Tyson Clabo talked to us about his years with the Falcons, the drama with last year's Dolphins, and how difficult it is to wait at this stage in his career.
Offensive tackle Tyson Clabo has started almost every game over the last six years, and even went to the Pro Bowl in 2010. Yet he's one of several veterans waiting for the phone to ring with an invitation to training camp. We recently sat down with Tyson to discuss his years with the Falcons, the drama with last year's Dolphins, and how difficult it is to wait at this stage in his career.
Are you a reflective person? How much looking back do you do over the course of your career?
I think about it a lot. We had some pretty good times in Atlanta when I was there. We had some rough times, too. When you play a decade, you're in it for some ups and some downs, there's no doubt. You can't play that long and always be on top or always have good seasons. We won four games one year. You think of the coaches who came and went. The first couple of years when I struggled to even make a team. I definitely have more games behind me than in front of me, so yeah, I definitely think about those things.
Last year you switched teams so there was some movement, but how are you feeling this offseason?
The biggest difference is that I haven't done any OTA or mini-camp. This is the first time where I don't know where I'm going to be. So that's been different. Other than that, I haven't done much different than I normally do.
So the workouts are the same?
If you want to play, you have to stay in shape and be ready to go. As good as you can, you try to replicate the football movements. One big thing is getting in and out of your stance as much as you can. That's not a normal thing. [Laughs] Nobody walks around with their hand on the ground, or walks up with their head down and all of that.
You just have to incorporate that into your workouts so when training camp starts and you're doing that 100 or 200 times per day, you don't find it very difficult. You just have to think about that and prepare for that, because I would have had my days in the stance in OTAs and mini-camp. You have to think what camp will be like and what you have to do to be ready for it.
You mentioned the early struggles. You bounced around a lot in the beginning of your career--
As a rookie, I was really dumb. It's amazing that I even made it.
[Laughs] When you say dumb, what do you mean?
I had no clue what it took to be a professional football player. I managed to hang around long enough to kind of figure it out, to watch the older guys and how they did things. You try to incorporate some of those things and luckily I hung on long enough to learn enough to make it stick.
That's surprising that you said you didn't know what it took to be a professional because you came into the league with extensive experience -- several years starting at Wake Forest. What was missing?
I think a lot of it was just about confidence -- knowing what to do well enough to be confident to do it as fast as you can do it. That was the biggest part of it. I was second guessing myself and not able to go with confidence in any direction, whether it who you have or how you're supposed to do it. It's learning how to be confident and studying enough to where you're 100 percent sure who you have on that assignment. It took time for me to develop that.
But once I felt like I had a grasp on where I was supposed to go and how I was supposed to get there, I found my way back.
It almost sounds like a juxtaposition. Developing confidence while you're jumping from team to team, which seems like it'd be such a disheartening process that would dismantle your confidence.
Well, another thing that I did in between my rookie season and my second season was go to NFL Europe and played eight or ten games in Europe. I can't remember how many. So I gained confidence as far as ability. I was all-world over there, which is pretty funny. [Laughs] I was the best of the worst is what that meant. [Laughs]
But confidence comes from all kinds of things and all of those guys were NFL caliber players. I had Eric Crouch on my team, the Heisman Trophy winner. Antonio Smith, the defensive lineman that just left Houston, was on my team. They were really good players over there. You just look around and realize that it's not easy to make it and that's why all those guys are here. They're really good, but it's still hard. So having success over there really helped my confidence.
You said you looked to older guys. Was there someone who really took you under his wing, so to speak?
Of course. You make friends everywhere you go, but when I landed in Atlanta, guys like Todd McClure were just phenomenal teammates and leaders. Guys like that, there's just no way you can put a number on how valuable they are to a team and young players. They treat everybody pretty much with respect. I mean you can still give someone a hard time, like anyone does, but those guys were so instrumental in the development of young people. You gotta have a leader.
Todd McClure, Photo credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty
How hard was that, then, given the drama last year in Miami?
[Laughs] That was just a really, really unfortunate situation. It was a difficult time for all of us there for a little while. I think everybody involved is just glad that's over.
Was it as tense inside as it was outside?
There's nothing better than a team type of situation to really bring a team together. No matter what kind of inside struggle or whatever you might have inside the unit, it's kind of like a family, right? I mean, you fight with your brother, but nobody better come pick on him. Just like anybody, outside pressure or criticism comes and then you bond together.
Then we went on a pretty decent run there and won some football games and were relevant at the end of the year trying to make the playoffs. I thought for all of the drama that we had that to win some football games at the end was pretty impressive.
I've read about some visits, but how are things for you at this point?
Yeah I've had some visits. Had some good meetings, some interesting opportunities. I'm just looking for the right one. I feel like at this point in my career, it needs to be the right decision and the right place. I'm just trying to be as patient as I can to make sure that happens.
What makes a place the right one? Are there specifics in mind?
I think a lot of it is a gut intuition, really. If I go and it just feels right. I mean, it could be I've already been to the place I'll end up. There's no way of knowing. But I'm ready to play. I'm in good enough shape to go to training camp. I'm still healthy enough and willing enough to do a good job. As long as the mind and the body are willing, I'm ready to play. It'd be hard to play as healthy as I am, and because I've enjoyed playing football, it'd be hard not to play.
from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1nx0Kuw
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire