Xavier Grimble knew the NFL offered no guarantees. But he was determined to make the most of his opportunity. Undrafted and bouncing around the league, Grimble shared the story of being cut and becoming a free agent with a cloudy football future.
“This is what it is. I’m cut, I’m back home, I’m driving with my kid,” he said in a snippet of his new Athletes Group Chat podcast. “And I got 27 cents to my name.”
The full episode doesn’t appear to have been released but the channel provided a one-minute short of Grimble, a Steelers tight end for four seasons, sharing part of his story.
Knowing his career could take one of two paths, falling out of the league or getting back in it, Grimble shifted his mindset to focus on the latter.
“I was like ‘Never again,'” he said. “That’s all I remember is saying that. I kept saying that to myself. ‘Never again.’ Really from there I just started looking at it. Everything I have done up until this point to get to the league wasn’t good enough. It’s on me. Whatever I’m putting out there, it’s not enough for them to be like, ‘We need him.’ So I said, ‘You gotta go back to work and it’s gotta be different.'”
Undrafted in 2014 after a relatively quiet career at USC, Xavier Grimble signed with the New York Giants. He failed to stick, released ahead of final August cutdowns. The rest of his rookie year was spent bouncing on and off the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots’ practice squads, one day away from being cut and starting over. In fact, his stint with the Patriots lasted just two days.
Instead of blaming others, Grimble held himself accountable. He made strides on and off the field to become a better player and more valuable in the locker room. The 49ers brought him back late in 2014 and signed him to a Futures contract for the 2015 offseason.
Still, Grimble wouldn’t find true traction until Pittsburgh called in 2016. Inking him to an offseason contract, Grimble captured the third-string job out of training camp. Playing in 13 games that season, he caught 11 passes for 118 yards and his first two NFL touchdowns, both coming to open the scoring in wins over the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens.
In four years with the Steelers, he appeared in 47 games with seven starts. He caught 23 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns before his career ended with an injury settlement.
Grimble might be best remembered for his goal-line fumble against Denver but his career avoided the pitfalls of most players in his shoes. Endlessly bouncing around rosters at best, giving up and quitting football at worst. Per Over the Cap, his career earnings nearly touched $4 million. Which sure beats 27 cents.
