Matt Millen is probably the best qualifier for this title in the NFL. He was a linebacker with less than one sack/pick/fumble recovery per year over his 12 year career, which I think qualifies him as mediocre. (Admittedly, he made it to the Pro Bowl one year.) He won 4 Superbowl rings with 3 different teams (and in 4 different cities!). LA Raiders, then Oakland Raiders, then 49ers, then Redskins. He didn’t start during the Niners bowl, and was deactivated for the Redskins bowl. Nevertheless, 4 rings as a player.
Devin Thomas, WR out of Michigan State. Drafted early in the 2nd round by Washington where he did essentially nothing for two years and was waived in the middle of the 2010-2011 season.
Claimed off waivers by the Panthers, appearing in a single game, did nothing, and was waived again.
Claimed off waivers by the Giants. Recovered two fumbles in the NFC Championship game vs the 49ers but otherwise did nothing.
I wouldn’t say Steve Kerr “lucked” into his championships - few remember, but he was (and remains) the most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history, hitting over 45% of his attempts (and a blistering 48% during his 6-year stint with the Bulls.) Ray Allen is considered the current standard bearer in accuracy, but his most accurate season for 3pters would rank seventh for Steve Kerr. And Kerr did make the shot that clinched Game 6 in 1997.
Kerr has attempted far fewer 3pters than Allen, true, but he still tossed up 1,599 attempts and hit over 700 of them. And the man got into a fistfight nwith MJ. Nah… Kerr doesn’t belong on this list as he was a key utility guy, not just a hanger on. And he started playing for Chicago the year Michael left for baseball, so it’s not as if he walked on in the middle of '96.
Had the Spurs won last year (Damn you, Ray Allen!) Tracy McGrady would be the standard-bearer for this thread, but alas…
Just this past season the Seahawks signed Percy Harvin as a free agent. Because of surgery he played in only one game during the regular season and was injured again and missed a game in the playoffs. He had a couple good rushes and a kickoff return for a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Ray Bourque played 21 seasons for the Boston Bruins before finishing his career with the Colorado Avalanche, winning the Stanley Cup, and retiring. I don’t follow hockey, but it sounds like he was still a solid contributor right up to the end.
Juwan Howard played in 28 games for the Miami Heat in 2011-12, averaging less than 2 points and less than 2 rebounds in 7 minutes of action. They won a championship, so he got a ring. The next season he played in only 7 games with similar stats and won another ring.
You could probably find one or two players on any championship team that lucked into a championship like that.
For instance, the 1969 Mets had Donn Clendenon. He had been with Pittsburgh the year before and then drafted by the Expos. Before he even reported to Montreal, he was traded to the Astros (for Rusty Staub) and refused to go. The trade was allowed to stand after Montreal send a couple of more players (the Astros no doubt regretted giving up Staub). In June, he was traded to the Mets and became an important part of their World Series team.
If he had reported to the Astros, or if the commissioner had voided the trade (as the Astros requested), he wouldn’t have a ring.
Ray Bourque was a surefire Hall of Famer with a 20 year career with the Boston Bruins, but he lacked a Stanley Cup and he wasn’t going to get one with Boston. As a favor to him, Boston traded him to the Colorado Avalanche in the 1999-2000 season. He played a few games that year, and in the 2000-2001 season, Colorado won the Stanley Cup in a game 7 over New Jersey, and he promptly retired.
I admit, I got misty when Bourque got his cup. (Not a hockey fan, but liked Bourque)
Not that he did nothing, but who was Bradshaw’s TE? He and Bleier are the only skill players from the Steelers not in Canton.
I had to look it up, but Randy Grossman won 4 rings as the Steelers’ TE, and caught a TD in Super Bowl X. His stats aren’t big (expected, since he played in the 70’s) but he caught 118 passes in 118 games, and had a career high 37 in 1978 (which was the most by a Steelers TE in 12 years), so he wasn’t just along for the ride.
Thanks Morariaty! Born in '78, so I missed their glory days.
Bobby Hansen was a benchwarming backup guard for the Bulls I think the year of their second championship (91-92), when they beat the Suns. However, while Michael Jordan was resting on the bench with the Bulls down by around fifteen points, he happened to help initiate a second-half comeback rally in what I think was the final game of the finals series (a pretty close series; I think it went to six.) So, perhaps he “earned” his ring after all.
Minor nitpick: Bobby Hansen’s ring was earned when the Bulls beat the Trailblazers, not the Suns.
Adam Morrison. Third guy taken in the draft by the Charlotte Cats-o-Bob. Had a bad knee injury and was traded after 3 season to The Lakers for a 6oz container of that rinse you put in your dishwasher door.
Sat and the end of the bench but …won 2 rings while there. Then released.