There was a time period in cornerback Joe Porter's life that was pretty tough.
After signing with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent last season, he was cut during training camp when teams had to trim their rosters down to 75 players. It wasn't until that following November that Porter was signed to the Green Bay Packers' practice squad.
Between August and November of 2007, Porter was jobless. He had a couple of tryouts with NFL teams, one with the Packers and the other with the Washington Redskins. He even had a couple of tryouts with Arena League teams.
But while he was bouncing around the country from tryout to tryout, he didn't exactly have a lot of money. He asked his parents for a little bit of income and even had a hard time paying for food while he was on the road during those tryouts.
"It definitely tests your character and your work ethic to see if you're going to stay with it and keep going at it," said Porter, "but it was really difficult to say the least."
And as tough as that time period was in his life, there was one that was even tougher.
After finishing the 2007 season on the Packers' practice squad, Porter was signed to a new contract to compete for a roster spot during the upcoming 2008 training camp. It was during training camp that Porter had to deal with the death of his father all while trying to keep the dream alive of becoming an NFL player.
Just two days after the Packers' first preseason game of the season on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals and just two days before the team would have to leave on a cross country trip to take on the San Francisco 49ers, Porter was sleeping in his St. Norbert College dormitory bed just like the rest of the players.
"They sent one of the security guards to my room to wake me up and told me to call my family," said Porter. "I was preparing for the worst."
Having battled through stage four lung cancer, his father passed away later that day, but not before Porter got a chance to say goodbye to him.
"It was tough having to get up and go to practice the next morning and try to block it out and try to deal with it," said Porter. "And it happened so soon. But my family was there for me, and my team was definitely there for me."
Times were tough, but Porter overcame adversity and was again signed to Green Bay's practice squad after having been released during training camp.
Porter could have sulked. He could have stagnated having been on just the practice squad for a second consecutive season.
After all, the Packers decided to keep linebacker Nick Barnett on the active roster for three weeks after his season ending knee injury instead of making a roster move. Porter could have felt unappreciated knowing that he was sitting on the practice squad when there was a spot available on the 53-man roster and the Packers decided not to fill it.
"Nick is a linebacker," said Porter," and I thought they would probably activate the guy on the practice squad at his position or maybe find somebody else. I understand from their perspective, it is a business, and they have to do what's right for the franchise. So I didn't take it personally at all.
Then came Monday December 1 when Porter was finally elevated to the Packers' 53-man roster, and he was able to move out of the team's auxillary locker room and into the main locker room.
"It was euphoria," said Porter. "Everything I had worked for up to that point, it had finally happened. I was actually a little breathless. When it finally happened, I was just so excited and happy. My mother was crying. I was very excited."
Porter has been on the 53-man roster for the past two games but has yet to be active on game day. Maybe his time is coming.
He has the speed. Porter was the Big East conference champion in the 200-meter sprint in 2006 and the Rutgers school record holder, but he knows he's not just track star.
"A lot of guys see me, they look at my experience and my size and say, 'He's just a speed guy,'" said Porter. "But then I go run down there and knock somebody's head off."
With the Packers out of the playoff chase, Porter just might get his chance to be active in the last couple weeks of the season. And there's a shot that he'll overcome adversity once again.
This article was written after a Railbird Central exclusive interview with Joe Porter.