FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Thomas Johnson called it “one of the best experiences [he] ever had.”
Ironically, the experience occurred because he was not playing football and had to find another productive use of his time.
While waiting for the phone to ring and for an offer to materialize from an NFL team, the defensive tackle put his Middle Tennessee State physical education degree to use. He worked as a ninth-grade P.E. teacher at White Station High School in his native Memphis, subbing for a teacher who was on maternity leave.
When Johnson’s time as a long-term sub concluded, the children presented him with a memory book. Tears were shed. Parents threw him a farewell dinner.
“I got so many gifts from the kids,” he said of the Christmas and Valentine’s Day holidays. “All the teachers were jealous ‘cause I got more gifts than them and I [had] just got there. The kids loved me, even the kids who weren’t even in my class…
“My kids, I got good stories, talking about how I changed their life.”
Johnson has not played a down in an NFL regular season game for two years. In 2007, he was out of football. In 2008, the New York Jets invited him to their camp, but cut him before the regular season.
A surprise starter in the Falcons’ first preseason game, he rewarded the coaching staff’s decision with a sack that forced Detroit to kick a field goal after moving the ball to the Falcons 2-yard line.
The 6-foot-2, 304-pound 28-year-old is hoping to make an improbable comeback to the NFL the likes of which is uncommon -- but perhaps not so much on the Falcons. Quarterback Chris Redman was out of the league for three years and famously sold insurance before an invite to the 2007 camp resurrected his career.
And wide receiver Brian Finneran has experienced the misfortune of injuries that sidelined him for two consecutive seasons.
If Johnson can earn a roster spot and contribute, General Manager Thomas Dimitroff and his staff might have found a diamond in the rough.
“At that position, everyone’s always looking for defensive linemen,” Dimitroff said. “We always are. And I think in this situation our personnel staff [was] being diligent about scanning the names and us getting him in there having the idea that he would fit into our scheme. Most important is the fact that he rose to the occasion and showed that he had something to prove.
“He’s gone about his business as a professional. He’s not out pounding his chest about how good he can be. He just takes care of business and I really respect his approach.”
Perhaps that approach is born out of Johnson’s time away from football and his being grateful for another chance.
Redman called his exile from football “very humbling.”
“I wouldn’t want to change that experience for anything in the world,” Redman said. “The more I was away, the more I appreciated, not just all the obvious benefits of football, but the camaraderie and being around a bunch of guys. There’s a lot of things that aren’t replaced in what I like to call ‘the real world.’ And so that was the thing I take from it the most, being able to be around the guys and have fun. For me, it was a great experience because I really had to work hard to get back into the game and I think it really got my priorities in the right places.”
Redman said learning those lessons is not only something that has enriched his life, but is something he is hopeful that he can pass on to his children.
“I can look back and tell my kid one day, ‘Hey, if you really work at something, you can do it. And don’t give up.’ I did it,” he said. “I really had an opportunity to take a good job back home and I decided to still chase my dream and it worked out.”
For Finneran, his life was put on hold for two years as back-to-back knee injuries in the 2006 and ’07 training camps threatened his career. He said rehab was tough, but even more so was his absence from his teammates.
“The thing I started missing the most was the camaraderie in the locker room and the meetings and being around the guys,” he said. “Obviously, you miss being on the football field, too, but those were the things I missed besides just playing football.”
While Johnson worked as a substitute teacher and Redman sold insurance, Finneran worked on the morning show of radio station 680 “The Fan” in 2007. Nonetheless, that gig was a stop-gap for his NFL career.
Life went on for Finneran’s family, but not so much for himself.
“They went through life like it was normal, but they had to deal with me being hurt all of the time,” he said. “I was like a fifth child for my wife. But being back in here and around the guys, I hadn’t laughed that much last year in the two previous years.”
To a degree, that, too, was Johnson’s experience. He credits his fiancée Jonna Crutchfield for being his pillar of strength.
“She kept my head straight,” he said. “She kept me focused. She kept me prayerful. She really kept me strong because going all year and not getting a phone call can be stressful. But she believed in me so she kept me right.”
And so Johnson kept working to earn his way back to an NFL team. His routine varied, depending on the day. When he lifted weights, he worked with his brother. His bench press routine consisted of four sets of 25 repetitions at 225 pounds. He’d do biceps, abs and a run a lot. He would work on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and then a run a mile on the treadmill.
For speed work he trained with a high school friend, Marquise Cole who runs the 100 and 200 meters professionally.
Whether it was Finneran, Johnson or Redman, all said playing football was the easy part of returning. Johnson said it was like “riding a bike.”
On the field, Dimitroff said Johnson’s strengths are “a nice combination of quickness and explosion with the ability to show a real strong lateral leverage.”
Taking a chance on a player who has been out of the league for that length of time requires some leg work. Dimitroff said he and his staff researched the most recent footage they could find on Johnson from an NFL game to determine his athleticism, his strength at the point of attack and his ability to follow the ball.
Then they brought Johnson in for a private workout in the team’s indoor facility to test how Johnson moved, his weight, his athleticism and how he followed instruction from defensive line coach Ray Hamilton.
Finally, the team performed a character check with everyone from NFL contacts to people at Middle Tennessee, where Johnson played in college.
“That’s very, very important for us to make sure he’s going to be a fit in that way,” Dimitroff said. “And in this case, I’ve been very encouraged by the way he’s handled himself on the field and the way he carries himself off the field.”
That may be the case but, if it is, the coaches aren’t showing it -- at least, not to Johnson. Asked what kind of feedback he receives from the coaches, Johnson said, “It’s training camp. Theyre on you. You get some positives, but they make sure you get it right. That’s what time of year it is.”
True, but it’s also the time of year to make an impression, which Johnson appears to be doing.
Whether Johnson earns a roster spot remains uncertain. But that drive to keep playing is anything but.
Finneran crystallized a player’s motivation.
“Probably like Redman, he played for five or six years when he was out for two, so he probably realized himself, too, his arm was still young and he could still throw the football and he can still contribute to a football team,” Finneran said. “So that’s the part that drives you.
“You know you can do a little bit more. That’s what happened with me when I hurt my knee the first time. I knew I was feeling good and I knew I had more to offer and I knew I had another good year or two in me, so that’s what really drove me. And [Johnson] is the same way, I’m sure. As big and as strong as he is, I don’t know how many years he has in now, but to be out a year your body’s rested and you’re rarin’ to go.”
