Wow, Mike Vanderjagt has been so far off our radar in sports that we haven’t covered the man for three years here at LBS. The last time we wrote about him, it was to note that the “idiot kicker” was headed to the CFL after being beat out for an NFL job by an arenafootball2 kicker.
Well Eric Adelson of The Postgame recently caught up with Vanderjagt to boost the man’s character. The well done redemption piece that I came across via Rotoworld, paints Vanderjagt as a sympathetic figure who once was the best kicker in the league but became useless once his confidence was gone.
Vanderjagt says that despite being 40 years old, he still is in good enough shape to kick in the NFL and that’s what he would like to do. He has come to terms with his NFL career, saying that he became mediocre and that’s why he no longer had a job, but he feels like he can kick another five years. He also has cleared something up, admitting he was an idiot for criticizing Colts leaders Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning.
Unfortunately for Mike, it will be hard to ever escape the incident for which he is most known — being called an “idiot kicker” by Peyton Manning during an interview at the Pro Bowl. That reputation will precede him most of his life. It’s likely he wants to return to kicking not only to do something he still feels he can, but also to try and erase that part of his past. Who knows? If he joins and team and performs well, maybe he’ll be remembered in a positive light in the future.
