Beating long odds
Out of football for a year, former SMU safety Chris Banjo signs NFL contract
Posted on 04/25/2013 by PonyFans.com
The biggest story in football this week is the NFL Draft. Teams will choose 254 players over the course of the league’s three-day meat market, and each team will sign about a dozen or more additional players as undrafted free agents. Using that math, somewhere around 600 players who played in college last year will find themselves in a training camp, hoping to earn a spot on an NFL roster.

Having signed a three-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, former SMU safety Chris Banjo said he looks forward to competing on defense and special teams to earn his roster spot (photo by Travis Johnston).
That number pales in comparison to the number of players whose careers ended after their final college games. With the exception of high draft choices whose salaries will virtually guarantee roster spots, most of the first-year players will not make a team, because most roster spots on every NFL team will go to returning veteran players, so available spots are limited.

All of this makes former SMU safety Chris Banjo’s story even more remarkable. The 2011 season was his senior campaign with the Mustangs. Banjo went undrafted last spring; he landed brief tryouts with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders, but did not earn an invitation to training camp. For all intents and purposes, his football career was over.

But Banjo didn’t see it that way. He returned to Dallas, landing a job as a recruiter for a staffing firm. While beginning his next career, he continued to work out twice a day, keeping alive the dream of playing professional football. He took part in a combine for teams in the Canadian Football League — at which he ran a blistering 4.29 in the 40-yard dash — and was invited to take part in the Super Regional Combine in Dallas in early April, where he performed well enough to earn an invitation to Jacksonville, Fla., to try out for the Jaguars. Of the 18 players in attendance, Banjo was the only one who never had appeared on an NFL roster.

The Jaguars announced (DATE) that they had signed two of the 18 players to contracts. One of those players was Banjo, who inked a three-year deal with the team.

“I’m not really surprised, because of all of the work I put in,” Banjo said. “Your first year out of college, the odds are slim. This year, after being out of football for a year, the odds were slimmer. I have to give all of the glory to God. I know I’m very blessed and very fortunate to be in the position I’m in.”

Signing a contract does not mean that Banjo has made the Jaguars’ roster for the 2013 season. It does mean, however, that he has an invitation to training camp with the team. His chance of making the final roster depends on his performance and on how the Jags manipulate their roster between now and then. With a roster that lacks depth at the safety position, Banjo said he fully expects the team to bring in additional safeties, either via the draft or by signing free agents, or both.

“They only have three other safeties, I think,” Banjo said. “Dwight Lowery, Chris Prosinski and Antwon Blake — I think that’s it. Blake played corner at UTEP, but they moved him over to safety. I’d be surprised if they didn’t add more guys before camp. They might draft someone or sign someone, or both. I don’t know.

“The defense (the Jaguars) play is going to be new, because they have a new coaching staff — the head coach (Gus Bradley) was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks. They’ll ask the safeties to run in coverage more than some defenses, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I’m ready to compete in the secondary, and I’ll play every special team they want me to play on.”

Banjo said he understands that signing his name on an NFL contract represents one goal reached, but guarantees him nothing once the season starts.

“It’s a blessing to have this opportunity to go to camp,” he said. “I don’t need them to promise me anything. Signing this contract means I have a chance, though, and that’s all I wanted — a chance.”

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