Is This The End?

Is this the end? Is it over? It can't be. I don't want to hear it. I mean, it’s not everyday that you hear someone talking about an Offensive Lineman, but I had to say something about a very important piece on the Washington Redskins’ Offensive Line. The reality is we may have seen him take his last snap in the NFL, but what a career did this man put together. I am talking about Chris Samuels. Next to your Center, your Left Tackle is probably the most important position to fill on the Offensive Line, and did we fill it in the 2000 NFL Draft with our 3^rd overall pick. Samuels played in 141 games, played in 6 Pro Bowls, was 2^nd team All Pro (All NFL) 2001, and was the 1999 Outland Award winner in college for being one of the best Lineman in the country. So when we talk about cornerstones of a franchise, or a Franchise player, Chris Samuels is/was the very definition.

The fact of the matter is at his position of Left Tackle, in about 90% of the cases, you are protecting your Quarterback blindside. That’s because most Quarterbacks are right-handed. And most teams put their best Defensive Ends on the right side of their line, which is the left side of the Offensive Line, so guess who has the honors of facing the best pass rushers in the league on a weekly basis? Not only did Chris Samuels face them, but in many cases, he made them pull a Whodini and disappear. His job is thankless. Block to keep your Quarterback clean, and to open holes for your Running Back. Boring, right??!! Not so much when you are the Quarterback of a football team. Your Left Tackle is the equivalent of a Body Guard. He should be every Quarterbacks best friend. The other team’s goal is to get your Quarterback and knock him out of the game. It sounds brutal, but it is the very nature of the game. You have to have a mean streak. You almost have to be borderline nasty. Trust me, when you are staring down pass rushers like Julius Peppers, Mathias Kiwanuka, Osi Umenyiora, Jared Allen and Trent Cole, that nice guy stuff goes out the window. But Chris was a different person. He was a monster on the football field, but a compassionate person off of it.

Chris Samuels started the Chris Samuels Foundation in 2006. Their mission is to strive for community stabilization through home ownership education, economic development and youth initiatives. The youth initiative is something that stands out to me because of one particular situation. A young lady from Washington, D.C. wanted to attend the Alvin Ailey School for dancing in New York City. With the cost of attending being out of her reach Chris Samuels and his Organization stepped in to help this young lady fulfill her dream. Here we have this NFL player who plays a position in which you have to be nasty, and he takes time out for a young lady whose dream is attend a dancing school. But, it doesn’t stop there. Samuels is also currently active in the lives of teenagers who attended two Washington, D.C. inner city schools in Ballou and Anacostia. If you are a D.C. native and you attended either one of these school in the 80’s and 90’s, you know that a lot of people didn’t want to deal with the children there. Again, here we have a man that doesn’t need to take time out of his busy schedule to make time for inner city kids. But Chris Samuels is more than a football player. He is very definition of what is means to be a real man. Doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.

I remember walking into a club here in Washington, D.C. and seeing two massive human beings standing by the bar. As I walked closer, I immediately recognized one guy as a young man with whom I attended High School. He motioned for me to come over. Now I am not a little guy by any means, but he and the other guy dwarfed me. I was very hesitant to walk over to greet him, because this other guy looked like he was ready to strangle someone. As I got closer, I started planning my escape route if this other guy didn’t like me for some reason. My old High School friend says, “Hey Desmond what’s up? I want you to meet Chris.” Now at this point I have not made eye contact. So I slowly turn around to shake hands, it’s none other than Chris Samuels. If you don’t know, Samuels is about 6’5” 310 lbs. and is only carrying around about 6% bodyfat. I am thinking to myself, I don’t need this drama. I reached out to shake his hand. Why did I do that? His entire hand covered mine. And with a smile he says, “What’s up?” So I am feeling a bit more at ease. Well we talked shop for about 5 minutes. I thanked him for his time, said goodbye to my friend and walked away. I have meet a lot of people, but he left a favorable impression on me and forever changed the way I view Offensive Lineman in football. I see why a lot of people like him. He is very well mannered, well spoken, and friendly, but you have to get him to talk to you. For some reason he does not strike me as a person who opens up to a lot of people. I don’t really blame him because when you are a star, everyone wants to be your friend.

When you are watching a football game, remember that the guy whose names that you don’t hear have the most important jobs on the field. We tend to forget, that if you are not hearing their names, they are having a good day. The have to push against another human being on almost every play. Their legs are always in the line of fire. The heads take an inordinate amount of punishment. They have to be very intelligent and make quick decisions. They have to be big, powerful and strong, as well as agile. They have to endure criticism as a group even if four of them are doing well and one isn’t. They are Offensive Lineman. They are the guards, the gatekeepers. They are always key to the outcome of any game. Chris Samuels is one of these guys. He is the most recent in long line of Lineman that played for the Washington Redskins. Now we can hear his name mentioned with the likes of Jeff Bostic, Joe Jacoby, Russ Grimm, George Starke, Mark May, Jim Lachey, and even Mark Schlereth. We may not see him in a football uniform again so I wanted to take this time to say this.

Thanks for the years you gave to Washington Redskins. I have no doubt that, even if we never see you in the burgundy and goal again, we will see you in Canton, OH someday.