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This is a list of sports athletes who were projected to be a great players but failed to live up to that potential. There are many different interpretations on who should be classed as a 'flop'.

American Football

  • Ryan Leaf - He was drafted 2nd overall in the 1998 NFL Draft but his time as a pro was short and marked by failure, which according to critics was largely due to his immaturity, arrogance, and poor work ethic. He is considered by many to be the biggest flop in professional football history, and sits at the number 1 spot of ESPN's top 25 flops in sports, just above the XFL.
  • Akili Smith - Drafted 3rd overall in the 1999 NFL Draft, cut a couple of years later after poor numbers.
  • Tim Couch - Drafted 1st overall in the 1999 NFL Draft, left the league 5 years later with more interceptions than touchdowns.
  • Stoney Case
  • Brian Bosworth - One of the greatest college linebackers of all time, but most remembered in the NFL for being run over by Bo Jackson in a Monday Night Football game in 1987. Forced to retire due to shoulder injuries after three mediocre seasons.
  • Todd Marinovich
  • Tony Mandarich - Drafted 2nd overall in the 1989 NFL Draft, this offensive lineman was cut by the Green Bay Packers after the 1991 season with a year remaining on a four-year contract. He was out of football for five years before coming back with the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he had a more successful, but not noteworthy, three-year stint before retiring for good.
  • Todd Blackledge
  • Ki-Jana Carter - Drafted 1st overall in the 1995 NFL Draft, blew out his ACL in a preseason game that same year, and was never even a shadow of his former self.
  • Courtney Brown (football)
  • Blair Thomas
  • Curtis Enis
  • Ricky Bell - Had one good season in the middle of three mediocre ones, followed by two disastrous seasons. His "flop" was not entirely his fault; he was forced to leave football in 1982 due to a rare connective-tissue disorder. He would die two years later from complications of the disease.
  • Lawrence Phillips - Drafted 6th overall in the 1996 NFL Draft, but better-known for his problems with law enforcement and coaches than for his on-field performance.
  • Rashaan Salaam - Heisman Trophy winner in 1994, first-round draft pick in 1995, out of the NFL in 1999.
  • Heath Shuler
  • Andre Ware - The 1989 Heisman winner, drafted 7th overall in 1990, proved to be a product of the run-and-shoot system he ran at Houston. In four NFL seasons, he threw for barely over 1100 yards total and had a passer rating of 63.5.
  • Joey Harrington - When drafted, he was said to be what would turn the Detroit Lions around, but instead he turned out to be no better than Detroit's previous quarterback, Charlie Batch.

Baseball

Basketball

Ice hockey

Motor racing

Formula One

  • Andrea Moda Formula team - An example of how not to run a racing team and how joining the wrong team can damage one's career. The team and how it was run was portrayed by one of its driver, Perry McCarthy's book Flat Out, Flat Broke
  • Michael Andretti - not literally considered a flop as he scored podium finishes, but how the term can become over-exaggerated.

NASCAR Racing Series

  • Scott Riggs - Good Busch Series career with BrewCo Motorsports, but has not had that much success with the number 10 Valvoline team, missed the 2006 Daytona 500.
  • Brian Vickers (Nextel Cup) - 2003 Busch Series Champion, but has not yet won a race in the Nextel Cup Series. Vickers was hailed as a great find by Rick Hendrick. And his talent has not grown into early success. Most of his critics believe a few more years in the Busch Series could have served him better than rushing him up to Cup. Vickers will move to the Red Bull Racing Toyota in 2007, which may raise his stock.
  • Steve Park - Picked by the late Dale Earnhardt to be the startup driver for his new team. Park suffered injuries in his rookie year and on his wasy to being a fixture in the top ten, injured his brain in a hard crash. His return in 2003 was marred by wrecks and a trade from his DEI team to Richard Childress Racing. Park landed on his feet and got a win in the Craftsman Truck Series 2005 at California Speedway.
  • Rob Moroso - Not truly a flop; rather, a case of unfulfilled promise tragically cut short. Won the Busch Series title in 1989, making him the youngest driver at that time to win a NASCAR series championship. The next season, he was leading the Cup series in rookie points through September, but died late that month in a road accident while driving under the influence.
  • Kenny Irwin - Looked at by many open-wheel enthusiasts as the next Jeff Gordon but he never lived up to the lofty expectations. Irwin died practicing for the New Hampshire 300 in 2000.
  • Johnny Benson (Nextel Cup) - 1996 Busch Series Champion did not have the best career in the majors. It took him almost eight years to win his first race at the Pop Secret 400 at the now-defunct North Carolina Speedway in 2002.
  • Shane Hmiel (NASCAR Busch Series) - Career was marred by arrogance, and a liscense of drug usage which got him blackballed, Hmiel was banned from racing for life for failing his third drug test in 2006. Hmiel also flipped veteran Dale Jarrett on national TV.
  • Brendan Gaughan(Nextel Cup) - former college basketball teammate of Allen Iverson at Georgetown. Spent only one season in Cup with Penske Racing with limited success and promptly returned to the Truck Series in 2005 and having decent success.
  • Travis Kvapil (Nextel Cup) - Another Truck Series transplant. Drove the 77 Kodak Dodge in 2005 and did not have much success. Kvapil joined the #32 Tide Cheverolet in 2006 and is languishing below the top 35 in points.
  • Ken Bouchard
  • Dick Trickle - The oldest driver to receive NASCAR Rookie of the Year. By the time he entered the Cup Series, he was no longer the dominant force in his ARCA series days.
  • Jason Leffler
  • Brian Rose (Truck Series)
  • Mike Wallace - Middle brother of Rusty Wallace. Has not scored any wins in the Nextel Cup Series with all the teams he has driven for, but Wallace did win the 2004 Winn Dixie 250 at Daytona in the Busch Series.
  • Mike Skinner (Nextel Cup) - the 1995 and 1996 Truck Series Champion. Owner Richard Childress felt he could win in Cup as a teammate of Dale Earnhardt. Skinner did not win with Childress and was let go early in 2001. In 2002, he joined Morgan-McClure Racing for 2 years and left in 2005 to return to the Truck Series where he has had some success.
  • Rick Wilson - Did not have much success, mostly marred by crashes (many not of his making) and the equipment he was in. Had only one successful period of years when he drove for the Stavola Brothers 8 car.
  • Joe Milikan - Runner-up to Dale Earnhardt for Rookie of the Year. Had a good rookie season, but it was all downhill from there.
  • Rick Mast
  • J.D. McDuffie - Independent driver who ran over 600 events, never tasting a victory.
  • Bobby Wawak - had a streak of top tens in 1983-87 but never won.
  • Casey Atwood - Appeared to be a bright young talent in Busch cars. Atwood was hired by Ray Evernham in 2001 as teammate of Bill Elliott on Evernham's new race team. Evernham became impatient with Atwood's performance and released him in 2002.
  • Jimmy Hensely - Reliable back-up driver for several race teams in the early 1990s, but his career never took off.
  • Scott Wimmer (Nextel Cup) - Was successful late in 2002 and 2003 the Busch Series with Bill Davis Racing. The team stuck with him on his promotion to Cup in 2004, but Dodge dumped Davis in 2004. Wimmer's career hasn't taken off. He left the Davis team in 2005 to join Morgan-McClure Motorsports 4 AERO Exhaust Chevrolet in 2006.
  • Steve Grissom-1993 Busch Series Champion, but his success never translated to Cup. Was a reliable substitute for some race teams in the late 1990s. Mostly has to use his past champion's provisional to get into Busch Races.
  • Scott Pruett - A consistent winner in sports car and IndyCar racing, his debut season in 2000, with major sponsorship backing from Tide, produced only one top ten finish and 37th place in the final Winston Cup standing, while failing to qualify for six races. No longer a series regular, Pruett now experiences greater success as a Road Course Ringer, frequently recruited by teams for the races at Infineon and Watkins Glen.

Others

  • The Ontario Motor Speedway, built in 1970 in Ontario, California, for $25.5 million, closed after the 1980 racing season.
  • Humpy Wheeler's decision to "levigate" the Lowe's Motor Speedway to improve the racing, the decision resulted in a record number of caution flags (the most in NASCAR history) and many blown tires every 30-35 laps.
  • Gordon Murray's Rocket powered Indy car. Banned after one race.
  • The Dale Earnhardt, Inc. crew chief swap to save the NAPA sponsorship, resulted in a bad season for the team and the departure of the underachieving Michael Waltrip.
  • Robby Gordon starts his own race team, and due to the lackluster success of one-car operations, this shouldn't have been a big surprise.

Ski Jumping

Soccer

Tennis

Other

See also

Sports-related lists | Sports-related flops

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "List of sports flops".

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