General

The sport of football can be one in which a player can end up having an illustrious and long career or they can see their playing days cut dramatically short because of injuries and other physical ailments. Now, if you look at any NFL stats website, you’ll see that even the best players in the league, those who seem unbeatable and that open up the debate of whether superhumans do live amongst us or not can also go down because of severe injuries, sometimes to not even make it back to the league.

Now, while those moments can be some of the most grueling and heartbreaking for players, coaches and fans alike, there’s nothing as inspiring as seeing a player come back into the league and mount up an amazing comeback season that shatters any negative memories of past injuries or problems. When it comes to QB’s, arguably the most important player on the field for any team, when they manage to come back from injuries and put on a stellar comeback season, there’s an added flair and flavor to it all that makes us football fans learn to love the game even more.

So with all of this said, we bring you our list of three of the best NFL QB comeback seasons in history.

Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos 2012 Season

While Tom Brady will forever be considered as the apex of QB excellence in the league, at least if we take his winning record and title history into consideration, for many football fans around, there has been nobody better at that position than former Colts and Broncos legend, Peyton Manning. After having to sit out the 2011 season, his last with the Colts because of four neck surgeries, once he got going with the Broncos in his first season in 2012, what Broncos and football fans, in general, were treated to was something that nobody could’ve expected out of a QB who seemed like he was getting ready to call it quits other than anything else.

While he struggled at first to get back into his rhythm, once all the pieces were in place the Broncos started playing some of the best football in the league. Manning would end up receiving his sixth All-Pro honor, passing for 37 touchdowns and being the completion percentage leader in the league. What’s even more amazing is that this would all end up just being the beginning of a run until 2015 in which the Broncos became one of the best offensive units in the game and culminated with Manning winning another Super Bowl title with Denver and then calling it a career.

Randall Cunningham, Minnesota Vikings 1998 Season

When people think of electric QB’s in the NFL, nowadays the names of Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and before that Michael Vick come to mind, but before all of them even thought about playing football, even more making a career in the pros, Randall Cunningham was the “It” guy in the league for video-game style plays and flare. Cunningham´s career was a myriad of highlight-reel plays and sad injury cladded episodes that stopped him from becoming one of the most dominant QB’s in the ’90s, but there is one season in particular where everyone remembers Cunningham, his 1998 season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Cunningham had joined the Vikings in ’97 after coming out of retirement to lead Minnesota to a playoff berth and win in that season but was sent to the bench for the beginning of the ’98 season in favor of Brad Johnson. Well, after Johnson went down with yet another injury, Cunningham took over and what followed was the stuff football dreams are made off. Combining with Randy Moss and Cris Carter, who are considered one of the best WR duos in the history of the game, the Vikings had a 15-1 record all while setting an NFL scoring record. A missed field goal kept the Vikings from reaching the Super Bowl that season, but what Cunningham did that season, was enough to prove to everyone watching that he was that great of a QB.

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints, 2006 Season

In a move that not many football fans might remember, well, maybe if you’re not a Saints fan, in 2006 the New Orleans Saints led by coach Sean Payton decided to take a chance on a QB coming out of the former San Diego Chargers, now in LA, who was coming from a torn labrum injury in the last week of the 2005 season to try and bring his team around. That QB was none other than Saints legend and one of the bonafide legends of the game, Drew Brees.

After seeing his career stock plummet because of his injury and with the Chargers deciding to give the reigns of the team to Phillip Rivers, Brees hit the free agency market and was snagged by a Saints team looking for a savior in the illest of times. While the city of New Orleans was battling with the aftermath of what Hurricane Katrina had done with their hometown, Brees came in and took the team and the city under his wing and lifted everyone around, leading his team to an NFC title game. What came afterward in Brees’ career is very well documented but that first season with the Saints will always be remembered as one in which New Orleans landed the best free agent in NFL history and started to turn everything around in their favor.

There is a group of events in the NFL that seem to hold a special kind of importance over everything else surrounding each ongoing season. There’s the beginning of the preseason, kickoff day, the first day of the playoffs, and the Super Bowl of course. Those are all days that NFL fans always pinpoint in their calendars, especially for their NFL odds betting purposes. But there’s one more date that has become a pivotal mark in each team’s and fans’ calendar, the NFL draft day.

In each off-season, some of the absolute best football prospects from college football state their cases as to why they should be given an opportunity by any of the pro teams in the league to continue their football playing career but this time in the pros. Now, of course, a lot of buzzes usually surrounds who gets picked within the first five to ten picks, but as history has shown us, that doesn’t necessarily mean that every single player picked there will automatically have a flourishing and long-lasting career in the pros. This is why, sometimes, it’s more important and exciting to end up seeing which players who get passed up by teams early on end up becoming bonafide stars of the sport and legends within their teams.

With this said, we bring you our picks for some of the biggest and best NFL draft steals in history.

Tom Brady (6^th round pick, 2000 Draft)

When thinking about the best athletes to ever grace a sporting discipline, there are some easy examples to think of that don’t require that much discussion. For example, basketball has Michael Jordan, golf has Tiger Woods, hockey has Wayne Gretzky, and pro football, well pro football has Tom Brady. Brady, who entered the league from the University of Michigan was not picked in the first round of the 2000 Draft, not even in the 3^rd or 4^th rounds, he was picked back in the 6^th round of that year’s draft.

Yes, we’re not joking. Tom Brady, the winningest QB in football history, who will most likely be the only QB in the league to manage to win over five Super Bowl rings, he has seven already and could easily finish his career off edging closer to the 10 mark than anything else, almost went unselected until the New England Patriots, with emerging head coach Bill Belichick took a chance on the former Wolverine to have him be the substitute to their starting QB Drew Bledsoe. As you all probably know, the rest is history, and after 7 Super Bowl wins with New England and Tampa Bay, the other 31 teams in the league to this day are still probably banging their heads against the wall for not having picked that QB from Michigan back in 2000.

Joe Montana (3^rd round pick, 1979 Draft)

Before there was any talk about if Tom Brady was the NFL’s GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) many football fans and experts wouldn’t hesitate to give former 49ers and Chiefs legendary QB Joe Montana that honor. Montana, who was a 3^rd round draft pick steal by the San Francisco 49ers went on to become one of the most polarizing players in the ‘80s alongside who is arguably the best wide receiver to ever play the game, Jerry Rice.

While for many critics Montana was not the best all-around QB in the game, it was during the most important and defining games where he showed off his best performances. With four Super Bowl wins and three Super Bowl MVP awards to his name, it’s easy to see why Joe Montana is not only considered one of the best QB’s to ever play the game, but also one of the best players to ever grace the gridiron.

Richard Sherman (5^th round pick, 2011 Draft)

Any true football fan remembers Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense. The group, composed of players such as Kam Chancellor, Brandon Browner, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, and Byron Maxwell to name a few, has one more player, who could easily be considered the most vocal, the most intense, and one of the leaders of the gang, cornerback Richard Sherman. 

Sherman, who was drafted by Seattle in the 5^th round of the 2011 draft went on to become one of the absolute best players in his position in the NFL in the 2010s, leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl win in the 2013 season against the Denver Broncos which were considered by many as the best passing offense in the league and one of the best all-around offenses in the history of the NFL. While Sherman later moved on to the 49ers and is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his stint with Seattle, where he established himself as one of the best cornerbacks to ever play the game, especially after having to wait for five rounds in his draft to get selected is enough to prove that sometimes you shouldn’t sleep on any player.

• New research from PlayUSA finds the players who give more bang for their buck.
• Salary to performance ratio finds Dallas Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott to be the most cost-effective QB, with a cost of $28,902 per touchdown.
• Survey finds Tom Brady to be the most ‘overvalued’ player in the league, according to fans.

The astronomical salaries of sports stars across the world is constantly under the scrutiny of fans and the media, and none more so than the National Football League (NFL). The income that sports like these gather means that their players are inevitably paid huge sums for their service, but is this reflected by their performance?

PlayUSA have compared the key stats for every NFL player with their wages to find the most cost-effective players. From the amount Eli Manning is paid per touchdown pass to the price of every sack DeMarcus Lawrence makes for the Cowboys, this interactive tool shows it all. Our research has also compiled each teams statistics to determine how well the most and least frugal teams perform.

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Quarterbacks

In our survey, Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning were top when asked who the ‘unsung’ heroes of the league were, but who were last season’s most cost-efficient QBs?

• Cost-Effective Cowboys – Dak Prescott threw for an impressive 22 touchdowns in an otherwise unimpressive season for the Cowboys. His low salary gave him a score of $28,902 per touchdown.
• Unsung Rodgers? With a salary exceeding $20 million, Packers’ Aaron Rodgers isn’t as undervalued as fans think, costing over $1.2 million per touchdown.

Wide Receivers

This season, Odell Beckham has become the highest paid wide-receiver, but in an injury-plagued season for Beckham, which receiver gave teams the most value?

• Runaway Robby – New York Jets receiver Robby Anderson’s 7 touchdowns at a cost of $77,619 per score makes him the most cost-effective wide-receiver in the league.
• High score Hopkins – No player got close to the Texans’ scorecard in 2017, but with a salary of $18 million, his cost-to-performance ranks worse than his peers.
• Frivolous Falcons – Often considered as the best wide-receiver in the league, Julio Jones made more yards than any player, but made a mere 3 touchdowns at a cost of $4.6 million per score.

Tight Ends

Fans often regard the likes of Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen as the league’s best tight-ends, but who offers the best return on investment?

• Cash-cow Kroft – Bengals tight-end Tyler Kroft made 7 touchdowns from 42 of his receptions last season, and with a modest salary he ranks as the most cost-effective TE.
• Million Dollar Man – Jimmy Graham’s 10 touchdowns last year for the Seahawks gave him a cost-per-score ratio of $1 million.

Running Backs

For the league’s running backs, we’ve compared salary to both touchdowns and yards per game to find the most economical throughout the league.

• The Saint of New Orleans – With an impressive 13 touchdowns and 45.5 yards on average per game, Alvin Kamara comes out as the most cost efficient RB in the league.
• The Price of Ivory – With only 2 touchdowns all year, Jaguars’ Chris Ivory ranks as the least cost-effective with a value of nearly $3 million.

Defensive

Linebackers (OLB/ILB)

Defense will almost always be considered as the true unsung heroes of the sport, but who’s cheap salary and high performance has gone under the radar?

• Big Tackling Burgess – Cleveland Browns Linebackers James Burgess cost his team less than any other, with a cost-per-tackle score of $10,568 for the season.
• Tackling Teammates – Fellow Browns’ star Chris Kirksey made a mammoth 86 tackles last season, but his $5 million salary means he’s not as cost-effective as his colleague.

Defensive Backs (Safety/Cornerbacks)

Much of the work of the defensive backs goes unseen, but without them many teams would be at a loss. These are the players that do their utmost to earn their keep:

• Top scorer across the board – Kevin Byard of the Tennessee Titans outperforms everyone in the strong safety rankings, with the most interceptions (8) and the lowest cost per action score. $105,354.
• Leading the Charge – Los Angeles Chargers free-safety Tre Boston made 56 tackles and 5 interceptions last year, making him one of the most cost-effective defensive players in the ranks.

Defensive Line

Defensive ends and tackles are typically some of the biggest and strongest men in the sport, but who among them pulls their weight in terms of performance.

• Sack City – Jaguars defensive-end Yannick Ngakoue made 12 sacks and 24 tackles putting him in one of the top spots for return on investment in the defensive line.
• Defensive Dallas – Cowboy’s defensive tackle David Irving brings home a comparatively low salary of $470,000, completing 7 sacks, 13 tackles and 1 forced fumble in the regular season.

Specialists

If any aspect of the game is truly overlooked, it’s the special teams. These positions can often win games, but at what cost?

• Bolting in Baltimore – Ravens Kick-return Alex Collins averages 27.4 yards on every return which, when compared against his salary, comes at the price of $18,549 per average yard.
• The Kansas Kicker – Harrison Butker boasts a strong field goal % with 38 made out of 42 and ranks as the most cost-effective kicker in our ranks.

The study found that 81% of fans believe that better performance warrants better pay, and while some teams seem to be stepping up to the mark, others are lagging behind. You can find how your favourite team or player score in the interactive tool here.