The football player and good Samaritan who saved a man by pulling him out of a burning car in 2023 is returning to the NFL.
KJ Osborn, a 28-year-old wide receiver and University of Miami product, has agreed on a one-year deal to rejoin the Washington Commanders. Osborn was briefly on the Commanders in 2024 after a stint with the New England Patriots but is best known for playing 60 games with the Minnesota Vikings between 2020 and 2023.
The fifth-round pick didn’t make a catch as a rookie, but hauled in 158 over the next three seasons to go with 15 touchdowns over that time. He spent last season on Atlanta’s practice squad after going unsigned in free agency.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report Osborn’s agreement with Washington.
Three years ago, Osborn told Schefter about his harrowing experience rescuing a man from a burning vehicle.
Osborn said he was riding home in an uber from an offseason workout in March of 2023 when he saw a burning car crashed underneath a bridge in Austin, Texas.
KJ Osborn, a 28-year-old wide receiver and University of Miami product, has agreed on a one-year deal to rejoin the Washington Commanders, whom he played for in 2024
Osborn rescued the man from the vehicle after it had crashed under a bridge in 2023
Osborn took to Twitter to share photos after he and three others had rescued the driver
He and his Uber driver rushed to help with two other bystanders before they managed to pull the man out of the burning vehicle. The victim reportedly suffered only minor injuries.
‘We got him out [of] the car and that’s when I picked him up, and he’s bleeding all over my shirt and everything,’ Osborn told Schefter.
‘I pick him up and carry him about 10, 15 yards because this way we’re away from the car a little bit. By then, the ambulance came. The firefighters got the flames to go down. The car was good. The police officers got his information and everything, and they came back and told us, ‘You saved that man’s life.”
Osborn said he was later put in contact with the man, along with the other three heroes.
At the time, Osborn was pursuing his master’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Miami, which he has since completed. And thanks to a grade-point average above 3.2, Osborn was named to the Hampshire Honor Society by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
Coming off an injury-plagued 2025 season at just 5-12, the Commanders are thin at receiver after Terry McLaurin, who is now on the wrong side of 30.
The team could still address the position in the draft, where Ohio State’s Carnell Tate, USC’s Makai Lemon, Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson and Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr. will all be available.
