A year ago, Tyler Larsen was digging trenches for his father’s landscaping company in Utah. Now he’s getting ready to start for the defending NFC champs on Sunday Night Football.
Larsen is next in line at center for the Carolina Panthers, who on Tuesday placed Ryan Kalil (shoulder) and Gino Gradkowski (knee) on injured reserve. That means quarterback Cam Newton will be taking snaps in Seattle from a guy who not long ago was living with his parents so he and his wife could save money in case football didn’t work out.
“It’s surreal,” Larsen said Wednesday while walking off the Panthers’ makeshift practice field at San Jose State. “I’m just happy I have the opportunity, and when I get out there, I’m just going to make the best of it and treat it like any other game.”
It’s not, of course. Not for someone who on a Saturday morning in September sat in the Bank of America Stadium locker room fearing he’d be let go during final cuts.
“When time came for the meeting, Mr. Gettleman came up and said, ‘Congratulations,'” an emotional Larsen said back then.
A starter for a school-record 52 straight games at Utah State, Larsen was projected as a mid- or late-round pick in 2014. But the draft came and went without a team taking the 6-foot-4, 335-pounder, who signed with the Dolphins as a free agent.
Released by Miami that August, Larsen spent the year out of football. For the first time. The second was a year later after Washington released him during final cuts. That’s when Larsen considered giving up his NFL dream.
But sometime during those days spent doing “crappy jobs guys don’t want,” Larsen and his wife, Samm, decided he should give it one more shot. The Panthers soon called, offering him a December tryout, which he parlayed into a futures contract.
Larsen likely would have fallen to 0-for-3 on final cut day if center/guard Chris Scott hadn’t been suspended the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy. When Scott returned, Larsen was released, but the Panthers brought him back to their practice squad.
As injuries began to devastate the offensive line, Larsen was added back to the active roster in Week 9. He then spent his first 21 NFL snaps on special teams until he finally got to jump in on offense. With Kalil back in Charlotte, Larsen finished Sunday’s game at center after Gradkowski limped off on the final play of the third quarter.
“When Larsen came in he did a nice job to hold it together,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said on a conference call with Carolina-based media.
That’s nice to say, Pete, but it’s also nice for a salty Seattle defense that won’t have to face Kalil.
“He’s one of the best players at his position in the NFL. He might be the best center. So when you lose that caliber of player, you don’t just lose the physical play, you lose the leadership and the smarts and all that,” Carroll said. “You always miss those players, but it’s always about the guy that steps up that’s most important.”
So after being forced to replace football with a shovel, Larsen has his big chance. This fall has certainly been better than the past two for the 25 year old, who along with Samm welcomed their first child into the world during the Panthers’ bye week.
“It’s been crazy having my baby girl come and making this team,” Larsen said. “It’s been a real awesome journey and I’m just grateful for everything I’ve had.”