Long F***ing Tunnel, Bright F***ing Light

You know how sometimes something happens in life, and you’re fully in that moment, and then, out of nowhere, a big realization just hits you, clear as day?

That happened to me this past October.

Northwest Stadium. Our place. Against the Bears.

I’m sitting on the bench. Dejected. A few seconds left in the game. Down 3, with the ball, but on the wrong side of the field. And I’m pissed off. Our special teams unit hadn’t played up to our standard. So I’m sitting there replaying a bunch of moments in my head, fuming. Just lost in thought about all the things we’d messed up.

I didn’t even see the final play.

Didn’t see Jayden scramble around for what seemed like forever, didn’t see the ball in the air, or the ricochet. Nothing.

I just heard the crowd. The roar. Probably the loudest sound I’ve ever heard in my life.

Next thing I know, everyone’s running onto the field. So, without even really knowing what went down, I run out there, too.

We won? What? Howwww? Jayden did what? We’re 6–2?

Part of me didn’t even believe it. Like: Did this just really happen?

But then, after that, no lie, my mind immediately went to....

This changes everything.

That’s literally the first thing that popped into my head. Because moments like that? Like that!?! I truly believe that they don’t happen to just anybody. They’re not random, if you ask me. Can’t be. They hold meaning. So it was like: This is different.

I feel like our entire trajectory shifted on that night — on that play. I knew, without a doubt, right then, that everything everybody thought about us was about to change, but also ... what we thought about ourselves, and how far we might be able to go. There was just something in the air, you know what I mean? It was almost like you could reach out and touch it.

And after being around this organization for seven years, I knew exactly how special it was, the meaning of it all. It was something people who love this team have been waiting for, dreaming of, for a very long time.

It felt important.

I remember I was the last person to leave the locker room that night. Last man out. Because I wanted to fully savor what had just gone down. Appreciate it.

It felt like Christmas morning.

It’s impossible for me to put into words what this football team means to me.

This franchise. This city. Our fans. All of it.

But there’s one thing that I think about often. Something that makes me smile, that makes me proud. It’s that I feel like a lot of you out there are like me in some ways. Like we have a lot in common. You may not be out there making headlines, you’re maybe not the big boss at your work, or the person out in the front in the company photo. But you work hard and care for your friends and family, and look out for all your coworkers, and you also just ... absolutely ride or die for this football team we have.

There were a lot of times when it looked like it wasn’t gonna work out for me — getting cut over and over again, up and down from the practice squad, tearing my ACL. And lord knows there were lots of times over the past 20 years when you guys could have abandoned this team and called it quits.

But we persevered. Stuck around. Kept grinding.

We weathered the tough times together. And I feel so connected to you guys because of that, you know what I mean? Our die-hard fans, these are people who ... they’re gonna ride out the storm, no matter what. And that’s literally been my entire professional career. That’s my whole story. Not giving up even though things aren’t going my way. Fighting through. Staying persistent. Putting my head down and just working.

Playing for you guys, after all that we’ve been through together, I can’t even tell you what an honor it is. I’m honestly happier right now for all of our fans than I am for myself. I mean, I’ve only been through a small portion of what some of you guys have been through. So many people have spent their entire lives cheering for this team, and have experienced more than their fair share of heartbreak. So when I run out there on the field, I’m not just playing for myself. I’m playing for all of our fans who have backed this team for 20-plus years, 50 years, even longer in some cases. We’re truly in it together, those of us who just kept on believing that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Now, as we know all too well, sometimes that tunnel can be a very long f***ing tunnel. It might have lots of twists and turns, or steep inclines or whatever it may be. But there’s ultimately light at the end.

And the cool thing is, with this team, that light? Let’s just say it is shining very, very bright right now.

So let’s talk about Jayden, shall we?

Honestly ... I don’t even know what to say at this point. But I was chatting with Zach Ertz after our win in Detroit, and we were both just discussing how rare it is to find someone who is an absolute stud on the field, but then also just a genuinely good dude. One or the other? Sure. But to have both present, at the levels that they’re present in Jayden? That is very rare.

I saw it from the day that he got here, too. First impressions are everything when a guy comes into the locker room, especially with high picks. Some guys might have an ego, or look down on other guys on the roster who aren’t the big-name dudes. But Jayden, the day I met him, he already knew me by name. He came right up to me and called me “Reavo.” That was huge to me.

I’m not an every-down starter, there’s no reason to expect him to know me. But he did.

And then, ever since that first day, he’s been the guy who somehow beats me and Bobby and Zach and our crew of vets into the building. We all get there at the same time: 5:45 in the morning. And when I pull up, Jayden’s car is already there. I honestly have no idea when he gets in. You could tell me it’s 3 or 2:45, and I wouldn’t be surprised.

So this is a pro’s pro ... as a rookie. Then, on top of that, he treats everyone right, with kindness. He lifts people up. And when you’re like that, people want to ride with you. I will absolutely follow that guy into battle any day. And it’s been so awesome to see our fans take to him, and all the joy he brings them. Because they absolutely deserve that joy.

We all do, honestly. It’s been a long time coming. I feel like this entire franchise, after all we’ve been through, deserves as many special moments as possible.

That’s a big reason why I decided to propose to my fiancée, Mikaela, my best friend, on the field after that big win against the Falcons — why I wanted to include this team in that moment.

Our fans, and everyone in our locker room, they’ve spoken life into me during a lot of times when I wasn’t able to speak life into myself. They’ve been there for me at every turn, you know what I mean? People always talk about how everyone needs a village to make it through life. Well, this team, these guys, and our fans, they’ve been my village.

There have been days when I lost a little faith in myself. Whether it was getting waived, or injuries, or losing my mom, you name it. And in those moments, the people here have been quick to step forward and remind me that I was strong and capable, and that I was going to be able to push through to the other end. They went out of their way to pick me up after life had knocked me on my ass. They showed consistent belief in me, even in times when I didn’t believe in myself. So it just seemed natural to make sure this team, my second family, was a part of the biggest moment in my life. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. And, of course, it turned out even better than I could’ve imagined.

Me and our player and family support coordinator, Alexis, who I’d pretty much trust with my life, we brainstormed and planned it all out. She held onto the ring, and made sure security knew, and we had a plan to meet up at the kicking net when the game ended. It was a whole big thing, a bunch of moving parts. (I actually wore a hand warmer that game, even though it was like 60 degrees, just so I’d have something to put the ring in and it wouldn’t be obvious that I was walking over to Mikaela with a ring ... which, by the way, was dope! Shout out to the people at Beré Jewelers back home in Pensacola who helped me through the whole process and answered all the questions I had!) We had no idea it was gonna blow up like it did, but we’re fine with it. We’ll have that moment forever. We can show it to our kids someday.

And, hopefully, over the next few weeks, this team will create a whole bunch of other incredible moments for us to show them, too.

Make no mistake about it: I fully expect that we will. And it’s like that with all of us.

This team, we’re a confident group.

We don’t look to others for validation. We know the whole world doubted us in these playoffs, and that they still doubt us now. We’re fine with that. I mean, shoot ... I’ve been doubted my entire life. So odds don’t bother me. I’m comfortable being doubted. We all are at this point. We know all about what it takes to prove people wrong.

And our mindstate right now is, from here on out, it’s all about our brotherhood. From Day 1 at OTAs, the very first thing that DQ preached to us was that we needed to get our brotherhood as strong as we could, as fast as we could. It wasn’t about X’s and O’s, or about scheme. It was about people.

It was all about the bonds that tied us together, about being selfless, about the collective. What truly separates teams at this level — the highest level imaginable — is how much each guy cares for the man next to him, how much he’s willing to lay it all on the line for his brother. That stuff, it transcends the X’s and O’s.

And when you have that level of chemistry, when everyone’s all in, it really does feel like you can make magic sometimes.

It also doesn’t hurt to have Jayden Daniels as your quarterback.