10 Athletes Who Need a Change in Scenery
When an athlete’s career has unequivocally reached a low point—when there is no legitimate reason to believe that a season of personal worsts is an aberration rather than a trend—phrases like washed up or dead money start to be used when talking about his future. This athlete almost always has a long enough body of work to fairly compare recent struggles and was once good enough to make the slide newsworthy.
On the other end of the spectrum, some athletes never really live up to the hype—talent and potential fade into mediocrity or worse, the dreaded bust status. The reason why these athletes fail to live up to expectations is less important than the fact their careers were over before they ever really began—the dustbin of history doesn’t make exceptions for injuries.
However, some athletes don’t fall into either category; they’ve shown enough to stop the career obituary from being written but are dangerously close to planning its funeral. These are players who were thrust into an impossible situation or were unbelievably unlucky—the circumstances are as big a story as the athlete.
These are 10 athletes who need a change in scenery.
Josh Gordon
1 of 9
The NFL actually gave Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon a one-year (minimum) mandatory change of scenery without pay in February, which is a start. But considering the indefinite suspension stemmed from repeated violations of the league substance-abuse policy, he has burned too many bridges in Cleveland to suggest a successful return is even remotely possible.
At this point, Gordon has way too much baggage—it’s hard to believe he just turned 24 in April. The Browns seem quite intent on hanging onto him, because they cling more desperately to disarray and dysfunction than Madonna with her long-lost youth.
Much like Justin Blackmon in Jacksonville—another guy who could have easily made this list—there’s a very distinct chance that a one-year suspension could end up permanently killing Gordon's career. Should he get things together this year rather than fall deeper into bad habits, returning to Cleveland could derail all that. Gordon and the Browns need the kind of stability that neither side can provide the other.
Mario Chalmers
2 of 9
The previous contract of Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers expired right around the time LeBron James announced he was taking his talents back to Cleveland. Even after being surprised by the sudden loss of the best player in the league, Pat Riley was anything but desperate to bring the former Kansas Jayhawk back to Miami.
The two-year, $8.3 million deal extended to Chalmers was second only to not bringing him back at all, in terms of a display of confidence in and commitment to the guard. Or, in this case, a lack thereof. However, the Heat’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for a player who has been unable to carve out a role for himself after seven years in the league is understandable.
Chalmers doesn’t know what his role in Miami is either—he admitted as much in April when he failed to make himself useful after Dwyane Wade went down with a knee injury. Following the game he told Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald: "I don’t even know what my role is on this team anymore. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing."
Yeah, that’s not a good sign. No wonder Chalmers has been the subject of trade rumors, according to the Sun Sentinel—the guy is completely lost. And if he hasn’t figured out what he’s doing in seven years, it’s hard to imagine he’s ever going to figure it out in Miami. It's time to call time of death on this mutually non-beneficial relationship.
Daniel & Henrik Sedin
3 of 9
Since the 2000-01 season, the Vancouver Canucks have been one of the most consistent teams in the NHL. They missed the playoffs just three times over that period, winning their division a total of seven times. The only thing more consistent than Vancouver’s regular-season success is their postseason failure. Of those 11 postseason appearances, the Canucks have advanced beyond the second round just once but have been bounced in the first round six times.
Shortcomings aside, Vancouver owes much of its recent success to Swedish twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, whom it drafted No. 2 and No. 3 overall in 1999. The Sedins' production peaked during the 2010-11 regular season, but they came up woefully short for the Canucks in their only significant playoff in nearly two decades, a 4-3 series loss to the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final.
While the brothers are too often subjected to disproportionately excessive criticism, they do have a habit of showing the least when it matters the most. Now in decline, the Canucks are retooling, if not rebuilding, which is further complicated by two rapidly aging 34-year-olds who will be eating up 20 percent of the cap space through 2018 if they don’t waive their no-trade clause.
At this point they’ve expressed no interest in leaving Vancouver, perhaps because it could mean splitting up, but the Hockey News’ Adam Proteau was right when he wrote the 2013-14 “gong-show year should end with the Sedins being traded in the offseason.” They’re not going to win a championship in Vancouver, and the Canucks can’t seriously rebuild with them on the roster.
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Ryan Braun
4 of 9
Two years after the Milwaukee Brewers selected him No. 5 overall in the amateur draft, Ryan Braun more than validated the pick by earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2007. Four years later he did it again by winning the 2011 NL MVP. Weeks later in December it all came crashing down when it was revealed Braun had tested positive for steroids.
Despite putting on an elaborate show declaring his innocence after an initial appeal was granted on a technicality, he would ultimately admit to lying and was suspended for the second half of the 2013 season. While Brewers fans have been surprisingly forgiving, there’s no getting around the fact that Braun is a completely different player than he was through 2012.
Braun will become a free agent at the end of the season, making it the perfect time to move on—it’s only a matter of time before this curdles. With the Brewers constantly battling out for the basement of the NL Central, a bloated new contract will succeed only in making Braun the perfect scapegoat.
Carmelo Anthony
5 of 9
Has there been anyone in the NBA more in need of a change of scenery over the last decade than Carmelo Anthony? Maybe Rajon Rondo, but few others.
Given his permanent malcontent status, it’s hard to believe Melo has only played for two teams since being drafted by the Nuggets in 2003. If he didn’t have the talent of a perennial All-Star, the Knicks would’ve been the second stop on an endless national tour of desperate teams that will sign anyone rather than what could, but probably won’t, be the last stop of his career.
With the Knicks having skid dramatically into the gutter over the last two years, bottoming out last season with a mere 17 wins, it looked like Anthony was ready to pull the ripcord in June 2014, when he announced his decision to opt out of the final year of his contract in New York to become a free agent. But despite a frosty relationship with Knicks’ president Phil Jackson, one that has only gotten frostier, Anthony ultimately agreed to a five-year, $124 million deal that pays an average of $25 million annually through 2019.
Just one year later and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Anthony may have worn out his welcome in New York. Between the team's 17-win season and his bloated salary—seriously, there are much cheaper ways to lose 65 games—Jackson touched on the team’s recent inability to land free agents.
And Melo, who isn’t getting any younger, is ready to win now. The Knicks, on the other hand, are not. This chronically dysfunctional relationship has run its course, and it’s time for a fresh start.
Adrian Peterson
6 of 9
After being charged with (and indicted for) physically abusing his son in September 2014, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s season came to an abrupt end when he was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list indefinitely. Angry about what he perceived as a lack of support in Minnesota, by the time he was reinstated in April 2015, Peterson wanted out.
The Vikings flatly refused to trade him, and Peterson seemed poised to escalate the matter when he informed the team he’d be absent from OTAs in May, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today). But he did a complete about-face a week later, opting to return to Minnesota. He felt the love during “Adrian Peterson Day” in June and again in July when the Vikings restructured his contract.
While both sides have recommitted to each other, giving a three-year, $42 million deal to a 30-year-old running back is almost guaranteed to end poorly. It may be a lovefest now, but if the suddenly sexy Vikings fail to live up to the preseason hype and Peterson doesn’t deliver—both of which seem inevitable—finger-pointing will begin immediately.
Alex Ovechkin
7 of 9
Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin may never have been as great as his most fervent supporters believe, but his struggles have never been as dramatic as his harshest critics often suggest. Since being drafted No. 1 overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004, Ovechkin has amassed quite a stockpile of regular-season individual honors.
Washington has become consistent in the regular season, having advanced to the postseason seven of the last eight seasons and winning the division more often than not. The problem for the Caps, and by extension Ovechkin, is they have absolutely no idea what to do once they reach the playoffs. Washington has developed a soul-crushing habit of blowing 2-0 and 3-1 series leads.
The franchise, fans and even the local media are obviously still behind Ovechkin, who has a well-earned reputation as a coach killer (Barry Trotz is the fifth since 2011), but we’re approaching a tipping point. If Ovechkin continues to make postseason guarantees he can’t deliver on, eventually they’re going to run out of excuses in Washington. After a very productive offseason, expectations are sky-high for 2015-16—another playoff catastrophe and things get ugly.
Robert Griffin III
8 of 9
Few athletes have fallen so far, so fast as Robert Griffin III. A standout stud his junior year at Baylor, RG3 beat out Stanford’s Andrew Luck to win the Heisman in December 2011. Months later the Washington Redskins traded everything and the kitchen sink to the St. Louis Rams for their second overall pick to acquire who they hoped would be the future of the franchise.
Although Griffin would be named the 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year, then-coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to draft Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins in the fourth round suggested there were problems right from the start. Since being fired after the 2013 season, Shanahan has been vocal in criticizing the franchise and his former quarterback.
Animosity that grew between Shanahan and Griffin existed right off the bat with the coach's replacement, Jay Gruden. After playing a fruitless game of musical quarterbacks in 2014, Gruden recently named Cousins the starter, relegating RG3 to third string. The corrosive situation has deteriorated so severely in Washington that salvaging anything at this point is impossible.
Trading (or releasing) Griffin would provide a much-needed fresh start for both the player and coach, but for some reason Gruden, who is either being vindictive or vacuous, is refusing. Because another full season of backbiting and bitterness is a much better option.
Ryan Howard
9 of 9
After four consecutive standout seasons building on the performance that earned him the NL MVP in 2006, in April 2010 the Phillies signed slugger Ryan Howard to a five-year, $125 million extension that would keep him in Philadelphia through the 2016 season. Four years later and Howard is still in Philly, but the numbers that earned him a deal paying $25 million annually are nowhere to be found. While Howard’s production immediately declined over the first two years of the contract, they careened off a cliff in 2012.
And it seems the franchise came along for the ride. Just a few years removed from back-to-back World Series appearances (a win in 2008, a loss in 2009), the Phillies are definitely approaching rock bottom, if they aren’t already there.
With the team having slashed over $30 million in payroll after 2014, it’s hard to believe Howard is still hanging around, especially after general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said plainly in December that the team would be better off without him. That's not an impressive distinction, given they literally couldn’t be any worse. Assuming there was even a shred of support remaining for Howard in Philadelphia after the last few years, the last of it has officially been wiped out during this historically bad current season.
Despite being the constant subject of trade speculation (or wishful thinking), the Phillies have yet to find a team that is willing to take on the final two years remaining on Howard’s bloated contract. It would be difficult under any circumstances, but a no-trade clause that allows him to block trades to 20 teams makes it’s near impossible.
With resentment building in Philadelphia, perhaps Howard will finally loosen the trade restrictions this offseason before fans start whipping batteries at him.
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