Nickname: Bug Eyes
Introduction
Call me a homer, but there cannot be a forgotten athlete discussion without former New England Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan. This is a guy that wasn’t even thinking about joining the NFL until he went out for the Monmouth football team after he played four seasons of lacrosse at Penn State. According to Hogan, it was just a “bucket list” item to play football, almost a last hoorah before adulthood finally hits. This final celebration ultimately led him to making the Buffalo Bills practice squad, starting his nine year NFL career. Do you know how athletic you have to be to accomplish that feat? My last hoorah in college before adulthood was hitting golf balls shirtless off of a dock at a party while drinking Coors Banquet’s. I guess there really is just levels to some things.
Why He Should Be Remembered
Hogan should be remembered by both Pats fans and football fans. First for the Pats community, this guy was an integral part of those dominant offenses in the back half of the Patriots dynasty. He signed with the Pats in 2016 and although he never had a 1,000 yard season, he was basically our deep threat for three years. You cannot mention Gronk (Rob Gronkowski), Jules (Julian Edelman), and “Danny Playoff” (Danny Amendola) without mentioning Chris Hogan as well. Remember that field day he had against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2017 AFC Championship game? Nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns? He was the number one guy that day and that game helped us win his first Super Bowl ring that year. He won another one in 2019 giving a former lacrosse player two Super Bowl wins while playing alongside Tom Brady. That’s ridiculous. So if you’re a Pats fan, don’t you dare say that you don’t remember Chris Hogan.
Now if you’re not a Pats fan, there are a couple of reasons that you should remember Chris Hogan. First, he was tied with DeSean Jackson in 2016 with 17.9 yards per reception for the most in the league that year (I told you that he was our deep threat). Again, I am going to reiterate this: this was a lacrosse player with no aspirations of ever making it to the NFL. Secondly, he has some crazy bug eyes. Ya know how the saying goes that a player’s eyes widen when they’re open or they see a matchup that they like? Well Hogan’s eyes would just look like that. Constantly. He had some all time replays of his catches simply because he would look like some combination of Bugsy from Bedtime Stories and Hannibal Lecter all at once.
C/O2 spokesman.com
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I mean look at those puppies. Would you trust that guy? Like anywhere?
Why He Is Not Remembered
While Hogan does have two Super Bowls with the Patriots, he was not enough of a consistent impact guy to be remembered. Even on his own team, he was often overshadowed and almost an afterthought. After his three seasons in Foxborough, he had brief stints with the Carolina Panthers, the New York Jets, and the New Orleans Saints. These seasons were uneventful and to be honest, I can’t even remember seeing him one time on tv whether it was a nationally televised game or just RedZone. He just fell off of the face of the Earth.
Where He Is Now
Hogan officially retired from the NFL in 2021 and went back to pursue his original dream of lacrosse. Currently, he is in the Premier Lacrosse League, but I believe that he is a free agent at the moment (are there free agents in lacrosse? I’m not really sure how that works). Just scrolling through his Instagram and he appears to still be in great shape, so I would not be completely opposed to him making a comeback and joining the Pats current receiving core. We could use a little bit of that crazy.
