4. Curtis Enis
The Chicago Bears have had a very rich history of talented running backs in their backfield. Walter Payton and Gale Sayers are the gold standard, and recently Matt Forte has established himself as another great back for the franchise.
But there was one who didn’t quite live up to the hype: Curtis Enis. The Bears made Enis the No. 5 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, and his picture might still be next to the word “disappointment” in the dictionary.
Enis was another stud running back out of Penn State to be drafted in the first round. In three years at Penn State, he rushed for 3,256 yards and 36 touchdowns. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry during that time.
Then he began his career in Chicago and it all went to hell. Enis had 497 rushing yards and zero touchdowns on 133 carries during his rookie season.
He then flashed a glimpse of hope in his second season. Enis rushed for 916 yards on 287 carries in 1999 for an average of 3.2 yards per attempt. Though he only scored three touchdowns, so not all that glitters is gold.
By the end of the 2000 season, Enis rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown in 12 games for Chicago. He fell off the face of the football planet after that.
But to put Enis’ career in a more interesting light, let’s take a look at what his numbers would have produced if fantasy football was popular back then.
His three years with the Bears would have produced a grand total of 229 fantasy points. Yeah, well, Forte is projected to supply 251 fantasy points this year alone.
Yikes.
Next: Lawrence Phillips