What Could Have Been?

[Cheesehawk]

15 hours ago, Calvert28 said:

6 pages and I've only seen one mention of Ricky William's. Does everyone forget just how good he really was? 

Mine personally would have been Safety Roy William's. Despite the Pro Bowls he was not nearly as good as he could have been had he slimmed down and learn to adjust to the new passing league. 

Ricky Williams still had a great career though. Not as good as it would have been if he really loved the game of football and didn't take the hiatus. 

Ricky Williams was unbelievable though and still is one of my picks for most underrated RB of all time.

[Calvert28]

1 minute ago, packerrfan74 said:

Ricky Williams still had a great career though. Not as good as it would have been if he really loved the game of football and didn't take the hiatus. 

Ricky Williams was unbelievable though and still is one of my picks for most underrated RB of all time.

No he had one great season that actually displayed what he could have been. Everything else was just wasted including his hiatus obviously.

[Cheesehawk]

1 minute ago, Calvert28 said:

No he had one great season that actually displayed what he could have been. Everything else was just wasted including his hiatus obviously.

I mean, he still had 13,000 all purpose yards and almost 80 TDs. That's a great career. Doesn't touch what he could have achieved, but he was still successful.

[Calvert28]

1 hour ago, PapaShogun said:

On his episode of A Football Life he claimed that after the 2003 season he wasn't looking forward to carrying the ball so many more times, which he knew he would have to do since the Dolphins did nothing to improve the QB position. Don't think is a good excuse to cut out in playing ball for a team, but they would have just ran him into the ground had he stayed. I remember one game he carried the ball 40 times, which is horrible. 

Ricky was truly a once in a generation player that everyone loves talking about. Coaches saw him and automatically assumed the entire team could get by so long as he did well which was stupid. Ditka did it, as did Miami. I think that's what really broke him. He wasn't meant for that type of role with his mentality.

[Calvert28]

1 minute ago, packerrfan74 said:

I mean, he still had 13,000 all purpose yards and almost 80 TDs. That's a great career. Doesn't touch what he could have achieved, but he was still successful.

He was successful because he was Ricky. Had he applied himself and battled his demons better theres no telling what his stats could have been.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

The thing about Lattimore, and some others that have been named in this thread, is that he never really showed anything at the NFL anyway. So it's hard for me to consider him a great "what if" guy. For all we know, perfectly healthy, he could have been a complete bust. Same thing with Kijana Carter. For these type of questions, I always like to look at guys who actually did something at the NFL level, and then something happened and changed the tide. 

Robert smith, who was mentioned earlier by @bkobow05, is a great answer. He clearly had the talent to be amazing as an NFL football player. From 95-2000, he was never outside the top 10 in yards per attempt (only one outside the top 7), a few years in the top 3.  His all time yards per attempt is 13th, and if you take out the quarterbacks above him, he's top 10 - he has the same yards per attempt as Peterson.  Out of the 10 ahead of him, only 3 have his carry total or more (Charles has a very similar overall carry total, then of course Sanders and Jim Brown - most of the others hover between 600 and 400 fewer carries than Smith had in his career). Not counting his first two years in the league, where he was basically a back up and played somewhat sparingly,    he average over 85 yards per game, which would have been a top 10 all time average pace (how did the Vikings want to roll with Terry Allen?). Now granted, you can't just do that, but you also can't ignore it. To me, Robert Smith was a hall of fame talent running back, but injuries and then an early retirement basically make him ideal for a "what if" scenario. 

(Side note...you could probably add Charles to the what if scenario if you wanted if you really think about it)

That's fair. Lattimore never showed anything in the NFL. I didn't consider the topic warranting answers for players that already did show something at the pro level though. 

[Forge]

1 minute ago, PapaShogun said:

That's fair. Lattimore never showed anything in the NFL. I didn't consider the topic warranting answers for players that already did show something at the pro level though. 

And it doesn't. Was just adding my own opinion on it when I think of the "what could have been". Your answer is no less valid than mine just because I tend to think of it in a different manner lol. 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Thinking of USFL players, Kelvin Bryant and Ken Lacy were two guys that seemed like they could have a future. I didn't watch them personally though in those games. When they left for the NFL injuries and being regulated as backups essentially ended their careers. Same with WR Trumaine Johnson I guess. 

Also, James Wilder, and Kevin House were decent players just stuck in NFL purgatory on the Buccaneers. Sadly. 

[BleedTheClock]

This thread is made for Sean Taylor. I really think he would have been in the GOAT discussion at safety.

Another one that I know was mentioned was David Pollack. He looked like a future pro bowl DE/OLB before his injury. 

[7DnBrnc53]

9 hours ago, PapaShogun said:

Thinking of USFL players, Kelvin Bryant and Ken Lacy were two guys that seemed like they could have a future. I didn't watch them personally though in those games. When they left for the NFL injuries and being regulated as backups essentially ended their careers. Same with WR Trumaine Johnson I guess. 

Also, James Wilder, and Kevin House were decent players just stuck in NFL purgatory on the Buccaneers. Sadly. 

I don't remember Ken Lacy, but I remember Bryant and Johnson. Bryant was a pretty good back that was stuck behind Riggins and George Rogers in Washington (not to mention Timmy Smith). Also, Trumaine Johnson was on the 88 Bills, but decided to retire after that for some reason.

[LaserFocus]

On 3/21/2018 at 8:42 PM, scar988 said:

Man, just for the Falcons:

Peria Jerry (Knee injury as a rookie and was never the same)

Michael Vick (Imagine if he put the time in to be a passer when he was in his prime in Atlanta.)

Jimmy Williams (if he could have ever gotten his head out of his butt)

Jerious Norwood (SOOOO FAST, but SOOO injured)

Jamaal Anderson (if he could ever had figured out leverage)

and

Ra'Shede Hageman and Jalen Collins. (Such good athletes, but attitude and stupidity cause their cuts earlier this year)

Older Falcons fans will tell you about RB William Andrews, who was putting together a HOF career, before a severe knee injury in practice essentially finished him. Surprising speed for a big back, could run/catch/block. With the neck collar, Andrews resembled a tank, and was a nightmare to ring down. I'm guessing YouTube has video of Andrews somewhere.

[7DnBrnc53]

On 5/18/2018 at 8:24 AM, MWil23 said:

Just to go the other way on this, I always wondered how good Troy Aikman would have been if he wasn't a Cowboy. I always thought he was pretty good/decent, but largely overrated, as he was nowhere near being considered one of the best QB's in the NFL during that time period. Dan Marino, Brett Favre, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, and even Warren Moon/Randall Cunningham had a year or two where they were clearly better, not to mention the aging veterans like John Elway and Joe Montana in the early to mid 90s.

If the Cardinals would have defeated the Packers in Week 16 of the 1988 season, we would have found out. The Packers would have drafted him (in case you are wondering, Dallas would have drafted Mandarich #2. Jimmy Johnson was high on him).

GB didn't have a great O-line (Majik was sacked 47 times, and he was more mobile than Aikman). Also, they had Brent Fullwood at RB (he made the Pro Bowl in 89 with 821 yards rushing, but was cut the following year after lying to the team about injury).

I am not sure what Lindy Infante would have done, but I am guessing that he would have started Majik that year, and then handed the ball over to Aikman the next year. Then, after the season that Don had, he probably gets traded for a 1990 first-round pick (in looking at the top-10 of the 1990 draft board, SD seems like a good bet. They didn't have a QB) and a 91 second.

In the 90 draft, SD picked fifth, so GB would get a premium pick. Seau would have been there, but this team needs to protect the young QB, so Richmond Webb would probably have been the pick (as a result, they move Ken Ruettgers to RT).

If they keep Aikman healthy, they may get a WC berth in 1990, and probably have a solid team the next few years, which would have butterflied away the Holmgren-Wolf-Favre era.

[ILoveTheVikings]

On 3/19/2018 at 8:15 PM, Super4 said:

Percy Harvin.  Damn man, those migraines really messed up is psyche.  He was so freaking good.

One of the most exciting players I've ever seen.

[ThatJerkDave]

For Tim Couch, he was signed to the Packers before the 2004 season.  He had issues with his rotator-cuff and stunk out loud.  They kept Doug Pederson, Craig Nall, and JT O'Sullivan that season.  He then had workouts for the Bears, Bengals, Titans, Steelers, Dolphins, and Texans but wasn't signed.  The Jags brought him in, in 2007 and he was released.  

Was he ruined by that Browns team? Was the injury the end of his ability? I don't know.  But I think this was simply a case of a bust.

[ThatJerkDave]

11 hours ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

If they keep Aikman healthy, they may get a WC berth in 1990, and probably have a solid team the next few years, which would have butterflied away the Holmgren-Wolf-Favre era.

If this happens, the Packers would have been much worse off.  The organization really turned around when they got football people into making football decisions.  Not to say that it eventually wouldn't happen, but it probably delays the change.  While we were tormented by Aikman, Sanders, Sanders, and Thomas for years, long term it was the best thing that could have happened.