ATLANTA — In 2000, Antowain Smith, a running back who had been the Buffalo Bills’ first-round draft pick three years earlier, was unceremoniously cut by the team. Smith had been buried on the Bills’ bench. The Patriots already had two, young homegrown running backs, so what kind of chance would they give a veteran discarded by the second-rate Bills? Smith became the first conspicuous castoff to end up playing a prominent role in a Patriots championship. In New England’s first Super Bowl victory in 2002, it was Smith — not the St. Louis Rams star Marshall Faulk — who became the game’s leading rusher, with 92 yards.

Source: New York Times February 02, 2019 10:01 UTC