There are some impressive "one-hit wonder" players littered throughout Denver Broncos' history. Unfortunately, these royal carriages turned back into pumpkins when the clock eventually struck midnight, but there have been some outstanding players throughout Broncos' history whose production only lasted a season, maybe a little more.
There are some players who, if you were to extrapolate their best year with the Broncos over the course of an entire NFL career, they might be in Canton. What are the best one-hit-wonder seasons in Denver Broncos' history?
We don't have to go too far back, because many of the top one-hit wonder seasons happened within the last 30 or so years.
Top 5 one-hit wonder seasons in Denver Broncos history
5. Mike Croel, LB (1991)
Linebacker Mike Croel actually played for the Denver Broncos from 1991-1994, but his career got off to a roaring start that was never really matched later on.
Croel is actually one of four Denver Broncos players to win Rookie of the Year in the Super Bowl era. The others, for you trivia nuts out there, are running back Mike Anderson (2000), running back Clinton Portis (2002), and outside linebacker Von Miller (2011).
Croel caught lightning in a bottle during that rookie season in which he racked up 10 sacks and 84 total tackles in 13 games. Unfortunately, he would only have 10 more sacks in the next three seasons combined for the Broncos. He ended up bouncing around the league a little bit before stints in NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire and then in the XFL in 2001 with the Los Angeles Xtreme.
4. Javon Walker, WR (2006)
The Denver Broncos were in the market for some wide receiver help in the 2006 offseason, and Mike Shanahan made a couple of really bold moves to get that help.
Former first-round pick Ashley Lelie hadn't emerged into the WR1 or even WR2 the Denver Broncos had hoped for within his first four years with the team. By the time the 2006 offseason rolled around, the Broncos needed to balance an offense that really excelled on the ground but was only average through the air.
During the 2006 NFL Draft, Mike Shanahan and GM Ted Sundquist pulled off a trade for one of Lelie's former 2002 classmates and a fellow first-round pick in that draft -- former Green Bay Packers first-round pick Javon Walker. Walker had emerged for the Packers in his third season with 89 receptions for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdown catches, but unfortunately missed all but one game of the 2005 season due to injury.
Shanahan took a chance on Walker, trading the Packers a 2nd-round pick to get him, and he promptly provided the offense with a dynamic weapon, earning some votes for NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2006. He racked up over 1,200 yards from scrimmage with nine touchdowns and 15.5 yards per touch.
Unfortunately, his success with the Denver Broncos was extremely short-lived. After his 2006 season in Denver, Walker only played 19 more games in the NFL, eight in Denver and 11 in Oakland for the Raiders. Although Walker upgraded the Broncos' receiver room in 2006 on paper, that unit didn't take the step forward many had hoped based on the moves that were made. Part of that had to do with the team transitioning from Jake Plummer to Jay Cutler in the second half of the season at quarterback.
But on the whole, Javon Walker's 2006 season is one of the best one-hit wonder seasons in Denver Broncos history.
3. Olandis Gary, RB (1999)
Olandis Gary having a massive 1999 season was both amazing and unwelcomed. Nobody wanted to have to see Olandis Gary have a huge year in 1999, but we're all glad that he did, because it turned out to be a pretty amazing individual season for him.
Unfortunately, the reason Gary had to have a big season for the Broncos in 1999 was because of the fact that former MVP Terrell Davis went down with a knee injury. Little did anyone know at the time that TD's knee injury would end up being effectively a career-ending one.
Over the course of his NFL career, Olandis Gary only played five seasons. He played just 12 games for the Broncos in 1999 and he only appeared in 48 games in total. But in that 1999 season with the Denver Broncos, Gary's rookie year in the league, he ran hard in the opportunities he was given.
In that 1999 campaign, Gary carried the ball 276 times for 1,179 yards and seven touchdowns. He would only top 300 yards one other time in his NFL career -- the 2003 season with the Detroit Lions. It was so critical for Gary to have a big year that year in 1999 not only because Terrell Davis was injured, but because the Broncos needed to rely on the running game as their backbone. They were breaking in quarterback Brian Griese as a first-year starter, and Mike Shanahan was committed to a strong, consistent running game.
Interestingly enough, Gary came through the Georgia Bulldogs program not long after Terrell Davis. Davis was there until 1994 and Gary was there until 1998.
Although Olandis Gary was a one-hit wonder for the Denver Broncos, he actually ended up starting a trend. The Broncos had so many 1,000-yard rushers from 1998-2008 that people believed Mike Shanahan could stick anyone in his system and have success. And he basically did. Six different backs had over 1,000 yards rushing in that timeframe, and although it was officially started by Terrell Davis, it was Gary who began the belief that just about anyone could go back there and do it.
2. Tim Tebow, QB (2011)
The 2011 season will forever live in the memories of Denver Broncos fans who experienced it as one of the most beloved seasons in franchise history.
"Tebow Time" was some of the most riveting action you will ever see in professional sports. Hollywood could not have written better scripts than some of the games we witnessed happening in real life.
As frustrating as Tim Tebow was during the first three quarters of many games, he somehow became an MVP-caliber player in the fourth quarter when offensive coordinator Mike McCoy really just turned him loose. The pressure of the game on the line brought out the best in Tim Tebow, and it resulted in the Denver Broncos opening the season with a dismal 1-4 record to finishing with an 8-8 record as surprising AFC West champions.
Not only that, but then the Broncos hosted the reigning Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the playoffs, and it wasn't just 4th quarter magic from Tim Tebow, but a back-and-forth barrage of scoring that led to one of the most exciting overtime finishes in NFL history.
With the league having just changed the overtime rules at the time, Tim Tebow fired a pass to the late, great Demaryius Thomas on the first play from scrimmage which Thomas took to the house for a walk-off touchdown. It remains one of the greatest wins in franchise history, one of the most dramatic wins in NFL history, and to this day it is the only win in the playoffs by a quarterback drafted by the Denver Broncos.
1. Brandon Lloyd, WR (2010)
In the introduction, I talked about the idea that if you extrapolated some of these guys' best seasons over an entire career, you might have a Hall of Famer on your hands. The player I'm specifically referring to there is Brandon Lloyd, who I think is the best one-year wonder in Denver Broncos' history.
Yes, the team had more success in Tim Tebow's one-year wonder season, but I truly think that if you would have given Brandon Lloyd seven or eight years of this kind of consistent production, you would have had a legitimate case for the Hall of Fame. His 2010 season was unlike anything I've seen from a Broncos receiver, and not just because the Broncos were bad and he was racking up stats in garbage time. It was truly an impressive display of body control, catch radius, winning at the catch point, yards after the catch, and overall playmaking.
In the 2010 season, Brandon Lloyd posted the following stat line:
- 77 receptions
- 1,448 yards receiving
- 11 touchdowns
- 18.8 yards per reception
When you look across the span of NFL history, only four other players have had at least 75 receptions and maintained an average of 18.8 yards per reception or better. Brandon Lloyd's 2010 season could easily be considered a top-5 season for a receiver in league history with that in mind, and it's certainly one of the most efficient when you consinder his yards per catch average.
Now, imagine if he could have been on the roster when Peyton Manning came around in 2012...Lloyd had another couple of solid seasons after the 2010 campaign, but they didn't come in Denver. The Broncos traded him to the Rams in 2011 and he finished out his NFL career with the Patriots and 49ers from 2012-14.