Cowboy history: Biggest waste of talent (self inflicted)

[kskboys]

• Leon Lett:
  • Only started 16 games once due primarily to drug suspensions.
  • His quickness was on par with Aaron Donald.
• Dez
  • Could have been a Hof type player if he had any brains and if he had stayed in shape.

And would've run his routes instead of jogging them.

 

[visionary]

Where's Jason Garrett?
You can't make a thread about self inflicted wasted talent and not include Garrett. - LOL.

he’s in the “Players with no talent who maximized earnings by sucking up to owner” thread

 

[john van brocklin]

Yup. All of them.

Sad to agree

 

[john van brocklin]

And would've run his routes instead of jogging them.

Agree on Leon Lett
Was having a MVP season before being suspended

 

[Red Dragon]

Jimmy Smith. Cowboys treated him like crap but he became the Jaguars' greatest ever WR. Imagine how good our 1990s offense would be with Jsmith and Irvin wide?

Erik Williams car crash, enough said.

 

[Bobhaze]

Thinking about the sad case of Randy Gregory made me remember some of the other Cowboys players over time that were blessed with great talent but had personall issues that seriously damaged their careers and legacies. Here are some that come to mind:

Randy Gregory - we will never know how good he could have been
David Irvin - another pot casualty. Like Gregory we will never know how good he could have been, but he had great talent.
Duane Thomas - Huge talent with an even bigger chip on his shoulder. Didn't get along with anybody - teammates, coaches, media ...
Lance Rentzel - Star player with a beautiful celebrity wife and a predilection for flashing children.
Hollywood Henderson - a LB and one of the fastest players in the NFL. A true athletic freak. Serious cocaine habit derailed his career
Harvey Martin - Had a very good career anyway, but without the multitude of drugs might be discussed alongside guys like Bruce Smith, Deacon Jones etc ...

Great list. As has been mentioned, Duane Thomas would have been a HOFer IMO had he not just lost his mind. He was the closest thing to Jim Brown I’ve ever seen. And I saw Jim Brown and DT play. Duane Thomas weighed about 220 and had blazing speed and unbelievable acceleration. A completely wasted talent.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Dwayne Goodrich
Antonio Bryant
Derek Ross


Honorable mentions...
Quincy Carter
Joseph Randle

NO.........Quincy Carter was a no talent A clown. NO way does he have a great career otherwise.

 

[jazzcat22]

Erik Williams, if not for his accident he would be a true HOF candidate.

He was my 1st thought as well.

 

[kskboys]

NO.........Quincy Carter was a no talent A clown. NO way does he have a great career otherwise.

I'm in shock every time I hear someone claim Quincy was good or talented. The 03 team drug Quincy to the playoffs w/ a #1 D. Quincy threw for only 3,302 yds w/ 17 TD's and 22 INT's. He was quite bad. What Quincy was good at was throwing picks.

 

[erod]

Rafael Septien

 

[kskboys]

Rafael Septien

Mr. Automatic.

 

[America's Cowboy]

For those saying Quincy Carter had no talent?

Uhhh, it's a good thing there is video to prove the opposite. Quincy Carter most definitely had talent: a cannon of an arm and the ability to scramble and use his feet.



Quincy's problem was he was a big time pot smoker.

 

[Bullflop]

Hee-hee, I'd venture to assert most, of us, as Cowboys fans, have a slippery slope to climb!! Am I right or am I right?!

Perhaps every team likely has things that drive many of their fans to wonder why they remain such tortured creatures.

 

[SlammedZero]

I'm in shock every time I hear someone claim Quincy was good or talented. The 03 team drug Quincy to the playoffs w/ a #1 D. Quincy threw for only 3,302 yds w/ 17 TD's and 22 INT's. He was quite bad. What Quincy was good at was throwing picks.

Dood had a cannon arm though. I used to have a Quincy Carter "highlight" video (it was more like a deep bomb compilation) on my hard drive from way back in the day. I've since lost it, but it had some pretty impressive deep throws on it from QC.

 

[Bullflop]

Quincy Carter was an amazing blend of one with real competence, blended with an innate ability to disappoint with great stupidity.

 

[kskboys]

For those saying Quincy Carter had no talent?

Uhhh, it's a good thing there is video to prove the opposite. Quincy Carter most definitely had talent: a cannon of an arm and the ability to scramble and use his feet.



Quincy's problem was he was a big time pot smoker.

Not to mention being a terrible passer.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Tony Romo

I'd like to know how Romo is "the biggest self-inflicted waste of talent".

Seems to me he actually over-achieved.

 

[links18]

Zeke.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Not to mention being a terrible passer.

For being such a terrible passer, Quincy led a 5-11 previous team to the playoffs.

 

[JoeKing]

Davin Irvin