OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Jay Higgins IV, an undrafted inside linebacker out of Iowa, was consuming lunch within the Baltimore Ravens’ cafeteria on Tuesday when he acquired a faucet on his shoulder. Ravens basic supervisor Eric DeCosta needed to speak with him.
It was the day when Baltimore needed to reduce its roster right down to 53 gamers, and Higgins felt his coronary heart fee rising as he walked down the corridor to DeCosta’s workplace. When DeCosta broke the information that he made the Ravens roster, Higgins simply bent over together with his head dealing with the ground.
“I used to be simply lightheaded when he instructed me,” Higgins mentioned after Wednesday’s apply. “I used to be so stunned.”
Higgins’ response was among the many highlights of a Ravens video that captured the reactions of three undrafted rookies who overcame the steep problem of constructing an NFL 53-man roster. In a span of 4 months, Higgins, cornerback Keyon Martin and security Reuben Lowery went from the dejection of not getting chosen within the NFL draft to the enjoyment of touchdown a spot on a Tremendous Bowl contender’s roster.
Higgins’ household put the video in a bunch chat. Inside linebackers coach Tyler Santucci performed the video within the assembly room.
“We had been celebrating everyone, simply to see the shock in our faces and simply how pleased we had been,” Higgins mentioned.
Martin’s street was the hardest one of all of them. Coming from Louisiana-Lafayette, he had no provides after he went undrafted and he acquired one name for a tryout.
“It was fairly laborious on me. I’m not going to lie, popping out proper after the draft, realizing that no person was going to signal me,” Martin mentioned. “However as soon as I acquired that decision in regards to the [Ravens] rookie minicamp, I’m like, all proper, ‘It’s on me now.’ So I knew that if I needed to come back in and do what I actually needed to do within the NFL, I simply needed to come out right here and show it.”
Within the second preseason recreation, Martin recorded a security. Within the third one, he returned an interception for a landing.
“Every single day I step on this constructing, I do know that I’m beating the percentages,” Martin mentioned. “So I’m simply having fun with the journey actually.”
What the Ravens’ cameras didn’t seize was an alternate between Martin and Lowery on a stairwell. Lowery was strolling down after being instructed the excellent news that he made the workforce, and Martin was heading as much as DeCosta’s workplace.
“We didn’t even should say any phrases. It was only a massive hug,” Lowery mentioned. “It was like a film second, actually.”
Lowery nonetheless remembers how he waited an hour after the draft ended to get his solely name from an NFL workforce. The Ravens provided him a one-year deal that included no signing bonus.
However Lowery hasn’t had time to understand the second that he made the Ravens.
“It’s laborious to wrap your thoughts round actually proper now as a result of your mind, particularly in camp, has been so centered on working, working, working, working,” Lowery mentioned. “However someday, I’m going to undoubtedly look again on it and be like, ‘Wow, that is insane.'”
Lowery was on the dean’s record at Tennessee-Chattanooga and has a level in mechanical engineering. So, was it harder to get his diploma or make the Ravens?
“That’s a great query,” Lowery mentioned. “I might say [the Ravens], simply because it’s a brand new ambiance, it’s new folks. Mechanical engineering is difficult, however you simply go right into a classroom day-after-day and you work it out. However ‘Play like a Raven’ means one thing right here.”
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