Who's last preseason star to make meaningful regular season contribution

Parcells4Life

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Tomorrow everyone is going to get hyped based on players showing out. My question every year at this time is who is the last preseason “star” that made meaningful contributions when the pads came on?

Take out your first round rookies.

Usually the guys that can play don’t have to during preseason and the guys that are playing are doing so against future insurance salesman and PE teachers in about a month.

Hope the WRs keep going positively, but really to me preseason is a matter of if you can’t do it against other scrubs you have no chance of doing it in that regular season.

Tolbert was awful in preseason 2 years ago and it’s taken him 2 years to be a meaningful option on offense.

George Selvie had 4 sacks in the Hall of Fame game 8 years ago and he finished with 6 during the regular season

Schemes are bland and basic. I’ll see the reports of how everyone does but I’m not losing sleep over if the guys 40-90 on the roster look competent or not.
 

Reid1boys

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Unnecessary jab. We know what happened his rookie year. He is so much better now.
Ill wait for this season to say if Tolbert is actually any better. He had 22 catches for 268 yards and 2 whole TDs. Those numbers stink. So if hes going to be somewhat of a contributor this year, all of those numbers better DOUBLE at the minimum.
 

lwehlers

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Ill wait for this season to say if Tolbert is actually any better. He had 22 catches for 268 yards and 2 whole TDs. Those numbers stink. So if hes going to be somewhat of a contributor this year, all of those numbers better DOUBLE at the minimum.
i am also waiting until the real games start to see if tolbert is better then his first two years. tolbert might have to have a good game against the browns because it is looking like lamb may not be able to play the first game no matter if he reports to the team. i see lamb missing the first game.
 

nate dizzle

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Ill wait for this season to say if Tolbert is actually any better. He had 22 catches for 268 yards and 2 whole TDs. Those numbers stink. So if hes going to be somewhat of a contributor this year, all of those numbers better DOUBLE at the minimum.
TBF, how often was he the first read? There's a reason that Lamb led the league in targets last year.
 

FuzzyLumpkins

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Tomorrow everyone is going to get hyped based on players showing out. My question every year at this time is who is the last preseason “star” that made meaningful contributions when the pads came on?

Take out your first round rookies.

Usually the guys that can play don’t have to during preseason and the guys that are playing are doing so against future insurance salesman and PE teachers in about a month.

Hope the WRs keep going positively, but really to me preseason is a matter of if you can’t do it against other scrubs you have no chance of doing it in that regular season.

Tolbert was awful in preseason 2 years ago and it’s taken him 2 years to be a meaningful option on offense.

George Selvie had 4 sacks in the Hall of Fame game 8 years ago and he finished with 6 during the regular season

Schemes are bland and basic. I’ll see the reports of how everyone does but I’m not losing sleep over if the guys 40-90 on the roster look competent or not.
Team performance in the second and third quarter just speaks to roster depth. Fourth quarter is always chaos with an occasional diamond that can make plays.

In each case dominance at one level only means a shot at the next. I do not know about getting anxious but there is plenty to learn about this year's team.
 

Reid1boys

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TBF, how often was he the first read? There's a reason that Lamb led the league in targets last year.
If a guy is good, they will get him the ball. If they feel they need to throw 200 targets Lambs way, there is probably a reason for that.
 

Bobhaze

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Remember some of these former pre-season “stars” of training camps past:
  • Beau Morgan- former QB at the Air Force Academy, tried to make it as a RB in the NFL as an UFA from 97-2000. For at least two straight TCs, Morgan led the team in rushing and was a fan favorite. He never made the roster and never played a down of NFL football. He did have a two year military commitment which may have held him back some.
  • Lousaka Polite RB- 2004 and 2005, Polite was a “star” at times in preseason. He actually made the 53 man roster 3 times but had 9 regular season carries for 26 yards in his short career in Dallas.
  • Rico Gathers TE- drafted in round 6 in 2016, Rico was one of the most hyped players I’ve ever seen. He wowed fans with his great catches in shorts and t-shirts and his “dominance” over 3rd and 4th string players in ps games only to look lost in the regular season. Only played two seasons.
  • Darius Jackson RB- also a 6th round pick in 2016. Showed great potential in TC in 2016 and even had some moments in ps games. But in the end he was more fizzle than sizzle.
Every season there are several guys who get the preseason kudos, and honestly, maybe 5-10% of them ever do anything in the regular season.
 

Reid1boys

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Remember some of these former pre-season “stars” of training camps past:
  • Beau Morgan- former QB at the Air Force Academy, tried to make it as a RB in the NFL as an UFA from 97-2000. For at least two straight TCs, Morgan led the team in rushing and was a fan favorite. He never made the roster and never played a down of NFL football. He did have a two year military commitment which may have held him back some.
  • Lousaka Polite RB- 2004 and 2005, Polite was a “star” at times in preseason. He actually made the 53 man roster 3 times but had 9 regular season carries for 26 yards in his short career in Dallas.
  • Rico Gathers TE- drafted in round 6 in 2016, Rico was one of the most hyped players I’ve ever seen. He wowed fans with his great catches in shorts and t-shirts and his “dominance” over 3rd and 4th string players in ps games only to look lost in the regular season. Only played two seasons.
  • Darius Jackson RB- also a 6th round pick in 2016. Showed great potential in TC in 2016 and even had some moments in ps games. But in the end he was more fizzle than sizzle.
Every season there are several guys who get the preseason kudos, and honestly, maybe 5-10% of them ever do anything in the regular season.
I wish we would have given gathers a chance. I dont care who he was going up against, he had some absolutely manly catches where he physically dominated his opponent. I only need to see something a coule times to make me a believer. BUT, he was never on the field and given a shot in actual games.
 
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