The Best “One Year Wonders” in Bills History

[I'm Spartacus]

Coy Wire

Booker Moore (had some weird muscle disease that ended his career).

[mushypeaches]

2 minutes ago, I'm Spartacus said:

Coy Wire

Booker Moore (had some weird muscle disease that ended his career).

 

I'm fascinated - what year, or even what specific game did Coy Wire do something meaningful on the field?

[Albany,n.y.]

6 hours ago, Another Fan said:

Moral of the story:  if you're into buying jerseys make sure its someone whose already accomplished a lot 

I've only bought 1 jersey-Josh Allen after the Vikings game his rookie year.  I think I did OK with that one.  PS: I have no idea why a photo someone put in further down in the thread appears here.  

 

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Albany,n.y.

[BigDingus]

Why are people saying Bryce Paup?

 

If anything, I'd put Sam Cowart over Paup.

 

Cowart had ONE season where he was an All-Pro, Pro Bowler, near the top of the league in tackles, had a couple INT's, & like 6 sacks. Then he got injured for an entire season, then was out the door & onto the Jets.

 

Paup was a 4 x Pro Bowler & 1st team All-Pro. He doesn't belong on the list.

[Canadian Bills Fan]

Karlos Williams

 

He was our Eddie Lacy

Or pre concussion Trent Edwards

[benderbender]

Kyle Orton

[Just Jack]

Gabe Northern, 5 sacks in his rookie season, double digits tackles, but went downhill each season after that first year. 

[RyanC883]

16 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Edwards was all hyped up by a desperate fan base for one drive against the Patriots. Dude sucked 26 TD to 30 INTs in his career. He was all hype

 

i think he means pre captain checkdown days, post nasty hit in AZ game I think it was

[Bill from NYC]

12 hours ago, BigDingus said:

 

If anything, I'd put Sam Cowart over Paup.

 

Cowart had ONE season where he was an All-Pro, Pro Bowler, near the top of the league in tackles, had a couple INT's, & like 6 sacks. Then he got injured for an entire season, then was out the door & onto the Jets.

 

The Bills had horrible luck with some of the LBs back in the 90's. Cowart was on his way to a great career before he got hurt. He was an excellent player!

 

In 1995, the Bills had a very good draft (yes, hard to believe). They drafted Damien Covington (3rd round) and John Holecek (5th round). LBs were more important back then and both of these guys were very good players who also had their careers wrecked by injuries. Covington resembled London Fletcher in style and would have had a stellar career imo. I remember watching a game in a sports bar back then in which we were playing Tampa Bay. and pretty much all of the Bills LBs got seriously injured.

 

Tough football times back then.  

[SoCal Deek]

Skimmed through it quick and didn’t see him mentioned……Dennis Shaw. NFL Rookie of the Year at QB, and then not so much. While I loved reading all the other names, none of them were Rookie of the Year. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by SoCal Deek

[GunnerBill]

One I'd add to the list is D'Norris Searcy. Draftee in the 4th round, he played a limited role in his first three years in Buffalo before replacing Jairus Byrd in the lineup as a starter in 2014, had a good year with 3 picks and parlayed that into a nice free agent contract $6m AAV back in 2015 (in terms of cash commitment that year at the safety position the deal out him 4th in the NFL) with Tennessee after the season. He struggled as a starter his first two years there, then had a year as a backup and two games in Carolina and then was done in the league. 

 

A one year "wonder" may stretch the point but he was a very good starter for 1 year of his career basically and that was 2014. He was a below average starter or a backup for the remainder.

[Rigotz]

I'll go with a two year wonder who isn't mentioned often enough as such.

 

Takeo Spikes.

 

Absolute beast his first 2 years in Buffalo, then tore his achilles in week 3 of his third year and never was the same again. Certainly not his own fault, but that was tough contract after he went down.

 

Meanwhile, his 2004 stats (OLB):

5 interceptions

2 pick 6's

18 passes defensed

4 forced fumbles

3 sacks

98 tackles

1st team all-pro

 

[Irv]

Da'Rick.  Dude was unstoppable on TBD.  But then he sucked.  

[Mojo44]

Bobby Burnett 1966.

[T master]

On 8/7/2022 at 1:35 AM, Rc2catch said:

I think it would be Karlos for me. 
He seemed to have some homerun potential. I’m still in shock he flamed out completely 

 

I agree i thought we had our RB of the future with him & it just amazed me how it all went down from there to work so hard to get right there & to just blow it like he did is just unbelievable & i often wonder how many times he has kicked him self or if he is happy with where he is because if he is happy then that's what counts .

[PromoTheRobot]

On 8/7/2022 at 12:28 AM, JohnNord said:

With news of the recent retirement of Kiko Alonso, some Bills fans on Twitter have named him the best “one year wonder” in Bills history.  
 

Who are some other players that come to mind who had really one great year and then a middling to below average career?  
 

A few come to mind:

 

1. Karlos Williams - He had a monster 2015 season averaging almost 6 YPC and scoring 7 TD’s, despite missing 6 games and playing behind Shady. He also was decent in the pass game.    He seemed to be the perfect back and should’ve had a big career.  But his attitude and failure to stay in shape forced him out of the NFL and he never played again.   Tremendous waste of potential.  
 

2. Peerless Price - he went from being a steady WR2 to exploding in 2002 with career highs in receptions, yards, and touchdowns.  Donahoe traded Price as a RFA and he continued to be steady but unspectacular WR he was prior to 2002.  
 

3. Terry Miller - Rushed for 1060 yards his rookie season in 1978.   He rushed for less than half that during the remainder of his career.  Out of the NFL 3 years after his rookie standout season.  
 

4. Robert Foster - Became one of Josh Allen’s favorite targets and established himself as a bonfide deep threat with over 500 yards and 20 yard avg in just 11 games.  But he sunk on the depth chart and was out of the league 3 years later. 
 

5. CJ Spiller - high draft pick that had a middling career until his 2012 breakout season where he rushed for over 1,200 yards.    He had a decent year in 2013 but his production dropped quickly after and he was out of the NFL by 2017.  

 

 

 

Great list but I don't think Foster belongs on it. Foster wasn't that great but he was all we had at the time, and Allen made him look better than he was.

[Ned Flanders]

Jeff Nixon or Rod Kush...take your pick.

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

46 minutes ago, Irv said:

Da'Rick.  Dude was unstoppable on TBD.  But then he sucked.  

This observation just won TBD for today.  Last one out shut off the lights. 😁

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

26 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Great list but I don't think Foster belongs on it. Foster wasn't that great but he was all we had at the time, and Allen made him look better than he was.

"To quote my associate Daffy Duck, you suh, are despicable!"

[Dr. K]

Bryce Paup for sure.