National Football League

Joe Thomas and 5 Players Whose Careers Were Wasted on Bad Teams

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:44 p.m. ET

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Many of the NFL’s legends have been to a Super Bowl, but other stars have been forced to play out their days with perennial cellar-dwellers.

Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Richard Sherman, and James Harrison are among the best players we have seen in recent memory. And what does this quartet of players have in common with one another? That’s right; all four of them have at least one Super Bowl ring to boast of.

Unfortunately, plenty of legends haven’t been so fortunate. Recently retired wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who is among the best receivers of all-time behind Jerry Rice, never won a playoff game during his entire career with the Detroit Lions.

Johnson’s career was largely wasted by the Lions front office, but there are current players who will likely join him. It’s sad when you see incredible talents performing at a high level, but they just never get rewarded by their teams. Let’s take a look at five players whose careers have been wasted by bad teams.

Oct 2, 2016; Landover, MD, USA; Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas (73) prepares to block Washington Redskins defensive end Trent Murphy (93) during the first half at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

5. Joe Thomas, LT — Cleveland Browns

Every year, somebody in the Cleveland Browns leaks to the media that the team is interested in trading left tackle Joe Thomas. While trading Thomas would be a sad moment for the fan base, he might bring back a useful draft pick, though it’s not like Cleveland is hurting in that department at the moment.

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Nobody can actually evaluate offensive linemen in the context of history. But if you had Thomas listed as your best offensive tackle (or offensive lineman, for that matter) of all-time, then it would be difficult to form a legitimate counter-argument.

Thomas is just that good. However, he’s never even been to the playoffs. In his first season with the Browns in 2007, Thomas made the Pro Bowl, and he’s been to the Pro Bowl in all of the nine years since. The Browns somehow won 10 games in Thomas’ first season, but they’ve been a laughingstock since then.

Even as he nears the age of 32, Thomas would still fetch a high price in the trade block. He’s still one of the game’s best. And while it would be strange to see him playing outside of Cleveland, it would be nice for him to have a shot at postseason football.

Oct 17, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Jets 28-3. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

4. Brandon Marshall, WR — New York Jets

One of the toughest wide receivers in the NFL to cover, Brandon Marshall has built an exceptional career off of using physicality to frustrate defensive backs. It’s extremely easy to complete a pass to Marshall because he knows exactly how to set his route up to make a catch in tight coverage against a defensive back. As Richard Sherman saw in the first half of the Seattle Seahawks win over the Jets, Marshall is not easy to cover one-on-one, particularly in the end zone.

All of Marshall’s catches, though, haven’t gotten him a playoff appearance yet. And what must be frustrating is the fact that he’s come so close. Just last year, the Jets won 10 games and Marshall made his sixth Pro Bowl after surpassing 1,500 receiving yards for just the second time in his career. This, of course, came a year after many proclaimed that he was “washed-up,” ignoring the fact that an injury and Marc Trestman’s inane offensive philosophy contributed more to his struggles.

This year, Marshall is averaging a respectable 67.4 yards per game, but that’s actually below his career average of 73.9. At 2-5, the Jets probably won’t be able to make it to the playoff race and Marshall has been foiled by the quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who ostensibly helped him re-emerge as an elite option in 2015.

Marshall, who has played for four different teams in his career, is 27th in NFL history in receiving yards. Based on his style of play, the 32-year-old should continue to soar up that list, but he might need an extra boost from a better quarterback than what New York currently has.

Sep 18, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Tennessee Titans wide receiver Andre Johnson (81) after the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Tennessee won 16-15. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

3. Andre Johnson, WR — Tennessee Titans

Unlike Joe Thomas and Brandon Marshall, Andre Johnson has been to the playoffs. Twice. Before Matt Schaub spontaneously combusted and Bill O’Brien somehow picked up the pieces years later, the Houston Texans were a quality team in the AFC. They never made it past the divisional round, but the Texans did reward Johnson for years of jaw-dropping play with playoff appearances in 2011 and 2012.

That’s nice, but it isn’t enough to do justice to one of the NFL’s most uncoverable talents. Johnson is the resident old goat on the Tennessee Titans weirdly constructed roster. Once upon a time, though, he used to be a back-to-back leader in receiving yards. Johnson has made six Pro Bowls in his career, and he is ninth in NFL history in receiving yards.

These accomplishments come despite the fact that he mostly played with little talent around him. Defenses knew that the Texans quarterbacks would hound Johnson with targets, because I highly doubt they were threatened by players like Kevin Walter.

Houston wasn’t awful for most of Johnson’s career, but they were thoroughly mediocre for most of it. From 2007-10, the Texans won between six and nine games. That’s purgatory and, while they emerged out of it to enter the playoffs in 2011 and 2012, you can’t forget that Johnson played for a team that finished dead last in the AFC South five times.

Worse yet, Johnson tried to join the Indianapolis Colts in 2015, jumping ship for a chance to make the playoffs with Andrew Luck. The Colts offense was supposed to be elite. Instead, it was an absolute joke. Johnson did just about nothing as Andrew Luck barely played and the Colts sputtered.

Now, Johnson is on a Tennessee Titans team that is surprisingly 4-4, but the 35-year-old averages just 1.1 receptions per game. There’s a great reason for that, too, because he catches a team-low 40.9 percent of everything thrown at him. That’s awful and it makes everyone wonder why the Titans signed him in the first place. It also makes some younger fans forget just how good Johnson used to be.

Sep 25, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA;Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes (24) works out prior to the game at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

2. Brent Grimes, CB — Tampa Bay Buccaneers

No, Brent Grimes isn’t a future Hall of Famer like Thomas, Marshall, or Johnson. But before his wife became more famous than him, he was one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Grimes has been in the league since 2007. Over his career, he’s given small cornerbacks, such as current shutdown star Jason Verrett, hope that they can be stars on the outside in this league.

Grimes has 27 career interceptions and he is about to have a seventh-straight season with 10 passes defended. It takes a savvy player to overcome a height advantage when you are trying to be a standout No. 1 cornerback in this league. Grimes combined that savviness with insane ball skills to make it happen, though. The numbers are excellent, but nothing tops this one-handed interception against Megatron that should be recognized as one of the best catches in NFL history.

Although the Atlanta Falcons made the playoffs four times in the six seasons Grimes played with them, including a near-Super Bowl trip in 2012, Grimes has never won a playoff game. He appeared in two Wild Card losses in 2008 and 2010, but injuries prevented him from appearing in the 2011 and 2012 playoffs.

That injury in 2012 was, of course, a torn Achilles in Week 1. Since he would be 30 in the following season, many wrote Grimes off after that injury. Grimes then a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins and make the Pro Bowl with 16 passes defended and four interceptions.

Since signing with Miami, Grimes has remained in the state of Florida, currently in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Contrary to what some think, Grimes is still a good corner at the age of 33, even if there’s no denying that Father Time is catching up to him.

At this point, Grimes may never return to the playoffs again. And I can’t help but wonder if more people would have praised him if he played on a better defense in the prime of his career. For the most part, he and John Abraham were the Falcons only great defensive players at the time. I mean, Dunta Robinson, anyone?

Oct 23, 2016; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) is tackled by Buffalo Bills defensive end Kyle Williams (95) during the second half at Hard Rock Stadium. The Dolphins won 28-25. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

1. Kyle Williams, DT — Buffalo Bills

Joe Thomas is the most obvious example of a great player who never achieved much team success, but Kyle Williams might be the quintessential example of a great player who never received much recognition solely because he never played for a good team.

In 2006, the Houston Texans traded a fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Eric Moulds, who was a three-time Pro-Bowler coming off of a second straight 80-catch season. Moulds would spend just one season with the Texans as a possession receiver. Meanwhile, that pick turned into Williams, who would become one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen.

Capable of dominating in either a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme, Williams is the definition of a guy who comes to work, does his job, and leaves without much of a trace. Williams has been to four Pro Bowls, but some forget that, around 2010, he was arguably the best defensive player in the league.

Williams had 10.5 sacks in the 2013 season and he’s had several productive seasons as the unsung hero on the Bills defense. These days, Williams is a 33-year-old on the tail end of his career, but he’s still good. Marcell Dareus is set to return and maybe that could elevate Williams’s play even more.

Like the first two members of this list, Williams has never received a taste of postseason action. And in his 11-year career, the versatile LSU product has been on a winning team just once (9-7, 2014). For six-straight years, Williams suited up for the worst team in the AFC East and several of those seasons were in the prime of his career.

The Bills have been competitive this year at 4-3 and they’ve imposed some monstrous wins over the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals. Their losses, however, are to the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, and Miami Dolphins, which have been among the most underwhelming teams in the conference in 2016. Williams has a shot at making the playoffs once in his career, but it’s smaller than either Marshall’s or Thomas’s.

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