New York Jets center Ryan Kalil is “fired up” to be back on the football field playing the game he loves again. Kalil announced his retirement after last season with the Carolina Panthers, but the Jets came with an offer he couldn't refuse this offseason and he decided to come back.
Kalil hasn't practiced for a couple of weeks while trying to adjust to the playbook, but he was out with his teammates during Sunday's scrimmage and really enjoyed his time:
“It’s why I came back,” Kalil told reporters, via Newsday. “I love football. I just do. We all do. It took me walking away to know that it was done [but] that I really wanted it not to be done just quite yet. So I’m fired up. I really am. Nervous, obviously, because I want to do well, and I want to play well, and I want to contribute.”
During the scrimmage, he was a bit rusty and there were a couple of bad snaps, but over the next couple of weeks that will work itself out.
Kalil said it's going to take a little bit to get all the calls figured out, and he compared it to learning a new language:
“It’s hard to play when you don’t know the plays, and when you don’t know the calls especially,” he said. “All the plays I’ve done before, all the plays I’ve made before. There are just all different terms, all different code names. They don’t have a Rosetta Stone for this. It’s just like learning a new language.”
Kalil is expected to be the starting center this year, and the hope is he can be the rock of an improved offensive line.
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