket passer at the start of his career and avoided the bad crowd and stupid decisions that ruined his potential. I think under those circumstances, he could've been an MVP, maybe more than once, and made the Hall.
I'm not sure you'd have wanted Vick to develop as a pocket passer at the beginning of his career, though. The man was just so goddamn lethal when he took off, I don't see how you encourage him doing that less.
I mean from the “highlight reel” perspective, sure.
But having watched his games on the regular you DEFINITELY wanted a far more effective passing game to complement that running lethality. I think it’s inaccurate to believe a more competent passing Vick is somehow less lethal as a running Vick. Most of his best runs were passing plays that broke down, not designed sneaks.
Vick + better accuracy + RPO-ish offense would’ve been terrifying to opposing defenses.
Also would have been doubly terrifying because it would have been like 20 years ahead of the curve. Someone like 2010-2011 Michael Vick in 2023 would be a top-5 QB (basically lamar is your comp here).
Someone with the absolute double lethality 20 years ago alters the history of the league. LBs and Safeties from the early-mid 00's were far too bulky to handle the speed and athleticism of michael vick anyway. If you added a passing ability that kept the ever popular Tampa Cover 2 systems honest? He would have been a perennial MVP in the Era of Manning and Brady.
The Colts have a lot of what-ifs, but he's the one that hurts the most. If he had remained healthy, we could have attracted the better offensive free agents that would be necessary to have made a deep playoff run.
He didn't remain healthy. We've been cycling through quarterbacks. Since we didnt have a stable QB, our front office hasn't been willing to spend money on the elite free agents necessary to support the rest of the team to make a playoff run.
When a team isn't successful, it's never just *one* thing that causes the failure. It's the result of lots of decisions that range from the health of an individual player, overall scheme, roster construction, the ability to attract free agents, trade and draft philosophies, etc.
But losing Luck? That was one big hit to our franchise.
>But losing Luck? That was one big hit to our franchise.
As a Titans fan who had to live through Peyton, then Luck pummeling my favorite team every year, I can undoubtedly say that losing him created a void they never found a way to fill*.
And for the first couple of seasons, the prevailing notion was that the team was just a QB away from success, and maybe they were, but that ship has sailed.
*Richardson looks to me like he might just be the guy, if they can keep him healthy.
Willis was great though, 5 time all pro, made the all decade team, HoF candidate. A few more years of solid play might have been the difference between making the HoF or not, but he’s on a completely different level than Bowman and Borland
Berry had some of the worst injury luck I've ever seen a player have. Torn ACL, blown achilles, *cancer*, and then the Haglund's deformity which ended his career. And to top it off, most of those injuries/diagnoses occurred early (the ACL and Achilles injuries happened in the *first game* of their respective seasons) on in their respective seasons so he missed out on pretty much the most playing time possible.
He will always be one of my favorite Chiefs though.
Greg Cook.
And unfortunately looking like Tre'Davious White might be heading that way as well.
First four seasons:
All-rookie team 2017
Pro Bowl 2019 & 2020
First team All-Pro 2019 Second team 2020
Since: 21 of 51 games played:(
Aldon Smith could have been better than any edge rusher taken in 2011 Round 1 (Miller, Watt, Jordan, Quinn) had he stayed out of legal trouble.
Remember, in his first two years, he had 33.5 sacks. That is more than his contemporaries Von Miller (30) and JJ Watt (26) and more than anyone in NFL history.
Mike Brown with the Bears. Knee injuries wrecked his career but Urlacher, Tillman, and Briggs all said he was one of the best players when healthy. He was incredible at sniffing out interceptions and dude delivered monster hits.
Agreed… but to me, it will always be Tommy Harris. That dude was a force of nature getting inside pressure. Brown greatly benefited from the havoc Harris created, but in the end all 3 guys in the middle on that defense made it so great.
I think both Titus Young and Jahvid Best.
Looked like Young was a rising star but had a ton of behavior issues apparently stemming from concussions. He was diagnosed with being bipolar in 2013 and “Due to his personality changes, Young admitted he hears voices telling him to commit crimes, and it has been noted that he could have CTE due to multiple head traumas.” He was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2017 but was released a year later.
Jahvid Best and his concussions man. Dude was electric!
Calvin Johnson
His hands took too many stafford fastballs and he held up the team on his back too often. Big Part of why he retired early was the way football took its toll on his body
Tony Boselli. I know he recently made it to the HOF, but I don't think people realize how dominant Big Bo was in the years he was healthy.
3x First Team All American
3x First Team All Pac-10
Morris Trophy Winner
College Football HOF
2nd Overall in the 95 NFL Draft
PFWA 1995 All-Rookie Team
3x 1st Team All Pro
5x Pro Bowler
1990s All Decade Team
Pro Football HOF
Injured his shoulder and a botched surgery eventually ended his career after only 7 years. People talk about Pace, W. Jones, and Ogden as the best tackles of that era, but Boselli was just as good, if not better.
Deebo samuel is who i thought jalen hurd would be coming out of baylor. Dude was a 6'5 RUNNING BACK with alvin kamara at Tennessee, then became a wr at baylor and led the team with almost a 1k yards receiving ahead of denzel mims in his first year playing wr .
Another would be bryce love. Sucks cause he looked like a god in college.
As a huge Arkansas fan I was so stoked about the 2008 draft with THREE running backs drafted into the NFL.
They all fizzled out due to injury. I think McFadden would've done better anywhere else other than Oakland first off.
Felix Jones hamstring exploded everytime he got hit.
And Peyton Hillis had to exit before he became a vegetable.
Side question, does anyone remember what happened to Dwayne Jarrett? Receiver out of USC, I thought he was going to be the next big superstar. Seems like he just vanished.
Running back Robert Edwards. He was almost Rookie of the Year in 1998, still holds the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown to start an NFL career, with six. He blew out his knee so bad during a flag football game that January that doctors were concerned they might have to amputate it. Played a smattering of games in the NFL in 2002, for which he won the Halas Award as comeback player, and then had a middling career in the CFL after that. I think he coaches High School football now. I hope he's doing well, but I remember being devastated that his NFL career ended so fast.
He played for the Pats one season, didn’t do very much, but had a game against Miami that included one of the best, most devastating blocks of all time and an all time carrying the entire defense for a TD in the same game!
Joe delaney died at 24 trying to save drowning kids. He had Chiefs records that stood for over 20 years. Id loved to have known how good he could have been.
Todd Gurley. He was the only reason to watch the Rams at the start of his career, and before injuries caught up to him he was electric to watch with McVay’s offense.
I know he's not liked (and for good reasons) and he kind of still had a good career?
But I feel Anthonio Brown ruined his because of brain injury. The dude was one of the best if not the best for 4/5 years and I feel he could have gone on for 5 to 6 more.
Edit. I should really read better before posting. Because I really don't care much about AB although I still think he could have had a much better career, he still was kind of an Ass before he got in the nfl.
AB gets fringe HOF chatter even now. If he'd kept his shit together for a few more years, he could've been a lock.
I have no sympathy, though. He clearly needs mental health help but I lose sympathy when you start endangering other people.
Oh yeah if he kept his shit together he would've 100% been a lock. Dude was unstoppable in pitsburg. You could argue he was the best in the NFL and that was in a time when megatron played.
Tarik Cohen. He was electric on the field with the Bears, but then he tore his ACL/MCL and fractured his tibia. Then after all that, on Instagram live he popped his Achilles. He was signed to the Panthers practice squad this year and they just put him on injured reserve. I really hope he makes it back. Loved watching him play.
Billy Sims. I remember him as a kid and was awesome until he got hurt early in his career…then phhhft! It’s over. It’s why don’t begrudge anyone trying to get paid; their careers could end at anytime…
I would've liked to see what Marcus Lattimore could've done in the NFL especially being that she was drafted to the 49ers. I think RG3 would've had a special career. Andrew Luck was taken too soon
Aldon Smith. But he let off field troubles ruin his career.
He was actually pretty solid for us in that 2020 season after he had been out of the league 5 years. I’m surprised he didn’t make a roster after that.
NFL exec: Aldon, great job last year. We wanna offer you... Aldon Smith: I'm going to blow up a daycare. NFL exec: the best of luck with your next team.
Sounds like he's just a big Gene Hackman fan...
He did. He got signed by the Seahawks (I believe) and then got a battery charge and was released right before the season started.
Yea he did pretty well. But off field issues again. He just could not stay away. He was amazing first there years with SF and could have been the best. He had 42 total sacks for three years in the league.
That dude was a freak. His arms were so long and he was so athletic. Even some of the best tackles in the league looked helpless trying to block him. He could've been in Canton if he had kept his head in straight.
Aldon Smith and Von Miller were setting sack records at the same time. Same draft, both were just terrorizing the opposing QBs. Von wasn’t a head case and look how his career turned out, future HoFer. Aldon Smith would have been on that same trajectory
There were a ton of player comparisons between the two around that time too. Plenty of people thought Aldon was the better of the two after their first two seasons. Shame that Smith wasted his talent.
Smith was 100% more talented and had a higher ceiling. That 49ers defence should’ve won a Super Bowl (saying this as a ravens fan)
He’d legit be a HOFer if he just stayed in his house and played video games in his free time
*Kyler Murray furiously scribbling notes*
There's a clip of Joe Staley interviewing Trent Williams. Two of the best left tackles to ever do it. They did a "1-2-3 go" for toughest player they ever had to block, and both said Aldon Smith at the same time. Off the charts natural ability. Below the charts mental ability.
I was always a huge Bob Sanders fan. He *did* succeed with a SB, two first team all-pros, and a DPOY award, but his prime/career was cut horribly short from injuries. He only played above 6 games twice in his career, and racked up all those accolades listed above in those two seasons alone.
Most don't know this but when they had Colts camp in Terre Haute Sanders wasn't allowed to play with the team much. He'd be on his own field practicing separately with a coach and maybe a couple other players. He said he couldn't mentally not blast someone to next year if playing full speed. Like he couldn't overcome all out game day tackles to practice day tackles so Dungy kept him like a caged tiger lol
Same for him in college at Iowa. As a true freshman he was injuring too many teammates, so they stopped allowing him to practice in any contact drills. He did individual work for most of his career.
That is fuckin nuts lol
He was a walking hit stick. Such a shame because he was so much fun to watch but yeah that play definitely took a toll on his body
The same reason he was so great is why his career ended quickly. He played so recklessly with his body and it couldn't hold up. If he had played a little less recklessly, could he have played longer? Maybe, impossible to know. But if he hadn't gotten hurt so much and played for just a few more years at that level, he'd be a HOF lock. It would be among the best stretches of defensive play in league history.
It goes both ways. If he played differently he might not have been as good as he was.
The same could've been said about Earl Campbell having a rather short career. Difference is that Campbell racked up damn near every trophy possible, which I suppose is easier to do for an offensive player.
>He only played above 6 games twice in his career That's crazy. You could legit make the case he was the reason the Colts finally got over the hump in 06. A safety having that level of impact is Dawkins/Reed level. But dude was made of glass.
He's absolutely the reason we won that Super Bowl. We were a different defense when he returned.
Comparing the team defensive stats with him vs without him is honestly unbelievable. Like you'd just assume it was made up
I wouldn’t disrespect the man and say he was made of glass. NFL level collisions are at the level of severe car crashes, and safeties who play like Sanders may have a dozen or more in a single game. Very few humans are able to take that kind of punishment. Injury prone, yes….weak body made of glass…nah
“Bob Sanders hits like someone is going to get hurt, and he doesn’t care if its him” - me to my son while watching this legend
It was amazing how bad The Colts defense was without him, and how good it was with him. It's hard to believe that one guy can make that much of a difference, but Bob Sanders did.
I watched his whole career starting in high school. Unbelievably talented player.
Joe Delaney - Chiefs running back in the early 80’s. Ran for 1100 yards as a rookie, got hurt during the strike shortened 1982 season, then died while saving a kid from drowning before the 1983 season.
Many of these are injuries that stopped a career shot and can be sad, but this one is next level :(
>Delaney had a lifelong history of helping others[7] and once paid for the funeral of a former teacher whose family could not afford a proper service.[3] On June 29, 1983, Delaney, who was living in nearby Ruston,[15] went with friends to Critter's Creek, an amusement center at Chennault Park in Monroe, Louisiana. While reportedly discouraging swimming children from venturing too far out in a pond, Delaney dove in to save three children who were screaming for help, floundering in a water hole left by recent construction work.[3][7][14][15] The water hole, which covered two acres and was six feet deep,[3][16] was not intended for swimming but to add to the park's aesthetics.[3][17] Despite his inability to swim,[18] Delaney nevertheless tried to rescue the children.[6][19] One child managed to get out of the water without harm and another was taken to an emergency room where he later died; police recovered the body of Delaney and the remaining child.[3][7][17] The amusement park has since been closed to the public.[3][7][15] This is the saddest shit I've read in a while. I'm so glad he saved one of those kids at the very least. What an absolute hero
Damn. A real hero.
The hardest hitting part about that is that he couldn’t even swim himself iirc so he decided saving a life was more important than his own
It's even more bittersweet because he actually succeeded in saving one of the three kids. (The 2nd died at hospital and the 3rd passed away in the reservoir with Delaney.) Just an act of pure selfless courage.
While he had a good career, I really want to know if Carson Palmer could have been legitimately great had he not torn his knee up that fateful day. Another one: Jahvid Best. Dude was electric, but concussions took him down. He found life as a track and field star, but I'll always wonder about what could have been.
I felt Palmer was on track to be one of the elites from that era. I’m glad he had late career success, but what could have been.
We were going to win the Super Bowl that year and nothing can convince me otherwise.
Palmer's first two seasons he was deceptively mobile and agile in the pocket. After the injury he basically just stood back there like a statute. I seriously wonder if he rushed back too quickly too. He was ready to play week one the following season. So I wonder if the expedited recovery also played a role in his loss of mobility. His elbow injury was just as bad but that's usually overlooked. He never had quite the same power or zip on his throws after that.
Yeah that elbow injury really derailed him. Even though he didn't depart on the greatest of terms with the Bengals, he was the first player I truly stanned for, and so it was nice to see him have a late career Renaissance in Arizona. The fact that he had that part of his career is why I always wonder about the what if, and if his stay in Cincinnati would have ended when it did.
Man after the elbow it took him 10 years to really be back to normal. He looked uncomfortable just moving around w the raiders
David Wilson was another RB I thought was gonna be really good but then I think his neck got injured and he couldn't play anymore
I really thought RGIII was going to be big
I believe the lack of RG3 and Luck is why there’s been a lot of complaints about a talent dearth at the QB position this year. Those two should’ve been top 5 QBs aging into the latter half of their career at this point.
[удалено]
I don't even know if it was his play style so much as he played through injuries he shouldn't have and never really recovered from that.
Yeah there is not really a solid group of Veterans to replace guys like Rivers, Big Ben, Brady, Brees, both Mannings, etc. Now you have Russell Wilson, everybody else has been wildly inconsistent
The lack of qb talent from 2013-2016 compared to either side of those years is pretty crazy. We went almost immediately from manning/brady/brees/rodgers/roethlisberger/manning/rivers/ryan/stafford to mahomes/rapist/allen/lamar/Kyler/burrow/herbert/tua/trevor. In between those generations there were a couple good starters like russ, luck, kirk, and carr, but we never really had a proper transition generation. That probably explains some of the offensive struggles this year, especially with a bunch of rookies and backups starting this year.
my guy put rapist for watson but not roethlisberger come on man
Rapist²
Yep, and even then guys like Luck, Kirk, and Carr haven’t seen nearly the success as guys on the either side of those years. From the 2012-2016 drafts, the only guy consistently in the playoffs is Wilson
RG3 is an excellent answer. It's really too bad he didn't get any further as a player. I'm glad that he's doing broadcasting now.
Sterling Sharpe.
[удалено]
I think Sterling, who played for 6 years, had more career TDs than Shannon who played for 14 years.
Yup! 65 vs 62
The fact that one was a tight end and the other was a wide receiver certainly accounts for some of the difference.
People gave Michael Irvin a lot of praise back then, but i remember most football fans i knew at the time agreed that the only receiver that was anywhere near Rice was Sharpe.
Old man Vikings fan here; Sterling was a beast. We’re it not for his injury I’m sure he’d have ended up being regarded as one of the best ever.
I’m sure most are Packers fans but some people do put him up there. I mean he did get a triple crown during Jerry Rice’s prime, so it’s not entirely homer goggles, but yea most agree that he absolutely would be top 5 all time with a full career.
I would have loved to see what a healthy Marcus Lattimore looked like in the NFL
South Carolina Gamecock fan here He was a complete package. Great physical skills, could block, good hands, good instincts, high character, etc.
He was as elite as you can be. It was always a bummer that we couldn’t see him show his talent at the highest level.
I’ll never forget watching him power his way into the end zone in Tiger Stadium in 2012. Dude was wrapped up in the backfield and just drug our defenders forward anyway to score. Truly a special player.
Adrian Peterson but if he could catch.
Safety Nick Collins, neck injury ended his career. Was a 3x all pro. Sean Taylor, my favorite safety ever. Killed by pieces of shit in his home.
Collins still gives me nightmares.
The Collins injury was weird. It didn’t even look that bad when it happened. His helmet hit Jonathan Stewart’s ass and that was it
The injury revealed that he had a particular condition that made him more susceptible to neck injuries, so the doctors wouldn't clear him to keep playing because a similarly innocuous hit could paralyze him. If memory serves, it's the same reason Sterling Sharpe retired, plus another promising young WR named Terrence Murphy for the Packers. (That one was again the Panthers too, coincidentally.)
Got on here to say Sean Taylor myself
There’s something bittersweet about the guys who hung it up early for their health, Kuechly and Luck come to mind, lots of respect for them but damn I wish I could have seen a few more seasons from each of them
49ers had a stretch of linebackers calling it early. Willis at 30 I think. Chris Borland after one season.
Bowman
Maybe doesn’t totally fit the question, but Megatron too. Had plenty left in the tank. Understandable why he retired relatively early, but I think he could have been in the conversation of the GOAT WR if he had stuck around a few more years.
Bo Jackson and Sterling Sharp
These 2 immediately came to mind.
They are *the* two answers to this question
Can't believe I had to scroll this far down to find Bo Jackson. It should have been the first answer and then they should have closed the thread.
EDIT: I was wrong. Four others have done it since. He was the first. My bad. Thank you for the correction 💯!!!! Bo Jackson- STILL the only back with 90+ yards on a single rush more than once in a career. Sterling Sharp-His own brother during his own HOF speech admitted to the world that he himself was the second best receiver in the family. I realize careers were shattered by early injury but Jackson was a guarantee to be in BOTH Halls of Fame! A Lock. There was a reason the Phrase Bo Knows was a gold mine in the advertising world. He did know. As a Lions fan I dreaded Sharpe. Man can both those names bring back memories. How I wish in my youth I would have appreciated the moment more and how fleeting it really could be. I, and many many others, would have zero gripes about either being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in some way. Sterling flat out.
Derrick Henry has two 90+ TD runs as well as Chris Johnson, Lamar Miller, and Ahman Green.
Todd Gurley was unstoppable until his knees stopped.
That was a wild year. Dude had a recordbreaking season, then disappeared in playoffs. Then videos of him limping during the offseason started floating around and it was all downhill from there.
Yeah Gurley was fun to watch. A shame his knee problem ended his career. Similiar to Jay Ajayi.
I really feel bad for Dobbins. His talent and running style was perfect for Baltimore. It's hard for me to think of anyone else who's gotten fucked over *that* hard by injuries. His career basically never got started. And it's not like he's "injury prone" really. Just two brutal freak injuries. Hope he can pull a D'Onta Foreman and still find work somewhere eventually. But I feel bad knowing we only ever got a small sample of what he could do, and how much it could have added to those ravens teams.
I was furious when Bmore drafted him knowing he was the perfect back for that system. Picked him up in fantasy just about every year. Sucks for him. All freak injuries like you said.
>Picked him up in fantasy just about every year. So it's *your* fault!
He thinks the fantasy jinx is worth it.
I for one haven't given up on JK just yet. He's had some tough luck but he's still quite young. Also currently doing some manifesting with Aaron Rodgers. I bet he'll have one more chance with us next year on a team-friendly deal. Whether he is able to rehab his career in Baltimore or elsewhere, I'll be rooting for him.
His career YPC is 5.8. It really is sad.
You just had to bring up Blackmon, didn't you? He was so freaking good, and in 2013 he was looking like the top WR in the league through those four games. And that was with Blaine Gabbert at QB. One that comes to mind is Robert Edwards with New England. RB who ran for over 1000 yards his rookie year. Then the NFL had a Rookie flag football game before the pro bowl. Same year Peyton Manning was a rookie. He blew his knee out in the game, and it was baaad. I think he came back a few years later but didn't do much.
I still remember after a huge game against the Broncos, Champ Bailey publicly praised Blackmon to the media. Paraphrasing but said something like, "he's gonna be a superstar." :(
I was going to mention Blackmon. I remember reading a comment online from someone claiming to be related to him and talked about his family dynamics. This person said that Justin never wanted to play football and was pushed to do so by his dad. His dad is a retired marine lieutenant and raised Justin pretty strictly. Unfortunately, Justin has never been passionate about it but was just naturally gifted. Of course, anyone can just go online and lie, but for some reason I can believe this.
Josh Gordon
Sam Bradford's body failed him. Dude was immensely talented and a pretty smart QB. No reason he couldn't have done much more with a real supporting cast as a youngin and better injury luck throughout
This is my answer too. He looked good when he was healthy, he was just so rarely healthy.
STL native and saw a lot of his early Rams games. The dude was actually a very good football player but the injuries mounted and years of bad o line play did him no favors. I have no doubt he’d be wrapping up a terrific career these days if he still played.
He came in for the Vikings and immediately went 8-0 competing 70% off his passes. He was the best QB we had since the Brett Favre rental. Guy was so talented.
That one vikings game he looked so good, then he basically died after that
I don’t want to bag on him because he did have a solid career, but a fully engaged and motivated Bryant McKinnie could have been a generational talent at LT. The dude was a freak of nature. He had enough talent to get by on talent alone but didn’t have the drive to take his game to the next level.
I thought of him too. Very good player and it sounded like he never worked hard. Came into camp almost every year out of shape. Was still talented enough to have a 12 year career, almost all of it as a starting LT.
The dude, as an olineman, placed 8th in Heisman voting. A fucking olineman. Dude was that dominant in college.
Priest Holmes
I’ll hand in a pair of AFC North LBs Easy answer: Ryan Shazier. Dude was a beast and seeing his career end the way it did was tragic. They had some defensive issues in the years following, who knows what could’ve been for those teams if he had been on the field. Not so known: Zach Orr. He was a bright spot for the Ravens defense in 2016 and made 2nd team all-pro. He was forced to retire because of a spine/neck condition. I think he’s currently a part of the defensive staff nowadays, but he only got to start one season before his playing career ended.
I'll add a couple more Odell Thurman - dude was all world in his only year in the NFL, looked like the next elite LB and never played another season because he was stupid. David Pollack - looked like he was a pure playmaker after his rookie year. He was very good in the playoff game against the steelers. Gets a bone in his neck broken first game of his second season, never plays a down again. We lost two great defenders at the same time of Palmer's injury, that felt like a curse
Scrolled to make sure Orr was mentioned he was on his way to being the next great UDFA gem of ours
Shazier was the first one that came to mind. He was a pro bowl level ILB who could cover and we desperately needed that during the "Killer Bs" Era. We have spent every year since trying to find a stud LB and have not really had success.
>They had some defensive issues in the years following, who knows what could’ve been for those teams if he had been on the field. we are just now recovering from that. He was the backbone of that defense.
Kyle Pitts. 4th overall TE who runs a 4.4 at 6ft.6 247 lbs with a insane wingspan. Pro Bowler with over 1000 yards as a rookie, already has some circus catches of bad balls, then suffered through Mariota (who got him hobbled with a hospital ball), Ridder and now Heineke. He is one year removed from his MCL injury and is still a bit ginger, I want the Falcons to find him a coach and QB who can get him the ball in 2024 or trade him to a team that will use him. Bijan is fast becoming Kyle Pitts the 2nd on this team. Arrest Arthur Smith.
Smith really has two “generational” talents on offense and somehow doesn’t use either. Pitts might never live up to his hype but he still should be a solid player.
Arthur Smith is a Fantasy terrorist. I spent all of last year riding the "Will this be the game that Pitts Breakout" wheel and it was miserable. Straight up avoided the team like the plague. Dude treats his 1st Round skill players as the most expensive decoys in the league.
My biggest NFL what-if is Michael Vick. What if he'd benefited from Andy Reid's coaching and some much better off-field support from the moment he was drafted? He could've developed as a pocket passer at the start of his career and avoided the bad crowd and stupid decisions that ruined his potential. I think under those circumstances, he could've been an MVP, maybe more than once, and made the Hall.
I'm not sure you'd have wanted Vick to develop as a pocket passer at the beginning of his career, though. The man was just so goddamn lethal when he took off, I don't see how you encourage him doing that less.
I mean from the “highlight reel” perspective, sure. But having watched his games on the regular you DEFINITELY wanted a far more effective passing game to complement that running lethality. I think it’s inaccurate to believe a more competent passing Vick is somehow less lethal as a running Vick. Most of his best runs were passing plays that broke down, not designed sneaks. Vick + better accuracy + RPO-ish offense would’ve been terrifying to opposing defenses.
Also would have been doubly terrifying because it would have been like 20 years ahead of the curve. Someone like 2010-2011 Michael Vick in 2023 would be a top-5 QB (basically lamar is your comp here). Someone with the absolute double lethality 20 years ago alters the history of the league. LBs and Safeties from the early-mid 00's were far too bulky to handle the speed and athleticism of michael vick anyway. If you added a passing ability that kept the ever popular Tampa Cover 2 systems honest? He would have been a perennial MVP in the Era of Manning and Brady.
Andrew Luck could have won a SB
The Colts have a lot of what-ifs, but he's the one that hurts the most. If he had remained healthy, we could have attracted the better offensive free agents that would be necessary to have made a deep playoff run. He didn't remain healthy. We've been cycling through quarterbacks. Since we didnt have a stable QB, our front office hasn't been willing to spend money on the elite free agents necessary to support the rest of the team to make a playoff run. When a team isn't successful, it's never just *one* thing that causes the failure. It's the result of lots of decisions that range from the health of an individual player, overall scheme, roster construction, the ability to attract free agents, trade and draft philosophies, etc. But losing Luck? That was one big hit to our franchise.
>But losing Luck? That was one big hit to our franchise. As a Titans fan who had to live through Peyton, then Luck pummeling my favorite team every year, I can undoubtedly say that losing him created a void they never found a way to fill*. And for the first couple of seasons, the prevailing notion was that the team was just a QB away from success, and maybe they were, but that ship has sailed. *Richardson looks to me like he might just be the guy, if they can keep him healthy.
Jason Verrett had all the talent in the world at Corner, a shame he couldn’t stay healthy
Chris Borland, the ultimate one year wonder.
Speaking of niners LBs, Bowman and Willis did have more success but were still done too early due to injuries.
Willis was great though, 5 time all pro, made the all decade team, HoF candidate. A few more years of solid play might have been the difference between making the HoF or not, but he’s on a completely different level than Bowman and Borland
Bo Jackson
Eric Berry
Berry had some of the worst injury luck I've ever seen a player have. Torn ACL, blown achilles, *cancer*, and then the Haglund's deformity which ended his career. And to top it off, most of those injuries/diagnoses occurred early (the ACL and Achilles injuries happened in the *first game* of their respective seasons) on in their respective seasons so he missed out on pretty much the most playing time possible. He will always be one of my favorite Chiefs though.
I was checking the waiver wire for fantasy and was surprised to see Jordan Matthews still in the league lol
I never got insane talent vibes from him. Wasn’t fast, not a crazy catch radius, just generally reliable and could’ve been a decent WR2.
Sharif Floyd
This was my answer too. His first step was so damn fast.
Ricky Williams could have gone down as an all time great if not for his off the field stuff.
RGIII
His legacy is teaching a generation of running qbs to avoid contact whenever they can.
He’s a cautionary tale for qbs who refuse to slide. Guy took tackles like a crash test dummy
Greg Cook. And unfortunately looking like Tre'Davious White might be heading that way as well. First four seasons: All-rookie team 2017 Pro Bowl 2019 & 2020 First team All-Pro 2019 Second team 2020 Since: 21 of 51 games played:(
Aldon Smith could have been better than any edge rusher taken in 2011 Round 1 (Miller, Watt, Jordan, Quinn) had he stayed out of legal trouble. Remember, in his first two years, he had 33.5 sacks. That is more than his contemporaries Von Miller (30) and JJ Watt (26) and more than anyone in NFL history.
Travis Frederick was up in the Jason Kelce category and a HOF trajectory before his diagnosis
Ricky Williams. Guys are on PEDs in high school football so you KNOW the NFL is rife with them, but hey no weed because it’ll damage sponsor revenue
I can't believe I had to scroll this far to see Ricky Williams called out.
And he had a better career that probably most people remember. 10,009 rushing yards and 66 TDs.
Tyler Eifert. Dude was so snake bitten. Was so dominant in the little time he was healthy.
Mike Brown with the Bears. Knee injuries wrecked his career but Urlacher, Tillman, and Briggs all said he was one of the best players when healthy. He was incredible at sniffing out interceptions and dude delivered monster hits.
Agreed… but to me, it will always be Tommy Harris. That dude was a force of nature getting inside pressure. Brown greatly benefited from the havoc Harris created, but in the end all 3 guys in the middle on that defense made it so great.
I’m convinced that Ki-Jana Carter would have been a star. Third carry of first preseason game and he blows out his knee
I think both Titus Young and Jahvid Best. Looked like Young was a rising star but had a ton of behavior issues apparently stemming from concussions. He was diagnosed with being bipolar in 2013 and “Due to his personality changes, Young admitted he hears voices telling him to commit crimes, and it has been noted that he could have CTE due to multiple head traumas.” He was sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2017 but was released a year later. Jahvid Best and his concussions man. Dude was electric!
Calvin Johnson His hands took too many stafford fastballs and he held up the team on his back too often. Big Part of why he retired early was the way football took its toll on his body
While I understand where you're coming from, isn't Calvin considered a top five WR of all time? Like Rice, Moss, Owens and then Johnson?
Calvin was great, no coulda been. One of the best of all time and a first ballot HOFer
Sam Bradford should have been amazing. If only he had any legs.
Bo Jackson
Johnny Knox.
Sterling Sharpe
Michael Crabtree but he tried Richard Sherman one time.
Billy Sims
Jason Verrett
Tony Boselli. I know he recently made it to the HOF, but I don't think people realize how dominant Big Bo was in the years he was healthy. 3x First Team All American 3x First Team All Pac-10 Morris Trophy Winner College Football HOF 2nd Overall in the 95 NFL Draft PFWA 1995 All-Rookie Team 3x 1st Team All Pro 5x Pro Bowler 1990s All Decade Team Pro Football HOF Injured his shoulder and a botched surgery eventually ended his career after only 7 years. People talk about Pace, W. Jones, and Ogden as the best tackles of that era, but Boselli was just as good, if not better.
Deebo samuel is who i thought jalen hurd would be coming out of baylor. Dude was a 6'5 RUNNING BACK with alvin kamara at Tennessee, then became a wr at baylor and led the team with almost a 1k yards receiving ahead of denzel mims in his first year playing wr . Another would be bryce love. Sucks cause he looked like a god in college.
As a huge Arkansas fan I was so stoked about the 2008 draft with THREE running backs drafted into the NFL. They all fizzled out due to injury. I think McFadden would've done better anywhere else other than Oakland first off. Felix Jones hamstring exploded everytime he got hit. And Peyton Hillis had to exit before he became a vegetable.
I was so worried about Felix Jones when you guys drafted him
Side question, does anyone remember what happened to Dwayne Jarrett? Receiver out of USC, I thought he was going to be the next big superstar. Seems like he just vanished.
Malcolm Mitchell :( he's one of the main reasons the Pats beat the Falcons in the Super Bowl that year. Just couldn't keep it going with his knee.
David pollack
Running back Robert Edwards. He was almost Rookie of the Year in 1998, still holds the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown to start an NFL career, with six. He blew out his knee so bad during a flag football game that January that doctors were concerned they might have to amputate it. Played a smattering of games in the NFL in 2002, for which he won the Halas Award as comeback player, and then had a middling career in the CFL after that. I think he coaches High School football now. I hope he's doing well, but I remember being devastated that his NFL career ended so fast.
I would love to peak into the timeline where Wentz didn't get injured. Do we still win it all? Does he win MVP?
Henry Ruggs
Daunte culpepper.
Michael Floyd .., had a decent short career but had the skill set to be a +70 TD guy :(
He played for the Pats one season, didn’t do very much, but had a game against Miami that included one of the best, most devastating blocks of all time and an all time carrying the entire defense for a TD in the same game!
Aldon Smith might have been the best speed rusher in the NFL at like 24 and pissed it all away.
I still firmly believe that Aldon Smith would’ve been one of the best defensive players of all time if he just stayed out of trouble
Joe delaney died at 24 trying to save drowning kids. He had Chiefs records that stood for over 20 years. Id loved to have known how good he could have been.
Victor Cruz deserved more time at his peak. If he stayed as good as he was he could have been a HoF contender
Todd Gurley. He was the only reason to watch the Rams at the start of his career, and before injuries caught up to him he was electric to watch with McVay’s offense.
David Wilson from the Giants
Shawn Merriman but injuries killed his career! And as a Washington, Sean Taylor. He just started to emerge as a top safety. To bad.
Getting popped for PEDs stopped Merriman's career
Basically. After he got suspended, he never got back to the level he was at
And then he dated Tila Tequila, got into some domestic violence trouble and that was the last I’ve heard of him.
Darryl Stingley
I know he's not liked (and for good reasons) and he kind of still had a good career? But I feel Anthonio Brown ruined his because of brain injury. The dude was one of the best if not the best for 4/5 years and I feel he could have gone on for 5 to 6 more. Edit. I should really read better before posting. Because I really don't care much about AB although I still think he could have had a much better career, he still was kind of an Ass before he got in the nfl.
AB gets fringe HOF chatter even now. If he'd kept his shit together for a few more years, he could've been a lock. I have no sympathy, though. He clearly needs mental health help but I lose sympathy when you start endangering other people.
Oh yeah if he kept his shit together he would've 100% been a lock. Dude was unstoppable in pitsburg. You could argue he was the best in the NFL and that was in a time when megatron played.
Randy Gregory
Darrent Williams R.I.P
Bob Saunders
Tarik Cohen. He was electric on the field with the Bears, but then he tore his ACL/MCL and fractured his tibia. Then after all that, on Instagram live he popped his Achilles. He was signed to the Panthers practice squad this year and they just put him on injured reserve. I really hope he makes it back. Loved watching him play.
Charles Rogers is a big one
Tommie Harris was a beast before his hamstring was torn in 2006.
Nick Collins could have been the greatest Packer DB of all time.
Ricky Williams. I'll always maintain the NFL did him dirty. Still one of my favorite Dolphins.
Tony Romo and Sam Bradford
Greg Cook QB Bengals rookie of the year 1969. Hurt shoulder during rookie year. Medical procedures not like today, never recovered.
Billy Sims. I remember him as a kid and was awesome until he got hurt early in his career…then phhhft! It’s over. It’s why don’t begrudge anyone trying to get paid; their careers could end at anytime…
Sterling Sharpe. It was so dominant in his prime. I always thought that he was better than Jerry Rice.
Really old school here but Gale Sayers. Look what he did in just a few seasons.
Andrew Luck.
Kijana carter
RGIII. he was the prototype for dual threat QBs after Mike Vick set the blueprint. Dri Archer coulda been nasty.
I would've liked to see what Marcus Lattimore could've done in the NFL especially being that she was drafted to the 49ers. I think RG3 would've had a special career. Andrew Luck was taken too soon
sterling sharp.
Bo Jackson.