The NFL has always been littered with incredible stories. Players overcoming unbelievable obstacles to make it to the NFL. I have heard of none more incredible than that of Dallas Cowboys receiver Jesse Holley.
It started with Cowboy Hall of Famer Michael Irvin. Three years ago, Irvin and Spike TV came up with the idea to give anyone who thought he could play a chance to. Irvin got Dallas owner Jerry Jones to agree to reserve the 80th spot on the 2009 training camp roster for the winner of a reality TV show they'd call "4th and Long." Irvin would have six receivers and six cornerbacks compete against each other in a 10-show TV series, with the last man standing going to camp with the Cowboys in 2009. First, hundreds of players were thinned out at a scouting combine in Los Angeles. One of those was the 6'2" 220-lb Holley, a little known basketball and football player from North Carolina. He was working security and selling cellphones. He'd been cut by both the Cincinnati Bengals and the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and was moving on with his life when he heard of this opportunity with the TV show. Irvin put Holley in competition with five other receivers and six corners. Former Cowboy coach Joe Avezzano and former Cowboy player Bill Bates served as coaches. Irvin says that they worked the contestants harder than they'd ever have to work in the NFL. He wanted to see who wanted it, who would survive. Holley wanted it most and earned his shot through a reality TV show. Unbelievable.
Holley was cut by the Cowboys in 2009 and 2010 and was signed to the practice squad each year. This year he made it. An injury to Miles Austin against the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday gave Holley his chance, in overtime. A 77-yard reception by Holley set the Cowboys up nicely at the 1-yard line for an easy field goal to win. A banged up Cowboys receiver group gives Holley a chance going forward. It's hard to top what he did Sunday. It's impossible top how he got there.
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