Best Career Cut Short

[Dz1]

You bastids never recognized greatness! Look at my rookie contract! JaMarcus Russell

Yeah but the Po P.o. recognized the Purple .

 

[baconandbread]

Bo Jackson was the only player that was as good in real life as he was in Techmo Bowl. Career was way too short.

 

[Dz1]

Joe Delaney

Joe might not even be top 10 for missing the NFL stats etc etc.

But as a Man, what 1 in 50 mill,100 million.

What he did for others, how he lost his live to save those kids,

What can I ever post, R.I.P Joe.

 

[Allen2McVay]

This is a good thread idea, and a tough one if you stick with the OP’s criteria that the player’s career had to have been five years or less.

My immediate thought was Gale Sayers but even he had five (mostly healthy) seasons where he played 64 out of a possible 70 games.

Ernie Davis and Greg Cook were outstanding suggestions. Bill Walsh was a top assistant under Paul Brown with the Bengals, and decades after Cook’s career ended Walsh said he was the most talented QB he had ever seen.

I will throw out DT Gabe Rivera who Chuck Noll selected in Round 1 over Dan Marino in part because 15 years earlier, he had drafted a stud DT (Mean Joe Greene) before drafting a QB.

Rivera suffered a broken neck in a car accident in his rookie season.

 

[Neil039]

Len Bias...none football related. He was the only player for over a decade that had the skillet Michael Jordan had coming out of college.

 

[Memento]

Len Bias...none football related. He was the only player for over a decade that had the skillet Michael Jordan had coming out of college.

Also not football related, but Oscar Taveras is a death who hit me rather hard. I had paid attention to this kid's career in the Cardinal Minor League system since he tore the cover off the Appalachian League. Only twenty-two when he died in a drunken driving accident that also killed his girlfriend. I know, I hate drunken driving, but Oscar and his girlfriend had so much to give, and from all accounts, they had a happy relationship.

Prospect sites projected him as a perennial All-Star with an elite hitting tool, plus power, and good enough defense and speed (with a big arm) to man right field.

I like the Cardinal outfielders (and Dylan Carlson looks like the latest to make a huge impact), but I can't help but think of what could've been.

 

[hotanez]

Uncle Rico

 

[Mackeyser]

This is the first guy I thought of whose career was cut short. Biggest name who could've (yeah coulda shoulda woulda and if) played longer in top form. Was never really the same player after the injury. Great Football Life story with him and Butkus.

Also like kurtfaulk mentioned Marcus DuPree was so amazing before that devastating freak USFL injury. Wow, talk about a wrong turn off the Generational Talent Freeway into the Slums of Obscurity. Another great Football Life story. I also read his book several years ago.

I think it was Sayers who really got screwed with respect to his surgery, iirc. Completely terrible situation and there's a reason he was so mad at the Bears for such a long time.

 

[Mackeyser]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVzDtrgybjc

I watched that.

I...wasn't...prepared...

 

[dieterbrock]

Marcus Dupree was injured in college and gave it a try with the Rams. He could’ve been a beast

No, like others was lured to the USFL as an underclassmen who wasnt eligible yet for the NFL. Wrecked his knee there

 

[gabriel18]

No, like others was lured to the USFL as an underclassmen who wasnt eligible yet for the NFL. Wrecked his knee there

That's right . I believe he was out of shape at the time of the injury

 

[808RAMS]

Gayle Sayers retired too soon. So did Barry Sanders.

 

[badnews]

Danario Alexander could have been a prototype #1 if not for his knees.
Gurley was great and achieved a ton of success, but he should have had more. Its a brutal sport.

 

[dieterbrock]

While not in the category of many of the players already mentioned, and despite playing for Satan's favorite team, the story of Robert Edwards is quite the cautionary tale and a sad waste of talent. After an outstanding rookie year, he blows out his knee playing in a Pro Bowl weekend Touch football game.

 

[FaulkSF]

Al Bundy once scored four touchdowns in one game for Polk High School against his nemesis Bubba Spare Tire.Dixon. A broken leg and marriage ended his once promising career from accepting a college scholarship.