Dave Tollefson is primed for the most important season of his career
Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones (28) attempts to evade a tackle by New York Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson (71) in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009, in Arlington, Texas. Credit: AP Photo/LM Otero
Just wanted to draw your attention to this article that will run in tomorrow’s paper about Dave Tollefson, the forgotten man on the defensive line.
“No one wants to be the forgotten guy, that’s the truth,” he said. “So I try to make it a point to make sure people do remember me.”
That’s happening more and more in this camp, as he’s having one of the best summers of any Giant. But he still knows that he has to find a home on the roster, then find a spot on the 45-man game day team that suits up, and then find a role on the field. He also called this a make-or-break year for him in terms of his career.
One of his best quotes from the article was about settling for making the team in the past few years:
“Now I want to play. You look at our d-line and you ask where do I fit in? Well, I’m going to make myself fit in. I’m going to force the issue and make sure that everyone knows ‘Damn, Dave wants to play.’”
Besides what’s written in the article, we also spoke about some other stuff. I mentioned that he must have been flattered to get a second-round tender offer from the Giants. He said he was happy with the money, which is more than he’s made in his four previous years with the Giants combined, but he was more just relieved and happy that they didn’t put a seventh-round tender on him.
“It’s not as much flattering as it would have been depressing if they had given me a seventh-round tender,” he said. “And imagine if a team didn’t pick me up for a seventh round tender? They’d be saying that they could pick a better seventh round pick than me.”
We also spoke about him being an unrestricted free agent after this season. If he plays well this season, there could be a market for him.
“I’ve been trying to make football teams (throughout my career), I can’t even imagine what it would be like for other teams to be clamoring over you,” he said. “That’s so far away now, I don’t even try to picture that.”
What he’s focused on now is playing hard, physical football, making people take notice of him, and trying to step out of that “Forgotten Guy” area.
“I always keep the saying in my head that the hardest steel goes through the hottest fire,” he said. “Football is one of the few sports that reveals a man’s character. Fast. You find out who’s who. I relish that. I love it.”
