New York Giants LB Jameel McClain Bounces Back from Adversity

Don’t mess with New York Giants linebacker Jameel McClain. 

Seriously, throw any curve ball you have at the 30-year-old former Syracuse defender who grew up in the toughest part of northern Philadelphia.

Oh sure, you might temporarily knock McClain down, but just as quickly, he’s going to pop back up like a child’s air-inflated punching bag, give you a snarl and ask, “Is that the best you got?”

These days, McClain, last year’s Giants team leader with 116 tackles (a career-high), finds himself in a familiar role: a fight for a roster spot and a fight to be a part of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s new defense.

He also wants everyone to know he is ready to fight until the end, regardless of what reasons his critics offer about why he needs to be replaced.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

“Nothing is ever picking roses for me; I always gotta go in and fight and prove day in and day out what I represent and this year is no different,” said the 30-year-old McClain, who has been cleared to return to practice after sitting out a week after suffering a neck injury during a training camp practice. 

McClain has been the very epitome of toughness, a throwback blue-collar linebacker who would have made Bill Parcells swoon.

The former Syracuse star, who went on to win a Super Bowl championship with the Baltimore Ravens, is a man who off the field is never dressed without a smile. He is as friendly and outgoing as they come, a man who uses his platform to try to make the world better for others.

Meet him on the football field, and you had better hope that he is wearing the same colored jersey as you because he turns into one scary-looking human being who takes no mercy.

That no-mercy attitude is a big reason why McClain, who this week returned to practice after suffering a neck injury, has lasted so long.

Rolling with the Punches 

Last season, McClain, like his teammates, dealt with his fair share of injuries, including a knee ailment that landed him on the weekly injury report toward the end of the year.

But McClain, a tough-nosed guy from northern Philadelphia, doesn’t believe in quitting; as such he didn’t miss a beat because his love for the game is too strong to simply let anything get in the way of playing the game he loves and has played for most of his life.

LM Otero/Associated Press

That includes his medical history, which reared its ugly head a couple of weeks ago when what seemed like an innocuous hit left McClain in a heap on the Quest Diagnostics Training Center grass field.

McClain, you see, was born with spinal stenosis, the very same condition that hastened the termination of former running back David Wilson’s NFL career, and which also contributed in part to McClain’s missing the Ravens’ 2012 postseason thanks to a hit that caused him a spinal cord contusion.

As he has always done in his life, McClain, who was a boxer as a youth, has simply bounced back up because that is who he is, and that’s what he is all about.

“Shoot, I’ve had a history of a lot of things,” he said of his hard-nosed approach to life. “Growing up in North Philly, it ain’t the first time I’ve encountered something.

“Everyone knows I’m a guy who will get back to it. I believe myself to be tough, I believe myself to be resilient.”

For as tough and resilient as he might be, he is also human. So it was only natural that there was a great deal of concern when McClain fell to the ground during a training camp practice drill and remained there for quite a bit of time before eventually getting up and jogging in place to show the team’s medical staff and his teammates that he was okay.

“That’s me,” he said, smiling. “The funniest thing is most of [his teammates] didn’t even know what was going on because I was smiling the whole time. I was like, ‘I’ll be back,’ and I was laughing it off the whole time, and they are like, ‘Just sit there, just sit there.’

“Nah, I’ll be all right. Don’t worry about me,” he said, admitting that he had a number of tests done to ensure it would be okay for him to resume his playing career

“They did all of their due diligence to make sure I was right, but it was clear from looking at the MRI that this wasn’t the same scenario. This was just a mild incident,” he said.

“I’m used to going through so much. Something small to me is something big to someone else. I’ll be back and all right.”

Punching Above His Weight 

McClain has never been a heralded NFL player—undrafted free agents rarely achieve that status.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the affable McClain from recognizing that there is something more to be gained from the platform he has been given, a platform that has robbed many men before him of physical and cognizant abilities that the average person might take for granted. 

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

McClain, a Super Bowl champion on the field, has also shaped himself into a champion in the community whose philanthropic efforts know no bounds thanks to his “53 Families Foundation” that he runs in collaboration with the Salvation Army. 

McClain also extends his giving side to that of his teammates, including those who might be a threat to his job and/or roster spot.  

“Man, I’ve always loved that role,” McClain said, his eyes becoming wider with excitement. “It makes me a better person and a better player. It’s the same thing that I do off the field that I do on the field.

“People don’t even believe it’s something that’s possible, but everyone has potential in them and that’s what I want them to know. I understand that you got it in you and you bring it out of you every day that you can.”

The Contender

For as tough and as focused as McClain is, he acknowledged that there is still the chance that he could take another, more severe hit that warrants the end of his playing days, just as Wilson went through. 

“It was always something that was mentioned before, even before this situation happened,” he admitted. “It’s not fair for me to compare my situation to David’s or anyone else’s or even to what I went through before because this was completely different.

“But that option is always in the air when you go through something like this,” he said, adding, “But I’m built different; I 'die hard' like John McClane.”

McClain isn’t thinking about it, nor does he plan to. He instead plans to focus on winning a starting job and contributing on a defense that needs all the veteran leaders it can get.

To that end, he promised a newer and much different version of himself than what Giants fans witnessed last year, one that at the very least will ensure that if and when his time does come to an end, it will be on his terms.

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“I’m going to be, excuse my French, more pissed off. I thought that I did pretty okay [last year], but there are a lot of things I could have done better, and whatever you did last year is last year. This is this year and I have to prove again why I belong,” he said.

It won’t be easy. Second-year linebacker Devon Kennard seems to have settled in at McClain’s strong-side linebacker role while the return of Jon Beason to the middle appears to have put McClain in more of a reserve role, particularly as an understudy to Beason.

McClain shook his head when asked if it was a slap in the face to have to fight for his job after having his best season statistically.

“I don’t see many things as a slap in the face ultimately. I do see it as a challenge, another challenge, another test,” he said.

He feigned a shiver and then the smile on his face grew even wider.

“I don’t even know if people think it’s possible, but there’s going to be more fire out of me because…I get chills right now about to say it, because I’m living my dream.

“What do I have to hold back? I got nothing left; I’m going to empty it all out, every day, every second. I’m going to give fire and I’m going to influence my fire on my teammates because that’s what’s necessary for this game, and that’s what’s going to be necessary for us to win.”

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.

Follow @Patricia_Traina.