The greatest that never; your franchise

[ThatJerkDave]

1 hour ago, jetjuice said:

He came back from the knee, it was the neck injury that did him in just like Franklin.

Damn, Packers have bad luck with neck injuries now that I see it all laid out.

Yeah.  It is a real pain in the neck...

[vegas492]

14 hours ago, DannyB said:

I don't think it's the knee that ended a promising career prematurely, I think it was his teammate and friend getting murdered in cold blood right in front of him and having him die in his arms

Yah know?  I can't remember that fact about Walker.  I'll have to read about it.  Been a while.

What I do remember is the shredded knee taking his speed away and change of direction.  Right when he was hitting his prime.  

[ThatJerkDave]

Packers, but I am going to go in a different direction.  Justin Harrell.  This is a guy that was so good for Tennessee that they un-retired Reggie White's number 92 and let him wear it.  He tore his biceps, but played through it, which dropped his draft stock.  Once in the NFL, the injuries kept piling up.  Finally he injured his back, most likely due to the strength staff, and had to retire.  This is a guy that got a lot of hate from the fan base, and a lot of it was because of things out of control.  And a lot of it stemmed from draft day, where people hadn't heard him listed on Mel Kiper's draft guide or their draft magazine so they freaked out.  I believe the "consensus"  wanted either Robert Meachem or Dwayne Bowe.  Bunch of future seers we had there.

[jebrick]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:37 AM, August4th said:

kendrell bell. injuries wrecked his career. He looked like he could be the face of the team during his rookie year.

martavas Bryant. Drug ruined his career. Had top 5-10 WR potential. might've been the most physically gifted WR the Steelers have ever had. 

I would add Eric Green who was one of the most physically dominate TEs in the late 80's early 90s.  Drugs did him in.

[Darbsk]

For the Raiders I guess the one regretful one for me was Bo Jackson. Obviously had a brief and very noteworthy career but it could have been so, so much more if he played full time and didn’t get the horrible injury. Destined for the Hall of Fame.

Darrell Russell burst on the scene had a couple of Pro Bowl type years then had a ton of off field issues, drug issues and met a tragic end. Such a waste of talent and life.

Todd Marinovich was another who has a really fascinating back story and was I suppose over exposed in college, destined for huge success and fell out of love of the game, maybe with his father pushing too much. Never achieved anything in the Pro Game.

Henry Ruggs looked pretty awesome and fitted exactly what we needed, looked like he could set the league on fire until his tragic crash.

I was going to put JaMarcus Russell in here because of physical tools and draft status but he simply never had the mentality, intelligence or application to be great.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Darbsk

[7DnBrnc53]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:18 PM, Darbsk said:

Todd Marinovich was another who has a really fascinating back story and was I suppose over exposed in college, destined for huge success and fell out of love of the game, maybe with his father pushing too much. Never achieved anything in the Pro Game.

I think that teams didn't do a good psycho analysis on this kid, or do enough work on him and his background. No way he should have been drafted earlier than the 7th or 8th round, and he shouldn't have been even close to seeing the field until 1993.

[NinerNation21]

 

• Aldon Smith - He was going at a historic pace with sacks until his personal problems overtook his life. He needed so much help before anyone realized there was a problem. 
• Alex Smith - If the 49ers weren't so dysfunctional, he could've reached his potential a lot faster. The 49ers wasted 5 years of his career until they brought in a competent coaching staff. 
• Colin Kaepernick - If Greg Roman wasn't so utterly terrible at scheming the passing game and Harbaugh was actually good at developing QBs like everyone thought he was, Kaep could've been really special. After the pistol and zone-read stuff got figured out, Kaep was in trouble because the 49ers did such a bad job at developing his passing skills. And then the whole black-balling nonsense happened. 
• Reuben Foster - An incredibly toxic person that was blessed with gifts few others have ever had. Watching him his rookie year was like watching Patrick Willis dialed to 11. I've never seen someone cover so much ground at his size. 
• Chris Borland - Man this kid was elite right from the jump. Not overly athletic but just elite between the ears and no hesitation at all. Once he got a concussion toward the end of his rookie year, he called it quits. I think he could've been a pro-bowler at least once if he didn't walk away. 
• Manny Lawson - He had a unique (at that time) blend of pass-rushing and coverage skills as well as a freaky athletic profile. The 49ers were not creative at all with him and he put up pedestrian numbers before leaving. If he was a LB in today's NFL, he'd be an impact LB that could blitz, play the run, and cover the short to intermediate areas. 
• Julian Peterson - Another LB that was in the wrong era. Peterson put up some big years rushing the passer, but like Lawson, if Peterson was in today's NFL, he might've been an All-Pro once or twice.

 

One that went the other way (in a good way):

• Vernon Davis - Vernon was on the path of a major bust early in his career. He was too bulked up to move fluidly and a real loose cannon. The best thing that ever happened to Vernon was Mike Singletary. Mike was a horrible coach but an elite leader. If it wasn't for Singletary putting Vernon in his place, publicly, and then really mentoring him after that, Vernon would've gone down as one of the biggest TE busts in recent memory. Not a lot of people outside of the 49ers fandom really know this but it was Singletary that got the culture in the right place just before Harbaugh took over all that talent and turned the team into a Super Bowl contender. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by NinerNation21

[Mr Bad Example]

On 7/17/2023 at 6:07 PM, jetjuice said:

He came back from the knee, it was the neck injury that did him in just like Franklin.

Damn, Packers have bad luck with neck injuries now that I see it all laid out.

Starting with CB Tim Lewis in the 80s. 

[GW21]

3 hours ago, NinerNation21 said:

 

• Aldon Smith - He was going at a historic pace with sacks until his personal problems overtook his life. He needed so much help before anyone realized there was a problem. 

What a shame this one was. He had first ballot HOF'er written all over him. Big time tackles have gone on record saying Aldon was the hardest guy they ever faced; Joe Staley and Trent Williams specifically. I believe he had the most sacks of any NFL player across his first two seasons and was just trailing Reggie White and Derrick Thomas after his third season in which he missed multiple games while in rehab.

It's a real bummer that his career took the turn that it did. 

 

[AkronsWitness]

Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr. 

The Browns could have had 2 explosive weapons on their offense for a long time but both only put it all together for that magical 2007 year. Braylon had 16(!) TDs that year and both were over 1k receiving.

aaaaaaand thats where the fun stopped.

Braylon forgot how to run routes and catch footballs and Winslow umm...yeah.

[OkeyDoke21]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:11 AM, NinerNation21 said:

 

• Aldon Smith - He was going at a historic pace with sacks until his personal problems overtook his life. He needed so much help before anyone realized there was a problem. 
• Alex Smith - If the 49ers weren't so dysfunctional, he could've reached his potential a lot faster. The 49ers wasted 5 years of his career until they brought in a competent coaching staff. 
• Colin Kaepernick - If Greg Roman wasn't so utterly terrible at scheming the passing game and Harbaugh was actually good at developing QBs like everyone thought he was, Kaep could've been really special. After the pistol and zone-read stuff got figured out, Kaep was in trouble because the 49ers did such a bad job at developing his passing skills. And then the whole black-balling nonsense happened. 
• Reuben Foster - An incredibly toxic person that was blessed with gifts few others have ever had. Watching him his rookie year was like watching Patrick Willis dialed to 11. I've never seen someone cover so much ground at his size. 
• Chris Borland - Man this kid was elite right from the jump. Not overly athletic but just elite between the ears and no hesitation at all. Once he got a concussion toward the end of his rookie year, he called it quits. I think he could've been a pro-bowler at least once if he didn't walk away. 
• Manny Lawson - He had a unique (at that time) blend of pass-rushing and coverage skills as well as a freaky athletic profile. The 49ers were not creative at all with him and he put up pedestrian numbers before leaving. If he was a LB in today's NFL, he'd be an impact LB that could blitz, play the run, and cover the short to intermediate areas. 
• Julian Peterson - Another LB that was in the wrong era. Peterson put up some big years rushing the passer, but like Lawson, if Peterson was in today's NFL, he might've been an All-Pro once or twice.

 

One that went the other way (in a good way):

• Vernon Davis - Vernon was on the path of a major bust early in his career. He was too bulked up to move fluidly and a real loose cannon. The best thing that ever happened to Vernon was Mike Singletary. Mike was a horrible coach but an elite leader. If it wasn't for Singletary putting Vernon in his place, publicly, and then really mentoring him after that, Vernon would've gone down as one of the biggest TE busts in recent memory. Not a lot of people outside of the 49ers fandom really know this but it was Singletary that got the culture in the right place just before Harbaugh took over all that talent and turned the team into a Super Bowl contender. 

NaVorro Bowman, too, just from that same era of the majority of those guys.  Aldon was the first guy that came to my mind, too.