SOUL SURVIVOR
Herzlich has made lasting impression by sticking with Giants for years
He has heard it, oh yes he has. Mark Herzlich knows what some of you are thinking. He breaks into one of his impossibly broad, lightup-a-room smiles when asked about his job security.
Herzlich has five seasons in the books, and is ready to make it No. 6 when he reports July 28 to training camp with the Giants. He is neither a star nor a starter. Most often, that is an unholy combination when it comes to long-term survival for a player who went undrafted, signed as a street free agent.
How has he done it, stayed on the scene so long? Herzlich senses what you are thinking: Who does he know? He laughs. “They think I got blackmail stuff on someone, that’s why I’m staying around,’’ Herzlich said in an expansive recent interview with The Post, “but I’d like to think it’s my work ethic. It’s a business, be what it may, one day I will not be playing for the New York Giants. I hope I can for my entire career, but you never know.’’
No, Herzlich does not have anything on anyone, but there is no mistaking the charmed life he has led with the Giants. Just four players have been with the team longer: Eli Manning (entering his 13th season), Zak DeOssie (10th), Jason Pierre-Paul (seventh) and Victor Cruz (seventh). Maybe this is fate smiling down on Herzlich — a cancer survivor whose life and then his career were threatened by Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer diagnosed while he was at Boston College, forcing him to miss the entire 2009 season and leaving him with a foot-long titanium rod inserted into the femur of his left leg.
Charmed life? Herzlich gets annual checkups and remains cancer-free. Last year he married his college sweetheart, Danielle Conti, and is looking ahead to another season as a special teams regular and, most likely, as a versatile, but limited, backup linebacker.
And no, he is not and never was related to the Maras.
“It’s a good family to be part of,’’ Herzlich said, grinning again. “If I wasn’t a Herzlich, maybe I would be.’’
Perhaps Herzlich was born to be with the New York Giants — even though he grew up in Eagles country (Berwyn, Pa.). He went to Boston College, the beloved alma-mater of Giants co-owner John Mara and where former Giants coach Tom Coughlin made some magic as the quarterbacks coach with Doug Flutie.
If there ever was a prototype Tom Coughlin player and person, it is Mark Herzlich, which is why it was no surprise at all Mara wholly endorsed the signing of
“They think I got blackmail stuff on someone, that’s why I’m staying around, but I’d like to think it’s my work ethic.” —five-year backup LB Mark Herzlich
the undrafted Herzlic hand Coughlin did not cut Herzlich as a rookie in 2011.
Coughlin, during his time in Chestnut Hill, was so taken with and inspired by one of his players, Jay McGillis — who lost an eightmonth battle with leukemia — that he created the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation, providing financial and emotional help for families with children diagnosed with cancer.
“We had a connection because I joined the advisory board of his foundation,’’ Herzlich said of Coughlin. “Jay McGillis had a very similar story to my story and ended up passing away, so it was a great fit. I still work with his charity a lot. We had an employeremployee relationship, but I think I knew him a little bit better than some guys got to know him, just because I saw the other side of him on the charity side.’’
Told there was no way Coughlin was going to part ways with him, Herzlich smiled, shook his head and said, “God, I wish someone told me that, because I was nervous as hell on cut day as a rookie.’’
As for John Mara, well, let’s just say he never, ever is going to quibble with Herzlich’s name appearing on the final roster.
“I would like to think I’m closeish with John, as close as any employee- employer relationship,’’ Herzlich said. “I’ll see him at events and we’ll talk, but it’s not like he’s coming over for dinner or I’m going over his house for dinner.’’
Herzlich is more than “closeish’’ with three of John Mara’s kids — Erin, Chrissy and John Jr. — and also with Danny Mara, a son of Chris Mara , one of John’s younger brothers and the Giants’ senior vice president of player personnel. Erin, Chrissy and Danny all went to Boston College.
“I’ve become close,’’ Herzlich said. “I didn’t know them very well beforehand. I had gone to school with Erin and Chrissy, but I didn’t know either of them until I got here. There’s something about B.C. people, I love all of ’ em. I’ve never met a B.C. person I didn’t really like.’’
John Mara respectfully declined to comment about Herzlich, saying through a spokesman “his good work speaks for itself.’’
Herzlich, of course, is not impervious to roster battles and does not have a lifetime appointment on the team. He does, however, have many influential people in his corner, even with Coughlin replaced by Ben McAdoo.
“I don’t think someone liking someone keeps someone on the team,’’ Herzlich said. “There have been plenty of guys who have come through here who were just awesome guys and just weren’t able to make it fit. I think it’s more about trust on the field. It goes into trust off the field, too. If there’s a guy you know is not going to be making the media for the wrong side, that helps. As far as if he’s a nice guy or not, it doesn’t matter.’’
But it does not hurt. Devoted to all sorts of cancer charities — he is quite the motivational speaker — in addition to actively speaking out against domestic violence, Herzlich could run for office and probably win. He is a vice president for the players’ union and a respected voice inside the locker room.
He has made himself exceeding popular, and thus difficult to cut.
“I think it’s a lot about how you live your life,’’ he said. “I try to live my life by Christian values. There is a reason why Jesus was the greatest guy of all time. I don’t think you would have cut Jesus, so you try to be like him every day.’’
The Giants have signed Herzlich to three contracts, and he is on the last year of a two-year, $2.6 million deal that will pay him $1 million this season — if he makes the team. The depth chart is filled with linebackers with NFL experience, and Herzlich, barring injuries, is unlikely to find his way onto the field much on defense. In his five seasons, he has played in 74 regular-season games, but started just 17.
His buddies are all gone. He came into the league with undrafted cohorts Spencer Paysinger, Henry Hynoski and the late Tyler Sash, and they bonded, forming unbreakable friendships. The Giants left them all, except Herzlich, by the wayside.
He continues to shave his head clean, leaving a thin tuft of blondish hair to form a Mohawk — his mother did not allow any tattoos or piercings but had no restrictions on his hair.
“I had corn rows, I had an afro, then kind landed on a Mohawk,’’ said Herzlich, who also keeps his hair that way to inspire kids undergoing chemotherapy.
It is rare for a player with Herzlich’s modest on-field résumé to last this long on a team that has endured three consecutive losing seasons. If he gets through another summer roster battle, an accustomed role awaits him, again.
“I think it’s a natural thing for me to be a leader amongst the guys in the locker room,’’ Herzlich said. “It really doesn’t matter where I’m at, whether third string or starter. That’s just kind of the role I naturally have. When there’s something that needs to be said, you say it.
“I didn’t say anything my rookie year. I just shut up and did what I was told to do. It comes with experience and being here for six years. It gives you a badge that is something different. People look to you, ‘How do we do things here? What is the Giants way?’ It’s cool, too, because I was able to gain a leadership role after a couple of years in the league, and even now, guys look at me as a vet here, even though I could be the same age, I’ve been in this building the longest.’’