I don't know. After a spectacular season, Cunningham was billed to have the arm of John Elway, the move of Michael Jordan, and the speed of I forgot whom. And then he just turns out to be an OK QB. Or was it because of injuries? As to Earl, he actually had 9 years. But his last 3 years was that effective. And there was the strike shorten season in '82. So it's really only 5 dominating seasons. I guess it's just a homer's view. I wished he could dominate longer, like guys such as Barry Sanders with 10 1000+ yards seasons. BTW, Eddie George seems to be fading after his injury two years ago. I hope not.
Tony Mandarich, who at one time (which I don't know if it is still the record) did 37 reps of 225 at the combine. Granted, he was probably on roids but he might have had 1 or 2 decent seasons and this was only after he was labelled a bust. So, technically, he was a college flash in the pan who never panned out in the NFL.
if he can't stop the turnovers this year, then yes, plus he will also a MASSIVE waste of a lot of money.
I want to say Gary Brown, I think was his name. the guy who replaced Lorenzo White at RB for the Oilers - had a kickass year - then dissapeared,, only to surface with the Giants, where he sucked except for one 127yd game. If I recall correctly.
Heres a few not mentioned yet Karim Abdul-Jabbar Brett Perriman Michael Jackson Jeff Blake Dorsey Levens Yancey Thigpen Marcus Robinson Steve Beuerlein Barry Foster
Puedlfor, Great call on Gary Brown I though of a few more: Leroy Hoard Derrek Alexander (the WR) Eric Metcalf - had a huge season as a WR for atlanta (120 catches or so) then went back to specail teams. Also what happend to Ben Coates. He was one of the best TE's in the game and disappeared a few years ago when he was still only 30 or so.
It absolutely has to be Brown. He started 8 games, rushed for 1000 yards. I thought we'd found ourselves the next great RB. Except he sucked.
Tim Biakabutuka David LaFluer and a lot of Cowboy "prospects" Tony Boselli as a Texan, looked good but... no and pretty much any RB who replaced an injured one for a few games
QB- Tony Eason, Jay Schroeder, Rick Mirer, Elvis Grbac, Neil Lomax, can't remember his name but he had a gun, for the Raiders...blond guy...Doug Williams, Doug Flutie, Steve Zahn, Jim Everett, etc...and is it too soon to call Slash a flash? RB- guarenteed that this is the position that you can name the most; it is by definition the position which takes the most hits in a game, and is keyed on the most times in a game. As such, running backs have the shortest careers in football. You could name a lit as long as your arm. OL- Most OLs that were short term successes were limited by injury. Because the line, more than any other position with the possible excpetion of corner relies on NBA style reps with the refs as far as what you can get away with, once you establish yourself at a certain level,. you tend to remain at least fairly effective unless injuries get in the way. There are a few, like say a Courtney Hall, or a Steve Wisniewski (sp?) who start out great and taper off, but it's not as common. WR- Al Toon, wazzisname for the Vikings, killed the Niners in the playoffs one year; Anderson? Is that right? Speaking of Andersons Flipper, Alvin Harper, Carl Pickens, Henry Ellard, Andre Rison, etc...yoo many to mention. DL- See OL..But gotta start with Dana Stubblefield; Defensive Rookie of the Year, 1 year later Defensive Player of the Year, has done jack since... Will finish later.
MacBeth, nice to see you have power again. Good call on Dana Stubblefield. He vanished when he went to the Redskins. There was another lineman that went to the Redskins about the same time after sitting out for a season with the Rams due to contract BS. I think it might have been Sean Gilbert but im not really sure. But I have to disagree on Ellard and Rison. Rison had 6 pretty good years and Ellard had 7 seasons with more than 1000 yards. However, Rison could have been alot better if he wasnt such of a headcase. Edit: a pair of former bears to add to the list Erik Kramer and Jim Harbaugh
Part of my thing with Ellard and Rison is having been a fan of Rice for so long, every year or two there would be this wr who would come along and people would say that he might challenge Rice for best wr soon...and within another year it would be Rice as best still...except there's this other wr coming along who might just challenge him soon, etc. None of them lasted at that high level, although I agree that Ellard and to a degree Rison played at a fairly high level for a while. Flashes as star players, but maybe not pure flashes, I'll concede.