His search for comfort and a final NFL resting place ended here beneath the mountains in bright orange hue. Jerry Rice’s rummage for one final stop-and-go did not culminate without the soul-searching required of a soon-to-be 43-year-old receiver.
“I did not make the decision based on age – I did not give in to that,” Rice said via telephone from the Bay Area on Wednesday.
He said he took the past few days to consider what the Broncos had told him, that he would not be their No. 1 or No. 2 receiver. He thought about his exits in San Francisco and in Oakland and in Seattle and how each one left him antsy.
He wondered: As much as he wanted to play, did he really want to put on yet another uniform?
He pondered the seven months or so he would be in Denver, away from his family. He trained, tested himself. Thought it all through again.
And leaped.
“Jerry is too great an athlete and too strong-willed for him to join the Denver Broncos and this become a negative,” said his agent, Jim Steiner. “Mike Shana- han is not going to put himself or Jerry into a position where he won’t find a way for him to contribute or use him. All this business about Jerry making the squad? That is to be expected.”
No guarantees, huh?
Sure sounds like the Broncos told Rice he will, at least, be on the opening-day roster. Rice played coy with that one.
“I will do everything I can to make that happen, but that will be up to them to make that decision,” Rice said. “I’ve always been about competition. Can I see myself not making the team? I just see myself preparing and giving it all my best shot.”
Sure, he makes the team. And brings his exceptional hands, absolute knowledge and tireless work habits. He will not blaze past defenders. Not all pro receivers do.
He will catch the ball on crossing routes. He will find soft spaces in zones. He will boost their faulty red-zone offense. He will, indeed, catch a ball or two deep.
He will present stability.
The Broncos need plenty of that. What team does not? Why does a player who can contribute, in the eyes of many, have to match old glory? Rice can help the Broncos win games. That will do.
Last season he played six games in Oakland and 11 in Seattle, caught 30 balls and averaged 14.3 yards per catch in the regular season. His career average is 14.8. His long catch last season was for 56 yards. Rod Smith had one for 85 and Ashley Lelie for 58 and other than that, no Broncos receiver caught one longer than Rice last season.
This legacy stuff is irritating. People who chime about Rice ruining his legacy are people who never had a crumb of one. That is how much such a legacy would mean to them. Not to Rice. This is a man from Crawford, Miss., population 2,000.
He has played 20 pro seasons and owns every meaningful pass-catching record. More savvy now, but still rooted.
“The legacy is already intact,” Rice said. “I never played football to be a legacy, though. I played for passion, for love. I have been the main factor for many football seasons. I’ve carried that pressure. I look at the game of football as one of pride and opportunity. I know deep down inside I can still play. God gave me a gift, and I am going to do everything I can with it for at least one more year.”
He talked it over with his mother, Eddie B., and with his wife, Jackie, and they asked him: What if you quit now and questioned that decision down the road when you could do nothing about it? Jackie said, “Jerry, if it is something you really want to do, you should do it.”
And so he will.
Pro football is full of odd bounces and warped roles. To witness the game’s greatest receiver end his career in Denver will be a delight. Greatness can have a way of carving an appropriate niche. Shanahan is correctly focusing on what Rice can do, not what he cannot. Rice smartly joins a coach who knows what to do with him.
He is a father of three now, daughters ages 17 and 9 and a son age 13, with the oldest daughter off to attend Georgetown soon. His mother is alive, but his father is dead, not around to see his son lay one more brick in a fabled foundation. Rice has talked often about laying bricks as a kid and building homes with his father in the hot Mississippi sun. About his earliest teammates calling him “World” because they believed he could catch any ball in the world.
His old 49ers teammates use to call him “Fifi” because of his high-top, poodle-like haircut. He goes bald now.
See, age does have its benefits.
Amid gloom and doubt from so many corners, Rice gets the last word, a final spin. It is the last one, right?
“I will take pride in my role in Denver,” Rice said. “I will follow this road until it ends, whenever it ends.”
Staff writer Thomas Georgecan be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
