Making it to the NFL is no small feat; it takes years of training and dedication… and even then, it is no guarantee that an individual will get the right opportunity to launch their career. There is a reason that so much attention is fixated on the short lifespan of NFL players—because it is a cold, hard reality. But on the bright side, we have seen a number of NFL players over the years go from absolute nobodies to household names based solely on their performance in one postseason.
It may not be the kind of stuff to sustain an entire career… but many of these guys bought an extra year or two—and became legends in their cities forever.
Let’s take a look back at 10 unknown NFL players who became stars!
Which NFL players became bonafide stars in the postseason?
Scotty Miller, Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR
Scotty Miller might not have the star power of Mike Evans or Chris Godwin, but for one pivotal moment in the 2020 NFC Championship Game, he was the guy. With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clinging to a slim lead against the Green Bay Packers and time winding down in the first half, Miller delivered a play that tilted the game—and, arguably, the entire NFL postseason—in Tampa’s favor.
On 4th-and-4, with just eight seconds remaining in the half, Tom Brady unleashed a deep ball down the sideline. Miller turned on the afterburners, blazing past Packers cornerback Kevin King to haul in a 39-yard touchdown pass. The play gave the Buccaneers an 11-point lead at halftime and crushed Green Bay’s momentum heading into the locker room.
Miller’s speed was his calling card, and it was on full display that day. The Bucs rode that momentum to a 31-26 victory and a berth in Super Bowl LV.
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While he didn’t have a flashy stat line in the Super Bowl, Miller was no doubt a huge part of the postseason story for Tampa.
Phil Simms, New York Giants QB
The 1986 New York Giants were all about their defense. Lawrence Taylor was an unstoppable force, the secondary was stingy, and they completely stifled opponents in the playoffs. But when Super Bowl XXI rolled around, it wasn’t LT or Carl Banks stealing the show—it was quarterback Phil Simms.
Simms wasn’t exactly known for lighting up the scoreboard, but on the biggest stage of his career, he delivered one of the most precise and efficient performances in Super Bowl history.
The man was locked in. Simms completed an insane 22-of-25 passes—a record 88% completion rate—for 268 yards and three touchdowns. When you have as many touchdown passes as incompletions—that’s when you know you are playing on another level.
The Denver Broncos had no answer for Simms, as he dissected their defense and kept the chains moving all game long. The Giants cruised to a 39-20 victory, capturing their first Super Bowl title in franchise history.
Malcolm Butler, New England Patriots CB
Sometimes, a single moment is all it takes to etch your name into NFL immortality. That’s exactly what Malcolm Butler did in Super Bowl XLIX, delivering one of the most iconic plays in football history.
Let’s set the scene: The Seattle Seahawks were on New England’s 1-yard line, down by four points with 26 seconds left in the game. It looked like Marshawn Lynch would punch it in and hand the Seahawks their second consecutive Super Bowl win.
But for reasons still largely debated to this day, Seattle decided to pass.
Russell Wilson dropped back, fired a quick slant to Tyler Lockette, and then… BOOM. Butler, an undrafted rookie who started the game on the bench, stepped in front of the throw, picked it off, and sealed the Patriots’ victory.
The play was as clutch as it gets. Butler’s instincts and preparation paid off at the perfect moment, and his interception remains one of the most replayed highlights in Super Bowl history. He didn’t just win the game for New England; he cemented himself as an NFL postseason legend—and built a very nice career for himself of that performance.
Tom Fears, Los Angeles Rams WR
Here is an old-timey one for y’all! Bet some of you didn’t know this, but the 1950 Rams were really the original greatest show on turf… hold the turf! And they still hold the single-season record for average points per game at 38.8, as they led the NFL in virtually every offensive category that year.
However, once the postseason rolled around, they were somewhat held in check in the divisional playoff game against the Chicago Bears, scoring a relatively tame 24 points. Quarterback Bob Waterfield threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns, but it was wide receiver Tom Fears doing the majority of the damage and establishing himself as an early NFL postseason star.
Fears caught seven passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, which still stands as one of the best statistical performances by a receiver in postseason history. The Rams advanced to the Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns.
Desmond Howard, Green Bay Packers KR
If there’s one thing the 1996 Green Bay Packers proved, it’s that special teams can win championships. And no one embodied that more than Desmond Howard in Super Bowl XXXI.
Howard, already a Heisman Trophy winner and standout return man, put on an absolute clinic against the New England Patriots. He returned four kickoffs for 154 yards, including a 99-yard touchdown that effectively sealed the game in the third quarter. Oh, and let’s not forget his six punt returns for 90 yards, bringing his total to a Super Bowl-record 244 return yards.
Howard’s contributions weren’t just flashy—they were game-changing. The Packers rode his momentum to a 35-21 victory, and he became the first—and still only—special teams player to win Super Bowl MVP honors. And don’t forget, he did it all postseason long, totaling 487 return yards and two scores. Video game-like numbers!
While his career as a receiver never took off the way Green Bay had hoped, that postseason run validated Howard’s entire existence in the NFL, which unfortunately otherwise failed to meet the hype that surrounded him entering the league after winning the Heisman.
Frank Reich, Buffalo Bills QB
Frank Reich’s name might not resonate with casual fans, but if you bring up “The Comeback” to any die-hard NFL aficionado, they’ll know exactly who you’re talking about.
In the 1992 playoffs, Reich stepped in for the injured Jim Kelly and led the Buffalo Bills in a game that’s still considered the greatest comeback in NFL history. Down 35-3 to the Houston Oilers in the third quarter, it looked like Buffalo’s season was over. But Reich didn’t get the memo.
He orchestrated an unbelievable rally, throwing four touchdown passes and leading the Bills to a 41-38 overtime victory. The comeback wasn’t just improbable—it was historic.
Reich wasn’t done, though. He followed it up the next week with another strong performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing 16-of-23 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns to send the Bills to their third straight Super Bowl.
The bulk of Reich’s regular season career was as a backup, but his postseason heroics that year made him a legend in Buffalo and one of the NFL’s most unforgettable playoff performers.
Larry Brown, Dallas Cowboys CB
There were a lot of Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s that got WAY more attention than cornerback Larry Brown, but the performance he delivered during the 1995 NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl XXX—made him a star to Cowboys fans.
This was a team with bonafide Hall of Famers all over the roster, with stars like Troy Aikman at quarterback, Deion Sanders opposite him as the other corner, and Emmitt Smith at running back. The list goes on and on.
The playmaker—Michael Irvin! You get the point…
Anyway, Larry Brown existed in the background of the Cowboys story all season—and in the shadows of fellow cornerback Deion Sanders, but he emerged as the hero and a star in that year’s Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Brown intercepted a pass in the third quarter and returned it 44 yards to set up a one-yard Emmitt Smith rushing touchdown.
Then followed that up with a second interception with four minutes left in the game, returning it 38 yards to set up another Smith touchdown, which clinched the victory.
And keep in mind, this was against Neil O’Donnell, a quarterback with one of the lowest interception rates in NFL history at the time.
He may not go down in the history books the way some of his teammates did, but he’ll always have that ‘95 playoff run—and the unique distinction of being the first cornerback to ever take home Super Bowl MVP Honors.
Tim Tebow, Denver Broncos QB
Honestly, this is a tricky one because, in many ways, Tim Tebow was already a star off the field thanks to his larger-than-life personality and the massive following he gained during college… and in a weird way, the epic performance he put forth to win the 2011 AFC Wild Card the Denver Broncos also threw a massive ripple into his career because the avalanche of attention that followed.
It was one of the biggest upsets and in some people’s eyes, biggest flukes in NFL postseason history, but by channeling some mysterious forces, Tim Tebow, one of the NFL’s worst passers managed to scrape the NFL’s number-one ranked defense in the Wild Card game.
Tebow completed just 10 of 21 passes, but they went for 316 yards and two touchdowns, including an insane game-winning 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas during overtime.
The NFL was already all hopped up on Tebow Mania… but after this game, it really went berserk. Tebow, however, got boxed out of Denver when the Broncos were able to bring in Peyton Manning—and the circus that followed him left him with few options from that point on—forcing him to settle for an ill-fated role with the Jets.
So, while his star went supernova during the 2011 postseason, it also presented some serious challenges for him in the long term.
Vernon Perry, Houston Oilers S
They may not have completed a run to the Super Bowl, but Vernon Perry’s performance in the 1979 AFC Divisional round match-up with Dan Fouts and the Chargers was enough to make him a star.
And he did so as a 26 year old rookie—playing in the NFL for the first time after a stint in the CFL up north—only adding to the legend of the performance.
Perry intercepted Fouts, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, four times during the playoff game, tying a single-game record and also managed to block a field goal, which he returned 57 yards.
The Oilers beat the San Diego Chargers 17-14 despite playing without starting quarterback Dan Pastorini and running back Earl Campbell, the NFL MVP that season.
He followed that up with an interception against Terry Bradshaw and the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers on the opening drive of their AFC Championship showdown.
Houston may not have won it all that year… and Perry’s career did peak there, but still! The man supplanted himself in NFL lore, no doubt about it.
Timmy Smith, Washington Redskins RB
There are big-game performances, and then there’s what Timmy Smith pulled off in Super Bowl XXII—a jaw-dropping, record-shattering display that no one saw coming.
Not to mention his two other solid outings leading up to the final game of the season!
Keep in mind, this all came during the fifth-round pick’s rookie season, during which he carried the ball just 29 times…
But when the NFL postseason rolled around, the Redskins decided to roll the dice and hand him the keys to their ground game. And boy, did that gamble pay off.
Across the postseason, he tallied 342 yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries—a good chunk of which came on the grandest stage of them all, when Smith rushed 22 times for 204 yards and a touchdown, an average of more than nine yards per carry settings a single-game Super Bowl record.
Smith was a big part of the Redskins 35-point second quarter, which tilted the scales permanently as they defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10.
And yet, for all the glory of that night, Smith’s career turned out to be more of a flicker than a flame. He never came close to replicating that success, fading into NFL obscurity not long after. But you know what? For one unforgettable night, Timmy Smith wasn’t just a running back—he was a legend.
Some may call him a one-shot wonder, sure… but in our eyes—he is a postseason star in every sense of the expression!
