The Best “One Year Wonders” in Bills History

[Spiderweb]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:05 AM, TheWeatherMan said:

Terrell Owens played well for the Bills for his one and only year.  His career dropped off with the Bengals.  

? He had 70 catches give or take when he played for the Bengals. Then .. he faded away.

[Captain Hindsight]

11 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

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

His career high in TDs was 11. He was terrible 

[Kaenon]

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.  

 

 

My #1 was Karlos as well 

[RyanC883]

7 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

His career high in TDs was 11. He was terrible 

 

1.  He played on Dick Jauron teams, so that's not suprising.  

 

2.  He was not always terrible, and even in an injury-shortened rookie year was named to the All Rookie Team.  

1 minute ago, Kaenon said:

My #1 was Karlos as well 

 

same.  He was unstoppable.  I thought  we had AP or something, then boom, fell off the earth.  

 

Meanwhile, his brother (Vince Williams) had a decent career as a LB in PGH.  

[CookieG]

23 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Great thread

 

Its Karlos Williams for me. His rookie year was not as good as Terry Miller's but his flame out was far more spectacular. 

 

Just read a little more about Miller. He finished 2nd in Heisman voting to Earl Campbell and this past January was elected into college football hall of fame. 

 

 

Miller was indeed a stud in college.  When teams in the then Big 8 actually played defense, he had good games vs Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri.  When his career ended, he had the 4th most rushing yards in NCAA history.

 

It was the end of the OJ era and he was traded to the 49ers that year. I wanted the BiIls to draft Miller as the heir apparent to OJ, (OJ lite). 

 

And they did.

And...he failed.

 

I can still remember an older cousin coming to visit after being away at college and asking, "How's the new guy Miller doing?" My dad and I both said, "He's not exactly setting the world on fire."

 

Yeah, he had 1000 yards his rookie year, but fully 1/3 of those yards came in 2 late season games against 2 of the worst run D teams that year.

 

There was a reason they drafted Cribbs in the 2nd round in 1980 and a reason Cribbs took over from the get go.  History would be repeated a few years later when TT was drafted in the second...and took over the running duties from former 1st round pick Ronnie Harmon.

 

Miller was more of a No Year Wonder than a One Year Wonder. I think he was more worried about his banking career than his football career.

[Captain Hindsight]

24 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

1.  He played on Dick Jauron teams, so that's not suprising.  

 

2.  He was not always terrible, and even in an injury-shortened rookie year was named to the All Rookie Team.  

 

 

All rookie team? In 2007 these were the QBs drafted before Trent
 

Jamarcus Russel

Brady Quinn

Kevin Kolb

John Beck

Drew Stanton

 

None of them played! Context matters. Trent was a terrible QB that was played by a terrible HC. And the argument that he worse after his concussion just means he was weak mentally. Dude never had it and was talked up by a desperate fan base for showing some poise in his first drive against the hated patriots*

[FilthyBeast]

In some ways you can add Jerry Hughes to this list.

 

In fact he was somewhat of a '2 year wonder' under Doug Marrone/Pettine/Schwartz totaling 20 total sacks his first 2 years here after we traded for him in 2013-2014.

 

But from rest of his time here (7 seasons 2015 - 2021) he had only 32 total sacks and why it was long overdue to move on from him despite the misleading 'pressure rate' stats that have been thrown out there in his defense.

[Jauronimo]

16 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

In some ways you can add Jerry Hughes to this list.

 

In fact he was somewhat of a '2 year wonder' under Doug Marrone/Pettine/Schwartz totaling 20 total sacks his first 2 years here after we traded for him in 2013-2014.

 

But from rest of his time here (7 seasons 2015 - 2021) he had only 32 total sacks and why it was long overdue to move on from him despite the misleading 'pressure rate' stats that have been thrown out there in his defense.

As bad as you are on here, somehow you're 10x worse on Twitter.  Do you get off on being wrong?

[Solomon Grundy]

Carl Byrum. Big, bruising FB that opened holes for the Bills RBs in the mid to late 80s

[Greybeard]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:07 AM, freddyjj said:

Marlin "the magician" Briscoe RIP.  In 1970, with a rookie QB (Dennis Shaw) Marlin had 57 catches for over 1000 yards and 8 TDs. Marlin made his only Pro Bowl that year. Bills went 3-10-1 that year under John Rauch. 

         The first person that came to mind when I read the title was Dennis Shaw.   Not that he was so wonderful but IMO Briscoe made him the Rookie of the Year.  I swear half his passes were jump balls.  

[BillsBlue]

On 8/7/2022 at 8:59 AM, 78thealltimegreat said:

JP Losman… actually had over 3000 yards passing one year then went down faster then Zach Wilson on Stiflers Mom

to be fair vince wilfork ended his career prematurely with a cheap shot 

[skibum]

Larry Kinnebrew

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

In some ways you can add Jerry Hughes to this list.

 

In fact he was somewhat of a '2 year wonder' under Doug Marrone/Pettine/Schwartz totaling 20 total sacks his first 2 years here after we traded for him in 2013-2014.

 

But from rest of his time here (7 seasons 2015 - 2021) he had only 32 total sacks and why it was long overdue to move on from him despite the misleading 'pressure rate' stats that have been thrown out there in his defense.

 

I sort of agree in that I do think we held on to Jerry a year or two too long. But he was not a two year wonder even if those were the years his sack numbers pop. The pressure stat is not misleading. There were times when Jerry was the only guy getting any rush for us.  He had a down year in 2015 but then 2016-2018 he played really well for us. The last two years, fair enough I think we held on too long. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 hours ago, CookieG said:

Miller was indeed a stud in college.  When teams in the then Big 8 actually played defense, he had good games vs Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri.  When his career ended, he had the 4th most rushing yards in NCAA history.

 

It was the end of the OJ era and he was traded to the 49ers that year. I wanted the BiIls to draft Miller as the heir apparent to OJ, (OJ lite). 

 

And they did.

And...he failed.

 

I can still remember an older cousin coming to visit after being away at college and asking, "How's the new guy Miller doing?" My dad and I both said, "He's not exactly setting the world on fire."

 

Yeah, he had 1000 yards his rookie year, but fully 1/3 of those yards came in 2 late season games against 2 of the worst run D teams that year.

 

There was a reason they drafted Cribbs in the 2nd round in 1980 and a reason Cribbs took over from the get go.  History would be repeated a few years later when TT was drafted in the second...and took over the running duties from former 1st round pick Ronnie Harmon.

 

Miller was more of a No Year Wonder than a One Year Wonder. I think he was more worried about his banking career than his football career.

Thanks for the info. I read a toe injury set him back his second year, but sounds like even year 1 was not that good.

I loved Cribbs. 

[Gugny]

Cookie Gilchrest.  Only averaged over 5 yards/attempt once.  Christ, Singletary does that every year!

[WhoTom]

4 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Trent was a terrible QB that was played by a terrible HC. And the argument that he worse after his concussion just means he was weak mentally. Dude never had it and was talked up by a desperate fan base for showing some poise in his first drive against the hated patriots*

 

Yeah, Trent was more of a one-drive wonder. At best, a one-game wonder.

 

[jletha]

Thad Lewis.

[Bill from NYC]

8 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

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.

Very interesting choice. Searcy actually won us a couple of games that season, and this is saying something. Very few players actually stepped up and made game winning plays for us back then. He seemed to be a very smart and clutch player. I really expected him to be a coach down the road, whereas he always seemed tro be in the right spot to make plays.

 

 

Of course, it was pointed out to me by a poster on this board that he was in a good spot to make plays because our system called for this and sadly, he was right. He also said that most of Byrd's interceptions were due to lucky bounces, and he was right about that as well.  

 

Again, those were tough times for Bills fans. 

[Coffeesforclosers]

John DiGiorgio and Angelo Crowell. 

[GunnerBill]

27 minutes ago, jletha said:

Thad Lewis.

 

A one game wonder.