The 25 Greatest NFL Players to Never Win a Super Bowl

25.Warren Moon

Accomplishments: 9x Pro Bowl selection, 3x All-Pro selection, 2x NFL passing yards leader
Team(s): Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs
Career stats: 49,325 passing yards, 291 touchdowns, 80.9 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

After going undrafted in the 1978 NFL Draft, Moon proved that he was a champion by winning not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Grey Cup titles with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. However, despite spending almost two decades in the NFL after his stint in Canada, he was never able to play in a single Super Bowl, much less win one, with any of the four teams that he played with. He did put up big numbers for them, throwing for more than 4,000 yards four times during his career and completing more than 300 passes in a season on six different occasions. He also finished his career in the top 10 for wins by a starting QB, though, was never able to get a Super Bowl ring.

24.Josh Allen

Accomplishments:4x Pro Bowl selection, 2x Second Team All-Pro, 2024 NFL MVP, most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback
Team(s): Buffalo Bills
Career stats: 30,102 passing yards, 220 passing touchdowns, 94.4 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

Josh Allen has authored some memorable postseason performances during the Bills’ recent run of seven consecutive playoff appearances. He threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns in the 2021 Divisional Round. Two years later in the same round, he accounted for three touchdowns on the ground and through the air without turning the ball over. And he posted a robust 104.7 quarterback rating in the 2024 AFC Championship Game. But the common thread connecting those three contests is that Allen and the Bills lost them all to Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs.

Allen is the NFL’s current heartbreak kid. He’s a league MVP, a perennial top-five QB, and a generational talent, yet he has yet to make a Super Bowl appearance, let alone win one. With the Bills latest postseason flameout costing longtime head coach Sean McDermott his job, Allen will seek to reboot the Bills fortunes in 2026 with a new coach and, hopefully, some reinforcements at wide receiver.

23.Terrell Owens

Accomplishments: 6x Pro Bowl selection, 5x First Team All-Pro, NFL 2000s All-Decade Team
Team(s): San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals
Career stats: 1,078 receptions 15,934 receiving yards 153 receiving touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances:1 (2004)

Terrell Owens might have been exempt from this list if Donovan McNabb didn’t throw three picks (and also lose his lunch) against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. It’s a miracle Owens even suited up for the big game. Seven weeks prior to the Super Bowl he broke his fibula and tore a ligament in his right ankle. Still, he was out there in Jacksonville, with screws in his ankle and painkillers coursing through his system. He was the best player on the field, catching nine balls for 122 yards.

Owens was on perennial contenders during his years with the 49ers, Eagles, and Cowboys, but never made it back to the Super Bowl. His best shot at returning was with the 2007 Dallas Cowboys. But that season famously ended against the New York Giants in the divisional round and with Owens tearfully defending “his quarterback” Tony Romo in the post-game press conference.

22.Eric Dickerson

Accomplishments: 6x Pro Bowl selection, 5x All-Pro selection, NFL record 2,105 rushing yards in a single season
Team(s): Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders, Atlanta Falcons
Career stats: 13,259 rushing yards, 281 receptions, 96 touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

During four of his 11 seasons in the NFL, Dickerson led the league in rushing. In 1984, he set the record for the most rushing yards in a single season by running for more than 2,100 yards. And when he retired in 1993, he was the second leading rusher in NFL history. Yet, he played on a lot of bad teams and never got to experience what it was like to play in a Super Bowl. His single-biggest postseason memory is running for a playoff record 248 yards in a game against the Dallas Cowboys in 1985. Impressive, for sure, but not as impressive as a Super Bowl ring would have been.

21.Lamar Jackson

Accomplishments: 4x Pro Bowl selection, 3x First Team All-Pro, 2x NFL MVP, Career passer rating leader, Most career rushing yards for a quarterback
Team(s): Baltimore Ravens
Career stats: 22,608 passing yards 187 passing touchdowns 102.2 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

While Josh Allen has somehow avoided any heat for the Bills’ coming up short again and again in the postseason, the Baltimore Ravens’ playoff failures have been pinned on Lamar Jackson. That’s a bit unfair. Though Jackson’s postseason play has dipped compared to the standard he set during his two MVP campaigns (he should be a three-time winner), drops and fumbles have cost the Ravens playoff games during Jackson’s tenure.

Jackson has time to get his ring. At 29 years old, he’s still in his prime and he’s still the greatest dual threat the sport has seen. But he will have to do it without the only coach he’s played for as a professional as the Ravens fired John Harbaugh following the 2025 season.

20.Jim Kelly

Accomplishments: 4x Pro Bowl selection, 3x All-Pro selection, Only quarterback ever to lead his team to four straight Super Bowls
Team(s): Buffalo Bills
Career stats: 35,467 passing yards, 237 touchdowns, 84.4 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994)

Think about how different Kelly's legacy would be right now if Scott Norwood hadn't missed his last-second field goal during Super Bowl XXV. The Bills would've beat the New York Giants 22-20. And who knows? Kelly might rank way higher in the "Best Quarterback of All-Time" discussion. Instead, he's probably best known for leading his team to four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s, losing all four of them. Machine Gun Kelly still goes down as one of the all-time greats. But things might have gone much differently for him had he won one of the four Super Bowls that he played in.

19.Carl Eller

Accomplishments: 6x Pro Bowl selection, 7x All-Pro selection, 1971 NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Team(s): Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks
Career stats: 1 interception, 2 safeties
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (1970, 1974, 1975, 1977)

Much like his teammate Alan Page, Eller recorded tons of sacks during his career and is usually credited with being the all-time sack leader for the Vikings. He played an integral role in the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" defense and was one of the main reasons Minnesota went to four Super Bowls in a span of seven years. We just don't understand how a defense that was that dominant wasn't able to win at least one Super Bowl during their time together.

18.Calvin Johnson

Accomplishments: 6x Pro Bowl selection, 3x First Team All-Pro, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, Most receiving yards in a season (2012)
Team(s): Detroit Lions
Career stats: 731 receptions 11,619 receiving yards 83 receiving touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

The man nicknamed Megatron was on his way towards eclipsing everyone but Jerry Rice on the wide receiver leader board when he suddenly retired in March 2016 via a public statement. He didn’t explain his decision. Eventually, he cited a few reasons: He was in chronic pain. He had lost his passion for the game. The Detroit Lions lack of success also informed his decision.

Johnson made the postseason just two times during his nine highly productive seasons with the Lions; the team went 7-9 during his final campaign. At the time of his retirement, he was the fastest receiver in NFL history to reach the 10K yard mark, and he still holds the record for single season receiving yards with 1,964 yards in 2012.

17.John Hannah

Accomplishments: 9x Pro Bowl selection, 10x All-Pro selection, 4x NFLPA Offensive Lineman of the Year
Team(s): New England Patriots
Career stats: 183 games played, 10 fumble recoveries
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (1985)

Legendary Alabama head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant once called Hannah the greatest offensive lineman that he had ever coached. And Hannah showed the rest of the country just how good he was when he entered the NFL. In 1978, he anchored an offensive line that allowed the Patriots running backs to combine for 3,165 rushing yards in a single season, which set a new single-season NFL record and stood until 2019. Hannah was also incredibly reliable, missing just five games during his entire 12-year career with the Patriots. But unfortunately, the only time he went to the Super Bowl was in 1985 at Super Bowl XX when New England got manhandled by the Chicago Bears 46-10. He retired shortly after that game and walked away without a ring.

16.Tony Gonzalez

Accomplishments: 14x Pro Bowl selection, 10x All-Pro selection, First tight end to ever catch 1,000 passes
Team(s): Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcons
Career stats: 1,325 receptions, 15,127 receiving yards, 111 touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

Forget winning Super Bowls. Through the first 15 years of his NFL career, Gonzalez failed to record a single playoff victory. He played on a couple playoff teams in Kansas City and then signed with the Falcons in 2009 to try and increase his chances of eventually winning a title. But until the 2012 season, when he helped lead Atlanta to a win over the Seattle Seahawks, Gonzalez just couldn't seem to capture an elusive playoff win. He put off retirement for one more year to try and get it with the Falcons this season but the team finished 4-12 in Gonzalez's swan song.

15.LaDainian Tomlinson

Accomplishments: 5x Pro Bowl selection, 3x First Team All-Pro, 2006 NFL MVP, Most rushing touchdowns in a season (2006)
Team(s): San Diego Chargers, New York Jets
Career stats:13,684 rushing yards 145 rushing touchdowns 624 receptions
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

LaDanian Tomlinson’s 2006 season is one of the greatest campaigns a running back has ever delivered. He ran for over 1,800 yards, caught 56 passes out of the backfield, and scored a record 31 touchdowns from scrimmage, while leading the San Diego Chargers to a 14-2 record and the top seed in the AFC. But they lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round of the playoffs despite LT’s 187 total yards and two touchdowns. Tomlinson had a spotty postseason track record outside of that game. He averaged 46 rushing yards and 3.6 yards per carry in 10 postseason games in which his teams sported a 5-5 record.

14.Paul Krause

Accomplishments: 8x Pro Bowl selection, 8x All-Pro selection
Team(s): Minnesota Vikings, Washington
Career stats: 81 interceptions, 1,185 interception yards, 3 touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (1970, 1974, 1975, 1977)

Krause was, to put it simply, an interception machine. During his 16-year career, he picked off 81 passes, which is the most in NFL history. And it's a record that's probably going to stand for a long, long time, considering that the closest active player behind Krause is Harrison Smith, who has just 39 interceptions right now. Despite all of those interceptions, Krause was a part of four Vikings teams that made it to the Super Bowl and lost. It's sort of amazing to think that guys like Krause and Alan Page were on the same defense but were unable to win the big game, due in large part to the defense giving up too many points during their Super Bowl trips.

13.Anthony Muñoz

Accomplishments: 11x Pro Bowl selection, 11x All-Pro selection, 3x Offensive Lineman of the Year
Team(s): Cincinnati Bengals
Career stats: 185 games played, 6 fumble recoveries
Super Bowl appearances: 2 (1982 and 1989)

In addition to becoming a fixture on the offensive line for the Bengals for more than a decade, protecting quarterback Boomer Esiason at the left tackle position, Munoz also played some receiver. He caught four touchdowns during his career and recorded seven receptions altogether. His athleticism and sure-handedness is one of the reasons he's often referred to as one of the best offensive lineman in the history of the league. However, the San Francisco 49ers twice prevented him from cementing his legacy by knocking him off in the Super Bowl by narrow margins. If not for that, his career would have been damn-near perfect.

12.J.J. Watt

Accomplishments: 5x Pro Bowl selection, 5x First Team All-Pro, 3x Defensive Player of the Year, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
Team(s): Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals
Career stats: 114.5 sacks 27 forced fumbles 17 fumble recoveries
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

J.J. Watt was the most dominant defensive lineman of his era next to the Rams’ Aaron Donald. But Donald got a ring and J.J. Watt finished his career with a 3-6 postseason record. The difference: quarterback play. While Donald (who was absolutely dominant in the Rams’ Super Bowl win over the Bengals), had Matthew Stafford as a teammate, J.J. Watt suffered through a carousel of mediocre-to-decent quarterbacks during his time in Houston and Arizona. T.J. Yates. Matt Schaub. Brian Hoyer. Brock Osweiler. Deshaun Watson. Kyler Murray. Watt had some big games and made some big plays in the postseason, such as his pick-6 in the 2011 AFC Wild Card against the Bengals, but his teams were often overmatched against superior signalcallers.

11.Bruce Matthews

Accomplishments: 14x Pro Bowl selection, 10x All-Pro selection, All-time NFL record for games played by an offensive lineman (296)
Team(s): Houston Oilers/Tennessee Oilers/Tennessee Titans
Career stats: 296 games played, 10 fumble recoveries
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (2000)

No other offensive lineman in NFL history had more chances to win a Super Bowl than Matthews. Over the course of 18 seasons, he played in almost 300 games. He actually played for so long that he started his career blocking for Earl Campbell and then ended up opening holes for Eddie George during his final years. But in all that time, he was never able to get to the big game and win a Super Bowl. Matthews did come close to doing it in 2000 when the St. Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV. But the Titans came up one yard short on the game's final play (wide receiver Kevin Dyson infamously got tackled on the one-yard line) and Matthews retired the following year without a ring.

10.Alan Page

Accomplishments: 9x Pro Bowl selection, 9x All-Pro selection, 1971 NFL MVP
Team(s): Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears
Career stats: 2 interceptions, 3 safeties, 28 blocked kicks
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (1970, 1974, 1975, 1977)

During the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, the NFL didn't keep track of sacks, as they were not an official statistic yet. But if they had, Page would've finished his career with somewhere in the range of 150 sacks (that would have put him fifth overall on the NFL's list of all-time sack leaders). He was a part of the vaunted "Purple People Eaters" Vikings defense and was the first defensive player in the history of the NFL to be named MVP. He just couldn't win a Super Bowl. Page came close a few times, going to the big game on four different occasions, but the Vikings lost by double digits in all four matchups.

9.Larry Fitzgerald

Accomplishments: 11x Pro Bowl selection, 1x First Team All-Pro, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
Team(s): Arizona Cardinals
Career stats: 1,432 receptions 17,492 receiving yards 121 receiving touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (2008)

With the possible exception of Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith, no one on his list came closer to not qualifying for it than Larry Fitzgerald. The scene: Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. About three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Steelers leading the Cardinals 20-16. 2nd and 10 at the Cards own 36-yard-line. Kurt Warner sets in a shotgun position. Fitzgerald lines up wide on his right. Warner takes a short drop and hits him on a short post route and Fitzgerald is off to the races for the go-ahead touchdown. At one point, he looked up at the Jumbotron to catch a glimpse of his handiwork. Santonio Holmes would then spoil the moment, one-upping Fitzgerald with one of the greatest catches in NFL history, a sideline-hugging double toe-tap grab with 35 seconds left that won the game for the Steelers. Ouch.

Fitzgerald would go on to end his career second all-time in receptions and receiving yards and seventh in receiving touchdowns. He played 17 seasons with the Cardinals but never came close again to nabbing that elusive Super Bowl ring.

8.Fran Tarkenton

Accomplishments: 9x Pro Bowl selection, 3x All-Pro selection, 1975 NFL MVP
Team(s): Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants
Career stats: 47,003 passing yards, 342 touchdowns, 80.4 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: 3 (1974, 1975, 1977)

Today, there are a ton of quarterbacks who can scramble around in the pocket, buy time for themselves, and either run with the ball or find a receiver downfield. But back when Tarkenton—or "Scramblin' Fran" as he was known—played, the idea of a "mobile quarterback" was a foreign one. So in a lot of ways, he revolutionized the quarterback position and showed the NFL what a guy like him could do for a team. Unfortunately, his scrambling act didn't work out so well in the Super Bowl, and he lost all three times he played in the big game. He's still regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in league history.

7.Merlin Olsen

Accomplishments: 14x Pro Bowl selection, 9x All-Pro selection, NFL 1960s and 1970s All-Decade Teams
Team(s): Los Angeles Rams
Career stats: 1 Interception
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

Like several other defensive players on this list, Olsen played before sacks became an official NFL statistic. That's why his "career stats" look so paltry up there. But if sacks had counted back in the 1960s and 1970s, he would've recorded more than 120 of them. Olsen frequently terrorized opposing offenses and helped the Rams finish at or near the top of the league in team defense year in and year out. But while he made plenty of trips to the playoffs, he never made it all the way to the Super Bowl.

6.Dick Butkus

Accomplishments: 8x Pro Bowl selection, 8x All-Pro selection, 2x NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Team(s): Chicago Bears
Career stats: 1,020 tackles, 22 interceptions, 27 fumble recoveries
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

Butkus is easily the most surprising player on this list. Anytime you hear anyone talk about great linebackers, Butkus' name automatically gets brought up. And for good reason. By all accounts, he was one of the toughest guys to ever play in the NFL, and he played alongside some really talented players. Yet, he was never able to make it to a Super Bowl, much less win one. Maybe championships aren't the true definition of a player after all, eh?

5.Randy Moss

Accomplishments: 6x Pro Bowl selection, 4x First Team All-Pro, 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year, 2007 Comeback Player of the Year, NFL 2000s All Decade Team, Most receiving touchdowns in a season (2007)
Team(s): Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers
Career stats: 982 receptions 15,292 receiving yards 156 receiving touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (2007)

With all apologies to Larry Fitzgerald, Megatron, Marvin Harrison, and all the rest, Randy Moss is the greatest wide receiver in NFL history not named Jerry Rice. There has never been a more explosive weapon than Moss a 6-foot-4 leaper with great hands who could run a 4.25 40-yard dash. Nobody could stretch the field like him. As a rookie, he caught 17 touchdowns and lined up across Cris Carter for the tragic 1998 Vikings.

Moss would get even closer with the 2007 New England Patriots. Fresh from a disappointing two-year stint with the Oakland Raiders, Moss’s revenge tour rewrote the history books: 98 receptions, 1,493 yards and a record 23 touchdowns that still stands. The Pats went 17-0 and appeared headed to a Super Bowl title after Moss put them ahead with a touchdown grab late in the fourth quarter. But Eli Manning then led the New York Giants on an improbable game-winning touchdown drive that ended the Pats perfect season and Moss’s best chance at a ring.

4.Deacon Jones

Accomplishments: 8x Pro Bowl selection, 8x All-Pro selection, 2x NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Team(s): Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Washington
Career stats: 2 interceptions, 2 safeties
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

As part of the Rams' heralded "Fearsome Foursome," which consisted of Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen, Jones helped them dominate offensive lines. In fact, he's frequently credited as the guy who actually coined the phrase "sacking the quarterback." He explained the term "sack" during an interview with the Los Angeles Times back in 1999. "You take all the offensive lineman and put them in a burlap bag," he said, "and then you take a baseball bat and beat on the bag. You're sacking them, you're bagging them. And that's what you're doing with a quarterback." Even though sacks weren't an official statistic when Jones played, he would've registered more than 170 of them if they were. However, even with all that sacking power, he was never able to reach a Super Bowl and ultimately retired without a ring.

3.Bruce Smith

Accomplishments: 11x Pro Bowl selection, 11x All-Pro selection, NFL all-time sack leader
Team(s): Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins
Career stats: 200 sacks, 15 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions
Super Bowl appearances: 4 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994)

Smith was an absolute beast during his playing days. The 200 sacks he recorded on opposing NFL quarterbacks is still an NFL record—and it's a record that will likely stand for a long time. He was also an excellent run-stopper, and he's one of the reasons (along with quarterback Jim Kelly) that the Bills were able to make it to four straight Super Bowls. If you go back and look at scores from the Super Bowl games, one of the reasons the Bills lost four straight Super Bowls was that, outside of Super Bowl XXV against the New York Giants, they gave up a ton of points and got blown out. That obviously doesn't all fall on Smith's shoulder. But for whatever reason, the Bills played some of their worst defensive games during Super Bowls.

2.Dan Marino

Accomplishments: 9x Pro Bowl selection, 8x All-Pro selection, 1984 NFL MVP
Team(s): Miami Dolphins
Career stats: 61,361 passing yards, 420 touchdowns, 86.4 quarterback rating
Super Bowl appearances: 1 (1985)

When you think about great NFL players who never won a Super Bowl, who is the first player that pops into your head? Or, better yet, when you think about great athletes in any sport who never won a championship, who is the first player that pops into your head? Outside of maybe Charles Barkley, Marino is the one guy we think of when we think of legendary athletes who fell short of winning a championship during their playing days.

That's because Marino was so dominant, so successful, so, well, great that we can't believe he never won a title. He was the first quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season and the first quarterback to throw for 40 touchdowns in a single season. But in 16 seasons in the NFL, he only reached the Super Bowl once (and that was in his second season!) and he never won a title. How is that even possible?

1.Barry Sanders

Accomplishments: 10x Pro Bowl selection, 10x All-Pro selection, 1997 MVP
Team(s): Detroit Lions
Career stats: 15,269 rushing yards, 352 receptions, 109 touchdowns
Super Bowl appearances: Zero

Although he only played for 10 seasons and retired way earlier than most people thought he would, Sanders accomplished everything he could on a personal level before he left the game of football. He led the league in rushing for four years. He put together a string of five straight seasons where he rushed for more than 1,500 yards. And he set an NFL record by rushing for more than 100 yards in 14 straight games at one point in his career. However, the one knock on him was always that he never led his team to a Super Bowl. Then again, he played on some really bad teams in Detroit and never had a great supporting cast. So we can't blame him for retiring early.