Cowboy history: Biggest waste of talent (self inflicted)

Creeper

Well-Known Member
Messages
13,829
Reaction score
17,536
Erik Williams, if not for his accident he would be a true HOF candidate.

Beat me to it. Erik Williams was one of my favorite players in his day. I loved how he man-handled the likes of Reggie White and Michael Strahan. I think he was definitely one of the most intimidating offensive linemen in NFL history.

I also have to vote for Hollywood Henderson. He was way ahead of his time as far as speed and athleticism. He blew himself up in a bad way and threw away his awesome talent. It is a shame really.
 

xwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
56,908
Reaction score
64,316
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
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 ...

  • 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.
 

KJJ

You Have an Axe to Grind
Messages
56,521
Reaction score
34,778
Duane Thomas was the biggest waste of talent. Lasted only two years with the Cowboys after a great start to his career. He was out of the league after only four seasons. I remember Dan Reeves saying he thought Thomas would be another Jim Brown. Thomas referred to Tom Landry as plastic man. No one really knew what that meant.
 

terra

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,356
Reaction score
3,296
Duane Thomas was the biggest waste of talent. Lasted only two years with the Cowboys after a great start to his career. He was out of the league after only four seasons. I remember Dan Reeves saying he thought Thomas would be another Jim Brown. Thomas referred to Tom Landry as plastic man. No one really knew what that meant.
Its like Hollywood is 1 and Duane is 1A
Both could have made it to canton.
Hollywood was on the way to being LT before there was a LT when drugs took him down
 

john van brocklin

Captain Comeback
Messages
38,188
Reaction score
42,948
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 ...
Henderson is the one I remember most
Could have had a borderline HOF career.
He was talented.
Glad he got it together post football career.
 

Diehardblues

Well-Known Member
Messages
55,143
Reaction score
36,328
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 ...
Well done except I’m not sure Harvey’s career was derailed by his behavior in same manner as others which was mostly after his career or at the end of it if I recall correctly which arguably kept him out of ROH and maybe even consideration for HOF.
 

AbeBeta

Well-Known Member
Messages
35,563
Reaction score
12,263
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 ...

First two speak to the stupidity of NFL rules around marijuana.
 

RS12

Well-Known Member
Messages
31,795
Reaction score
27,465
Where's Jason Garrett?
You can't make a thread about self inflicted wasted talent and not include Garrett. - LOL.
That assumes he had talent. An old poster claimed he was known around the organization as a computer with legs. LOL! Or Landry 2.0. Bwahaahaa! Neither Landry 2.0 or the computer with legs could get out of its own way. Miraculously the Mara's figured out he was a fraud in year, something it took Jerry a decade to do.
 

VaqueroTD

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,961
Reaction score
16,310
I’m going with Dwayne Goodrich even though I’m not sure if he had the talent to make it big. Just a sad story for that young man to be drafted so high, get injured all the time, and lose it all in a random drunk accident where his decision making made it even worse. Talk about a life crap out.
 
Top