Of any professional sport league, the NFL is known for its fierce competition and aggressive team jockeying, for any talented contender, vying to fill a roster spot. Some NFL players seem to have tapped into their own lucky star, lady luck, four leafed clover or other luck providing talisman, by being on the right team at the right time. At the same time there are others with arguably as much talent, drive and tenacity, who are stuck on underperforming teams or just seem to be suffering from continuous bad luck.
Here are the 10 NFL players with the worst luck ever:
Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones may not be the best quarterback in the lineup, but he does try his best to win games no matter the outcome. Jones has been stuck on a terrible New York Giants team that has had some of the worst offensive lines in the league. Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranked the Giant’s offensive line near the bottom of the barrel in 2020 and 2021 (31 and 30 respectively) which doesn’t bode well for a young signal-caller trying to make quick passing plays.
Despite that, Jones did help the Giants reach the playoffs in 2022 and defeated the 13-win Minnesota Vikings in the Wildcard round before falling to the one-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Round. Unfortunately, the 2023 season has been very rocky for Jones as the Giants have struggled all year and Jones suffered an ACL injury in week nine’s 6-30 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Jones’s luck might turn around if he joins another team. Only time will tell.
Brandin Cooks
When you look at wide receivers on the move, you think of guys who can catch huge receptions and speed into the endzone. In Brandin Cooks’ case, even though he can do that, he has been traded multiple times throughout his career never finding that permanent home in the league. Cooks began his career with the Saints from 2014 until 2016. In 2017 Cooks was traded from the Saints to the New England Patriots where he helped Tom Brady and company reach Super Bowl 52 before ultimately losing to the Philadelphia Eagles.
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In 2018, Cooks was traded from the Patriots to the Los Angeles Rams where he helped the Rams reach Super Bowl 53 but Cooks’ and the Rams would lose 3-13 to the Patriots. Cooks then got traded to the Texans in 2020 and was stuck, as the Texans didn’t accomplish much on the field. Cooks was recently traded from the Texans to the Cowboys in 2023 where he just might have better luck with a more successful team, unfortunately it won’t be this year.
Aaron Rodgers
Ever since Super Bowl 45, Aaron Rodgers has tried to capture that second Super Bowl title despite multiple regular season successes and four AP NFL MVPs. However, when the time came around for success in the playoffs, Rodgers and the Packers were knocked out of the playoffs 10 times and four of those times were nailbiters in the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks (2014 season), Atlanta Falcons (2016 season), San Francisco 49ers (2019 season), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2020 season) respectively.
In 2023, Rodgers would get traded to the New York Jets after spending his whole career with the Packers. Although Rodgers brought a ton of hype to Gang Green with his arrival, his bad luck continued after injuring his Achilles in the Jets week one opener in four snaps on offense- ending his season prematurely. Will Rodgers’ luck change in 2024? We’ll see what happens.
Carson Wentz
Wentz came into the NFL as one of the most hyped quarterbacks in the 2016 NFL Draft. Wentz led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 3-0 start in the 2016 season before ultimately finishing the season with a 7-9 record. His sophomore season saw a drastic improvement where Wentz had an 11-2 record as a starter and looked like he would run away with the NFL MVP award.
Unfortunately, Wentz suffered a torn ACL in the Eagle’s week 14 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams and had to miss the rest of the season. Nick Foles filled in and helped the Eagles win Super Bowl 52 against the New England Patriots. Ever since the 2017 season, Wentz has not been able to bring home and lady luck as the multiple injuries, regular and postseason disappointments, have piled up around him. In 2020, Wentz was ultimately benched for Jalen Hurts in a 16-30 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Wentz would get traded to the Indianapolis Colts in the 2021 season where his bad luck with injuries continued as he dealt with a foot injury in training camp but managed to play in the season opener. Wentz got traded again to the Washington Commanders in 2022 and would not have the same success he saw in Philadelphia. The Commanders released Wentz before the start of the 2023 offseason although Wentz signed with the LA Rams before the start of week 10 in the 2023 season as Matthew Stafford’s backup.
Baker Mayfield
Mayfield was the first overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Cleveland Browns. They earned the pick after finishing the 2017 season as only the second team in NFL history to go 0-16. Mayfield got his chance to start after Tyrod Taylor suffered an injury in the Brown’s week three matchup with the New York Jets where Mayfield led the Browns to a 21-17 comeback win. Mayfield’s 2018 season saw him throw 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.
In 2019, Mayfield had some very inconsistent play when he led a dysfunctional Browns team to a 6-10 record and threw 22 touchdown passes against 21 interceptions. In 2020, Mayfield led the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and helped the team get their first playoff win since 1994 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 48-37 victory. However, the back luck hit Mayfield in 2021 with injuries affecting his performance on the field which led to the Browns missing the playoffs and ultimately trading for Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans in 2022.
The Browns traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers where he failed to do much of anything with a weak and depleted roster. Mayfield requested to be released by the Panthers and signed with the Los Angeles Rams where he saw a small amount of success before getting released by them. Mayfield signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2023 season and had great success with their organization this season, taking the Bucs to the Playoffs. Will lady luck start smile at Mayfield and snap him out of his bad luck? We’ll just wait and see.
Kenny Golladay
Kenny Golladay was on top of the world with the Detroit Lions in the 2019 season with 65 receptions for 1,190 receiving yards, scored 11 touchdowns, and was named to the Pro Bowl, as well. Golladay’s bad luck began in 2020 when he suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first two weeks of the regular season before a hip injury ended his season all together. In 2021, Golladay signed a four-year $72 million contract with the New York Giants with high expectations that he would be the G-men’s number one receiver.
However, that never happened as Golladay never saw the same success he had in Detroit. He was not able to even score a touchdown in 2021. In the 2022 season, Golladay had a dip in production on the field as he had more drops than receptions but was able to score his first and only touchdown with the Giants in their final game of the season in a 16-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Golladay was released by the Giants in 2023 and has not been signed by anyone ever since! If any team does take a chance on Golladay, will his misfortunes change? Where is that smiling lady when you need her?
Case Keenum
Case Keenum has always been a backup quarterback since he was first drafted. He has had stops with the Houston Texans and St. Louis/ Los Angeles Rams at the beginning of his career. Keenum would get his chance to shine with the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 season, filled in for an injured Sam Bradford. Keenum led the Vikings to an NFC North championship as well as a Divisional Round playoff win against the New Orleans Saints in walk-off fashion with a touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs before falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game.
After that, Keenum never saw the same success. In 2018 with the Denver Broncos, he finished the regular season with a 6-10 record while the Vikings rolled with Kirk Cousins. Keenum has returned to his role as a backup with stints with Washington, the Cleveland Browns, the Buffalo Bills, and as of the 2023 season the Houston Texans. It’s a shame that Keenum never got to continue as the starter of the Vikings but unfortunately, things happen in the NFL.
DaVante Adams
Similar to Aaron Rodgers, DaVante Adams made the best of his time with the Green Bay Packers with three 1,000+ receiving yard seasons under his belt and five Pro Bowl appearances with the franchise. Adams was given a franchise tag by the Packers/ He didn’t want to play under the franchise tag so the Packers dealt him to the Las Vegas Raiders. There he was reunited with his college teammate Derek Carr and signed a massive five-year $141.25 million deal which was the highest paid contract for a wide receiver at the time.
Unfortunately, the 2022 Raiders finished the regular season with a 6-11 record and missed the playoffs. Adams did make it to his sixth Pro Bowl as a consolation prize. Adams is currently stuck on a dysfunctional Raiders team that recently fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. Adams has expressed his frustrations with the team’s current state. Will Adams’ luck change where he can play with a true title contender or continue to be stuck in Sin City, making the best of it with the Raiders?
Saquon Barkley
Barkley is the star Pro Bowl running back for the New York Giants. He has had three 1,000 yard rushing seasons with the G-Men as well as helped the team secure a playoff win against the Minnesota Vikings. However, Barkley has had to deal with unfortunate injuries that derailed his 2020 (ACL injury) and 2021 seasons (Foot injury).
Not to mention the Giant’s offensive line is absolutely atrocious with their inability to protect anyone from opposing defenses. Barkley was able to have a very productive 2022 season where he rushed for over 1,000 yards. In the 2023 season, Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain in the Giants week two 31-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Barkley finished the season with 962 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns, a less than impressive season you can say.
Kirk Cousins
Cousins began his career in the NFL as the backup to Robert Griffin III. He got his start in 2015 and never looked back. He led Washington to an NFC East championship and playoff appearance that season only for it to fall flat to the Green Bay Packers. Cousins, throughout his career, has played on mediocre Washington and Minnesota Vikings teams and teams that have exited the playoffs in the Wildcard and Divisional Rounds despite putting up good numbers and four Pro Bowl appearances.
In 2023, Cousins received a serious dose of bad luck with a torn Achilles injury in the team’s week eight victory over the Green Bay Packers. Once Cousins recovers, will he be a member of the Minnesota Vikings or will he play for another quarterback needy franchise? Only time will tell as Cousins recovers from his injury.
Lady luck is known as a fickle mistress. She smiles or frown, at the most unexpected times. The NFL is certainly not immune to her whims.
