Bailey determined to get back on NFL field
There isn’t a day that passes where Stedman Bailey takes his situation for granted.
For good reason.
“I shouldn’t even be able to be standing here and talking to you guys,” Bailey said to a group of reporters following a performance on the football field.
But he was and that is a blessing in itself regardless how the rest of the story unfolds.
The former St. Louis Rams wide receiver was shot multiple times while sitting in a car in a neighborhood near his hometown in Miami. Two of those struck him twice in the head leaving him in critical condition.
The incident would force him to retire from the game of football, but it never left his mind. In fact, it never really did even as he initially lay in a hospital bed recovering from the ordeal.
“Like two days after the shooting I was telling doctors I needed to get back to St. Louis for practice,” he said. “I never really had a doubt that I would not be able to play again.”
It’s what Bailey himself refers to as an “extraordinary journey,” just to get back onto the football field. His desire never wavered and within five months he was back on the field running routes.
But he still hadn’t received medical clearance to attempt to make his goal a reality.
“I feel like a lot of people still know I’m a good player but it’s just the medical part of it and wondering if I’d be O.K and cleared to play,” he said.
That took a major step when he had surgery to place a titanium steel plate into his head last October that would allow him to absorb the contact that a game as physical as football can dish out.
After he had recovered from his most recent surgery, Bailey received clearance from his doctor. That’s when he started the process of putting his goals of making a return to the NFL in overdrive.
He participated in the Pro Day at Marshall and then at his alma mater West Virginia where he hauled in 41 touchdowns over his three-year career, including a program best 25 in his final campaign. Bailey has heard from several teams, but understands it’s still a long road and he can only control certain aspects.
One of those is taking advantage of these opportunities to showcase what he has left in the tank.
“I felt good overall, did really good in the route portion,” he said. “Very fluid and that’s what I’ve tried to prove to anybody watching me.”
Adversity has been something that Bailey has overcame for much of his playing career and life in general and he approaches this as just the next challenge he has to meet. But never once as he lost his faith.
Faith is an important aspect to Bailey’s makeup and one of the main driving factors behind his quick recovery as well as his outlook on the entire situation.
“Me being in the wrong place at the wrong time sucks but I feel like God knew that I could handle it and I’ve handled it very well,” he said.
And he’s never lost perspective along the way embracing that his quest is now bigger than just himself and is attempting to do something unheard of in the sports world.
“I really feel God was there with me and my family that night because it could have been so much worse,” he said.
And through it all, he’s never lost his positive outlook.
“It should be the biggest return in sports history,” he added.
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