5 NFL players who should still be superstars in 2022
While many NFL players are able to maintain their superstar status for an extended period of time, others fall off the map for one reason or another.
Some NFL superstars experience a decade of sustained success. If you’re Tom Brady, maybe even more than two decades.
Other players simply fall off the map for one reason or another.
The question “What if?” is, unfortunately, an all-too-common one when it comes to professional football.
Most of the time, players don’t just fall off because they are one-year wonders, either. Most “what if?” scenarios in the NFL have to do with players getting hurt in their prime years.
That’s the ugly and unfortunate reality of the NFL today.
But some recent NFL superstars had their superstardom cut abnormally short, or at least, that’s the way it seems. Let’s look back at five players who once dominated the NFL at their respective positions, but have since fallen out of that category or out of the league completely.
Former NFL superstar no. 5: Le’Veon Bell, RB
For a period of time, there was no NFL running back more dominant than Le’Veon Bell as an all-around back.
From 2013-2017, Bell was one of the most complete backs in the league and he consistently proved himself on the field with hundreds of touches every year.
By the 2017 season, Bell was averaging almost 130 total yards from scrimmage per game and he was a first-team All-Pro selection.
In the 2018 offseason, Bell wanted a massive contract, but he didn’t get it.
So he sat out the entire 2018 regular season at the age of 26.
In the 2019 offseason, he finally got a longer-term deal from the New York Jets, and the Jets decided to try doing exactly what the Pittsburgh Steelers had — run Bell into the ground.
His effectiveness diminished and by the time he was only 28 years old, Bell was bouncing around the league.
He played in a total of eight games last season with the Buccaneers and Ravens and couldn’t even manage to average three yards per carry.
Bell’s regression since he sat out the 2018 season is pretty astounding considering how good he was in those five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers.