Getting a job as an NFL kicker takes time and patience, and 2006 Warsaw Community High School graduate Jacob Rogers has each. Following short stints with the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants are giving Rogers his latest shot, signing him to a reserve/futures contract Thursday. “There's no guarantee,” Rogers said. “They could call me tomorrow and say, ‘We found somebody else.’ But I hope that’s not the case. I worked out with two other kickers, one of which has NFL experience. They called me in and said I was their No. 1 guy.” After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Rogers was with the Saints and Buccaneers for the 2011 preseason. Upon his release from the Buccaneers, the team re-signed him in January 2012, but he was then placed on waivers before being claimed by the Cowboys on May 8, 2012. After his release from the Cowboys on June 1, he's been waiting for another shot. “I went to Dallas as a punter, and I hadn’t been punting in about two years, so it was a matter of time until I got cut there,” he said. “Then, I sat out the rest of the preseason. I really worked hard this whole season with the hope that I’d get another shot, and I got a workout with the Pittsburgh Steelers about two weeks ago. They didn’t sign me, so I hoped I’d get another one. The Giants called, and it happened.” Admittedly, sitting out the 2012-13 season was tough on Rogers, but he had mixed feelings when he’d see some kickers struggle at times, even though it could have meant a chance for him. “Obviously, if you’re there, you’re good enough to be there,” he said. “Most likely, you have the ability to come out of those slumps. But it’s not that I’m rooting against them at all, but I’d like a shot. If I do get a shot, it’s going to be at the mercy of that person. If I ever got that shot, and I struggled in a game or two, other people would be hoping for that shot. It’s just a never-ending circle, which is part of the game and part of life.” Making it to the NFL is tough for any athlete, but for a kicker, there’s only 32 jobs in the league, and most kickers experience long careers, such as Jason Hanson, who’s been kicking for the Detroit Lions since being drafted in 1992. “It’s definitely being at the right place at the right time,” Rogers said. “My good friend Dan Bailey with the Cowboys, he was down there with five other kickers, four of which got hurt and he beat the other out. So, there’s situations like that. Then again, you have the St. Louis kicker (Greg Zuerlein) and Blair Walsh at Minnesota, who are given the job. You’re either given the job or you have to fight for it. Obviously, they had to fight to keep the job. I fought my whole college career to keep my job and I kept it, and that’s what I want to keep doing." Waiting for his shot, Rogers is living in Cincinnati where he trains at his alma mater when he’s not working in the insurance business and spending time with his Great Dane. And while he keeps fighting for his dream job, he hasn’t thought about how long he’ll chase it. “I don’t have a certain time limit,” he said. “I’m just going with how long I can stand to keep training. It’s a process. You have to drive four or five days a week to go train to kick and it kind of wears on you. I’m really hoping that this season is something that turns out.” If it doesn’t pan out with the Giants, he’ll continue to fight. “I’m a competitive person,” he said. “I’d even call myself extremely competitive at times. I’ve never been told, ‘You're not good enough to do that.’ Sitting on Sundays, that’s telling me, I’m not good enough to be out there and I know I am. I’d just love the opportunity to be out there.”
