The NFL has experienced several one-hit-wonder seasons. These are few and far between across the annals of league history. However, years after they took place, it's always fun to go back and relive these surprising seasons.
For the Denver Broncos, several of these seasons have involved players on the team. That includes former players for the team who went on to have a shocking season in a different uniform.
Here is a look at three Broncos players and two former players who had some of the biggest one-hit-wonder seasons in NFL history.
Denver Broncos, former Broncos have some of the most surprising seasons ever
Olandis Gary, RB, 1999
When Terrell Davis went down with a season-ending injury in 1999, the defending two-time Super Bowl champions were forced to turn to rookie running back Olandis Gary.
Gary was selected in the fourth round out of Georgia that year, but the Broncos didn't plan on having to use him as much as they did. Forced into action, Gary was fantastic. That, or Mike Shanahan's run scheme was just that good.
Gary carried the ball 276 times for 1,159 yards and seven touchdowns. However, Gary never came close to putting up those kinds of numbers again. That didn't stop the Detroit Lions from giving him a free-agent deal in 2003, but he ended up playing in just 13 games for them and his career was over following that season.
Key stat
Rushing yards in 1999: 1,159
Rushing yards rest of career (4 seasons): 839
Brandon Lloyd, WR, 2010
Brandon Lloyd was always considered to be a good player, but no one could have ever predicted what he did in 2010, particularly with what he had to work with.
The Broncos were Lloyd's fourth NFL team and in 2010, while catching passes from Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow, he led the entire league in receiving yards with 1,448. He also caught 77 passes and scored 11 touchdowns. That led to him being named to the Pro Bowl as well as being a Second Team All-Pro.
Lloyd had some decent seasons after 2010, such as his 74-catch 2012 campaign with the New England Patriots, but he never approached that yardage or touchdown number again.
Key stat
2010 receiving yards: 1,448
Best season aside from that: 966 (2011, Denver/St. Louis)
2010 receiving TDs: 11
Best season aside from that: 6 (2004, San Francisco)
Tim Tebow, 2011
Did the Denver Broncos ever have a more exciting season that didn't culminate in a Super Bowl victory than in 2011? For my money, no.
That was the year of 'Tebowmania', the season where the fans chanted for Tebow to take the field and after a 1-4 start, the coaching staff finally yanked Orton in favor of the former Heisman Trophy winner.
What Tebow did was never pretty, but boy was it magical. He just found ways to lead his team to wins and it became one of the better stories the NFL has ever seen.
It was short-lived, as Tebow was traded to the New York Jets following the season after the Broncos signed Peyton Manning in free agency. But it's a season that will never be forgotten.
Key stat
Tebow's record as starter in 2011 (incl. playoffs): 8-5
Tebow's record as starter rest of career: 0-0
Former Broncos players one-hit-wonder seasons
Tommy Maddox, QB, 2002 (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Tommy Maddox had a couple of good seasons, but the fact that he did was incredibly surprising.
A first-round pick of the Broncos in 1992, Maddox never did much of anything in a Broncos uniform. He was taken in the first round as head coach Dan Reeves saw him as the eventual successor to John Elway, but Elway wasn't having it.
Maddox was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1994 and played for the New York Giants in 1995, doing next to nothing for both of those teams. Maddox bounced around football after that before landing in the original XFL in 2001. It was that league, of all things, the resurrected his career.
After winning the league championship with the Los Angeles Xtreme in 2001, Maddox was invited back to the NFL by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He took over as the team's starting QB in 2002 and passed for nearly 3,000 yards with 20 touchdowns while leading the Steelers to the playoffs and winning the league's Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Key stat
TD passes in 2002-03: 38
TD passes with all other professional teams (Broncos, Rams, Giants, Xtreme): 24
Peyton Hillis, RB, 2010 (Cleveland Browns)
The Broncos drafted Peyton Hillis in the seventh round of the 2008 draft as a fullback out of Arkansas. Josh McDaniels came in as the team's new head coach in 2009 and traded Hillis following that season to the Cleveland Browns. A long-standing rumor has it that McDaniels had personal reasons for making that move.
REPORT: Former #Raiders and #Broncos HC Josh McDaniels traded RB Peyton Hillis because “rumor had it” McDaniels thought his wife was attracted to Hillis, per former Denver TE @NathanSerious 😳😳😳
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 8, 2023
“After trading Cutler, Josh addressed the entire team and said, ‘Fellas, don’t… pic.twitter.com/TTr0B8ynmK
Regardless of the reasoning, the Browns say their new fullback as a primary ball carrier, and he became just that, having one of the most surprising seasons the league has ever seen in 2010. That year, Hillis rushed for 1,177 yard and 11 touchdowns. He also caught 61 passes for another 477 yards and two more scores.
That led to Hillis becoming one of the most talked-about Madden cover athletes in the game's history. Hillis played several more seasons, but never saw his numbers get anywhere near to where they did in 2010 again.
Key stat
All-purpose yards in 2010: 1,654
All-purpose yards rest of career (6 seasons): 2,228
