The NFL doesn’t really break everyone—surely there’s been the odd kicking specialist who’s made it through a career unscathed. The rest, however, this league does tend to fold, spindle and mutilate.
Let us lift our glasses high, then, to the Lazari—the plural of Lazarus—who have endured extraordinary despair and bounced back to reclaim, resuscitate and otherwise resurrect their careers. Overlooked and underappreciated, counted out and cut, they are survivors of the injury list and the waiver wire, possessed of equal measures talent and resilience. They are also, it turns out, more common than you might realize.
Sam Bradford was dapper in a muted blue suit with a tasteful windowpane pattern.