Making a 53-man roster is a life-changing experience for any football player who ascends to the NFL. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-round pick or a college free agent. Whether you’re convinced you’re making it or not, to be a part of an active NFL roster knowing your career is just getting started is a big moment.
Even for 49th-overall draft pick Keeanu Benton, the big defensive lineman out of Wisconsin who certainly had no cause for concern regarding his own roster spot. He had his first two years’ salary guaranteed and a part of his third-year salary locked in as well, over 58 percent of the total value of his rookie contract.
Yet he still expects the christen Acrisure Stadium with his own bodily offerings before the San Francisco 49ers game on Sept. 10.
“I think I’m probably going to throw up”, he told Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when asked about his expectations for his first official NFL game. “That’s how I’ve been since I started playing ball. That’s just something that I know is going to happen”.
He certainly wouldn’t be the first professional athlete to experience jitters-induced vomiting, though we’ve often seen similar deposits being made, particularly early in the season, even by veterans when subjected to high temperatures on the field.
Everybody can be subject to nerves, no matter how confident you typically are, when stepping into a new situation. Benton has never played in an NFL regular-season game against NFL starters facing an NFL game plan. He knows it will be the toughest situation he’s ever faced in football before, and that there are tougher ones to come.
It’s also just a momentous life event. Most athletes who make it to the NFL likely spent much of their lives dreaming of that moment. It’s the fulfillment of a milestone goal—and you don’t want to screw it up, either.
At the same time, that doesn’t mean Benton isn’t confident in his ability to handle the game at this level. Nerves are nerves. It’s something you deal with, you work around. It’s not always a logical reaction. He knows once he settles down, it will just be the same thing he’s done for most of his life: football.
“I feel like once I get out there, first drive, first couple hits, I’m good”, he said.
If his preseason performance is anything to go by, that figures to be a fair assessment. He displayed difference-making ability when he was out on the field in the first and third contests. He’s not a finished product just yet, but there’s simply no question as to whether he has the talent to compete at this level.
