Top NFL Players Who Didn’t Win A Super Bowl

DE Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills/Washington Redskins:

Smith is an NFL legend who played 19 seasons. He owns the NFL record for sacks with an even 200. Smith maintained 13 of 19 total seasons where he secured at least 10 sacks, a particularly impressive feat considering he played in a 3-4 defensive scheme much of his career. He was voted to the Pro Bowl 11 times and also named All-Pro nine times.

He was the defensive leader of the infamous Buffalo Bills teams of the 90s that lost four Super Bowls alongside offensive teammates Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed. You could argue he’s the best defensive player to never win a Big Game.

WR Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings:

The controversial-but-amazingly skilled Moss is the best wide receiver to never win a Super Bowl in NFL history. He took the league by storm as a rookie with the Vikings in 1998, setting the rookie-season record for most touchdown receptions with 17. He played on some great Vikings teams early in his career. But they came one game short of the Super Bowl in 1998 and 2000, only to fall to the Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants.

Later in his career, Moss achieved his crowning achievement with Tom Brady during New England’s undefeated 2007 regular season. He set the NFL single-season record for most receiving touchdowns with an unbelievable 23. The Pats made the Super Bowl but fell short to the Giants in a historic upset. Even later in his career, he almost won another Super Bowl as a part-time player on the 49ers only to fall short one last time. He finished his career with 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns. Moss was a six-time Pro Bowl selection, a four-time First-team All-Pro, and led the NFL in touchdowns five times.

QB Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins:

You might think Marino deserves to top our list of best all-time NFL players to never win the Super Bowl, and it would be hard to argue with that point. But he’s second. The record-setting passer took the NFL by storm like Randy Moss early in his career, winning the Rookie of the Year in 1983 and the NFL MVP in 1984. He led the Dolphins to Super Bowl XIX in his second season after passing for then-records 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns. Miami made the playoffs 10 times during his career but never had the running game or defense to win the Lombardi.

Marino was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, a three-time First-team All-Pro, a five-time NFL passing yardage leader, and a three-time NFL passing touchdowns leader. He completed 4,967 attempts for 61,361 yards and 420 touchdowns with 252 interceptions. He’s the best quarterback to never win a Super Bowl and it’s not really even close at all.

RB Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions:

Sanders is one of the greatest pure players in NFL history and the best all-time to have never won a Super Bowl. He’s also another instance of a player who could have potentially won a Lombardi Trophy if he kept playing, and he’s the most painful instance. The reason for that is he could have been the unquestioned greatest running back in NFL history. He was already perhaps the most exciting running back in NFL history.

Coming off video game-like numbers at Oklahoma State, Sanders made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of his seasons in the NFL, leading the league in rushing yards four times and rushing touchdowns once. He was a six-time First-team All-Pro and a four-time Second-team All-Pro. He was the NFL MVP in 1997. In 10 seasons, he finished with 15,269 rushing yards, 2,921 receiving yards, 99 rushing touchdowns, and 10 receiving touchdowns.

More importantly, he was perhaps a season away from setting the all-time record for career rushing yards in the NFL. Amid a bitter contract dispute with Detroit, Sanders retired before the 1999 season and left the entire NFL world wondering what might have been. Either way, Sanders is the best NFL player to never win the Super Bowl – and that’s quite a large shame.