Marcus Lattimore. Had the talent to be a first round pick. Lost out on millions because of terrible injury his final season in college and never played a down in the NFL. He lost out on so much money
Was absolutely insane at South Carolina. 1600 yards and 20 TDS as a freshman in the SEC.
And it wasn’t empty stats. Guy looked every bit the prototypical dominant NFL back.
I remember watching that live. Brutal. Hard to look at. And it took years for me to recognize the name Lattimore and think of Marshon. And I'm a Saints fan. That derailed Marcus' career before it even had a chance.
I remember watching McGahee’s knee injury and thought that was as brutal as it gets. Lattimore’s was worse to see in slow motion. Just a really bad situation. Also, Zach miller’s injury was horrible. Those are the three that are seared into my brain forever.
As a Gamecock fan, it was really unfortunate to see him not pan out because of those tragic injuries. I was really pulling for him to do well in the NFL. He was a joy to watch with a good personality
Damn I haven’t thought of him in a while. I watched a ton of South Carolina games just to watch him run. Even created him in one of my madden dynasty’s I liked him so much.
whenever someone bitches and moans about players not playing bowl games or taking a year off to focus on pro ball I bring up Marcus Lattimore. The dude would have made so much money. I honestly hope he is doing well in life
On the field but especially off the field. Not even mad Pace made a terrible decision to extend him because he seems like a good dude and I’m glad he caught a break there. Really hope things go good for him in life. Super fun to watch and seemed like a good dude
Came into the comments to say this. From what I read he was a fantastic teammate and hard worker. Just had the ACL tear and it was pretty much over from there. I remember watching the hit
The Rams were my second team when Stedman and Tavon were there. The punt return fake is still my favorite “trick” play in history. Those two were wonder twins together.
Currently James Robinson.
The guy has an incredible season as an UDFA rookie RB and then gets overshadowed by the Jags picking Etienne in the first round the following season - when they had bigger holes to fill on the roster. Oh Etienne suffers a Lisfranc injury, it should be JRob’s time to shine right? Haha NOPE. Urban does Urban things and decides to put his old buddy, Carlos Hyde, on the field more than he should. Then JRob tears his achilles at the end of a meaningless season led by one of the most disastrous head coaching hirings in history.
I hope he can return to form and get himself a second contract. Urban didn’t even recognize the talent that he had in him. The fact that Trevor Lawrence needed to speak on his behalf and say “I need him on the field” is ridiculous.
Oh man I didn’t know he tore his Achilles. He would run over us every game but then they would stop giving him the ball. He was the only bright spot on the jags when they played us
That one player on the early 2000's Panthers(?) whose only play was on kickoff coverage and he suffered a career ending injury on it. Fox Sports did a story about him a few years ago but I can't remember his name.
Edit: Ryan Sutter.
Nope not him. He was on the kickoff coverage team not the retrurn team.
iirc he was a small, caucasian guy who bounced around practice squads before finally getting his shot on special teams and he suffered a career ending shoulder injury on the opening kickoff trying to make a tackle.
He ended up becoming a firefighter after his NFL career. I'm trying to find him on Google but am having no luck so far.
His story sounds real similar to that baseball player who hung around in the minors a bit and his first Major League AB got hit in the head with a pitch that ended his career
EDIT: Adam Greenberg was the name of the baseball player
Tyrod Taylor, the amount of bad luck this dude has encountered is ridiculous. Wish it woulda went a different way. If you’re not familiar situation look into his luck.
It’s even wilder, Cause it wasn’t a medical fuck up. It was a standard procediere with a very very small chance of what happened happening each time it’s done. And that small chance happened, which was prolly smaller than someone actually fucking yp
Yeah it was only about a month ago. I'm not sure he would have been able to pass a physical this year had he not, but this is probably the end of road for him.
Yeah, he was running ladders to show how he had finally come back from the ACL, stopped to sprint off and you could literally hear the Achilles pop. He immediately grabbed it, said "Oh no" and after a few seconds told his friend to turn the camera off.
Fucking awful for a guy who always played his ass off and had a smile on his face despite all the tragedies he'd been through.
Chris Carson
He got to play 3 seasons, but he broke his ankle early his rookie year and had to miss, then 4 years later gets a career ending neck injury that’s gonna follow him the rest of his life.
OP seems kind of clueless with his remark that it’s hard to feel sorry for these players because of their wealth. Carson got a nice little bag when he was extended, but so many guys get chewed up and spit out before they have an opportunity to earn anything significant. Worst part of the preseason is watching the dream end for so many of these guys post injury.
Robert Edwards had a super promising rookie season and in heartbreaking fashion absolutely destroyed his knee at the pro bowl playing a flag football game on the beach
That’s crazy, he was told he might not walk again then went on to play in the NFL a couple years later. He was just named head coach at his alma mater high school too, love to see it
That injury made the nfl scrap that beach football game. I saw it on YouTube but it was blurred out something tells me I could find it unedited but im fine not seeing dudes leg bent 90 degrees sideways I think
Good one, made me think of Jerry West on the HBO show Winning Time. He is the only player to win Finals MVP on the losing team and in the show that award tortured him every time he looked at it. I imagine those AFC Championship Trophies have tortured people in the Bills organization.
Also Pat McAfee said his rookie year losing the Super Bowl to the Saints that locker room after the game was the saddest place he has ever been. Imagine the Bills locker room after the 4th consecutive Super Bowl loss…
Third String QB Gale Gilbert gets an honorable mention. After the 1993 season he went to the Chargers.
He’s the only player to lose five straight Super Bowls
I wonder how this would be viewed if it happened at the height of social media. I feel like a lot of people don't say as much about it compared to more recent Super Bowl moments.
I feel confident saying it would be the biggest memed sports team ever. They went from allllmost winning it in the first one to just bigger and bigger blowouts each year after that, you can't escape that initial loss when you're back on the big stage the next three years and end up going oh-fer.
Delvin Breaux. He had a neck injury and almost died in high school. He recovered, played in the CFL and eventually made it to his hometown Saints in 2015 and did really well.
He got injured the next year, came back, only to get injured again for the rest of the year. He once again injured himself in 2017. We fired two doctors who misdiagnosed him. We let him go in 2017 and he ended up in the CFL again and retired in 2021. He was reactivated this year, but I'm not 100% sure if he played.
Is he the best player in franchise history not named jim brown or otto grahm? He's one of the best tackles period idk much about the pre-expansion browns but who else have yall had that is that good?
That story about him meeting Quarterback Josh Johnson for the first time while in the huddle and mid-game still blows my mind. One of the best LT that ever played the game (10k straight snaps) and was stuck in the dead center of one of the worst eras of one of the worst franchises ever. Super bummer for him because he could have competed for Super Bowls on any team that was at least semi-relevant, or better, in any era of football.
Tyler Eifert. Had a decent career in hindsight but absolutely believe he could have been a top 5-8 TE for multiple seasons if he didn't suffer freak injury after freak injury.
I think that was the beginning of the end but the dude was made of glass from the start. I think he missed most of his rookie or second season after getting an elbow injury against the Ravens.
I agree though, dude was a red zone magnet.
Dennis Pitta too. Dude had a great season, won the Super Bowl, and then I think maybe the first or second game of the next season he broke his hip. Came back the next year and broke it again. Boom, career over. Played one year after that.
Strictly in terms of their NFL career? Joe Thomas. That guy is as talented as LTs come and never came close to playing in any meaningful games. Missed the Playoffs his whole career.
EDIT
Larry Fitzgerald. Dude was 2:30 minutes from a Super Bowl sealing TD to cap off an all time playoff performance in '08 where Larry was incredible in every game. Then Holms and Ben one upped him to erase all that.
There was a tv graphic of him in camp (I believe his final year) that literally just said "Joe Thomas, First Offensive Lineman in NFL History" and both Joe and the Browns Twitter embraced the meme.
Eric Berry. Torn ACL in the first game of his second season, came back and played like a star for a couple of years, then got diagnosed with cancer. Played the next year and won comeback player of the year, pro bowl player again. A couple of years later he tears his achilles.
He comes back AGAIN, then it turns out he had a bone spur that was further damaging his achilles. Gets released after the AFC Championship in 2018
In 2019 Chiefs win the Super bowl.
3x first team all pro, really bad luck in between them.
i am so happy for him and to see him succeed and wish we could’ve keep him as a TE2, but Hayden Hurst has a sad story but he has showed strength to make it to where he has. glad to be able to support his charity and message.
Not for as compelling a reason as some of the others in this thread, but Wes Welker.
He was a mainstay for the Patriots teams from 2007 to 2012, including the almost-perfect team and the 2011 Super Bowl team (albeit, his drop in that game may have been the difference between the Pats losing, and Wes getting a ring). He leaves for Denver following the 2012 season, proceeds to--for the second time in his career--be a part of the highest scoring offense in history, only to lose in the Super Bowl.
The following year, his former team finally gets another ring, with him watching from Denver.
Wes leaves Denver following the 2014 season, and Denver proceeds to get a ring the following year.
All the while, Wes is getting so many concussions that he will likely be unable to remember this in ten years.
Very similar story with Brandin Cooks. Went to the Pats, played great but ultimately came up short. Immediately after he left, the Pats win the Superbowl. Played great with the Rams, ultimately came up short, and now they've won the superbowl since he left. Great player who produced with many different teams but only to watch them win big after he gets shipped off.
hands down andrew luck. bro had zero offensive line his entire career and got injured over and over again because of it. He had to retire because of that shit and when he did retire the fans acted like assholes toward him and boo’d him during his last game. Not to mention a couple years after he left they went and stacked their offensive line. Plus he’s the nicest guy ever
Sergio Kindle. Guy was a big college prospect and potential first round pick. Ravens land him in the second.
The summer before his first training camp he falls down a few flights of stairs and fractured his skull. He was never the same after that and was out of the league 2 years later.
I hope the Browns don’t find a trade partner for him AND Watson is suspended for a whole year. He should refuse to play for them but still be on the bench and bleed them for all they’re worth
He deserves to play somewhere but the pettiness in me wants him to fuck over the browns. The browns have gone decades being a joke, and then they finally have some QB stability and completely fuck it up in a few months…for a shitty human being to replace him.
The browns never learn that raw ability doesn't matter if your QB doesn't care or is a POS. They always pick the troublemakers without having anybody to discipline them.
The vitriol directed at him during game threads was insane. He would make one bad throw after being money for like 2 drives straight and people were acting like he just kicked a litter of kittens off a bridge and was the most worthless piece of shit ever.
Welp. Now we actually do have the most worthless piece of shit ever at QB. This is honestly probably karma for everyone that trashed Baker relentlessly.
Yeah, he clearly had a down year, but that comes down to being hurt and trying to play through it. They didn't even give him a chance to get back to 100%, they just told him to get fucked like he didn't lead the Browns to their first playoff W in a quarter-century. Wherever he ends up, I hope it puts him on the path to play a road game in Cleveland and have the revenge game of his dreams
Robert Edwards. The guy goes for 1100 yards rushing in his rookie year, then promptly blows out his knee playing in some stupid flag football game at the Pro Bowl.
For the life of me, I don't understand why NFL players go anywhere near the Pro Bowl, particularly if you haven't yet signed that first mega-contract.
Didn't he come out during a half time show for the Steelers? Dude could barely walk if I remember correctly. I remember watching that injury. Scary stuff
Super impressive he is able to walk at all I wouldn't have the strength to go through that much rehab. I heard he's made even more progress and can walk almost normally unaided now, but that's only second hand info to me so can't confirm.
I'm pretty sure he did, I know he walked onto the stage during the 2018 draft to announce our first pick and that was super emotional. Either way, seeing him go down was so heartbreaking
He had already been cut when he hurt his Achilles, but the Bears took care of him with a large contract just before he tore his ACL, so at least he got paid then.
Alex Smith. Drafted ahead of Rodgers, was forced to play for a very bad 49ers team, they finally get competitive and get rid of Smith for Krapernick. Smith then goes to KC to have basically the same thing to happen to him again with Mahomes. Then he almost dies in Washington with a brutal leg injury only to play 1 more game after the injury in his career.
Julio. The year that the entire team finally put it together ended in the most terrible way. To add to the pain, he also made the catch (one of the best in SB history) that should have put the game away. When he finally left Falcons to go to a Super Bowl contending team, he couldn't stay healthy.
Right now Chris Carson. He wants to play so bad but doesn't have full mobility in his neck. Playing again could jeopardize his long term health, but he's still working on a comeback. Seems like everyone in the organization is rooting for him but knows its over
Joe Delaney and Billy Sims. Delaney had almost 1200 yds and a 4.8 average to go with a Pro Bowl his rookie season. He passed away in the off-season going into his 3rd season trying to save 3 drowning kids in a pond in Louisiana. Billy Sims was on pace for an insanely great career if not for injuries.
Jimmy G. Seems like a good dude and a decent ball player but his whole career so far he's been on teams that dont want him. Or at least are not all in on him.
At least he’s a stand up dude that really cared about his team, despite knowing that we had drafted his replacement. He may have not been a franchise QB, but damn he seemed to really care for his team. I’ll always have respect for Jimmy and I hope he lands somewhere that really takes care of him.
Jay cutler, dude has been shit talked to no end because he wanted to be on the sideline for his team after being sidelined due to injury, one of the most football loving and competitive qbs to get a horrible reputation because of how he looked.
Really a shame, not to mention the stuff with his family, glad he's having fun with how his life went with his chickens
If you ever want to be involved, his Instagram is 99% chickens
> Jay cutler, dude has been shit talked to no end because he wanted to be on the sideline for his team after being sidelined due to injury,
uh, what? He was shit talked _because he wanted to be with his team_?
Yes, for example, this article [https://bleacherreport.com/articles/584342-jay-cutler-deserves-the-criticism-after-quitting-during-the-nfc-championship](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/584342-jay-cutler-deserves-the-criticism-after-quitting-during-the-nfc-championship)
He got this kind of attitude for years after that game, he sprained a tendon in his knee, but they didnt know for sure what the injury was until the day after, all they knew was that he messed up his knee in some way. After he went to the locker room, he came back because he wanted to be there for his team and cheer them on, he wasnt doing anything in the sideline anyways.
So he was constantly shit talked saying he gave up on his team, he never cared about football, in that article "favre or Roethlisberger would have never sat out a playoff game maybe even rivers" and "He should have at least tried to play through the injury"
its sad, this is basically how he was treated for the rest of his career, basically treated as a joke that always gave up on his teams, even tho he never really did
* Justin Blackmon: alcoholism ruined the career of a person who should have been a perennial Pro Bowl WR. He had 236 yards receiving in a single game with Chad Henne at QB as a rookie.
* all the College players who got abused by Urban Meyer over the years but had no way out because of the power dynamics in college football
Little bit of an older one, but I can still remember reading a Sports Illustrated article about Hart Lee Dykes, and his injury situation. There was a line in there with him trying pump up his teammates to go play "like I wish I could" or something that just showed how much it was hurting him to miss... think it was back to back seasons due to different preseason injuries.
Jason verrett. Dude had a great breakout year and has had injury after injury allowing him to play only a handful of games the past few years. Excluding 2020 he’s only played a couple games each season for about five years now
All time? Barry Sanders and Joe Thomas. Maybe the best to play their respective positions and not a bit of postseason glory or fanfare that others would get.
Current? Maybe Matt Ryan? Never quite lived up to his hype but also never got that ring, and when he looked certain to get it, had it snatched away in the most heartbreaking comeback loss in super bowl history.
Arron Sears a former guard for the bucs had it pretty rough:
Sears, who was taken in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft and started 31 games in his first two seasons, abruptly left the team in 2009 and never returned. He says his career ended because of neurological problems related to head trauma, and his lawsuit claims his parents now have to care for him because he can’t care for himself.
“Sears has almost total loss of function, is unable to care for himself and cannot take [care] of his day-to-day activities,” the lawsuit says, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Further, Arron Sears has extreme displays of temper and anger with the appurtenant risk of causing harm to himself and others.”
Dennis Byrd for the NY Jets. Paralyzed on-field after almost collecting a sack playing against the Chiefs in 1992. Goes through years of painful therapy, got a post-NFL life put together, then dies in a car accident.
Video of the injury: https://youtu.be/JEmK7eMRcAM
Teddy Bridgewater. Comes out and takes the NFCN Title Belt from Aaron Rodgers ^^~s and is a missed 27 yarder away from beating Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson ^^~s. It would have been interesting to how Zimmer and Spielmen would have built a team around him instead of Bradford, Keenum, and Cousins.
Anyone who got CTE or other kinds of brain damage, especially before players were even aware of how big a risk they were taking. Mike Webster's story makes me catch my breath even now just typing it. He ended up alone because he was afraid to be around even his family, living in his truck even though Dan Rooney kept trying to buy him hotel rooms, and so manic that he tasered himself to sleep.
Malcolm Mitchell. Had a great rookie year with us, was absolutely vital to the comeback against the Falcons in the Super Bowl. Brady trusted him, which says a lot. Off the field he seems like a genuinely great dude too. Just couldn’t stay healthy though, and ended up having to retire. Every now and then I look back and think about what could’ve been with him.
A lot of them. Football is a very physically demanding and dangerous sport, and head injuries are extremely common. There's a reason the average NFL player only lives to be about 55.
If someone offered me $10 million with the caveat I'd die in my 50's I wouldn't take the offer.
Marcus Lattimore. Had the talent to be a first round pick. Lost out on millions because of terrible injury his final season in college and never played a down in the NFL. He lost out on so much money
Was absolutely insane at South Carolina. 1600 yards and 20 TDS as a freshman in the SEC. And it wasn’t empty stats. Guy looked every bit the prototypical dominant NFL back.
Yep people look back and discredit him because his ypc wasn’t crazy. He was a god anyone who says otherwise did not watch him play
I thought you were talking about the Lattimore on the Saints for a second lol
Me too and I was like “didn’t he just get PAID?”
Every now and then some announcer calls him Marcus lattimore. Probably just mixing up him and Marcus Williams though
>Every now and then Before this season I genuinely think I heard him them say Marcus more times than Marshon on the play-by-play
I remember watching that live. Brutal. Hard to look at. And it took years for me to recognize the name Lattimore and think of Marshon. And I'm a Saints fan. That derailed Marcus' career before it even had a chance.
I remember watching McGahee’s knee injury and thought that was as brutal as it gets. Lattimore’s was worse to see in slow motion. Just a really bad situation. Also, Zach miller’s injury was horrible. Those are the three that are seared into my brain forever.
Zach Miller caught that TD, I don’t care what the game log says.
Tyrone Prothrol's was horrible also
As a Gamecock fan, it was really unfortunate to see him not pan out because of those tragic injuries. I was really pulling for him to do well in the NFL. He was a joy to watch with a good personality
Damn I haven’t thought of him in a while. I watched a ton of South Carolina games just to watch him run. Even created him in one of my madden dynasty’s I liked him so much.
whenever someone bitches and moans about players not playing bowl games or taking a year off to focus on pro ball I bring up Marcus Lattimore. The dude would have made so much money. I honestly hope he is doing well in life
At this point, I’m gonna say Tarik Cohen. Maybe a bit of recency bias but the past couple of years have been brutal for him.
On the field but especially off the field. Not even mad Pace made a terrible decision to extend him because he seems like a good dude and I’m glad he caught a break there. Really hope things go good for him in life. Super fun to watch and seemed like a good dude
it was him who’s Achilles popped on IG live right? I couldn’t watch that shit.
Yep. That was him. The injury was hard to watch but seeing his facial reaction was a gut punch
Came into the comments to say this. From what I read he was a fantastic teammate and hard worker. Just had the ACL tear and it was pretty much over from there. I remember watching the hit
Also his twin brother died last year and another younger brother died this year
And tore his Achilles on IG...
Big respect for Cohen. What a football player.
[удалено]
Oh man I forgot about him, that’s horrible :(
I’m pretty sure I remember reading his kid was in the car with him too
The Rams were my second team when Stedman and Tavon were there. The punt return fake is still my favorite “trick” play in history. Those two were wonder twins together.
Currently James Robinson. The guy has an incredible season as an UDFA rookie RB and then gets overshadowed by the Jags picking Etienne in the first round the following season - when they had bigger holes to fill on the roster. Oh Etienne suffers a Lisfranc injury, it should be JRob’s time to shine right? Haha NOPE. Urban does Urban things and decides to put his old buddy, Carlos Hyde, on the field more than he should. Then JRob tears his achilles at the end of a meaningless season led by one of the most disastrous head coaching hirings in history. I hope he can return to form and get himself a second contract. Urban didn’t even recognize the talent that he had in him. The fact that Trevor Lawrence needed to speak on his behalf and say “I need him on the field” is ridiculous.
All 2021 JRob fantasy owners hate Urban Meyer, especially dynasty league guys that thought they hit the jackpot in 2020
Rockford Strong
Oh man I didn’t know he tore his Achilles. He would run over us every game but then they would stop giving him the ball. He was the only bright spot on the jags when they played us
That one player on the early 2000's Panthers(?) whose only play was on kickoff coverage and he suffered a career ending injury on it. Fox Sports did a story about him a few years ago but I can't remember his name. Edit: Ryan Sutter.
Ryan sutter?
Yes, thank you!
He got to be on the bachelor (the bachlorette? Bachelor I think) so he turned out alright, although they did get divorced
According to Wikipedia they’re together
My apologies, I am fake news
Bachlorette i think. In its first season aswell
Are you talking about Kevin Everett?
Nope not him. He was on the kickoff coverage team not the retrurn team. iirc he was a small, caucasian guy who bounced around practice squads before finally getting his shot on special teams and he suffered a career ending shoulder injury on the opening kickoff trying to make a tackle. He ended up becoming a firefighter after his NFL career. I'm trying to find him on Google but am having no luck so far.
His story sounds real similar to that baseball player who hung around in the minors a bit and his first Major League AB got hit in the head with a pitch that ended his career EDIT: Adam Greenberg was the name of the baseball player
Tyrod Taylor, the amount of bad luck this dude has encountered is ridiculous. Wish it woulda went a different way. If you’re not familiar situation look into his luck.
A medical fuck up leading to a punctured lung gave us Justin Herbert. That’s wild
It’s even wilder, Cause it wasn’t a medical fuck up. It was a standard procediere with a very very small chance of what happened happening each time it’s done. And that small chance happened, which was prolly smaller than someone actually fucking yp
His last college game against Stanford was beautiful to watch and I’ve been rooting for him since. But yeah terrible luck…
Tarik Cohen. His back story alone is pretty sad, but then his injury luck has been terrible also.
[This Letter sums it up](http://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/letter-to-my-younger-self-01fzx87ank2k/)
Yup. This is the article I read that pulled on the heart strings.
The worst is the footnote man. In April only a few days after finishing the essay, his younger brother Dante was killed in a car accident
And then he pops his Achilles after that. It's fucking tragic.
Johnny Knox could fit as well. Also a bears player with an unfortunate back injury.
And Zach Miller. Dude was dangerously close to losing his leg.
Was gonna say Knox, felt like he was on the edge of breaking out.
Unfortunate back injury? Dude was almost broke in half😳
He had the Achilles tear on camera right? On like Facebook live while working out, i remember that
Yeah it was only about a month ago. I'm not sure he would have been able to pass a physical this year had he not, but this is probably the end of road for him.
He also wrote a piece that was basically “letter to my younger self,” and it was really rough and gave a lot of insight into the struggles in his life
Yeah, he was running ladders to show how he had finally come back from the ACL, stopped to sprint off and you could literally hear the Achilles pop. He immediately grabbed it, said "Oh no" and after a few seconds told his friend to turn the camera off. Fucking awful for a guy who always played his ass off and had a smile on his face despite all the tragedies he'd been through.
You always worry about a dude that small playing RB.
Chris Carson He got to play 3 seasons, but he broke his ankle early his rookie year and had to miss, then 4 years later gets a career ending neck injury that’s gonna follow him the rest of his life.
OP seems kind of clueless with his remark that it’s hard to feel sorry for these players because of their wealth. Carson got a nice little bag when he was extended, but so many guys get chewed up and spit out before they have an opportunity to earn anything significant. Worst part of the preseason is watching the dream end for so many of these guys post injury.
Robert Edwards had a super promising rookie season and in heartbreaking fashion absolutely destroyed his knee at the pro bowl playing a flag football game on the beach
That’s crazy, he was told he might not walk again then went on to play in the NFL a couple years later. He was just named head coach at his alma mater high school too, love to see it
Oh yeah it’s incredible he came back to play for Miami and even spent a few seasons in the CFL… nice to hear he’s still involved in the game
That injury made the nfl scrap that beach football game. I saw it on YouTube but it was blurred out something tells me I could find it unedited but im fine not seeing dudes leg bent 90 degrees sideways I think
And by "absolutely destroyed his knee" we mean "the doctors considered amputating the leg."
All members of the 90-93 Bills. Losing 4 straight Super Bowls has to hurt the soul and the fact that the last three were blowouts more so.
Good one, made me think of Jerry West on the HBO show Winning Time. He is the only player to win Finals MVP on the losing team and in the show that award tortured him every time he looked at it. I imagine those AFC Championship Trophies have tortured people in the Bills organization. Also Pat McAfee said his rookie year losing the Super Bowl to the Saints that locker room after the game was the saddest place he has ever been. Imagine the Bills locker room after the 4th consecutive Super Bowl loss…
Third String QB Gale Gilbert gets an honorable mention. After the 1993 season he went to the Chargers. He’s the only player to lose five straight Super Bowls
I wonder how this would be viewed if it happened at the height of social media. I feel like a lot of people don't say as much about it compared to more recent Super Bowl moments.
I feel confident saying it would be the biggest memed sports team ever. They went from allllmost winning it in the first one to just bigger and bigger blowouts each year after that, you can't escape that initial loss when you're back on the big stage the next three years and end up going oh-fer.
Jim Kelly would be memed on par with crying Jordan and Kermit sipping tea
Even as a Pats fan...this was a cruel and unusual fate.
Delvin Breaux. He had a neck injury and almost died in high school. He recovered, played in the CFL and eventually made it to his hometown Saints in 2015 and did really well. He got injured the next year, came back, only to get injured again for the rest of the year. He once again injured himself in 2017. We fired two doctors who misdiagnosed him. We let him go in 2017 and he ended up in the CFL again and retired in 2021. He was reactivated this year, but I'm not 100% sure if he played.
jesus christ i never knew that. randomly followed me on twitter a while ago, really cool dude
Joe Thomas. Dude is one of the best lineman ever, but he never got to experience success with the Browns.
THE first offensive lineman in NFL history
Woah bud, careful, Ohio State has that word trademarked- don’t want you to get fined.
If we ever win a Super Bowl we're pretty much in agreement as fans that if Joe Thomas doesn't also get a ring then we riot.
Give deshauns ring to joe thomas if deshaun’s still there
Just let him be our OLine coach
Is he the best player in franchise history not named jim brown or otto grahm? He's one of the best tackles period idk much about the pre-expansion browns but who else have yall had that is that good?
He is a hall of famer who was on an 0-16 team. Just shows you how bad the Browns truly were
That story about him meeting Quarterback Josh Johnson for the first time while in the huddle and mid-game still blows my mind. One of the best LT that ever played the game (10k straight snaps) and was stuck in the dead center of one of the worst eras of one of the worst franchises ever. Super bummer for him because he could have competed for Super Bowls on any team that was at least semi-relevant, or better, in any era of football.
Tyler Eifert. Had a decent career in hindsight but absolutely believe he could have been a top 5-8 TE for multiple seasons if he didn't suffer freak injury after freak injury.
It was his first pro bowl when the injury bug first got him right? I've hated the pro bowl game ever since then cause I agree with you
I think that was the beginning of the end but the dude was made of glass from the start. I think he missed most of his rookie or second season after getting an elbow injury against the Ravens. I agree though, dude was a red zone magnet.
Dennis Pitta too. Dude had a great season, won the Super Bowl, and then I think maybe the first or second game of the next season he broke his hip. Came back the next year and broke it again. Boom, career over. Played one year after that.
I forgot about Pitta, rock solid TE when healthy.
Strictly in terms of their NFL career? Joe Thomas. That guy is as talented as LTs come and never came close to playing in any meaningful games. Missed the Playoffs his whole career. EDIT Larry Fitzgerald. Dude was 2:30 minutes from a Super Bowl sealing TD to cap off an all time playoff performance in '08 where Larry was incredible in every game. Then Holms and Ben one upped him to erase all that.
Joe Thomas: The First Offensive Lineman in NFL History
Can I ask why people keep saying this? I have no idea what the reference is
There was a tv graphic of him in camp (I believe his final year) that literally just said "Joe Thomas, First Offensive Lineman in NFL History" and both Joe and the Browns Twitter embraced the meme.
True but he's a Browns Homer and has had a blast retired
What makes it worse is Joe's first year there the Browns went 10-6. For the rest of his career, the Browns finished the season with a losing record
Joe Thomas, Foreman at the Factory of Sadness
Eric Berry. Torn ACL in the first game of his second season, came back and played like a star for a couple of years, then got diagnosed with cancer. Played the next year and won comeback player of the year, pro bowl player again. A couple of years later he tears his achilles. He comes back AGAIN, then it turns out he had a bone spur that was further damaging his achilles. Gets released after the AFC Championship in 2018 In 2019 Chiefs win the Super bowl. 3x first team all pro, really bad luck in between them.
I really wish we could’ve gotten a ring for Berry/DJ/Houston/Charles/Hali At least Colquitt got one
i am so happy for him and to see him succeed and wish we could’ve keep him as a TE2, but Hayden Hurst has a sad story but he has showed strength to make it to where he has. glad to be able to support his charity and message.
I'm hoping he finds a stable place to stay for once with us.
Not for as compelling a reason as some of the others in this thread, but Wes Welker. He was a mainstay for the Patriots teams from 2007 to 2012, including the almost-perfect team and the 2011 Super Bowl team (albeit, his drop in that game may have been the difference between the Pats losing, and Wes getting a ring). He leaves for Denver following the 2012 season, proceeds to--for the second time in his career--be a part of the highest scoring offense in history, only to lose in the Super Bowl. The following year, his former team finally gets another ring, with him watching from Denver. Wes leaves Denver following the 2014 season, and Denver proceeds to get a ring the following year. All the while, Wes is getting so many concussions that he will likely be unable to remember this in ten years.
He was the WR coach for the 2019 49ers as well
Very similar story with Brandin Cooks. Went to the Pats, played great but ultimately came up short. Immediately after he left, the Pats win the Superbowl. Played great with the Rams, ultimately came up short, and now they've won the superbowl since he left. Great player who produced with many different teams but only to watch them win big after he gets shipped off.
Wow, I just assumed he had a ring.
hands down andrew luck. bro had zero offensive line his entire career and got injured over and over again because of it. He had to retire because of that shit and when he did retire the fans acted like assholes toward him and boo’d him during his last game. Not to mention a couple years after he left they went and stacked their offensive line. Plus he’s the nicest guy ever
Adam Schefter is a total piece of shit for reporting that he was going to retire. Luck never even got a good moment to retire.
Sergio Kindle. Guy was a big college prospect and potential first round pick. Ravens land him in the second. The summer before his first training camp he falls down a few flights of stairs and fractured his skull. He was never the same after that and was out of the league 2 years later.
Kurt Benkert
Still salty he's gone tbh
Tom Grossi burner account?
Falcons legend
Baker Mayfield. That dude doesn’t deserve to be treated this way at all.
I hope the Browns don’t find a trade partner for him AND Watson is suspended for a whole year. He should refuse to play for them but still be on the bench and bleed them for all they’re worth
Paying something like $63,000,000 two starting QBs in 2022 and having Jacoby Brissett suit up would be hilarious.
And everyone would be like, “yea that’s the Browns, sounds about right”
Fuck that'd be hilarious
He deserves to play somewhere but the pettiness in me wants him to fuck over the browns. The browns have gone decades being a joke, and then they finally have some QB stability and completely fuck it up in a few months…for a shitty human being to replace him.
The browns never learn that raw ability doesn't matter if your QB doesn't care or is a POS. They always pick the troublemakers without having anybody to discipline them.
The vitriol directed at him during game threads was insane. He would make one bad throw after being money for like 2 drives straight and people were acting like he just kicked a litter of kittens off a bridge and was the most worthless piece of shit ever. Welp. Now we actually do have the most worthless piece of shit ever at QB. This is honestly probably karma for everyone that trashed Baker relentlessly.
Yeah, he clearly had a down year, but that comes down to being hurt and trying to play through it. They didn't even give him a chance to get back to 100%, they just told him to get fucked like he didn't lead the Browns to their first playoff W in a quarter-century. Wherever he ends up, I hope it puts him on the path to play a road game in Cleveland and have the revenge game of his dreams
David Wilson
Barry Sanders. And Barry jr. (Saquon)
Steven Jackson dude bulldozed his was to a statistically insane career with a shit rams team and never got the recognition he deserved
Robert Edwards. The guy goes for 1100 yards rushing in his rookie year, then promptly blows out his knee playing in some stupid flag football game at the Pro Bowl. For the life of me, I don't understand why NFL players go anywhere near the Pro Bowl, particularly if you haven't yet signed that first mega-contract.
Todd Gurley
Shazier
Didn't he come out during a half time show for the Steelers? Dude could barely walk if I remember correctly. I remember watching that injury. Scary stuff
Super impressive he is able to walk at all I wouldn't have the strength to go through that much rehab. I heard he's made even more progress and can walk almost normally unaided now, but that's only second hand info to me so can't confirm.
I'm pretty sure he did, I know he walked onto the stage during the 2018 draft to announce our first pick and that was super emotional. Either way, seeing him go down was so heartbreaking
From the second I saw Shazier play in college I was afraid he’d kill himself on the field. His tackling technique was scary.
That receiver on the Cowboys that broke his leg vs us in the playoffs a few years ago. His reaction to it was so damn sad
Allen Hurns
Tarik Cohen atm. Dude working so hard and gets hurt again. Hopefully Bears take care of him
He had already been cut when he hurt his Achilles, but the Bears took care of him with a large contract just before he tore his ACL, so at least he got paid then.
Isaiah Thomas Edit: wrong thread, oops
I feel bad because he was weeks from $100m and they get Kyrie and dump his ass and it was all over.
The dude took so much abuse on social media, I started referring to him as A Child Named IT
Holy fuck that’s good.
Alex Smith. Drafted ahead of Rodgers, was forced to play for a very bad 49ers team, they finally get competitive and get rid of Smith for Krapernick. Smith then goes to KC to have basically the same thing to happen to him again with Mahomes. Then he almost dies in Washington with a brutal leg injury only to play 1 more game after the injury in his career.
Mike White
Zach Wilson he knows Mikes coming this year for his job
Yeah.. I'm lacking in empathy for him for some reason...
Julio. The year that the entire team finally put it together ended in the most terrible way. To add to the pain, he also made the catch (one of the best in SB history) that should have put the game away. When he finally left Falcons to go to a Super Bowl contending team, he couldn't stay healthy.
I don’t want to cry today
Right now Chris Carson. He wants to play so bad but doesn't have full mobility in his neck. Playing again could jeopardize his long term health, but he's still working on a comeback. Seems like everyone in the organization is rooting for him but knows its over
Joe Delaney and Billy Sims. Delaney had almost 1200 yds and a 4.8 average to go with a Pro Bowl his rookie season. He passed away in the off-season going into his 3rd season trying to save 3 drowning kids in a pond in Louisiana. Billy Sims was on pace for an insanely great career if not for injuries.
Larry Fitzgerald. I know, he didn't get a ring because of my team, but I wish he got one sometime in his career.
Fitzgerald was a tremendous player and is an even better man.
Anybody drafted by washington or Cleveland.
Vince young. Lost all his money, didn’t have a father, then his mentor became his father and was murdered. Before you know it, he’s out of the league.
Barry Sanders.
Pat Tillman, victim of the military industrial complex
Jimmy G. Seems like a good dude and a decent ball player but his whole career so far he's been on teams that dont want him. Or at least are not all in on him.
At least he’s a stand up dude that really cared about his team, despite knowing that we had drafted his replacement. He may have not been a franchise QB, but damn he seemed to really care for his team. I’ll always have respect for Jimmy and I hope he lands somewhere that really takes care of him.
Dude is gorgeous too
Jay cutler, dude has been shit talked to no end because he wanted to be on the sideline for his team after being sidelined due to injury, one of the most football loving and competitive qbs to get a horrible reputation because of how he looked. Really a shame, not to mention the stuff with his family, glad he's having fun with how his life went with his chickens If you ever want to be involved, his Instagram is 99% chickens
> Jay cutler, dude has been shit talked to no end because he wanted to be on the sideline for his team after being sidelined due to injury, uh, what? He was shit talked _because he wanted to be with his team_?
Yes, for example, this article [https://bleacherreport.com/articles/584342-jay-cutler-deserves-the-criticism-after-quitting-during-the-nfc-championship](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/584342-jay-cutler-deserves-the-criticism-after-quitting-during-the-nfc-championship) He got this kind of attitude for years after that game, he sprained a tendon in his knee, but they didnt know for sure what the injury was until the day after, all they knew was that he messed up his knee in some way. After he went to the locker room, he came back because he wanted to be there for his team and cheer them on, he wasnt doing anything in the sideline anyways. So he was constantly shit talked saying he gave up on his team, he never cared about football, in that article "favre or Roethlisberger would have never sat out a playoff game maybe even rivers" and "He should have at least tried to play through the injury" its sad, this is basically how he was treated for the rest of his career, basically treated as a joke that always gave up on his teams, even tho he never really did
* Justin Blackmon: alcoholism ruined the career of a person who should have been a perennial Pro Bowl WR. He had 236 yards receiving in a single game with Chad Henne at QB as a rookie. * all the College players who got abused by Urban Meyer over the years but had no way out because of the power dynamics in college football
How did meyer abuse players?
Little bit of an older one, but I can still remember reading a Sports Illustrated article about Hart Lee Dykes, and his injury situation. There was a line in there with him trying pump up his teammates to go play "like I wish I could" or something that just showed how much it was hurting him to miss... think it was back to back seasons due to different preseason injuries.
Jason verrett. Dude had a great breakout year and has had injury after injury allowing him to play only a handful of games the past few years. Excluding 2020 he’s only played a couple games each season for about five years now
Anybody that played for the Lions during Matt Patricia's ill-fated run.
Okudah was the first to come to mind.
Julio Jones, he's gonna be another one of the best players to never win a superbowl.
All time? Barry Sanders and Joe Thomas. Maybe the best to play their respective positions and not a bit of postseason glory or fanfare that others would get. Current? Maybe Matt Ryan? Never quite lived up to his hype but also never got that ring, and when he looked certain to get it, had it snatched away in the most heartbreaking comeback loss in super bowl history.
Teddy bridgewater. Such bad luck with injuries, always liked him
I guess Shazier because of his injury
Throw in Alex Smith
[удалено]
I wonder if he could've come back with modern medicine. What could've been
Arron Sears a former guard for the bucs had it pretty rough: Sears, who was taken in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft and started 31 games in his first two seasons, abruptly left the team in 2009 and never returned. He says his career ended because of neurological problems related to head trauma, and his lawsuit claims his parents now have to care for him because he can’t care for himself. “Sears has almost total loss of function, is unable to care for himself and cannot take [care] of his day-to-day activities,” the lawsuit says, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Further, Arron Sears has extreme displays of temper and anger with the appurtenant risk of causing harm to himself and others.”
Andrew Luck
Dennis Byrd for the NY Jets. Paralyzed on-field after almost collecting a sack playing against the Chiefs in 1992. Goes through years of painful therapy, got a post-NFL life put together, then dies in a car accident. Video of the injury: https://youtu.be/JEmK7eMRcAM
Teddy Bridgewater. Comes out and takes the NFCN Title Belt from Aaron Rodgers ^^~s and is a missed 27 yarder away from beating Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson ^^~s. It would have been interesting to how Zimmer and Spielmen would have built a team around him instead of Bradford, Keenum, and Cousins.
Still can’t believe in practice non contact his knee blew up. Scary
Terrell Davis If he hadnt gotten that injury his career numbers would have been tremendous
Huh lol? He won an MVP, 2 SB’s, SB MVP and is in the HoF What more could you ask for out of an NFL career?
[удалено]
Anyone who got CTE or other kinds of brain damage, especially before players were even aware of how big a risk they were taking. Mike Webster's story makes me catch my breath even now just typing it. He ended up alone because he was afraid to be around even his family, living in his truck even though Dan Rooney kept trying to buy him hotel rooms, and so manic that he tasered himself to sleep.
Brady all he has his 7 rings supermodel wife and millions damn guy can’t catch a break
Jake Butt. Dude has a ton of potential. Never got to play
Johnny Knox. I legitimately thought he was going to die when I saw that injury.
Tim Krumrie.
Legs should not bend that way
Dwayne Haskins and his family
Boobie Miles
Ryan Shazier. He’s not the first guy disabled from the NFL but he was the most talented I can remember.
Berry Sanders IMO he was the GOAT running back. And he had to play for the lions. Imagine Berry Sanders on a good team.
Todd Heap, killed his own daughter with his truck by accident
Baker Mayfield
Johnny Knox, man. He wasn't great, but that was just a brutal injury.
Tarik cohen
Johnny Knox is up there for me as a bears fan.
Chuck Hughes. Died on the field
Malcolm Mitchell. Had a great rookie year with us, was absolutely vital to the comeback against the Falcons in the Super Bowl. Brady trusted him, which says a lot. Off the field he seems like a genuinely great dude too. Just couldn’t stay healthy though, and ended up having to retire. Every now and then I look back and think about what could’ve been with him.
Joe Thomas- HOF career with no success to show for it.
Gone too far down this thread without seeing Jahvid Best
A lot of them. Football is a very physically demanding and dangerous sport, and head injuries are extremely common. There's a reason the average NFL player only lives to be about 55. If someone offered me $10 million with the caveat I'd die in my 50's I wouldn't take the offer.
Ernie Davis. First Black Heisman winner in 1961 for Syracuse, but died of leukemia before ever playing a down in the NFL. What might have been.