The Forced Audible

Jeremy Davis just finished a historic college career at Colorado, winning awards and winning back-to-back national championships in his Junior and Senior years. Jeremy was the most prized collegiate player heading into the NAFL, North American Football League; every team wanted him for various reasons due to his unselfish play, being a great teammate, making everyone feel included, his drive and focus, strong arm, great legs/footwork. He was the prototypical dual-threat NAFL Quarterback standing at 6'5" and weighing 220 lbs with black wavy hair that was kinda slicked back to his shoulders, sparkling angelic blue eyes, clean cut only because he couldn't figure out what kind of facial hair he wanted. he had a charming athletic muscular body that even men would stop and admire.

He would be the first overall pick in the NAFL draft; everyone had known that for a couple of years. Most people were surprised that He didn't forgo his senior year and go pro. He wanted to give back to Colorado fans and enjoyed being with his teammates too much, along with wanting to be back-to-back national champions. Everyone expected Jeremy to go to Cleveland as they had the number one pick. In interviews, Jeremy always would say that he would play anywhere that He was selected and would probably play there for the rest of his career as he has that old-school loyalty and style about him. Still, secretly he wanted to be drafted by his hometown team, the Denver Mustangs; Jeremy had dreamed of that since he was little.

The night of the draft being in New York was a crazy experience, to say the least. As he was the center of attention heading into the draft. Rumors were flying around that Cleveland was going to trade the pick to multiple different teams, none of which were Denver. As the draft starts, the countdown officially starts, and then silence starts to creep in as a few minutes go by with Cleveland not announcing their pick yet. Jeremy looks down at his phone, and it starts ringing, saying anonymous. Jeremy answers nervously, " Hello. " The mysterious deep man's voice replies, " Hi, Jeremy Davis; this is Bill Lombardi with the Denver Mustangs. I know that is unexpected since we never met with you before the draft; we have made a trade with Cleveland, and how do you feel about being a Denver Mustang? " Jeremy can't believe it; he thinks to himself: " this has to be a dream, this can't be real. " Jeremy barely can get an understandable reply out from sheer excitement: " Yes coach, I I I I've always wanted to be a Mustang since I was a kid. I won't let you down". Lombardi booms back: " Good to hear, Kid; we think you have a great and long career ahead of you, being 21 years old, will lead the Mustangs to several championships. I'll see you at the airport tomorrow. Go celebrate and have fun with your family, " Jeremy, still in shock, says, " I'll make the Mustangs proud for the next 20 years. Thank you for the opportunity, and I will enjoy tonight, but the work for the championship starts tomorrow. "

Months later, the preseason is here, Jeremy's first unofficial game as a pro. Even though it's the preseason, Jeremy is focused; he knows he's still a rookie and has to prove his worth to his coaches, teammates, and the fans. He doesn't want to be a bust for his hometown team. Denver gets the ball first. Jeremy runs into the field with the offense. His favorite play gets called, the crowd gets quiet before the snap, Jeremy surveys the defense, everything feels right about this play, and the defense is in line for the offense to have a great play. Jeremy hikes the football and rolls out, looking downfield to see which wide receiver he's going to throw to. He sees his go-to wide receiver wide open downfield; the crowd is going crazy as they see the big play unfolding. As Jeremy throws the football downfield as He releases it, he hears and feels a loud pop in his elbow, at the same time, unbeknownst to him, the superstar all-pro linebacker from the Arizona Phoenix hits Jeremy from behind. Jeremy, already in a lot of pain, feels another pop in his right knee as he's hitting the field. The crowd is going crazy; it was a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the game. The crowd goes silent as they realize that Jeremy is still on the ground in tremendous pain with the training staff coming out to see him. Jeremy just hears before the training staff gets to him, " Welcome to the Pros Rook. " It will be later confirmed that Jeremy's career and Dream were done.

It's been a little over three years since Jeremy's injury. He now detests football and truly wants nothing to do with the sport; it's not because he got injured; it's because he gave everything to football and got nothing back.

He felt like he was just thrown away because he was damaged goods, and there was no real effort to get him back to play professional football. The team was concerned and wanted to do whatever was needed to get Jeremy back on the field since they had invested much into Jeremy. Jeremy's injuries were pretty significant when it boiled down; after getting multiple opinions, they all concluded that Jeremy tore four of five Flexor Tendons, and his knee was mutilated to describe it the best. He tore his MCL, ACL, and other tendons in his knee; his knee was basically being held together by one ligament.

Both of those injuries could be considered a Widowmaker in their own right to a quarterback, let alone a football player. The Flexor Tendon injury ended a couple of legendary Pittsburgh quarterbacks' careers in different decades; the injury zaps your arm strength when throwing the ball and creates tingling and numbness in your hand. Jeremy's surgeon said that he was fortunate to keep his leg as he thought he was going to have to amputate Jeremy's leg due to the damage inflicted on the knee.

It was due to Jeremy's determination and fire to get back on the field that the surgeon spent various hours between two surgeries carefully repairing his knee. Jeremy was so desperate to get back to playing football that he wanted to get into rehab right after getting out of surgery, but he listened to the doctor's instructions as he only had one chance to come back. Once he could start rehab, he pushed himself to the limit, giving a thousand percent, under the careful eye of the therapists.

The problem was that once he got with the Mustangs' training staff, that's where everything fell apart; he didn't have the zip and explosive throws that he once had. He was lucky to get the football twenty yards downfield, and if he threw too much, his hand would start to tingle and go numb to where he had issues gripping, holding, and feeling the football. He wasn't as agile or fast with his footwork, and he had happy feet. The trainers would tell Jeremy that maybe he should hang it up, that he'll still go down in history as one of the greatest collegiate athletes of all time. He would hear the coaches in their offices say that if Jeremy just lost his arm strength, they could move him to become a wide receiver or if his legs didn't recover that he could be a pocket passer. Still, he lost both, and they couldn't find a position for him to play that would extend Jeremy's career.

Over time the doubters grew, and no one ever came to him to encourage him, to be by his side, to say I know you're fighting to come back, and things aren't going your way, but we'll get you there. Instead, all he received was a call to come down to Coach Lombardi's office for a chat.

Coach Lombardi would go on to tell Jeremy that the training staff conferred with the doctors and that he would no longer be able to play professional football. Coach Lombardi would continue to say that if Jeremy wanted to keep the money from his rookie contract that he would have to do a favor for him, and if he would do this favor for the Mustangs would also include his fifth-year team option worth 20 million dollars, that would typically only be guaranteed if the team picked up that fifth-year option in a player's third year. If Jeremy didn't do the favor, the Mustangs would go after all the money on his contract and would leave him with five hundred thousand dollars.

The favor that was asked of him was to own an indoor football team in Denver, Colorado, and look for hidden diamonds in the rough for the Mustangs to sign. Now Jeremy, of course, could have gone to the players union and filed a grievance, but that could take years to get it resolved with no guarantee that he would win the grievance.

After Jeremy spent a year and a half healing and rehabbing, trying to get back on the field, to be told that he would never play professional football again, he didn't have the fight nor the time for a grievance. Jeremy begrudgingly agreed to the deal with Coach Lombardi and the Mustangs to keep all the money from his Rookie contract. Over the next year and a half, Jeremy would get 60 million dollars, including his 5th-year option.

In the following year and a half, to be caught up to the present time, Jeremy got the team set up, got a lease with the historic Coliseum in Denver, and joined an indoor football league. That, of course, was only the beginning; next, he did a name the Team contest, got corporate partnerships, and hired a former Mustang as head coach and general manager that Lombardi wanted to have groomed before he joined Lombardi's staff. Jeremy didn't care about grooming a coach for Lombardi as he didn't want to have anything to do with football; he just would've hired Terrell Hillis, an all-pro Running back and Mustang Legend, for various reasons that included Terrell being a diva player, always have his way that's why he was given the job of general manager. All Jeremy cared about regards to the team was that it broke even every year. If the team made a profit, Jeremy would distribute the profits to the local charities in Colorado because Jeremy was doing this for the fans as they were always for him. He didn't want to make money off of something he hated.

Jeremy was frugal with his money and didn't want to spend any money on something that he despised, so as Terrell didn't cost him money by the end of the year, Terrell could do anything he wanted football-wise.

Jeremy was headed to Omaha for the League meetings; Terrell wasn't happy about not being able to come to the league meetings, but Terrell wasn't an owner, and Jeremy wasn't going to let him make financial decisions for the team, plus it would be nice to get away from the craziness of the team before the hurricane of the season started. He made the nine-hour drive the day before league meetings and got in around 10 pm local time.

Jeremy got checked into the hotel and went to the bar for a nightcap since the league meetings were at 7 am lasting into the evening. Jeremy saw his newfound friend Luke Elliott since joining the indoor football league, The Wild West Indoor Football League or WWIF; Luke owned the Omaha Cattlemen. " Hey Luke, Looks like you're having too much fun, " Jeremy projected over the bar's noise.

" And there's the most depressing man in the world. How are you doing? I wasn't expecting you here tonight." Luke retorted.

" I'm just ready to get year one of six over with. I'm only here for a nightcap; gotta be ready for the League meetings. " Jeremy replied.

Luke laughs and says, " You really are a depressing man. You're talking about owning an indoor football team like a prison sentence. This is a crazy business where there are extreme highs and extreme lows, but it's always fun and interesting. You need to live a little and have some fun. You should stay out with me and have some fun. You need to enjoy these lovely ladies and buy them some drinks. "