Drafted in the second round (48th overall) of the 2001 draft, New England Patriots‘ tackle Matt Light did what very few players do today, he played his entire eleven season career for one team. Light shared his draft day flashback with Pro Player Insiders’ Melissa Mahler.
It’s been 3 seasons since Light hung up his cleats after 11 successful years with the Patriots. His accolades included being part of his team’s 3 Super Bowl championships and 2 Pro Bowl appearances.
Here’s how Light looks back on his NFL draft experience and the opportunity he had playing professional football.
Q: Tell us a little bit about what you went through for NFL Draft and some of your concerns or highs from that process
Matt: I’m always systematic with my approach to everything. I kind of said to myself, I guess I have this opportunity. These agents are calling, so I should put some time into this.
I guess maybe I should start off by saying that I had never seen a professional football game in my life until I played in one, and that’s not an exaggeration. I had never seen a college game either until I played one, so I didn’t grow up watching football. But I started getting all these letters and all these agents reached out.
I decided that if I’m going to do [play football] then I’m going to hire the best guy I can get. So I found a guy, and he ended up being one of the best in the business. I was fortunate to make the right call on that one.
You can only do so much to prepare, and I think a lot of the guys get overwhelmed with the process so to speak but it’s still 
different than playing the game. If you go out there and have a great week of preparation and you put everything you have into it and you and you’re working hard, you’re taking care of your body and working out, and doing all those little steps along the way, then when you finally get to the game, you know it’s all good.
We play once a week. We don’t sit there and worry all week; we may get a little bit of butterflies before the game, but we’re creatures of habit and the more times we do it, the repetition, the more confidence we have.
I did the same thing with the draft. I said okay, I’m going to work out, do all these things, put all the time in, and then basically on draft day I was having a good time. I said I’m going to have all my friends and family were all around me, were going to celebrate, and whatever happens, happens.
I think it’s difficult to do in some respect, but it’s a great experience and the guys should enjoy it.
Q: What is your greatest football memory?
Matt: If I could paint the picture of my career, it would just be the guys that I did it with. We won championships and you know we had some incredible games. We dealt a lot of adversity. I’ve made it through entire games, I’ve been kicked out half way through, I’ve been injured and carted off, and I’ve told people I’ve won and lost the game of football everyway a guy can do it in a national football league.
I’ve made the playoffs, I’ve not made the playoffs, I’ve won the first round, I’ve lost the first round, won the second round, lost the second round, won the championship game, lost the championship game, and won and lost the Super Bowl. I tell people I’ve lost as good as you can do it, and I’ve won as good as you can do it. It always comes back to the guys I did that with; just some incredible relationships and that’s the important part for me.
For more follow https://twitter.com/Melissa_PPI and https://twitter.com/LightFoundation
Related articles across the web
