The term “one-hit wonder” is mostly used for singers, bands and musicians who became famous for one major song…and not a whole lot else. Think of “My Sharona” by The Knack, “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice and “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus.
But oh, it’s also the perfect term to summarize the careers of countless athletes — including NFL players. For many footballers, everything came together for one magical year — and then they unexpectedly tailed off the rest of the way.
Here is a dive into the 10 biggest one-hit wonders in the AFC.
Derek Anderson
Well, at least the Cleveland Browns thought they had a franchise quarterback for one year…
The Oregon State product was a sixth-round draft choice of the Baltimore Ravens in 2005. Before ever playing a snap for the club, however, Anderson was waived and picked up by the Browns.
Anderson saw limited action as a backup in 2006 but managed to win the Browns’ starting job in 2007, even over the highly-touted rookie Brady Quinn.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Anderson made the most of his first NFL starting opportunity, winning 10 of 15 starts while tossing 3,787 passing yards and 29 touchdowns against 19 interceptions. Anderson was named to his first Pro Bowl and nearly helped the Browns to a surprise playoff appearance, but they lost out via tiebreaker to the Tennessee Titans.
Anderson was never able to build off his career 2007 season, however. He lost six of nine starts in 2008 and endured another miserable year in 2009. A one-year stop with the Arizona Cardinals in 2010 did nothing to salvage his playing days as a starter, and Anderson went on to spend seven seasons as Cam Newton’s backup for the Carolina Panthers.
He started two games for the Buffalo Bills in 2018 before retiring from football altogether. To think that almost 50 percent of his 60 career TDs came in that one-year-wonder of a season that was 2007…
Tim Tebow
The way the media obsessed over Tim Tebow, you kids who didn’t watch him probably think he was a multi-time Pro Bowler or something. Not even close.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner led the Florida Gators to national championships in 2006 and ‘08. But there were a lot of questions about his ability to shine at the NFL level, hence why he was a late first-round pick to the Denver Broncos at No. 25 overall in 2010.
Tebow made three starts as a rookie, but veteran Kyle Orton opened 2011 as the starter. Following an ugly 1-and-4 start, Broncos head coach John Fox decided to bench Orton in favor of Tebow.
Tebow saved the Broncos season by rallying them to FIVE improbable fourth-quarter comebacks in 11 of his starts. He just kept coming up in the clutch and helped Denver to an 8-and-8 finish, which was enough to win the pathetic AFC West.
Consider this: Tebow completed 46.5 percent of pass attempts for 1,729 yards and 12 touchdowns against six interceptions. Yet it was still enough to help the Broncos end a six-year playoff drought.
Tebow-Mania continued in the Wild Card Round, with the Broncos stunning the 12-win and defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime on a walkoff Demaryius Thomas touchdown pass.
But the Broncos were crushed by the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round, and Tebow Time in Denver ended abruptly. He was traded to the New York Jets after the Broncos won the Peyton Manning free agent sweepstakes, serving as a utility player and backup QB to Mark Sanchez.
Tebow landed on the Patriots’ 2013 practice squad but never made the final roster. In 2021, the clown show that was Urban Meyer signed Tebow and tried using him as a tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars — but that obviously went nowhere.
Ah well. We’ll always have 2011 Tim Tebow. Thanks for those fond memories…and for giving ESPN a zillion hours of talking points!
Josh Gordon
You definitely feel for Gordon, who could have been a Hall of Famer if off-the-field issues and multiple suspensions didn’t cut into his career.
The Browns drafted the big and ultra-athletic Baylor wide receiver in 2012. After putting up 805 yards in his rookie year, Gordon went off as a sophomore — racking up 87 receptions for a league-leading 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns.
Sadly, Gordon was limited to five games in 2014 because of suspensions. Further off-the-field stuff kept him sidelined for the entirety of the 2015 and 2016 seasons, too.
In 2018, he was traded to the New England Patriots and showed signs of his All-Pro form by recording 720 yards in 11 games. Late in the season, he stepped away to focus on his mental health — though the Patriots kindly awarded him a Super Bowl 53 ring after defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the big game.
Gordon would return in 2019 and has bounced around the league. Unfortunately, the 2013 campaign will always be a flash-in-the-span season and not the start of a Hall of Fame career.
Steve Slaton
The 2006 Consensus All-American and West Virginia standout was drafted 89th overall by the Houston Texans in 2008. And for one year, it looked like Slaton would go down as one of the better draft steals in recent memory.
As a rookie, Slaton rushed for 1,282 yards and nine touchdowns. Only Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Clinton Portis and Thomas Jones finished with more rushing yards on the year than Slaton.
But the well-documented sophomore slump phenomenon hit Slaton hard in 2009. He struggled with ball security and fumbled a whopping seven times in just 11 games, having missed time late in the year because of a shoulder injury.
Slaton finished his sophomore year with just 437 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. In 2010, future superstar Arian Roster burst onto the scene and finished as the NFL’s rushing yards and rushing touchdowns leader.
That made Slaton expendable, and he was waived by the Texans in 2011. He joined the Miami Dolphins but saw just 17 carries in three games. Slaton was out of the NFL in short time and went on to sign with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL — where he spent one year before walking away from football.
Olandis Gary
The Broncos lost star running back Terrell Davis early in the 1999 season when he suffered a torn ACL that unfortunately plagued him the rest of his career. With the future Hall of Fame inductee sidelined for all but four games in ‘99, Olandis Gary relished his opportunity in Mile High City.
Gary, a fourth-round pick by the Broncos in 1999, turned heads when he rushed for 1,159 yards and seven touchdowns in his rookie year.
Sadly, Gary suffered a season-ending ACL tear after playing just one game in his sophomore 2000 season. He was limited to 35 total games over the next three years, never topping 384 rushing yards in a season following his rookie year.
Allen Hurns
The Jacksonville Jaguars once owned two stud receivers with the same first name: Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns. The former has several good seasons under his belt, but the other Allen was the true definition of a one-hit wonder.
In his 2015 sophomore year, Hurns went off with 64 receptions for 1,031 yards and 10 touchdowns. Robinson also enjoyed a career year as a sophomore, recording 1,400 receiving yards.
Not only did Hurns come anywhere close to putting up those numbers again, but he wasn’t even a steady WR2 option after 2015. He never hit 40 catches or even 500 receiving yards in a single season again — and he only had nine total touchdowns over his final four NFL seasons.
Hurns last played for the Miami Dolphins in 2019 and was out of the NFL for good soon after.
Gary Barnidge
Hey look! Yet another Cleveland Brown!
The Carolina Panthers drafted Barnidge in the fifth round — 141st overall — back in 2008. He made just 11 starts there over four seasons and eventually landed on the Cleveland Browns’ roster in 2013.
After two rather unproductive years, Barnidge suddenly turned in a career year in his age-30 season for a lowly Cleveland team. With the combination of Josh McCown, Johnny Manziel and Austin Davis as his QBs, Barnidge finished as the Browns’ leading receiver with 79 receptions for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns.
Barnidge was named to the Pro Bowl and awarded a three-year extension worth $12 million. If Barnidge could put up career numbers with that quarterback room, imagine what would happen next?
Ahem. Not a whole lot.
In 2016, Barnidge’s stat line dropped to 55 catches for 612 yards and two touchdowns. The Browns released him in the 2017 offseason, and rather surprisingly, no team gave Barnidge a second chance after that.
The harsh reality of being in the NFL. Barnidge had his two most productive seasons in what turned out to be his last two years in the NFL. And then he was out of the league by the age of 31.
At least he won the hearts of many fantasy football players in that 2015 season. Good times!
Drew Bennett
Through his first three seasons, Bennett never topped 504 yards in a single campaign and had seven total touchdown receptions. But once 2004 came, Bennett kicked in another gear and went superstar mode.
Bennett racked up 80 receptions for 1,247 yards and 11 touchdowns. He finished eighth in receiving yards in ‘04, even ahead of guys like Reggie Wayne, Donald Driver, Jimmy Smith, Andre Johnson, Marvin Harrison and Hines Ward…just to name a few.
Though Bennett missed six games in 2005, he still finished with a solid stat line of 58 catches for 738 yards and four touchdowns. After surpassing 700 yards again in 2006, Bennett signed a massive six-year contract with the St. Louis Rams worth $30 million.
It didn’t take long for the Rams to feel buyer’s remorse, to say the least. In ‘07, he caught only 33 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns. Bennett missed all but one game in 2008 because of a broken foot — leading to his release from the Rams.
In 2009, he signed with the Baltimore Ravens but opted to retire because of an ongoing knee injury.
Peyton Hillis
Last Cleveland Browns player on the list! We swear!
Many best remember Hillis for being the cover athlete of EA Sports’ “Madden 12” video game. It was a bit of a random selection at the time, but at least Hillis was coming off a career year in which he rushed for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns to go along with 66 catches for 477 yards and two touchdowns.
Just when it looked like Hillis looked like he was about to become a foundational piece on the Cleveland offense, the well-documented “Madden Curse” struck. Injuries limited Hillis to nine games in 2011, and he finished with 587 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
The Browns let Hillis walk to free agency, and he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012. He had just 309 rushing yards and one touchdown and then gave it a shot with the New York Giants for two years, recording 362 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his tenure there.
Hillis retired from football after the 2014 season, going down as an all-time one hit-wonder.
Ickey Woods
Woods is known for several things: Being a key cog of the 1988 Cincinnati Bengals team that reached Super Bowl 23…his legendary “Ickey Shuffle” dance and…of course…being a one-hit wonder.
Woods was drafted 31st overall by the Bengals in 1988. As a rookie, he went off for 1,066 yards and 15 touchdowns and helped Cincy to its second Super Bowl appearance — where they dropped a last-minute thriller to Joe Montana’s dynastic San Francisco 49ers.
Woods was also a machine in the Bengals’ playoff run, rushing for 307 yards and three touchdowns in three games. Sadly, Woods suffered a torn ACL in his sophomore 1989 season after playing just two games.
In those days, knee injuries were especially devastating and borderline career-ending for running backs. This was unfortunately the case for Woods, who played just two more seasons after the 1989 campaign before retiring from football.
Woods rushed for 1,066 yards as a rookie. The rest of the way, he had 459 total rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. And with that, we were all left wondering what could’ve been for Woods and the Bengals, who simply weren’t the same once he went down with the injury.
What other AFC one-hit wonders should we have included on our list?
