Historically, great NFL franchises like the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, and Pittsburgh Steelers have been blessed with so many great players throughout their histories. And then there are some franchises that, truth be told, would be in complete irrelevance if not for that one single NFL player who changed everything forever.
Here are 10 NFL teams that would have been nothing without one player.
Which NFL franchises were blessed to have a great player on their teams?
New England Patriots: Tom Brady
As hard as it is for millennials and Generation Z to believe, the Patriots were once an NFL laughingstock. In 1997, Robert Kraft fired legendary head coach Bill Parcells, and the team nearly relocated to Hartford before Kraft saved the day and kept them in Foxborough.
The Patriots made the Super Bowl in the 1985 and ‘96 seasons, but they were merely nice underdog stories that never stood a chance — getting destroyed by the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers in the big games.
The football team’s rise from zeroes to heroes only began in 2000 — when the Patriots used the No. 199 selection on Tom Brady.
Consider that the Patriots went 5-and-11 in Bill Belichick’s first year as head coach — when Brady was a backup to Drew Bledsoe. The Pats started 0-and-2 in 2001, then turned to Brady following an injury to Bledsoe.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The rest, as they say, is history. The Patriots went on to win their first of six Super Bowls that year in the Brady-Belichick era. In fact, New England never had a losing season in Brady’s 10 years as their starting QB. Excluding the 2008 season, when he missed all but a few minutes, the Patriots only missed the playoffs once with Brady at the helm.
Oh, and how did the Patriots do after letting Brady leave in 2020? They went 29-38-0 with one winning season and zero playoff victories. So much for Bill Belichick being the main catalyst of the New England dynasty over Brady.
Man, to think this would be a poverty franchise if the Pats didn’t hit the jackpot with the Tom Brady draft choice…
San Francisco 49ers: Joe Montana
The 49ers franchise had a whopping three playoff wins in their history before they drafted Joe Montana in the third round — 82nd overall — back in 1979.
The Notre Dame product took over as the 49ers’ starting QB in the midst of his sophomore 1980 season. San Francisco finished 6 and 10, marking their fourth straight losing season and ninth straight year without a playoff W.
1981 marked Montana’s first full season as the 49ers’ starting QB. He led them to 13 wins and a Super Bowl 16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals — the first Lombardi Trophy for the red and gold.
Montana would lead the 49ers to four Super Bowl championships in the ‘80s decade. For those wondering about Jerry Rice and Steve Young? Ahem, the 49ers won two Super Bowls before Rice arrived — and we daresay Young wouldn’t have had a Hall of Fame career and Super Bowl 29-winning season if he didn’t get to learn behind Montana all those years.
Yes, the 49ers had many superstars, and Hall of Famers contributed to their dynasty, which produced five Super Bowls. But it all started with Joe Montana. He was the architect who built the road to greatness.
Denver Broncos: John Elway
Before Elway’s arrival in 1983, the Broncos had two playoff wins in their history — both of which came in the 1977 season. In fact, it wasn’t until the franchise’s 14th year in 1973 that they tallied a winning record for the first time.
The Baltimore Colts drafted Elway first overall in 1983, but he refused to play for them. So a deal was reached to send him to the QB-needy Broncos, and the football world was forever changed.
Elway led the Broncos to five Super Bowl appearances during his 16-year Hall of Fame career. After losing the first three, the nine-time Pro Bowler finally broke through with back-to-back Super Bowl championships to close out his career in 1997 and ‘98.
And for those who want to bring up the 2015 Broncos squad that won Super Bowl 50? Elway built that team by himself as the GM — having single-handedly recruited Peyton Manning in 2012 free agency. If Elway hadn’t won the Manning sweepstakes, the Broncos would have been a laughingstock throughout the 2010s.
As an NFL player and GM, Elway is responsible for seven Broncos’ Super Bowl appearances and three championships. This franchise would be a complete laughingstock if they had never gotten their hands on him back in 1983.
Pure and simple.
Houston Texans: J.J. Watt
It was hard to harp on the Texans’ struggles during the first nine years of their existence. They joined the league as an expansion franchise in 2002 and faced a lengthy process in building a competent team — not to mention being stuck in the same division as Peyton Manning’s powerhouse Indianapolis Colts.
But after the Texans used the No. 11 pick of 2011 on defensive end JJ Watt, the franchise finally began a run of relevance.
Watt led Houston to back-to-back AFC South division titles in 2011 and 2012, as well as their first two playoff wins in franchise history. He won 2012, 2014, and 2015 Defensive Player of the Year honors, emerging as the NFL’s best defensive player in the first half of the decade.
Watt’s leadership and stardom also got out the best of other defensive stalwarts like Whitney Mercilus, Jadeveon Clowney, and Brian Cushing. All told, the Texans went to the postseason six times in the JJ Watt era — winning six AFC South division crowns and four playoff games.
It’s no coincidence that the Texans were a mess for the first two years of the post-JJ Watt era. He was the heart and soul of that team for 10 years, and let’s not forget that he stood up to Bill O’Brien before the latter’s firing in the 2020 season. B.O.B. deserved that for destroying the team with the mind-numbing DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney trades.
The Texans returned to prominence in 2023 thanks to the arrivals of DeMeco Ryans, CJ Stroud, and Will Anderson Jr. But let’s not forget that their jump from irrelevance to, well, relevance began with Watt in 2011.
New York Jets: Joe Namath
If you remove the New York Jets’ Super Bowl 3 victory from their history, you’d be talking about the NFL’s ultimate poverty franchise. I mean, at least other “sad” fanbases like the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions have multiple NFL championship banners.
Heck, the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings have each won four conference championships.
The Jets are only semi-relevant, historically speaking, because of one man: “Broadway” Joe Namath.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer put his Jets on the map when he led them to an AFL Championship in 1968. They were supposed to be no match for the powerhouse Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 3, but Namath boldly guaranteed that his team would take down the 18-point favorites.
And they did just that, alright. The Jets upset the Colts 16-7 to claim their first Super Bowl title — and their only one to date.
New York hasn’t been back to the big dance ever since, and they’ve been a trainwreck since losing back-to-back AFC title games in 2009 and 2010.
As we said, where would this franchise be in the historical context without Broadway Joe and his legendary fulfilled promise in 1968?
Also Read: One Player From All 32 NFL Teams That Should Be Traded Before The Start Of The 2024 Season
New York Giants: Lawrence Taylor
Tom Brady, being the GOAT of NFL players, may be undisputable. Do you know what else is undisputable? LT is the greatest defensive player in NFL history.
The No. 2 pick of the 1981 NFL Draft put the New York Giants on the map during the ‘80s with two Hall of Fame coaches in Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. Make no mistake, though, Lawrence Taylor WAS the Giants during their first run of dominance.
New York didn’t make the postseason once from 1964 to 1980, and they had last won a league title in 1956. After LT’s arrival, they became NFC juggernauts for the next decade.
Taylor was the anchor of the Giants’ squad that won their first two Super Bowl championships in the 1986 and 1990 seasons. Did you know he’s the last NFL Defensive Player to win league MVP honors, having done so in 1986?
Taylor set the Giants’ culture and identity as a hard-hitting, smash-them-in-the-mouth football team. They carried that blueprint over in the Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck years — a blueprint that netted two more Super Bowls in the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
Detroit Lions: Bobby Layne
As we just noted on the Jets-Namath entry, the Detroit Lions are in the “sad club” of NFL franchises.
This team has never been to a Super Bowl, for starters. 2023 marked their first playoff win AND NFC Championship Game appearance in 32 years. It was also the franchise’s first division title-winning season since 1993.
But old-time Lions fans will tell you younger folks that life hasn’t always been bad. This team was a dynasty way back when in the 1950s with quarterback Bobby Layne.
Layne played for the Lions from 1950 until he was traded to the Steelers mid-season in 1958.
The six-time Pro Bowler led Detroit to the NFL Championships in 1952, 1953, and 1957. He sported a superb 53-29-2 record as the Lions’ starting QB.
Once the Lions traded Layne to the Steelers, the so-called “Curse of Bobby Layne” was born. The franchise slipped into irrelevance for the next six-and-a-half decades before Dan Campbell turned these guys into an NFC juggernaut in 2023.
Remove Detroit’s Hall of Fame QB from their history, and you’d be talking about an embarrassingly and historically horrible franchise for nearly a full century and counting.
Buffalo Bills: Jim Kelly
The Bills’ fanbase has been through far more heartbreak than almost any other in North American professional sports. But longtime Bills fans still remember and celebrate the thrill of the ‘90s juggernaut that got oh-so-close to championship glory.
The Bills went from laughable loser to perennial contender following Jim Kelly’s arrival in 1986. Yes, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas deserve credit as well, but it was Kelly who engineered Buffalo’s “no-huddle” offense that put this football team on the map in the early ‘90s.
The Bills’ franchise wasn’t the same when Kelly retired in 1997. Consider that they won zero playoff games between 1996 and 2019. 2020 also marked their first AFC Championship Game appearance since 1993 — when Kelly was still at the peak of his powers.
Think about how great Josh Allen is. We’re still looking at a guy who hasn’t taken Buffalo to a single Super Bowl, whereas Kelly got the Bills there four times. Man, where would this team’s all-time win/loss record stand if they never landed this Hall of Fame QB in the first place?
Baltimore Ravens: Ray Lewis
Following their relocation from Cleveland to Baltimore, the organization got a clean slate and changed its team name to ”Ravens.”
With the No. 26 pick in the 1996 draft, the Ravens drafted Miami linebacker Ray Lewis. And this “new” NFL franchise would never look back.
Lewis emerged as the best NFL defensive player of his era, anchoring Baltimore’s lights-out defense for 17 years from 1996 to 2012. Not only did he bring the heat on the field, but you can argue that he’s the greatest single-player leader of all time…going by his pre-game speeches at least.
Lewis got the most out of his teammates, including other legends like Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, and Rod Woodson. Without Lewis, the Ravens wouldn’t have won Super Bowl championships in the 2000 and 2012 seasons.
Lewis’ all-world play, leadership and swagger was the ultimate difference-maker for a Ravens franchise that would be absolutely nothing today if not for his presence.
New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees
The Saints’ fanbase became so fed up with this team’s long losing history that they began showing up to the Superdome in paper bags in the 1980s. As longtime New Orleans football fans will recall, this team was often referred to as the “Aints” during the rock bottom years.
The Saints joined the NFL in 1967. They didn’t make the postseason NOR record a winning season for the first time until 1987. They didn’t win their first playoff game in franchise history UNTIL 2000.
Think about that. 34 years to win a playoff game.
The Saints would follow up their first playoff win in franchise history by…missing the playoffs in each of the next five years.
The devastating tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 forced the franchise to temporarily move out of New Orleans. That year, they had to play their home games at Giants Stadium, LSU’s Tiger Stadium, and San Antonio’s Alamodome.
But everything started coming together for this long-suffering fanbase in 2006. They hired Sean Payton as head coach and won the Drew Brees free agency sweepstakes after the Miami Dolphins memorably passed on him in favor of Dante Culpepper — believing that Brees would never bounce back from shoulder surgery on his throwing arm.
Brees and Payton immediately formed one of the greatest QB-coaching tandems ever, leading the Saints to the NFC South division crown and their first conference championship game appearance in 2006.
Brees would spend 15 years in New Orleans. He led them to the playoffs nine times, to three NFC Championship Game appearances, and, of course, a victory in Super Bowl 44 over Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts. If not for the Minneapolis Miracle or the horrible NOLA No-Call, Brees would likely be a multi-time champion.
Brees retired as the all-time passing yards and passing TDs leader, though Tom Brady would break both records.
Seeing how the Saints have played since his retirement in 2021? Yeah, this franchise would be suffering for six decades and counting now if they never signed him back in 2006.
