Lost in the excitement of the potential new Eagles to be signed today and this week is the grim reality that some of our fave Birds are going to be released…
I turned to a friend of this column, Matt Bowen, former NFL player who now writes for the Chicago Tribune, for his insight on what it’s like to be cut from an NFL team on the eve of free agency…
Matt Bowen played safety for seven years in the NFL, from 2000 to 2006, and provides readers with a unique insight into the game from a player’s perspective. Bowen was a sixth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams and also played for the Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills. He has a journalism degree from the University of Iowa and has written for a number of publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Washington Times and Pro Football Weekly. Bowen received a master’s degree in writing and publishing from DePaul University and is a member of the Pro Football Writers Association.
Here’s how Matt remembers the flip side of Free Agency: what it’s like to get cut from your team…
“I looked disheveled when I sat down across from Lovie Smith. An old pair of sweats. A beaten-up gray T-shirt. No socks. Three hours of sleep after a charity event where I played bartender for the night.
“I sat there — hung over and tired — while Lovie told me it was time to pack up my locker. Where was Mike Martz, my head coach? I couldn’t tell you because I never talked to him that morning.
“I had no idea it was coming. After breaking my foot in the opening game of the 2001 season in St. Louis, I was placed on injured reserve. Why was I getting released? I really didn’t know as a 24-year-old player who covered kicks.
“As professionally as I could, I told Lovie I didn’t agree. I ended up in Green Bay with the Packers about four weeks later.
“That was the first time I got cut in the NFL.
“It is a devastating experience. Even if you know it is coming, it still hurts. A coach tells you to get lost? That’s no fun.
“After my third season with the Redskins, I had a feeling I would be getting a call from coach Joe Gibbs. I had come back from a blown-out knee the year before as a backup and received limited playing time as a third safety. There was no need for me anymore. I knew it.
“I was in a hotel room in Las Vegas when my phone rang. I saw the 703 area code. It was time to get cut — again. I listened as Gibbs told me the team “was ready to make a move” and then tuned him out as he talked about the possibility of me coming back, etc., etc. By that point in my career, I knew the drill and the standard lines every head coach gives to a veteran when terminating him.
“My cousin Michael knocked on the door as I hung up and told me he had just lost a grand at the blackjack tables…
“Well, I just got cut,” was my simple, dull response. A great start to the weekend. Time to call my wife and let her know we were moving.
“There is a drill, a process to getting whacked in the NFL. At first, sadness. You get fired and find yourself on the outside looking in. No job. No coach. No teammates. It knocks you down the ladder a bit. After that, anger, along with the second-guessing. Did I do enough? Could I have changed anything from the past season to keep my job? What’s next? Will another team show interest now that I am on the street looking for work?
“Plenty of active players around the league will go through those emotions this week with free agency opening in the NFL. The call will come and their jobs will evaporate just like that.
“Maybe, just maybe, they will send you the gear from your locker — in a box.
“I was in Tampa at my grandmother’s little house in early March 2007 when I got my final call as an NFL player. It was Dick Jauron, head coach of the Bills. My wife was holding our 2-month-old baby boy and dinner was on the table. That was a kick to the gut. The end. I knew I wouldn’t play again or move again or transplant my family again to another NFL city.
“I felt sick, almost vomited, and then kept quiet for the rest of the night. Grandma didn’t need to know, nor would she really understand. And by the time we had dessert — pecan pie with ice cream — I had made up my mind. That’s it. I’m done. No more cuts. No more phone calls.
“Starting Tuesday, there will be big money thrown around in the NFL. Free agents coming to new towns with bonus checks in hand. But for the guys that are let go, only a quick phone call and a carbon copy dismissal…
“An experience I know plenty about…”
Thank you for that, Matt Bowen… you have helped me keep the excitement of Free Agent Tuesday in perspective… There’s the flip side of the business, and it’s not a pretty picture.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
