There’s something about fans being able to root for the same player for their entire career. Having someone “run the table” from draft pick to Hall of Fame induction feels special. It’s incredibly rare today. That’s what makes the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu, and Joe Thomas special: they stayed with their teams. When we think about quarterbacks, it’s even rarer that they stick around, which might surprise fans. Of the top 50 quarterbacks in career yards, just 12 played on one team their entire career. Ironically, three of them played for the Dallas Cowboys (Troy Aikman, Dak Prescott, and Tony Romo).
There are many instances, however, where a team drops the ball, and another team gets the fruits of their development. Sometimes, a team stinks and gets a top-10 pick that they use to get who they hope is the superstar on a rookie contract. Other times, early injuries have teams scared to commit. With specific rules around rookie-scale contracts and the rise of free agency, players have more opportunities to improve in their second home. And we have a very recent example.
30. Sam Darnold
The New York Jets drafted Sam Darnold with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The USC Trojans project seemed like a sure thing. The New York Giants (Saquon Barkley) and Cleveland Browns (Baker Mayfield) did the Jets a favor by letting Darnold fall to them. He had all the makings of a superstar. He was quiet enough to never let anything faze him, but he was laser-focused and had the skills of the legends who came before him. Darnold was a guy teams were watching for multiple years.
Then, he played games. He saw ghosts, and it didn’t take long before he was jettisoned out of New York with Zach Wilson, the latest failure who attempted to play savior. Danold needed a reset, so he went to where everyone goes to get their career back on track (after a short and failed stint with the Panthers), he joined Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
After a year as a backup, he took a chance with the Minnesota Vikings. After a major injury to top-10 pick J.J. McCarthy, Darnold was immediately thrust into a starting opportunity. He was great that season, leading the Vikings to the playoffs and putting up impressive statistics along the way. He had a rough finish, including a disastrous playoff game, so the Vikings let him sign a big contract with the Seahawks. In his first year in Seattle, Darnold won a Super Bowl. In what has become one of the most improbable comebacks of this era, Darnold is suddenly on a Hall of Fame trajectory with plenty of career left to go.
29. Deion Sanders
This one might sound like a mistake. Deion Sanders was great everywhere, right? Well, he was definitely really good in Atlanta, but he went up a level when he left the Falcons. In his first season after leaving, he won Defensive Player of the Year with the San Francisco 49ers. Then, he joined the Dallas Cowboys and had his best stretch, putting up insane numbers for a dynasty.
Four of Sanders’ first-team All-Pros came after his time with the Falcons. He actually didn’t even make the Pro Bowl in his first two seasons. That might seem like it’s not a big surprise, but for Primetime, missing out on the Pro Bowl seemed nearly impossible.
Sanders was a specimen on the field, even with the Falcons. He had an insane statistical profile, accumulating 24 interceptions in his five seasons in Atlanta. But he had a ridiculous 300 interception return yards in San Francisco, and he was considered a guy who shouldn’t be tested in Dallas. Adding Deion Sanders to that Cowboys defense was unfair. His speed was unmatched, and he had an instinct in the backfield that made it seem like he was magnetic when it came to ball hawking.
28. Wes Welker
We remember when the New England Patriots traded for Randy Moss to make the 2007 team the only one to accomplish a 16-0 regular season. Moss was electric that season and deserved the Offensive Player of the Year award, but let’s not downplay the contributions of Wes Welker that year. Also acquired around the NFL Draft, Welker provided the perfect outlet for Tom Brady to have his most reliable receiver since prime Deion Branch.
Coming into New England, Welker had a peak of 687 yards with the Miami Dolphins. With the Patriots, he broke 1,000 yards receiving in five of his next six seasons. He was a YAC monster, turning small routes into huge gains. He was Brady’s underneath target, and he was always open. He checked in on Moss, but if there was a safety over the top, Brady knew Welker was open.
Welker is a Patriots legend, even if he was one of the few who didn’t get a Super Bowl ring for his effort. He also helped usher in the Julian Edelman era, who did help the Patriots win some championships. Welker was a star for the Pats, and it came thanks to a bet on talent by Bill Belichick.
27. Jim Plunkett
If you’re the New England Patriots, you win some, and you lose some. Jim Plunkett's story is one of the most common examples of a team failing to properly evaluate the quarterback in its room. The Patriots took him out of Stanford with the first-overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft. This franchise assumed this was finally the player to keep them competitive in the Super Bowl era. Instead, he was a turnover machine.
Plunkett threw 87 interceptions over five seasons in New England, and one season he played just five games. He had more than 20 interceptions in a season twice, and his situation seemed to keep getting worse.
When Plunkett went to the 49ers and eventually the Raiders, he showed the Patriots quit on him too quickly. QB Dan Pastorini broke his leg in 1980, and a 32-year-old Plunkett was finally ready to show everyone what he could do with a championship roster around him. He led the Raiders to a 9-2 record down the stretch and helped the Raiders win a Super Bowl. He was named MVP of the game, and now he’s a Raiders legend forever.
26. Curtis Martin
This is another example (with Patriots ties) where he was really good in his first stop, but his second stop was just better. Curtis Martin is one of the most underrated running backs in the history of the NFL. He famously hit more than 1,000 yards every single year. He had a Mike Evans-level of production to kick off his career.
After three largely successful seasons with the Patriots, including leading that team to a Super Bowl appearance, Martin followed his head coach, Bill Parcells, to the Jets. Parcells was returning to New Jersey, where he had his most success, and the Jets were getting a young running back by signing him to an offer sheet. It cost them a first- and third-round pick, but it was well worth it.
Martin rushed for 1,000 yards in every season of his career except his final one, going 10 times in a row. He finished his career with more than 14,000 yards, with 10,000 of those yards coming with the Jets. There wasn’t a ton of playoff success, but Martin at least got them there most years. We don’t have to tell Jets fans today how great it would be if a running back could lift them to the playoffs most years when the likes of Vinny Testaverde, Chad Pennington, Ray Luca, and Glenn Foley were the quarterback.
25. Jeff Saturday
Jeff Saturday became a legend in Indianapolis. His coaching record notwithstanding, when Saturday locked in as an offensive lineman protecting Peyton Manning, he was one of the best in the league. Offensive linemen are so valuable, so it’s clear the Colts got themselves a superstar in the making. But how?
Not only did the Baltimore Ravens have a chance to enjoy Saturday’s career, but they asked for him to leave. Saturday was cut by the Ravens in 1998 after going undrafted. Many thought he was too small to be successful in the NFL. Undrafted free agents don’t often make it far in the NFL, so nobody can blame the Ravens for taking a chance and thinking he’s not worth the development investment. They didn’t see the vision that drove the Colts to sign Saturday.
After leaving Baltimore, Saturday was ready to move on from football. He went back to North Carolina and was fine with things ending the way they did. Then, his former teammate Nate Hobgood-Chittick vouched for him when the Colts faced offensive line injuries. By his second season with the Colts, he was the full-time starter and played most games over the next 13 seasons. He was so close to seeing his NFL dream end as quickly as it started. Instead, he became one of the best linemen of that generation.
24. Stephon Gilmore
There’s some fun irony here. Stephon Gilmore announced his retirement, signing a one-day contract with the New England Patriots to end his career where he was most prominent. When the Patriots shelled out a five-year, $65 million deal, many were shocked the Pats were actually spending money. Others wondered if they spent too much for a player who hadn’t shown enough in Buffalo to warrant such a contract. Gilmore was really good, but he became the best cornerback in the league in New England.
He made one Pro Bowl in five years with the Bills, but he immediately took a step forward when he signed in the 2017 offseason. He was decent that first season with his new team, immediately taking over as CB1 and deflecting nine passes during the season. He added two interceptions that first year. That second season, he jumped to 20 deflected passes.
In the third season with the Patriots, Gilmore took an insane step forward. He once again deflected 20 passes, but he added six interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. Injuries did start to limit him, and he became a journeyman after leaving New England (playing for four franchises in four seasons).
23. Jared Goff
The Detroit Lions’ star Jared Goff was the first-overall pick for the Los Angeles Rams in the 2016 NFL Draft. That seems like forever ago at this point, but Goff has essentially had two careers. His situation is completely different than just about everyone else on this list. He had moments with the Rams, even taking them to a Super Bowl, but that was the beginning of the end. After paying the man after that run, the Rams started to go south. With a team ready to win, the Rams paid a steep price to turn Goff into Matthew Stafford.
Goff got to Detroit and found his home. He’s led the Lions back to prominence, leading a star-studded offense to contention in the AFC. Yes, he is surrounded by Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta (with David Montgomery on the team up until this season), but he is the straw that is stirring this drink.
At this point, Goff has had five seasons with the Rams and five seasons with the Lions. He’s had at least 4,000 yards in the past four seasons. In those five seasons, Goff has 3,000 more yards in his Lions career than he had in his Rams career. The Rams gave up an extra first-round pick just to get rid of Goff, and now he’s in the 40,000-yard club, one of just 26 members in NFL history.
22. Charlie Joiner
Charlie Joiner might not work in today’s NFL. An undersized receiver who didn’t work with two different franchises, the legend was anything but with the Houston Oilers and the Cincinnati Bengals. He spent four years with Houston and four years with Cincinnati, never passing 800 yards receiving in a season and spending most seasons way down the depth chart and unable to make an impact.
Strangely, he was immediately given a chance with the San Diego Chargers, and it worked. He had his first 1,000-yard season of his career in that first season with the Chargers. He would go on to play 11 more seasons with the Chargers, going over 1,000 yards four times. He was always reliable when the Chargers needed a top receiver.
Looking back, most receivers aren’t given eight games of chances, let alone eight seasons. A team would never think a superstar could come so late, but Joiner is the exception to the rule. He played until he was almost 40 years old, which is another anomaly. Joiner is a lesson in patience, both for yourself and for your players. A breakout can happen at any time and with any team.
21. Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith is a Jacksonville Jaguars legend. That is the only team Smith is associated with. His connection with Mark Brunell and leading the offense with Fred Taylor is still the best era of Jaguars football. Yet he played for two teams before joining the Jaguars, and both were among the league's most popular. The Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft. In 1993, the Cowboys botched his care for an appendectomy, tried not to pay him, and tried to demand a pay cut in the offseason. He was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994, but he was cut before the season.
Smith didn’t play for anyone in 1994. A full year off without hitting your stride is usually a death knell for a player, especially a wide receiver in this era. However, Smith was given another chance with the expansion team in Jacksonville. Tom Coughlin saw his talent and signed him as their fifth receiver.
It took less than two seasons for him to become their number-one receiver. In fact, in his first season as a starter, Smith led the AFC in receiving with 1,244 yards. He would go on to play 11 seasons in Jacksonville, breaking 1,000 yards nine times and making five Pro Bowls. He “won” two Super Bowls in Dallas, but nobody remembers that. They remember his run in Jacksonville to put the North Florida city on the football map.
20. Rich Gannon
This one is a little more popular than some other previous entries on the list, but Rich Gannon has one of the most interesting runs of any quarterback in this era. We talked about how players don’t usually get second and third chances, but that’s just not true for quarterbacks. Even the smallest bit of talent will get you more chances than we can count. Just look at how many quarterbacks started games last season. There were 62 starting quarterbacks last season, including notable busts Trey Lance, Justin Fields, and Kenny Pickett.
Gannon played for Kansas City, Minnesota, and Washington before he was given a legitimate job as a starting QB. He got the ball in the hands of the Chiefs and Vikings, but injuries and inconsistency hurt his numbers. When he joined the Raiders in 1999, he was joining a franchise in flux. They had just moved on from Jeff George, who was supposed to be the savior. Gannon was never given a starting job in the offseason despite playing 12 seasons in the league. That’s right, Gannon was already in the NFL for 12 seasons when he joined the Raiders.
For some reason, Gannon and head coach Jon Gruden clicked about as well as any other QB-coach combo. After signing, he made the Pro Bowl in each of the next four seasons. He won the NFL MVP in 2002 after throwing for 4,689 yards that season. He also led the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII, but let’s not talk about that result.
19. Trent Williams
Sometimes, a player just needs an opportunity to show how good he is, and other times, we know greatness just needs an opportunity to shine. Trent Williams was always a great player stuck on a Washington franchise that was going nowhere. There’s only so much a left tackle can do. Then, a growth was removed from Williams' cranium that was found to be cancerous. Because of how Washington handled the situation, he demanded his release.
It didn’t work out for a full year, and he didn’t get moved to the San Francisco 49ers until 2020. He was already 32 years old at the time of the trade, so many thought his prime had come and gone. Instead, Williams only got better. Even today, at 38 years old, Williams is one of the best at his position, shutting down Myles Garrett in his Los Angeles Rams debut in Week 1 of the 2026 season.
Williams allows the 49ers to do everything else they want to do. He’s their offensive engine, and he built himself into a Hall of Famer during this run. Williams is still playing and building his legacy, just missing a Super Bowl to put it all together. If he stayed in Washington, who knows what would have happened to his career.
18. Matt Hasselbeck
This one is pretty famous. Matt Hasselbeck had a stint with the Green Bay Packers, but when they let Mike Holmgren go, Brett Favre’s backup was traded to his new destination, the Seattle Seahawks. After initially competing for playing time with Trent Dilfer, Hasselbeck was the full-time starter by 2002. Hasselbeck was great for the Seahawks, throwing for more than 3,000 yards seven times (eight if you include his first season in Tennessee).
Hasselbeck finished his career as a three-time Pro Bowler and joined the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor. He put up big numbers in Seattle and was the signal caller for some of their biggest seasons, including the best seasons of Shaun Alexander’s career. It was a situation where a backup was just waiting for his opportunity. Maybe that’s why the Seahawks would later give a massive contract to former Packers backup Matt Flynn. They did not find lightning in a bottle there.
Hasselbeck had a little more expectation than others on the list. He hit that expectation by dominating the stat sheet. While the Seahawks did not have the same playoff success as Russell Wilson, he set those expectations higher than before.
17. Geno Smith
This one is just ironic. The New York Jets are going into the season with Geno Smith as the starting quarterback. This came years after the Jets declared him a bust and moved past him. After four seasons with the Jets, he didn’t move far. In fact, he moved across the hall. Smith was signed by the New York Giants, and that was a disaster. Ben McAdoo benched Eli Manning for Smith, which caused a PR nightmare that is still discussed to this day.
Eventually, Smith found himself in Seattle working under Russell Wilson. When Wilson was traded to Denver and Seattle decided to go with Smith as the starter, the assumption was that they were rebuilding. Tank a year with an also-ran at QB, and they’d get a top draft pick the next season.
Smith was great in Seattle. He threw for 4,200 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first season as full-time starter. He even beat Russell Wilson on his new team! Smith was very good for the next two seasons as well before he was eventually traded to the Raiders. Unlike many on this list, Smith’s time as a star was short, but it was about as impactful as anyone else on this list.
16. James Harrison
The Pittsburgh Steelers are where James Harrison’s career technically began, and where he definitely became a star. In that first stint, he was described as a “knucklehead,” quitting on plays and even asking his coaches to remove him when he felt he wasn’t playing well. Something was just off with his career. It seemed like he was just counting the days until his career ended.
Then, he signed a futures contract with the Baltimore Ravens. He played a few games in NFL Europe, but it didn’t keep him from getting released for a fourth time in his career. The Steelers came calling again after Clark Haggans suffered a weightlifting accident.
A huge surge of motivation must have hit Harrison. He became a dominant linebacker who was impossible to block. He played with impressive intensity, especially in a sport where intensity comes in droves. He earned the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year award, and he finished his Steelers career with two Super Bowl rings. Speaking of the Super Bowl, Harrison’s biggest impact was in Super Bowl XLIII. Right before the end of the half, Harrison intercepted a Kurt Warner pass on the goal line and ran it back almost 100 yards for a touchdown heading into halftime. In a game where every point counted, that was important. If Haggans never suffered that injury, the Arizona Cardinals might have a Super Bowl today.
15. Y. A. Tittle
Y. A. Tittle is one of the original NFL greats. His time with the New York Giants is legendary. What’s interesting is how short his time with the Giants actually was. In a 17-year career that includes time with the Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers, he spent four years in New York. Two of his three All-Pro seasons came with the Giants, and his one MVP season came there in 1963.
What’s really interesting was the backlash to the trade between the 49ers and Giants. Tittle was traded straight up for guard Lou Cordileone. Tittle said he was surprised he wasn’t traded for a “name player,” and Cordileone made reference to Tittle’s age as to why it seemed like a lopsided trade.
Tittle was incredible with the Giants despite coming in just ot compete for the starting job. Once he took over, he drove the Giants to the playoffs, losing to Vince Lombardi’s Packers in that first year. He would drive the Giants to the next level, breaking records and taking this team to the playoffs. He did this at the end of his career, not only salvaging his legacy, but also becoming one of the early stars that we still talk about today.
14. Len Dawson
The Kansas City Chiefs always held Len Dawson in the highest regard, and that usually happens when a quarterback brings them the Super Bowl. However, people seem to have underestimated that Chiefs win. While everyone still talks about Joe Namath and his win for the AFC in Super Bowl III, not many talk about Dawson carrying the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, another AFC making a major upset.
Len Dawson’s path to becoming a Chiefs legend was anything but straightforward. Before he became the face of the franchise, Dawson spent years trying to find the right situation. Dawson entered the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1957 as a highly regarded quarterback out of Purdue. His next stop was in Cleveland, but that also didn’t work.
Finally, in 1962, he joined the Dallas Texans. And they eventually became the Kansas City Chiefs. There, he became a legend. And it was really the first time he got a chance. He spent the next 14 seasons there, becoming their legend and the biggest fan favorite until Patrick Mahomes joined the fray.
13. Bobby Layne
Going way back for this one, Bobby Layne entered the NFL in 1948 with the Chicago Bears. He was a first-round pick coming into the league with expectations after a successful college stint at Texas. He appeared in only a handful of games before being traded to the New York Bulldogs. That’s not where things took off for Layne, but it’s where it started. He couldn’t pull that New York franchise up in the one year he was there, and he was jettisoned to Detroit.
The Lions acquired Layne in 1950, and suddenly the pieces started to fit. Detroit had a talented roster, and Layne became the quarterback who turned that talent into a championship contender. Layne turned the Lions into one of the premier franchises in the NFL. He won three championships and, for decades, was the only great thing to play football in Detroit and actually win (sorry, Barry Sanders).
This was one of the few players who gave the Lions the edge in their rivalry with the Bears. Detroit gave Layne the chance to become the quarterback he was capable of being. He rewarded the Lions with championships, memorable performances, and a legacy that eventually earned him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
12. John Riggins
John Riggins’s career felt like destiny. He was a power running back who dominated for Kansas in college, and he earned a first-round pick. However, it was with the New York Jets. That’s just not a place a superstar player wants to start his career. Just ask Garrett Wilson. He spent five seasons in New Jersey before he became a free agent. He chose to sign with Washington, and he became one of the best players at the position ever.
Riggins is actually severely underrated as a running back. He carried the Washington franchise to a Super Bowl championship, and he is one of the rare running backs to win Super Bowl MVP. In that game, he rushed for a then-record 166 yards on 38 carries. Essentially, Joe Gibbs put the ball in his hand and let them run all over the Miami Dolphins.
This all came after a brief contract dispute with Washington, which almost led to his retirement and had an overall impact on his legacy. Instead, he’ll always be honored in Washington, even if it takes decades to retire his number. Riggins's clutch performances are still discussed in the nation’s capital today.
11. Don Maynard
This one’s an easy one. The New York Giants were looking at Don Maynard as a running back, but he became a legend as a wide receiver. In the 1950s and 1960s, skill positions had way more overlap than they do today. Still, the Giants really focused on making their ninth-round pick someone to pound the rock out of the backfield. That was clearly a mistake. Maynard became one of the NFL's great wide receivers in its early years, and the Giants let him go for nothing after one season.
Maynard went to the CFL and played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That kept him in the football lexicon long enough to eventually get another chance in the NFL. He returned to New York, this time playing for the Titans, playing under legendary quarterback Sammy Baugh, who was now the coach. He moved him to receiver, and Maynard immediately became one of the best pass catchers in history.
Maynard caught 72 passes in that first season with the Titans, going for more than 1,200 yards. He was quick and fast (they are different attributes), and he could move the ball downfield better than anyone in that era. As the Titans transitioned to the Jets and eventually added Joe Namath at QB, Maynard became even more important to their success. Maynard helped the Jets get to Super Bowl III with two touchdown receptions in the AFL Championship Game. This is one of the few times the Jets made something the Giants couldn’t make work.
10. Champ Bailey
Now we’re getting to the sauce of this list. Champ Bailey was great with the Washington franchise, but after one of the biggest trades in league history (Bailey for running back Clinton Portis), he turned into a Hall of Famer. While many might think, with revisionist history, that the team gave up on a player too soon, Bailey just didn’t seem to want to re-sign with Washington.
Bailey was given permission to seek a trade, and Washington saw it as a great opportunity to stay relevant. We know what happened next. He had his initial first-team All-Pro selection in 2004, his first of three. He made the Pro Bowl in all but two of his 10 seasons in Denver. He led the league in interceptions in 2006, and he was as clear a Hall of Famer as there was in this era.
Bailey is an example of a player who found himself in a contract dispute that had no end. Washington did their best to make the most of their asset without trading for futures. Portis was good for Washington, but he was nowhere near as good as Bailey was in Denver. Portis was long retired while Bailey was still making Pro Bowls.
9. Jerome Bettis
Jerome Bettis is a Pittsburgh legend. He’s still one of the most popular retired players in the NFL. People love him inside and outside of Pittsburgh, and his retirement was legendary. Originally from Detroit, he said goodbye to the game at Ford Field after winning Super Bowl XL. His legacy is incredible, and he almost walked away the season before after 11 seasons of beatings. Bettis was one of the most bruising running backs, and the hits were taking a toll. Ben Roethlisberger convinced him to run with the Steel City one last time, and it was well worth it.
And yet, this isn’t the start of his career we expected. Bettis was first playing with the Los Angeles Rams. After they selected him with the 10th-overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft, the Rams built the offense around Bettis. He rushed for 1,429 yards in his rookie season and was a first-team All-Pro.
Bettis then became an afterthought after the Rams moved to St. Louis. They looked for a trade in the 1996 offseason, moving him to Pittsburgh for a swap of picks. After this, Bettis bounced right back to the top of the league’s rushers. He finished his career with more than 13,000 rushing yards and 91 touchdowns.
8. Priest Holmes
Priest Holmes is one of those interesting players who really tell you a football fan’s age. If they compared Holmes to some of the best of all time, they were aware of the early years of fantasy football and old enough to recognize the dominance a short career can showcase. Holmes was the best player in the league for two years. This came with his second franchise after an interesting run with the Baltimore Ravens.
Holmes always felt like he had to prove himself in Baltimore, even after a 1,000-yard season. Eventually, Jamal Lewis took over the reins for the Ravens; they won a Super Bowl together, and Holmes moved on. Obviously, losing your job to Lewis isn't too big an issue, but Holmes still showed it was a mistake.
In his first season in Kansas City, it was clear Holmes was special. He led the league with 1,555 yards rushing. In 2002, he rushed for more than 1,600 yards and 21 touchdowns despite playing just 14 games. In the 2003 NFL season, he broke Marshall Faulk's NFL record for total touchdowns in a season with 27. (It has since been broken by Shaun Alexander and now LaDainian Tomlinson, who holds the record with 31.) Holmes was on pace to break the record again, with 14 touchdowns in eight games, but injuries cut his season short. The rest of his career was marred by injury, but for a few years, Holmes was untouchable on the field and on the scoresheet.
7. Steve Young
What an interesting career for Steve Young. If the situation with Young and the San Francisco 49ers happened in the era of 24-hour news cycles and social media chatter, it would be looked at today as one of the most insane self-inflicted bummers in the league. Joe Montana was still playing at the top of his game, but he was coming off back surgery. Bill Walsh famously loved dual-threat quarterbacks, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had no idea what to do with a left-handed quarterback who loved to scramble.
Eventually, Walsh saw the talent, and it was more than a backup. Young was a starter ready to break out, but Montana wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats. Young asked for another trade on multiple occasions, but Walsh never obliged. So, Young made the most of it, and he eventually got to take over as the starter.
Famously, Young finally got the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 1995. He was already a two-time winner, but he was sitting on the sidelines for all of that. He spent six seasons waiting for an opportunity with the best franchise of that era. Eventually, he got it, and he took advantage of it. His career was in a different place, as he was over 30 at the time. Yet, he still got that monkey off his back and even made the Hall of Fame.
6. Cris Carter
Cris Carter might be the most famous example of a player who needed a change of scenery to succeed. He just wasn’t working with the Philadelphia Eagles, spending too much time partying and not enough time focusing on football. Then, they cut him. It was a shocking turn of events, as Carter was the Eagles' most important receiver in the red zone. He became a touchdown machine, but head coach Buddy Ryan grew sick of dealing with him and let him go for nothing.
The Vikings claimed Carter off waivers, giving him a second chance at an NFL life. After getting little recognition in the City of Brotherly Love, Carter was showered with accolades in Minny. Carter earned eight Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro selections. He would break 1,000 yards for eight consecutive seasons, and he led the league in touchdowns three times.
He finished his career with more than 1,100 receptions and 130 touchdowns. None of that is possible if Buddy Ryan just grits his teeth and tries to make something of Carter. Instead, a team bought into his talent and made some omelets with the eggs that Philadelphia fumbled.
5. Marshall Faulk
Ah, the tale as old as time. A contract dispute leads to regret for a team, especially one that was historically as bad as the Indianapolis Colts were at this point in their football history. Their midnight ride was a pretty recent memory for fans, who were trying to trust an ownership group that literally ripped away Baltimore’s franchise in the most cowardly way possible. And this list shows that success is more than statistics.
Faulk’s stats with the Colts were actually very good. He had more than 1,000 yards in four of five seasons in Indy. This was a star worth building around, but those stars cost money. St. Louis was happy to pay, and they created the Greatest Show on Turf. Along with Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce, the Rams became an unstoppable offensive juggernaut. This all happened because the Colts would not pay the man.
Faulk is best known as a dual threat, rushing for and receiving more than 1,000 yards in his first year in St. Louis. One might think that Faulk wasn’t going to do that in Indy, but he was already on pace for that. He had more than 900 receiving yards in his last season. That’s what makes the move to get rid of him so confusing, but it allowed him to get himself into the record books, get himself a Super Bowl ring, and join the elite in the Hall of Fame.
4. Marshawn Lynch
There are few glow ups in the history of sports as great as the one we saw from Marshawn Lynch. He was kind of the strange guy in the backfield who kept us on our toes while he was in Buffalo. We could all clearly see the talent, but we’ve seen so many examples of players not panning out despite the talent. So, the Bills traded him to the Seattle Seahawks for a fourth- and a fifth-round pick. Talk about an underwhelming return.
Lynch became the centerpiece of the Seahawks offense. His ability to evade tacklers is legendary. He might be the best of all time at getting through hands. He has a few special examples of his runs, but nothing beats the “Beast Quake.” His run against the heavily favored New Orleans Saints registered on the Richter Scale.
Lynch eventually helped the Seahawks win a Super Bowl, and he would have helped them win another one if Pete Carroll hadn't overthought things in the biggest moment, handing Tom Brady another championship. That moment is still discussed today, and it led to a Malcolm Butler interception. That’s because Lynch became dominant with Seattle. And it even led to an acting career after football! He has been an actor in more than a dozen movies and TV shows.
3. Kurt Warner
Kurt Warner might be the best story in NFL history. From grocery store parking lot clerk to Super Bowl winner, league MVP, and eventually, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It was so good, they made a movie about it. And it was a worthwhile story! (We’ll keep our thoughts on the “movie” to ourselves.) And yet, the Warner story should have ended like so many others.
Warner started his career with the Green Bay Packers. Did you know that? Were you aware of the part of the story where he was a fourth-string QB behind three amazing signal callers: Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and Ty Detmer? It’s where so many other QBs are going to see their careers end. However, Warner was destiny.
Warner made his way to the Rams, where he supplanted Trent Green as the starter and drove the Greatest Show on Turf. He eventually went to the Arizona Cardinals, a forgotten franchise, and supplanted Matt Leinart as their starter. He led them to their first Super Bowl appearance. Warner kept making something out of the opportunities he got, and it all started with him getting cut from a crowded QB room in Green Bay.
2. Brett Favre
Speaking of the Packers, they have been on the good side of this. Brett Favre is one of the best examples of a zero-to-hero for a team, just really paying attention to what works in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons selected Favre in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft. The head coach, Jerry Glanville, said it would take a plane crash to put Favre in a game. Coaches used to say the darndest things back in the early 1990s. Well, this was a situation that would never work, so the Falcons traded Favre to the Packers in 1992 for a first-round pick.
Somehow, the Falcons got a better draft pick than the one they used on Favre despite throwing four passes, completing none of them, and throwing two interceptions. And despite it being crazy on the surface, Favre became one of the best QBs in the league. He was the NFL’s Ironman, and he threw for 71,000 yards in his career.
What’s crazier than any of this is that the Packers had an out after the trade. He was diagnosed with a degenerative hip injury during his Packers physical, but the owner overruled the team doctor and the trade went through. So much could have gotten in the way of this deal, but the fact that so much fell into place shows that the Packers and Favre were meant to be.
1. Drew Brees
Number one on this list is the one that made the biggest impact and had the most interesting journey. Drew Brees was a second-round pick of the San Diego Chargers in the same draft that they got LaDainian Tomlinson. They could have put themselves in position to win for a decade or more, but they went for Philip Rivers when they traded for him after taking Eli Manning in the 2004 NFL Draft. There really was a lot going on here.
Brees left the Chargers after a few mediocre years, and he was keen on signing with the Miami Dolphins. However, that Nick Saban-led club went for Daunte Culpepper instead. They were worried about Brees’s medical report. Ironically, Culpepper couldn’t stay healthy, and the Dolphins are still looking for an answer under center almost two decades later.
Brees became one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He’s either first or second in so many NFL records, posting insane statistics that put him in the same conversation as Tom Brady. With Brees and Sean Payton, he built the New Orleans Saints from a bottom-feeding franchise into an elite offensive unit. They won a Super Bowl, beating Peyton Manning in the Big Game, and they sustained success for a long time.
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