Seeking his Pay’ day
Ex-Giant LB vs. former team with Jets job on line
WHEN the Jets play the Giants on Saturday in their annual preseason set-to at MetLife Stadium, one player will be staring into his past while trying to forge his future.
From 2011-2014, linebacker Spencer Paysinger was one of the most popular Giants players — an intelligent, steadying influence in the locker room and one of their best special-teams players on the field.
Now, he’s a member of the Jets in a fight for a roster spot. And his former team is standing in his way.
Paysinger, 29 and in his seventh NFL season after entering the league as an undrafted free agent, is fully aware of his football mortality. And he doesn’t flinch at the thought of it coming to an abrupt end.
“I’m always in a battle for a roster spot,’’ Paysinger told The Post after a practice this week. “You kind of get comfortable in the chaos. You can’t really take it easy.’’
There’s no taking it easy for Paysinger, who said he entered the league with a plan — one he has seen almost completely through.
“I told myself during the [labor] lockout my rookie year, ‘If I can make it seven years, play until I’m 30 and potentially walk away from the league on my terms, I’d consider that a successful career,’ ” he said. “I’m approaching Year 7, and if we end the season in January or February, it’ll be six months before I turn 30. So my dream would be realized, and then I’ll have some thinking to do in the offseason after that. “But right now, all I’m thinking about is winning a roster spot on this team.’’
It’s difficult to tell exactly where Paysinger stands on that fight right now, because this is a Jets roster management has flooded with youth. Paysinger, though, is not a costly commodity and could be a valuable veteran.
“‘Pays’ has been a Steady Eddie,’’ Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s very smart, highly intelligent. He can play both [linebacker] spots and he’s a good [special] teams player. I’m just looking forward to him getting better on Saturday.’’
Ah, yes: Saturday against his former team, which he left via free agency in 2015 to sign with Miami.
“Playing for the Giants for four years, you had this idea that the Jets are the other team, and then going to Miami and playing in the same division you learned to hate them as well,’’ Paysinger said. “Now that I’m here and have gotten to see the coaches and the faces behind the helmets, this is a young growing family.
“It’s going to be fun playing the Giants,’’ continued Paysinger, who remains close with current Giants Mark Herzlich, Zak DeOssie and Devon Kennard. “There’s no animosity at all. It’s like going back and seeing family.’’
Paysinger always seemed like quintessential Giants material because of the mature way he carried himself and his team-first attitude. That made it a surprise when he left.
“The Giants actually offered me a pretty good contract to stay, but I told them I appreciated that, but I was going to test free agency,’’ Paysinger said. “I just felt it in my heart that I needed a change of scenery. It’s hard to explain. I talked it over with my then-fiancée [now wife] and family and they said if this thought keeps coming in your head then you need to see what happens.
“Miami gave me an opportunity to grow. I wanted to see if I was really a one-team guy or if I picked up my suitcases and set up shop somewhere else, would I be able to make the team?
“I was kind of challenged to change the way I played or else I’d be out of the league in a year. I took that as motivation.’’
So, after two seasons in Miami, here he is. Paysinger called the Jets’ current youth movement “a similar situation to Miami two years ago when I got there, with a lot of young guys oozing with talent, but they needed some direction.’’
“A lot of stuff the Jets have done in the offseason has been to try to point to a different culture in the building,’’ he said. “I remember when I was in my first and second year and I had guys [on the Giants] like Chase Blackburn, Michael Boley, Mathias Kiwanuka — guys taught that to me and walked me along. Now I’m in that position to be able to guide some of the young guys. I think that’s why the Jets brought me here. To me, you have to pay it forward.
“Shoot, this is going to be my seventh year,’’ Paysinger said wistfully. “Who would have thought?’’