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Biggest Waste of Talent

Tommyboy

Tommyboy

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What athlete do you think is the biggest waste of talent? They can be from any sport, as long as they have been stuck on a shitty team and have never had the chance to really do anything with their talent in terms of team success.
*Note, I don't mean players who never lived up to their potential. I mean players who are either playing within systems that don't allow them to utilize their talent, or who are just stuck on losing teams.

Steve Smith [Carolina Panthers]: Although he has made 1 Super Bowl appearance, his team has only made the playoffs 3 out of the 11 (soon to be 12) seasons he has played for them. As a 5x pro bowl player and the holder of 8 franchise records, his team has only finished with a winning record 3 seasons during his tenure there, making him one of the biggest wastes of talent in all of pro sports.

Notables
Maurice Jones-Drew [Jacksonville Jaguars]: 1 playoff berth in 6 (soon to be 7) seasons, while holding 7 franchise records and being voted into the Pro Bowl 3 out of 6 seasons.

Calvin Johnson [Detroit Lions]: Possibly one of the best all around athletes in the game, key injuries have plagued him and his team since he was drafted in 2007. Playing on a team that has gone through some rebuilding years, in 2008 he found himself being part of the first 0-16 team in NFL history.
 
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Larry Fitzgerald in the post Kurt Warner era in Arizona.

No one can get him the ball on a consistent basis. Worst O-line in football, no other receivers to draw coverage and and a QB who doesn't look like he belongs in the NFL. Fitzgerald si arguably the best receiver in the NFL yet he is pretty much non-existent this year.
 
vols fan here, we have a lot of them.

reggie cobb: cocaine
travis henry: babies mamas and cocaine
albert haynesworth: idiot
jamal lewis: great career, but again, cocaine
eric berry: the kansas city chiefs
 
Dave Rastovich- World Jr Surfing champion, beating future World number 1 Andy Irons. Was one of the pioneers of extreme aerial manoeuvres that now dominates the ASP tour. He then went to Billabong and told them he didn't like competing and asked to be signed as a free surfer. So for the past decade he has simply surfed for the movie cameras as well as testing prototype products.
 
ChickenScratch said:
eric berry: the kansas city chiefs
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he's got the best audio clip of the season

it's when the cheif's white horse mascott came onto the field

berry gave a bunch of 'awww hell nawww, helllll NOO!!!'
'i don't do no horses man, get him off the field'

cause ya know, a 20 year old tranqed out trail horse is a serious threat

as far as extreme underachievers i've got to go with shawn 'lights out' merriman

dez bryant

carson palmer

former #2 overall pick OT jason smith..this one hurts the most

mark ingram

ryan matthews

manny ramerez, yeah he was awesome but could have been bonds awesome

kwami brown, michael jordan is just an awful basketball talent adviser

darko milicic

kris humpries, just because he ruined minnesota basketball that one season he was there, sure he averaged like 20 and 15 but they had like one big ten game that year and it took them years to recover

former human being and raider darrell russell, went missing and straight up didn't show up for the superbowl cause went on an XTC binge or something

greg oden, even if he was able to stay healthy still don't think he would have done shit
 
how about darrelle revis - outstanding defensive player on the pile-of-shite that is the ny jets.

darren mcfadden? trouble with injury for sure and a solid player on a poor team.

alasdair
 
revis has game, if you can't see that you have glass eyes

yeah i don't know what he deal with mcfadden is, still not willing to entierly give up hope on him

oh yeah how can i forget about drank drank jamarcus russell

it's one thing to be a bust, it's another to be completely out of the league after like 3 years
 
^ Yes, I was just going to reiterate that.
It's not about players that got caught up in drugs, poor work ethic, plagued by injuries, big egos, etc (most of whom are listed here)... It's about what ali just said in the second sentence of his post. Great players stuck on losing teams.

What about Vince Young? He can fall into either category of underachieving players, or players who have been stuck on shitty teams that didn't know how to utilize him properly. Thoughts?
 
alasdairm said:
i do not think this thread is about what you think it is about...
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yes

i jumped the gun

i admit as much as i respect tommyboy's takes i sometimes just skim thru his tl;dr

okay, redo

steven jackson from 2005-2010

the dude was a fucking monster those years and the team was the worst team ever

can't really talk about basketball or baseball cause all of those stars on shit teams univetably relocte to contenders

you can probably add andrew mccutchen to this list but hopefully can be crossed off it as the bucs breakthru and make the playoffs next year

let's go bucs!

i have to disagree on megatron

the lions are a good team just going through some struggles this season(calvin not being anywhere near the EZ threat he usually is is a major factor), they'll be back next year
 
'The Other' Steve Smith makes my list as well. He was great when he was on the Giants (led the league in receptions in 2009), but made the mistake of going to the Eagles which may have been the biggest mistake of his career. He's a disciplined slot receiver who can move the chains all game, but only if he's on a team with a pocket passing QB. He was a horrible fit with the Eagles, but I'm not familiar enough with the Rams to know if he will be a bust there as well.
 
yeah the other steve smith is a big time dissapointment

i didn't expect him to have a huge statistical year, but at least make some big third down conversions out of the slot

he's the rams third highest paid offensive player....

pretty sad that he's like the 6th best WR on a team with a bottom ten WR core(1.brandon gibson(not even close to best wr on team, but that's his spot, 2. chris givens, 3. amendola(best talent at wr on team, but he's a slot man thru and thru 4.austin pettis - 2nd year man out of boise st. that has potential 5. brian quick- first pick in 2012 2nd round, having a hard time making the adjustment to nfl coming out of appalachian st, i am patient, he's got great size (6'3 220) and excellent athleticism, the game is just tough for him to learn at this level so far and finally at 6. steve smith...is lucky to even have a single target in a game

wish rams kept on to denario alexander, the guy is a great talent' led the NCAA is receiving his sr year at mizzou, he's got great size 6'5 225, a very solid deep threat, it's just he's had like 7 knee surgeries, is looking like phillip rivers goto WR the past 5 weeks
 
Kinda surprised nobody's mentioned Maurice Jones-Drew. Talented running back, shitty team.

And I know this is a bit of a throwback... but can anybody say Barry Sanders??? The primary reason he retired so young was because upper management practically refused to give him any sort of support. He didn't wanna go anywhere else, but finally had enough of the bullshit.
 
Unless Tony Gonzalez wins a Super Bowl, he may be one of the biggest wastes of talent as he has yet to win a playoff game despite holding NFL records for most career and season receptions by a TE, and most TD's and reception yards by a TE.

This is his season to make things right since it's likely the best team he has played on, and he is in the last years of his career.
 
i gotta disagree with Calvin Johnson. are y'alls memories that short? sure he was on the 0-16 Lions team, but he did go to the playoffs last year with those same Lions. that hardly seems wasteful?
 
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