Editors Note: This is the first in a multi-part series chronicling the life, thoughts, and ups and downs that an undrafted NFL rookie goes through while he is fighting to make the foster. From his mouth to your eyes (and of course there is a keyboard and screen that fits in the middle there, but yea you know).
Well, this has definitely been one heck of a roller coaster ride! Plenty of ups and downs along my journey thus far, but I feel like in the end, it will all be worth it. My support system has been nothing short of amazing, and I'm glad to have such amazing people in my life.
I've adjusted to the pro [NFL] life pretty easily & I love it. This is the moment that I've waited for ever since I was a little kid, and it feels good to be able to live out my dreams. On top of that, I LOVE SAN DIEGO! The weather is beautiful, it's just a beautiful place to be. I could definitely get used to this!
The team has accepted me well, I'm glad to be able to get advice from a lot of the older guys. They've been doing this for a lot longer than I have & I definitely take their advice to heart. They're great at their positions and have a lot of knowledge about the game of football. I am grateful that they take the time to help me in the film room and just slowing the game down to me overall.
Going into camp, I realized that I was trying to do too much, and I wasn't being myself. I was nervous a lot and I felt like everything was going so fast. Bullets were flying, all I wanted to do was make a good impression. As time went on, I started to get more comfortable with me playbook, that's when I'm the most confident, and that's when I play my best football. When I was at Arkansas, that's when I played my best football, when I knew exactly what I was doing and what the person next to me was doing.
When I got to San Diego, I didn't have access to the same resources taht I had at Arkansas, they just put me right in the mix. It was crazy. One piece of advice that has stuck with me throughout this whole process was from an older guy who told me "At the end of the day, it's football...you can play football, so just keep doing what you're doing & calm down." That was something I really needed to hear, I was doing too much and over thinking, instead of wanting to learn.
I realized this by my 2nd week and started to want to learn instead of only wanting to do. I'm not even gonna lie, I was took out of my element a little when I realized how fast the offense was. I was going up against guys like Patrick Crayton, who has been doing this for a long time, and is almost genius when it comes to the game of football. Its no secret that I've always been an aggressive corner so I went into the situation thinking that I was just gonna jam guys up and it would be easy. I couldn't have been more wrong! It too me 3 days to even touch a receiver!
Fast forwarding to game time, I was glad when the 1st preseason game finally came up. I felt like it was time to prove how hard I had been working & hush up my haters. I had a NFL analyst on Twitter tweet about me being fast, but maybe not tall enough, and injury prone [Editors Note: Ramon led the Chargers in tackles his 1st preseason game with 9 and played very well]. All I know is, he deleted that tweet after the game. Sometimes instead of fighting back with words, you gotta prove them wrong with actions, and that's exactly what I did against the Seahawaks.
I didn't get as much play against the Cowboys . & the ref knows he was wrong for that holding call {Laughs}! [Editor's Note: Ramon played aggressively in the red zone and had several pass breakups either in or near the end zone in the final 2 minutes that helped keep the Cowboys from scoring]
All I know is, I'm a work in progress, so I pray that everybody bears with me, and tightens up those seat belts because this is gonna be a long ride.
Follow Ramon Broadway on Tiwtter: @MrBroadway26
Follow ReclinerQB on Twitter: @ReclinerQB
