Tom Brady
Original career: 2000-2021 Time Spent Retired: 40 days Second career stint: 2022
75% upvoted
Sports & Games
NFL Players Who Came Out Of Retirement
Who is the best NFL player to ever come out of retirement? These athletes who came out of retirement were among the best NFL players in their heydays. For that reason, after stepping away from the game momentarily, that fire burning inside these retired athletes' guts simply wouldn't let these NFL legends quit. Over the years, plenty of NFL stars have retired only to change their minds shortly after, including some of the best NFL players of all time. Who is the best NFL player to come out of retirement? Which NFL players had the best comeback careers? Most recently, one the best players in the NFL right now, superstar quarterback Tom Brady, returned to the game after a very brief hiatus. Only a couple years before Brady, his longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski came out of retirement to lace them up once more and helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV. NFL greats like Jason Witten, Marshawn Lynch and Eric Weddle have all made comeback attempts in the past few years as well, with Weddle winning Super Bowl LVI as a member of the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. Vote up the best NFL players who came out of retirement.
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Source: Ranker, ranked by its voters.
1 2 Rob Gronkowski
Original career: 2010–2018 Time Spent Retired: 18 months Second career stint: 2020 - 2022
75% upvoted3 Randy Moss
Original career: 1998–2010 Time Spent Retired: 5 months Second career stint: 2012
74% upvoted4 Deion Sanders
Original career: 1989–2000 Time Spent Retired: 3 years Second career stint: 2004–2005
74% upvoted5 Reggie White
Original career: 1984–1998 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 2000
71% upvoted6 Marshawn Lynch
Original career: 2007–2015 Time Spent Retired: 14 months Second career stint: 2017–2019
67% upvoted7 Brett Favre
Original career: 1991 - 2008 Time Spent Retired: 1 offseason Second career stint: 2009-2010
64% upvoted8 Ed "Too Tall" Jones
Original career: 1974–1978 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 1980–1989
63% upvoted9 Randall Cunningham
Original career: 1985–1995 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 1997–2001
63% upvoted10 Jason Witten
Original career: 2003–2017 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 2019–2021
60% upvoted11 Eric Weddle
Original career: 2007 - 2019 Time Spent Retired: 2 years Second career stint: 2021 - 2022
56% upvoted12 Charles Haley
Original career: 1986 - 1996 Time Spent Retired: 2 years Second career stint: 1999
57% upvoted13 Bronko Nagurski
Original career: 1930–37 Time Spent Retired: 5 years Second career stint: 1943
52% upvoted14 John Riggins
Original career: 1971–1979 Time Spent Retired: 11 months Second career stint: 1981–1985
51% upvoted15 Ricky Williams
Original career: 1999–2003 Time Spent Retired: 13 months Second career stint: 2005–2011
45% upvoted16 Steve DeBerg
Original career: 1977–1993 Time Spent Retired: 4 years Second career stint: 1998
45% upvoted17 Anthony Davis
Original career: 2010–2014 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 2016
40% upvoted18 Kyle Emanuel
Original career: 2015–2018) Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 2020
30% upvoted19 Maxie Baughan
Original career: 1960–1970 Time Spent Retired: 3 years Second career stint: 1974
25% upvoted20 Bill Hewitt
Original career: 1932–1939 Time Spent Retired: 3 years Second career stint: 1943
24% upvoted21 Ross Brupbacher
Original career: 1970-1972 Time Spent Retired: 3 years Second career stint: 1976
22% upvoted22 Rolando McClain
Original career: 2010–2012 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 2014–2015
18% upvoted23 Rueben Mayes
Original career: 1986–1991 Time Spent Retired: 1 year Second career stint: 1992–1993
14% upvoted