As the end of the regular season of the NFL has come and gone, we are now in the time of the playoffs and the all important, glorious, dream making Super Bowl. Only the best of the best will be able to claim their spot there. Usually when we think of players in the NFL, we think of the most talented, most athletic, and most determined players. After all, why else would a team spend lots of money recruiting anything but the best? Apparently history has shown otherwise. I have written about some of the worst plays in NFL history, highlighting those hard to forget, funny, and embarrassing moments for a few unlucky players. What about the players that don't just have a moment of bad play calling, but a whole careers worth? The ones that left us wondering how on earth they made a high school football team, let alone a professional one. The players that were so bad that it made average citizens believe they could most likely play better. To be fair though, most players in the NFL have skills that the average folk does not posses, but it doesn't excuse the fact of how downright terrible some guys are. Honestly, for what they are paid, there really isn't any excuse. Before I name the top 5 worst players in NFL history, I want to lay out a couple of things. No players were included that had their careers ended due to significant injury, which is no fault of their own. I also only included players who have actually played for more than one season or else it would have been pretty impossible to pick through them all. With that being said, here are the top 5 worst players in the league's history. Enjoy.
1 - Ryan Leaf - QB San Diego Chargers
Ryan Leaf may be qualified as one of the worst picks in NFL draft history. Way back in 1998, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning were considered to be the new quarterbacks to watch as they were coming into the league. However, once they showed how they played, the two quarterbacks could not be more opposite of one another. Manning is considered one of the best quarterbacks to have ever played the game and Leaf was well, terrible. His career only lasted four seasons, mostly with the Chargers who probably wished it could have been less. He was basically a complete disaster on the field and when you see some career stats, you'll see what I mean. For his entire career, Leaf has only thrown 3,666 passing yards and had more interceptions than touchdowns with 36 interceptions and only 14 touchdowns.
2 - Akili Smith - QB Cincinnati Bengals
Akili Smith's career in the NFL was seen as a huge let down. He was selected in the 1999 draft and it looked as though he was a promising young athlete, possibly even having a future as a pro bowler. While he was in college at the University of Oregon, Smith had an amazing career. In his final season there he threw 32 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions. However when he began playing in the league, he was unable to prove himself. It was as though a different guy had come into the NFL. Smith ended up only starting 16 games in four NFL seasons. Mostly he was known to repeatedly turn the ball over at extremely high rates. Throwing for only 2,212 passing yards, having 13 interceptions and only succeeding at scoring a measly 5 touchdown pases, it's hard to believe this guy was considered a star during his college years.
3 - Heath Shuler - QB Washington Redskins & New Orleans Saints
Heath Shuler was a quarterback for the Washington Redskins and later traded to the New Orleans Saints and you'll understand why Washington was probably happy to move on. He is mostly remembered as a big flop in NFL history. In 1994, he was drafted as the no. 3 pick by the Redskins in hopes that he would be able to turn around their struggling image. Little did they know how disappointed they would be in that pick. He started only 13 games with the Redskins, but managed to throw an embarrassing 19 interceptions during that time. After seeing that they had no chance with him as their quarterback, Washington traded Shuler to the Saints, but that did nothing to improve his game. In only one season with New Orleans, Shuler threw two touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. As you can imagine, his career ended soon after.
4 - JaMarcus Russell - QB Oakland Raiders
JaMarcus Russell should be considered not only one of the worst players to ever step foot on the field, but probably one of the worst decisions in a draft, ever. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2007 for a ridiculous 31.5 million dollars. This would prove to be a disastrous decision by the Raiders who for the money they invested in him, got absolutely nothing in return. For the three years he played with them, he proved not only was his talent, or lack of it, not worth the money they spent, but his work ethic was nothing short of a joke. He would show up to team activities out of shape, had a reputation for being the last one to show up and the first one to go home, and was not willing to put in the work to help better his not so stellar performance on the field. He threw for only 18 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. Instead of being remembered for the one thing he did have, a strong arm, he'll be remembered as a huge investment loss.
5 - Lawrence Phillips - Running back St. Louis Rams, SF 49ers, & Miami Dolphins
The story of Lawrence Phillips is no doubt a very sad and disappointing one so in no way do I want to downplay that. However, if we are going to look at his career in the league from purely a football standpoint, he undoubtedly had a pretty bad run at the game. He was originally drafted in 1996 by the Saint Louis Rams. Though he was a pretty dominating player during his college years at Nebraska, he just could not bring that kind of talent to the game when he joined the NFL. Phillips was only averaging 3.4 yards per carry with one touchdown reception and 219 receiving yards. His career playing pro would unfortunately end before his 25th birthday. Things did not get much better for him after his time in the NFL. He ended up behind bars for domestic assault and while in jail, he was accused of murdering his cell mate. Before that was even brought to trial, Lawrence Phillips tragically ended his own life in 2016 at the age of 40.
I hope you enjoyed reading this! I look forward to doing more top 5 lists in the future.
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