David Johnson:
David Johnson is by-far the best player on this list, but he doesn’t top it because no one would’ve ever believed you if you told them that Johnson would become one of the league’s best running backs within his first three-years in the league. Now entering his fourth season with the Arizona Cardinals, Johnson is looking forward to once again dominating the league.
Back in 2015, no one batted an eye when NFL teams, let alone Baltimore, passed on David Johnson for other running backs. It was hailed as a deep group, and Johnson simply didn’t standout significantly enough to warrant the hype he has now. So you can imagine how upset we all were when we found out how good he was. The 26-year old running back from the University Northern Iowa has set the league ablaze, including an insane 2016 season that saw the back put up over 2,100 scrimmage yards and 20 touchdowns.
With hindsight being the ultimate factor here, it’s easy to say Baltimore should never have passed on a guy like Johnson, but no one would’ve ever believed he’d become what he is today. More realistically, Ravens fans should be mad that we passed on Jay Ajayi for Javorius “Buck” Allen, but Ajayi simply doesn’t have the name-brand that Johnson has.
With how depleted the Ravens were at running back back then, the fans would’ve hoped the team would spend decent assets on the position. Instead, they let guys like Johnson, Ajayi, and Tevin Coleman pass them by. Ajayi and Coleman may sting, but Johnson will haunt fans for a long-time.