Lawrence Okoye wins discus silver at Birmingham 2022
Okoye, 30, returned to discuss in 2019 after his NFL career ran out of steam.
He failed to make the final at last year's Tokyo Olympics or the 2022 World Championships, but a 64.99m throw took him to the podium behind Australia's Matthew Denny in Birmingham.
Team-mate Andrew Pozzi tumbled over the line as he won 110m hurdles bronze.
Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica had withdrawn from the race with an injury earlier in the evening, opening the door for England's Pozzi and compatriot Joshua Zeller.
Parchment's fellow Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell took full advantage and gold in 13.08 seconds, with his time equalling the Commonwealth record set by Wales' Colin Jackson in 1990.
But, from lane eight, Pozzi ran a determined race to claim a medal behind Barbados' Shane Brathwaite.
Fourth-placed Zeller was two-hundredths of a second off Pozzi's time of 13.37 seconds.
"I drove for the line and just about got there," Pozzi said.
"I was just desperate to get there.
"That medal was needed. People probably don't understand the toll the past few years have had on athletes."
Pozzi relocated to Italy to train with fabled Cuban coach Santiago Antunez only to find himself restricted and isolated by the Covid pandemic and the complications of Britain's new relationship with the European Union.
It also meant an often long-distance relationship with partner and fellow athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who has trained in France and the United States recently.
Since Antunez relocated to Colombia at the start of this year, Pozzi has moved back to the UK to find form and new guidance.
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