One-Hit Wonder: Brandon Spoon 2001

[YoloinOhio]

Blast from the past 

 

 

Brandon Spoon was stacked.

A teenage physical specimen, he could bench almost 400 pounds, was clocked a shade under 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash and covered 200 meters in 22.7 seconds before he left high school.

As a University of North Carolina linebacker, his resume was muscular, too. Spoon is the only player to be named to the Butkus Award watch list four times.

Spoon entered the 2001 draft known for his physique and an intemperate disposition reminiscent of former Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills savage Chris Spielman.

“He could have bit a 20-penny nail in two,” Bills scout Buddy Nix said the day they drafted Spoon in the fourth round. “That’s kind of the way Chris looked at me. I always kept my eyes on Chris when I walked away from him. I never knew what was going to happen no matter what I said.

 

Spoon was supposed to back up middle linebacker Sam Cowart, the returning Pro Bowler and defensive centerpiece for a unit that a year earlier allowed the fourth-fewest yards per play. Yet when Cowart tore an Achilles tendon on opening day, Spoon stepped in. He started 14 games, was the team’s second-best run stuffer, made seven tackles for losses and returned both of his interceptions for touchdowns.

A sturdily constructed NFL career seemed inevitable.

Alas, Spoon’s rookie year would be his last. What appeared to be a foundation became a solitary line of reference on the internet.

https://theathletic.com/1720848/2020/04/07/brandon-spoon-the-rookie-spectacle-and-the-bills-career-that-could-have-been/

 

Spoon spent 2002 on injured reserve with a torn right biceps tendon and was among the Bills’ late preseason cuts in 2003.
 

He signed with the St. Louis Rams in 2004, but tore his hamstring in training camp. That was that.

[RyanC883]

wow, that is terrible bad luck.  Two injuries just derailed his career like that?  

[whatdrought]

cant help but wonder if his body was built in a way that invited injuries. See it a lot with guys building past what their natural frame can support and ending up having their body breakdown. (Especially with a violent play style)

[BuffaloBillies]

Wow. Just like me. I was back-up TE on my high school JV football team and broke my hand in a pre-game tackling drill. And that was that.

[billsfan89]

1 hour ago, whatdrought said:

cant help but wonder if his body was built in a way that invited injuries. See it a lot with guys building past what their natural frame can support and ending up having their body breakdown. (Especially with a violent play style)

 

I feel like a lot of guys were gassing up on roids or bulking up in an arms race to get bigger in the NFL but a lot of these guys would either be too big for their frame or just not trained properly to improve their flexibility in order to be able to carry that amount of muscle. When guys get too big for their frame and they aren’t flexible you get a lot of joint and muscle injuries. 

 

Playing in the NFL is already a high injury risk but if you are carry a muscular frame too big for your body and you don’t have proper flexibility training it is only a matter of time before you blow out a knee or tear some other muscle. 

[MrEpsYtown]

I liked Spoon. But he was gone in a flash. We signed London Fletcher and Takeo Spikes and that was all she wrote for Spoon. As the Oracle says, there is no Spoon. 

[CNYfan]

Probably no CTE though, so there is that

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I was a big Spoon fan. I still remember a pick-6 he had against the Lions, I think.

 

the other player I really liked from that draft class was Reggie Germany. He showed some really good flashes, and was obviously a great college player. Never really caught on though. 

[YoloinOhio]

15 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

I was a big Spoon fan. I still remember a pick-6 he had against the Lions, I think.

 

the other player I really liked from that draft class was Reggie Germany. He showed some really good flashes, and was obviously a great college player. Never really caught on though. 

My man had a 0.0 GPA at Ohio state. Ah, the John Cooper days.

Edited April 8, 2020 by YoloinOhio

[stevewin]

2 hours ago, whatdrought said:

cant help but wonder if his body was built in a way that invited injuries. See it a lot with guys building past what their natural frame can support and ending up having their body breakdown. (Especially with a violent play style)

Yeah - he also tore a biceps in college.  When your musculature routinely rips from your skeletal frame, something "unnatural" is going on

[2003Contenders]

That 2001 draft was probably the best draft of the drought. It also happened to be Donahoe's first year on the job -- and the only draft during his tenure without Modrak, whom he hired a few weeks after this draft. That could have been purely coincidence -- but I bet not.

 

Anyway, Donahoe was remarkably patient in that draft, trading down multiple times in the first couple of rounds, landing us a number of solid players.

 

Nate Clements, Aaron Schobel, Travis Henry, Ron Edwards, Jonas Jennings, and Spoon were all selected in the first 4 rounds. Five of those six players would become starters for the Bills.

 

 

 

[Mango]

3 hours ago, whatdrought said:

cant help but wonder if his body was built in a way that invited injuries. See it a lot with guys building past what their natural frame can support and ending up having their body breakdown. (Especially with a violent play style)

 

It can happen from just super quick natural gains as well. Although I would guess this is from PED's.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

31 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

My man had a 0.0 GPA at Ohio state. Ah, the John Cooper days.

haha. I remember that. Not a great idea to phone it in for a guy that ended up getting drafted in the 7th round. 
 

I actually think he went back to school and later got his degree. Not sure why I know so much about Reggie Germany! 

[Doc]

The real loss was Cowart.  That guy could have been special.

[C.Biscuit97]

4 hours ago, BuffaloBillies said:

Wow. Just like me. I was back-up TE on my high school JV football team and broke my hand in a pre-game tackling drill. And that was that.

Could have been the next Gronk.  My condolences. ?

 

and this is why no one should ever get mad at players for trying to get every cent they can while they can.  It also seems like we’ve had some terrible injuries to linebackers - Spoon, Cowart, and Spikes (who was going to be the best Bills LB ever).  Damn shame.

1 hour ago, 2003Contenders said:

That 2001 draft was probably the best draft of the drought. It also happened to be Donahoe's first year on the job -- and the only draft during his tenure without Modrak, whom he hired a few weeks after this draft. That could have been purely coincidence -- but I bet not.

 

Anyway, Donahoe was remarkably patient in that draft, trading down multiple times in the first couple of rounds, landing us a number of solid players.

 

Nate Clements, Aaron Schobel, Travis Henry, Ron Edwards, Jonas Jennings, and Spoon were all selected in the first 4 rounds. Five of those six players would become starters for the Bills.

 

 

 

TD was awful after that. 

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

My man had a 0.0 GPA at Ohio state. Ah, the John Cooper days.

I mean this probably goes on everywhere but they didn’t just give him the passing grades.  Wasn’t the story that Robert Smith wanted to be pre-med at OSU and was told he couldn’t because he needed to focus on football?  I salute a school like Stanford that actually has legit student athletes. 

[Orlando Buffalo]

7 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Could have been the next Gronk.  My condolences. ?

 

and this is why no one should ever get mad at players for trying to get every cent they can while they can.  It also seems like we’ve had some terrible injuries to linebackers - Spoon, Cowart, and Spikes (who was going to be the best Bills LB ever).  Damn shame.

TD was awful after that. 

I mean this probably goes on everywhere but they didn’t just give him the passing grades.  Wasn’t the story that Robert Smith wanted to be pre-med at OSU and was told he couldn’t because he needed to focus on football?  I salute a school like Stanford that actually has legit student athletes. 

Maybe you mean something different than what I think a "student athlete" is but all colleges with good sport teams have easier academics for athletes that do not want to really be students, it was actually part of the discussion for Brian Kelly when he went to ND. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

Old school training techniques.  Those torn muscles are caused by a lack of flexibility and overexertion.  You see it a ton with professional wrestlers - Torn pecs, biceps, triceps, hamstrings etc.

 

Seems like Trainers and players put a much greater emphasis on flexibility.  Training also seems to lead more to plyometrics and trying to create speed and usable strength.  

[DBilz2500]

On 4/8/2020 at 2:51 PM, JR in Pittsburgh said:

I was a big Spoon fan. I still remember a pick-6 he had against the Lions, I think.

 

the other player I really liked from that draft class was Reggie Germany. He showed some really good flashes, and was obviously a great college player. Never really caught on though. 

No lie-I live in Columbus Ohio and Reggie Germany was my insurance agent for a couple of years. We actually talked pretty often for awhile and he was a very down to earth guy. Said he was coming along and was set to be the #2 WR next to Moulds but a training camp knee injury derailed his career and had got cut. Said he loved the fans and his teammates but was still bitter about how upper management let him go. Also noted that Moulds took him under his wing when he was drafted and did whatever he could to make him a better WR. Would even come over to his place after practice and teach him how to watch film and better his technique. Said he was one of the most genuine people he had ever met. 

[MJS]

50 minutes ago, DBilz2500 said:

No lie-I live in Columbus Ohio and Reggie Germany was my insurance agent for a couple of years. We actually talked pretty often for awhile and he was a very down to earth guy. Said he was coming along and was set to be the #2 WR next to Moulds but a training camp knee injury derailed his career and had got cut. Said he loved the fans and his teammates but was still bitter about how upper management let him go. Also noted that Moulds took him under his wing when he was drafted and did whatever he could to make him a better WR. Would even come over to his place after practice and teach him how to watch film and better his technique. Said he was one of the most genuine people he had ever met. 

Glad to hear. Moulds was an amazing WR. He'd be a hall of famer if he ever had a good QB throwing to him.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

>“He could have bit a 20-penny nail in two,” Bills scout Buddy Nix said the day they drafted Spoon in the fourth round. “That’s kind of the way Chris looked at me. I always kept my eyes on Chris when I walked away from him. I never knew what was going to happen no matter what I said."

Maybe Spielman was just tired of your 'hayseed homilies', Cornpone.  ?

 

>Spoon was supposed to back up middle linebacker Sam Cowart, the returning Pro Bowler and defensive centerpiece for a unit that a year earlier allowed the fourth-fewest yards per play. 
 

If Spoon couldn't back up a guy who throws bowling balls for a living, just how talented was he?  ?