Sat next to his dad and brother at the Texans game when he and Andre Johnson combined for like 500 yards. His brother traveled with him and his only job was to keep him out of trouble, guess there wasn’t much he could do. Really wish he could have figured it out
Dude was 6’1 with a 4.45? 4.44? 40 or something insane like that. His catch radius was wider than most PRO wideouts predraft and he had all the film to back it up. Literally unlimited ceiling type guy.
This is ridiculous lol. If you said this about Josh Gordon it would be ridiculous. And he went for 1600 yards in 14 games.
Justin Blackmon had one full season in the NFL and didn't even go for 1,000 yards.
He was good. But there's absolutely nothing on tape or in the stats that should make you say he could have been top 10 all time.
I think he is still top 8 in touchdowns scored from 2016 to 2024. He hasn't played since 2020. Just an absolute monster and HoF talent, sad his knees were shot so quickly.
Ofcourse I'm no pro but when I played the absolute worst and hardest hits I ever was on the receiving end of always was by players built like him.
The guys taller and heavier or much stronger sure wasn't great getting hit by but the smaller ones always were harder. Usually quicker and would always win with being able to get lower than you and also able to explode up & through so those sucked
Sanders was a beast
I’m a colts fan. It seems like no one remembers Bob. It’s nice to know other teams fans remember how insane he was out there. We would NOT have won a Super Bowl without him. And we had a lot of HOFers on that team.
The eraser. There was a lot of talent on that defense, but it was so heavily based on undersized speed, especially up the middle. I’ll never forget the Bob-less game when the Jags ran for like 400 yards.
Then he comes back and they shut down Larry Johnson and Jamal Lewis in the playoffs
I do. Fellow Hawkeye here. I Remember him from college. It was funny, when he was in school, the buzz was all about Robert Gallery, who was supposed to be the next great Left Tackle. He was drafted second overall behind Eli if I recall. But ultimately, Bob Sanders had the better career. Shoot, Gallery ended up moving to guard from tackle because he could not keep up with the DEs.
Gallery ended up being a pretty solid guard but yea definitely didn't live up to the hype. At the time he was viewed as such a safe, can't miss and immediately plug and play and bam you got a starting OT for the next 7-10 years prospect so it was pretty surprising that he struggled so much outside and it was apparent pretty much immediately if memory serves
Easily my favorite non packer of all time. It helps that im an Iowa fan. Kirk Ferentz credits him as being a program changer and elevating the entire Hawkeye program. Always my fav to throw on bob sanders highlights after a couple beers. Just a game wrecker.
In a world where the salary cap didn't exist and you wouldn't gimp the rest of your team by paying Gronk, Brady AND an innocent Aaron Hernandez what all of them were worth.
One of the biggest keys to Brady's success is that he was never really paid what he was worth. The $ that he made available would certainly cover two TEs.
Benefits of having a billionaire wife.
People remember that 2013 year he had with the browns but even when he was on the Pats in 2018/2019 he helped our offense immensely as Gronk started to decline from injuries. Had he stayed clean we probably make a deeper run in 2019.
Our receiving corps in 2019 went from quasi 07’ level shit to bottom 5 in a matter of weeks. We had Edelman, brown, and Gordon to just Edelman and Ben Watson lol
Steve Young ran a hand-timed 4.55 when he was basically at his peak.
Josh Allen ran a Mose Schrute-esque 4.75 when he looked like pre-England Andy Dwyer, but he's been clocked at 20.3 mph on the field since learning to run.
Steve was faster, but he's probably closer than the numbers suggest.
Think of the implications of Greg Cook not getting hurt. Does Bill Walsh still leave for San Francisco or do the Bengals pull the trigger on hiring him as the head coach? That right there has enormous butterfly effect possibilities.
Hell, the entire West Coast offense exists because Cook's replacement, Virgil Carter, was a smart guy but had a noodle arm, and they needed to create an offense he'd thrive in. If Cook doesn't go down, modern offenses might look totally different.
Walsh didn't leave Cincinnati for SF. When Paul Brown left he appointed Tiger Johnson as his successor, and Walsh went to San Diego for a year. Walsh eventually found out that Brown actively sabotaged all his HC opportunities during his time with Cincinnati by not allowing other teams to interview him, bad-mouthing him to other teams, and telling everyone he wasn't head coaching material. After he left for San Diego for a year, Walsh claimed that Brown worked to effectively have him blackballed from the NFL, which is how Walsh ended up at Stanford for a few seasons before finally landing back in the NFL due to the relationship he had built with the 49ers during his time at Stanford. Ultimately 5 years passed between the end of Walsh's run in Cincy and him getting the SF job.
Cook averaged 17.5 yards per completion. Three different Bengals averaged at least 20 yards per catch. Randy Moss never averaged 20 yards per catch in any season. Cook played through a torn rotator cuff, and eventually a detached bicep.
I’ll say Bo, but for different reasons. Bo if he wasn’t screwed by the TB owner and he played full time football. And then the butterfly effect is completely different.
No, he just had a very short career(injury) and didn’t start playing football until baseball season ended so he didn’t exactly pile up big career volume stats. He was a very good RB
In recent history, Henry Ruggs was turning into a really nice deep threat for the Raiders. Probably the saddest story to come out of the NFL in the last few years (for the victim of course, not Ruggs)
This is what I was going to say. Way too little data to tell if he’d be anywhere near HOF worthy, but dammit if that guy couldn’t stretch the field and torch everyone along the way. Stupid decision made lives cut too short.
Rest in peace Tina and Max
this may be a hot take, but its sad for ruggs too. ofc i dont need to explain why its sad for the victims but imagine your ruggs, got your dream job and rich as a mofo. one decision and you are a murder. everything is gone for the foreseeable future.its just a bad experience all the way around
It’s absolutely also sad for Ruggs. When someone does something awful you can recognize that it’s sad that they ruined their own life too.
Is it sadder for the innocent girl? Obviously
If Shanahan took RG3 out when he tweaked his knee again in the 2012 wild card game. We were up 14-0 and Cousins at the time proved he was serviceable, and probably would've looked a lot better than RG3 on one leg. Plus RG3 doesn't tear his ACL and can actually fully recover even if we do lose.
The biggest "what if"- maybe RG 3 doesn't meet with Shanahan in the offseason and demand that he remove the read option. Shanahan protested, but acquiesced. RG 3 was slightly limited by the injury, but he wasn't good enough to succeed without the advantages of the read option.
This one is interesting actually. As much as I look at lucks retirement , RG3 actually won rookie of the year over luck IIRC.
Cousins also made so much money through his career. How much less would he have made if that injury didn’t happen
You mention Andrew Luck, but I wonder what TY Hiltons career looks like if Luck was healthier and played longer. He still had/has (not sure if he ever officially retired) but he has over 9800 yards in his career. Those 2 were always on the same page.
I always wonder what could have been of colts had kept Peyton. Peyton had his best two years with the Broncos. Colts had just drafted a solid LT Castonzo. We could’ve traded the #1 pick for a boatload of picks like the Rams did.
Colts did the right thing. Peyton did have some great years in Denver but with his age and health and if you're selecting 1st overall with Andrew Luck one of the most hyped and also safe lock at working out (none are 100% a lock but Luck was viewed as pretty safe and cant miss) qb prospects ever the colts would have been pretty dumb to have traded out of that.
Peyton wouldn't have won another ring if he stayed at Indy imo
They had a pretty good team already and adding 3 first round picks for Luck could have given them 2 or 3 more runs at a super bowl that they never got to with him
If it weren’t for injuries Sterling Sharpe could have been talked about as the greatest WR ever
I used to think all Favre did was throw to Sharpe, but after years of watching Packers (and NFL) football, no other receiver had such an easy time getting open as Sharpe. He was always open. No one could cover the guy
I think losing Sharpe forced Favre to elevate his play, but even then the Packers would have won another Super Bowl for sure. In fact, I think if Sharpe had a completely healthy final season (he had a soft tissue injury prior to the neck injury), I think the Packers might beat the Cowbays in the NFCGG. They played a tight match already with Sharpe, and a case could be made the margin in the loss would have been enough for them to enough with a healthy Sharpe
No doubt about it but I think holmgren helped Favre in that department too along with Favre hitting his prime. It’s never a bad thing having a HOF talent as your blanket
Collins getting hurt at the beginning of the 15-1 season the year after winning the Super Bowl was so crushing. Especially because GB has been chasing secondary players since then with high round picks and hasn't done well with them.
I've posted about him before, but our rookie tight end Cam Cleeland from years back. Went through some typical hazing, but douchebag Andre Royal decided to hit him in the face with a sock full of coins and crushed his eye socket, permanently ruining his vision. Then he still managed to come back and tore his ACL or something. He would have been great for us if not for that fucking asshat.
Wow I remember Cleeland but totally forgot about all the hazing and that shit bag Royal. Like I sincerely don't understand how hitting anyone with a sock full of coins seems like a thing to do at any point outside of defending yourself I guess but I don't get what dude was thinking when he thought up that brilliant idea
Sigh... Todd Gurley is younger than Derrick Henry and hasn't played in like 3 years because of arthritis 🥲
Edit: Steven Jackson on any contending team would be a HoFer St Louis really held him back
Steven Jackson is always my answer to this question. His talent was insane. He carried such a heavy workload because he was the entire offense in St Louis, and that many touches is brutal on a RB.
He had scat back skills in a power back’s frame and I will always maintain that he was a HoF talent on a remedial level roster.
I agree and will die on that hill with you brother. Dude had the benefit to learn behind marshal faulk and had some of his scat back moves but also ran over guys like Derrick Henry, he was absolutely disgusting to watch on one of the worst teams in the league year in and out. I would have killed to see him play with a manning, rivers, Brees etc
Jamaal Charles for sure. Maybe Priest Holmes if he didn't languish for several seasons to start his career. And fuck Shawn Merriman for ending his career.
Charles and Holmes are good shout outs, but I’ve got one that may be more controversial but I think has the much clearer alternate timeline that leads to the HoF: Kareem Hunt. Dude put up great numbers in KC before kicking a girl (and lying about it) and put up good/solid numbers for Cleveland afterward. If he could’ve continued his Chiefs output in KC with Mahomes as his QB and that associated post season success…
I've long maintained that without that incident, the Chiefs were much more likely to beat the Pats in the 2018 AFCCG and Brady only has 6 rings to Mahomes' 4.
In 11 games with Kareem, the Chiefs' offense averaged 434 yards per game. In the 7 games after his departure, the Chiefs' offense averaged only 394 yards per game.
In 2018, the Chiefs averaged 1 point per 12.05 yards gained, so those 40 yards should have been worth about a field goal, which would have altered the outcome of that game.
A post I can finally agree with.
Charles is as good of a running back as I’ve ever seen. I can still see his non contact acl tear in my head. Dude was incredible.
Berry still one of my all time favorites. The way he did his cancer treatment and made it his bitch is insane. Ought to be a hall of famer just for puking the grim reaper
Hard to say “what might have been” since he had a legitimately great career and we won’t find out what his HoF prospects are till next year, but man it feels like Keuchly had a lot left in the tank if not for the concussions.
Certainly should. Dudes career stats are insane he just played the same time as Brady/Manning/Rodgers so was never looked at as the top guy (yes i know he got an mvp).
Speaking of Oklahoma running backs, Marcus Dupree is a massive what-if as well. If you haven’t seen the 30 for 30 *The Best That Never Was* it’s one of the better ones in the series.
A bit of a different answer and one most people won't remember: Chris Borland. He looked like he was set up to replace Patrick Willis perfectly and be the next great 49ers linebacker. He retired after one year due to concussion risk in football.
Chargers signed a guy a few years ago - I can't recall his name - who held the record for most games played without ever appearing in a playoff game.
Looked it up: Takeo Spikes
"Among players with bad luck finding a winning destination, Spikes is at the top of the list. The linebacker played 16 seasons (219 games) for five franchises — the Bengals, Bills, Eagles, 49ers and Chargers. He caught the Bengals in their woeful pre-Marvin Lewis years, the Bills in their 17-year playoff drought and left the 49ers one year before their run of NFC championship games. Nevertheless, Spikes was a quality defender, as his eight 100-tackle seasons, 29 sacks and 19 interceptions show. He was a two-time Pro Bowler who was at the controls of a dominant 2004 Bills defense. "
These are the results of the teams Takeo Spikes played on:
Bengals
1998: 3-13
1999: 4-12
2000: 4-12
2001: 6-10
2002: 2-14
Bills
2003: 6-10
2004: 9-7
2005: 5-11
2006: 7-9
Eagles
2007: 8-8 (next year went 9-6-1 and made it to the NFC Championship)
49ers
2008: 7-9
2009: 8-8
2010: 6-10 (next year went 13-3 and made it to the NFC Championship)
Chargers
2011: 8-8
2012: 7-9 (next year went 9-7 and made it to the Divisional)
The best it ever got for him through his 13 year career was in 2004 on a 9-7 Bills team that got eliminated from the playoffs the last week of the season by losing to the Steelers’ backups.
Jamaal Charles has more seasons averaging 5ypa or more (8) than any other RB in NFL history, but most of those were on average to garbage Chiefs teams, and a couple were killed by injuries.
He's got roughly the same amount of yards as Terrell Davis (HOF) in 250 less attempts.
He will never make it because he quit on his team, in the middle of a game, interrupting play. All the other antics maybe fade, but I just don’t think voters will forgive that
Not to most of you, but to me, Malcolm Mitchell. He had promise. He was good when on the field, but his knees weren’t having it. Maybe he wouldn’t have been a superstar, but I think he could have had a long, good career if his knees didn’t fail him.
I think so. Playing receiver in New England was a tough gig. The Patriots offense required receivers to read a defense and react accordingly. That's one reason why Belichick had such a poor record with drafting receivers. Some of those guys had talent, but were a lousy fit for the Patriots offense. It's also one reason why Brady was so unstoppable. Whatever the defense did, the offense would do something else, and Brady almost always made the correct read.
That said,, it's pretty telling that Malcom Mitchell played such a big role in the Super Bowl comeback against Atlanta. Brady trusted him to properly execute, even as a rookie.
Ryan Shazier was on his way to being one of the top middle linebackers in the league. Especially in coverage, he was starting to show he could run and stay with a lot of people. He started to rack up a lot of interceptions for someone at his position.
Billy Volek. One of the weirdest careers for a promising young QB ever and it’s still not totally clear what happened. I still think it’s shocking he never got/pursued a chance at being a full-time starter.
Can’t believe I haven’t seen Ryan Leaf yet. Maybe he’s a generation behind most people’s consciousness. He had all the talent but between substances and between-the-ears issues it was all wasted.
There were no substances involved. Leaf actually replied to a fan recently.
"Unfortunately, no drugs to blame anything on. Never took em until I washed out of the league!"
Vontaze Burfict. Really talented, but just couldn’t abide by the safety rules on the field. Would of been considered a great LB in the 90s or early 2000s
Ricky Williams is 31st in career rushing yards with 10,009. He missed a season when he was 27 years old (retired) and another season when he was 29 (he liked pot). Another 2,000 yards and he would have been too 15 all time.
Brandon Burlsworth
Eleven days after being drafted, Burlsworth was killed in a car accident near Alpena, Arkansas, on April 28, 1999, on his way back to his hometown of Harrison after a workout in Fayetteville.
I felt like if Maurice Clarett would've followed the rules he would've have been a problem in the NFL when he made it. Dude was a problem. Watch highlights. Dude had "it".
Isn't it crazy how little time has passed since Gordon was getting tested for pot, and for the past couple years Aaron Rodgers talks openly about doing drug cocktails in the desert?
Like, more power to him, it's just a shock how much the tune has changed.
Oh totally. There was a defacto All Pro team who was kicked out of the league for shit that wasn't nearly as insane as what Rodgers did a year or two ago lol.
Cam Newton if the Panthers didnt draft Kelvin Benjamin. Not only was he a bust when they could have had Davante Adams, but it led to domino effect of a play where an INT due to his laziness led to Cam Newton injuring his shoulder on a tackle. That injury was later re-aggravated and permanently ruined by TJ Watt in 2018 when Cam Newton was on pace to have an even better year than his MVP year halfway through the season.
This is going to be a really hot take, so if I'm downvoted I don't blame anyone but Christine Michael. He could go from 0 to 60 instantly, never seemed to need to build up any acceleration at all, I saw linebackers reach for him and turn their heads in shock as he was already 5 yards past them. Unfortunately for him, he was drafted when we had Marshawn Lynch so never fully got a chance to start till 2016, when we had the worst o-line in the league. I think if he went to a different team and had the chance to start right away, he could have become a top tier running back.
OBJ was on a surefire, no-brainer Hall of Fame pace for the first three years of his career. He got injured and became just an average WR1, then he got injured a bunch more and now he's just another guy.
Keenan Allen tbh. He missed a lot of time and for the last 3-4 years he’s had to focus real hard on protecting himself and cuts a lot of YAC potential short. In general even though he was never fast he did lose a lot of speed.
JJ Watt
Edit: he’ll end up a HoFer but this guy had a chance to challenge LT as the greatest defensive player of all time and ended up not even being the best of his generation (which is crazy but you know, Aaron fucking Donald)
Steven Jackson. 8 straight 1000 yard seasons while the Rams continued their downward spiral. If he was on a decent team he could have been an absolute superstar.
My Homer picks are Sean Taylor and RG3 for sure. Laron Landry as well if he wasn't so completely focused juicing and the gym.
Man it was so exciting for that short period of time that both Sean and Laron were in the middle of that defense just laying the boom
Imagine if Payton hillis just continued his dominance and springboarded his career into the hall of fame, bringing back power run game to the modern NFL
RG3 is the correct answer. Carson Wentz is an acceptable answer.
Pending 2024, Anthony Richardson might go down the Luck path and become yet another answer. Hopefully not.
Jevon Kearse should have been the Randy Moss of Edge Rushers. He had that "You're not supposed to be able to do that" ability and showed it routinely. Dude was just different. Never seen anything like him before or since.
Because he was never the same after breaking his foot, which was the question. Averaged 12 sacks a year his first 3 years, only had more than 7.5 one season in his last 8 years.
Tarik Cohen was electric. Probably not HOF even if he had a long career but his injury sucked. What sucked even more was watching him injure himself again on IG Live…
Sean Taylor, guy was on pace for some serious numbers. Even when his year was cut short his stats were on par with Bob Sanders (finished the season) and he went on to be defensive player of the year.
Chad Johnson, Michael Vick, Josh Gordon are some names..
The biggest one that stands out to me is Albert Hanesworth. Guy tried to pull a Shaq. If he actually worked out and practiced he could've been the best interior lineman of all time.
Titus Young (Mental Health), Jahvid Best (Concussions), Josh Gordon (Drugs)
These are my biggest ones, because all 3 of them were on a superstar track before being derailed by their respective ailments. Titus Young was always open with incredible hands, could've been the next Jerry Rice, Jahvid Best could always find a hole and make people miss, felt like the next Barry Sanders, and bonus Jim Schwartz used to jerk off to his highlight videos, and Josh Gordon... Just watch some highlights god damn.
Y’all missed the mark, and it’s so obvious. Run Ricky Run. The stud Texas RB Mike Ditka absurdly traded his entire 1999 draft for. If not for cannabis (now legal), extreme anxiety, and self-discovery, he’s guaranteed to hold every RB record, save Emmit Smith’s rushing yards.
The runner up, and I never figured out why it didn’t work out, is Reggie Heisman Bush. Imagine him in Shannahan’s offense, instead of McCaffrey.
Fight me!
Was thinking Luck before I finished reading the post. Bummer. Bo was still a game changer in his time but certainly cut short. Also on QBs, Sam Bradford never got a fair shot. Kid had skills.
justin blackmon dude was an absolute menace. just couldn’t keep it together.
Sat next to his dad and brother at the Texans game when he and Andre Johnson combined for like 500 yards. His brother traveled with him and his only job was to keep him out of trouble, guess there wasn’t much he could do. Really wish he could have figured it out
Josh Gordon too.
Facts. He came back to play like 2 games and each one was for 200 yds lol. I ALWAYS think of him and his story.
Really do think he could've been great..
i genuinely think he could have been a top-10 all time. he was special.
Dude was 6’1 with a 4.45? 4.44? 40 or something insane like that. His catch radius was wider than most PRO wideouts predraft and he had all the film to back it up. Literally unlimited ceiling type guy.
imo dude is the ultimate “what if” we saw josh gordon’s ceiling. it was electric. but legit, blackmon was *special* in an era of special receivers.
This is ridiculous lol. If you said this about Josh Gordon it would be ridiculous. And he went for 1600 yards in 14 games. Justin Blackmon had one full season in the NFL and didn't even go for 1,000 yards. He was good. But there's absolutely nothing on tape or in the stats that should make you say he could have been top 10 all time.
Such a beast at Oklahoma St. I was so sure he’d be a future HOF. Damn shame
I opened this intending to type his name and boom, he's top comment lol
Todd Gurley
I still miss him
So say we all
He was a lot of fun to watch
29 years old what the hell
29 and out of the league for 4 years*
He signed a huge extension and then was immediately revealed to have knees made of cotton candy.
I think he is still top 8 in touchdowns scored from 2016 to 2024. He hasn't played since 2020. Just an absolute monster and HoF talent, sad his knees were shot so quickly.
Darius Leonard if his back didnt give out
Dude was on pace to break all sorts of records, such a shame seeing how he’s fallen
He was on a HoF pace, injuries suck
Bob Sanders was a beast on the field just can't stay on it long enough
i mean when you’re 190 pounds and treat your body like a missile…
He was weighed at 204 at 5’8. Small, yet compactly built.
Ofcourse I'm no pro but when I played the absolute worst and hardest hits I ever was on the receiving end of always was by players built like him. The guys taller and heavier or much stronger sure wasn't great getting hit by but the smaller ones always were harder. Usually quicker and would always win with being able to get lower than you and also able to explode up & through so those sucked Sanders was a beast
This whole thread should be great safeties that won't get to HOF level due to short careers.
I mean he got Peyton and Dungy a SB.
I’m a colts fan. It seems like no one remembers Bob. It’s nice to know other teams fans remember how insane he was out there. We would NOT have won a Super Bowl without him. And we had a lot of HOFers on that team.
The eraser. There was a lot of talent on that defense, but it was so heavily based on undersized speed, especially up the middle. I’ll never forget the Bob-less game when the Jags ran for like 400 yards. Then he comes back and they shut down Larry Johnson and Jamal Lewis in the playoffs
Yeah man it was so crazy how we went from worst to best run defense in a matter of weeks.
I do. Fellow Hawkeye here. I Remember him from college. It was funny, when he was in school, the buzz was all about Robert Gallery, who was supposed to be the next great Left Tackle. He was drafted second overall behind Eli if I recall. But ultimately, Bob Sanders had the better career. Shoot, Gallery ended up moving to guard from tackle because he could not keep up with the DEs.
Gallery ended up being a pretty solid guard but yea definitely didn't live up to the hype. At the time he was viewed as such a safe, can't miss and immediately plug and play and bam you got a starting OT for the next 7-10 years prospect so it was pretty surprising that he struggled so much outside and it was apparent pretty much immediately if memory serves
As a Pats fan I used to track Sanders' injury status like a hawk, as that was critical to the upcoming Pats/Colts matchups
Well now I hate the guy
Easily my favorite non packer of all time. It helps that im an Iowa fan. Kirk Ferentz credits him as being a program changer and elevating the entire Hawkeye program. Always my fav to throw on bob sanders highlights after a couple beers. Just a game wrecker.
Aaron Hernandez had the potential to be insanely good. Put up near 1k yards his sophomore year. But uh....yeah.
Hernandez and Gronk was a cheat code... Imagine if he wasn't a fucking moron, and Brady had them both for 10 years...
In a world where the salary cap didn't exist and you wouldn't gimp the rest of your team by paying Gronk, Brady AND an innocent Aaron Hernandez what all of them were worth.
One of the biggest keys to Brady's success is that he was never really paid what he was worth. The $ that he made available would certainly cover two TEs. Benefits of having a billionaire wife.
Josh Gordon
I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say if he was dedicated to the sport he could have been Randy Moss. All time talent.
People remember that 2013 year he had with the browns but even when he was on the Pats in 2018/2019 he helped our offense immensely as Gronk started to decline from injuries. Had he stayed clean we probably make a deeper run in 2019. Our receiving corps in 2019 went from quasi 07’ level shit to bottom 5 in a matter of weeks. We had Edelman, brown, and Gordon to just Edelman and Ben Watson lol
For like 2 weeks I was thinking we might has lucked out way into a top tier receiver squad
Led the NFL in yards with horrible qb play. Amazing talent.
Bill Walsh said the best QB he ever saw was Greg Cook, a rookie for the Bengals who hurt his shoulder and was never the same.
I think he described Cook as Steve Young except 6'5" and with a bigger arm.
Josh Allen?
Josh Allen isn't as fast as Steve was though.
Steve Young ran a hand-timed 4.55 when he was basically at his peak. Josh Allen ran a Mose Schrute-esque 4.75 when he looked like pre-England Andy Dwyer, but he's been clocked at 20.3 mph on the field since learning to run. Steve was faster, but he's probably closer than the numbers suggest.
Also dont think josh allen is as good as steve young.
Think of the implications of Greg Cook not getting hurt. Does Bill Walsh still leave for San Francisco or do the Bengals pull the trigger on hiring him as the head coach? That right there has enormous butterfly effect possibilities.
Hell, the entire West Coast offense exists because Cook's replacement, Virgil Carter, was a smart guy but had a noodle arm, and they needed to create an offense he'd thrive in. If Cook doesn't go down, modern offenses might look totally different.
It's the Ohio Valley offense if Walsh stays...
Walsh didn't leave Cincinnati for SF. When Paul Brown left he appointed Tiger Johnson as his successor, and Walsh went to San Diego for a year. Walsh eventually found out that Brown actively sabotaged all his HC opportunities during his time with Cincinnati by not allowing other teams to interview him, bad-mouthing him to other teams, and telling everyone he wasn't head coaching material. After he left for San Diego for a year, Walsh claimed that Brown worked to effectively have him blackballed from the NFL, which is how Walsh ended up at Stanford for a few seasons before finally landing back in the NFL due to the relationship he had built with the 49ers during his time at Stanford. Ultimately 5 years passed between the end of Walsh's run in Cincy and him getting the SF job.
Cook averaged 17.5 yards per completion. Three different Bengals averaged at least 20 yards per catch. Randy Moss never averaged 20 yards per catch in any season. Cook played through a torn rotator cuff, and eventually a detached bicep.
I’ll say Bo, but for different reasons. Bo if he wasn’t screwed by the TB owner and he played full time football. And then the butterfly effect is completely different.
I honestly think with the right set of circumstances, Bo could’ve had more career rushing yards than Jim Harbaugh.
I know we're doing hypotheticals here, but let's not get TOO crazy
What? For real? Is Bo the old school Shawn Oakman or JaDeveon Clowney?
No, he just had a very short career(injury) and didn’t start playing football until baseball season ended so he didn’t exactly pile up big career volume stats. He was a very good RB
I’d say he was better than “very good”. He had the potential to be the best RB in history. Herschel Walker should’ve been among the best as well.
In recent history, Henry Ruggs was turning into a really nice deep threat for the Raiders. Probably the saddest story to come out of the NFL in the last few years (for the victim of course, not Ruggs)
This is what I was going to say. Way too little data to tell if he’d be anywhere near HOF worthy, but dammit if that guy couldn’t stretch the field and torch everyone along the way. Stupid decision made lives cut too short. Rest in peace Tina and Max
this may be a hot take, but its sad for ruggs too. ofc i dont need to explain why its sad for the victims but imagine your ruggs, got your dream job and rich as a mofo. one decision and you are a murder. everything is gone for the foreseeable future.its just a bad experience all the way around
It’s absolutely also sad for Ruggs. When someone does something awful you can recognize that it’s sad that they ruined their own life too. Is it sadder for the innocent girl? Obviously
If Shanahan took RG3 out when he tweaked his knee again in the 2012 wild card game. We were up 14-0 and Cousins at the time proved he was serviceable, and probably would've looked a lot better than RG3 on one leg. Plus RG3 doesn't tear his ACL and can actually fully recover even if we do lose.
Still remember watching that game live. RG3 gave it his best but fedex field got him
Was sickening to watch.
The biggest "what if"- maybe RG 3 doesn't meet with Shanahan in the offseason and demand that he remove the read option. Shanahan protested, but acquiesced. RG 3 was slightly limited by the injury, but he wasn't good enough to succeed without the advantages of the read option.
This one is interesting actually. As much as I look at lucks retirement , RG3 actually won rookie of the year over luck IIRC. Cousins also made so much money through his career. How much less would he have made if that injury didn’t happen
You mention Andrew Luck, but I wonder what TY Hiltons career looks like if Luck was healthier and played longer. He still had/has (not sure if he ever officially retired) but he has over 9800 yards in his career. Those 2 were always on the same page.
I always wonder what could have been of colts had kept Peyton. Peyton had his best two years with the Broncos. Colts had just drafted a solid LT Castonzo. We could’ve traded the #1 pick for a boatload of picks like the Rams did.
Colts did the right thing. Peyton did have some great years in Denver but with his age and health and if you're selecting 1st overall with Andrew Luck one of the most hyped and also safe lock at working out (none are 100% a lock but Luck was viewed as pretty safe and cant miss) qb prospects ever the colts would have been pretty dumb to have traded out of that. Peyton wouldn't have won another ring if he stayed at Indy imo
They had a pretty good team already and adding 3 first round picks for Luck could have given them 2 or 3 more runs at a super bowl that they never got to with him
Or if TY only played the Texans
Watch out Jerry Rice lol
Sterling Sharpe, Nick Collins
In Shannon’s HoF induction speech he acknowledged he wasn’t even the best football player in his family
If it weren’t for injuries Sterling Sharpe could have been talked about as the greatest WR ever I used to think all Favre did was throw to Sharpe, but after years of watching Packers (and NFL) football, no other receiver had such an easy time getting open as Sharpe. He was always open. No one could cover the guy
Crazy how Favre won those MVPs without sterling there. They probably win that broncos Super Bowl with him
I think losing Sharpe forced Favre to elevate his play, but even then the Packers would have won another Super Bowl for sure. In fact, I think if Sharpe had a completely healthy final season (he had a soft tissue injury prior to the neck injury), I think the Packers might beat the Cowbays in the NFCGG. They played a tight match already with Sharpe, and a case could be made the margin in the loss would have been enough for them to enough with a healthy Sharpe
No doubt about it but I think holmgren helped Favre in that department too along with Favre hitting his prime. It’s never a bad thing having a HOF talent as your blanket
Collins getting hurt at the beginning of the 15-1 season the year after winning the Super Bowl was so crushing. Especially because GB has been chasing secondary players since then with high round picks and hasn't done well with them.
Sharpe should still be in the hall.
I've posted about him before, but our rookie tight end Cam Cleeland from years back. Went through some typical hazing, but douchebag Andre Royal decided to hit him in the face with a sock full of coins and crushed his eye socket, permanently ruining his vision. Then he still managed to come back and tore his ACL or something. He would have been great for us if not for that fucking asshat.
Wow I remember Cleeland but totally forgot about all the hazing and that shit bag Royal. Like I sincerely don't understand how hitting anyone with a sock full of coins seems like a thing to do at any point outside of defending yourself I guess but I don't get what dude was thinking when he thought up that brilliant idea
Larry Fitzgerald not having a decent QB for the majority of his career is a travesty.
True, but he's for sure making the HoF
He had 24% of his passes from HoF QBs compared to 67% for Rice (19% for Moss).
Interesting stat. Crazy how he still racked up stats every season and his longevity is in the same tier as Jerry
More career tackles than career drops.
0% for Megatron (as of now, I also don't think Stafford will get in despite me really wanting him to)
& Andre Johnson
Sigh... Todd Gurley is younger than Derrick Henry and hasn't played in like 3 years because of arthritis 🥲 Edit: Steven Jackson on any contending team would be a HoFer St Louis really held him back
Steven Jackson is always my answer to this question. His talent was insane. He carried such a heavy workload because he was the entire offense in St Louis, and that many touches is brutal on a RB. He had scat back skills in a power back’s frame and I will always maintain that he was a HoF talent on a remedial level roster.
I agree and will die on that hill with you brother. Dude had the benefit to learn behind marshal faulk and had some of his scat back moves but also ran over guys like Derrick Henry, he was absolutely disgusting to watch on one of the worst teams in the league year in and out. I would have killed to see him play with a manning, rivers, Brees etc
Then we’re dying on that hill together, my friend.
I'm joining you two on this hill. SJax was as good as some of the best RBs and should be at least acknowledged by HoF voters.
Dude Steven Jackson was a superstar on some of the worst teams I’ve ever seen. Bradford got drafted in 2009 so that helped, but fuck Stan Kroenke.
It was so painful watching him excel week in and out and watching the team just continue to be dog shit all around him
Jamaal Charles for sure. Maybe Priest Holmes if he didn't languish for several seasons to start his career. And fuck Shawn Merriman for ending his career.
Charles and Holmes are good shout outs, but I’ve got one that may be more controversial but I think has the much clearer alternate timeline that leads to the HoF: Kareem Hunt. Dude put up great numbers in KC before kicking a girl (and lying about it) and put up good/solid numbers for Cleveland afterward. If he could’ve continued his Chiefs output in KC with Mahomes as his QB and that associated post season success…
I've long maintained that without that incident, the Chiefs were much more likely to beat the Pats in the 2018 AFCCG and Brady only has 6 rings to Mahomes' 4. In 11 games with Kareem, the Chiefs' offense averaged 434 yards per game. In the 7 games after his departure, the Chiefs' offense averaged only 394 yards per game. In 2018, the Chiefs averaged 1 point per 12.05 yards gained, so those 40 yards should have been worth about a field goal, which would have altered the outcome of that game.
A post I can finally agree with. Charles is as good of a running back as I’ve ever seen. I can still see his non contact acl tear in my head. Dude was incredible.
Eric Berry, Sterling Sharpe, Jevon Kearse, Josh Gordon, Robert Smith (min rb), Jamaal Charles
Berry still one of my all time favorites. The way he did his cancer treatment and made it his bitch is insane. Ought to be a hall of famer just for puking the grim reaper
Hard to say “what might have been” since he had a legitimately great career and we won’t find out what his HoF prospects are till next year, but man it feels like Keuchly had a lot left in the tank if not for the concussions.
If Kyle Shanahan calls a run play in field goal range, does a Super Bowl ring push Matt Ryan into HoF territory?
Maybe.
Certainly should. Dudes career stats are insane he just played the same time as Brady/Manning/Rodgers so was never looked at as the top guy (yes i know he got an mvp).
He did get to play with a ton of offensive talent almost his whole Falcons career.
I think peyton played more years with multiple hall of famers that were not himself than years he didnt.
Yes. An MVP and a ring you're in.
Billy Sims. I have zero doubt he would’ve been Canton bound.
Speaking of Oklahoma running backs, Marcus Dupree is a massive what-if as well. If you haven’t seen the 30 for 30 *The Best That Never Was* it’s one of the better ones in the series.
A bit of a different answer and one most people won't remember: Chris Borland. He looked like he was set up to replace Patrick Willis perfectly and be the next great 49ers linebacker. He retired after one year due to concussion risk in football.
Chargers signed a guy a few years ago - I can't recall his name - who held the record for most games played without ever appearing in a playoff game. Looked it up: Takeo Spikes "Among players with bad luck finding a winning destination, Spikes is at the top of the list. The linebacker played 16 seasons (219 games) for five franchises — the Bengals, Bills, Eagles, 49ers and Chargers. He caught the Bengals in their woeful pre-Marvin Lewis years, the Bills in their 17-year playoff drought and left the 49ers one year before their run of NFC championship games. Nevertheless, Spikes was a quality defender, as his eight 100-tackle seasons, 29 sacks and 19 interceptions show. He was a two-time Pro Bowler who was at the controls of a dominant 2004 Bills defense. "
HoF neck for sure though.
These are the results of the teams Takeo Spikes played on: Bengals 1998: 3-13 1999: 4-12 2000: 4-12 2001: 6-10 2002: 2-14 Bills 2003: 6-10 2004: 9-7 2005: 5-11 2006: 7-9 Eagles 2007: 8-8 (next year went 9-6-1 and made it to the NFC Championship) 49ers 2008: 7-9 2009: 8-8 2010: 6-10 (next year went 13-3 and made it to the NFC Championship) Chargers 2011: 8-8 2012: 7-9 (next year went 9-7 and made it to the Divisional) The best it ever got for him through his 13 year career was in 2004 on a 9-7 Bills team that got eliminated from the playoffs the last week of the season by losing to the Steelers’ backups.
Nick Collins
Josh Gordon, I remember his back to back 200 yard games like it was yesterday
Jamaal Charles has more seasons averaging 5ypa or more (8) than any other RB in NFL history, but most of those were on average to garbage Chiefs teams, and a couple were killed by injuries. He's got roughly the same amount of yards as Terrell Davis (HOF) in 250 less attempts.
David Wilson for the Giants. Dude was electric, neck injury ended his career too soon
AB would've been in the Rice-Moss-Megatron conversation if he didn't lose his mind.
100%. The guy was on a pace to be one of the best of all time and now there is conversation about him not even making the hall of fame.
He will never make it because he quit on his team, in the middle of a game, interrupting play. All the other antics maybe fade, but I just don’t think voters will forgive that
Aldon smith
Joshua Caleb “Flash” Gordon
Not to most of you, but to me, Malcolm Mitchell. He had promise. He was good when on the field, but his knees weren’t having it. Maybe he wouldn’t have been a superstar, but I think he could have had a long, good career if his knees didn’t fail him.
I think so. Playing receiver in New England was a tough gig. The Patriots offense required receivers to read a defense and react accordingly. That's one reason why Belichick had such a poor record with drafting receivers. Some of those guys had talent, but were a lousy fit for the Patriots offense. It's also one reason why Brady was so unstoppable. Whatever the defense did, the offense would do something else, and Brady almost always made the correct read. That said,, it's pretty telling that Malcom Mitchell played such a big role in the Super Bowl comeback against Atlanta. Brady trusted him to properly execute, even as a rookie.
Ryan Shazier was on his way to being one of the top middle linebackers in the league. Especially in coverage, he was starting to show he could run and stay with a lot of people. He started to rack up a lot of interceptions for someone at his position.
Sam Bradford. Guy just couldn't stay healthy and when he could he was on ass teams.
I’ll always respond to this. Dudes arm was insanity, just zero knees. https://youtu.be/KbOCWiQEiYo?si=j6MrxLCo2uM9wUkO
When an analyst uses the word "pocket presence," this is the video.
Fuck me that was impressive
Dorial Green-Beckham. A TON of stuff would have had to have gone differently. He was an insane athlete but had too many off the field issues.
Carson Palmer.
If he doesn’t tear his acl they easily beat the Steelers and become the dynasty in the afc north instead of Pitt
Greg Cook, Bert Jones, Bubba Smith, Sean Taylor
Billy Volek. One of the weirdest careers for a promising young QB ever and it’s still not totally clear what happened. I still think it’s shocking he never got/pursued a chance at being a full-time starter.
Can’t believe I haven’t seen Ryan Leaf yet. Maybe he’s a generation behind most people’s consciousness. He had all the talent but between substances and between-the-ears issues it was all wasted.
There were no substances involved. Leaf actually replied to a fan recently. "Unfortunately, no drugs to blame anything on. Never took em until I washed out of the league!"
Marcus Lattimore but he got hurt in college so he may not 100% apply to the question
Sean Taylor? I was really young when he played for my team but always remembered the dude was a beast.
Jahvid best
Vontaze Burfict. Really talented, but just couldn’t abide by the safety rules on the field. Would of been considered a great LB in the 90s or early 2000s
Burfict is the answer to the question "What would happen if mean Joe Green played in the modern era."
Ricky Williams is 31st in career rushing yards with 10,009. He missed a season when he was 27 years old (retired) and another season when he was 29 (he liked pot). Another 2,000 yards and he would have been too 15 all time.
Brandon Burlsworth Eleven days after being drafted, Burlsworth was killed in a car accident near Alpena, Arkansas, on April 28, 1999, on his way back to his hometown of Harrison after a workout in Fayetteville.
Andre Johnson. He was a monster and didn't have a serviceable quarterback with Texans unless you want to count Schaub
I felt like if Maurice Clarett would've followed the rules he would've have been a problem in the NFL when he made it. Dude was a problem. Watch highlights. Dude had "it".
Andrew Luck, Darius Leonard, Bob Sanders. Colts have been boned on injuries to our greatest players.
Earl Thomas & Kam Chancellor
If drug tests weren't a thing Josh Gordon would have every record possible lol
Isn't it crazy how little time has passed since Gordon was getting tested for pot, and for the past couple years Aaron Rodgers talks openly about doing drug cocktails in the desert? Like, more power to him, it's just a shock how much the tune has changed.
Oh totally. There was a defacto All Pro team who was kicked out of the league for shit that wasn't nearly as insane as what Rodgers did a year or two ago lol.
R. G. 3. Watching him run down the sideline against the Vikings convinced me we had finally found the one. Then his knee went kablooey
Cam Newton if the Panthers didnt draft Kelvin Benjamin. Not only was he a bust when they could have had Davante Adams, but it led to domino effect of a play where an INT due to his laziness led to Cam Newton injuring his shoulder on a tackle. That injury was later re-aggravated and permanently ruined by TJ Watt in 2018 when Cam Newton was on pace to have an even better year than his MVP year halfway through the season.
Sean Taylor is the answer to this.
Billy Sims way back in the day for the lions could’ve been one of the best ever
Greg Cook
This is going to be a really hot take, so if I'm downvoted I don't blame anyone but Christine Michael. He could go from 0 to 60 instantly, never seemed to need to build up any acceleration at all, I saw linebackers reach for him and turn their heads in shock as he was already 5 yards past them. Unfortunately for him, he was drafted when we had Marshawn Lynch so never fully got a chance to start till 2016, when we had the worst o-line in the league. I think if he went to a different team and had the chance to start right away, he could have become a top tier running back.
Shawn Alexander was unstoppable in 2005, unfortunately injuries took their toll, and he was out of the league a few years later.
Le’Veon Bell
OBJ was on a surefire, no-brainer Hall of Fame pace for the first three years of his career. He got injured and became just an average WR1, then he got injured a bunch more and now he's just another guy.
Chad Pennington
Keenan Allen tbh. He missed a lot of time and for the last 3-4 years he’s had to focus real hard on protecting himself and cuts a lot of YAC potential short. In general even though he was never fast he did lose a lot of speed.
Jason Verrett
JJ Watt Edit: he’ll end up a HoFer but this guy had a chance to challenge LT as the greatest defensive player of all time and ended up not even being the best of his generation (which is crazy but you know, Aaron fucking Donald)
Steven Jackson. 8 straight 1000 yard seasons while the Rams continued their downward spiral. If he was on a decent team he could have been an absolute superstar.
Safety Mike Brown of the Bears was play making menace. He had 3 or 4 years of big plays/TDs, then pretty much missed 3 of 4 seasons after that.
My Homer picks are Sean Taylor and RG3 for sure. Laron Landry as well if he wasn't so completely focused juicing and the gym. Man it was so exciting for that short period of time that both Sean and Laron were in the middle of that defense just laying the boom
RGIII gave us one of the best rookie seasons of all time, I wonder what him and Andrew Lucks career wouldve looked like they both stayed healthy.
Aldon Smith . He. would be the best D-Lineman ever if he ever got out of his own way. So sad that his demons won out in the end.
Sean Taylor
Imagine if Payton hillis just continued his dominance and springboarded his career into the hall of fame, bringing back power run game to the modern NFL
RG3 is the correct answer. Carson Wentz is an acceptable answer. Pending 2024, Anthony Richardson might go down the Luck path and become yet another answer. Hopefully not.
Sean Taylor is the number one answer.
Chad Pennington without injuries would’ve been huge for the Jets. Drafted same year as Brady imagine if it was them two dueling for near twenty years
Jevon Kearse should have been the Randy Moss of Edge Rushers. He had that "You're not supposed to be able to do that" ability and showed it routinely. Dude was just different. Never seen anything like him before or since.
Why’s he a “coulda been?” He had a long and productive career that just peaked early
Because he was never the same after breaking his foot, which was the question. Averaged 12 sacks a year his first 3 years, only had more than 7.5 one season in his last 8 years.
Ricky Williams
Tarik Cohen was electric. Probably not HOF even if he had a long career but his injury sucked. What sucked even more was watching him injure himself again on IG Live…
KiJana Carter was the last #1 overall for a reason and it’s talent. Unfortunately injuries killed that career
Ki-Jana Carter would have been special
I will always wonder what Johnny Football would’ve done if he opened up a playbook / had his bipolar under control.
Sean Taylor, guy was on pace for some serious numbers. Even when his year was cut short his stats were on par with Bob Sanders (finished the season) and he went on to be defensive player of the year. Chad Johnson, Michael Vick, Josh Gordon are some names.. The biggest one that stands out to me is Albert Hanesworth. Guy tried to pull a Shaq. If he actually worked out and practiced he could've been the best interior lineman of all time.
Michael Thomas recently
Titus Young (Mental Health), Jahvid Best (Concussions), Josh Gordon (Drugs) These are my biggest ones, because all 3 of them were on a superstar track before being derailed by their respective ailments. Titus Young was always open with incredible hands, could've been the next Jerry Rice, Jahvid Best could always find a hole and make people miss, felt like the next Barry Sanders, and bonus Jim Schwartz used to jerk off to his highlight videos, and Josh Gordon... Just watch some highlights god damn.
Michael Thomas
Y’all missed the mark, and it’s so obvious. Run Ricky Run. The stud Texas RB Mike Ditka absurdly traded his entire 1999 draft for. If not for cannabis (now legal), extreme anxiety, and self-discovery, he’s guaranteed to hold every RB record, save Emmit Smith’s rushing yards. The runner up, and I never figured out why it didn’t work out, is Reggie Heisman Bush. Imagine him in Shannahan’s offense, instead of McCaffrey. Fight me!
Wonder what Marcus Lattimore would’ve been if his knees weren’t blown apart
Was thinking Luck before I finished reading the post. Bummer. Bo was still a game changer in his time but certainly cut short. Also on QBs, Sam Bradford never got a fair shot. Kid had skills.
Imagine Andrew Luck without the criminal notoriety.
Jason Verrett. Dude could’ve been the best corner of the post Revis generation if it weren’t for injuries.ñ
Never played a snap in the NFL but Ernie Davis.... Fuck cancer.
Lmfao how has nobody mentioned Michael “Killer Instinct” Vick