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Running Back Payton Hopes to Hook on With Titans
Jarrett Payton ran for 935 yards last season at Miami (Fla.) plus another 131 in the Orange Bowl.
Jarrett Payton added a fifth tattoo to his body with little hesitation, deciding to do it just a few minutes after agreeing to join the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent.
This one, on his chest, proclaims: "Never die easy" -- the title of his late father's autobiography.
That has become the running back's personal motto in his quest to earn an NFL roster spot just as his dad, Walter Payton, did.
"To me, it shows how I am as a person, and people always count me out -- can't do something, not fast enough," Payton said. "That's just going to be my motto. That's what I'm going to live by. Just never die easy. Never give up. You give up only when you're dead."
It's not easy for any son following his father into the same sport, but Payton has dealt for years with the long shadow cast by the man who held the NFL's rushing title until Emmitt Smith broke it.
Now Payton is trying to follow his father into the NFL. He chose to sign with the Titans, whose coach played with Walter for the Chicago Bears. Jeff Fisher hadn't seen Jarrett since he was a toddler stealing doughnuts out of players' lockers in Chicago in the mid-1980s.
Payton doesn't remember Fisher.
"I was just running up behind my dad wherever he went. Coach Fisher has been wonderful to me, giving me a chance to come here," he said.
Fisher said he was surprised Payton wasn't drafted after his career at Miami.
"He did a nice job. If you watch the program and when he came in for (Willis) McGahee in the championship game against Ohio State, he did a nice job... He played, he was productive, had a good average per carry against good competition and in an excellent program," Fisher said.
Payton ran for 985 yards and seven touchdowns last season after Frank Gore went out for the season with a knee injury. He also ran for 131 yards in the Hurricanes' Orange Bowl victory.
But his name wasn't called during last weekend's draft. When teams started phoning him to sign him as a free agent, he decided to go with the Titans because they seem to have a favorable situation.
Tennessee must decide if it can afford a $7.3 million cap hit unless Eddie George reworks his contract this season, and its other tailbacks are Chris Brown and Ray Jackson.
Robert Holcombe is back at fullback, and the Titans also signed free agents Ronald McClendon from Mississippi and Vick King of McNeese State with Payton easily the most comfortable rookie in the locker room.
"I've seen my dad go through it, so I know what happens," Payton said.
Payton couldn't get the No. 34 his father wore with Chicago or that he had in Miami. That number is retired here in honor of NFL Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell, so Payton took No. 4 to get started in a two-day rookie orientation that ended Saturday.
If he doesn't earn a roster spot, Payton said he also learned from his father to be ready for life after football. But doing just that is how he will measure his success as a running back.
"I'm just trying to make any kind of impact. Making the roster to me is a big deal. Not being drafted to have a spot, that's huge," he said. "I'm going to take it step by step. I'm not going to look too far ahead."
Source: AP