Rhino
12/20/2006, 02:24 PM
Whirlwind Tour of N.F.L. Leaves Strait a Bit Dizzy (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/sports/football/20jets.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin)
By KAREN CROUSE
Published: December 20, 2006
Derrick Strait’s permanent address is in Texas, his car is in Chicago, most of his belongings are on Long Island and he is in North Carolina. Strait is a defensive back, so he is used to having to adjust on the run, but his 2006 season has been extreme.
Since the start of training camp, his third in the N.F.L., Strait has graced five teams: the Jets, the Cleveland Browns, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Chicago Bears and the Carolina Panthers.
He is the defensive back who keeps getting regifted. “It’s been crazy,” Strait said in a telephone interview last week.
Strait’s peripatetic odyssey began Aug. 14, when he was traded by the Jets to the Browns for running back Lee Suggs. Strait never made it on the field for Cleveland, attending one meeting before being sent back to New York after the deal was voided because Suggs failed his Jets physical.
Strait resumed practicing with the Jets as if he had been out the previous day because of jury duty and not because he had been jettisoned. Asked at the time about the sequence of events, Strait, who was drafted in the third round by the Jets in 2004, said, “It was kind of shocking, but it’s part of the job.”
Four months later, the shock has given way to a weary resignation. Strait, whose smile was a beacon that drew players to him when he was with the Jets, sighed a lot during a 15-minute interview that took place two days before he was deactivated for the Panthers’ 37-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“There’s been so many situations, so many times the past few months where I could have got down on myself,” Strait said. “I just keep telling myself: ‘Another experience. Another learning experience.’ ”
Strait had six tackles in the Jets’ season opener, at Tennessee, and started two of the next four games at safety. He was released Oct. 11 to make room on the roster for Hank Poteat, who had played for Coach Eric Mangini in New England.
He returned to Long Island and the apartment he shares with the Jets’ third-year safety, Rashad Washington. In between quick trips to New England, Detroit and Chicago for tryouts, Strait spent the next two weeks holed up at home.
He would watch Washington go off to practice. He watched Washington pack for the Jets’ trip to Cleveland. It was weird for both of them.
“Seeing him at home going through what he was going through, I kind of felt sorry for him,” Washington said Sunday after the Jets’ 26-13 victory at Minnesota. “I wouldn’t want to see nobody in that situation.
“I would see him at home and he wouldn’t be talking that much, and I could tell he was kind of down at times. I told him to keep his head up because I knew some team was going to want him. I’d say, ‘It’s just a matter of time.’ ”
On Nov. 8, Chicago signed Strait to a two-year contract. He was inactive for the Bears’ game against the Jets at the Meadowlands on Nov. 19 but played the next week, assisting on one tackle in a 17-13 loss at New England. Thirteen days later, on Dec. 9, the Bears released him to clear a roster spot for safety Tyler Everett, whom they had signed.
“I went to practice, and after practice they said, ‘Coach wants to see you,’ and that’s how I found out,” Strait said. He sighed. “That was hard because after a month you start to get comfortable.” He sighed again. “I had gotten an apartment in Chicago. That was bad.” Another sigh. “I really liked Chicago.”
After the Panthers claimed Strait off waivers, he packed two bags of clothes, left his car in Chicago and took a flight to Charlotte, N.C. He is living in a hotel near the Panthers’ practice facility. He will not bother renting a place.
“I’ve learned there’s a difference between wanting and needing,” Strait said. “My car’s in Chicago because that’s a want, to have a car.”
This is not the first time in Strait’s life that circumstances have forced him to pare his life to the bare essentials. When he was in high school in Austin, Tex., his family was evicted from its apartment in the housing projects and spent several months homeless.
At one point, Strait cashed his paycheck from his job at a furniture plant and rented a U-Haul truck for himself, his mother, Brenda, and his five siblings to live in. Compared with that, being an itinerant N.F.L. player is no trial at all.
Asked how his childhood experiences had shaped him, Strait said, “Basically, I’m just very able to adjust.”
By KAREN CROUSE
Published: December 20, 2006
Derrick Strait’s permanent address is in Texas, his car is in Chicago, most of his belongings are on Long Island and he is in North Carolina. Strait is a defensive back, so he is used to having to adjust on the run, but his 2006 season has been extreme.
Since the start of training camp, his third in the N.F.L., Strait has graced five teams: the Jets, the Cleveland Browns, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Chicago Bears and the Carolina Panthers.
He is the defensive back who keeps getting regifted. “It’s been crazy,” Strait said in a telephone interview last week.
Strait’s peripatetic odyssey began Aug. 14, when he was traded by the Jets to the Browns for running back Lee Suggs. Strait never made it on the field for Cleveland, attending one meeting before being sent back to New York after the deal was voided because Suggs failed his Jets physical.
Strait resumed practicing with the Jets as if he had been out the previous day because of jury duty and not because he had been jettisoned. Asked at the time about the sequence of events, Strait, who was drafted in the third round by the Jets in 2004, said, “It was kind of shocking, but it’s part of the job.”
Four months later, the shock has given way to a weary resignation. Strait, whose smile was a beacon that drew players to him when he was with the Jets, sighed a lot during a 15-minute interview that took place two days before he was deactivated for the Panthers’ 37-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“There’s been so many situations, so many times the past few months where I could have got down on myself,” Strait said. “I just keep telling myself: ‘Another experience. Another learning experience.’ ”
Strait had six tackles in the Jets’ season opener, at Tennessee, and started two of the next four games at safety. He was released Oct. 11 to make room on the roster for Hank Poteat, who had played for Coach Eric Mangini in New England.
He returned to Long Island and the apartment he shares with the Jets’ third-year safety, Rashad Washington. In between quick trips to New England, Detroit and Chicago for tryouts, Strait spent the next two weeks holed up at home.
He would watch Washington go off to practice. He watched Washington pack for the Jets’ trip to Cleveland. It was weird for both of them.
“Seeing him at home going through what he was going through, I kind of felt sorry for him,” Washington said Sunday after the Jets’ 26-13 victory at Minnesota. “I wouldn’t want to see nobody in that situation.
“I would see him at home and he wouldn’t be talking that much, and I could tell he was kind of down at times. I told him to keep his head up because I knew some team was going to want him. I’d say, ‘It’s just a matter of time.’ ”
On Nov. 8, Chicago signed Strait to a two-year contract. He was inactive for the Bears’ game against the Jets at the Meadowlands on Nov. 19 but played the next week, assisting on one tackle in a 17-13 loss at New England. Thirteen days later, on Dec. 9, the Bears released him to clear a roster spot for safety Tyler Everett, whom they had signed.
“I went to practice, and after practice they said, ‘Coach wants to see you,’ and that’s how I found out,” Strait said. He sighed. “That was hard because after a month you start to get comfortable.” He sighed again. “I had gotten an apartment in Chicago. That was bad.” Another sigh. “I really liked Chicago.”
After the Panthers claimed Strait off waivers, he packed two bags of clothes, left his car in Chicago and took a flight to Charlotte, N.C. He is living in a hotel near the Panthers’ practice facility. He will not bother renting a place.
“I’ve learned there’s a difference between wanting and needing,” Strait said. “My car’s in Chicago because that’s a want, to have a car.”
This is not the first time in Strait’s life that circumstances have forced him to pare his life to the bare essentials. When he was in high school in Austin, Tex., his family was evicted from its apartment in the housing projects and spent several months homeless.
At one point, Strait cashed his paycheck from his job at a furniture plant and rented a U-Haul truck for himself, his mother, Brenda, and his five siblings to live in. Compared with that, being an itinerant N.F.L. player is no trial at all.
Asked how his childhood experiences had shaped him, Strait said, “Basically, I’m just very able to adjust.”