The end of this recent series is almost over. Today I share with you my third favorite and least favorite Arizona Cardinals players. One is a current player I have already said is one of my absolute players. The other is a current player but a former Cardinals player.
The player who is number three on my favorite Cardinals list is receiver Steve Breaston and the guy number three on my least favorite list is Leonard Pope.
I'm pretty sure my admiration of Breaston is well documented. He is one of the players I would most like to meet.
It would be hard not to like him, in my opinion. As a late round pick who was expected to be nothing more than a special teams player and return specialist, he has proven to be a reliable, tough receiver. He's the type of guy that you have to root for. He is very driven and has performed at high levels, yet people still believe that it is more about Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin why he has had success.
Then there is of course the poetry and the famous lockout video poem. He embodies every trait of a player that I admire.
Leonard Pope is a different story. His being on my bad list is not about the way he has acted off the field, but rather about the disappointment of his performance on the field. It turns out that he is a great guy, as he recently saved a kid from drowning.
However, I dislike him because of the disappointment he caused me. I was very excited in his talent when he was drafted. I loved the idea of a big, tall pass-catching tight end. However, his penalties drove me nuts. False start! The weird thing is that when I look at his stats he only had three penalties in 2008. Who knew?
I guess it comes down to how much I expected of him and had hoped he would turn into an elite player at his position. He's not a bad guy, he didn't do anything heinous. He just didn't do much when I hoped for so much more. That's why he ended up so high on this list.