Learning to stay awake during game film, and other rigors of being an NFL rookie

	New York Giants rookie running back Brandon Jacobs. Chad Griffith/SI

By Ben Reiter

Brandon Jacobs, Giants RB

The license plates on Jacobs's Cadillac Escalade say it all: bigrb. The 6-foot-4-inch, 256-pound Jacobs is the NFL's tallest running back, and judging by the cheers whenever he enters a game at Giants Stadium, he's already one of the most popular. Although he's only had 26 carries for 79 yards -- and fumbled near the goal line in a loss to Dallas -- he has scored five touchdowns, including two on Sunday. "When I'm out in public, people want to come over just to shake my hand," he says. "I go out with my wife, Kim, and you hear, 'Oh, there's Brandon, how are you?' That makes me feel good." Raised in tiny Napoleonville, La. (pop. 686), Jacobs loves New York, except for one thing: "The traffic." At least he's happy with his ride.

Mike Williams, Lions WR

"When I watch SC play, Matt [Leinart], Reggie [Bush] and those guys, that's the thing I regret," says the USC star who had to miss a year of football when he unsuccessfully challenged the NFL's minimum-age rule after his sophomore year. Williams, who says he enjoys the NFL, and who has 19 catches, goes on: "Sometimes I feel stupid that I left that part of my life too soon.... Here, nobody sees us until Sunday. In college, kids see you when you leave practice, see you in school. The same guy [who] cheers for you sees you Monday through Friday."

C.C. Brown, Texans S

Brown has learned something about patience. When the Texans won their first game of the season, on Oct. 30, it was Brown's first victory in 372 days. "I [hadn't] won since midseason of my senior year [at Louisiana-Lafayette]," says Brown. "It's tough being on a winless team. It makes everybody want to go at each other's throats." Brown, a starter who has 41 tackles, has needed patience during practice as well. "The first time I sat down for film study I was like, O.K., we're just going to be here for 30 minutes," he says. "Thirty minutes later I was like, O.K., we're going to be here 10 more minutes. An hour went by. Then we got out of that meeting, and we had another that was like 45 minutes. It's a lot of film. And you have to keep yourself awake if you want to keep your job."

Braylon Edwards, Browns WR

The third overall pick got preseason advice from his father, Stan, a former NFL running back: "Be prepared for everything at all times." Edwards has followed that mantra while adapting to defenses that have throttled the Browns and held him to 15 catches in six games, well off his eight-catch-a-game pace as a Michigan senior. "Anybody in this league can make a play," he says. "You might see somebody get hurt and say, Oh, I'm up against their third or fourth corner. But that guy was an All-America.... You can't underestimate anybody." Edwards has also coped with an infection in his right arm that sidelined him for two games. "It wasn't scary to me," he says. "When they said I needed surgery [to remove the infected area], I said, 'Are you serious?' I laughed. When I woke up out of surgery, I asked for the score of the Michigan game."

Chris Henry, Bengals WR

Henry was just settling into his new six-bedroom house in Florence, Ky., when Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown of Belle Chasse, La., 10 miles southeast of New Orleans. Within days the 22-year-old was welcoming a stream of family members, 15 in all, including his mother, Carolyn, his aunt Brenda and cars full of cousins, some as young as three. "They came with only a couple of bags," Henry says. "It was really hard for them. They lost almost everything." Despite the sad circumstances that brought them to Henry's doorstep, the relatives may have helped his adjustment to the league. "We grew up like that, 10, 12 people in one house with one bathroom," says Henry, whose 259 receiving yards is third among rookies. "It has helped having family members to go home to -- we play cards, stuff like that. Most rookies are on their own for a couple years." And while some of the kinfolk have moved out, 10 still remain, including his mother and Brenda. "They cook New Orleans food: gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice," he says. "I have no problem with that."

Alex Smith, 49ers QB

You're the top pick in the draft. You make more money ($49.5 million over six years) than any of your teammates, and so after nine weeks your wallet is still the object of rookie hazing. "Wednesdays I have to buy Jamba Juices," says Smith. "Saturdays I have to buy meals. On plane trips I have to buy meals. When we go out, I'm usually stuck with the tab." But Smith, an economics major at Utah, understands the bottom line. "You are still a rookie until that 16th game," he says.

Lofa Tatupu, Seahawks LB

Tatupu, a 5'11", 238-pound second-rounder from USC leads Seattle in tackles with 52, but it is a humbling experience that has stuck with him: facing the Cowboys' 6'3", 325-pound, nine-time Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen, who in an SI Players poll of his peers last year was voted the NFL's strongest man. "He is not playing around," says Tatupu, who experienced Allen's wrath in a Week 7 win over Dallas. "The man is a beast. He laid me out a couple times. Once he got me good. I was on my back, [and] he turned me over like ... I don't even want to know what it was like. I've never seen anybody get handled like [I was]."

Erasmus James, Vikings DE

After signing with Minnesota in early August, James suddenly found himself  with more "family members" than he ever imagined he had. "You got a lot of people coming out of the woodwork, asking for things," says the 18th overall pick. That's what happens when you go overnight from a college student student at Wisconsin to a guy in possession of a five-year, $9.8 million contract. "You want to help everybody, but you also learn that you can't help everybody," the 6-4, 266-pound James says. "In the end, they keep asking for more and more, and you have less and less." Recently, James's mother, Evrine, received a call from a woman claiming to be his godmother. "My mom said, 'Well, he has two godmothers. Who was the other one?" James recalls. "She said, 'Uh, I don't know.'" For James, whose football family has been going through its own well-documented troubles this season, there's one person besides his mom and friends that he knows he can trust: "My financial adviser."

Kerry Rhodes, Jets S

There are two words that can put fear into the hearts of most NFL defenders: Michael Vick. Not for Rhodes, a fourth round pick out of Louisville who is starting at strong safety for the Jets. "Everybody knows he's an explosive guy with the ball in his hands," he says. "It was pretty fun to go out there and see the guy that everybody's been talking about how fast he is." In the first quarter of of the Jets' 27-14 Monday night loss to the Falcons on Oct. 24, Rhodes joined the legion of those who have fallen victim to the NFL's best athlete when he bit on a rollout pump-fake, allowing Vick to blaze past him and touch the pylon for the game's first score. Rhodes -- big for a safety at 6-3, 210-pounds (he's a cousin of Blazers center Theo Ratliff) -- got his revenge in the third quarter when he nailed Vick for a two-yard loss and forced him to fumble out of bounds. "I had a good play on him, and he had a good play on me," says Rhodes. "It was a wash. I got a good and a bad experience."

Chris Canty, Cowboys DE

Prior to his senior year at Virginia, draftniks were projecting the mammoth Canty (6-7, 295 pounds) as a surefire first-rounder. Then, in the fourth game of the season against Syracuse, Canty tore the ACL, MCL, and PCL in his left knee. Dr. James Andrews repaired the damage, and Canty was progressing well enough by January to work out in Arizona to prepare for the draft. He was standing in an Scottsdale nightclub when a bar fight broke out; a bottle flew out of the fracas and struck his left eye, detaching the retina and requiring immediate surgery. Teams saw Canty as a risk -- even he admits, "There was a lot of doubt whether I would be able to play football this year, or if I would be able to perform on the same level I did in college" -- and he fell to the fourth round.

The Cowboys are lucky he did: Canty's been an unexpectedly strong contributor to the defensive line, with 18 tackles and 1.5 sacks. A scar above his eye reminds him daily of his struggles. "I didn't necessarily get into trouble, but I put myself in a situation where trouble could find me," he says. "It was a costly mistake."

Dan Orlovsky, Lions QB

The first five weeks of the season were a dream for Orlovsky. While QB Jeff Garcia recovered from a broken leg, the UConn product was getting as many practice reps as he desired behind Joey Harrington. All that changed when Garcia returned. "It's tough, I'm not going to lie," he says. "I was getting better every day, really progressing and doing some good things and I'm basically get no reps now. Two or three plays a day." Even though he's disappointed, Orlovsky has vowed to remain patient. "It's how it goes," he says. "But I stay after practice every day throwing and doing a bunch of drills, so I can stay sharp." Orlovsky is currently number two QB again due to another Garcia injury, but he can undoubtedly expect his roller coaster season to continue.

Darren Sproles, Chargers RB

Sproles is as small as Brandon Jacobs is big: at 5-6, 181 pounds, he's the league's shortest back. His stature is one reason why he fell to the fourth round in the draft, despite a record-setting career at Kansas State and a fifth-place finish in the 2003 Heisman voting. With each electrifying kick or punt return, more teams regret passing on him. (He's fifth in kick returning with a 25.7-yard average, and 14th in punt returns at 7.6). "People didn't think I could do it at my size, and I'm not sure how I do it," he says. "I've been blessed, pretty much."

DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys DE

Ware made a name for himself in an Aug. 22 pre-season game against the Seahawks in which he forced two fumbles, had a sack and an interception. He  he leads all rookies in quarterback takedowns with four. Among the Cowboys, however, his name is "Bill Parcells' waterboy." "I can't wait until next year, when I won't have to worry about it," he says. "Somebody tried to play a trick on me by sneaking some Gatorade in my hand. I always have to look at it. [Parcells] warned me -- he does not like orange Gatorade."

Heath Miller, Steelers TE

Even though he leads the Steelers in touchdown catches, Miller's celebrity is nowhere near Roethlisbergian heights in Pittsburgh. No marriage proposals; no burgers named in his honor. "For the most part I can go do whatever I want and go unnoticed," says Miller, the 13th overall pick. If he keeps hauling in TDs at this clip, that's sure to change. Suggestion to Steel City Ben & Jerry's shops: how do you like the sound of Heath (Miller) Bar Crunch?

Matt Jones, Jacksonville WR

Jones is used to running. After all, the 6-6, 242-pounder starred in both basketball and football at Arkansas, and used his 4.39 speed to rack up 2,559 rushing yards as the Razorbacks' quarterback. Even that didn't prepare him for the transition to NFL wideout. "By far the toughest adjustment has been all the running," he says. "You run all the time, even in practice. It puts a lot of strain on your legs." All that legwork is steadily paying off for Jones, who has two touchdown receptions in his three games.

Issue date: November 14, 2005