DENVER — Craig Reynolds ripped through a tackle near the line of scrimmage, cut to the outside, dodged a few more tacklers and tore up the seam for 35 yards in the second quarter of the Detroit Lions’ 38-10 loss to the Broncos on Sunday afternoon.
Wait.
Craig Reynolds?
Yeah, Craig Reynolds, by way of the Lions’ practice squad this … past … Friday. By way of the Chicago Bears’ practice squad and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad and the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and the Washington Football Team’s, you guessed it, practice squad.
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But let’s not stop there. Reynolds, a 5-foot-11, 225-pound running back, didn’t get drafted. He played college football at Kutztown University, which is in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, and if you tell me you know where that is in relation to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, you’re not telling me the truth. (Or you’re from that state.)
So, yes, Reynolds had taken a long time to come a long way when he took the handoff from Jared Goff in the second quarter Sunday, with the Lions trailing 14-0, another (blowout) loss imminent and the crowd enjoying itself under the Colorado sun.
Then he damn near ran over linebacker Kenny Young, and he busted free, and he tore off down a real, live NFL field in a real, live NFL stadium against actual NFL players.
Finally, he was tackled at the 12.
When he rose, he howled.
Wouldn’t you?
Then he jogged back to the huddle, broke with the team and lined up behind the quarterback, took another handoff, and slipped around the end for five more yards.
On the next play, Goff hit Kalif Raymond for a seven-yard touchdown. It doesn’t happen without Reynolds.
He told reporters after the game he was screaming after the 35-yard run to help get the team going. And you should believe him. Because players like him don’t stay off the practice squad for long if they aren’t interested in the bigger picture.
Which also helps explain why he said it was hard to take “joy” from his performance — he finished with 83 yards on 11 carries — because “losing stinks.”
It does. Of course, it does. And Reynolds said the right thing.
Yet there is no way he wasn’t feeling joy, or pride, or elation or relief. He didn’t even get word he’d play until Friday when Jamaal Williams tested positive for COVID-19. About all he had time to do was go over some notes, the gameplan, get a few reps and jump on the team plane the next day.
No, his preparation happened long before Friday. On the days he stays after practice to get the chances he doesn’t during regular practice. In the film sessions with his coaches and fellow running backs, where he picks the brains of both.
In his faith, his belief in God, whom he mentioned several times from the post-game interview room at Empower Field at Mile High.
“God presented the opportunity,” he said.
That’s certainly possible. More likely is that his faith presented the opportunity, which is to say his belief — which must be unwavering when you play at a place like Kutztown and bounce from practice squad to practice squad over the next three years.
Waiting. Hoping. Praying. Preparing.
For when you get the chance.
Reynolds finally did. Where it goes is up to him and the vagaries of injury and illness and opportunity.
Remember this the next time you’re watching the Lions, or any NFL team, and a player shoots across the screen with a name on the back of his jersey that sends you to Google. Or doesn’t, because you know you’re not likely to see him again.
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Craig Reynolds?
Yeah, Craig Reynolds.
There are hundreds of others like him. The backup to the backup to the backup. Sitting out trips. Watching home games from a suite, always at the ready.
“Just controlling what I can,” he said. “Day in and day out.”
Because he knows that no matter how unlikely it is he’ll get the call, he might. And that he must use his journey to help him prepare.
“Being a small-school kid, undrafted, practice squad? Definitely have a chip on your shoulder,” he said.
Kutztown. Washington. Atlanta. Jacksonville. Chicago.
And now Detroit.
On a day when the Lions got walloped again, in a season that’s achingly familiar, here was a story worth savoring.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.