In the vein of the other two threads about “most hated” and “coulda been” players, I thought it might be fun to reminisce about the “never was” players - the guys who, for whatever reason, were draft or preseason favorites that we as fans counted on (for little to no reason) to develop who never really materialized.
David Kircus is a good example.
My favorite for this category is Ronnell “The Hammer” Lewis. Lots of people loved him as a draft choice and projected him to contribute for several years, even when he never really showed anything on the field.
Can I make a horrible, embarrassing confession? I was actually really optimistic about… Ikaika Alama-Francis (ducks all the rotting fruit now being hurled at my head for writing that name here).
I’d read a glowing predraft profile of him, and I thought we might’ve gotten a really nice under-the-radar player there. You know, because Millen was so good at finding those kind of guys in the second round.
In all seriousness, and his name came up a bunch in the other thread, I was shocked that Boss Bailey ended up so disappointing. I really thought he’d be a cornerstone of our D.
Not that the direction this has gone in isn’t simultaneously fun and sad, but I wasn’t just looking for “dudes who never panned out”.
Rather, I wanted to remember some of the players that had a weird cult following and support for little to no reason that was justified on the field. Those guys that we, as a community, kept thinking were going to earn a starting role and counting on when there was no evidence to really back that up.
Lots of us wanted to see more of Circus Kircus, and there were a fair number of posters who assumed, for several years in a row, that The Hammer was going to bring the pain train in our linebacking corps.
Another example that came to mind… there were a fair number of people just waiting for Luke Staley to heal up so he could run roughshod over Lions opponents.
Andre Ware. Ouch.
OK - with your clarification, I’d go with either Willie Young or Mike McMahon. Both showed real flashes (moreso Willie) but just weren’t consistent enough.