Most NFL fans have their favorite team and their favorite player.
But there are also players, and maybe even an owner, who fans love to hate.
There’s never a shortage of villains in the NFL. Here are the 10 most notorious ones entering the 2016 season.
No. 10: James Harrison
James Harrison isn’t the villain he was in his early 30s. He was fined a total of $125,000 in 2010 and suspended for a game in 2011 for a hit on Colt McCoy.
Now 38, Harrison is a role player for the Steelers. He has 10.5 combined sacks in 2014 and 2015.
Harrison isn’t as feared as he once was, but he is among a group of players the NFL wants to interview as part of a PED investigation. With that cloud of suspicion over his head, Harrison might be experiencing a villain reboot.
No. 9: Stan Kroenke
Stan Kroenke is the only non-player on this list. Even though he’s a Missouri native, he moved the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
Not that “St. Louis Rams” ever sounded right, but the Rams did win a Super Bowl in St. Louis. The Rams had been in St. Louis since 1995 and the city tried to keep them there with a design for a billion-dollar stadium. But it wasn’t good enough for Kroenke, and the city is left paying for the cost of the planning phase of the new stadium as well as the remaining debt on the Edward Jones Dome.
St. Louis sports fans aren’t the only ones whose hearts are being broken by Kroenke. According to USA Today, he’s buying a ranch in Texas and forcing homeowners on that land to move within a year.
Nice guy, that Kroenke.
No. 8: Terrell Suggs
A six-time Pro Bowler, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs has been a central figure in one of the NFL’s most intense rivalries. The ire of Steeler Nation is worth a few villain points, but not all of Suggs’ enemies wear black and gold.
During a 2015 preseason game, Suggs was penalized for a low hit on Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford after Bradford had handed the ball off. Bradford already had gone through two knee surgeries. Even though NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino later said that Suggs’ hit was clean and he shouldn’t have been penalized, the court of public opinion was not on Suggs’ side.
Suggs missed most of the 2015 season after tearing his Achilles in Week 1, so he’s dropped off the villain radar. He began training camp on the physically unable to perform list, but is expected to be ready for Week 1.
He could be a candidate for Comeback Villain of the Year.
No. 7: Josh Norman
Josh Norman was partially responsible for perhaps the ugliest sequence of the 2015 NFL season. He and Odell Beckham Jr. sparred throughout the Week 15 game between the Panthers and Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Norman was fined $26,044 for his actions in the game, which the Panthers won 38-35 after blowing a 28-point lead. Norman committed two personal fouls, including a hit to Beckham’s head-and-neck area.
Norman signed with the Redskins after the Panthers rescinded the franchise tag. So he’ll face Beckham twice a year. As guilty as Beckham was on that infamous December afternoon, Norman will be the villian in the eyes of Giants fans.
No. 6: Cam Newton
Cam Newton is on this list because of all the people in America sick and tired of the Dab.
For those who don’t remember because, well, the Dab is so 2015, Newton unveiled the Dab during an October game against the Seahawks, and it became a thing when Titans players objected to him dabbing on their home turf during a Nov. 15 game.
The Panthers’ success last season, combined with a touchdown dance that annoyed most non-Panther fans, makes Newton not only America’s most hated yogurt salesman but also one of the NFL’s top 10 villains.
Newton says he’s done with the Dab, according to ESPN.com, but that he’s working on another touchdown celebration. He doesn’t want to be a one-hit wonder.
No. 5: T.J. Ward
Hard-hitting safeties always make good NFL villains, especially when not all of those hits are clean.
Broncos safety T.J. Ward was ejected from a Week 10 game last season for punching Chiefs receiver Jeremy Maclin after Maclin blocked him during an 80-yard touchdown run by Charcandrick West.
T. J. Ward fined $10K for punching Maclin last week. #DENvsCHI Here it is: pic.twitter.com/5S3c7dj3XS
— Lionel Bienvenu (@lionelbienvenu) November 19, 2015
Not only was Ward ejected for that hit, he also was fined. The week before, he received a total bill of $23,150 for a hit on Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton and also having his jersey untucked. He was fined $23,152 for spearing in the AFC championship game.
Ward was penalized three times for unnecessary roughness in 2015. Only two players were flagged for that penalty more than three times, according to NFLPenalties.com.
No. 4: Ndamukong Suh
Ndamukong Suh had a disappointing first season in Miami when it came to actually playing football. He didn’t lose his ability to cross the line, however.
In a Week 1 game at Washington, Suh appeared to knock off Alfred Morris’ helmet with his knee. In Week 4, it looked like he kicked the helmet off of Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s head.
Suh wasn’t disciplined in either case, but after a laundry list of cheap shots in Detroit, anything that looks fishy is going to draw attention. In 2014, he stepped on Aaron Rodgers’ ankle during a Week 17 loss at Green Bay. He also found creative ways to kick more sensitive body parts during his Detroit days.
The Dolphins made Suh the league’s highest-paid defensive player before the 2015 season. If he cleans up his act, maybe the franchise will get its money’s worth.
No. 3: Odell Beckham Jr.
The highlight of Odell Beckham Jr.’s rookie season was the fingertip touchdown catch he made against the Cowboys.
Beckham’s sophomore season won’t be remembered for something that pleasant. It will be remembered for his behavior in Week 15 against the Panthers. He committed three personal-foul penalties in a fracas with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman that went on all afternoon. One of those calls was for a helmet-to-helmet hit in which he torpedoed his way toward Norman. Beckham was suspended the following week.
The feud between the two spilled into the offseason, with Beckham telling GQ via The Washington Post that Norman is relevant only because of him.
Well, Beckham did gain a lot of negative publicity for his actions in that game while at the same time boosting Norman’s image as the lesser of the two evils.
Beckham’s career is at an early enough stage where he can put this episode behind him and shed the villain label. For now, however, most of America will see him as the bad guy the next time he locks horns with Norman.
No. 2: Tom Brady
Odell Beckham Jr.’s recent exploits might be more nefarious, but Tom Brady has gained so many haters in his Hall of Fame career that he edges out Beckham on this list.
Regardless of whether Brady knew nothing about the air pressure in footballs or if he was in some Gillette Stadium sub-basement poking footballs with an ice pick, Deflategate added fuel to one of the longest villainous narratives in NFL history.
Brady has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season because of Deflategate. Spygate wasn’t on him so much, but those scandals together place an invisible asterisk on the four championships that Brady and the Patriots have won. Some will always believe that the Patriots became the most successful NFL franchise of the 21st century by cheating.
Not only does Brady have his share of haters just because of his cover-boy looks and supermodel wife, he’s beaten 15 different teams in the postseason. In 11 of his 15 seasons, he’s dashed the championship hopes of at least one team.
And crushing dreams is just what a villain does.
No. 1: Vontaze Burfict
Vontaze Burfict is suspended for the first three games of the 2016 season. That’s one game shorter than Tom Brady’s suspension even though Burfict deserves a longer suspension than Brady.
Burfict has overtaken Brady as the NFL’s biggest villain because while Brady may or may not have orchestrated a scheme to manipulate footballs, Burfict has bent and broke a lot of body parts without any remorse.
Steelers fans can’t be blamed for feeling that their team would have had a shot at the Patriots in last year’s AFC championship game if it weren’t for Burfict.
The Bengals’ linebacker tore up Le’Veon Bell’s knee in a Week 8 game at Pittsburgh. While the tackle itself wasn’t dirty, many Steelers players felt that he celebrated the injury.
In the AFC wild-card meeting between the teams, Burfict drove Ben Roethlisberger’s shoulder to the ground on a sack and gave a defenseless Antonio Brown a concussion with an illegal hit to the head. That play drew a penalty and ultimately cost the Bengals the game, but it didn’t change the fact that the Steelers went to Denver for the divisional round without Bell, Brown and a completely healthy Roethlisberger.
All courtesy of Burfict.
Because of his suspension, Burfict will miss the Bengals’ Week 2 game at Pittsburgh. If the NFL really wanted to punish Burfict, it should subject him to the Heinz Field crowd.