When Denver Broncos linebacker Dondrea Tillman joined the Birmingham Stallions in 2022, he viewed it as a means to an end. With some spring success with the then-USFL team, Tillman hoped the NFL would be his next stop.
At the time, he didn't recognize that realizing his dream might come with a daunting reality: He could find himself playing two full seasons in the same calendar year.
And that's exactly what happened last year, when Tillman won a UFL championship with the Stallions and then turned around and embarked on an entire season with the Broncos, for whom he played 13 games, including the playoffs. Tillman, who was signed to a Broncos contract shortly after the conclusion of the Stallions' season in June, would quickly become a key contributor on the Denver defense. He recorded five sacks while also playing 61% of the team's special teams snaps in 2024.
"After the championship, I flew to Denver two days later and had a workout with the Broncos," said Tillman, whose former team plays host to the Michigan Panthers on Saturday (3 p.m., ABC/ESPN+). "They signed me, I went back home, and I came back a month later for training camp and never stopped."
The grand total: two training camps, two seasons' worth of practices and 25 games. It's a tremendous load and one that tested Tillman's toughness. But he said he'd do it all again for the chance to fulfill a lifelong goal.
"If you really believe in yourself, and if you really want something," Tillman said, "you have to go get it."
Tillman is an example of the length players will go for a shot at their NFL dreams. If that means playing football for practically a full year, absorbing all the requisite bumps and bruises along the way, then so be it.
As the current UFL season nears its crescendo, with two regular-season games remaining, there are many players in the league hoping to follow a similar path. They, too, would love to face the challenge of having to play back-to-back seasons if one is in an NFL uniform. If they're willing to subject themselves to the physical and mental toll, there are some vivid examples that it can be done.
Just don't expect it to be easy.
Take it from Khalil Davis, an NFL free agent defensive tackle who went this route after his NFL opportunities dried up in 2023. Davis, a 2020 sixth-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joined the Stallions when a stint on the Los Angeles Rams practice squad in late 2022 did not lead to a roster spot the following year. So, rather than sit around and wait for an NFL opportunity to materialize, Davis opted to play spring football.
"I could have waited it out, but I don't like leaving things up to chance," Davis said. "If there was an opportunity for me to go prove myself and just to go put a stamp on something, that's what I wanted."
He performed well enough in Birmingham to get back on the radar of NFL teams. After the conclusion of the USFL season (the USFL and XFL merged last year to become the UFL), Davis had several workouts with NFL teams, to no avail. Then, a few weeks later, in early August, the Houston Texans called for a tryout.
"They said, 'We'll be in touch,' and I'm thinking that's it," Davis said. "But they called me back as soon as I landed back home to come back and sign a contract. Then I played in a preseason game two days later."
Davis had not had a substantive break since beginning camp with the Stallions in early March. After the spring season, he had to ensure that he stayed ready for potential workouts, so there was no rest to be had. Navigating it all was tricky, to say the least. He was walking an impossible line between recovering from the season he had just played and ramping up for the NFL season he hoped was approaching.
"That was the dilemma," Davis said.
This was the case with Tillman, as well.
"It was hard trying to find a balance," Tillman said. "I took three, four days off and then after that I was right back at it, just training. It was a lot of training and just trying to do a lot of recovery work, trying to get my body back as fast as I could, knowing that I had another season coming up as well."
Numerous players have landed on NFL rosters from spring leagues like the UFL, even though many wash out during final roster cuts or are relegated to practice squads. Anthony Becht, coach of the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks, offered an example, saying the franchise has seen 24 players make it to an NFL camp since it began in 2020.
But for players who succeed in making active rosters, they are rewarded with the longest year of their football lives.
"I played in 27 football games that year," Davis said. "That's really unheard of at the professional level."
Well, almost.
Dallas Cowboys return man KaVontae Turpin appeared in 29 games in 2022 when combining his season with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL with his regular-season and postseason games in Dallas. But it's hard to argue it hasn't paid off; Turpin has become a Pro Bowl returner and has flourished with the Cowboys.
That doesn't mean opting for the UFL is always a slam dunk for players on the fringes. One player agent told ESPN that he cautions his clients that they'll be taking on significant injury risk by playing in the spring despite making relatively little money. The UFL's current collective bargaining agreement calls for minimum salaries of $62,005. NFL practice squads, he pointed out, pay a minimum of $13,000 per week during the NFL season.
Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jalen Redmond can attest that injuries are an important variable. He signed with the Arlington Renegades in the UFL last year and sustained an ankle injury after four games. He recovered enough to return to practice two weeks later, but he was still slowed by the injury even after signing with the Vikings following the UFL season.
"I didn't really get healthy until I got [to Minnesota] for camp," he said. That's when, he said, "I started really feeling myself again. So [I was] just pushing and rehabbing that and still trying to keep myself in shape."
But, depending on the player's situation, the injury risk might be worth it.
Becht said that for players in a situation like Redmond's, "without taking that bet, they're not in that [NFL] training camp. ... If they're not in the [UFL], they're not going to get that chance in the training camp. So, that's the reason why they even got the chance."
NFL teams typically have a member of the scouting department assigned to monitor UFL prospects. And coaches and executives in the league often field calls from NFL personnel who might have interest in players. In the case of Redmond, Vikings senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson approached defensive coordinator Brian Flores during the summer of 2024, asking him to take a look at the player's film.
But it can still prove difficult for players who perform well in the UFL and previous leagues to get a shot. Tillman's road was long and difficult. He had no Division I offers out of high school and played for Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He went undrafted after four seasons there and needed three seasons in the UFL before enjoying his NFL breakthrough.
Tillman said he still might not have gotten the chance had he not hired a new agent in 2024. Marty Magid, who has had past success securing NFL spots for players from other leagues -- Detroit Lions kicker and former UFL star Jake Bates is one of his clients -- started working the phones and calling in favors. That helped open some doors.
"That's when things started to change for me," Tillman said.
But when the door to the NFL finally opens for a player from another league, that's also when the most difficult work begins. Real or imagined, there's always a sense they're trying to overcome skepticism related to playing in an alternative league.
"You're trying to prove yourself and you just came from another league, so in my book, you cannot not want to practice," Redmond said.
Tillman and Davis said they had similar feelings. That's why when Davis sustained a hip injury in the final preseason game a few weeks after joining the Texans, he pushed through. There was discussion about him being offered an injury settlement if he could not continue, a move that would have resulted in his release from the team. But given how difficult it was to land the roster spot, Davis wasn't inclined to give it up so easily.
"I looked terrible in practice, but I think they saw, 'This guy stuck it out,'" Davis said. "I think they rewarded me for that."
Davis didn't miss any practices and went on to play 422 defensive snaps for Houston in 2023 -- the most of his career. He finished with 32 tackles and six tackles for loss.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is the most obvious: pushing through back-to-back seasons of football in a span of about nine months.
Among the keys to making it work, players said, was constant treatment to stay on top of their injuries. With so little recovery time between the seasons, aches and pains from the spring could linger into the fall.
"I was basically in the training room all day, every day," Davis said.
For Redmond, the toll started to accumulate as his playing time expanded.
"It started catching up to me later on in the season," he said. "I'm like, 'OK, now I've got to start acting like a pro, getting massages going, doing outside stuff.'"
It's just one more aspect of this rare feat few players can say they've achieved. For the players interviewed, it all worked out in each case. Tillman is primed to take another step with the Broncos this season, Davis was picked up again in 2024 after returning the previous season, and Redmond is back with the Vikings with hopes of earning more playing time.
They express no regrets and believe the effort was all worthwhile. The alternative? To give up on a dream.
"I just did what I had to do," Davis said. "I just couldn't take no for an answer."
Kevin Seifert contributed to this report.