Sitting out an entire season

In response to a posting in another thread, I said that John Riggins and Sean Gilbert were the only players I could recall in the NFL who actually sat out an entire season. Here is an exerpt from a column by Charlie Walters in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press about Bud Grant and his contract disputes back in the 1950s. Remember, there was nothing even remotely rleated to free-agency then. I thought some of the folks here would appreciate a brief history lesson:


"Quarterback Eli Manning, the No. 1 pick in Saturday's NFL draft, forced the San Diego Chargers to trade him to the New York Giants. Hall of fame former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who was the Philadelphia Eagles' first-round draft pick as a two-way end in 1950, refused to sign that year, but could not force a trade.

"Instead, Grant, now 77, turned down the Eagles' offer of $7,500 and played for the NBA Minneapolis Lakers for $3,500. But Grant, also a standout pitcher, hired out for cash to various baseball teams throughout Minnesota. He made nearly as much playing baseball as he did from the Lakers.

"After sitting out a year from football, Grant went back to the Eagles but had to take a $500 cut. After two years that included a Pro Bowl season, Grant became the first NFL player to play out his option. He wanted $10,000 to return to Philadelphia, which offered $8,000. So Bud signed with Winnipeg for $11,000. His five interceptions as a safety against Regina Saskatchewan in a 1956 Canadian Football League game still is a North American pro football record.

In response to a posting in another thread, I said that John Riggins and Sean Gilbert were the only players I could recall in the NFL who actually sat out an entire season. Here is an exerpt from a column by Charlie Walters in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press about Bud Grant and his contract disputes back in the 1950s. Remember, there was nothing even remotely rleated to free-agency then. I thought some of the folks here would appreciate a brief history lesson:


"Quarterback Eli Manning, the No. 1 pick in Saturday's NFL draft, forced the San Diego Chargers to trade him to the New York Giants. Hall of fame former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who was the Philadelphia Eagles' first-round draft pick as a two-way end in 1950, refused to sign that year, but could not force a trade.

"Instead, Grant, now 77, turned down the Eagles' offer of $7,500 and played for the NBA Minneapolis Lakers for $3,500. But Grant, also a standout pitcher, hired out for cash to various baseball teams throughout Minnesota. He made nearly as much playing baseball as he did from the Lakers.

"After sitting out a year from football, Grant went back to the Eagles but had to take a $500 cut. After two years that included a Pro Bowl season, Grant became the first NFL player to play out his option. He wanted $10,000 to return to Philadelphia, which offered $8,000. So Bud signed with Winnipeg for $11,000. His five interceptions as a safety against Regina Saskatchewan in a 1956 Canadian Football League game still is a North American pro football record.

Nice job with that SC!

Believe it or not, Bo Jackson also sat out his "first" season after he was drafted. He was orginally a first round pick of the Bucs... to which he said no way. So he played for the Royals for a year, and then reapplied to the draft the following year, where he was picked up by the Raiders in the seventh round.

According to TecmoBowl at least, it was obvious that this was one of the greatest seventh round picks of all times!

I think I remember Todd Bell, DB with the Bears, sitting out a season in the mid-80's

I still believe Bo Jackson was the greatest athlete of all time- combination of size, strength, and speed was unmatched. Too bad the injuries cut his career short.

and just think, football was Bo's secondary sport. i can't imagine how much of the record books would hold his name at the top if he had devoted himself more to football than baseball and hadn't suffered his freak hip injury. i didn't know he'd held out his first draft and then got drafted by the raiders in the 7th round the next year. i don't know much about some of the older drafts but that had to be the biggest steal of a 7th round pick in the history of the draft. and he has to be considered one of the best all-around athletes of all time when u consider that in 1989 he hit .256/32 HRs/105 RBIs/26 stolen bases and named the allstar game mvp and then in the same year he ran for 950 yards/4 TDs and was named to the probowl while only playing in 11 games. it's hard enough to be an allstar quality player in one sport much alone 2 and in the same year.

and just think, football was Bo's secondary sport. i can't imagine how much of the record books would hold his name at the top if he had devoted himself more to football than baseball and hadn't suffered his freak hip injury. i didn't know he'd held out his first draft and then got drafted by the raiders in the 7th round the next year. i don't know much about some of the older drafts but that had to be the biggest steal of a 7th round pick in the history of the draft. and he has to be considered one of the best all-around athletes of all time when u consider that in 1989 he hit .256/32 HRs/105 RBIs/26 stolen bases and named the allstar game mvp and then in the same year he ran for 950 yards/4 TDs and was named to the probowl while only playing in 11 games. it's hard enough to be an allstar quality player in one sport much alone 2 and in the same year.

A good friend of mine I grew up with and played ball with since we were little kid's is the player who ended bo's carreer, MLB for cincci. Kevin Walker, from the great football town of west milford NJ, where I might add our own lenny friedman is from as well.

joe jacoby was a steal undrafted FA

Yup. Jacoby, Priest Holmes, Jeff Garcia, Adam Vinatieri...all great free agents

Jim Brown is probably the best pure football player I ever saw play the game. And the first football game I ever saw was in 1948. In the NFL he averaged over 100 rushing yards per game FOR HIS CAREER. And that was done against defenses that often had 5 defensive linemen and two linebackers. the 4-3 defense was introduced after he got into the league and was not the prevalent defense until about the final two or three years of his career.

Jim Brown is widely considered to be the best lacrosse player ever by people who follow lacrosse and know something about the game. I don't follow lacrosse and don't pretend to know anything about it. I'm just telling you what other people say.

Jim Brown was a starter on the Syracuse varsity basketball team for one of the years that he was at Syracuse.

Jim Brown was offered a bonus to sign a minor league baseball contract with the NY Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. He turned both of them down and said that baseball was only a game and not a sport in his mind.

The reason I recite all of this for you is to suggest that Jim Brown might have some credentials as "the best athlete of all time" - even though that argument will never be settled...