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Who are the greatest never was' of the NFL?


Kiwibrown

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Couple guys in recent memory come to mind for me:

1. Matt Leinart- I know this is one that may raise some eyebrows, but I would have sworn the guy was going to wind up successful at some point. Between Dennis Green and his own immaturity early on, he just never progressed. I was surprised he never really got another shot before fading away.

2. Chris Horton- dude came out of nowhere with Washington in the mid-late 2000s. While he wasn't the most talented S on the field from an athletic standpoint, he had one year early on that he was really pretty good. I would've thought he would progress as time went on, but instead, he was lightning in a bottle for a short time. 

3. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu- guy received a good bit of hype before tearing his ACLs to shreds ala Sam Bradford. I could've seen him becoming one of the better CBs in the league at one point.

4. Dennis Dixon- 1st round hype before his injury. Maybe came around a bit before his time. I remember his early game filling in for Big Ben against a vaunted Ravens D and he wasn't terrible but never really got a shot after that. I wonder how different things would've been if he came out within the last couple years? 

5. Rey Maualuga- promoted as the ultimate heir-apparent for Ray Lewis by the scouting community, he had a solid but unspectacular career, nowhere near early projections.

6. Jahvid Best- while not the second coming of Barry Sanders, I remember him being on an upward trajectory before he literally got knocked out of the league.

7. Zack Follett- great ST's guy, got some run with Detroit for a quick minute and really held his own. Probably could've become one of the better LB's in the league with seasoning. At any rate, he looked the part for sure.

8. Trent Edwards- at one point early on, he, Lynch, Lee Evans, and Shawn Nelson were supposed to be the future saviors of Buffalo. Like Best, got literally knocked out of the league. If not for his draft slot, he'd probably be David Carr 2.0 in terms of someone who had all the tools but got ruined by horrible O-line play.

9. Drew Stanton- like Edwards, Stanton was supposed to be the future for Detroit prior to Stafford. Injuries really hampered him.

10. Marcus Lattimore- injuries ruined his chances of an NFL career projected to be stellar. 

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7 hours ago, RabidPanther89 said:

From the Panthers, probably Dan Morgan and Jon Beason come to mind. Top 5 MLB's in their prime and both had their careers stolen due to injury. Morgan was a complete beast.

Also Deshaun Foster was a super talented RB. His talents really diminished after his ankle break in the playoffs. David Gettis looked like the future at WR before his ACL tear. 

Definitely Deshaun Foster. I remember A LOT of people saying it was all the zone blocking that made him, but the Texans have struggled to find a decent rb ever since.

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56 minutes ago, ronjon1990 said:

1. Matt Leinart- I know this is one that may raise some eyebrows, but I would have sworn the guy was going to wind up successful at some point. Between Dennis Green and his own immaturity early on, he just never progressed. I was surprised he never really got another shot before fading away.

He was set to take over for Matt Schaub in 2011 after Schaub got hurt, and then he got hurt himself.

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Browns Nation - you slay me...............

How could you ever - in 7 pages of posts - forget the greatest of all the NFL "Never Was" players.............

The one who was so "Never Was", he has no football You Tube video highlights....................

The Second Coming of Jim Brown, The Man, The Legend..........

Ben Gay

gay+preferred.jpg

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3 hours ago, Kiwibrown said:

Steve Slaton had an awesome year in Houston, but sucked the remainder of his career, what happened?

Had a neck injury his 2nd year, never really bounced back from that. Couldn't grip the ball well, fumbled about every 5th carry.

This made me think of two more - Ben Tate and Toby Gerhart. Gerhart never had a chance to start with AP ahead of him. He had moments where he looked good, but never really capitalized on it.

Tate was supposed to be the guy after Slaton looked done in Houston, but he broke his ankle in the preseason - which opened the door for Arian Foster to emerge as one of the better guys from his era. Tate had a nice run of games in Houston in 2011 and 2013, but couldn't latch on as a starter in Cleveland, and was out of the league after a cup of coffee with Minnesota.

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On 2/14/2019 at 4:06 PM, thebestever6 said:

What happened to Josh Freeman he had that one great year everyone thought he was a franchise qb and then he falls off the face of the earth.

To be fair, we're still waiting for that ball he threw in his one start for the Vikings to come back down to earth.

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Curt Warner - Seattle RB. That guy was special but got injured super early. Still recovered with an outstanding 3rd season but then got injured again and just couldn't stay on the field in his 20s... was just overworked/used. 

I feel he was ON PAR (not quite as good) with Terrell Davis who also ran into injury issues. They both put up similar stats and obvious Davis had a FAR better team/QB backing him than Warner did. 

Granted a little bit of Seattle homerism there... but I still think it's ridiculous Davis is in the HOF. 

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30 minutes ago, NFL_Announcer said:

Curt Warner - Seattle RB. That guy was special but got injured super early. Still recovered with an outstanding 3rd season but then got injured again and just couldn't stay on the field in his 20s... was just overworked/used. 

I feel he was ON PAR (not quite as good) with Terrell Davis who also ran into injury issues. They both put up similar stats and obvious Davis had a FAR better team/QB backing him than Warner did. 

Granted a little bit of Seattle homerism there... but I still think it's ridiculous Davis is in the HOF. 

Davis had one of the most dominant 3 seasons by a rb in nfl history 2 of which resulted in superbowls, one post season he ran for 142 ypg

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