Jags FB worked hard, long in return after cut
Bohanon becomes a key to Jacksonville’s offense
In 12 years as a sports agent, Jared Fox has never seen what Tommy Bohanon accomplished.
An uninjured veteran NFL position player is cut, sits out a season, then returns the next year and almost makes the Pro Bowl. And to top it off, he almost helped lead his team to the Super Bowl.
“It’s a remarkable story,” Fox said. “He never wavered. This doesn’t happen if you’re eating doughnuts and pizza and drinking beer while you’re watching the Sunday games. You gotta stay ready, stay in tiptop shape.”
The more he gets to know Bohanon, the less Fox is surprised.
The parents, they’re not surprised. “It’s in the Bohanon blood,” mother Audrey said. “We work. We work hard. My husband, Tom, and I are side-byside in the concrete business. “And Tommy, he’s the real deal.” In the 225 days between Sept. 3, 2016 – the day the Jets cut him – until April 17, 2017 – the day the Jaguars signed him – the 6-1, 246-pounder worked out twice a day almost daily in Fort Myers, Florida.
In those 225 days, it seemed the NFL had given up on Bohanon.
But he didn’t give up on the NFL. So many times, he saw a teammate, friend or player get cut and fade to black. It’s almost like they surrendered before the battle ended, resigned to a fate that maybe hadn’t played itself out.
“I didn’t want to be that,” he said. “If a team called, I was gonna be ready and in condition so I could be plugged in and ready to play. I wanted to make sure to be the best version of myself.”
The best version of Bohanon helped the Jaguars be their best version ever. After six seasons in a row of five wins or fewer, Jacksonville went 10-6, won two playoff games and had the Patriots on the ropes before falling 24-20 in the AFC Championship Game. Bohanon played a major role in Jacksonville’s success as the Jaguars had the AFC’s top rushing attack.
This season, look at Jacksonville’s depth chart.
There’s Tommy Bohanon listed at fullback — and no one else.
“Listen, he earned it,” Fox said. “He played his butt off. He built up some equity. But he has to keep doing his job. He has a lot of good years left.”
The road to redemption
At 12:20 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2016, Brian Costello of the “New York Post” tweeted that the Jets were going to cut Bohanon.
Bohanon stayed in New York for about a month, just in case there was an injury or change of heart.
But they moved on.
He came home and went to work. Bohanon began a routine. Up at 5. Sprint and agility work at 6. About four to five hours working in his family’s concrete business. Then a workout with high school players in the afternoon. Sometimes a third workout at night. He worked out on weekends. The garage turned into a workout room.
If you think he slacked off while working with his parents, think again.
Tommy lifted the biggest slabs the machines broke up as he toiled on driveways, patios and sidewalks. “We said, ‘You’re gonna break your back son, pick up smaller pieces,’ ” Audrey recalled. “He’d say, ‘No, let’s get it done.’ ”
Seattle brought him out for a workout in the first half of the season but that didn’t lead to a signing.
Undeterred, he became creative with his workouts, much like he had done as a 10-year-old when he pulled massive tractor tires around the block. Those included exploding out of a pool, lifting 535 pounds, jumping over 3-foot-high fences or lifting with chains on his back.
“I always want people to be surprised by my athleticism,” he said. “And by my play. That’s why I work the way I work. I try to train to be as strong and as explosive as possible. When I get on the field, I want to be the best.”
After a regular season, postseason and combine, wife Katie and Tommy’s wait for an NFL call would last another month.
Timing is everything
Fox had never sent a client to an NFL regional combine. When he saw one being held in Arizona in March 2017, he said he hesitated to mention it. Bohanon recalls him saying, “I don’t know if this will help, but you should try it.”
According to scouts Fox talked to, Bohanon shined. His 40-yard time was faster than his 4.88 clocking at the NFL combine four years earlier. His threecone shuttle also impressed.
A few teams inquired. Finally, on April 14, good news came on Good Friday, Audrey Bohanon’s birthday.
“He was on our back porch when he got his phone call,” she recalled. “He said, ‘That was Jacksonville. I’m flying to Jacksonville, Mom.’ I turned around and said, ‘Awesome.’ ”
Bohanon worked out on April 17. They signed him that day.
“I was in Target with his sister when he calls,” Katie Bohanon remembered. “He said, ‘Do you want to come to Jacksonville?’ I said, ‘I’ll follow wherever you’re going.”
Still working
Bohanon had 31⁄ months until train
2 ing camp so he made the most of it.
“Usually, he’s around 8 percent body fat,” Katie said. “When he went to camp, he was 6 or 7. That’s insane.”
Bohanon made the team. Then he
and the Jaguars made a Week 1 statement when they blasted the Texans 29-7. Bohanon scored his first NFL touchdown. In December, he had two TDs vs. the Texans in a 45-7 rout.
His blocking was being noticed. Fans gave him a lot of love in Pro Bowl voting.
In the postseason, Bohanon had a key 14-yard TD catch in a 45-42 win over the Steelers, then he made a 20-yard catch in the AFC Championship Game.
For Bohanon, his redemption was complete.