Former Steelers WR Martavis Bryant, who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018, signs with the Commanders

November 11, 2018 isn’t that long ago, unless you’re an NFL wide receiver. In that case, it’s a lifetime ago.

This was the last time Martavis Bryant played in the NFL. Bryant has played in almost every league since: the Canadian Football League, the Indoor Football League, the Fan Controlled Football League and the XFL.

Bryant is back in the NFL, although he still has a ways to go before he can play in a regular-season game. Bryant signed with the commanders of Washington.

Bryant played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2014-17 and was a promising star, then got his last taste of regular-season NFL action with the Raiders in 2018. It would be a rare story if he could make it all the way back and earn a job on the Commanders roster.

Martavis Bryant’s Long Road Home

Bryant, like Josh Gordon before him, saw his promising career ruined by multiple violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

He was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating that policy. In 2018, he was suspended indefinitely for violating the terms of his conditional reinstatement.

Bryant has bounced around in various leagues hoping to return to the NFL and was signed to the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad last year, although he did not appear in a game.

If Bryant can make the roster and play in a game, it would be a rare occurrence. It’s unusual for a player to go six years without playing in a game. Stories like Doug Flutie, who went without playing in an NFL game from 1990 to 1997 while starring in the CFL, don’t happen often.

Bryant is 32, but he appears to have retained many of the athleticism he possessed at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, which allowed him to score 14 touchdowns in his first two NFL seasons before his one-year suspension. After all the crazy football stops of the past few seasons and the long gap since his last regular-season NFL game, it would be a hell of a story if Bryant could complete his comeback.