Sometimes, a change of scenery is all an NFL player needs in order to go from reserve slash or practice squad to bona fide star. We saw it with Steve Young, Johnny Unitas and Brett Favre.
Regarding active NFL players, there is no shortage of players who made the inspirational jump from benchwarmer to star after switching teams. You know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
With that said, let’s dive into 10 active NFL players who became stars on a new team after serving as a benchwarmer with their old team.
Haason Reddick
The Arizona Cardinals drafted the Temple linebacker with the No. 13 selection in 2017. For the first three years of his career, it looked like Reddick was bound to be a bust.
He only started 20 games over his first three years, playing just 42 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in his rookie season. Finally, Reddick began putting it together in 2020 when he recorded career-highs in sacks with 12.5 and in forced fumbles with six.
Reddick signed a one-year “prove it” deal with the Carolina Panthers in 2011 and had 11 sacks and two forced fumbles. But Reddick truly hit “superstar” mode after signing a three-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022 free agency.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Reddick tallied 16 sacks — tied with Myles Garrett for second-most behind only Nick Bosa — and five forced fumbles, which tied Alex Highsmith for the league lead.
Reddick propelled the Eagles to a Super Bowl 57 appearance, where they narrowly fell to the Kansas City Chiefs due to a controversial defensive holding call on James Bradberry. Otherwise, Reddick and the Eagles could’ve been celebrating championship glory by now.
Regardless, Reddick is an inspirational story and reminder that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. His first three seasons were disappointing, but he has officially entered superstar territory.
Better late than never!
Jimmy Garoppolo
The New England Patriots’ 2014 second-round pick spent three-and-a-half years as Tom Brady’s backup in Foxborough, winning Super Bowl rings in the 2014 and 2016 seasons.
But with Brady continuously defying father time, the Patriots decided to deal Garoppolo in his contract year to the San Francisco 49ers ahead of the 2017 trade deadline. Needless to say, the trade worked out well for both clubs.
Jimmy G won all five of his starts in 2017 and cemented himself as the 49ers’ long-term starter. He suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 3 of the 2018 season but rebounded with a career year — helping the 49ers to 13 wins and a Super Bowl 54 appearance, where they narrowly fell to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Unfortunately, injuries once again hit Garoppolo and limited him to six games in 2020. The next year, he won nine of 15 starts and helped the 49ers to an unexpected NFC title game appearance, where they fell to the Los Angeles Rams.
When 49ers’ starting QB Trey Lance went down for the year with an ankle injury in Week 2 of the 2022 campaign, Garoppolo returned to starting duties and went 7-3 before suffering a season-ending foot injury. Garoppolo did his job while on the field, and Brock Purdy finished the season as the 49ers’ starter.
So over 57 games as a 49er, Jimmy G completed 67.6 percent of pass attempts for 82 yards and 42 touchdowns. He went 38-17-0 as the starter, and did we mention the two NFC title game appearances?
You can call it the Kyle Shanahan system all you want. But Garoppolo made himself at home nicely on the west coast. And his stellar play there led to him receiving a three-year deal from the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023 free agency.
Darren Waller
The Baltimore Ravens selected Waller in the sixth round — 204th overall – in the 2015 NFL Draft.
But Waller barely saw the field over his three years in Baltimore. Of course, it didn’t help that he was suspended for the entire 2017 season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
In 18 games for the Ravens, Waller recorded just 12 catches for 103 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He was cut in 2018 and later picked up by the Oakland Raiders. Finally, it all started coming together for Waller in 2019.
He broke out with 90 catches for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. A year later, Waller enjoyed a career year in which he logged 107 receptions for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns.
Injuries limited Waller to 20 games over the next two years, and he was traded to the New York Giants in the 2023 offseason. Regardless of how he fares there, Waller is a fun little underdog story: From benchwarmer in Baltimore to becoming a top-five tight end in the game with the Raiders.
Rasul Douglas
Douglas won a Super Bowl 52 ring with the Eagles in his rookie season. He made five starts and played in 48 percent of the team’s defensive snaps that year, though he’d see a slight increase in playing time over the next two years.
Douglas joined the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and wound up starting 11 games, though he didn’t make much of an impact. He then landed on the practice squad of the Raiders, Cardinals and Houston Texans in 2021 before getting picked up by the Green Bay Packers, who were dealing with injuries in the secondary.
Douglas emerged as a star in Green Bay’s secondary, racking up five picks and 13 pass defenses in just 12 games. This included a game-winning INT in the end zone of the Packers’ Week 8 Thursday night game against the previously-undefeated Cardinals.
Per Pro Football Reference, Douglas yielded just a 50.0 percent completion percentage when targeted. As well, opposing QBs had a horrific 44.5 passer rating when throwing in Douglas’ direction — and Pro Football Focus graded him at 74.8 on the year.
Douglas’ reward? A three-year contract extension worth $21 million in the 2022 offseason. From benchwarmer to practice squad journeyman to a standout alongside Jaire Alexander in the Green Bay secondary, Douglas has quite the feel-good underdog NFL story to tell
Micah Hyde
Through his four seasons with the Packers, Hyde saw 63 game appearances — but he only started 33 of them. A large portion of Hyde’s snaps also came on the special teams unit, too.
But when the Buffalo Bills signed Hyde as a free agent in 2017, everything began to change for the better. He racked up five interceptions and 13 pass defenses, helping the Bills to their first playoff appearance since 1999.
Hyde earned his first career Pro Bowl selection as well as a second-team all-pro nod. He has been one of football’s premier safeties ever since, helping transform the Bills into an AFC heavyweight alongside fellow defensive back stalwarts Jordan Poyer and Tre’Davious White.
Who’da thought back in 2017 that leaving a model Packers’ organization for the Bills of all teams would lead to a positive career change for Hyde?
Wyatt Teller
It took the Bills just one season, well, eight games to be exact, for them to decide they’d seen enough of Teller — a standout guard at Virginia Tech that they drafted in round five at No. 166 overall in 2018.
Suffice to say, the Bills surely have regrets over giving up so quickly.
Shortly before the 2019 season, the Bills traded Teller and a 2021 seventh-rounder to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for 2020 fifth and sixth-round picks. It looked like a minor transaction at the time, but it turned out to be a massive win for a Cleveland team that really doesn’t get a lot of them.
Teller has been a rock on Cleveland’s o-line, earning Pro Bowl nods in 2021 and 2022 as well as second-team all-pro honors in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Teller played a monumental role in helping Cleveland a) end an 18-year playoff drought and b) win their first postseason game since 1994.
Jordan Poyer
Nevermind finding ONE stud safety from the benchwarmer crowd. The Bills deploy TWO of them.
The Eagles used a 2013 seventh-round selection — 218th overall — on Oregon State safety Jordan Poyer. He barely saw the field in Philly and was subsequently waived and picked up by the Browns.
But of the 45 games he played over four years in Cleveland, Poyer only started 10 of them. He simply didn’t make an impact in Cleveland, so it was a bit surprising when the Bills gave Poyer a multi-year deal in 2017 free agency.
Hindsight is 20/20, but NOW we see why the Bills did it.
Like Hyde, Poyer emerged as a star in Buffalo in 2017, recording five interceptions and 13 pass defenses. And like Hyde, the 2021 first-team all-pro and 2020 Pro Bowler has been one of football’s elite safeties since coming to Buffalo.
This, folks, is a major reason why the Bills made the jump from laughing stock to heavyweight under GM Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott. They spot gold when others don’t, as evidenced by the Poyer and Hyde signings following their benchwarmer days.
Quandre Diggs
Diggs spent his first four-and-a-half years with the Detroit Lions, and he was mostly used as a rotational piece at cornerback and safety. In all, Diggs suited up for 65 teams as a Lion and started 40 of them.
Ahead of the 2019 trade deadline, the Lions sent Diggs and a 2021 seventh-rounder to the Seattle Seahawks for the low price of a 2020 fifth-round pick. And what a move it has been for Pete Carroll and company.
Diggs earned Pro Bowl nods over each of his first three full seasons in Seattle — helping them to the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2022. From 2020 to 2022, he recorded 24 pass defenses and 14 interceptions.
The Seahawks have received mixed results from fellow safety Jamal Adams since acquiring him from the New York Jets in 2020. But Diggs’ rise from benchwarmer to a merely average starter to a big-time star in Seattle has certainly made Adams’ inconsistent play an afterthought in Emerald City.
Trey Hendrickson
Hendrickson was part of the New Orleans Saints’ stacked 2017 draft class that produced not one, but five stars in cornerback Marshon Lattimore, running back Alvin Kamara, offensive tackle Ryan Ramcyzk and safety Marcus Williams.
Hendrickson, of course, was the ate-ish bloomer among the group. He didn’t make a single start in his rookie or sophomore years and wound up starting only three games in 2019. Over those three years, Hendrickson tallied just 6.5 sacks.
But Hendrickson broke out in his contract year in 2020, recording a career-high 13.5 sacks. Believing it was no fluke, the Cincinnati Bengals handed Hendrickson a four-year deal worth $60 million in free agency.
Hendrickson indeed proved it was no fluke, tallying a new career year with 14 sacks and three forced fumbles. Hendrickson helped the Bengals to a stunning Super Bowl 56 appearance, where they narrowly fell to the Los Angeles Rams.
Hendrickson continued his stardom for the Bengals in 2022, earning a second straight Pro Bowl nod after recording eight sacks, three pass defenses and as many forced fumbles. The Bengals went back to the AFC title game, dropping a heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Once upon a time, Hendrickson was a backup player in New Orleans. Now he’s one of the game’s best edge rushers…on one of football’s premier clubs in Cincinnati.
Shaq Barrett
The local Colorado state product joined the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2014, but he didn’t see a single snap in his rookie year.
Over the next four years, Barrett saw 61 game appearances — but he was only a starter for 15 of them. And he played less than 50 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in three of his four years with the Broncos.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed the Super Bowl 50 champion in 2019 free agency, and little did the NFL world know what was coming next. All Barrett did that year was lead the NFL in sacks with 19.5…plus six forced fumbles and an interception.
Barrett recorded eight sacks in 2020 and helped the Bucs to a Super Bowl 55 championship, harassing Patrick Mahomes all night long in the big game. Barrett earned his second Pro Bowl nod in 2021 after recording 10 sacks, four pass defenses and three forced fumbles.
Barrett was a rotational backup player during his tenure in Denver. Then he became one of the game’s most feared pass-rushers in Tampa Bay.
Well, life is like a free agent signing in football. You never know what you’re gonna get.
Which other NFL players went from a benchwarmer on one team to a star with another?
