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Interesting article by ESPN. I didn't know Vrabel was drafted by Pittsburgh and Jeff Saturday by the Ravens.The no1 oversight of course the Falcons and Brett Farve. I read various reports that it was Herock's fault for trading hm and Glanville. I think ultimately it was Glanville that wanted him gone and the rest is history.
A frustrating reality in the life of an NFL general manager is that sometimes one of the players you gloss over, cut, trade or just let walk away in free agency will succeed for another NFL team. Below are 10 particularly vexing examples -- nine players and one head coach -- of such oversights from the past 25 years. Several of these examples will mention Football Outsiders' advanced stats such as DVOA and adjusted sack rate, which are explained here.
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10. Tramon Williams, CB, Houston Texans
Undrafted coming out of Louisiana Tech in 2006, Williams was signed by the Texans and had eight tackles and a pass breakup during the 2006 preseason before he was waived in early September. The Green Bay Packers added Williams to their practice squad two months later and signed him to a "reserve/futures" contract when the season ended. Playing a minor role as an extra defensive back and occasional starter from 2007-09, Williams was productive and totaled 129 tackles, including a quarterback sack, with 10 interceptions and 33 passes defensed. Inserted as the full-time starter opposite Charles Woodson in 2010, Williams had a breakout season, intercepting a career-high six passes and earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl. He also signed a four-year, $33 million contract extension before adding three more interceptions during the Packers' run toward a fourth Lombardi trophy.
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9. Mike Vrabel, LB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Drafted by the Steelers out of Ohio State in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft, Vrabel spent his first four seasons in the league as a backup to Jason Gildon, Carlos Emmons and Joey Porter before the New England Patriots signed him as a free agent in 2001. Although he would be named to just one Pro Bowl and All-Pro team during his time with the Patriots, Vrabel became an instant starter and vital cog of the defense, totaling more than 600 tackles, 48 quarterback sacks and all 11 of his career interceptions during eight seasons in New England. The Patriots named him to their 50th-anniversary team in 2010, five months after they had traded the 6-foot-4, 261-pounder to the Kansas City Chiefs. During his stints with New England and Kansas City, Vrabel also has flashed his versatility as a goal-line tight end, catching 12 touchdown passes in the past 10 seasons, including a pair of touchdown grabs in Super Bowls.
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8. Brian Waters, G, Dallas Cowboys
Undrafted out of North Texas, Waters went to training camp with the Cowboys as a rookie in 1999 but was waived in September and spent his first professional season at home. The Chiefs signed him in January 2000, and he entered the starting lineup on a permanent basis in Week 11 of the 2001 season. In the past 10 seasons, the five-time Pro Bowler has started 149 (of a possible 151) games he's been active, blocking for 1,000-yard rushers seven times (Priest Holmes, three times; Larry Johnson, twice; and Jamaal Charles, twice) and earning five trips to the Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro selections. Waters was also the first offensive lineman to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors (Week 7, 2004) and was named the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2009.
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7. Kurt Warner, QB, Green Bay Packers and pretty much every other team
Another undrafted free agent, Warner went to training camp with the quarterback-rich Packers in 1994 but was released before the regular season. After three seasons in the Arena Football League, Warner finally got another opportunity in the NFL when he was signed by Dick Vermeil and the St. Louis Rams in 1998 and allocated to NFL Europe.
After he was thrust into the starting lineup in 1999, his second season in St. Louis, Warner shined, passing for 4,353 yards and leading the NFL with a 65.7 percent completion percentage, 41 touchdowns and a passing DVOA of 32.1 percent. In addition to Pro Bowl, first-team All-Pro and NFL MVP honors, Warner picked up MVP honors after leading the Rams to a 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. Warner led the NFL in completion percentage in 2000 and 2001, his second league MVP season in which he'd pass for a league- and career-high 4,830 yards with an NFL-best 36 touchdowns, resulting in a 33.1 percent passing DVOA, the highest of Warner's 12-year career. During a career that didn't really begin until he was nearly 30, Warner passed for more than 32,000 yards and 200 touchdowns, and his 93.7 career passer rating ranks seventh all-time.
6. Jeff Saturday, C, Baltimore Ravens
After the former North Carolina Tar Heel was repeatedly passed over by all 30 teams during the 1998 NFL draft, he signed with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent that April. The Ravens released Saturday in June, and he spent the 1998 season without a team before joining the Colts the next January.
Since becoming a full-time starter in 2000, Saturday has started 170 regular-season games, earning five trips to the Pro Bowl and two All-Pro nods as the center on a line that has blocked for seven 1,000-yard rushers and annually ranked in the top 10 in adjusted sack rate.
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5. Priest Holmes, RB, Baltimore Ravens
After the Baltimore Ravens signed Holmes as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Texas in 1997, he provided a glimpse of what he was capable of in a feature role during the 1998 season, when he ran for 1,008 yards and seven touchdowns, ranking 18th among NFL running backs with 53 rushing DYAR, one spot behind 1997 Pro Bowler Warrick Dunn. Despite that impressive season, Holmes sat behind Errict Rhett in 1999, and in 2000 the Ravens used their first-round pick on Tennessee running back Jamal Lewis.
After the Chiefs signed Holmes during the next offseason, he led the NFL in rushing yards in 2001, yards from scrimmage in 2001 and 2002 and rushing and total touchdowns in 2002 and 2003. In addition to three straight Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams, Holmes ranked first among NFL running backs in DYAR and DVOA in 2001 and 2002 and was first in DYAR and third in DVOA in 2003. Holmes was well on his way toward another Pro Bowl/All-Pro season in 2004 before suffering a serious hip injury in Week 9. A head and neck injury in 2005 caused Holmes to miss the entire 2006 season. He returned in October 2007 but retired a month later.
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4. Mike Shanahan, head coach, Los Angeles Raiders
Shanahan's Raiders tenure, which started in 1988, lasted just 20 games, or 582 days, as he would later describe it. Raiders owner Al Davis dropped the hammer on Shanahan after a 7-9 first season and a 1-3 start to the 1989 campaign because of the usual "Al Davis versus his head coach" disagreements -- but also allegedly because he was worried that Shanahan was building too high a profile with the media.
After a few seasons as an assistant with the Denver Broncos, Shanahan became the offensive coordinator on George Seifert's staff with the San Francisco 49ers. After the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIX, Shanahan was named head coach of the Broncos in 1995, adding considerable fuel to the team's bitter rivalry with the Raiders. Shanahan compiled a 138-86 record in Denver and went 8-5 in the playoffs, including wins in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII. Perhaps more importantly, he was 21-7 against the Raiders, who employed eight head coaches during Shanahan's time with the Broncos. Shanahan's 152 wins during his career are second only to Bill Belichick's (162) among active head coaches.
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3. Jerome Bettis, RB, St. Louis Rams
A first-round pick out of Notre Dame by the Los Angeles Rams in 1993, Bettis started his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and Pro Bowls before a training camp holdout in 1995 landed him in head coach Rich Brooks' doghouse. In that third year, Bettis gained just 637 yards on a startlingly low 183 carries. With Bettis resistant to the Rams' plan for him to play fullback going forward, the club used its first-round pick on Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips and traded Bettis to the Steelers for a pair of draft picks. Phillips will be remembered as one of the greatest draft busts in NFL history, while Bettis topped 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons in Pittsburgh. In 10 seasons with the Steelers, Bettis ran for 10,571 yards and 78 touchdowns, earned four trips to the Pro Bowl and picked up a Super Bowl ring in his final season. The Detroit native was a Hall of Fame finalist in 2010, his first year of eligibility.
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2. Steve Young, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Bucs took Young with the first overall pick in the 1984 supplemental draft, which was used to claim rights to USFL (and a handful of CFL) players. In 19 starts over two seasons with the Bucs, Young passed for 3,217 yards with 11 touchdowns and 21 interceptions but was sacked 68 times, or once every 8.3 attempts. Frustrated with Young, the Buccaneers zeroed in on using the first overall pick of the 1987 NFL draft on University of Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Young was shipped to San Francisco, where, after a few seasons behind Joe Montana, he took over as starter in 1991. After a shaky start to his attempt to replace a legend, Young ranked in the top 10 in passing DYAR from 1992 (Testaverde's final season in Tampa) through 1998. He also ranked either first or second in rushing DYAR among quarterbacks from 1992 through 1996 and in 1998, as well.
Young went to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1992-98, was named first-team All-Pro from 1992-94, was NFL MVP after the 1992 and 1994 seasons and was named MVP following the 49ers' 49-26 demolition of the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Young was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2005, the year after Testaverde threw an NFL-high 20 interceptions for the Dallas Cowboys.
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1. Brett Favre, QB, Atlanta Falcons
Given his rambunctious and rebellious nature as well as his off-the-field dalliances, it would be easy to forgive Jerry Glanville and the Atlanta Falcons for trading Favre to the Packers less than a year after selecting him in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1991 NFL draft. Then again, first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks do not grow on trees. Although Glanville could not be bothered, Mike Holmgren used the patience his teaching background provided to develop Favre into one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. The 11-time Pro Bowler and three-time NFL MVP is the league's all-time leader in pass completions (6,300), attempts (10,169), passing yards (71,838) and passing touchdowns (508). Plus, if Favre weren't also the all-time leader in interceptions (336), his 86.0 career passer rating would rank higher than 20th. Beginning in 1994, 29 games into what would become a run of an NFL-record 297 consecutive starts, Favre would rank in the top 10 in passing DYAR in 13 of the next 17 seasons, cracking the top five eight times, including as recently as 2009.
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Sometimes running the Mularkey offense makes me feel like I'm in a prison.
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