They say first impressions matter. In some aspects, yes. It always helps to get along with your new boss or your significant other’s parents immediately.
But in the NFL? Not so much. Some of the greatest players in NFL history looked awful and clueless in their rookie years…. In contrast, some of the biggest busts in league history left a great first impression before inexplicably unraveling the rest of the way.
Here are five NFL legends who had a horrible rookie year and five massive draft busts who turned in a phenomenal rookie year.
Which NFL legend had a rough time as a rookie in the league?
Horrible Rookie Year: Peyton Manning
“The Sheriff” is the golden standard for quarterbacks that it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
The first overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft joined a struggling Indianapolis Colts franchise that went 3-and-13 the year before. Head coach Lindy Infante had been fired and replaced with Jim Mora.
In his rookie year in the NFL, Peyton Manning completed what would be a career-worst 56.7 completion percentage for 3,739 yards and 26 touchdowns against a league-leading 28 interceptions. Those 26 TDs may sound good on paper, but it should be noted that he attempted a league-high 575 passes in ‘98.
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The Colts finished 3-and-13 in year one of the Peyton Manning era. But as we all know, The Sheriff would not be defined by his rookie struggles.
Manning turned into a superstar the following year after the Colts used the No. 4 pick of 1999 on future Hall of Famer and running back Edgerrin James. Manning carved out a special year with the Colts and Denver Broncos that culminated in five league MVPs, four Super Bowl appearances, and two Super Bowl championships — one with each team.
Manning was the league’s all-time passing yards and passing TDs leader when he retired in 2015, though he has since been surpassed by Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
Great Rookie Year: Robert Griffin III
It’s hard not to feel for RG3, whose career and health were completely mismanaged by a careless Washington NFL franchise.
Washington gave up a king’s ransom to move up so they could select Griffin with the second overall pick in 2012 — right after the Indianapolis Colts used the No. 1 selection on Andrew Luck.
Griffin had, perhaps, the greatest rookie QB season ever seen at the time. He threw for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns, and only five interceptions while racking up 815 rushing yards and seven rushing scores.
RG3 led Washington to a surprise NFC East division crown — their first since 1999. Sadly, he worsened his knee injury in the team’s wild-card round loss to the Seattle Seahawks and required surgery.
Washington’s disregard for Griffin’s knee led to the beginning of the end of his once-promising career. He only started 20 more games in DC over the next two years and spent the rest of his career as a backup for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens before transitioning into an analyst role.
Horrible Rookie Year: Terry Bradshaw
The Pittsburgh Steelers “Steel Curtain dynasty” started taking shape after the team used the first overall pick of 1970 on quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Much like Peyton Manning, of course, Bradshaw showed that first impressions are sometimes overrated.
Bradshaw’s rookie year in the NFL was mostly unwatchable. He lost five of eight starts and completed 38.1 percent of pass attempts — laughable, we know. But it gets even sadder: Six touchdown passes against…a league-leading 24 interceptions.
That’s right, Bradshaw had an interception percentage of 11.0. That gets you benched within a few games in today’s NFL, but Bradshaw was fortunate that standards for QB were much lower in those days.
The three-time Pro Bowler and 1978 league MVP shrugged off the ugly rookie year and pieced together a Hall of Fame career from there, leading the Steelers to four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s decade.
The Louisiana Tech product, along with Chuck Noll and the Steel Curtain defense, helped Pittsburgh become the first NFL dynasty in the Super Bowl era. Just as the old-timer fans predicted back in 1970 when he was turning the ball over at a ridiculous bad rate.
Great Rookie Year: Michael Clayton
One year after winning Super Bowl 37 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, mercurial wideout Keyshawn Johnson was traded to the Dallas Cowboys. Fellow star receiver Keenan McCardell was also subsequently traded to the San Diego Chargers following a holdout.
That left the Bucs in need of a new play-making wideout, so they used the No. 15 pick of 2004 on big-bodied LSU wideout Michael Clayton.
The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Clayton came as advertised in his rookie season — hauling in 80 receptions for 1,193 yards and seven touchdowns. At the time, those 1,193 receiving yards were the fourth-most ever for a rookie.
Somehow, Clayton was never able to come close to those numbers again. His best season after that came in 2008 when Clayton hauled in 38 receptions for 484 yards and one touchdown.
Though he saw very limited action and didn’t record a single catch, Clayton at least won a Super Bowl 46 championship ring with the New York Giants in his swan song 2011 season. That counts for something!!!
Horrible Rookie Year: Cris Carter
It feels like most of the NFL’s all-time great wide receivers were either superstars or showed flashes of brilliance as rookies. See Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones, Justin Jefferson and Randy Moss.
But eight-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Fame wideout Cris Carter certainly is not part of that group. With all due respect to Carter, the guy basically performed like a fourth-round pick in his rookie year.
The Ohio State product was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1987 supplemental draft. In his first NFL season, Carter mustered only five receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns.
He showed signs of improvement in year two by tallying a 39-761-6 stat line. But of course, Carter wouldn’t emerge as a superstar until he landed with the Minnesota Vikings, who finally unlocked his potential in 1993.
That year marked the first of eight straight 1K seasons for Carter, who finished with 1,101 career receptions for 13,899 yards and 130 touchdowns en route to his spot in Canton.
Also Read: Cardinals Rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. Has Been Hit With A Lawsuit Before Playing His First NFL Game
Great Rookie Year: Cadillac Williams
Well, at least the Buccaneers got one good year out of their investment in Cadillac Williams.
Tampa Bay drafted the Auburn running back fifth overall in 2005 — making him the third RB taken within the top five after Ronnie Brown and Cedric Benson.
Despite missing two games, Williams finished with 1,178 rushing yards and six touchdowns to claim Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. Williams also helped the Bucs win the NFC South division crown, though they were dispatched by Washington in the Wild Card Round.
Sadly, it was all downhill from there for Williams. He regressed to 798 yards rushing and only one touchdown in his sophomore year.
Injuries piled up on Williams and limited him to 10 games over the next two years. He never came close to 1,000 yards rushing again and was out of the NFL in 2012 after spending one season with the St. Louis Rams.
Horrible Rookie Year: Lynn Swann
Like his longtime teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, Swann played a pivotal role in the ‘70s Steelers dynasty that won four Super Bowls.
So perhaps it’s only fitting that, like Bradshaw, Swann also had a forgettable rookie year before carving out a career that led to him reaching the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
As an NFL rookie, Swann caught 11 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns. That doesn’t sound helpless at first until we mention the fact that he fumbled FIVE TIMES — an unfortunate reminder that he did more harm than good in his rookie year.
Luckily for the Steelers, Swan was merely getting his mistakes out of the way early. He only fumbled six times over the final eight years of his career, helping Pittsburgh to those four Super Bowl titles while earning three Pro Bowl nods.
As we said, first impressions are often times overrated…
Great Rookie Year: Mike Croel
After starring at Nebraska, the super-athletic linebacker was drafted fourth overall by the Denver Broncos in 1991.
Croel looked every bit like a future superstar in his rookie season, compiling ten sacks in 13 games. His efforts helped the Broncos to a 12-and-4 finish, but they fell to Jim Kelly’s Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game.
Croel was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year, making him the first Denver player to win the honors in the NFL.
That was supposed to be the start of a special career for Croel, but his production only declined from there. He never tallied more than five sacks in a season again and lasted only four years in Denver before one-year stops with the New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, and Seattle Seahawks.
Nearly half of Croel’s 24 career sacks came in his rookie season. He quickly went from hero in Mile High City to zero — aka one of the greatest draft busts in franchise history.
Horrible Rookie Year: Troy Aikman
Statistically speaking, it’s hard to find an all-time great quarterback who had a worse year than Terry Bradshaw. But if you want to focus strictly on win-loss record, you won’t find worse for a Hall of Famer in their rookie year than Troy Aikman.
Aikman was drafted first overall by the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 — the first year of Jerry Jones’ ownership. This was also the first year with Hall of Fame head coach Jimmy Johnson on the sidelines, as Jones had fired the legendary Tom Landry.
In his first NFL season, Aikman lost all 11 of his starts and completed only 52.9 percent of pass attempts for 1,749 yards and nine touchdowns against 18 interceptions. The Cowboys finished a woeful 1-and-15, leading to outrage among Dallas fans over Jones’ decision to fire Landry and begin a scorched earth rebuild.
But Aikman settled down from there and emerged as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks ever. He formed the iconic “Triplets” group with fellow Hall of Famers Michael Irvin and NFL rushing king Emmitt Smith — leading America’s Team to three Super Bowl championships over a four-year span from 1992 to ‘95.
Aikman threw for 32,942 yards and 165 touchdowns as he ran his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If not for a string of injuries over the final stretch of his career, who knows how much better his career resume would have been?
But hey, three Super Bowl rings, six Pro Bowls, and a gold jacket is nothing to scoff at. Not when you remember how atrocious Aikman’s NFL rookie year was.
Great Rookie Year: Sam Bradford
Like Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford had a phenomenal rookie year that unfortunately marked the peak of his NFL career. Injuries, awful coaching, and a lackluster supporting cast quickly derailed a once-promising career for the first overall pick of 2010.
In his rookie year, the Oklahoma product completed 60 percent of pass attempts for 3,512 yards and 18 touchdowns against 15 interceptions for the St. Louis Rams. Those numbers may not seem eye-popping compared to what today’s NFL quarterbacks put up, but it was among the better stat lines ever seen by a rookie signal-caller at the time.
Bradford’s efforts got the Rams into a winner-take-all Week 17 contest against the Seattle Seahawks, with the winner claiming the NFC West. Though St. Louis fell short of the postseason by one game, the future suddenly looked promising with a young QB about to enter his prime.
But Bradford, who was named the 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Year, would never build off his stellar rookie year. Unfortunately, injuries limited him to 10 games in 2011 and nine games in 2013. And then, in 2014 preseason play, he tore his ACL, which sidelined him for the entire year.
The Rams gave up and traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles in a 2015 blockbuster trade that brought Nick Foles over to St. Louis. But the move did little for Bradford, who lasted just one year in Philly before getting traded to the Minnesota Vikings.
Bradford just couldn’t avoid the injury bug and last played for the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 before losing his starting job to rookie Josh Rosen. No NFL team took a chance on Bradford again, and he was out of the league for good by the age of 31.
