Back in 2018, Josh Allen was an incredibly raw prospect coming out of Wyoming. The Buffalo Bills had snuck into the playoffs the year before but had purged their roster before making Allen the seventh overall pick. Three starting-caliber offensive linemen — Cordy Glenn, Richie Incognito, and Eric Wood — left during the offseason. Running back LeSean McCoy was entering his age-30 campaign and about to fall off a cliff. Allen finished 32nd among 33rd qualifiers in adjusted net yards per attempt while working with receivers like Zay Jones, a washed-up Kelvin Benjamin, rookie UDFA Robert Foster, and tight end Charles Clay. But he made things work on the ground, ranking first among quarterbacks in rushing TDs (eight) and second in rising yards (631). Allen’s 59.6% rushing success rate would’ve ranked second in the NFL if he’d posted enough attempts to qualify.
Derek Carr had a solid offensive line with the 2014 Oakland Raiders. The club’s front five included standouts like tackle Donald Penn and guard Gabe Jackson, ranking eighth in PFF’s pass-blocking grades. But that’s where the praise ends. Carr’s coaching situation was especially poor. While Greg Olson is a respected offensive voice who was eventually re-hired by the Raiders, then-head coach Dennis Allen was in over his head and ultimately fired before the end of Carr’s rookie season. The second-round pick’s weaponry wasn’t much better than his staff. Oakland posted the NFL’s worst rushing EPA and success rate in 2014. Carr’s best wideout was James Jones, who was probably better off as a WR3 than a WR1. Carr threw 99 targets to second-year TE Mychal Rivera, who was out of the NFL after the end of his Raiders contract. Other Oakland pass catchers, such as Andre Holmes (who eventually joined Allen in Buffalo) and Kenbrell Thompkins, were hardly inspiring.
The Carolina Panthers hired Frank Reich as their head coach in 2023, hoping the quarterback guru could shepherd No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young through his rookie campaign. Instead, Carolina’s offensive production was so poor that Reich couldn’t even make it through his debut season. Amidst rumors that he might’ve wanted a quarterback other than Young at the top of the 2023 NFL Draft, Reich was fired after a 1-10 start.
The 1970 Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t the same dominant Steel Curtain team the NFL came to revere near the middle of the decade. The 1969 Steelers had managed just one victory, enabling them to land Louisiana Tech QB Terry Bradshaw with the No. 1 pick in the following year’s draft. Head coach Chuck Noll continued to reshape the roster in 1970, trading leading receiver Roy Jefferson to the Baltimore Colts after back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns. Bradshaw was forced to split time with 1969 second-round QB Terry Hanratty and started just eight games.
While Joey Harrington might’ve been a bust regardless of where he landed, the Detroit Lions certainly didn’t help the Oregon product’s case. Az-Zahir Hakim was stretched as Detroit’s top wideout, while other pass catchers like WR Bill Schroeder and TE Mikhael Ricks were nearing the end of their NFL runs. RB James Stewart eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground but ranked just 33rd in rushing success rate. The Lions’ offensive line was a problem for the entire of Harrington’s tenure.
While the Browns were technically an expansion team, they represented the NFL’s return to Cleveland after the city’s former team relocated to Baltimore after the 1995 campaign. As the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft and the face of the Browns’ revamped franchise, Couch was under immense pressure even before the season began. Things only got worse once Cleveland started playing games. RBs Terry Kirby and Karim Abdul-Jabbar averaged fewer than 3.5 yards per carry. Wide receiver Kevin Johnson was productive, but Irv Smith and Leslie Kirby were at the end of their careers. Darrin Chiaverini — the club’s third-most targeted pass catcher — wasn’t an NFL-caliber player. The Browns finished 31st on offense and 29th on defense. Palmer was fired after the 1999 campaign.
The second member of the Carr family on our list, David Carr — like Couch — was drafted to an expansion team. The Houston Texans had the first pick in every round of the 2002 draft and could select players from other NFL teams via the expansion draft. However, their roster was hardly anything to write home about. Houston used its top expansion selection on Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli, but he spent the entire season on injured reserve before retiring. Playing behind a weak offensive line, Carr set a new NFL record by absorbing 76 sacks in 2022. .
Trevor Lawrence’s supporting cast was nearly as poor as his head coaching situation. Zay Jones, a free agent import in 2021, led the Jacksonville Jaguars with 832 receiving yards, while Laviska Shenault chipped in with 619. TE Dan Arnold finished fourth among Jacksonville pass catchers in yards (324) despite being traded to the Panthers midseason. But Urban Meyer was the true culprit. The stone worst head coach in NFL history, nearly everything the three-time collegiate champion touched in the NFL turned into a disaster. The Jaguars subsequently replaced Meyer with Doug Pederson, who guided Lawernce and Co. to a playoff win in 2022. Lawrence — who’s posted consecutive 56.1 QBRs after a 39.1 mark during his rookie campaign — is now tied with Joe Burrow as the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback.
