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Blast from the past Maddox hopes to turn XFL success into NFL backup job
Updated: Friday July 20, 2001 8:54 PM
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated LATROBE, Pa. -- Exactly three NFL teams have convened in training camp, but here's an early shoot-from-the-hip prediction for football fans: Don't be surprised if former XFL star Tommy Maddox surfaces as the backup behind starting quarterback Kordell Stewart in Pittsburgh. Maddox, the Broncos' 1992 first-round pick who hasn't stepped foot in an NFL camp in four years, is embarking on what could become his career's exquisite second act with Pittsburgh. The XFL's one and only MVP is currently fourth on the Steelers' depth chart, behind Stewart, Kent Graham and second-year man Tee Martin, but there's plenty of time and room for improvement. "I think he's very intriguing," Steelers head coach Bill Cowher said Friday on the first full day of his team's camp at St. Vincent College. "I liked him when he came out of college ... I think everyone looks at Kurt Warner and his situation. Who's to say there can't be another one along the way? Maybe he's going to give us a hard decision to make.'' Maddox signed with the Steelers in June, after leading the Los Angeles Extreme to the XFL championship this spring. Soon to be 30, Maddox threw for 1,996 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions in the 12-game regular season. In 2000, Maddox had a 3,800-yard, 64-touchdown season playing for the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League. For the one-time heir apparent to John Elway in Denver, it has been a wild ride. "I know this, I enjoy this training camp a lot more than I used to,'' said Maddox, who hadn't been with an NFL team since being released by Atlanta in the 1997 preseason. "I don't sit here and count the days and wish the days away, because I've done that before. And then they stop inviting you to camp. So I really have a different perspective of football and camp and salary and all that." Maddox is admittedly a long shot to make the Steelers' roster, but there is a more than plausible scenario. It is believed that Pittsburgh would love to see the younger Martin win the No. 2 job, allowing them to possibly release Graham and his veteran salary. But if Maddox were to clearly outplay both Martin and Graham in the preseason, momentum would build to name him the backup and keep Martin in the No. 3 role. Maddox has just four regular-season starts in his NFL career, and those came in 1992, as a rookie replacing the injured Elway. He last threw a pass in the league in 1995, with the Giants, whom he played for after both Denver and St. Louis had given up on him. "I kind of feel like a rookie again," said Maddox, who left UCLA after his sophomore season, when he was first-team All America. "I'm one of the old guys around here and that's kind of scary. People keep asking me what year is this for you, and I say, 'Well, it's my 10th year out of college.' "I just enjoying being here. I think when people do have good second acts, it's because their perspective is a lot different. I enjoy being around the guys. I enjoy being in the locker room, being in meetings, watching film. I don't care how much they pay me. And you lose sight in a hurry. Let's face it, $500,000 is $500,000." After almost three years out of the game and working in his own insurance agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Maddox said he did not go to the Arena League and the XFL with the sole purpose of using them as springboards back to the NFL. "I got more out of the XFL than I had hoped for," he said. "My only goals were to be able to start 10 to 12 games and to improve every week. I didn't put any big pressure on myself that I've got to play well to get another shot in the NFL. If the league would have stayed alive, and that's where God wanted me, I'd have stayed there. It was a dream season. Everything went great, we won it all, and now I'm here in camp.'' That success has re-injected confidence into Maddox's game, Cowher said. And that confidence, combined with maturity, makes Maddox a prospect again. After all these years. "He has the physical tools," Cowher said. "But when you win a championship like that, it breeds confidence. That's what Tommy has right now, and maybe it's something that has been missing in him. Maybe this will be the year he'll put everything in place." The XFL, as strange as it sounds, validated Maddox again in the eyes of the NFL, forcing the league to take a fresh look at a talent it had passed judgment on years ago. "I used to kind of resent the fact that I wasn't already validated or I lost my validation or whatever," Maddox said. "But I got past that. I think you get older and you start to realize things. When I was young, I sat behind John Elway and enjoyed doing it. I probably enjoyed doing it a little too much. I kind of just got lost in the shadows, and all of a sudden, I was going three, four or five years without playing a lot. "That's the thing I've enjoyed about the last year. I've started 26 games in the Arena League and the XFL, and that's experience you just can't get standing on the sideline."
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