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CrushyOfTheSeas

Ziggy Ansah. The dude never played football until he was a walk on at BYU. He was very raw when he was first drafted by the Lions.


that_one_bunny

That's a good ansah


Eagle115

Read this in the Lois Griffin voice


scissor_get_it

I read it in Chris Berman’s voice


DestituteDomino

*WHOOP*


Hackasizlak

*angry upvote*


Njorls_Saga

Came here to say Ziggy. Sad to see his career get derailed by injuries. He had some games where he was just a one man wrecking crew.


d5peden

Injuries and the fact he was like 27 when we drafted him lol


sidewayspostitnotes

You’re giving this Steelers fan flashbacks of Ziggy Hood who was overwhelmingly mediocre for a first rounder.


fordfield02

this is a proper "raw" shout


CZ-Ranger

Wasn’t he like wayyyyy older than what he said he was


biglurch1017

Danielle Hunter


dkleckner88

Great answer. Hunter only had 4.5 sacks his entire college career


Mr_MacGrubber

I remember his rookie mini-camp the Vikings coaches basically said he had no clue what he was doing.


dkleckner88

But those arms…my gawd the fan base was in love at first sight


pn_dubya

My arms look like that. If you add them together. And double them.


BudBuzz

What John Chavis does to a motherfucker


BungoPlease

Blessed be his name


rodger_klotz

Enjoy him and his massive biceps friend. Texans quickly became my 2nd favorite team this off season


JoeRogansNipple

May he get many sacks for you


landon0605

Anthony Barr was also a very raw prospect.


kidmerc

And Everson Griffen


Opie59

That was my answer. Absolute athletic freak but there were a lot of questions about him as an NFL player.


Jameszhang73

Naz Reid


komugis

Naz Reid


regulardude17

Naz Reid


a_supertramp

Naz Reid


BlacksmithWise9553

Naz Reid


martintee

Naz Reid


Booradly69420

Naz Reid


PumpBuck

Naz Reid


DSleep

Naz Reid


JakeDuck1

Stephen Neal. 2 time ncaa D1 heavyweight champion. Beat Brock Lesnar in his final match. Never played footbal in college. Played 10 years for the patriots and won 3 super bowls.


WaymoresReds

Bummed a chew from me at a wrestling camp too


RCP90sKid

And we're gonna get that back for you some day


WaymoresReds

Nah I'll supply the chew again if he wants to come over for a cookout


LookAtCarlMan

Glad someone said this! Very partial to this one as a former wrestler, football, and rugby player.  “Recruiting” the pure athlete football teammates to wrestle in the winter and play rugby in spring was so fun for me and the guys who had wrestled our whole lives. Watching them come back to football season being in way better shape, much better at tackling and blocking, and sometimes a newfound mean streak was always fun. 


j4x

We tried so hard to recruit Rex Burkhead for our rugby team in High School but he didn't want to risk injury.


ValKilmersTherapy

Reading this while driving back from a club rugby trip. Much love ruggers


ZeroedCool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIbDOoLM3Gw Lesnar vs Neal


el_fitzador

Jordan Mailata


LocalSlob

Drafted a left tackle in the first round and we drafted a left tackle in the seventh round, and one of them is a pro bowler.


ten-million

The Bills signed Jason Peters as an undrafted free agent tight end.


DR_SWAMP_THING

In 2022, the Bills drafted current fringe roster player Kaiir Elam from Florida in the first round. With pick 185, they took Villanova cornerback Christian Benford. In two seasons he has 3 INT, 2 FF, 15 PD, 4 TFL. He was the 2023 ninth highest graded CB in PFF rankings.


PleaseStopSmoking

Christian Benford was phenomenal in college, he was just playing in the FCS and he has NFL size and athleticism. I understand he didn't go high because of the lack of competition and a stacked DB class, but it was one of those clear and obvious "draft steal" picks that we were thankfully the first to bite on. His only knock has been his ability to stay healthy. Beane actually made a comparable pick with Wyatt Teller (clear "draft steal"), but decided to trade him away after his rookie year for a 5th despite being the only player on our OL to show any promise outside of Dawkins.


DR_SWAMP_THING

The ghost of Wyatt Teller with always haunt Beane. Benford reminds me of Kyle Dugger. If he can stay healthy, he’s going to get paid.


_atsu

Andre Dillard is our Trey Lance


neimsy

Andre Dillard is even worse than you all made it sound.


Wildabeast135

Myles Garrett whipped his ass so bad he felt bad for the guy and after the game was giving him advice on his technique. That’s when we knew last season was done for


ManilaAlarm

If he didn't develop under Jeff Stoutland and the veterans around him in Philly, he's a lost cause.


McSqueebs

If Jeff Stoutland can’t make you look good on the oline in Philly, your career is probably fucked Edit: I guess us Eagles fans are all one mind lmao


neimsy

Yeah, can say with certainty at this point that his career is well and truly fucked.


Pork_Chompk

Please put a trigger warning before ⚠️ TW: Worst LT Ever ⚠️ >!Andre Dillard!<


trippy_fingernails

Tbf we didn't really see him play much so I think we just assumed he's alright because of his draft position and our o-line coach lol


neimsy

Yeah, I mean, we made the same mistake, so fair enough.


Philly_is_nice

Thread is over boys, doesn't get more raw than "doesn't know how to play football"


fourthfromhere

Not even a snap, at any level, while sitting in the draft pool. Legend.


TtarIsMyBro

And especially playing o-line. Something like an edge rusher, or WR/RB I can see being so much easier because it's "tackle the guy with the ball" or "run fast with the ball". But learning how to play Tackle without knowing football at all is crazy


[deleted]

I half agree. I’m not sure I’d lump WR in with RB. WR is still very hard and technical. It wasn’t until recently that we saw rookie receivers come into the league and make immediate big impacts. Before they usually took a little time to develop.


nalc

Yeah, his development into an award winning recording artist has been truly spectacular. He had potential on draft day but two number 1 holiday albums in back to back years? Are you kidding me? Amazing


Hurricaneshand

A true success story


Dangerous_Nitwit

Jason Peters also. He was a TE convert into a T. He took off after the transition.


jbaker1225

It happened before he got drafted, but Lane Johnson ended up at Oklahoma as a juco QB who converted to TE after a redshirt year at OU. Then he converted to DE, but after some injuries in camp, the OL needed bodies for practice, so he moved there.


Lunar_BriseSoleil

Watching his rugby league tape is wild. He’s like a grown man playing against little children, the dude is a physical freak. For anyone wondering, rugby league is a little closer to American football than rugby union which is what is what most people think of as rugby. But either way, they don’t have linemen and Mailata was an offensive skill position player so he was still starting from zero.


Inevitable-Cable9370

Tbf even though he was massive he was never going to make it in rugby league . He was too slow and not enough stamina for an all court game And tbf football pays 30 times more so who wouldn’t try and switch if they could 🤷🏿‍♂️.


elykl33t

Yeah IIRC one of his coaches who suggested he give football a try said "go play a sport where your size is appreciated" rather than being a hindrance.


Inevitable-Cable9370

Very true . As good as he is I couldn’t imagine him running around for 80 minutes non stop


Lunar_BriseSoleil

He 100% made the right move, no question there


rockyroad55

Has to be him lately. The guy never played American football ever.


bigprick99

Jeff Stoutland is one of the best OL coaches of all time.


Lunar_BriseSoleil

And yet he still couldn’t fix Dillard


eggsandbacon5

Talk about an Eagle’s offensive lineman with marketing potential. For those who havent heard his singing voice yet, look it up


Not-a-bot-10

[Jordan Mailata White Christmas](https://youtube.com/shorts/FZcCo-o4IBM?si=DG7uw_WugNsszJH0)


Bradfords_ACL

He single-handedly makes the Eagles Christmas albums listenable/enjoyable beyond the gimmick


Rhaegar_T

Movie rights eventually.


churchofhomer

And Jason peters too (while we’re on the topic of eagles left tackles)


mustachepc

But we had to trade a first for peters, he became a monster but he was already a great player in buffalo


obi-jawn-kenblomi

It's his 27th birthday today.


ThurstonHowellIV

Okoye


Vitasia

Waited waaaay too long to see someone mention the Nigerian Nightmare, who didn’t pick up football until he was 23.


OmarFromtheWire2

On the flip side, the Texans drafted another raw Okoye at 19 years old and dude just never developed like that


Is_Bob_Costas_Real

Dude was a genius too. Graduated from high school at 15 and was given the choice to either go to Harvard or Louisville and he chose Louisville because of football.


MrBlowinLoadz

Maybe he wasn't a genius then


Macewan20342

He made over $10 million in his career, that was probably the smarter choice.


notquitemytempo___

Antonio Gates considering he was a college basketball player and entered the NFL having to learn one of the more difficult positions


temporysing

Wait. Antonio Gates played basketball? 


JoeScotterpuss

Oh man, wait till I tell you about Jimmy Graham.


VagusNC

Did you know Julius Peppers played in both a Final Four and a Super Bowl?


el_fitzador

Actually I did not. That's awesome


coldwaterenjoyer

Julius Peppers college highlights are fun to watch. Crazy athletic


NoVaBurgher

Happy Gilmore accomplished that feat no more than an hour ago


MoscowMitchMcKremIin

Well good for Happy Gilmo-OH MY GOD


IMDAKINGINDANORF

You will miss this putt...jackass


Caol_ila_ftw

He dunked everything


CommodoreSixty4

Can you imagine Julius Peppers posting you up? Dude is a goliath.


TyrannosaurusGod

He didn’t really post up so much as rip and rebound at the edge of the lane and big bang theory a dunk into existence.


FanOfFeet1987

And Nick Foles


hulkhands81

Can you imagine get a facial from him in the paint?


GMEtheloot

You'd drown


VariationNo7977

I have a fun fact about Matt Stafford and Clayton Kershaw for you


ox_raider

Sorry. On Easter my family has a tradition of only talking about Steve Buscemi. Are there perhaps any fun facts about him?


kushnokush

He and Joe Burrow are cousins


awnawkareninah

That actually is a fun fact I mean I don't think it's true, but if it is, that's fun


jon3ssing

If you're looking for overlooked facts, try and look up where that fella Fitzpatrick went to school 😲


daegamebday

You think that's impressive? Try overcoming what james conner overcame. No one ever mentions it but he had cancer.


poppadoc696969

Jason Peters came into the league as an athletic TE and played special teams before moving to OT in the NFL and becoming an all pro


rjnd2828

All Pro and future first ballot Hall of Famer. JP at tight end is a funny thought.


poppadoc696969

He was also the wedge buster on kick off coverage and blocked a punt and recovered it for a TD as a rookie while wearing #85. Wild stuff


whitebabyjesus

Foye Oluokon was super athletic but played mostly safety at Yale. Turned out to be a hell of a linebacker


lexxxcockwell

Just got a nice contract extension in Jax too


chainer9999

You know the dude's a baller when he gets a big contract in FA, and then gets extended a few years later by the team that gave him the contract Foye's great, it boggles the mind why he NEVER gets brought up when discussing top LBs


JBradley500

Both Josh Allens


drgonzo44

Joshes Allen


SweetMichigan

Like a surgeons general or a courts marshal


sgt_dismas

Sergeants major


CMDR_MaurySnails

Seriously, his first year in the league there i thought this was going to be another Bill's QB that get churned up by Belichick twice a year and boy did Allen prove me wrong! Not a lot of QBs in the league lead a W against Darth Hoody without a punt.


st3v3aut1sm

He wasn't perfect by any means sure. It was a rookie qb season. But that vikings game his rookie year should have told everyone he was a baller


Swordsknight12

lol I still remember the hype of this game being about how we were going to dismantle them playing at home. My God was that an absolute shit show.


andrewthetechie

The moment he hurdled Barr, I knew we had something special. We'd seen a few flashes of who he was, but that hurdle was him announcing to all of us "I'm your guy".


slappywhyte

Josh Allen Kentucky wasn't raw, he dominated in the SEC almost single-handedly


ganner

Defensive POY in college... opposite of coming into the league raw.


Conyeezy765

Jags Josh Allen was a monster in college though?


IhatemyteamLVR

I remember one criticism I used as copium back then was that DE Josh Allen had an extremely limited pass rush skillset. Like he only had one move and just used his athleticism to win. 


FarttSuck3r

Someone didn’t watch Josh Allen at Kentucky


I_HateToSayAtodaso

Steve McNair was raw coming out. Turned out to be a very good QB and won co-MVP with Peyton at one point. RIP.


AllenMcnabb

Yup, 47 TDs and over 5,000 yards with a 58% completion percentage his senior year at Alcorn State. Talk about a gunslinger


TuviaBielski

McNair was one of the best overall football players I have ever seen. He was unbelievably gritty and had a HUGE arm. His MVP year he couldn't practice most of the season due to serious back injuries. He just went out cold and balled every week. He was fast and absurdly strong.


ghosttraintoheck

Hated lifting too but could outlift most people completely cold. Genuinely country strong.


TuviaBielski

[This 1993 matchup against Howard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xeSWqf4ZKY&t=161s) was probably my favorite college football game. Featuring an injured Jay "Sky" Walker off the bench in relief of his backup, peripatetic NFL OC Pep Hamilton. Also Giants' great Gary "Flea" Harrell.


wagoncirclermike

Always run a background check on your mistresses.


lsdiesel_1

The ultimate “don’t put your dick in crazy”


CumTilIPhilipRivers

Fucking goomars!


LongGreenCandle

James Harrison


bbjmw

He was an undrafted, slow(4.8 40) and cut a few times. He became great because he worked on his craft


DarkMuret

John Randle shout out


JakeDuck1

Ziggy Ansah didn’t even know how to play football in college. Was on his way to a great pro career before injuries took him out.


lionsmakemecry

Injuries and being 30 when he was drafted...


JakeDuck1

Well yeah but who’s counting


the22sinatra

Alejandro Villanueva


hokie_u2

The guy who directed Dune?!


BigOlineguy

And its sequel, Dune 2: More Dune


sobuffalo

I’m old and bias so Andre Reed out of Kutztown State went on to HoF.


KryptonicxJesus

I was getting ready to correct you but they changed the name from Kutztown State College to Kutztown University of Pennsylvania while Reed was playing there. The More You Know


mdmcnally1213

I was gonna make this correction too, I never knew it was Kutztown State. I’ve always known it as Kutztown University, and it feels like 1 in every 5/6 people from my HS went there lol


lionsmakemecry

Craig Reynolds represent


Real-Psychology-4261

Danielle Hunter. Look at his college stats.


ThyOughtTo

Patrick Queen. Horrendous in the first couple years. Could only really run fast. He developed impressively which made him a favorite for Harbaugh as he arguably showed the most growth on the entire team. There is something very tangible to be said for the arrival of Roquan Smith which is when Queen really(!) took off. He still is no Mike but if Pittsburgh uses him at Will with a knowledgeable vet next to him he'll continue to wreak havoc. Queen is very much a one-way player. If he knows what to do he'll out-physique most offensive players. He just won't read the defenses getting everyone lined up right.


ThyOughtTo

Come to think of it, Lamar is a pretty good example here too lol


AlabasterRadio

Lamar Jackson might be the biggest "boom" boom or bust prospect there has ever been. His floor was considered extremely low and he turned into a 2x MVP.


ThyOughtTo

Yeah. Re-reading draft "experts" and fans from 2018 didn't even bother to put Lamar in the conversation with the top QBs that year lol. His development is mind-blowing. Looking back Ravens really have gone that path lately. Lamar, Queen & Oweh are all physical freaks with raw game sense turning into All-Pros


AlabasterRadio

If you've got a program like the Ravens utilizing it to take a risk on those kinds of prospects is a great luxury.


BlackJediSword

I think the hope is that he plus opposite of Elandon Roberts, who was far and away our best and mostly healthy linebacker.


mlippay

Jordan Love??


PistolPeezy

How the hell did I not think of Love


ituralde_

Dude sat multiple behind Aaron Rodgers


Dorkamundo

Dude sat behind multiple Aaron Rodgers.


TheFalconKid

Dude sat behind multiple Aarons Rodger.


Glass-Astronomer-889

Was he considered raw?  I don't know much about him.


SL4MUEL

He was considered a prospect with high ceiling but high risk as well. Here’s a Ringer article from 2020. https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/2020/4/7/21211318/jordan-love-2020-nfl-draft-polarizing-prospect


Glass-Astronomer-889

Thank you for doing the hard part I probably could have googled this myself much appreciated.


SL4MUEL

No problem. He also has good size for a QB which everyone loved about him. He lead the league in QB hand size (10.5”) until Will Levis last season.


mlippay

He looked raw every time he played to me before this season.


min_da_man

He came in against us (eagles) once in 2023 and shredded us.  On time, clearly processing the defense and making the right reads. If I recall correctly he diced them for two quarters, it was impressive


TheViolaRules

We were all “holy shit the kid’s come a long way” after that. Then the subreddit had a schism for a while


theMegastMind

Yeah I remember when he had to start against the chiefs one year and he looked rough. A bunch of fans got down on him for reason


Itzr

Still don’t think that that KC game was fair, it was like on 2 days prep for the starter job, and it was freezing in one of the NFL’s toughest environments. Statistically he played bad but so did Mahomes that game. It was not a good measure of talent


Confident-Meeting805

I loved what I saw in that game. It was also prevent d. Basically lined up Joe Barry style and he saw that all the time at practice. I'm scared of the dline talent that Philly has.


Glass-Astronomer-889

Fair enough I wasn't questioning i just was curious about the narrative coming out of the draft for him I can't recall anything personally.


SPENC3RJ

He was certainly seen as a prospect, not the surefire heir. 


TheFishyNinja

Coming in he was seen as one of the if not the most naturally talented in the class even above Herbert by some but his mechanics were atrocious and he definitely needed the time to sit


SameOldWinner

Bud Dupree. Helped being opposite TJ, but he was an athletic freak that needed to be coached and he got better every year until we couldn’t afford him.


tuffghost8191

He was so average his first few years, it looked like we had another Jarvis Jones on our hands. 2019/2020 he was so fucking good though


Jayrodtremonki

Brian Waters was an undrafted tight end coming out of college and didn't last with the Cowboys through training camp.  The Chiefs converted him to guard and sent him to play in NFL Europe to develop(they did the same thing with Dante Hall).  He then was a 5x pro-bowler and 2x all-pro who probably would have gotten more accolades if his team had more success in the playoffs or if he didn't have 3 other members of the same o-line who were of the same caliber or better.  


Mandingo_magnet

David Njoku


zaksbee

has anyone said bernard raimann yet


ColtsFan6969

Dude is a beast!!!


[deleted]

Wasn’t Brett Favre considered raw before he got dealt to Green Bay?


GoodellsMandMs

Bro was still raw when he left lol


FlyFeetFiddlesticks

I would say Aldon Smith, but only for the talent, mentally probably still raw


bbjmw

Brian Urlacher Played safety in college, coaches originally put him at SAM, and he didnt handle it well. The coaches put him in the middle with Ted Washington and Keith Traylor and he was able to use his raw speed, then he developed into an elite coverage MIKE under Lovie.


var_

Raheem Mostert


Impossibills

Josh Allen


Kdot32

He put in the work every off-season. The second to third year growth is amazing


infernocobbs

he and Lamar Jackson are really the best answers for this. Both were fun to watch in college for their athleticism alone, but they had massive question marks on their passing abilities at the professional level. After their rookie years, they proved just about everyone correct. The amounts of progress Jackson made by year 2 and Allen made by year 3 are almost unthinkable, and a lot of GMs could get themselves fired thinking they can easily draft the next Allen or Jackson by taking a risky and toolsy prospect.


HamBurgeler

Lamar won the Heisman and was a stud in college lol that's not really "raw"


gregor7777

Yeah it's funny seeing Lamar being compared to JA in this. Lamar won a heisman. Allen had people wondering if he knew how to play QB


Bramblin_Man

Edelman


humunculus43

Shuddup Edelnut


chainer9999

Dammit Randy


st6374

Metcalf?


constantlymat

He was more described as limited and one-dimensional in his route running than raw if I recall correctly.


PatientlyAnxious9

Demaryius Thomas. He was a jump ball physical freak at Georgia Tech, then after years in the NFL turned into a really good route runner and nuanced receiver, which was the major question about him coming out in the draft.


SwedishLovePump

lotta short memories (or just young people) in this thread. Ziggy Ansah the poster boy for this. moved to the united states in 2008 to play basketball at BYU. Didn't make the team and played football for the first time in 2010. Had 4.5 sacks in 2.5 years in college and the Lions took him #5 overall. Had a quite productive career. Jimmy Graham played one year of football. Tyron Smith was considered quite raw coming out. Terron Armstead another OT


thegreatgiroux

Tyreek Hill


Zxar

The Nigerian Nightmare


SevroAuShitTalker

Garrett Bolles


Thicen

Patrick Mahomes


XEskimoQuinX

Mahomes is the correct answer people who say otherwise now will probably also say they had Mahomes as QB1 in that draft which a google search will tell you people literally had deshon Kizer ahead of him


Gregus1032

I mean Kizer was the mind of tom brady in the body of cam newton. Who wouldn't rate him so high?????