Not every all-time great gets the Hollywood ending in the NFL… In fact, some of the league’s best players of all-time—Pro Bowlers, All-Pros, even Hall of Famers—spent their entire careers without a single postseason snap… That’s right—not even a lick of January football… Great season after great season, but once the NFL playoffs rolled around… Nada.
These are guys who bulldozed the opposition, rewrote record books, and still ended their careers with one haunting stat: zero postseason appearances. Not even a first-round loss to show for all their troubles
Let’s take a look back at the 15 greatest NFL players of all-time that you won’t believe never played in the playoffs.
Which former NFL stars never reached the playoffs in their career?
Archie Manning, QB
Archie Manning’s NFL career is a study in perseverance despite adversity.
The Patriarch of the legendary Manning Family was drafted second overall in 1971 and immediately became the face of the New Orleans Saints.
Unfortunately for the young… at the time… signal caller—his opportunity came during a period when the franchise struggled to find its footing—and that is putting it lightly.
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Despite his talent, the Saints’ lackluster rosters and organizational instability made team success an impossibility.
Manning’s individual prowess did shine through at times, earning him Pro Bowl selections in 1978 and 1979, but the playoffs remained elusive throughout his NFL career.
Fortunately for him, however, his legacy extends beyond his own career, as he laid the foundation for a football dynasty through his sons, Peyton and Eli.
Dick Butkus, LB
Dick Butkus epitomized the ferocity and intensity of linebacker play… There is a reason he is one of the most legendary NFLers in the lexicon today… and it isn’t just the iconic name!
Butkus was selected third overall in the 1965 draft by the Chicago Bears and quickly established himself as a defensive force… His accolades include multiple All-Pro selections and Pro Bowl appearances—and he actually was on a couple of solid Bears teams, but this was an era in which making the postseason was far more challenging, as it was long before the Wild Card expansion.
One of his best chances actually came in his rookie season, when Chicago went 9 and 5, narrowly missing a berth.
When all was said and done, Butkus went down as one of the most influential defensive players that the game had ever seen, but not only did the Lombardi Trophy never make it to the Windy City, the team never even qualified for the postseason!
Takeo Spikes, LB
Takeo Spikes’s career is marked by consistent excellence at his position and unfortunate timing from a team perspective… a common theme across this list.
Over 15 seasons and 219 games—the most by any player without a playoff appearance—Spikes delivered standout performances for a number of teams: the Bengals, Bills, and finally the 49ers.
What made the scenario all the more bizarre—and more painful for Spikes- is that multiple times, his teams made the NFL playoffs shortly after his departure.
In any case, Spikes was a great player and one of the most reliable defenders in his generation, posting eight 100-tackle seasons and 29 sacks and 19 interceptions on top of his two Pro Bowl selections.
Nnamdi Asomugha, CB
For a time… an admittedly brief time… Asomugha was one of the NFL’s most feared cornerbacks in the game.
During his time with the Oakland Raiders, he used his lengthy frame to establish himself as one of the top cover corners in the game, and the kind of cornerback that quarterbacks had to avoid like the plague.
In a three-year span following his eight-interception 2007 campaign, in which he made two first-team All-Pro teams in a three-season span, Asomugha saw opposing quarterbacks target him under 150 times… A preposterous mark… yes, but upon further review, part of the equation was the fact that the lowly Raiders were often trailing in games, allowing the opposition to lean more on their rushing game.
This became evident once he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as part of the now-infamous “Dream Team,” where everything, his career included, went off the rails in short order.
Post-retirement, Asomugha successfully transitioned into acting and filmmaking, but there is no rewriting the history of his career—and he’ll forever be remembered as one of the best players to step foot on the field for a postseason game.
Floyd Little, RB
Drafted sixth overall in 1967, Little became the franchise’s first true star, earning the nickname “The Franchise” for his role in stabilizing and legitimizing the Broncos during a turbulent time in team history.
Little was not just an icon in the Mile High City, but a robust star across the league. In fact, he was a single-season NFL rushing leader in 1971, made five Pro Bowls, and finished with over 6,000 rushing yards in an era where defenses were stacked and passing was basically optional.
But while Little was breaking tackles, Denver was breaking down. The team failed to field a consistent contender around him, with no NFL playoff appearances and not a single 9-win season during his tenure. His closest brush with January football came in 1973, when the Broncos stumbled to a 7-5-2 finish after teasing fans with a legitimate AFC West bid.
Still, Little’s greatness was undeniable. His patience, leadership, and production paved the way for Denver’s future success, even if he never got to enjoy it himself. The Hall of Fame came calling in 2010—long overdue recognition for one of the game’s most overlooked stars.
Gerald McCoy, DT
Gerald McCoy was everything you want from a franchise cornerstone… except lucky.
Taken third overall in the 2010 NFL Draft by Tampa Bay, McCoy spent nine years as the heartbeat of the Bucs’ defensive line. He was a disruptor, a technician, and a locker room leader, earning six Pro Bowl nods and three All-Pro honors during his prime.
McCoy played through regime changes, quarterback carousel spins, and one rebuild after another. His Bucs never cracked the NFL playoffs. And when the team finally turned the corner in 2020, he was long gone, cut the year prior, and briefly bouncing between Carolina and Las Vegas before retiring.
In another city, another team, McCoy might have been playing deep into January. Instead, he walks away with a resume full of accolades… and a playoff column left blank.
Brandon Marshall, WR
The 6’5″, 230-pound pass-catcher was drafted in the fourth round in 2006 and made an instant impact with the Denver Broncos, catching passes from Jay Cutler.
He posted back-to-back 100-catch seasons, including an NFL-record 21-reception game in 2009… but because of his erratic personality, he bounced—to Miami, to Chicago, to New York—where he racked up continued individual success, racking up 1,200-yard seasons with four different franchises, but zero postseason appearances.
His timing was brutal. He left the Bears before they made a push to the playoffs, the Jets imploded after a 10-6 near-miss with him on the squad, and both the Seahawks and Saints cut him midseason before reaching the NFL playoffs.
Marshall was no doubt a top-tier receiver by most metrics, but history will always footnote that career with a zero in the playoff column… especially one where the guy was chased out of multiple successful locker rooms.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB
In many ways, Ryan Fitzpatrick’s NFL career reads more like a novel than a sports bio… The Harvard grad and seventh-round pick became one of the league’s most beloved journeymen—not just because of the beard or the press conference wardrobe, but because of the gutsy, YOLO-ball style that turned him into a cult hero.
Over 17 seasons and nine teams, Fitzpatrick threw for over 34,000 yards and 223 touchdowns. He carved up defenses in Buffalo, lit it up in Tampa, and nearly led the Jets to the postseason in 2015, only to suffer a Week 17 meltdown during which he threw three fourth-quarter picks in a “win and in” scenario…
And that was the closest he ever got!
Joe Thomas, OT
Joe Thomas might be the greatest offensive lineman of his generation—and he did it all inside the NFL’s most dysfunctional franchise.
The third overall pick in 2007, Thomas spent his entire 11-year career in Cleveland, anchoring an offensive line through coaching chaos, quarterback disasters, and a decade-plus of losing.
Individually, he was flawless. Ten straight Pro Bowls. Six First-Team All-Pro selections. One of the most technically sound tackles the league has ever seen, but the Browns could not capitalize on the generational talent.
They had just one winning season during Thomas’s career… a 10 and 6 mark which came in 2007 and saw them narrowly miss a postseason berth due to the tiebreaker.
Gale Sayers, RB
Gale Sayers burst onto the NFL scene in 1965 like a bolt of lightning. As a rookie, he scored 22 total touchdowns, including six in a single game, still tied for the most in league history. His mix of vision, speed, and elusiveness made him untouchable at his peak. He was Barry Sanders before Barry Sanders.
Unfortunately, his career was also one of the biggest “what if’s”… a.k.a. what if he could have just stayed healthy.
Sayers played just seven seasons, only four of them fully healthy. And despite sharing the field with legends like the aforementioned Dick Butkus, the Bears were never quite good enough to break through for an NFL playoff spot.
Sayers made the Hall of Fame with under 5,000 rushing yards, a testament to how dominant he was in such a short span. Still, it’s hard not to wonder what kind of postseason magic he could’ve produced if he’d had the chance.
Eric Hill, LB
Drafted 10th overall by the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989, Hill stepped into a leadership role almost immediately. He was tough, smart, and built for the middle of the defense, captaining the Cardinals for the better part of a decade. Over nine seasons in Arizona, Hill started 128 games, played in 160 total, and became one of the most durable, respected inside linebackers of the ‘90s.
Unfortunately, he is another one of those names that has sort of been forgotten with time because his teams were… well… more or less irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Even as he remained one of the constants on defense, the team just couldn’t break through, and Hill is yet another quietly great player who spent his best days stuck in a perpetual rebuild.
Ken Harvey, LB
Taken 12th overall in the 1988 NFL Draft, Ken Harvey spent a decade dominating from the edge for the Phoenix Cardinals and Washington.
He made four straight Pro Bowls from 1994 to 1997 and recorded 89 sacks in 164 career games, leveraging bend and burst that were rare at the position during that era.
And, of course, there was the motor, which never seemed to work quite.
But like so many others on this list, he played on teams that couldn’t put it all together. Washington flirted with competence in the early ’90s but never made the NFL playoffs with Harvey on the roster.
Tommy Nobis, LB
Nobis anchored the middle of Atlanta’s defense for 11 years, often playing hurt, usually outnumbered, and always underappreciated. The Falcons were bad for most of that time—really bad—and he never came close to the NFL playoffs. He retired just before the team finally found its footing with the legendary “Grits Blitz” defense of the late ‘70s.
Nobis also holds the unique and dubious distinction of being one of the most respected and accomplished players not to be enshrined in Canton.
Aaron Schobel, DE
Aaron Schobel is the most productive Buffalo Bill you have never heard of… at least not the younger fans… Schobel was drafted in the second round in 2001, Schobel spent his entire nine-year career in Buffalo and quietly became one of the league’s better edge rushers and tallied 78 career sacks— a distant second-most in franchise history behind only Bruce Smith.
Schobel retired at just 32 years old, leaving behind a legacy of consistency and quiet effectiveness. He wasn’t loud. He wasn’t flashy. He just got the job done for a team that never gave him the stage he deserved.
The closest Buffalo got to the postseason during his time there was 2004, when they went 9- 7, missing by one game!
Spider Lockhart, CB
Lockhart was an 11-year starter who played his entire career in New York during the late 1960s and 70’s when New York was firmly out in the wilderness, so to speak, struggling to find any semblance of consistency.
His career as an individual was defined by his versatility. The former 13th-round pick started at corner, transitioned to safety, and often played both roles within a game… He made two Pro Bowls and was widely respected for his football IQ and fearlessness.
What he didn’t get, though, was a playoff game, as he retired in 1976 to pursue a career as a stockbroker without ever having notched an NFL postseason appearance.
