4. Desmond Howard, Wide Receiver, Michigan
Today, Desmond Howard is best known as an ESPN college football analyst, a familiar face on Saturday mornings. Before his successful career as a sports commentator, however, Howard was a star wide receiver at Michigan whose talents and achievements earned him a Heisman trophy in 1991, a season in which he scored a remarkable 138 points.
Picked fourth-overall in the 1992 draft by the Washington Redskins, Howard had a peripatetic stint in the NFL, playing special teams from 1992-1994 for the Redskins, 1995 for the Jacksonville Jaguars, 1996 and 1999 for the Green Bay Packers, 1997-1998 for the Oakland Raiders, and, finally from 2000-2002 with the Detroit Lions.
Howard’s most memorable moment in the NFL was in Super Bowl XXXI on January 26, 1997 when his Packers defeated the New England Patriots 21-35 in New Orleans. En route to that victory, Howard had an incredible 99-yard kickoff return.
Though Howard often struggled with injury and inconsistent performance, finding himself a member of numerous teams, he was a steady force on special teams and had an unusually long NFL career.
Next: 3. James Plunkett