Being "The Backflip Guy" Is How You Make An NFL Team

Janarion Grant is at Ravens training camp as an undrafted WR out of Rutgers. He isn’t particularly big (5’9, 170 pounds). He isn’t particularly fast (4.56 40 time). And he rent to Rutgers, like, on purpose. So how do you make a team when you’re a slow, undersized WR? Easy. You become “the backflip guy”.

That’s how you do it! In this day and age it’s all about marketing and branding, branding, branding. There’s 100 people at camp and you’re trying to make the roster, you need to do something to stand out. A reason for the coaches to keep you on the team over some other random UFA who is as equally mediocre at football as you (no offense). How do you differentiate yourself from some other 5’10, 180 pound guy trying to be the 53rd man on the team to play special teams and get concussions on the hands team? You start busting out backflips after routine 20 yard TDs in non-contact drills. Duh.

If you’ve seen Hard Knocks, you know that there’s always the “art guy” or the “homeless guy” or the “dad dying of cancer guy”. And you know that stuff seeps into the coaches’ subconscious and is one of the, if not the biggest, deciding factors of who gets cut and who sticks around. If you don’t have a thing, you might as well walk your ass back to the Walmart.