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College football: Ranking the NFL careers of Heisman Trophy winners 1975-2005

By Nick Villano

Sep 1, 2018; South Bend, IN, USA; Tim Brown the 1987 Heisman Trophy winner poses with the Heisman Trophy at the Heisman House located outside Notre Dame Stadium before the Michigan Wolverines play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 1, 2018; South Bend, IN, USA; Tim Brown the 1987 Heisman Trophy winner poses with the Heisman Trophy at the Heisman House located outside Notre Dame Stadium before the Michigan Wolverines play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Rashaan Salaam
Rashaan Salaam (Jonathan Daniel /Allsport) /

Ranking NFL careers of Heisman winners: 24. Rashaan Salaam, RB, Colorado

Quarterbacks take up a large majority of the worst of this list. Nine of the ten worst Heisman winners NFL careers started under center. That has a lot to do with how the college game translates to the pros. There aren’t a lot of NFL offenses working in college football. However, Rashaan Salaam represents the one non-QB in the bottom ten.

Salaam is one of the most surprising Heisman winners in the history of the sport. He came out of nowhere to literally carry the Colorado Buffaloes to an 11-1 record with a 2,000+ yard season. He was unstoppable on the field, and the team’s only loss came to the undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers. Salaam looked like a star in the making.

He went in the first round of the NFL Draft in the following offseason. Salaam had one of the strangest and quickest careers for any first-round pick. He started his career but rushing for north of 1,000 yards in his rookie season. The Bears thought they had the heir apparent to Walter Payton on the roster. Right after that, his career fell off completely. He went from a 1,000-yard rusher to looking for a new team in two years. Injuries impacted the final years of his career, and he made one last run towards an NFL future with the San Francisco 49ers in 2003. He had a good training camp, but they cut him anyway.

Salaam’s story doesn’t have a happy ending. He was found dead in a Colorado park in 2016. His Heisman Trophy was sold to help with CTE research, and it got a record $399,608 at auction. Salaam’s career was sad. It had so much potential, but it just never worked.

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