All aboard the ‘Jay Train’
Ajayi is back eager to show everyone what he can do
PHILADELPHIA – No doubt ever crept into the mind of Jay Ajayi about his ability to play football again — a sign that professional athletes are wired like few others.
“I knew I would play again,” said Ajayi, who re-signed with the Eagles last week, more than a year after suffering a torn ACL. “It was just a thing about patience — I think, is the biggest thing. My parents would keep telling me, and my support system as well, [that] just, even if it wasn’t a team where I would go work out or something, that perfect team, that perfect fit, it would end up coming.”
As it turned out, the Eagles were the perfect team at the perfect time.
“What better situation [is there than] being able to come back here to the Eagles?” Ajayi said. “A team that I’ve had the highest success with, winning the Super Bowl, and a team that I already know the offense — [there’s] no crazy learning curve and there’s a high comfort level here
“The fan base, you know I love the fan base here. And my teammates, a lot of my teammates are still here, so it’s just a crazy way of how this whole year’s happened to come back around to being in Philly, but it’s definitely a blessing.”
Ajayi originally was acquired in a trade with the Miami Dolphins during the 2017 season and instantly became a crucial part of what would turn out to be a championship team. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry in the regular season and 4.4 in the playoffs, including 57 yards on just nine attempts in Super Bowl LII.
Though he didn’t feature the same burst the following season, he had tripled his touchdown total from the year before after just two games before suffering the injury in the fourth. That meant he wouldn’t even be able to take the field with them against the Jacksonville Jaguars four weeks later in his native London.
But Ajayi didn’t waste time fretting about what could have been. He still had a job to do, even after being cleared to play again by the start of this season.
“To be honest, I really didn’t try and watch too much football, because I knew my competitiveness, it would just kind of get me kind of upset that I wasn’t playing yet,” Ajayi said. “So I tried to just keep my mind on other things throughout the whole process and stay on my training. On Sundays, actually, I would go train myself like during the game time and stuff, just so I would not have to focus on watching football.”
Then the call came from the Eagles last Thursday and the emotional reunion the next day.
“Once I was in the building, it was crazy just to see all the people that I knew,” he said. “My old teammates and everyone was kind of excited to see me in the building. Even the people in the cafeteria, staff members, everything. You know, it’s like family being here.
“I was here when we did something special, so the memories and everything, those will last forever, and those relationships as well. So it’s just a blessing to just still have that positive reaction when I came back into the building.”
Ajayi was signed Saturday and in uniform against the New England Patriots the next day.