The 50 Most Controversial NFL Players
Of the 1,500-some-odd players in the NFL, there are those chosen few who get 90 percent of the headlines. They’re not always the best players, but sometimes they’re the loudest. And in almost every case, they’re the guys on the police blotter.
In the grand tradition of CBS Sportsline’s annual rankings of the top 50 NFL players, we present the top 50 most misbehaving, irritating and downright ruckus-causing players in the league.
And note, we purposefully excluded Michael Vick and Pacman Jones from the list because it would have been far too easy to put them on top. They’re both also not on a team right now.
50. Peyton Manning Just kidding. He’s as harmless as Opie. We just wish that SNL commercial he did was the real version of him.
49. Matt Leinart Similar to Brady Quinn, Leinart gets way too much attention paid to him because of his college pedigree. And granted, he had a great career at USC, but getting beat out by Kurt Warner does not signal a great hall of fame career for this guy. But you’d never know it if you read stories about him.
48. John Henderson Big John tends to stay out of trouble, but we like him on this list because of his pre-game ritual. If you haven’t seen it, prepare to view a giant man being slapped.
47. Chris Cooley His blog is awesome. But he accidentally exposed himself on it.
46. Kurt Warner He’s not controversial in his own right. But his wife raised plenty of ruckus shortly after the Rams’ Super Bowl win.
45. Darnell Dockett He’s not terribly interesting, but he’s playing the role of ‘unhappy star on the losing Super Bowl team’ to perfection.
44. Shaun Rogers He’s worth of the list because every season there’s a distinct possibility that he’ll become too fat to function.
43. Anquan Boldin Tough player, awesome talent. But an incredible whiner when it comes to his role with the Cardinals. Then again, if I made $2.5 million a season, I’d probably be jealous of Larry Fitzgerald’s $14.5 million salary too.
42. Roy Williams (the safety) He broke Terrell Owens’ ankle. And while that’s normally a cause for celebration, the guy managed to get an illegal tackle named after him. Ask any Cowboys fan if he’s done anything else in the past five years, and you’ll just get a blank stare.
41. Braylon Edwards A sometimes-great player. Though you know the guy has been trying to force a trade out of Cleveland since he first got there.
40. Jared Allen Another awesome player, but the guy picks up DUI’s like they’re invitations to the Playboy mansion.
39. Visanthe Shiancoe Visanthe really hasn’t done too much to bring in the controversy. But for the mere fact FOX Sports accidentally showed a little too much of Shiancoe to a national audience, he’s on the list. He could make the next 20 Pro Bowls, and people will still only remember him for that one thing.
38. Brady Quinn Huge expectations, little results. Had he come from anywhere but Notre Dame, people wouldn’t give two thoughts about the backup QB for the Cleveland Browns, but here we are.
37. Travis Johnson This guy would be higher on the list if he was a decent defensive tackle. But when your career highlights include knocking Trent Green unconscious (as if that’s hard) and then taunting the motionless quarterback, you know you’re bad.
36. Martellus Bennett When the Cowboys tight end started whining that Jason Witten didn’t like him, we started to agree. But after reading his blog and watching his videos, it’s clear that Bennett might be the funniest guy in the league. But we wonder how long before his team or the league crack down on him.
35. JaMarcus Russell Where to start with this guy. There’s the epic holdout in 2007, the exorbitant contract, the two completely forgettable seasons, and only now is he starting to show signs of leadership. The guy is simply a walking, talking example of how screwed up the Raiders continue to be.
34. Channing Crowder He’s had his fair share of dustups, but man, talk about a great quote. In the past year, the guy has launched shots at Rex Ryan, Matt Light, Bart Scott, the University of Miami, the Carlyle Group, the Jonas Brothers … the list goes on and on. And we only hope Crowder keeps talking.
33. Vernon Davis Waaay too much attention gets paid to Vernon Davis, seeing how he’s a sub-par tight end (nine career TDs) on a bad 49ers team. Still, his catfights with Mike Singletary should be good for a few headlines this season.
32. Bart Scott Compared to former-teammate Ray Lewis, Bart Scott is a saint. But when Scott said he planned on killing Hines Ward, he raised enough controversy to fill two seasons.
31. Pat Williams Really nothing controversial about him off the field, but getting himself embroiled in the StarCap controversy makes him worth of the list.
30. Kevin Williams You can’t have one Williams without the other.
29. Shawne Merriman He’s not terribly controversial off the field, but don’t you love how he gets busted for steroids, yet there’s nowhere near the outcry over it compared to baseball? Incredible.
28. Jeremy Shockey How great was that when the Giants won a Super Bowl without their talented yet obnoxious tight end? So far, his time with the Saints has included zero touchdowns and one instance of being found passed out in a Las Vegas pool.
27. Marshawn Lynch Sexual assault, hit and run, marijuana possession. He’s also a dead ringer for Little John.
26. Koren Robinson Ninth overall pick. Fourteen career touchdowns. One year suspension. That’s all you really need to know about this guy.
25. Tank Johnson He was in that Henry-PacMan-Johnson triumvirate that helped create the personal conduct policy. But you haven’t heard a peep out of Tank since he rejoined the league. That’s largely due to the fact he’s been terrible since leaving Chicago.
24. Donte Whitner Whitner’s not a bad guy, he’s even a promising safety for the Bills. But we’re putting him in the top 50 because of his promise as a controversy-starter. Beyond his arrest for disorderly conduct last year, he’s now teammates with Terrell Owens, and that can only lead to more headlines.
23. Jay Cutler Cutler is talented, whiny and diabetic. But that second quality is what he’s now best known for after crying his way out of Denver. It’ll be interesting to see whether the City of Chicago embraces a guy who tends to pick catfights with Philip Rivers.
22. Brandon Marshall Having a rap sheet is one thing, and Marshall certainly has one, but the guy has just landed on the NFL radar and he’s already stirring up trouble. And come on, who hates the city of Denver?
21. Steve Smith He’s had no fewer than two fights in training camp, but we give him credit, he managed to win both tussles despite being only 5-foot-9.
20. Mike Vrabel He was a key member of the Patriots’ Super Bowl teams, but he pushed Rodney Harrison as the dirtiest player on New England’s defense. The list of guys who’ve fallen victim to his cheap shots is a long one.
19. Santonio Holmes Santonio talks openly about his rough upbringing. But if he could just stop getting arrested every season, maybe that Super Bowl MVP would become what people remember him for.
18. Matt Jones Jones probably won’t ever be a great NFL receiver, but he could at least stay out of trouble if he eliminated one thing from his life. And that would be the mountains of cocaine he constantly gets arrested for. He’s officially the Dr. Rockso of the NFL.
17. Albert Haynesworth Doesn’t matter if he’s awesome and makes insane money. He has a permanent spot on this list because of two words – Face. Stomp.
16. Kellen Winslow The poor guy had boatloads of controversy follow him from his college career (I’m a soldier!). But then he crashed his motorcycle, mouthed off 200 times and got shipped off to Tampa Bay, where we’re guessing he’ll cause an even greater ruckus if he can stay on the field.
15. Joey Porter Where to start…Porter’s got a truckload of best moments, starting with the time he got shot before the 2003 season. He’s pretty much the only quote you need to read when the Dolphins play … well, anyone.
14. DeAngelo Hall The guy is such a big yapper that it drove Terrell Owens to spit in his face during a game. We don’t doubt that T.O. is nuts, but Hall has done his fair share of other crazy things, like getting a giant contract from the Raiders despite being highly overrated.
13. Ray Lewis You really haven’t heard much controversy out of Ray Lewis in the past four years, because he’s been focused on staying on the field even as his age starts to set in. But the tranquil waters of Reverend Ray can’t make up entirely for the wild first half of his career, where he may or may not have helped kill a man.
12. Larry Johnson It’d be interesting to see if a running back has ever gone from all-everything to all-police blotter so fast. Chief fans love to remember his two 1,700-yard seasons, and everyone wants to forget the fact he’s repeatedly assaulted women at Kansas City nightclubs.
11. Cedric Benson You don’t need to be a Chicago Bears fan to hate this guy. Benson causes way too much controversy for a running back with 12 career touchdowns. He also helped further the perception that players from the University of Texas are nothing more than hard-drinking, pot-smoking whiners (though that’s probably true).
10. Hines Ward Who knew a receiver could be a dirty player? Hines is a key component to the Steelers’ recent championships, but he left a lot of broken jaws in his wake. Hines might be the only guy in the top 10 who reached that mark by his on-field behavior alone.
9. Donte Stallworth We never had much of a beef with Donte Stallworth before 2009. He was a solid receiver for the Saints and Eagles, then he played a bit role with the Patriots before going to the Browns. Then he killed a guy, so here we are.
8. Ricky Williams Oh, Ricky. Like Vince Young, his controversy-factor is pretty much in the self-destruction category. Although he gets the added bonus of setting the Dolphins back a few years with his wackiness. He’s got his career back on track now, but you couldn’t count the number of headlines he caused from 2004-07.
7. Randy Moss Moss has a laundry list of controversial moments, but he’s never killed a guy (we don’t think). The only reason he’s not in the top five is his production over the past two years with the Patriots has helped him re-emerge as one of the best receivers in the game.
6. Vince Young Most guys are on this list because of things they’ve done to teammates or society. But Vince Young is simply self-destructive, and that’s obviously been well chronicled. But don’t forget his shirtless birthday dance party last summer in Austin. That one was just plain weird.
5. Chris Henry He’s the third player in the PacMan-Tank Johnson-Chris Henry triumvirate, and he can take credit for helping create Roger Goodell’s personal conduct policy. For that, and the fact he’s managed to stay in the league, we give Chris Henry a top 5 billing.
4. Plaxico Burress Not sure where to begin here. For the mere fact his leg-hole in 2008 tanked the Giants’ chance at a Super Bowl repeat is worth a place near the top of the mountain.
3. Brett Favre For the vast number of headlines he causes every offseason, Favre gets a place in the top 3. But to be honest, he might be one of the least controversial players on the field.
2. Terrell Owens If Ochocinco is the court jester of the NFL, then TO is obviously the prince of darkness. We don’t need to fill you in, just look at the wreckage he’s caused. The best part is, no matter how nuts he acts or how much he alienates his quarterback, the guy backs it up on the field, and that means we have to keep paying attention to him.
1. Chad Ochocinco The difference between T.O. and O.C. is clear. Owens creates controversy because of football-related transgressions, whereas Ocho makes controversy his primary and seemingly solitary goal. Where to start with him? Beyond the name change, there’s his Twitter obsession, the infamous fight with Marvin Lewis after the 2005 playoffs loss, the ‘who covered 85 in ‘05’ list, the footrace against a horse, the Riverdance touchdown celebration…we could go on and on. But whether you find him hilarious or tiresome, Ocho reigns supreme over the NFL land of ill repute.
Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images/ Flickr
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