Gunner Olszewksi Survives Roller-Coaster Cut Down Day, Immediately Gets To Work With Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) -- Life as a young football player hoping to land an NFL job can be awfully stressful on cutdown day. Life on that day for players coming out of Division II who are converting from defensive back to wide receiver and who were told they were going to be released, only to later be told that there was actually a spot on the roster for them? Stressful doesn't really begin to properly describe that type of experience.
That was the life of rookie receiver/punt returner Gunner Olszewski, who enters Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season as an official member of the New England Patriots. Though the emotional swings were severe on Saturday, Olszewski is just pleased with the final result.
"[Saturday] was a fun day. I ended up being a Patriot, so it was a good day at the end of the day," Olszewski told a huddle of reporters inside the Patriots' locker room on Sunday. "Like a roller coaster, yeah, ups and downs. But it ended on an up, so I'm happy to be here."
He added:" It was just waiting. I'd say those four hours, five hours, felt like about 24. But like I said it ended on a high note, so it was all worth it in the end."
Olszewski, an undrafted rookie out of D-II Bemidji State, was initially informed of his release early on Saturday, despite an impressive preseason showing. But hours later, when the team traded cornerback Keion Crossen to the Texans, the team called Olszewski to let him know that a spot had opened up on the roster for him.
"It was the best phone call of my life, man. It was awesome. It was awesome," Olszewski said. "It put a smile right on my face. I was just happy to know I had a job, and I'm ready to go to work."
Olszewski shared that he was watching college football with rookie punter Jake Bailey when he got the call. Olszewski then had to make a few phone calls himself.
"I called my older brother, I called my old man, called my mama, and I called my little brother, in that order," said the 22-year-old said.
While it was a moment of great happiness for the young player, it didn't take him long to remember that being a member of the Patriots requires every player -- whether he's a first-round pick or an undrafted rookie -- to focus entirely on doing what is asked of him.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm here, man. It's sunk in. It has to sink in; I gotta go practice. I got a job to do now," Olszewski said when asked if the whole thing has sunken in. "So I don't really have time to sit there and think about it like, 'Wow I'm an NFL player.' You know, I have a job now. That's the way I look at it."
And while he's happy to have earned a job right now, he knows his work isn't quite done.
"I'm hoping to keep that job," he said.
