Former ‘Jack John Franklin-Myers ready for a comeback season with the Jets

Quotes taken with permission from an SFA Athletics Facebook Live

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - The professional career of John Franklin Myers’ took off then hit a road block last season. Now he is ready to hit the gas into the 2020 NFL season.

Franklin-Myers was selected in the fourth round by the LA Rams in the 2018 NFL draft. Playing with top guys like Aaron Donald, Franklin-Myers learned fast and made an immediate impact. He had three sacks his rookie season. One on sacks came in prime time action against Kirk Cousins that sealed a victory for the Rams. The other big sack came in the Super Bowl, sending Tom Brady down to the turf in Atlanta. Franklin-Myers won the Rams Rookie of the Year award.

Everything looked great for Franklin-Myers then the next season came along and he was one of the final players cut by the Rams before the season. He was picked up off of waivers by the New York Jets. At the same time he was nursing an injury and was never brought off the injured reserve list by the Jets last season.

“Coming from a small school, people don’t understand,” Franklin-Myers told SFA Athletic Director Ryan Ivey in a Facebook Live on Wednesday. “They don’t understand the opportunity and at the end of the day all you ask for is an opportunity. It was something you dream about. It is something that I am not proud of because it is not that hard to do. What is hard is here I am in my third year and they just got a new draft class in so, ‘Who is here to replace me? Who am I fighting for a position with?' That obviously was the highlight of my life being drafted in the fourth round but as you see things didn’t work out in LA. I appreciate that moment but at the same time I don’t think I will be completely happy until I retire and I have done everything I want to do with football."

Players all over the NFL are having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. All 32 team facilities remain closed and players are having to do virtual meetings with coaches and work out of their own.

“Right now I am in Atlanta,” Franklin-Myers said. “My teammate Steve McLendon opened up a real nice gym. He is a twelve-year vet. We have some teammates there. We got together to get a chance to work together and grow together. We get a chance to work with some guys from other teams. We were a top run defense team last year, where we could use the help is the pass rush. We have to attack it with a plan. That is what we are doing. We do this from 9 am - 1 pm then come back and watch some film. This is the time we would be in OTA’s so why not mirror that same type of schedule.”

Franklin-Myers is staying in shape and hopeful he will soon show the Jets coaches he still has a lot to offer to a team.

“I want to stay healthy,” Franklin-Myers said. “This is my first injury where coming off an injury in the NFL, just after a draft class, here I am, ‘Alright they don’t really know me. They’ve seen me practice five weeks but they don’t know me.’ You don’t know how they think about you so my mindset is to go out and show them. Here I am working out two to three times a day so when training camp comes I can do everything I can to put this team in a better position.”

To watch the video on Facebook - click here.