I’ll be the first to admit that when I heard that former KU cornerback Tyler Patmon had not only made an NFL roster but actually had worked his way into some significant playing time, I was a little surprised.
I always liked Patmon. Nice kid. Friendly to the media. Good player early in his career. But his final season at Kansas was not pretty and I never really understood it.
He left KU to play out his eligibility at Oklahoma State and had a solid senior season for a seriously talented OSU squad. I’m sure that helped put him back on the NFL radar but a he caught a couple of breaks along the way, as well. The Dallas Cowboys suffered a slew of injuries to their secondary and that opened the door for Patmon to get his shot. Once he did, he took it and ran with it.
I talked to former KU defensive coordinator Dave Campo about Patmon and he said the Cowboys always really liked the kid’s make up. Campo, you’ll remember, spent a bunch of years in Dallas and was the head coach at one point so it’s only natural that the Cowboys scouts would inquire about Patmon with one of their own who had coached him.
As Patmon settled into his role with the Cowboys last season I continued to try to make sense of how he got his shot. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the guy. It’s always very cool to see guys I covered go on to do well in the NFL, but I was still pretty surprised it worked out so well for him.
But something happened this weekend that made my search to make sense of it all a little more clear.
During one of the first days of camp in Dallas, Patmon found himself locked up on Dallas star Dez Bryant, an Oklahoma State alum himself, no less.
As Bryant engaged with Patmon at the snap and blocked him high and hard all the way down the field, Patmon fought back. The extreme contact quickly turned into more and, before you could blink, Patmon and Bryant were going at it, helmets off, fists flying.
These types of things happen all the time in NFL camps and practices, especially in the preseason. But it did show me something about Patmon.
Not the biggest nor most physically imposing guy on any roster, clearly he’s got something inside of him that makes him unafraid. Not only was he willing to fight to hold his ground and prove that he’s there to earn his spot, he was willing to fight the team’s best player and one of the most intense and emotional dudes in all of sports.
He easily could’ve backed down and thought to himself, ‘Man, I’m not messing with Dez. People might hate me.’ But he didn’t. Instead, he went right at him and appeared to care very little about what people — teammates, coaches, media, fans — might think.
If anything, I’m guessing Patmon’s willingness to go toe to toe with Dez Bryant impressed a lot of those same people mentioned above, especially because no one was hurt.
Either way, color me impressed. It takes more than good footwork, proper technique and a break or two to make it in the NFL. And, clearly, Patmon possesses that extra intangible that just might lead to him sticking around for a while.
Here’s a link to the video of the fracas:
http://www.dallascowboys.com/video/2015/08/02/dez-bryant-tyler-patmon-fight-full-video-reaction
