Being a diva on the football field takes many forms. It can manifest itself through temper, dirtiness, whining, trash-talking, complaining, fighting, shouting or four-minute national anthems. We try to distill all self-important NFL behavior in one list, with our ranking of the top 19 divas in the NFL.
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Pete Carroll
In a former life Carroll must have been a Duke point guard. The cloying rah-rah on the sideline, the straight-faced support of uniformly incorrect calls that go his way (e.g. the Fail Mary) and every moment of every day, when he thinks refs treat his Seahawks like they're the American basketball team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Ironically, Carroll's “three simple rules for team success” are: 1. Always protect the team. 2. No whining, no complaining, no excuses. 3. Be early. Two outta three ain't bad.
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Tom Brady
Say what you will about Brady, but at least he has time for the little people, like locker room attendants and equipment assistants.
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Richard Sherman
Though he got a bad rap earlier this month for a dirty hit that really wasn't, Sherman isn't as rough a player as his reputation indicates. No, he's just mouthier.
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Philip Rivers
He might as well be challenging you to an Old West duel (or Toby Keith sing-off) with that bolo tie hanging around his neck. Rivers, who's supposed to epitomize laid-back Southern California values instead epitomizes the not-so-laid-back whiny Northern California values of, say, the entire Golden State Warriors team.
Jack Del Rio
This is where temper/anger/fear/fright semantics come in. Does Jack Del Rio have a temper? I don't know. If I were a kicker or punter, would he be the coach I was most afraid of walking toward after missing a 29-yard kick? Unless I turned into Sebastian Janikowski, then yes. Does he sometimes instill anger in his players? As Hugh Douglas once said “If there was ever a coach who needs to be punched in the face for not being truthful to his players, it’s Jack Del Rio.” And his response to an ESPN Stats tweet that said going for two in Oakland's Week 1 win was the worse percentage play — “Good thing ESPN isn't coaching the Raiders” — had an unbelievable feel of intimidation for a seven-word, non-threatening sentence sent from 3,000 miles away. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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Josh Norman
The Redskins cornerback seems most adept at getting into the heads of the receivers he plays, two of whom are listed ahead of him on this list. He's chippy, rough, not immune to the occasional fracas and, we're guessing, talks one of the best games in the NFL.
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James Harrison
A poll once asked “who is the most violent, dangerous player in the NFL?” You'd figure since there's more than 1,600 players in the league, the “winner” would be decided be a small plurality. Instead, James Harrison won 67.5% of the vote — a Trumpian landslide. (Trumpian is going to become a word, right? It should be.) Over time, Harrison has played, hit and barked his way to $150,000 in fines.
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Steve Smith
Over the past 13 years, Steve Smith has done more fighting on the football field than Floyd Mayweather has done in the ring. The longtime Carolina Panthers star turned ageless Baltimore Ravens wonder never met a scuffle in which he couldn't insert himself, believes all trash talk should be punctuated by a push to the facemask and has his innocent Eddie Haskell routine down so well that it's almost impossible not to like him. It's not just opponents who bear the brunt of Smith's scuffling Napoleon Complex, though. In 2002 he got into not one but two separate fights with teammates, one that left Anthony Bright with a broken nose and Smith with an assault charge and lawsuit. He also broke another teammate's nose, but they ended up befriending each other — the surest sign of all of a great temper: being able to put your stupidity behind you. Smith isn't a bad dude, he just flies off the handle time and again.
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Jerry Jones
The Cowboys owner would tell anyone who'd listen that he still wanted to go with Johnny Manziel in the 2014 draft, even after it became clear that instant offensive-line stalwart Zack Martin was the 100 percent correct pick. And that's the epitome of pomposity: Insisting you were right while acknowledging you were wrong. I love it.
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Dez Bryant
Even when the shouting and screaming is positive, the Cowboys wide receiver can't shake his reputation as a sideline volcano. His blow-ups are the stuff of legend and force cameras to always follow him around the field, lest they miss another beef with teammates or opponents. He gets penalties for taking off his helmet on the field and once ran onto the field from the sideline to dispute a call (somehow going unpenalized). But there are two kinds of tempers in the NFL, and Bryant's is the kind you can tolerate in doses. He's too good not to. Thanks to Dez, the diva receiver is alive and well in the NFL. It's a better league when they're around.
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Richie Incognito
At his introductory press conference with the Bills early last year, Rex Ryan said he wanted to “build a bully” in Buffalo. He then went out and immediately signed Richie Incognito, long of “dirtiest player list” fame and, of course, that ugly bullying incident with former Miami Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin. The connection between Ryan's stated wishes and his first bullying toy were so obvious the coach had to come out and “revise” his statements. “I had mentioned the term about building a bully and I misspoke there,” said Ryan. “What I want is to have the toughest, most physical football team on the field, but I want gentlemen off the field.” Success!
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Dan Snyder
It's surprising that Dan Snyder, who is shown on TV more than any owner this side of Jerry Jones, hasn't installed a Game of Thrones in his luxury box, complete with a booster that makes him look taller than Tom Cruise when the actor rolls through town. He gets bad press for crossing the street, like the time he cut down trees in his back yard to get a better view of the Potomac, or the time he was trying to get money from little old ladies who couldn't pay their season-ticket bills or, well, every other time, whether it be free-agent signings, firing coaches, surrounding himself with yes-men or reportedly storming out of opposing stadiums when calls don't go his way. But lest you think Snyder simply wields his power from behind a desk, the Washington Redskins owner has been known to carefully remove his Rolex, roll up the sleeves of his custom-made Savile Row tuxedo shirt, hand his glasses to Vinny Cerrato and step into the ring. There was the time he yelled at Mike Holmgren and told (now) buddy Jerry Jones exactly what he thought of a draft pick).
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Ndamukong Suh
Enough said.
Adam Jones
To be honest, I thought Adam Jones' penalty during the whole Vontaze Burfict playoff affair (when Pacman made contact with an official and was flagged 15 yards on top of Burfict's 15 yards for headhunting) was a bit of the ol' reputation preceding him. However, it's a reputation that's been well earned.
Aqib Talib
Dude shoved his own teammate in the back — right in the back! — after he muffed a punt on Sunday night against the Chiefs. He's been caught poking people in the eye like a Three Stooges reject and tried to rip off the head of Carolina's Corey Brown in Super Bowl 50. Also, his facemask penalties have a certain je ne sais quoi to them — they are done with a flair and dirtiness that trumps anyone else.
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Gregg Williams
The man behind Bountygate, who was once heard telling his players to take out the ACL of Michael Crabtree, still hasn't learned from his one-year suspension. Earlier this year, the Rams, the team he's now defensive coordinator for (they're quite good), went full-Schiano on the Lions, busting up Matthew Stafford's victory formation like the bad sports their coaches are.
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Vontaze Burfict
If only for the Bengals-Steelers playoff game alone Burfict would be very high on this list. But in addition to his game-losing head-hunting (who else can say he lost a postseason game for his team because he was auditioning for one of the NFL's 1992 Football's Greatest Hits tapes?), Burfict lives up to his reputation most weeks as one of the dirtiest players in the NFL. Dirtiness does not equal diva. Not owning up to his dirtiness and acting shocked that any ref could possibly throw a flag on him does.
Odell Beckham Jr.
There is no wide receiver in the NFL who can carry or propel his team like Odell Beckham Jr. There's also no wide receiver who can lose it faster — an impressive distinction at a position that's historically been the most diva-filled in the league. Beckham had his famous spat with Josh Norman last year, plowing into piles three seconds after the whistle blew, grabbing facemasks, doing his best Randy “Macho Man” Savage impersonation and deserving a suspension far greater than the one-game sitdown he received. This year he had a meltdown during a poor performance in a Monday night loss to the Vikings and is now getting a rep of a guy so soft opponents can easily get in his head, as Norman did in Week 2 during their first head-to-head battle since last year's penalty-fest. But here's the thing about a big temper and a bigger diva; I'd rather see my players care — even if it means getting mad, yelling, screaming, crying, getting a penalty and acting the fool occasionally — than just go through the motions. Odell Beckham does not equal Albert Haynesworth. That's a good thing for the Giants. Oh, and I never got all the criticism about the kicking net. If you can't laugh yourself, who can you laugh at? Besides Eli's post-interception face, obviously.
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Kyle Long
From Jeff Dickerson, writing about fights at Chicago Bears practices and Jay Cutler's disgust — Jay Cutler's! — at them:
“The tipping point occurred on Saturday, when a full-fledged brawl erupted during the Bears' annual Family Fest practice at Soldier Field. What began as an altercation between center Ted Larsen and linebacker Lamin Barrow quickly escalated when Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long, who was not even involved in the play, sprinted over from the opposite end of the field and dove into a pile of players that had formed around Larsen and Barrow. Long's actions caused several defensive players to leave the sidelines and enter the fray. It took a couple of minutes for order to be restored.”
I don't know what the best part of that is. Family Fest practice? Was not even involved in the play? Sprinted from the opposite end of the field? Dove into a pile of players? Jay Cutler being upset at somebody's attitude? It's all gold.
Oh yeah, Long also tweeted the above to a fan this week, though I can't get too worked up about that. Yeah, Long should get some thicker skin (he'll need it when getting punched while diving into a pile of players and causing a melee) but if you act like a moron on Twitter, you deserve to be treated like one.
