Admit you were wrong about any NFL player who turned out great

Reality said:

I will start it off with .. Derrick Henry

When he entered the draft out of Alabama I thought he was an average running back that was only drafted high because he played for Alabama.

Henry has turned out to be faster and stronger than I thought he was going to be and makes a huge impact on the outcome of games.

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JohnsKey19 said:

Tom Brady. I wasn't buying the hype the first few seasons he started. That NE defense was legit and made a ton of plays, so I felt Brady was along for the ride more so than him doing anything deserving of all the praise the media heaped on him.

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fivetwos said:

To a lesser degree, Anthony Costanzo and Nate Solder. They weren't great but they hung around longer than I would have figured.

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Reality said:

With it being the off-season, I thought it would be fun to give everyone a chance to share and own on of their mistakes in thinking a player was not going to be very good but they turned out to be great.


*** Rules of the Thread ***

• It can be any current or former NFL player for any NFL team
• Only post a player who was much BETTER than you expected (not worse)
• You must NOT in any way say you were "right" or "not wrong" about anything

*** READ THIS -- The purpose of this thread is to .. without any disclaimers, exceptions or justification .. admit you were wrong about a player you thought would not be good that turned out to be great.

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• I'll go with 'Didn't see it coming":
  • Davante Adams: Watching him as a rookie, I didn't anticipate that he would become the top WR in the league.

• 'Didn't see it coming soon enough":
  • Romo:
    • We went to training camp in 2004 and I was intrigued with Drew Henson.
    • My girlfriend at the time said that Romo was the best of all the Cowboys QBs.
    • By the end of the 2005 training camp, I realized that she was correct and that Romo did 'have something'.

xwalker said:

Trying to follow the rules of this exercise makes me realize that I'm an optimist.

It is easy to remember being wrong about players that I thought would be good/great but that didn't meet expectations.

• I'll go with 'Didn't see it coming":
  • Davante Adams: Watching him as a rookie, I didn't anticipate that he would become the top WR in the league.

• 'Didn't see it coming soon enough":
  • Romo:
    • We went to training camp in 2004 and I was intrigued with Drew Henson.
    • My girlfriend at the time said that Romo was the best of all the Cowboys QBs.
    • By the end of the 2005 training camp, I realized that she was correct and that Romo did 'have something'.

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zrinkill said:

Travis Frederick ...... I wanted some nose tackle who I cannot even remember and thought Fredbeard was a reach.

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nathanlt said:

I was leery of Micah Parsons year off of football. His highlight reel was great, but I would have preferred a tradedown and pick up Jeremiah Owusu Koramoah, along with Caleb Farley and Richie Grant. I don't think Caleb Farley was able to play much last year, right?

Now, knowing that Micah Parsons could very well be #1 overall in a re-draft... I'm ok with the pick...

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Joe Realist said:

Jason Witten

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• Witten
  • Witten was my favorite Cowboys draft pick, ever considering where he was drafted (3rd round).
  • I wanted to draft him in the 1st round.
  • I was really ticked at Parcells for passing on him in the 2nd round.
  • Where I was wrong: I never thought he would be available in the 3rd round.

• Frederick
  • Frederick was in my top 10 favorite draft picks.
  • I loved the trade down and pick of Frederick.
  • I would have drafted Frederick straight up over DT Sharrif Floyd if that had been a choice.
  • Where I was wrong: I thought Bill Callahan would want smaller, quicker type OL for his Zone Blocking Scheme.
  • Where I was wrong part 2: I would have drafted OG Jonathan Cooper over Frederick if that had been an option.

• Parsons
  • I was ecstatic that they ended up with Parsons instead of either of the 2 CBs.
  • He was obviously the best off-ball LB in the draft and best pass rushing off-ball LB.
  • Where I was wrong: I bought into the media narrative that he might have character issues.
  • Where I was wrong part 2: I didn't anticipate that he could start at DE and hold up against the run as a DE.

• JOK
  • I loved the talent.
  • My concern was durability at 6'1-1/2", 221 (Played at ~215 in college).
  • I only had that concern when he was projected as a top half of the 1st round pick.
  • As a 2nd round pick (#52 overall), I thought it was well worth the risk. Worst case he could be a part time player.
  • He missed 3 games as a rookie on short term IR.
  • Where I was wrong: TBD. Need to look back in a couple of years to see how many games he misses due to injury.

MountaineerCowboy said:

Justin Herbert is the most recent for me.

I just thought he was another overhyped Oregon QB like Mariota or Harrington.

He's a top of the food chain talent and was straight from jump street.

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quickccc said:

TJ Watt
Chris Johnson
Patrick Mahomes
Derrick Henry

Brett Favre
Michael Singletary
Drew Brees
Issac Bruce
Larry Allen

Nick Chubb
Russell Wilson
Dak Prescott
Aaron Jones

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jterrell said:

CJ2K. I've never liked collegiate speed backs. They so often fail in the league but CJ2K was obviously a monster.
He ended up with almost 10K career yards so I was an 1d10t on that one for sure.

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