When it comes to the NFL, individual talent doesn’t always equal success. Sometimes, even when you get an incredible star player who can change the game with a single play—the NFL team will still stink, no matter what they do.
Thus, they’re stuck on a team that can’t get it together. Whether it’s front-office drama, a revolving door of head coaches, or just straight-up bad rosters, these stars are wasting their best years on teams going nowhere fast.
Now, let’s take a look around the NFL and pick out 10 NFL Stars stuck on garbage teams in the worst situations!
Do these stars deserve to play for another NFL team?
Brian Burns – New York Giants
Brian Burns gave everything he had in Carolina for the Panthers, trying to lift his team out of the endless carousel of rebuilding.
But now, here he is, in New York, with a Giants team that, just like the team the NFL star left behind in Charlotte, has yet to find its way.
Sure, they had their flashes, and maybe you thought Brian Daboll had them turning the corner, but once the whole Daniel Jones experiment went belly up, it seems apparent that they haven’t.
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Granted, he is on the opposite side of the ball, but with Brian Burns on this roster, it’s like watching a nice piece of art hung in a beat-down gallery that nobody wants to visit.
He is one of the best pass-rushers in the game, and he is saddled with another team that is undoubtedly stuck in the mud rather than making plays for a contending team like he deserves to be.
Credit to Brian Burns for escaping the Carolina Panthers, but the league now has another one of the best young edge rushers in the game playing in a dire situation in New York.
Regardless of what Brian Daboll will have you believe, the Giants are a long way from contending, hopefully Burns can find his way to greener pastures before he is past his prime.
Sauce Gardner – New York Jets
If there’s one young star player in the game today who is really having his talents wasted on a bad team, it’s Sauce Gardner.
This guy is already one of the top defensive backs in the league, and he, frankly, has been since his rookie season.
Sauce is the quintessential lockdown corner, the kind of player who can make an entire half of the field disappear. And yet, he’s playing for the New York Jets, a team that can’t seem to put together a coherent offense to complement their defenses, which have been near the top of the league since they drafted their star corner.
Even when the Jets brought in Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams in an attempt to fast-track their rebuild, the plan fell apart with Rodgers’ early-season injury, and now this season has turned into a catastrophe in its own right.
Gardner is back to watching the offense struggle almost to the extent that it did with Zach Wilson at the helm while he and the rest of that defense keep the team afloat.
Imagine Gardner on a team with a functional offense or at least a competent one, like Patrick Surtain out in Denver. That Broncos offense isn’t anything to write home about, but they manage enough to keep the team moving in the right direction, and now Surtain is a household name, and the Broncos are competing for a playoff spot… Something that Sauce will only be able to dream about while he remains stuck in the Jets’ endless cycle of inconsistency.
Maxx Crosby — Las Vegas Raiders
Maxx Crosby is as relentless as they come. He’s a force on the field, a defensive end who doesn’t take plays off and is always in pursuit of the quarterback, but all that effort, all that drive, and he’s doing it for the Las Vegas Raiders—a team that’s a mess, to put it kindly.
This is a franchise that’s been in a state of disarray for what feels like an eternity. The Raiders have bounced between head coaches and general managers with the kind of frequency that would make most players dizzy.
They have no real direction and no stability, and Crosby’s efforts are wasted on a franchise that can’t seem to put a winning season together. Crosby is the kind of player who should be shining in January, not watching the playoffs from his couch like he continues to do year in and year out.
It is kind of tragic to watch Crosby pour his heart and soul into every game, only to have the team falter time and again.
If he were on a team with a solid foundation and a clear vision, he’d be a postseason game-changer. But in Las Vegas, he’s just another star stuck in a black hole — no pun intended.
Hopefully, this latest wave of disaster in Vegas tips the scales and they ship him out to a contender at some point soon because Maxx Crosby deserves a shot at playing meaningful football in late December and January, not just another season of putting in work for a team going nowhere fast.
Myles Garrett — Cleveland Browns
Similar to Crosby, Myles Garrett is another one of the top defensive ends in the game today toiling away for a team that doesn’t have it together.
The Browns have been frisky a couple of times in recent memory, but this season, the team has been so hamstrung by a terrible offense that any memory of better days has quickly vanished.
Granted, now that Deshaun Watson is out of the way, who knows, maybe things will start to turn up for Garrett…
But still! Myles Garrett’s career has been a study of resilience. Year after year, he’s one of the best defensive players in the league, consistently putting up numbers that make him a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
And yet, he’s doing it for the Cleveland Browns, a team that always seems to be in turmoil.
Garrett’s been through multiple quarterback controversies, coaching changes, and front-office shake-ups, and now he’s stuck with a Browns offense that can’t give him the support he needs.
I’m sure he appreciated that Cleveland made a big swing with the controversial addition of Deshaun Watson, but that clearly didn’t pan out and now Garrett’s talent is again being wasted on a team that just can’t get it right.
Because if he were on a real contender, he’d be one of the biggest names in the game and building his legacy rather than putting up empty stats for a team going nowhere.
Calvin Ridley — Tennessee Titans
Granted, Calvin Ridley kind of made his bed on this one by signing with the Titans in free agency… But this first season in the Music City has been a huge disappointment, with the exception of the number that was added to his bank account!
In addition to the financial bump, the NFL star thought he was signing up for a fresh start when he joined the Titans, a team that has been in the playoffs several times in recent years, but instead, he’s found himself in the middle of a mess almost as bad as Jacksonville.
Tennessee can’t seem to decide if it is rebuilding or competing, and Ridley’s potential has been wasted in a system that has no way of properly using him.
At his best, he can be a big-play receiver, the kind of talent that should be lighting up defenses every week.
Instead, he’s stuck with inconsistent quarterback play and a run-heavy offense that doesn’t let him showcase his skills.
Ridley deserves to be in a high-octane offense where he can make a real impact, not wasting his time in Tennessee and watching his prime years slip by.
Chris Olave — New Orleans Saints
Chris Olave is a quiet superstar in the making. He’s got all the tools to be one of the league’s top receivers—speed, hands, route-running—and he’s shown it, even on a team that’s struggling to find its way. The Saints thought they could rebuild on the fly after the Drew Brees-Sean Payton era, but it’s been anything but smooth.
Even with Derek Carr under center, the offense lacks direction, and Olave’s talents are being squandered.
The former Ohio State standout is putting up numbers as a pro, but he’s not getting the spotlight he deserves, and he’s stuck on a team that doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere fast.
Imagine Olave in a dynamic offense with a proven quarterback—he’d be a star. Instead, he’s stuck in New Orleans, trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Malik Nabers — New York Giants
Rookie Malik Nabers came into the league with a bang, establishing himself as one of the few wide receivers who can take over a game single-handedly. But he’s doing it for the New York Giants, a team that can’t seem to get out of its own way.
The quarterback situation is a mess, the offensive line is shaky, and Nabers is left trying to make plays with limited opportunities.
He’s got the potential to be a true star, and, frankly, we have full faith that he will be… But he’s stuck on a team that’s more about rebuilding than contending.
Nabers needs a stable offense and a quarterback who can get him the ball consistently. Until then, he’ll be another talent lost in the shuffle that ends up underperforming in New York’s dysfunction.
CeeDee Lamb — Dallas Cowboys
I’m sorry, Cowboys fans, but it is time to face it… This team is garbage. And CeeDee Lamb is one of the only reasons that they are even still relevant. It feels like this season has all the makings of one that could go from bad to worse, too, if they aren’t careful.
Lamb is one of those wide receivers who can make even the toughest catches look effortless.
He’s a premier talent, a game-changer who can swing momentum with a single play. But right now, Lamb’s brilliance is being wasted on a Dallas Cowboys team that feels like it’s stuck in perpetual mediocrity.
Year after year, Cowboys fans convince themselves this is finally the season their team will shake off the drama and mediocrity and live up to its “America’s Team” moniker. But let’s be honest—Dallas hasn’t been a real contender in years.
Sure, they make the playoffs here and there, but it always ends in heartbreak, with questions about coaching decisions, inconsistent play, or locker-room tensions.
He’s an NFL star player who plays hard every game, has all the talent in the world, and deserves to be in the thick of a championship race, not propping up a franchise that’s more known for its soap opera storylines than its success on the field.
Imagine Lamb on a team like the Chiefs, or the 49ers—a place where every game counts, and talent is maximized, that would be a sight to behold.
Garrett Wilson — New York Jets
The past couple of seasons have been nothing but pain and disappointment for Garrett Wilson, who entered the 2023 season riding a wave of hope and excitement as the Jets pulled off the blockbuster trade of the offseason, bringing in Aaron Rodgers, a future Hall of Famer who was supposed to be the missing piece to finally make the Jets a contender.
Wilson was fresh off an impressive rookie campaign, and it looked like he was about to soar to new heights, with Rodgers feeding him perfect passes and opening up his potential to take over games. He was ready to put on a show, to take his place among the league’s elite wideouts.
But then disaster struck in true Jets fashion, and he tore his Achilles.
And now, this year, even with Rodgers healthy, the season has managed to be even more of a disappointment as the Jets have floundered massively.
Davante Adams may be getting all of the attention now that he has joined the New York Jets, but Garrett Wilson is the real star for the Jets and he is having his first few seasons in the NFL absolutely wasted for that garbage organization.
If New York can’t figure out a way to get its act together, they are going to have a really tough time keeping him when his contract is up because you have to believe that a talent like Wilson, who is as competitive as he is, has his eyes on a team that is capable of contending.
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