Coming out of Ohio State, there was much intrigue surrounding Ted Ginn. He ran a 4.22 40 and caught nine touchdowns his junior year before declaring for the draft. The Miami Dolphins took him ninth overall in the 2007 draft, passing on guys like Patrick Willis, Marshawn Lynch and quarterback Brady Quinn, whom many observers expected the Dolphins to take, for the speedy receiver. Since then, Ginn's career has taken some major turns up and down.
Being a skilled returner and incredibly fast, there seemingly would always be a spot in the league for him. He has made some great plays, like the one here burning Darrelle Revis for a touchdown on Monday Night Football but drops have always been what has prevented him from realizing his potential.
Time With The Miami Dolphins
He spent three years in Miami, and made the all-rookie team in 2007 with 34 catches for 420 yards and two touchdowns through the air as well as 24 punt returns for 230 yards and a touchdown. He also had 63 kickoff returns for 1,433 yards. He set career highs in 2008 for catches with 56 and yards with 790 during the year Chad Pennington started at quarterback and led the Dolphins to a surprise division title. But in three years in Miami he caught five touchdowns total. In that same period of time, he had three return touchdowns—one on a punt return in 2007 and two kickoff return touchdowns in 2009. After three years the Dolphins were not satisfied with Ginn and traded him to the San Francisco 49ers for a fifth round pick in the 2010 draft.
Sunny San Francisco
He spent the next three seasons in San Francisco, reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2011 and the Super Bowl in 2012. During those three years he added three more return touchdowns—two punts (one in 2010 and one in 2011) and a kickoff in 2011. In the fourth quarter of the 2011 season opener against the Seattle Seahawks, he returned a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown and a punt 55 yards for a touchdown. They were less than one minute of game time apart. He got hurt late in the season and it forced the 49ers to replace him on punt returns with the untested Kyle Williams, who fumbled a punt against the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game which set up the winning field goal in overtime to send them to the Super Bowl and send the 49ers home. But he caught just 23 passes there in three seasons and was not resigned after the 2012 season.
Carolina Panthers As A Receiver
He signed with Carolina before the 2013 season, the year the Panthers broke out. The Panthers went from 7-9 to 12-4 that season and Ginn scored a career high five receiving touchdowns that season while still being used extensively on returns. His receiving touchdown at Buffalo in week two was his first receiving touchdown since week 17 of 2010 in San Francisco. After one year, he moved on to Arizona, where he spent the 2014 season. Between Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and John Brown, Ginn only caught 14 passes for 190 yards and only scored on a punt return touchdown for the Cardinals.
He returned to Carolina before the 2015 season and it was his best year as a receiver. After Kelvin Benjamin went down, he filled the void and had his best year since 2008 in catches with 44 and yards with 739. He almost doubled his career number of receiving touchdowns this season as he found the end zone ten times, giving him a career total of 21. He caught two touchdowns in four different games this season—week four at Tampa Bay, week 13 at New Orleans, week 14 against Atlanta and in week 15 at the New York Giants.
He is one of two players in NFL history with two kickoff return touchdowns of 100 or more yards in a single game, along with Josh Cribbs, which he set in 2009 against the New York Jets. He is the only player in franchise history with multiple kickoff return touchdowns, and got them both in the aforementioned game.