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American Football is perhaps the sport most similar to the gladiatorial contest of yore. Career-ending injuries are frequent and the average NFL career is 3.3 years. Most of those who suffer such career-ending injuries, by their very definition, never make it back. But there are those players who stare down at such adverse odds. They change the very definition of career-ending injuries into just an obstacle instead of a permanent cessation. Here are some of the greatest comebacks from injuries that would have otherwise ended the careers of mere mortals.
#1 - Alex Smith, QB, Washington Football Team
First up on our list is the current recipient of the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. On 18 November 2018, Houston Texans duo of J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson sacked Alex Smith. What followed thereafter was the stuff of nightmares. Smith suffered spiral and compound fractures in his tibia and fibula. After the initial surgery, he developed necrotizing fasciitis resulting in sepsis. At one point, amputation of his leg was a real possibility. After 17 further surgeries Smith returned in Week 5 of the 2020 season to cap off a remarkable recovery.
#2 - William Andrews, RB, Atlanta Falcons
William Andrews was a star running back for the Atlanta Falcons and was named an All-Pro during the 1983 season. However, in the 1984 pre-season, he damaged all his ligaments in his left knee. The injury was so bad that it cost him two seasons. His return to the 1986 season was much more diminished than before, but the fact that he could come back from a potential career-ending injury was miraculous enough.
#3 - Robert Edwards, RB, New England Patriots
Robert Edwards, unlike others on this list, suffered career-ending injuries playing beach football. He tore his ACL, MCL and PCL and doctors considered amputation as an option. He suffered the seemingly career-ending njury at the end of his rookie year in 1998 and had to spend three years away from football before returning in 2002 with the Miami Dolphins. In his first game, he scored two touchdowns.
#4 - Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants
Victor Cruz tore his patellar tendons in the 2014 season and missed the entirety of it. While that in itself was a possible career-ending injury, his comeback attempt in 2015 was scuttled by another calf injury that required him to have another operation. He finally made it back in the 2016 season and in the Giants' opening game against the Dallas Cowboys, he scored the game-winning touchdown.
#5 - NaVorro Bowman, LB, San Franciso 49ers
NaVorro Bowman was an integral member of the San Francisco 49ers team that made the NFC Championship game in three straight seasons from 2011 to 2013, winning the 2012 edition. He tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee in the 2013 game against the Seattle Seahawks. It caused him to miss the entire 2014 season and the damage was considered a potentially career-ending injury. But Bowman returned in 2015 to have a stellar year, finishing with a league-leading 154 tackles.
