Players that weren't outrights busts, but generally disappointing?

[ronjon1990]

I nominate any and every player that gets super hyped by the draft crowd. They practically always disappoint either via unrealistic expectations or their hype ignoring tons of context. 

 

But if there has to be one: Robert Joshua "No I'm Not Ryan Shazier"  Dobbs. 

I was told by someone around here and  who really knows scouting QBs that Dobbs was the best QB from his class and a star waiting to break loose. It was a belief held steadfast for years with zero context and zero reasons given than a feeling, and rarely acknowledged for it's lunacy. 

I can't say he's an outright bust (because he literally never plays) but he's definitely a disappointment (because he literally never plays). 

 

Otherwise....mmm....Josh Jacobs. Dude isn't a bust, per se, but he is about the most uninspiring sight to see running the ball. He looked promising his rookie year and some Raiders fans are just enamored with him and apparently everything Alabama, but the reality is that he's always banged up and consistently regressing in productivity. 

[rich homie]

6 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

No, he really wasn't. He was always a good, but not great, QB, who had great bulk but so-so efficiency stats. He threw too many interceptions every year but one (2013), but that was the year he hit a whopping 6.7 YPA. He was never top 5 in passer rating or QBR, I think PFF just barely had him top 5 once, in 2014.

Luck was a good QB, but he very consistently was placing himself in that Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers, kind of tier, of low top 10. He was never competing with the elites (Brady, Manning, Brees, Rodgers), and he never had the kind of one year peaks in play to ever claim that 5th spot. So he was always behind the big 4, and then anyone who spiked up that year, like '14 Romo, '15 Newton, '15 Palmer, '16 Ryan, etc.

He was absolutely never a top 5 QB. Anyone who was top 5 QB with any consistency whatsoever over the past like 20 years is going to wind up in the hall of fame.

No one said he's a bust though, either. The thread is non-busts who disappointed. Luck 100% qualifies.

Luck was very clearly a top 5 QB in 2014. 5th in ANY/A, 3rd in AY/A, 1st in passing touchdowns, 3rd in touchdown %. He was above both Brees and Brady in every single one of those categories. Passer rating was the only stat where he was out of the top 5, and he was 7th, just 0.9 lower than Brady and 0.5 lower than Brees. It would be asinine to place him any lower than 4th best QB that year. The better question is if he was top 3 or not that year.

And I guess this is a subjective look at the thread but it seems to really be looking at players who had long, successful careers that were just unremarkable compared to their draft status, which is almost the exact opposite situation from Luck.

 

[ET80]

3 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

It was a belief held steadfast for years with zero context...

Incorrect - the belief was actually backed by the uncanny ability to project the #7 pick in the 2018 draft class turning out to be a good QB.

I mean, with credentials like that...

[BigTrav]

Watkins

[Forge]

3 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

Tbf, Smith is the ultimate "what if" story. Dude learned what, 37 different playbooks in a handful of years? I think while he didn't meet expectations, he also exceeded expectations when factoring in the garbage he had to deal with. 

I was going to make a very similar comment about how Smith managed to not meet expectations and exceed them all at once, so I approve of this comment. 

[SkippyX]

9 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

Clowney will always confuse me. I watched every game of his career at South Carolina. I thought I knew exactly the kind of player he would become, and he basically flipped and did the opposite. It still confuses my brain reading about how he's a solid and reliable run stopper and great at contain and maintaining his gaps while only being a so-so pass rusher that doesn't close and get sacks as often as he should. Like, that is 100% the opposite of what he should've become based on his time at South Carolina. He should've been a physically dominant player with amazing sack numbers who would occasionally get taken advantage of because he tries to play the run on his way to the QB. An elite athlete who wins with physical tools.

I fundamentally, to this day, do not understand what happened there.

Clowney is a talent and an actual clown.

He helped lose a game in Tennessee from the sidelines in street clothes.

That's tough to do but he pulled it off.

[Trojan]

Melvin Gordon. Remember that game he went off at Wisconsin against Nebraska? Amir Abdullah and Melvin Gordon two NFL prospects on rushing teams, and Gordon went over 400 yards in three quarters. Then he got drafted to replace LT. Was always pretty good, but not quiet good enough to get paid.

[Blackstar12]

Clowney got really hyped up in the draft. I remember espn constantly replaying that famous hit in college. He’s not a total bust because he had some solid seasons with the Texans back to back 9 sack seasons. So his career is in the middle of bust and great.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Blackstar12

[Jakuvious]

1 hour ago, rich homie said:

Luck was very clearly a top 5 QB in 2014. 5th in ANY/A, 3rd in AY/A, 1st in passing touchdowns, 3rd in touchdown %. He was above both Brees and Brady in every single one of those categories. Passer rating was the only stat where he was out of the top 5, and he was 7th, just 0.9 lower than Brady and 0.5 lower than Brees. It would be asinine to place him any lower than 4th best QB that year. The better question is if he was top 3 or not that year.

And I guess this is a subjective look at the thread but it seems to really be looking at players who had long, successful careers that were just unremarkable compared to their draft status, which is almost the exact opposite situation from Luck.

 

So, was he top 5 every healthy year of his prime, or was he top 5 in 2014, but only if we agree to put him above two hall of fame QBs playing great football at the time? Because I feel like your argument has already shifted downward, here. First of all, I absolutely will not agree he was top 3 that year. TDs are the only thing that got him where he is in any of those stats you list, as all of them include TD count to some degree. He was 7th in YPA, 23rd in completion %, just shy of Blake Bortles with the 6th most INTs. He continued to be what he always was, which was a bulky but inefficient statistical passer. There was no way his year was better than Romo, Rodgers, or Ben. And I would definitely take what Manning or Brady did over him as well, for a few less TDs, but fewer INTs, a higher completion %, fewer sacks, a higher passer rating, etc.

Even if we were to agree that Luck was a top 5 statistically performing QB that season, it still does not mean he was ever one of the 5 best QBs in football. One year of top 5 performance does not necessarily make you a top 5 player at that position. He no more belonged in top 5 QB rankings in 2014 than Kirk Cousins does today, despite clearly being a top 5 statistical QB. Joe Mixon is top 5 in yards and TDs right now, but no one is going to rank him over Chubb/Henry/Kamara/Cook/Jones/Taylor. Top 5 in a few stats does not inherently equate to a top 5 player. Throwing 616 times helps the statline, as it turns out.

[Tk3]

Baker Mayfield

[tyler735]

16 hours ago, SkippyX said:

Reggie Bush is a bit underrated IMO.

• He had 9088 yards from scrimmage and 54 TDs. (10k counting returns)
  • He also had 5 punt return TDs.
• He had a pair of 1000 yard seasons.
• He had another 533 playoff yards and 5 playoff TDs.

He was not a superstar but he was a dangerous run/catch combo guy. (4.3 per run and 7.5 per catch)

I guess you could complain that he missed 20 games in 5 Saints seasons but players get hurt all the time.

Its not like he got 1 early injury and faded.

 

In his first 4 years (57 games) he had 4311 yards from scrimmage, 32 TDs (37 counting punt returns), and the Saints won the Super Bowl.

• This is counting playoffs too

 

I may be a bit biased because I watched Sheldon Brown kill him on a screen pass and he stayed in the game and made a big impact in that Saints playoff win.

Reggie respawned and came back in the game to play well. He had a reverse direction run in that game that was a backbreaker.

Whenever the subject of Bush comes up and that he was drafted too high for the production, I always say I wouldn't change a thing when it came to taking him 2nd overall in the draft. He was a crucial part for the Saints winning their first ever Super Bowl in 2009. He had some huge moments in the playoffs that year. His stats are also overlooked a bit as shown above.

[berlin calling]

sorry not sorry to say Joey Bosa is nowhere near worth 27m per. Oft injured, 12.5 sacks career high? Thats not the guy the Chargers envisioned when picking him i guess. Educate me.

[Jeezla]

Nelson Agholor

[MWil23]

A.J. Hawk

Very solid 10+ year starter in the league who showed some flashes early in his career, but I honestly think most of us (myself included) saw him having a more impactful career ala Patrick Willis.

[Vladimir L]

6 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

Tbf, Smith is the ultimate "what if" story. Dude learned what, 37 different playbooks in a handful of years? I think while he didn't meet expectations, he also exceeded expectations when factoring in the garbage he had to deal with. 

Smith was a late bloomer

 

He looked like a bust but turned it around he also was from an era where qb just didn’t come into the nfl lighting it up