Jump to content

Great Players Who Spent Their Careers on Horrible Teams


TheOldRoman

Recommended Posts

After hearing of the humiliating beatdown the Arizona Cardinals received yesterday, I got to think about how poor Larry Fitzgerald is stuck in a horrible situation with the Cardinals. He is under contract for several more years, and unless the team finds a decent QB, we are going to be deprived of seeing the best part of his career. He obviously will be crying into his large piles of money, so you can't feel sorry for him. Still, his talents are going to largely go to waste.

So, who are some other athletes who were great, but didn't get to see "prime time" or at least spent most of their careers on horrible teams? I know Fitzgerald made the playoffs twice with one Super Bowl appearance, by the way.

For my submission, I will go with Dick Butkus. The Bears put up a 9-5 record his rookie season, but his teams would not win more than 7 games in any other season. He never made the playoffs in his nine year career.

OldRomanSig2.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 93
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The first one that came to mind was Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson.

Others:

Barry Sanders

Joe Thomas

Jake Long

Adrian Peterson

Takeo Spikes

Dan Marino

Cortez Kennedy

Eric Dickerson

Jimmy Smith

Irving Fryar

Sterling Sharpe

Jackie Slater

Bruce Matthews

Sigs are for sissies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ernie Banks--The epitome of this topic.

Barry Sanders--One of the reasons why he retired so early; the Lions weren't willing to bring in talent to build around him, nor would they trade him (as far as I recall).

Ichiro Suzuki--After his first 2-3 seasons and before joining the Yankees, the Mariners were largely irrelevant (aside from 2007, when they barely missed the playoffs).

Pyc5qRH.gifRDXvxFE.gif

usu-scarf_8549002219_o.png.b2c64cedbb44307eaace2cf7f96dd6b1.png

AKA @LanRovr0 on Twitter

LED Sig Credits to packerfan21396

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys that haven't been mentioned yet. Certainly some good teams in the mix that these players have been on, but could have been better for all of them.

Grover Cleveland Alexander

Ken Anderson

Elton Brand

Dick Butkus

Tony Esposito

Michel Goulet

Tony Gwynn

John Hannah

Jim Hart

Todd Helton

Antwan Jamison

Walter Johnson

Sonny Jurgensen

Ralph Kiner

Walter Payton

Pete Maravich

O.J. Simpson

Herschel Walker

Aeneas Williams

Buck Williams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walter Johnson and Ernie Banks are great examples.

How about Ted Williams? Greatest hitter who ever lived, Marine Corps fighter pilot, one World Series appearance. You could say that about most Red Sox before 2004, but Williams was the best. (And I'm not a Red Sox fan... at all... not even a little.)

Grunge-Logos.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.