ESPN graphic: "The Could Have Beens"

The reason I think of him is because the very thing that made him special, his skill set coupled with his size and physicality, is what made his greatness unsustainable. I'm not sure anyone could've played the way he played and had a long, productive career.

But we'll never find out because no one of similar size and style has yet been able to do the things he could do.

 

I always find it unfair that guys who just had rotten luck with injuries get painted with the same brush as malcontents/underacheivers/head cases/murderers. Ki-Jana Carter did not do anything wrong; he just had his knee disintegrate on Astroturf in a preseason game. There's a difference between not fulfilling your potential because your body gives out, and not doing so because you're stupid.

 

When you consider Curtis Ennis and Blair Thomas definitely a pattern with Penn St RB's

 

I suppose that being stupid is an example of your body giving out, as well. Just happens to be you have a bum brain instead of a bum knee or elbow.

 

Or, you could be like Plaxico Burress and combine the two.

 

Darryl strawberry
Eric Davis
Bill walton

 

You have a few guys who ate their way out of their sport. Andruw Jones. Pablo Sandoval is working on it. John Daly ate and drank his way out of major contention.

 

A big one for me is Aryvdas Sabonis. I know it was injuries that beset him, but could've he went down as the best center ever? What would've happened to the Blazers? A Bulls-like dynasty?

 

You could easily make a top-10 list of Chicago Bears draft picks.

Of the top of my head: Alonzo Spellman, Cade McNown, Curtis Enis, Marc Colombo, Rashaan Salaam ...

 

One player I don't think a lot of people would think of in this category is Archie Manning. I know he had a long, productive career, but it was nothing like what a lot of fans expected. He was ahead of his time coming out of Ole Miss, then played for some truly wretched Saints teams where he was running for his life and getting the hell beat out of him on a regular basis. Then when the Saints finally surrounded him with some talent in the late 70s, most of those players turned out to be some of the biggest cokeheads in NFL history.

 

The Boz

Brien Taylor is wrong. Over hyped. Yes. But it's unfair to label a high school kid as unfulfilled potential if he never really had it.

Vince Young because he showed it for 2 years, 1 college and 1 pro. He had it and shat it away.

Strawberry and Gooden are also unfair. They were all stars. Is it unfulfilled because they are not in the HOF?

 

RG3