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Most Disappointing Career Ever (1 Viewer)

mr roboto

Footballguy
Nominate some candidates for most disappointing NFL career (relative to college career/hype/talent). If this discussion goes well I think I could put together a series of polls maybe.

One stipulation - candidate must be OUT OF THE LEAGUE with little to no realistic hope of re-entering.

Maybe list a couple at one position or one at each position. Let's focus on offensive skill players for now.

 
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Vincent Edward Jackson

Might be the most talented athlete ever, never ran for more than 1k yards in only 4 seasons in the NFL.

Bo knows.

 
Vincent Edward Jackson

Might be the most talented athlete ever, never ran for more than 1k yards in only 4 seasons in the NFL.

Bo knows.
First guy I thought of, not because he busted, but because he looked like he was going to be a top RB of all time when you watched him. Such a shame.

Charles Rogers is another good one; guy had all the tools to be an absolute stud.

 
Lawrence Phillips was first RB i thought of. Absolute beast on the field at Nebraska.

Knucklehead/anger management issues were off the charts though.

For WRs, I'll go with Charles Rogers and Roy Williams.

Rogers was one of the best Wr prospects I ever saw (top 10 for sure), and Roy showed flashes of dominance in the NFL.

 
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David Klingler always has these gaudy college stats that just make it seem shocking he stunk in the NFL. I think 6 TDs in a quarter and 14 in a game. They're out there and...just always surprised me.

Armanti Edwards is someone that I adored but not necessarily everyone else did. There's something about a player playing college well that makes me feel like I'm cheated if they don't play in the NFL like Charlie Ward, Major Harris and Tommie Frazier. It's a foregone conclusion that just never happens and bugs me. Anyhow, Armanti still bothers me.

Whatever you say you need to see from a small school college QB-he flat out did and obliterated any expectation you had including beating the #1 ranked college team in the country.

His best college game I think is the best ever. Guess-7TDs, 300 yards rushing 300 passing. Everyone has their favorite, I mean to me, in my opinion, that was the best ever.

So here's a special runner, he can catch, is a special college QB, a great leader and ...there is clearly a very high football intellect and understanding of the game.

He didn't play much with the panthers, then the next camp his coach called him the most improved and he seemed to be their 3rd WR...didn't happen. They had a couple trick plays for him and those weren't frequent.

Even if he was "too small" to be an NFL QB, I wanted to see him play. I was surprised no one picked him up to try him or maybe some other position. So many teams have weak depth, why not try him? And let's suppose he's not a starter...he might be the type that can come in the 4th Q and take over for an injured QB. Well, like I said, I was pretty much alone in my thinking on Armanti

 
Not my top pick but Sidney Rice needs to be mentioned. Justin Blackmon is looking like a waste too.
There are hundreds of players who have been higher picks and bigger disappointments. Hell, Rice has 30 TDs and 3500 yards in his career. Nothing great, but still reasonably productive.

 
Greg Cook. 5th player taken in the 1969 draft, led the league in passer rating (and various other stats) as a rookie, but a torn rotator cuff cost him his career. And he tore it in week 3 of the season, and had his big year while playing through it.

 
I'm going to throw a curveball into the discussion and mention Randy Moss.

Why you say? Because the guy just never seemed motivated enough to reach his full potential. He also seemed to always be a cancer on his team, save a few years in NE.

If he would have had his head on straight for his entire career I don't think there is a receiving record he would not have broken.

 
QB - Jeff George the protocutler

RB - Ki-Jana Carter #1 overall pick at RB tore his knee in his first preseason game although Dupree was the first to come to mind based on the 30for30

WR - Charles Rodgers said above

 
I'm going to throw a curveball into the discussion and mention Randy Moss.

Why you say? Because the guy just never seemed motivated enough to reach his full potential. He also seemed to always be a cancer on his team, save a few years in NE.

If he would have had his head on straight for his entire career I don't think there is a receiving record he would not have broken.
Agree.

 
he's probably not at the top, but wasn't there a tampa rb who maybe went to cle?

I forget the guy's name

qb pretty much has to be leaf, doesn't it?

 
Lawrence Phillips was first RB i thought of. Absolute beast on the field at Nebraska.

Knucklehead/anger management issues were off the charts though.

For WRs, I'll go with Charles Rogers and Roy Williams.

Rogers was one of the best Wr prospects I ever saw (top 10 for sure), and Roy showed flashes of dominance in the NFL.
I wouldn't even consider Roy Williams.

 
Qb - Joey Harrington Daunte Culpepper, Ryan Leaf

Rb - Ki-Jana Carter, Lawrence Phillips, David Wilson

Wr - Charles Rogers, Peter Warrick, Koren Robinson

Soon to add Josh Gordon, and Trent Richardson.

 
Marcus Dupree at RB
I was checking the thread for this name. Relative to his physical skills/raw talent...

...he's the best that never was.
The part about Billy Sims helping to recruit Dupree to Oklahoma after he had already committed to Texas was interesting since Sims and Dupree were both done with football two years later.

The Fiesta Bowl performance was incredible - came into the game out of shape (10 lbs. overweight according to Switzer) against the top ranked rushing defense in the country (giving up 68 yards/game) and proceeds to set the Fiesta Bowl record with 239 yards on 19 carries (after coming in and out of the game due to hamstring issues).

Great quote from Switzer about him getting screwed over by Ken Fairley:

I look back on it, and what makes him unique when I was recruiting him, he’s the only guy that came with an agent. He called himself a counselor, minster, his preacher. His name was Ken Fairley. You saw the damn 30 for 30. The only thing that upset me about the 30 for 30 is, by God, that they did not say in there that Marcus Dupree ended up suing Ken Fairley for $5 million dollars. He took everything Marcus had. He’s a crook, he’s a thief, and all you have to do is ask Marcus about him. It’s on public record. You saw it in there. Marcus was 19 years old and [Fairley] had him sign a power of attorney to get all his money turned over to him. [Fairley] took his check away from him when he was in New Orleans.

Think about that, you’re 19 years old, and there’s this guy that’s not even a family member and he’s your agent. Someone who’s never been an agent in his life, he’s not an attorney, all he’s ever been is a Baptist minister in Jackson, Mississippi, and Marcus trusted him, and [Fairley] ended up screwing him. That’s the thing that really upset me. I had to try and get a piece of Marcus’s ear and ended up competing with everyone else tugging trying to get a piece of him.
 
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Aaron Hernandez. What a waste.

Bo Jackson , absolutely.

Charles Rogers

Brian bosworth.
Bo Jackson? He was super human. Way too short, but quite the opposite of disappointment.
Huge disappointment when you look at what he could have been. Zero 1000 seasons and had HOF talent. That's a tremendous disappointment IMO.
Most likely would have been at least three 1000 yard seasons had he actually started the season in September. Can't really use that stat against him as a disappointment.

 
I'll toss in another guy with stats seemingly way too gaudy to be in the discussion, but those of you who remember the college hype and that draft cycle will understand.

Despite 46233 passing yds and 275 TDs, Vinny Testaverde gets my vote.

In my lifetime, only three QB's have generated this amount of pre-draft buzz: Elway, Luck, and Vinny. Given his size, arm strength, and all-around prototype measurables, I'm not sure there's ever been a draft he wouldn't have gone #1.

21 seasons of relentless mediocrity later, he hung them up. He didn't shine bright and then burn out, he didn't completely fail like so many poorly scouted Houston and BYU QBs, he just hung around as a consistently blah reminder of failed promise for two decades.

 
We can also add in picks 1.4-1.9 of the 2008 draft in another year or two. McFadden, Dorsey, Ellis, Harvey, Rivers, Gholston. Just awful.

 
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I'll toss in another guy with stats seemingly way too gaudy to be in the discussion, but those of you who remember the college hype and that draft cycle will understand.

Despite 46233 passing yds and 275 TDs, Vinny Testaverde gets my vote.

In my lifetime, only three QB's have generated this amount of pre-draft buzz: Elway, Luck, and Vinny. Given his size, arm strength, and all-around prototype measurables, I'm not sure there's ever been a draft he wouldn't have gone #1.

21 seasons of relentless mediocrity later, he hung them up. He didn't shine bright and then burn out, he didn't completely fail like so many poorly scouted Houston and BYU QBs, he just hung around as a consistently blah reminder of failed promise for two decades.
I'll raise you Drew Bledsoe.

 
One of the most disappointing for the Steelers was Defensive Tackle Gabe Rivera. He was the Steelers #1 pick in 1982 and was selected to rebuild the famed Steel Curtain. He played only 6 games before being paralyzed in a drunk driving accident.

What really stung is the Steelers passed on taking Pittsburgh native Dan Marino with their #1 pick.

 
Germaine Crowell (WR - DET) - Had a 1300+ yard season receiving in his second year, got injured the next and was quickly out of the league (no hanging around).

Not sure if it was mentioned, but Robert Edwards. Very nice rookie year as Curtis Martin's replacement in NE, and injured himself playing flag football on the beach during the pro-bowl. I really think he could have been the best RB in Pats history.

 

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