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The greatest that never; your franchise


Kiwibrown

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3 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Packers.

Sterling Sharpe:  Cut short in his prime.  What a shame.  Just an excellent, physical receiver.  And he could run by yah, too.

Nick Collins:  Coming on as THE safety in the league to fear.  Freakish neck injury took him out on a really goofy play.  Cut down right as he was entering his prime.

Terrence Murphy.  The first of the second round WR's drafted by Ted Thompson.  High hopes for him.  Neck injury early in his rookie season took his career.

Jonathan Franklin.  The "other" RB that GB picked in 2013.  (Lacy)  Franklin was looking very, very good and then the knee went and the career was done.

I thought Franklin had a neck injury?

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Going way back: The Broncos had a young DE named Charles Smith (from NC A&T) who they drafted in the second round of the 1975 draft. Allegedly, he looked like another Harvey Martin, but he tore his knee up, and missed that season. The next year, he tore the other knee up, and didn't play again. 

Also, in modern times, Courtland Sutton hasn't been the same after his injury. 

 

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Justin Blackmon. Many in Jacksonville think he would’ve went down as the greatest Jags WR of all time. His rookie year was impressive, including the 230 yard game vs Houston. Then in 2013, he was on pace for 1,600 yards (albeit only a 4 game sample size). 
 

One of my biggest what-ifs ever is if he got approved for reinstatement and the Jags would’ve had a WR group of Justin Blackmon, Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, Marqise Lee, Marcedes Lewis, and Julius Thomas. I also always wonder what adding him to the 2017 Jaguars would’ve been like. Oh well.

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51 minutes ago, Chops013 said:

Justin Blackmon. Many in Jacksonville think he would’ve went down as the greatest Jags WR of all time. His rookie year was impressive, including the 230 yard game vs Houston. Then in 2013, he was on pace for 1,600 yards (albeit only a 4 game sample size). 
 

One of my biggest what-ifs ever is if he got approved for reinstatement and the Jags would’ve had a WR group of Justin Blackmon, Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, Marqise Lee, Marcedes Lewis, and Julius Thomas. I also always wonder what adding him to the 2017 Jaguars would’ve been like. Oh well.

They could have won a title that year if they had that group. 

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1 hour ago, bucksavage1 said:

I thought Franklin had a neck injury?

Could have been, not really sure about his and going from memory.  All I remember is that in very, very limited time, he looked like a great change up option next to Lacy.

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The Rams don't have a ton of these....Sam Bradford, I guess? He won rookie of the year, but IMO after that season even when he stayed healthy, wasn't great. He did destroy my old Rams forum though, and Goff nearly destroyed the new one....would have if not for the trade.

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On 7/10/2023 at 6:06 PM, Kiwibrown said:

Who are the greatest football players that never became great on your team for one reason or another. 

Patrick Mahomes, because Ryan Pace is a moron. 
 

I know I’m not responding to the spirit of the question being asked.

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11 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Could have been, not really sure about his and going from memory.  All I remember is that in very, very limited time, he looked like a great change up option next to Lacy.

It was a neck injury. But man, I still remember that breakout game he had against the Bengals. You could tell he had "it" and was going to be a good player in this league.

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Packers.  Thought of another one.

Jermichael Finley, TE.  Ripped up his knee badly just as he was entering his Prime.  He was a matchup nightmare.  Very tall, very quick and very good hands.  Also, kind of a moron.  But, that knee shredded.  He played for a year or two afterwards, but never had the same quickness or explosion.  Career was done.

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Bears

Tommie Harris - The guy could have been a potential HOF lock if he stayed healthy. His disruption went way past just the sack totals, he was constantly in the offensive backfield and was a key cog in Lovie's defenses when they were thriving. He was a nightmare for any OC and the dropoff when he was off the field was clear to anyone watching. He was no Aaron Donald, but at his prime there were few that could come as close (still a far cry but you get the point) at DT in the last 20 years.

 

Mike Brown - Same for Harris, Brown's injury history built up and kept him out of the HOF. Dude was a absolute stud, and affected the pass and run game effectively. In his first four seasons he had 11 INTs, 6 FF, 4 fumble recoveries, 4 defensive TDs, 339 tackles, 3 sacks, and an All Pro 1st team under his belt. Him and Urlacher were crazy together, and if the Bears hadn't foolishly let Tony Parrish go they could have been even better. If healthy for a 10 year career I really believe his name gets mentioned with the likes of Dawkins, Thomas, Troy, and Reed.

 

Henry Melton - while never looking like a HOF candidate like the other two he was one of the best 3Ts in the league for a year or two, and had a cool story. A huge college RB he converted to DT as he was 6'3", 260+lbs and ran a 4.6 40. Basically redshirted to learn the spot then exploded on the scene at 280+lbs. But he blew his ACL and his mobility was never remotely the same. I think he was a guy that could have been relegated to the Hall of Very Good but never to the HOF. Still, for someone most people outside of NFC North fans probably couldn't name he seems to fit.

 

Anthony Miller - guy was an immediate impact player that looked like a discount Antonio Brown, which if you know the Bears QB and WR history would have been stellar. He was able to get a ton of separation and YAC, fought for every inch. Looked like a steal for Pace to have made the trade up for him early on but wasn't utilized as heavily as most of us wanted his rookie year. That being said he got the ego Brown did without the accolades to at least warrant the diva attitude. His play fell off each of the next two year and he couldn't stick in HOU or PIT.

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20 hours ago, FrantikRam said:

The Rams don't have a ton of these....Sam Bradford, I guess? He won rookie of the year, but IMO after that season even when he stayed healthy, wasn't great. He did destroy my old Rams forum though, and Goff nearly destroyed the new one....would have if not for the trade.

Trent Green.

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After his first two seasons, I was convinced that Marcus Mariota was on his way to being a bonafide top 10 QB in the league, at worse. He was so good with still so much room to grow. Who knew when he broke his leg in week 16 of his second season, that would end up being the peak of his NFL career. 😢

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