Willie Colon is certain he will know the feeling when it arrives. That time, though, has not arrived. Not yet.
When you’re 32, entering your 10th NFL season, have started all 94 games you’ve played and are a member of a roster that — under a new coaching and management regime — is getting younger, it would have been easy for the Jets’ incumbent right guard to feel the tug of retirement this past offseason.
“I never want to go home and sit on the couch and wonder, ‘Maybe I could have done this better. Maybe I could have prepared a little better;’ I never wanted that feeling,’’ Colon told The Post this week during a break in the Jets’ organized team activity (OTA) practice. “I want to feel like if anything ever happens [getting cut], it wasn’t due to my play, it was a decision that the front office made. I always want to feel like I gave it all I got.’’
Bill Parcells had a saying that went like this: “Once a player is thinking about retirement, he’s already retired.’’
“I believe that,’’ Colon said. “But every night I go to sleep anticipating the next day, anticipating what I can do to be better, so the fight and fire is still there. The bottom line is, only a player really knows.
“I was listening to something Kobe Bryant said that has stuck with me. He said, ‘The day I can’t get up and train and prepare to the best of my ability, when getting out of bed seems harder than going to the gym, that is the day I’ve got to hang it up.’ I believe that.’’
Jets right tackle Breno Giacomini, who started alongside Colon for 16 games last year and has become one of his closest friends on the team, looks into Colon’s eyes every day and said, “I don’t think there’s been that moment’’ when his friend has remotely contemplated retirement.
“Either they’re going to have to cut him or drag him off the field,’’ Giacomini told The Post. “You know some of those guys where you can see it in their eyes where they’re like, ‘You know what? I’ll be all right [retired].’ Willie’s not one of those guys. He’s a pit bull, man. This is what he loves to do.’’
There are signs, though, that Colon’s days of doing what he loves to do are coming to an end, and he is fighting it with everything he’s got. All spring during the OTAs, Oday Aboushi has been occupying the right guard spot where Colon has started all 32 games since the team signed him as a free agent before the 2013 season.
Coach Todd Bowles, after Wednesday’s practice, said Colon’s sore left knee, which required arthroscopic surgery last year, was the reason he wasn’t in there.
Colon concurred, calling it “just precautionary stuff, just taking it easy.’’
“I’m the old guy in the room now,’’ he said. “Right now I’m just doing individual work, taking it easy, being a part of the mix.’’
Herein lies the rub for Colon: Merely “being in the mix’’ looks like it might be a challenge. It could be a difficult hill to climb for a veteran who has gone from incumbent starter to fighting for a roster spot.
“That’s just life in the NFL,’’ Colon said. “I’m not threatened by it by any means. If anything, I appreciate it. I feel blessed to be here — especially after last year. I’m looking forward to the competition.’’
Herein lies a rub for the Jets: Colon, for his flaws — which include being penalized too often (a team-high 12 last season, including seven false starts) — is a terrific veteran locker room presence. He is unselfish and a respected voice inside the locker room. If he is unable to make the team, it could present a leadership void on a squad that lacked leaders a year ago.
“He’s a wise, old dinosaur — not in life but in the football sense,’’ Giacomini said. “That works for him, and it’s good for all of us.’’
Colon, a Bronx native who played his college ball at Hofstra, doesn’t want to think about the possibility that this might be it for him. He wants more, which is why he re-signed with the Jets for the $870,000 veteran’s minimum in March.
After finishing the 2013 season with a torn biceps muscle and after the uncertainly he faced after the Jets went 4-12 and underwent a coaching and GM overhaul, Colon insists the thought of retirement never crept into his mind.
Colon said, like he always does in the offseason, he went to Arizona to train.
“[I was] getting beat up and training my tail off, and next morning, even though I feel like crap sometimes, I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ve still got it.’ The day I can’t do that anymore is the day I’ll retire. The worst thing you can do is think, ‘Man, do I still want to do this?’
“It’s easy for those thoughts to creep in when you’re playing, but it’s when you’re sitting on your couch in the offseason and you still have those feelings, that’s when you’ve got to pay
attention to yourself. Right now, I’m not having those feelings. I’m not having those questions.’’
http://nypost.com/2015/05/30/veteran-jets-lineman-fighting-to-stay-off-chopping-block/
When you’re 32, entering your 10th NFL season, have started all 94 games you’ve played and are a member of a roster that — under a new coaching and management regime — is getting younger, it would have been easy for the Jets’ incumbent right guard to feel the tug of retirement this past offseason.
“I never want to go home and sit on the couch and wonder, ‘Maybe I could have done this better. Maybe I could have prepared a little better;’ I never wanted that feeling,’’ Colon told The Post this week during a break in the Jets’ organized team activity (OTA) practice. “I want to feel like if anything ever happens [getting cut], it wasn’t due to my play, it was a decision that the front office made. I always want to feel like I gave it all I got.’’
Bill Parcells had a saying that went like this: “Once a player is thinking about retirement, he’s already retired.’’
“I believe that,’’ Colon said. “But every night I go to sleep anticipating the next day, anticipating what I can do to be better, so the fight and fire is still there. The bottom line is, only a player really knows.
“I was listening to something Kobe Bryant said that has stuck with me. He said, ‘The day I can’t get up and train and prepare to the best of my ability, when getting out of bed seems harder than going to the gym, that is the day I’ve got to hang it up.’ I believe that.’’
Jets right tackle Breno Giacomini, who started alongside Colon for 16 games last year and has become one of his closest friends on the team, looks into Colon’s eyes every day and said, “I don’t think there’s been that moment’’ when his friend has remotely contemplated retirement.
“Either they’re going to have to cut him or drag him off the field,’’ Giacomini told The Post. “You know some of those guys where you can see it in their eyes where they’re like, ‘You know what? I’ll be all right [retired].’ Willie’s not one of those guys. He’s a pit bull, man. This is what he loves to do.’’
There are signs, though, that Colon’s days of doing what he loves to do are coming to an end, and he is fighting it with everything he’s got. All spring during the OTAs, Oday Aboushi has been occupying the right guard spot where Colon has started all 32 games since the team signed him as a free agent before the 2013 season.
Coach Todd Bowles, after Wednesday’s practice, said Colon’s sore left knee, which required arthroscopic surgery last year, was the reason he wasn’t in there.
Colon concurred, calling it “just precautionary stuff, just taking it easy.’’
“I’m the old guy in the room now,’’ he said. “Right now I’m just doing individual work, taking it easy, being a part of the mix.’’
Herein lies the rub for Colon: Merely “being in the mix’’ looks like it might be a challenge. It could be a difficult hill to climb for a veteran who has gone from incumbent starter to fighting for a roster spot.
“That’s just life in the NFL,’’ Colon said. “I’m not threatened by it by any means. If anything, I appreciate it. I feel blessed to be here — especially after last year. I’m looking forward to the competition.’’
Herein lies a rub for the Jets: Colon, for his flaws — which include being penalized too often (a team-high 12 last season, including seven false starts) — is a terrific veteran locker room presence. He is unselfish and a respected voice inside the locker room. If he is unable to make the team, it could present a leadership void on a squad that lacked leaders a year ago.
“He’s a wise, old dinosaur — not in life but in the football sense,’’ Giacomini said. “That works for him, and it’s good for all of us.’’
Colon, a Bronx native who played his college ball at Hofstra, doesn’t want to think about the possibility that this might be it for him. He wants more, which is why he re-signed with the Jets for the $870,000 veteran’s minimum in March.
After finishing the 2013 season with a torn biceps muscle and after the uncertainly he faced after the Jets went 4-12 and underwent a coaching and GM overhaul, Colon insists the thought of retirement never crept into his mind.
Colon said, like he always does in the offseason, he went to Arizona to train.
“[I was] getting beat up and training my tail off, and next morning, even though I feel like crap sometimes, I’m like, ‘You know what? I’ve still got it.’ The day I can’t do that anymore is the day I’ll retire. The worst thing you can do is think, ‘Man, do I still want to do this?’
“It’s easy for those thoughts to creep in when you’re playing, but it’s when you’re sitting on your couch in the offseason and you still have those feelings, that’s when you’ve got to pay
attention to yourself. Right now, I’m not having those feelings. I’m not having those questions.’’
http://nypost.com/2015/05/30/veteran-jets-lineman-fighting-to-stay-off-chopping-block/
