Getting to Know Ty Nsehke
By Steve Thomas
Ty Nsekhe – otherwise known to Redskins fans as the backup swing tackle who filled in admirably for Trent Williams against the Jets recently – has been on a journey unlike almost any other NFL player. Ty toiled away in almost every professional football league imaginable before the Washington Redskins finally recognized his talent this offseason and gave him the shot on the active roster that he had always wanted and deserved. Make no mistake: Ty earned his spot on this roster and has already proven himself to be a valued contributor. His story is one of perseverance, strong personal faith, and belief in oneself. It is one that can serve as an example to us all.
Ty’s football journey goes all the way back to Texas State University in 2009. After going undrafted by the NFL, Ty, who was originally born in Brooklyn, New York, but attended high school in Arlington, Texas (don’t worry, everyone, he was not a Cowboys fan growing up!), signed with the Corpus Christi Sharks of the Arena Football League 2, which was the developmental league for the Arena League, for the 2009 season. He then spent the next three seasons playing in the Arena Football League with the Dallas Vigilantes, the Philadelphia Soul, and the San Antonio Talons, even overlapping with Jay Gruden for a year (he did not personally know Coach Gruden during that time).
Ty’s first shot with the NFL came from the Indianapolis Colts on August 1, 2012. He moved on to the St. Louis Rams shortly thereafter and spent the 2012 season on that team’s practice squad. He then signed with the New Orleans Saints for the 2014 offseason before departing for the practice squad of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. Ty was signed to his first stint with the Redskins shortly after the 2014 CFL season, but was cut in early May. He spent a brief period with the Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley-owned LA Kiss of the Arena League before the Redskins front office realized the error of its ways and brought him back to Washington for good.
It is a truly amazing journey, one that few have the mental strength to endure, and one an even smaller number have such a circuitous and lengthy path result in full realization of the NFL dream. Indeed, Ty comes across as a spiritual man of deep conviction who has a strong sense of self and of his personal faith. Ty, in an exclusive interview with The Hog Sty, said that his faith helped him persevere through the hard times: “I just tried to keep my faith,” said Ty, and continued, “Everything I do is through the power of God. I feel like I was predestined to be here. All I’m doing is carrying out God’s plan.” He attributes the length of time it took to go from his 2009 Arena League developmental team to the Redskins’ active roster to God’s plan for his life, stating simply that, “earlier in my career, it wasn’t my time yet.”
It certainly should be no surprise that the difference between the active roster of an NFL team and the Arena League’s development program, or even the main Arena League itself, is stark. The pay scale in that development league was much less, of course, with players reportedly having made as little as $200 per game1, but the differences go far beyond the compensation. Ty stated that, in the early days of his professional career, his teams were forced to practice in parking lots and on surfaces amounting to no more than carpet and played games in front of much smaller crowds. It is a far cry from the modern practice facilities at Redskins Park and the raucous gameday crowds at Fed Ex Field. However, in spite of the struggles he has been through in the early days of his professional career, including multiple injuries at unfortunate times, he never lost faith in himself, telling The Hog Sty that, “I always in my mind felt that once I got the opportunity, I would do my best and I would be able to play at the highest level.” Ty has a quiet, mature, “worker” mentality to him that has served him well and allowed him to continue on in spite of the twists and turns on which his football journey has taken him. He believes that his journey to the Redskins and the NFL was meant to be, which may be true, but it is clear upon speaking with him that his own personal work ethic and diligence has played a key role in his development from undrafted free agent to NFL player.
The Hog Sty was one of the first media outlets to recognize Ty’s unique combination of size, strength, and technique back during the early days of training camp, observations that have proven to be true since that time. Ty attributes the foundation of his amazing combination of size and technique to his offensive line coach in college at Texas State, who as Ty says was “well versed in NFL techniques” and provided an NFL-type perspective. Now in the NFL with the Redskins, he credits new offensive line coach Bill Callahan with having the ability to instruct his players on the techniques that are right for each individual player rather than forcing Callahan’s chosen scheme and techniques on players without regard to each player’s strengths. He says Callahan is “able to understand what type of athlete he’s dealing with and how to utilize the best technique” for each lineman. Being right-hand dominate and what he views as a more natural left tackle, Ty has worked with Callahan to also become a quality right tackle in order to be prepared to take over on either side on the line as the need arises. Trent Williams has also been of assistance in Ty’s development. He recognizes what the fans see: Trent is a “freak of nature”, in Ty’s words, and he has taken certain techniques of the All-Pro, such as hand placement, and adapted them to his own game.
Redskins fans know that Ty recently started his first NFL game against the Jets when Trent Williams went down with an injury. Although the Redskins lost the game, the offensive line was solid in pass protection despite the injuries. That game was many fans’ first exposure to Ty, and many were nervous about what might result due to Trent’s absence. Ty was nevertheless confident in his own abilities despite the challenges facing him and did not disappoint, holding his own against one of the most talented defensive lines in the league. When asked about the experience, Ty told The Hog Sty that he has “been working and preparing for the opportunity, so once the opportunity came, I capitalized on it.” Certainly, Ty has adapted well to the NFL game and is well versed in his roles and responsibilities on the offensive line. He says that the line has been working hard as a group to get the Redskins’ lagging running game back up into the top five of the NFL where it resided in the early part of the season. The team makes an effort to intentionally mix up its run scheme every week in an effort to keep opposing defenses off balance.
This offensive line is a tight-knit group, according to Nsekhe, without grudges, in-fighting, or anything else that would distract them from the team goals. For example, Ty stated that the entire offensive line has dinner at the home of Trent Williams every Thursday evening and spends frequent time away from Redskins Park together as a group. One surprising fact: the person with the best sense of humor in the group is none other than coach Bill Callahan, who appears from an outsider’s perspective to be something of the opposite of a joker. Ty stated that this current locker room in general is a tight-knit group. Unsurprisingly, as fans recently saw in the post-game footage after the Tampa game, Ty reports that quarterback Kirk Cousins is an energetic player, stating that “[s]ometimes you have to calm him down because he’s so hyped. I feel like he’s a linebacker out there sometimes.”
When asked about the cause of the team’s turnaround after halftime of the Redskins’ recent win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nsekhe provided that the team just realized at halftime that it was not playing up to its capabilities, stating, “[e]veryone just rallied around each other. We went out there and decided to perform alot better.” Indeed, Ty is confident that the Redskins’ good fortune can continue against the next opponent, the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Like all good players, Ty is serious about his craft, confident in his personal game and the team’s ability to win. To that end, Ty has already personally begun his own preparations, watching the Patriots’ recent game film and taking his normal notes about his opponents. He realizes that beating the Patriots at home is a tall order for any team, but in his words, one never knows what may happen on any given Sunday. He is not intimidated by facing the champs, but rather approaches it like any other away game week.
Being older than many of his teammates, Ty is more aware of the championship history of the Redskins and knows the current team has a responsibility to try and live up to that legacy. The wall of fame inside the facility at Redskins Park describes the tale of the Redskins’ franchise for all players to see. As he describes, many of the alumni, such as Super Bowl XXII hero Doug Williams, are employed by the franchise and are around Redskins Park on a daily basis and can often provide insight and encouragement to the current team. He is also aware of the team’s obligations to provide a quality product to a fanbase which, at this point, is ravenous for a winner, providing that he hopes the fans continue to support the team this season as the team continues its development.
In the end, Ty Nsekhe is a player who holds a unique place in the NFL: he is one of the rare few who beat the longest of odds to make it to the highest levels of professional football in a way that almost no one else does. Spending six years in other, lower-level football leagues is an eternity in athletic years, particularly football, and is not a path that very many are able to take. In fact, the data shows that entire NFL careers begin and end in significantly less time. Players who were drafted out of college begin their NFL careers immediately, and most of the players who try to beat the long odds of the undrafted free agent either do so before the six year point or have given up the dream long before that point. That Ty was able to persist that long says quite a bit about the strength of his character and convictions. For Nsekhe, though, the long road from college to critical role on the Washington Redskins’ offensive line was never in doubt: he always knew that if he kept plugging away and continued to work hard, that which was meant to happen for him will eventually come true. Ty has hopefully carved out an important long term place on a young, growing team, and is a player of whom the fans should see more and more as he continues his professional development. Just making the roster is not Ty’s final chapter or his final goal, though – more is to be accomplished. As Ty stated, “Fortunately, I’ve had a few breaks to get to where I’m at now. So you know, the journey’s not over. In my opinion, it’s just starting.” We cannot wait to watch him keep trying.
1 http://www.arenafan.com/news/?page=origcol&writer=115&article=2504