For Stallions playmaker Amari Rodgers, UFL has been a place to showcase his skills–and rekindle love of the game.

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MAY 22, 2024 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

Amari Rodgers was looking for an opportunity to resurrect his career. He found it with the Birmingham Stallions.

Now, the former Clemson wide receiver’s professional career is relatively young. He was a third round NFL Draft choice by the Green Bay Packers in 2021. But after being with three organizations in the three seasons, including what was a difficult two seasons in Green Bay, his career was at a crossroads.

While leaving the NFL certainly wasn’t his first choice, Rodgers was fortunate to find a spot with the Stallions.

“It means a lot,” Rodgers said. “I came here to be able to showcase everything I can do. Offensively, special teams wise and just as a leader. Being in this league has helped me (regain) the love of this game, which I came here to do. That’s kind of what I viewed this as, coming back, getting that love of the game back, wanting to go out there to win football games and be a part of it. I feel like this league has done a lot of great things for me mentally.”

Rodgers is part of a deep receiving corps, so sharing the football is a way of life. Rodgers has 10 catches for 156 yards with a pair of touchdowns in seven games. He also has one carry for eight yards and 214 yards on 15 punt returns.

Last Saturday, in a 35-28 win over Houston, Rodgers had a 40-yard punt return that led to a scoring drive in the first half and a toe-tapping 10-yard touchdown grab on the opening drive of the second quarter. His contribution was even more special, considering he’d essentially missed the past two games after suffering a concussion early in a win at Memphis.

“It definitely felt good to get back out there with my guys and get a win,” Rodgers said.

Football has been a part of Rodgers’ life since birth. His father, Tee Martin, was a national championship winning quarterback at the University of Tennessee and a longtime college football assistant coach. Rodgers grew up in Knoxville and was a four-star recruit at Knoxville Catholic High. He originally committed to USC, where his father was coaching wide receivers, but switched to Clemson. He had a productive career at Clemson, catching 77 passes for 1,020 yards with seven touchdowns as a senior, and left with a national championship ring.

Most of his time at Green Bay was spent returning kickoffs and punts. He had some success but also had trouble with fumbles, committing seven over his time in Green Bay with five coming in the 10 games he played in 2022. Rodgers was released by the Packers two days after losing a fumble in the 10th week of the season against the Dallas Cowboys.

He quickly had to learn from adversity.

“It helped me a lot, honestly,” Rodgers said of his growth as a person and player following hard times. “I learned more from the bad times, how to carry myself, how to learn from mistakes, learn from bad moments and not let that affect me mentally. That helped me grow in that aspect. That time in Green Bay helped me mature more than anything. After that, I was able to handle adversity differently. I’m thankful for that time, even though it didn’t go the way I wanted it to or anybody else wanted it to.”

He was quickly picked up by the Houston Texans and had 12 catches for 154 yards in six games with his first NFL touchdown. Rodgers was released by the Texans in July of 2023 and picked up by the Indianapolis Colts. He spent part of the 2023 season on the Colts practice squad, before being waived in October.

Currently, he’s working on getting another NFL chance while helping the Stallions chase another championship.

“I hear constantly how the competition is upgraded since they combined the leagues this year,” Rodgers said. “That’s a good thing. People are able to get film against top level competition. If you’re out there making plays against players that we have in this league, of course the next level is going to look at that. So, it’s always good to be playing at the highest level you can. I feel that’s what they did here combining both of the leagues.”