NFL: 30 running backs who got better after leaving their first team
After a great college career at the University of Georgia, Garrison Hearst was selected by the then-Phoenix Cardinals (who became the Arizona Cardinals the following season) in 1993.
Things didn’t look great for him early on, as he only ran the ball 113 times in the first two seasons in the NFL. He did have his breakout campaign in 1995, going for 1,070 rushing yards and a touchdown.
But the Cardinals were ready to move on, cutting him that offseason. The Cincinnati Bengals took a flyer on him and he went for a productive 847 yards. He left again for the San Francisco 49ers, where Hearst finally took off.
He went for 1,019 yards in 1997 and followed that up with a career-high season of 1,570 yards (third in the league that year) and seven touchdowns, including a 96-yard score. Things took an awful turn in the postseason that next year when he injured his leg against the Atlanta Falcons.
Hearst’s career was in major jeopardy following surgery, where he was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, which caused major complications with his foot. He missed two entire seasons, with a 50/50 shot that he’d ever play again. Fortunately, Hearst was able to make a miraculous comeback, rejoining the 49ers for the 2001 NFL season.
No one knew what to expect, let alone to see Hearst going for 1,206 yards on 252 carries, playing the entire season. Not only was he the runaway NFL Comeback Player of the Year, but Hearst was also awarded a trip to the Pro Bowl as well.
His production slowly dipped in the latter stages of his career, but he remained a solid contributor to the team. He finished his NFL career with almost 8,000 total rushing yards. This is even more impressive considering that Hearst missed two years of his prime due to injury.
Hearst might have started as a potential “bust” candidate early on in his career, but he ended up being an inspirational story as a football player in how he came back from a gruesome leg injury that tried to derail his NFL story.