Ki-Jana Carter had one of the biggest ‘what-if’ careers in professional sports history.The talented running back out of Penn State was drafted first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1995 draft, but his career would unfortunately end before it even got a chance to begin.Carter was taken first overall in the 1995 NFL DraftThere may be a reason why Carter is still the last running back to be drafted first overall more than 30 years later, and that’s because of what happened to him in his first preseason game.The Bengals traveled to play the Detroit Lions in the old Pontiac Silverdome. On just his third carry of the game, Carter suffered a gruesome injury and blew out his knee on the turf.He missed his entire rookie year in 1995, and was never quite the same after that. He played three more seasons for the Bengals, while dealing with various injuries throughout, before spending time with the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints.He was never able to live up to his number one billing.“It’s a crying shame,” said Bengals offensive coordinator Bruce Coslet, who would later became head coach of the team.“I can still remember the play in the preseason when he blew it up. God…“Ki-Jana was OK. He was good, but he wasn’t what he was gonna be. He was serviceable, did some good things. But we’ll never know how good he would’ve been. We’ll never know. It was almost a tragedy.”Coslet was the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati when Carter was drafted, and saw the potential he had while watching him at Penn State and into training camp. He even likened Carter to a Bengals great.“One of the better running backs I ever coached was James Brooks and we could do all kind of things with James,” Coslet said.“He could run sweeps, he could run inside, we could flank him out and be a wide receiver, and Ki-Jana could do all that and he was bigger and stronger and maybe as fast – Brooks was really fast – but he was the type of triple-threat weapon.Carter was seen to be the missing piece in the Bengals offenseGettyHe spent four seasons in CincinnatiGettyCarter was one of the best RB prospects of all-timeGetty“He couldn’t punt (laughs). But he could do about everything else.”Coslet would become Carter’s head coach during the rest of the running back’s time in Cincinnati. The Bengals were known as the ‘Bungles’ in the 1990s after failing to find success. It remains a dark time in the franchise’s history, but an even darker stain for Carter. He had all the talent in the world coming off a season in which he had rushed for over 1,500 yards and 23 touchdowns at Penn State.Carter was a unanimous All-American and First-team All-Big Ten. He heard his name called first, followed by the Jacksonville Jaguars drafting tackle Tony Boselli out of USC and the Houston Oilers taking Steve McNair from Alcorn State.Boselli would become a Hall of Famer, while McNair became MVP of the league. Carter meanwhile was never given the chance to reach his full potential.It seems that Carter’s injury was a warning to teams in the future that running backs, more than any other position, have a short shelf life and are more prone to injury than others. NFL's Greatest......Ranking the top 10......Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and moreTight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?And that taking one first overall brings a huge risk. For the second pick however? That’s been fair game.Since Carter was taken first in 1995, there have been three running backs taken with the second overall pick.In back-to-back years in the 2005 and 2006 drafts, the Miami Dolphins drafted Ronnie Brown, while the Saints took Reggie Bush. In 2018, the New York Giants went for Saquon Barkley with the second pick.Carter’s unfortunate injury seemed to scare teams off, and it’s hard to blame them, especially when more and more talented running backs are being taken later in the draft.It’s hard not to wonder how Carter would be talked about or discussed if he had never suffered an injury at the very start of his career.We will never know.Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our NFL Facebook page, subscribe to our talkSPORT End Zone YouTube channel for all the offseason news, interviews and more