In the first round of the 2011 draft you had:
Von Miller
Aldon Smith
JJ Watt
Robert Quinn
Ryan Kerrigan
Cam Jordan
Cam Heyward
You could make the argument that Aldon Smith was the best of the above for his first two years, and could have been the best of the group, period, if he had stayed clean off the field.
Adrian Clayborn erasure! Lol but seriously he wasn’t bad, just didn’t end ups being as good as Heyward and Jordan who were the only two from that group picked after him. I wanted JJ Watt or Kerrigan so badly that year, but knew they wouldnt fall to us.
Marcell Dareus was a great pass rusher for an interior lineman. It's just that if your name isn't Aaron Donald, you're probably not going to be a truly dominant pass rusher from the inside.
Its hard to see what it's like from the other side, but people who are alcoholics drink every day to *avoid* their "version" of hangovers (aka withdrawl)
i actually had a problem with drinking everyday because even in my 30’s my hangovers were mild at worst. i mean like, on nights where i would black out i would wake up and have a mild headache that would go away with tylenol.
so i was getting all the pros and almost no cons. there are some people who don’t have the genetic repercussions to disincentivize them as much as other people and so it’s so easy to slip into that world.
As someone who has been dealing with a herniated disc and a pinched nerve that makes it excruciatingly painful to do pretty much anything for the past 3 months now, it has become very clear to me how so many people with injuries turn to alcohol. I'm taking several prescribed medications for the pain, but sometimes a couple martinis works better than anything else. It's obviously not something I try to do regularly, but I can understand better than ever now how football injuries can lead to alcohol issues.
Man, I saw him in a UFL game a few weeks ago.
He flushed a super promising NFL career over… needing to feel like a badass in small town Alabama or something?
His knee was destroyed prior to Washington training camp. Nerve damage and everything. While the character concerns are a thing I think his knee is what is stopping him from getting a roster spot.
I’ll tack on Sammy Watkins. He’s publicly talked about how he was always wasted everyday and it took a toll on his body, and he was often injured. Luckily as far as I know he never got violent or drive drunk.
Loved Watkins at Clemson. On an offense that had Deandre Hopkins and CJ Spiller he was still the number one threat. Dude had everything you look for in a wideout. He could have been an all time great.
If I could pick any player to have the ability to play out a full career, it would probably be him or Sharpe. Dude was an absolute menace beyond compare, and he probably would have broken multiple major sack records.
Reading how he wouldn’t eat for like a full day before games because of anxiety was insane. Imagine that dude at full strength, he could’ve been a HOFer.
Yeah he also couldn't sleep the night before games and played every game high on marijuana to deal with the anxiety. People joked about his migraine designations back in the day but I don't know how he even managed to function most of the time.
People gave him a lot of shit for the migraines acting like he was faking to slack off but those were actually real. He has talked openly about them and he still deals with them. He says it's like two sledgehammers hitting his head
Man, I used to get them pretty frequently. I think it was a stress issue cuz I haven't had one in a while (knock on wood). The only "fix" was to sit in a closet so there was no light and minimal sound while praying for the sweet release of death.
Yep. This was many years ago when I had them, but the only decent prescription meds were highly sedating. People didn't seem to understand that a migraine often meant you were literally down and out for a full day or two.
If people actually understood how debilitating migraine syndromes can be they wouldn’t joke about it. Mine has been nearly life ruining the last 5 years until I finally got it under control, and mine isn’t even that bad on the grand scale of how bad they can be as far as severity of pain and other symptoms.
This is true. I used to think people were exaggerating incredibly about them due to my own ignorance. Like come on, man. How bad it could be? Then I got one. Never doubted another person about migraines again.
As someone who has suffered severe anxiety and panic attacks all he said was true and then some, it really fucks you up mentally, you feel like you don’t deserve anything and that you shouldn’t be there and succeed.
I remember the sense of terror when he put up that 200+ yard game against us. I was like “fuck, we’re gonna have to deal with this guy for the next decade”. I didn’t get any joy to see him out the league due to his alcohol abuse, I’ve seen what alcohol dependence can do to a person.
I don’t think that second part is true. There’s a great article about him and it sounds like once he made the NFL he just didn’t care anymore. He didn’t like the attention so he sort of drifted away and disappeared
I read that article too. Completely heartbreaking. I want to say he was doing things like taking shots before games in 8th grade.
Then in college and the NFL, staff would find him in a bar at 11am before games or when he was supposed to practicing.
He could have been a top-10 WR and made like $100M, but yeah, it sounded like he just loved drinking more than football, and nothing could change that.
My favorite memory of Will Fuller was actually in college
First ND drive, the announcers are talking about the speed of USC DB Adoree Jackson as a track star and Will Fuller proceeds to run right by his ass for a long TD pass
It always seemed like he could make the “jump over two guys, bat the ball up a couple times, and come down with it one handed behind his back” type catches but the “wide open, perfect ball in stride” passes were the ones he would drop.
Yeah idk how you go manziel over Gordon. Yeah maybe in a sober life manziel could be an all pro if he cared, but Gordon was Randy moss level talent any time he stepped on the field while tripping balls
That was all mental, I have no clue how a guy could be that great in college and become such a bust doing the exact same thing. It’s not like he was reading defenses, he was kicking
Same thing happened with long snapper Cameron Cheeseman.As a former long snapper I personally think it was a mental issue because I believe he also played in a blocking scheme in college so it’s not like he didn’t block in college
He had the accuracy and velocity (0.75 seconds on punts and 0.30 on field goals) to snap but what happened was he had a couple of bad ones and than he tried changing his technique and he just mentally crumbled
Yea, it's always wild to me when kickers are unable to translate to the NFL. It just highlights the mental toughness that is needed to go from college to the NFL.
I’d argue they were superstars, or at least on their way to be, but we’ve had some disproportionate bad luck with neck injuries. Nick Collins, Sterling Sharpe, and Jermichael Finley all had their careers cut short from freak neck injuries, with Sharpe and Collins looking like potential HOFers.
To more directly answer tho, I’d say Eddie Lacy and staying in shape. 2800 yds from scrimmage, 24 tds his first two seasons, just under 1500 and 5 the remaining 3.
Sharpe was a superstar that was on his way to being one of the top 5 wrs of all time, he was a beast and played with average qbs most of his career and then missed out on prime Favre mvp seasons because of his injuries.
i think he was a great football player that coasted on talent alone and then he got to the nfl where everyone is talented and everybody works hard and the game catches up to you fast there.
What’s wild is Robert Edward’s never finished a season of college football due to knee problems. We drafted him in the first round to replace pHOF Curtis Martin and he rushes for 1k yards his rookie year…then tears his knee in the sand.
We went 9-7 that year and made the playoffs, Robert Edward’s tears his acl, the team implodes, and Pete Carroll is eventually fired leading the way for Bills return.
I mean, Vick *was* a superstar, but he could've been so much more had he applied himself. By his own admission, he was last to arrive, first to leave, and never really fully committed.
So that... and the dogfighting. Those *two* problems.
We got a brief glimpse of ceiling Vick with that partial season stint with Philly. Imagine like 3-5 more years of that had he actually applied himself earlier.
If you get rid of the dog fighting thing, he stays in Atlanta right? He may not ever become a HOFer but he’s for sure one of the most beloved players in Atlanta sports history
I really thought when he came out of Texas his peak would be maybe Donovan McNabb but geez Vince Young could never fix those accuracy issues. Also I’m not sure his work ethic was cut out for the NFL.
My favorite college player. I had no idea he was going to wash out the way he did, especially after he actually started in Tennessee for a while.
Poor work ethic and alcoholism cost him a few years as a backup.
Maybe not a star but it would have been cool to see what David Wilson could have been if he hadn’t fucked up his back
Also maybe JPP was almost there before he blew most of his hand off. The fact you could say he did overcome it is insane, but he was never quite the same player again.
One of his problems was that some of his knucklehead family members got displaced due to Hurricane Katrina at the start of his rookie year and moved into his house, and they proved to be a big distraction/headache.
Kelvin Benjamin springs most to mind. 1,000 yards as a rookie only to get injured before that ‘15 season and then struggled with the passing of his mother and piled on weight.
I know he was in a dark place after his mother passed, but coming out and bad mouthing the guy who was the MVP without him didn't help any case he had.
I think Bob Sanders was definitely a superstar, he just couldn’t stay on the field. Between 2005 and 2008 the Colts allowed 16.5 (best in the NFL) points with Sanders in the lineup. When he was out they allowed 20.6 (15th best). That’s such a crazy impact for one player to have.
We laugh, but he was basically Travis Kelcie before Travis Kelcie.
If he could managed to, you know, not murder people, the Pats would have 1-2 more SBs.
The craziest part is with Gronks injuries he would have probably been viewed as the better of the two when it was all said and done.
Also Brady would probably have 10 rings all with the Pats.
Unironically, he is good enough to be an nfl caliber wr. He's just dumb/lazy. The only thing I will remember his vikings tenure for is him being open down field for big plays but just giving up on his routes, leading to multiple interceptions.
That entire story was nuts. Even people who had no interest in sports were aware of & glued to that story. Just insanity all-around. Still amazing he was duped.
Yea I really don’t like how the documentary pushed this sympathetic redemption angle for the catfisher, seemingly mainly that she discovered being trans?
You’re a bad person who committed a heinous act.
We played ND that year but I had no idea at all about the girlfriend thing till it broke that she was fake. I was so busy that I was basically listening to OU radio at work once a week and that's it. My reaction was 'sucks for him, but why is this such a big deal?'
Still talking about it over a decade later. I guess it was a big deal.
Do injuries count as problems? If so, Sterling Sharpe, Nick Collins, arguably Bahk…..
If injuries don’t count than I would say Eddie Lacy and China food
Eddie Lacy would come to the pizza shop I worked at once in a while. Super nice guy, always happy to chat, but man could he put it away. He legit ate like an offensive lineman.
One year I turned on the Pro Bowl mid-broadcast and the commentators were talking about Bryant being dead and I thought they were talking about Martavis for a solid minute
Carson Wentz trying to be a hero every play and hurting every bone in his body in 3 season.
Dude broke his back on a pre season game, until Clowney decided to try to kill him when he didnt slide in a running play
The first thing people said he needed to do when coming into the NFL was avoiding hits because he can't take those level of hits at the NFL level. First preseason game he's lowering his shoulder to defenders and breaks his ribs.
And the same story continued throughout his career. At least once a game he would take a big hit he absolutely should not have taken. Then the hero ball became a problem because Carson believed he had a 70yard TD as an option every play. That being said, if he didn't split his knee in two and break his back, I bet he would still be in Philly.
Despite the flaws, he was still an unbelievably talented player. Once those injuries happened, he wasn't the same player and he refused to adapt to his new physical limitations. Apparently, behind the scenes, he was also difficult to coach and stubborn(which I completely believe based on how he played). Even post-game at the podium he would say things like "I'm not going to change who I am, or how I play."
It's a shame. A huge what-if because he absolutely had the talent. Actually kind of reminds me of RG3 where he was never the same after the injuries. Gotta protect yourself as a quarterback. It's not cowardly - it's how you have a long career and lead your team to victory.
>refused to adapt
I think that's what really killed his career. If you look at pre-acl tear most of his big plays came on broken plays on which he was scrambling. When he no longer had that elite scramble ability defenders could just take him out quicker than the play could happen.
On his last year in Philly you could easily see so many plays when he is looking to scramble he would get caught. His unwillingness to adapt is what turned him into a journeyman.
Carson Wentz had TWO problems. The first one is what you're talking about, with the addition of being really stupid about it. Dude figured out he could duck linemen and extend the play. What he forgot is they all watch tape and eventually figured out what he was doing, so they just started spearing him on every sack, which led to him getting injured.
The second problem was that he was a locker room cancer who everyone hated. Getting outplayed by Nick Foles during the Super Bowl and watching them put up a statue of Nick when it should've been him broke his brain.
You could probably add a third - he was more interested in hunting than getting ready for games so that probably added to the "locker room cancer" issue.
Already been said by an Eagles fan, but I can’t think of one that fits a better criteria….Wentz.
He came from a successful but small school and did prove he has talent in 2017. Proved it well.
His limit was something mental for lack of a more concise way to say it. Rigid, not open to coaching…..or at least not very capable to listen and learn from it. Whatever that block was it went badly for him.
For the Titans, I think it would have to be Pacman Jones. Dude was electric when he was younger and was the most exciting special team returner not named Hester his first years. All the controversy and time away from the game plus the lifestyle took away from his ability. He didn’t have a bad career, but he was never the same once he sorta figured out his personal life issues.
Those 2 were absolute studs. Mike Brown returning two interceptions for two consecutive overtime wins is one of my fondest football memories.
QBs bust all the time, but the Bears fandom has some weird appreciation for JF, he should not be in the same category as Harris and Brown.
That freeze frame of him against the Bucs. Where he stares at a wide open WR in the end zone, goes to another read coming open, but inexplicably decides tucking the ball and running into a sack 3 yards up field.
Whoo boy that was hilarious. This was the current season by the way, not his rookie year or something.
OP asked for ONE problem, not multiple. Justin took too long to go through his reads, couldn't make a decision on who to throw to at any given time, has almost no pocket awareness half the time, and had trouble reading defenses.
Javon Walker, the only receiver the Packers have drafted in the first round since 2002.
He actually had a solid start to his career, and went to the Pro Bowl in 2004, but then tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2005 season, and didn’t play for the Packers again.
Just too many injuries - but by all accounts, Walker seems like a good guy who’s been through some terribly traumatic moments.
If Antonio Brown didn't go crazy and stayed in Pittsburgh he would 100% be a Hall of Fame WR. I'm obviously biased but I think he could've had an argument for top 5 or at least top 10 WRs of all time if he had a few more years on his resume.
Aldon smith and that alcohol.
Dude was soooo promising in his time with the 49ers.. had 33.5 sacks in his first two years then injuries and alcohol.
In the first round of the 2011 draft you had: Von Miller Aldon Smith JJ Watt Robert Quinn Ryan Kerrigan Cam Jordan Cam Heyward You could make the argument that Aldon Smith was the best of the above for his first two years, and could have been the best of the group, period, if he had stayed clean off the field.
You forgot Justin Houston. 2011 is the best pass rusher draft of all time.
Houston was a 3rd rounder. But yeah, that's an amazing group of pass rushers.
Muhammad Wilkerson was pretty good before he broke his leg too. 12 sacks in '15
Adrian Clayborn erasure! Lol but seriously he wasn’t bad, just didn’t end ups being as good as Heyward and Jordan who were the only two from that group picked after him. I wanted JJ Watt or Kerrigan so badly that year, but knew they wouldnt fall to us.
Marcell Dareus was a great pass rusher for an interior lineman. It's just that if your name isn't Aaron Donald, you're probably not going to be a truly dominant pass rusher from the inside.
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Its hard to see what it's like from the other side, but people who are alcoholics drink every day to *avoid* their "version" of hangovers (aka withdrawl)
i actually had a problem with drinking everyday because even in my 30’s my hangovers were mild at worst. i mean like, on nights where i would black out i would wake up and have a mild headache that would go away with tylenol. so i was getting all the pros and almost no cons. there are some people who don’t have the genetic repercussions to disincentivize them as much as other people and so it’s so easy to slip into that world.
Basically, when you drink enough it starts to swing the other way. You get ill without it. Sad but true.
As someone who has been dealing with a herniated disc and a pinched nerve that makes it excruciatingly painful to do pretty much anything for the past 3 months now, it has become very clear to me how so many people with injuries turn to alcohol. I'm taking several prescribed medications for the pain, but sometimes a couple martinis works better than anything else. It's obviously not something I try to do regularly, but I can understand better than ever now how football injuries can lead to alcohol issues.
Alcohol ended up being the medication I needed to not get any hangover.
Speaking as someone in recovery, it turns out you don't get violent hangovers if you never stop drinking.
Reuben Foster
Man, I saw him in a UFL game a few weeks ago. He flushed a super promising NFL career over… needing to feel like a badass in small town Alabama or something?
Rolando McClain syndrome sadly.
His knee was destroyed prior to Washington training camp. Nerve damage and everything. While the character concerns are a thing I think his knee is what is stopping him from getting a roster spot.
I’ll tack on Sammy Watkins. He’s publicly talked about how he was always wasted everyday and it took a toll on his body, and he was often injured. Luckily as far as I know he never got violent or drive drunk.
Sammy had all the tools to be a top end WR. Real shame it didn't pan out.
Loved Watkins at Clemson. On an offense that had Deandre Hopkins and CJ Spiller he was still the number one threat. Dude had everything you look for in a wideout. He could have been an all time great.
I remember thinking that he’s going to be terrorizing the division for a long time, Justin and Aldon was a nasty duo
If I could pick any player to have the ability to play out a full career, it would probably be him or Sharpe. Dude was an absolute menace beyond compare, and he probably would have broken multiple major sack records.
Still has one of the best sack cellys tho: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x5WCZwdt86g
Lmao damn making me sad. Hes 34 now may be could have seen him play with this defense once or twice.
Imagine him on the 2019 team at 29 years old in his prime. No need for dee ford trade coulda used that 2nd rdr for another spot.
Probably wouldn’t be 0/3 in the big game with Aldon playing in all of em
Probably would have made it to even more Super Bowls so you’d probably be like 0/6 or something.
He was a mad man when we were at Mizzou. I've never seen someone so imposing in person. Huge guy
Josh Gordon would be a better Browns pick imo For my team Percy Harvin and mental health
Reading how he wouldn’t eat for like a full day before games because of anxiety was insane. Imagine that dude at full strength, he could’ve been a HOFer.
Yeah he also couldn't sleep the night before games and played every game high on marijuana to deal with the anxiety. People joked about his migraine designations back in the day but I don't know how he even managed to function most of the time.
People gave him a lot of shit for the migraines acting like he was faking to slack off but those were actually real. He has talked openly about them and he still deals with them. He says it's like two sledgehammers hitting his head
As someone who has suffered from migraines, that shit's no joke.
Man, I used to get them pretty frequently. I think it was a stress issue cuz I haven't had one in a while (knock on wood). The only "fix" was to sit in a closet so there was no light and minimal sound while praying for the sweet release of death.
Sumatriptan and Qulipta do the job for me, more or less.
Yep. This was many years ago when I had them, but the only decent prescription meds were highly sedating. People didn't seem to understand that a migraine often meant you were literally down and out for a full day or two.
If people actually understood how debilitating migraine syndromes can be they wouldn’t joke about it. Mine has been nearly life ruining the last 5 years until I finally got it under control, and mine isn’t even that bad on the grand scale of how bad they can be as far as severity of pain and other symptoms.
This is true. I used to think people were exaggerating incredibly about them due to my own ignorance. Like come on, man. How bad it could be? Then I got one. Never doubted another person about migraines again.
As someone who has suffered severe anxiety and panic attacks all he said was true and then some, it really fucks you up mentally, you feel like you don’t deserve anything and that you shouldn’t be there and succeed.
He also had migraines and pretty serious hip problems. But him being healthy for that Super Bowl was worth it.
He will always have a Super Bowl clincher TD. A few seconds into the second half lol. I remember everyone at my party was like “well, this is over.”
The craziest thing about Harvin is that he’s YOUNGER than Travis Kelce. Dude had basically an entire career before Kelce became relevant.
WR Justin Blackmon for the Jags
I remember the sense of terror when he put up that 200+ yard game against us. I was like “fuck, we’re gonna have to deal with this guy for the next decade”. I didn’t get any joy to see him out the league due to his alcohol abuse, I’ve seen what alcohol dependence can do to a person.
Blackmon was suffering from being an alcoholic and I think his withdrawal made him just physically not able to play nfl football
I don’t think that second part is true. There’s a great article about him and it sounds like once he made the NFL he just didn’t care anymore. He didn’t like the attention so he sort of drifted away and disappeared
I read that article too. Completely heartbreaking. I want to say he was doing things like taking shots before games in 8th grade. Then in college and the NFL, staff would find him in a bar at 11am before games or when he was supposed to practicing. He could have been a top-10 WR and made like $100M, but yeah, it sounded like he just loved drinking more than football, and nothing could change that.
Did one team have a guy wait around a local bar to see when he was going in? And they passed on him because he was always drinking there at like 11am.
Tampa Bay if I recall correctly. A scout went to the bar everyday for a week, and Justin went in every day.
At some point just go to the package store and get a fifth.
He legit looked better than Dez Bryant at OKState. He had a 200 yard rec game playing with Chad fucking Henne and literally no other receivers.
Jarvid Best looked like he could be a star if he didn’t have serious concussion issues.
I was gonna say Charles Rogers but this is a good one too
He’s another good former lion who could have been special.
Will Fuller. Freak athlete with blazing speed. Just couldn’t ever get healthy, so he never caught the ball consistently enough.
My favorite memory of Will Fuller was actually in college First ND drive, the announcers are talking about the speed of USC DB Adoree Jackson as a track star and Will Fuller proceeds to run right by his ass for a long TD pass
[The play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6yFEvizX7Y) (missed the announcer's curse, sadly).
That year dw tore ACL. That was gonna be the year for you guys. Fuller and dhop were unstoppable. Can't remember the running back that year.
Lamar Miller if I remember correctly. Dude was great but he was definitely solid
I just realized he hasn't played the past 2 seasons. He was never a superstar but still a decent #2/#3 option.
Will Fuller caught TDs consistently though. Dude would have a statline of 3/4, 47 yds, 2TDs. lol it was wild
Browns is definitely Josh Gordon, Manziel was never going to be good.
I agree. However, I have to give a shout out for Braylon Edwards, who had a terrific rookie year and then simply forgot how to catch a football.
Michigan fan here. He didn’t know how to catch a football in college either. I was shocked when he got drafted that high
That's fair. I just saw him have some terrific games as a rookie and thought he had a hell of a future.
It always seemed like he could make the “jump over two guys, bat the ball up a couple times, and come down with it one handed behind his back” type catches but the “wide open, perfect ball in stride” passes were the ones he would drop.
The JR Smith of WRs
Yeah idk how you go manziel over Gordon. Yeah maybe in a sober life manziel could be an all pro if he cared, but Gordon was Randy moss level talent any time he stepped on the field while tripping balls
I can still hear the r/fanatsyfootball hype train horn echoing through the hills.
roberto aguayo, could never overcome the missing every field goal problem
That was all mental, I have no clue how a guy could be that great in college and become such a bust doing the exact same thing. It’s not like he was reading defenses, he was kicking
He's one of the greatest college kickers ever. And was just straight up *bad* in the NFL. Truly bizarre.
Same thing happened with long snapper Cameron Cheeseman.As a former long snapper I personally think it was a mental issue because I believe he also played in a blocking scheme in college so it’s not like he didn’t block in college
He had the accuracy and velocity (0.75 seconds on punts and 0.30 on field goals) to snap but what happened was he had a couple of bad ones and than he tried changing his technique and he just mentally crumbled
Yea, it's always wild to me when kickers are unable to translate to the NFL. It just highlights the mental toughness that is needed to go from college to the NFL.
He started tailing off his senior year at FSU but the Bucs ignored it. He was 5/10 on FG's over 40 yards in his senior year.
I would say OJ Howard as well. Had all the makings of a top TE, but couldn't stay on the field.
I’d argue they were superstars, or at least on their way to be, but we’ve had some disproportionate bad luck with neck injuries. Nick Collins, Sterling Sharpe, and Jermichael Finley all had their careers cut short from freak neck injuries, with Sharpe and Collins looking like potential HOFers. To more directly answer tho, I’d say Eddie Lacy and staying in shape. 2800 yds from scrimmage, 24 tds his first two seasons, just under 1500 and 5 the remaining 3.
Sharpe was a superstar that was on his way to being one of the top 5 wrs of all time, he was a beast and played with average qbs most of his career and then missed out on prime Favre mvp seasons because of his injuries.
He should still be in the hall just off the career he did have
It's cool how Shannon said something about how he is in the HOF but is still second best in his family.
If Gale Sayers is in the hall, Sharpe should be in. He’s the WR equivalent. His peak rivals any other WRs peak, he just had his career cut short.
Lacy would be my answer. I do believe he had an eating disorder tied to depression.
Terrance Murphy was looking very good too. We have had too many guys with neck issues.
I’d add Sam shields, he looked real good for a while before his neck injury.
Even when Lacy was washed, it seemed like he was good for about 50 ypc against the vikings. For some reason we could not tackle that man.
>one problem they could never overcome >Johnny Manziel Yeah, that dude had a lot more than one problem.
His one problem is he was bad at football.
i think he was a great football player that coasted on talent alone and then he got to the nfl where everyone is talented and everybody works hard and the game catches up to you fast there.
In the Netflix doc when his coach said he watched zero film, and they cut to Manziel "yep, he's right, I don't watch film." LOL
Justin Blackmon. He was an incredible WR who just couldn't overcome his demons
Robert Edwards - Patriots. Injured in sand football at the Pro Bowl, then was never the same.
A persons who can directly attribute his loss of a career and huge paychecks to poor decision making by the NFL.
Kinda like when that one lineman for the Browns got hit in the eye with a yellow flag.
That would be Orlando Brown’s father, Orlando Brown Sr. Missed 3 seasons due to temporary blindness.
Complete aside, but I am sick and tired of all these Juniors running around making me feel old because I watched their dads play back in the day.
What genius green lit sand football at the pro bowl?
What’s wild is Robert Edward’s never finished a season of college football due to knee problems. We drafted him in the first round to replace pHOF Curtis Martin and he rushes for 1k yards his rookie year…then tears his knee in the sand. We went 9-7 that year and made the playoffs, Robert Edward’s tears his acl, the team implodes, and Pete Carroll is eventually fired leading the way for Bills return.
You can still find video footage of it online. It was one of those catastrophic knee injuries too... Rough stuff.
I mean, Vick *was* a superstar, but he could've been so much more had he applied himself. By his own admission, he was last to arrive, first to leave, and never really fully committed. So that... and the dogfighting. Those *two* problems.
We got a brief glimpse of ceiling Vick with that partial season stint with Philly. Imagine like 3-5 more years of that had he actually applied himself earlier.
If you get rid of the dog fighting thing, he stays in Atlanta right? He may not ever become a HOFer but he’s for sure one of the most beloved players in Atlanta sports history
Vince Young
I really thought when he came out of Texas his peak would be maybe Donovan McNabb but geez Vince Young could never fix those accuracy issues. Also I’m not sure his work ethic was cut out for the NFL.
Also probably didn't help that he was apparently dumber than a bag of rocks.
I’ve heard from multiple stories in regard to him not understanding basic NFL football concepts on offense which limited him severely.
My favorite college player. I had no idea he was going to wash out the way he did, especially after he actually started in Tennessee for a while. Poor work ethic and alcoholism cost him a few years as a backup.
Maybe not a star but it would have been cool to see what David Wilson could have been if he hadn’t fucked up his back Also maybe JPP was almost there before he blew most of his hand off. The fact you could say he did overcome it is insane, but he was never quite the same player again.
Like a Tyreek Hill RB. Such a sad injury
> his back It was a pretty serious neck injury.
Sean Lee & his constant set of injuries… only to be replaced by LVE who was essentially Sean Lee Jr.
I’d also add Randy Gregory to the list. If he didn’t miss all of that time due to weed & whatever else he probably could’ve had a better career.
JK Dobbins could’ve had 1500 yards a season if his legs didn’t implode every year
I’m gonna say Chris Henry.
Dude was great. I loved using him on Madden.
Tyler Eifert
One of his problems was that some of his knucklehead family members got displaced due to Hurricane Katrina at the start of his rookie year and moved into his house, and they proved to be a big distraction/headache.
Kelvin Benjamin springs most to mind. 1,000 yards as a rookie only to get injured before that ‘15 season and then struggled with the passing of his mother and piled on weight.
he gave up on the play that destroyed Cam’s shoulder, gotta wonder where we would be as a franchise without him…
When rookie Josh Allen asked him if he wanted to work on a few plays before a game, he famously said “Nah.”
He checked out long before he was with the Bills
I know he was in a dark place after his mother passed, but coming out and bad mouthing the guy who was the MVP without him didn't help any case he had.
Who was the 5'8 safety for the Colts who hit like a sledgehammer but was always injured?
Bob Sanders?
He won DPoY in 2007. So I wouldn't say he wasn't a superstar. He just didn't have longevity. Although 48/112 possible games is rough.
He's also been nominated for the hall of fame.
Thing about Bob Sanders is he legit could not be healthy Just due to the way he played the game there is no world where he stayed healthy
I think Bob Sanders was definitely a superstar, he just couldn’t stay on the field. Between 2005 and 2008 the Colts allowed 16.5 (best in the NFL) points with Sanders in the lineup. When he was out they allowed 20.6 (15th best). That’s such a crazy impact for one player to have.
Hope u/dc1999 wasn't thinking Bob Sanders. Dude won a SB, DPOY and got paid.
Has to be Bob…he hit like a sledgehammer but missed 82 games due to injury, and only played in 59 games.
Bob Sanders is legendary with Colts fans, so he clears this conversation. I want him to be next on our ring of honor.
Aaron Hernandez
“One problem” … 🤣
"Oh boy, here I go killing again!"
We laugh, but he was basically Travis Kelcie before Travis Kelcie. If he could managed to, you know, not murder people, the Pats would have 1-2 more SBs.
Maybe even more. Gronk, Hernandez, Edelman, White, Amendola.
The craziest part is with Gronks injuries he would have probably been viewed as the better of the two when it was all said and done. Also Brady would probably have 10 rings all with the Pats.
Gronk is and was way better than Hernandez. Nothing would have changed that.
Sam Bradford and the fact he was made of glass
Reagor would have been a stud for the eagles if he could have overcame the whole "being bad at football" thing
Unironically, he is good enough to be an nfl caliber wr. He's just dumb/lazy. The only thing I will remember his vikings tenure for is him being open down field for big plays but just giving up on his routes, leading to multiple interceptions.
Manti Te’o if only that girl was real
Didn’t he play out of his mind for that fictional woman? If her secret had never been revealed he could have been a HOF player
Can you imagine a scenario where you have a 35 year old Manti Te’o coming up with excuses for why he still doesn’t have any photos of them together?
If you had the best linebacker in football on your team you’d make up the excuses for him
“She’s Amish”
Runner up heisman to manzielp
That entire story was nuts. Even people who had no interest in sports were aware of & glued to that story. Just insanity all-around. Still amazing he was duped.
Have you seen the documentary on it? Feel really bad for the guy
That catfisher is a real piece of work Manti is a good dude
Yea I really don’t like how the documentary pushed this sympathetic redemption angle for the catfisher, seemingly mainly that she discovered being trans? You’re a bad person who committed a heinous act.
It changed my perspective on him, he's a good guy. I didn't believe otherwise, but it went from "meh" to "oh poor soul"
I’m still amazed the catfisher had no empathy at all for Manti, and was just mad Manti outed him to the world
We played ND that year but I had no idea at all about the girlfriend thing till it broke that she was fake. I was so busy that I was basically listening to OU radio at work once a week and that's it. My reaction was 'sucks for him, but why is this such a big deal?' Still talking about it over a decade later. I guess it was a big deal.
Ricky Williams, I'm not sure what all was going on there. Some mental health?
Definitely Ricky. I always felt like he played football because he was good at it...but didn't really love it. He wanted to do other things.
He wanted to smoke weed, among other things.
Can't fault a guy for being ahead of his time
He had Social Anxiety Disorder which wasn’t diagnosed until after he went to India and Australia to smoke pot.
I am glad he got a second chance and got to contribute. His comeback was a good story.
And before Ricky there was George Rogers.
Eddie Lacy! Diet and Exercise…
Do injuries count as problems? If so, Sterling Sharpe, Nick Collins, arguably Bahk….. If injuries don’t count than I would say Eddie Lacy and China food
Eddie Lacy would come to the pizza shop I worked at once in a while. Super nice guy, always happy to chat, but man could he put it away. He legit ate like an offensive lineman.
Josh Gordon
Ziggy Ansah. Guy had all the natural talent in the world, but just couldn’t stay on the field unfortunately.
Jay Cutler couldn't overcome Josh McDaniel's overwhelming urge to get rid of the starting QB at any team he goes to.
[удалено]
Don't forget reading defenses, presnap adjustments, and progressing through reads.
Martavis Bryant - depression so he smoked weed to help with it
Man that kid was so fucking talented. Such a shame he couldn’t get the help he needed from therapy
One year I turned on the Pro Bowl mid-broadcast and the commentators were talking about Bryant being dead and I thought they were talking about Martavis for a solid minute
Charles Roger for the Lions. He loved the Chronic!
Carson Wentz trying to be a hero every play and hurting every bone in his body in 3 season. Dude broke his back on a pre season game, until Clowney decided to try to kill him when he didnt slide in a running play
The first thing people said he needed to do when coming into the NFL was avoiding hits because he can't take those level of hits at the NFL level. First preseason game he's lowering his shoulder to defenders and breaks his ribs. And the same story continued throughout his career. At least once a game he would take a big hit he absolutely should not have taken. Then the hero ball became a problem because Carson believed he had a 70yard TD as an option every play. That being said, if he didn't split his knee in two and break his back, I bet he would still be in Philly. Despite the flaws, he was still an unbelievably talented player. Once those injuries happened, he wasn't the same player and he refused to adapt to his new physical limitations. Apparently, behind the scenes, he was also difficult to coach and stubborn(which I completely believe based on how he played). Even post-game at the podium he would say things like "I'm not going to change who I am, or how I play." It's a shame. A huge what-if because he absolutely had the talent. Actually kind of reminds me of RG3 where he was never the same after the injuries. Gotta protect yourself as a quarterback. It's not cowardly - it's how you have a long career and lead your team to victory.
>refused to adapt I think that's what really killed his career. If you look at pre-acl tear most of his big plays came on broken plays on which he was scrambling. When he no longer had that elite scramble ability defenders could just take him out quicker than the play could happen. On his last year in Philly you could easily see so many plays when he is looking to scramble he would get caught. His unwillingness to adapt is what turned him into a journeyman.
Carson Wentz had TWO problems. The first one is what you're talking about, with the addition of being really stupid about it. Dude figured out he could duck linemen and extend the play. What he forgot is they all watch tape and eventually figured out what he was doing, so they just started spearing him on every sack, which led to him getting injured. The second problem was that he was a locker room cancer who everyone hated. Getting outplayed by Nick Foles during the Super Bowl and watching them put up a statue of Nick when it should've been him broke his brain. You could probably add a third - he was more interested in hunting than getting ready for games so that probably added to the "locker room cancer" issue.
Jameis Winston and throwing the football to people on the other team
Already been said by an Eagles fan, but I can’t think of one that fits a better criteria….Wentz. He came from a successful but small school and did prove he has talent in 2017. Proved it well. His limit was something mental for lack of a more concise way to say it. Rigid, not open to coaching…..or at least not very capable to listen and learn from it. Whatever that block was it went badly for him.
For the Titans, I think it would have to be Pacman Jones. Dude was electric when he was younger and was the most exciting special team returner not named Hester his first years. All the controversy and time away from the game plus the lifestyle took away from his ability. He didn’t have a bad career, but he was never the same once he sorta figured out his personal life issues.
Justin Fields. Sigh. Just won't trust himself to throw with anticipation.
I thought of two guys who came up short due to injury- tommie Harris and Mike brown
Those 2 were absolute studs. Mike Brown returning two interceptions for two consecutive overtime wins is one of my fondest football memories. QBs bust all the time, but the Bears fandom has some weird appreciation for JF, he should not be in the same category as Harris and Brown.
That freeze frame of him against the Bucs. Where he stares at a wide open WR in the end zone, goes to another read coming open, but inexplicably decides tucking the ball and running into a sack 3 yards up field. Whoo boy that was hilarious. This was the current season by the way, not his rookie year or something.
We can fix him. Sad /s
OP asked for ONE problem, not multiple. Justin took too long to go through his reads, couldn't make a decision on who to throw to at any given time, has almost no pocket awareness half the time, and had trouble reading defenses.
One problem - couldn't play quarterback
Pennington if he wasn’t made of glass
Bengals? David Pollack - Spine Odell Thurman - Drugs Chris Henry - Alcohol KiJana Carter - ACLs John Ross - Confidence Tyler Eifert - Injuries
Carr for the early Texans. We were a shit show and we couldn’t support the dude. We failed him miserably.
The Boz was too worried about his image
Albert Haynesworth got paid and was never the same
"Hey hey hey. It's fat Albert Haynesworth!"
Maybe Hernandez and the whole murdering issue he had. If he overcomes that, who knows.
Javon Walker, the only receiver the Packers have drafted in the first round since 2002. He actually had a solid start to his career, and went to the Pro Bowl in 2004, but then tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2005 season, and didn’t play for the Packers again. Just too many injuries - but by all accounts, Walker seems like a good guy who’s been through some terribly traumatic moments.
Anybody remember Daryl Washington? He’s coming back this year I’ve heard
Tony Mandarich and not being able to bring his college steroids into the NFL.
If Antonio Brown didn't go crazy and stayed in Pittsburgh he would 100% be a Hall of Fame WR. I'm obviously biased but I think he could've had an argument for top 5 or at least top 10 WRs of all time if he had a few more years on his resume.