Published: November 15, 2008 11:53 pm            

MARK MAYNARD: Beach plays waiting game

Arliss Beach waits.

And waits some more.

And then waits some more.

The sound of his non-ringing cell phone can be deafening at times. He knows he’s good enough to play in the National Football League. There’s not a doubt in his mind.

He’s done it, at times, with three different teams — the Packers, the Cowboys and the Texans.

Beach is on the edge. Not quite there, but almost. It’s worse than being between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

“I’m kind of stuck between football jobs,” he said on Friday at Ashland Sporting Goods, where he’s working and hoping. “I’ll try to wait it out.”

Arliss Beach isn’t ready to give up on the NFL dream. He knows it’s still a longshot, yet he waits.

That’s the hard part.

“This is frustrating,” he said.

Beach has twice been invited to be on the practice squad for the Houston Texans. Twice he’s been cut. Neither time was it because he did something wrong.

“You can do go there and do well and get released,” he said. “It’s all part of the game. You get on the practice squad and it’s day-to-day, nothing guaranteed. You may go in one day and do great and the next day, a guy will tell you the coach or the general manager wants to talk to you.”

By know, Beach knows how that conversation goes. It’s not fun.

Everybody likes Arliss Beach. The coaches like him, the players like him, the ownership likes him. What’s not to like? He’s a team player, a hard worker, a good teammate and a better person.

But he’s still on the edge. That’s life in the NFL. It’s business, nothing personal.

The Packers signed Beach out of the University of Kentucky as a free agent in 2006. He was on the verge of making the team, playing well in Green Bay’s exhibition games both on special teams and as a running back all the way to the final cut.

He was on a Monday Night Football game when the Packers played the Bengals in Cincinnati. Mom and Dad were in the stands cheering him on. In the fourth quarter, just when it looked like Beach was getting a career break and would be the Packers’ main runner for the rest of the game, he suffered a high ankle sprain. Instead of carrying the football for the Packers and further solidifying a possible roster spot, he was left carrying some agony.

He wasn’t just his ankle that was hurting either; so was his heart.

“I think I would have made the team,” he said. “I was being pretty productive. I would have at least made the practice squad.”

The Packers put Beach on Injured Reserve, which protected any other team from taking him but sidelined him for the season. He stayed in Green Bay, did things with the team, but never got the chance to play. Then the spring after the Packers had protected him, they released him, this time because of a nagging turf toe injury.

Beach was starting over again.

He had a two-day stint with the Cowboys, not really much of an audition, before being released.

The Texans signed him to their practice squad on Christmas Day 2007, and he jumped at the opportunity. This is how you break into the league. He was later released.

The last time he was with the Texans was when the hurricane rocked Houston. Beach slept through the storm in his hotel room.

“I heard it but there wasn’t much I could do about it,” he said.

That’s kind of like his professional football career. It’s out of Beach’s control. He knows the NFL is a business. “In this league, it’s what have you done for me lately,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

The pay is good when he’s on the scout teams, but the practice can be brutal. He runs the opposing team’s offense for the week. One week he may be Adrian Peterson, or maybe Reggie Bush. He tries to give the Texans a look at what they’re going to see on Sunday.

“Being on the practice squad is way tougher than being on the team,” he said. “The first-team defense may run 10 plays. With the scout team players, there are no subs. After six or seven plays in a row, you’re tired. It’s hard, man.”

The action is usually in helmets and pads, but there’s still contact, he said. “Oh yeah, they hit you. They don’t knock you down, but they hit you.”

If a team has a personnel problem, it can be good or bad for the scout team player. An injury could mean the team needs another tight end and that could mean goodbye to a running back.

“You do what you can when you’re on the scout team to impress them,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter.”

All through his athletic life, Beach has been a go-to kind of person. He’s not used to scraps when it comes to playing time. Now he’s fighting for survival and for another chance. His agent, Keith Conrad, sends a sheet out to NFL teams on a weekly basis. He’s working hard at selling Arliss Beach.

“I’m not ready to give it up,” he said. “I know there’s always a time and place.”

Beach is 24 and the clock is ticking. But he also knows there’s time left to make it in the NFL. He’s not giving up on the dream. Not yet anyway.

“The Lord always has a plan,” he said. “Maybe it’s not playing football. I’m just taking it day to day.”

All the while, Arliss Beach is praying for that one more chance. It’s still his dream and he’s not about to give up on it.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

        

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