Myron Mitchell first wedged his foot in professional football’s door as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021 and then proceeded to knock the thing completely off its hinges.
Undrafted free agents are often just training camp bodies, after all, but he fought and clawed to get one regular-season game in the National Football League on his resumé. Yet, just as quickly as the door opened, it was slammed shut and since then the speedy receiver has been cut three times and traded once in two different leagues over his short professional career.
One more thing as we begin to revisit the long and circuitous road Mitchell has travelled from his home in Alabama to Butler Community College in Kansas to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the Vikings, Michigan Panthers, Birmingham Stallions and now the Winnipeg Blue Bombers: the dude still won’t turn 26 until June 17th.
“This journey that I’ve been on,” said Mitchell in a chat with bluebombers.com this week,”I’d sum it up by saying I’ve always been so close and yet so far away.”
Mitchell’s next opportunity to lock down a regular paycheque in pro football comes tonight at Princess Auto Stadium against the Calgary Stampeders in the Blue Bombers final preseason game. He has had occasional reps with the offensive starters in camp and has shown enough flashes that he’s still in the running for a starting spot or a place on the roster.
Again, though, he’s been here before in his career and is also fully aware the final roster cutdown comes Saturday and there are a handful of other receiver candidates also vying for the same role. That’s life in pro football where you can be this close to being hired or fired.
“You’ve got to have a lot of dedication, because you don’t know if you’re going to make it or not,” said Mitchell. “Sometimes the decisions they make are more about a numbers thing than talent. It IS tough. It’s hard. I’ve been in this situation the last two seasons — this year (UFL) and the year before that with the Vikings. The only thing you can do is keep working, keep grinding it out and keep waiting on that call. For me, that’s all I know — to keep grinding. I’ve never had a real job because football has always been my only job.
“Once I got fired, so to speak, I just went back to the basics about staying in shape and making sure I’m doing the right thing for if the next opportunity presented itself. That’s the situation I’m in right now. I honestly don’t know if I’m going to make the team or not. The nerves? They’ll be there just because you want to be so perfect and go out and make plays. I do have peace of mind going into this final preseason game that I know my assignments and my technique, but you never know until the team is made.”
A snapshot of all that emotion came in the first preseason game on Victoria Day in Regina. Mitchell had two catches for 17 yards in his reps with the offence and his excitement — and frustration — came pouring out on one reception where he made contact with a Saskatchewan Roughrider defender near the home team bench, the hit so violent part of his helmet broke.
“I had a lot going on and had to get something off my chest,” Mitchell explained. “I was playing mad at that moment and wanted to get all the madness and anger out. In doing that my chinstrap buckle broke off and I had to sit out four or five plays and get a new screw put in the helmet.
“I’d sum that up anger and madness by saying it was in the last week of training camp (in the UFL) that I got that call I was being released. I didn’t get the chance to come into Winnipeg coming off a season because I got cut, so I was already mad coming up here. I went into that game angry and had to let some steam off — I saw a defender in a different colour coming my way and I just tried to run through him and my helmet broke.
“I just wanted to make sure everybody knew who #29 was when the game was over. I think I did that, for sure.”
Again, though, there are no promises here. Mitchell knows that. He could pop off the page tonight against the Stamps and still get the ‘Coach wants to see you… and bring your playbook’ note on Saturday. That’s pro football and if you want to make a go of it, the window is only open for so long.
Mitchell has seen all of that side of it already. Still, his fire and desire still rages deep in his belly.
“It’s a tricky situation. I could choose to do something else, I guess,” he said. “I’ve got two degrees (communications and an associate’s degree) and I could go get a job. It’s not about that for me right now. It’s that the love of football is still here. It’s embedded in my heart. This is something I would like to do in the States or in Canada because that love is still there. I just want to keep going until that runs out and I don’t see it running out any time soon.
“I’m young, I’m 25 and I’m going to chase this until the wheels fall off. That’s what I’m doing.”
