5 NFL players who threw their careers away

#3 Ray Rice

San Francisco 49ers v Baltimore Ravens

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was one of the best running backs in the league prior to 2014, making three Pro Bowls and helping Baltimore to a Super Bowl victory. However, in 2014, Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer got into an altercation in an elevator at a New Jersey casino, and TMZ released the video to the public.

Following the release of the video, the NFL announced that Rice would be suspended indefinitely, a decision that would later be overturned.

However, Rice never played in the NFL again, despite several comeback attempts, and announced that his football career was over in 2018.

#2 Ryan Leaf

Ryan Leaf with the San Diego Chargers

Ryan Leaf will go down as one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history. He was drafted second overall by the San Diego Chargers in 1998, one pick after Peyton Manning. Leaf was fined by the NFL for missing the final day of mandatory NFL rookie orientation, and things didn’t improve as the season progressed.

Leaf’s attitude was a problem, as he tried to fight coaches, fans and players, and even faked a wrist injury so he could go and play golf.

Needless to say, he didn’t last long with the Chargers, who cut him after just two years. He was out of the NFL entirely by 2002.

#1 Aaron Hernandez

San Francisco 49ers v New England Patriots

Aaron Hernandez not only threw his NFL career away, but also his entire life. The former New England Patriots tight end was a star in the making, alongside Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, but was arrested for the murder of Odin Lloyd, who was dating Hernandez’s girlfriend's sister.

The Patriots immediately released Hernandez, who later went on trial and was convicted of first-degree murder, thereby ending his NFL career.

Just days after being acquitted, he hung himself in his prison cell. He was just 27 years old.