Choose one player to have an injury-free career

[Painter]

I have no idea who might have an injury-free career of whatever meaningful length, but as I have already suggested it would seem likely to be someone who doesn't handle the ball often and  with a lot of contact and direction change like an interior OL, for example. Frankly when it comes to it, I'm not sure that Linemen are even thought of in that connection.

And no matter what anyone has to say about Eli, he was Mr. Availability, durability personified.

Cheers!

[T200]

Saw this question on Twitter and found the responses to be really interesting to look through.  So, let's do it two ways:

1)  Which NFL player from any team would you choose to have an injury-free career, to see what could have been?
2)  Which Giant would you choose to have an injury-free career?

My answers:
1)  Gotta go with Bo Jackson.  Would love to see what he could have done.  My honorable mention goes to Lavar Arrington.  Outside of LT, he was the most physically dominant LB I've ever seen- I think he could have been a wrecking ball for many years to come if he had avoided injury.
2)  Odell Beckham Jr.  Although I'm not sure his personality would have helped keep him in NY or not- I do really wonder what this guy could have done if he had stayed in NY and stayed healthy for an entire career.  Just an undeniable talent.

Those were the two players that came to mind for me.

My honorable mentions for the Giants would be Plaxico (could have had back-to-back Lombardis), David Wilson and Chad Jones.

[Rambo89]

1) Bo Jackson

2) Justin Tuck

[coggs]

For the Giants if we going all-time?  Quite a few.  Bavaro, Sehorn, Morris, Beckham, Barkley.  I could go on.

Would agree on Bo Jackson for non-Giants. 

[Painter]

For the Giants if we going all-time?  Quite a few.  Bavaro, Sehorn, Morris, Beckham, Barkley.  I could go on.

Would agree on Bo Jackson for non-Giants. 

I must be misunderstanding the question as Bavaro, Sehorn, Morris, Beckham and Barkley have all have all missed time due to injury- along with innumerable others- and can't be an answer to "Choose one player to have an injury-free career"

Bo Jackson is worth mentioning I suppose as he played 8 seasons of baseball and almost 5 in the NFL although he missed starts in his NFL career.

Unless we are suppsed to guess who will yet have a long injury-free career, how could we not mention Eli Manning as one player who never missed a scheduled start in over 230 games?

Is this some sort of trick question, or just confusing in its intention?

Cheers!

[PSUBeirut]

I must be misunderstanding the question as Bavaro, Sehorn, Morris, Beckham and Barkley have all have all missed time due to injury- along with innumerable others- and can't be an answer to "Choose one player to have an injury-free career"

Bo Jackson is worth mentioning I suppose as he played 8 seasons of baseball and almost 5 in the NFL although he missed starts in his NFL career.

Unless we are suppsed to guess who will yet have a long injury-free career, how could we not mention Eli Manning as one player who never missed a scheduled start in over 230 games?

Is this some sort of trick question, or just confusing in its intention?

Cheers!

Let me see if I can help rephrase - what player whose career was cut short or severely hampered by injury do you wish you could have seen play out a long, fully healthy career?  ie Bo Jackson is a perfect example- his career was sadly derailed by injury but I'd have loved to see what he could have done if it wasn't.  Those are the answers I was giving, saw others giving, and what I've been enjoying reading from folks. 

I thought Andrew Luck was a really good one that I hadn't thought about. 

[Painter]

Let me see if I can help rephrase - what player whose career was cut short or severely hampered by injury do you wish you could have seen play out a long, fully healthy career?  ie Bo Jackson is a perfect example- his career was sadly derailed by injury but I'd have loved to see what he could have done if it wasn't.  Those are the answers I was giving, saw others giving, and what I've been enjoying reading from folks. 

I thought Andrew Luck was a really good one that I hadn't thought about. 

Okay then my candidate would be Sandy Koufax.

Cheers!

[Shoelessjoe]

Gale Sayers played 5 injury plagued years and still made the HOF. Bo Jackson was the best pure athlete that I ever saw. I would say between the two of them I would select Jackson.

As for the Giants, it is Tucker Frederickson. Frederickson was a two-way player, a Heisman Trophy runner-up, the first overall pick of the 1965 NFL Draft, and a Pro Bowl fullback with the Giants. In the 1965 draft Ken Willard went second to SF, Dick Butkus went third while Gale Sayers went fourth. He played for 6 seasons before he had to retire due to a knee injury. In college, he averaged 4.4 yards per carry on offense and lead his team in interceptions as a safety on defense.

[kartanoman]

This is a really good thread and there are some outstanding responses so far.

Starting with the NFL at Large, you have to start in Chicago with Gale Sayers and, maybe more importantly, Brian Piccolo. "Brian's Song" was more than just a movie. It was a young man who tried out for the Bears in 1965, ended up on their taxi squad, and slowly elevated himself by partnering with Sayers, as he recovered from his devastating knee injury, to becoming a starter and share the same backfield with his good friend. Had cancer not taken him so soon, perhaps "Brian's Song" would have gone on to record multiple stanzas and further the lore he and Gale created in one of the very few bright spots on George Halas' Bears.

Another who would have gone on to greatness, who is largely forgotten today, was Joe Delaney of the Kansas City Chiefs. A soft-spoken, kind-hearted human being from a small Northeast Texas town who had a natural talent for football. Picked in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft by the Chiefs, he took the league by storm and finished the '81 season with over 1100 yards and three touchdowns to earn him AFC Rookie of the Year as well as an AFC Pro Bowl berth. But 1982 slowed him down between the strike as well as a detached retina injury which cost him significant playing time. He would never see the field again. On June 29, 1983, at a pond in a recreational area in Monroe, LA, three children swam into the deep section and were in trouble. Delaney immediately ran in to rescue them. The problem was he couldn't swim. Despite this, he rescued one of them, a second was rescued by an emergency crew but died at the hospital, and the crew pulled both the third child and Delaney out of the water and declared them dead. Joe Delaney was always known for helping others in need. On July 15, 1983, for his bravery, and for making the ultimate sacrifice for others, President Ronald Reagan posthumously honored Delaney with the Presidential Citizen's Medal, the second highest award a United States citizen can receive (Presidential Medal of Freedom being the highest). He was a hero to so many and his legacy will rightly be labeled as such. But had that tragic event not occurred, that 1983 AFC West race would have been even more exciting (NOTE: Raiders winning the Super Bowl, Seahawks played in the AFC Championship, Elway's first year in Denver)  and the Chiefs a much more competitive team in the mid 1980s.

Turning to our Giants, Rich @MightyGiants nailed it from the get-go for me with Mark Bavaro. Lest you forgot that "Simms to Bavaro" moniker which those two players became the very best in the NFL at executing the seam pass. Who can forget the one-handed TD catches Mark Bavaro used to catch before these crazy WRs today took it to insane heights. By early 1989, Simms and Bavaro made the seam pass an unstoppable, automatic first down or touchdown. That is, until Bavaro's knee was reduced to shredded wheat in San Diego. Such a devastating injury that was, he came back in 1990 a shell of himself, and it was only through sheer will he made it across the finish line and did so by making plays which will forever be etched in Giant lore as critical points en route to the Super Bowl XXV championship. That he played three more seasons (1992 - Cleveland, 1993-94 - Philadelphia) was a testament to his desire and determination to overcome. But had he not suffered that knee injury, and if he could have had a generally clean run with the Giants up until the time he finally hung it up, there's a good chance he would be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame right now.

I like some of the other players mentioned here: Tucker Fredrickson being one of them, David Wilson would be another. But here are some names I haven't seen mentioned:

 - Troy Archer (my #2 Giant)
 - Kevin Belcher
 - John Tuggle (not irrelevant to Bill Parcells, or Giants fans; maybe the only player who could match Phil McConkey in terms of spirit, heart and courage, still emotional all these years following his sudden passing from cancer)

I could write for hours in this thread so I'll stop for now. It saddens me quite a bit to reflect on these folks whose dreams were cut short due to injury or, in some cases, death itself. That they fought every step of the way is a tribute to them, and my respect goes out to each of them.

Peace!