1. RB Tiki Barber
Although you’d never know it now, Tiki Barber was once a beloved member of the NY Giants. Drafted in the second round of the 1997 draft out of Virginia, he was expected to be little more than a decent back, or maybe even a rotational guy — he turned out to be much, much more.
After putting up moderate results during the early portions of his career, Tiki began to explode later in his career as he made three straight All-Pro teams between 2004-2006, which just so happened to be the last three years of his career.
Fans and analysts were shocked at the time, but as Tiki explained at the time (something he’d change his tune on later) in October of the 2006 season, “His body just couldn’t take it anymore” at age 31.
NY Giants fans were split down the middle on the issue; some supported the decision because they loved Tiki so much, while some thought he was selling his team short by giving up prime years when the team was loaded with potential.
Here’s where things get interesting.
After constantly mentioning during his career that winning a Super Bowl was his main goal, the NY Giants just so happened to make it to the Super Bowl the following year after he retired – something that shocked many who thought they wouldn’t stand a chance without him.
Instead of sitting on the side and rooting his franchise on, Tiki took a bitter approach and chose to blast quarterback Eli Manning just about the first chance he got when the next NFL season started.
Most NY Giants fans had forgiven him for stating that Tom Coughlin was “outcoached” by Andy Reid in the team’s 2005 playoff loss to the Eagles, but criticizing the easy-going team leader, Eli Manning, was too much for his teammates to bare.
It became a rallying cry for the team during their Super Bowl run, as Tiki had said Eli “wasn’t a leader”, “held the team back”, and that he “likely would have had a Super Bowl with a different QB.”
Tiki doubled-down on those remarks during Super Bowl week, only firing up the team more. So, as the old saying goes, sometimes ‘addition by subtraction’ actually is a real thing.
Tiki did end up playing in one Super Bowl with Big Blue, but unfortunately, the team came out on the wrong end of a brutal loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
So even though Barber owns an abundance of NY Giants team records including most career rushing yards, most rushing yards in a season, most yards from scrimmage in a season and most career yards from scrimmage, he won’t be remembered as fondly due to his off the field antics.
Too bad for Tiki, but he brought being on this list – and being hated by many NY Giants fans – all on himself.