In the NFL, Out, then Back in NFL Question

So, I'm working on updating my "Where Are They Now?" list of all Rams rookies since 2000. It's one of my off-season projects. No reason to do it except it gives me something to do and it satisfies my love of digging for information. It's fun and interesting to learn something about these guys that I didn't know before.

Anyhow, I got to Stedman Bailey who, as you all know, was shot in the head multiple times in November 2015 and hasn't played in a game since then. He's been out of the league since 2016. There's a message he posted last month on his twitter page where he states that he is training to return to the NFL. Not to squash his dreams or anything but I just don't see it happening. For one, he's been off the field too long. It's not that unusual to be out for a year, two years tops (Andrew Luck). But anything longer than that and I think the odds drop drastically although I have no numbers to back that up.

So it got me to wondering: "Has there ever been a player who played in the NFL, then left the NFL for whatever reason (military service, injury, prison, business venture, etc) and was away from the game more than 2 years, then successfully returned to the NFL? Don't count guys who played for the Arena League, CFL or some other kind of football league.

I can't think of anyone who has done that. Can you? If so who?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2019 02:38PM by MamaRAMa.