CHENEY, Wa. — Shannon Myers caught 54 passes when he was the Rowan County Offensive Player of the Year at North Rowan in 1990. Since then, Myers has caught at least 54 bad breaks.
Exhibits 53 and 54 in his run of outrageous fortune came earlier this week.
Myers, after six months of rehabilitating the torn ACL he suffered last December in an Oakland Raiders practice, flew to Seattle Tuesday for a tryout with the Seahawks. Less than an hour later, he had pulled a hamstring.
“It was so hot back in North Carolina and then I got out here (to Eastern Washington University) and it was cold and windy,” explains Myers. “I was running drills early in the morning after being on planes all the day before and I just strained the hamstring a little.”
But the hamstring woes were nothing compared to the jolt Myers got the following morning. He was checking the messages on his answering machine when he came across one from a representative of the Carolina Panthers.
“We’d like to have you in camp as soon as possible,” said the voice.
Myers, who still lives in Spencer, let out a sigh that could be heard all the way back home. The call to Ericsson Stadium was the one he had dreamed of receiving ever since he left Lenoir-Rhyne College in a blaze of glory five years ago.
Talk about being sleepless in Seattle.
When his Panthers ship finally came in, Myers was 3,000 miles away — and under contract. His agent had to return the Panthers’ call and politely tell them thanks for the offer, but Myers was a Seahawk.
But Myers’ agent was smart enough not to burn any bridges. He also told the Panthers to keep Myers in mind just in case things don’t work out in Seattle.
Myers has high hopes that things will work out, this time, but then he’s had high hopes before. This is his fourth shot at the NFL.
He ruptured a kidney in a freak training camp incident shortly after being Miami’s seventh-round draft pick in ‘95.
After a couple of years proving his worth in the CFL, Myers then latched on with the Tampa Bay Bucs, only to be cut late in the exhibition season.
Then there was last winter. Myers paid dues on the Oakland practice squad, but just as he neared activation, he suffered that devastating knee injury.
Now, Myers is ready for Round 4. And fortunately, there’s a little good news to go along with the bad.
For one thing, the Seahawks seem to like him. They really like him.
“They told me they wouldn’t have brought me all the way out here if they didn’t think I could help them,” says a confident Myers.
Myers, who has managed to maintain a sense of humor through all his tribulations, says he’s lucky he brought a change of underwear to the west coast, because Seattle signed him right on the spot.
“Even with the hamstring pull,” says Myers. “That told me something. They believe I’ve got some upside.”
Myers likes the way Seattle’s doctors have treated him so far. And not just because they’ve told him not to push the hamstring.
Myers appreciates medical common sense. He’s not so sure he got that from Oakland this summer.
The Raiders, who kept close tabs on Myers throughout his comeback at Stewart Physical Therapy in Salisbury, wanted him to report for a workout after 4 1/2 months of rehab on the knee.
But Myers’ local doctors advised that the Raiders’ timetable was way too soon to recover from total knee reconstruction. Even with the miracles of modern medicine, that process still requires six to seven months.
Seattle agreed with Myers’ physicians. They invited Myers out for a physical a month ago, and told him to go easy with the knee. They also told him that minor strains and pulls (like his hamstring) were to be expected after an injury of that magnitude.
And that reasonable train of medical thought explains exactly why Myers is now a Seahawk, rather than a Raider.
“I’m a little disappointed with Oakland,” says Myers. “But I also realize this is a business. This is just one more example.”
On the plus side, Myers says the rehabilitated knee feels like new.
“I’m not quite as fast as I used to be,” he says. “But I’ve had some great shuttle times and I’m running 4.5s (in the 40-yard dash) on high grass. That’s the same as a 4.4 on turf. They tell me I’ll be one of the three fastest guys in camp.”
Myers, who says he was also examined by the Green Bay Packers recently, is optimistic about his battle in Seattle.
“I know this is a team that won’t be bringing in a big-name free agent receiver,” says Myers.
But he’s also been down this road often enough to be realistic about his chances. As the last guy in and the guy who knows the least about the system, he’s a potential cut every time someone gets hurt.
“They can only have 80 guys in camp,” he says. “Who knows? A defensive end might get hurt and they might have to bring in another one. I could be the odd man out.”
Myers knows he could beat himself up worrying about what will happen when training camp starts for real with two-a-days this Sunday, but he just doesn’t do that anymore.
“I’m looking at this thing as fun,” he says. “There’s no pressure at all. I’m just gonna let the chips fall.”
And that’s why even if the hamstring’s not ready on Sunday, Myers insists he’ll stay relaxed and give it a few more days to heal completely.
“A couple of years ago, I’d have spit on it, wrapped it up and tried to play,” laughs Myers. “But maybe I’ve gotten smarter with age. Maybe I’ve grown up a little.”
Myers chuckles on the outside when he talks about still being an NFL rookie at 27. He jokes that the new guys just coming out of college look like kids.
But on the inside, his competitive fire still burns. This might be his last chance. And he knows it.
“I’ve been through a lot,” he says. “But I believe there’s a reason why I’m still around.”
And maybe this will be the time Myers hangs on for good. He’s due.
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