Parris Campbell Grateful for New Opportunity with Giants
Parris Campbell, the New York Giants newest receiver, is only 25 years old, but he’s already undergone so much adversity in his young life that he could easily write a book.
Instead, the former Ohio State product, who joins the Giants after four rocky seasons with the Colts that included freak injuries and an unstable quarterback situation last year, is ready to author a new chapter of his career with the Giants, who sought to upgrade their receiver corps with size and speed.
“Yeah, man, my career is what it was,” Campbell said during a video conference call with reporters. “It was very tough those first three years, but being able to bounce back from every injury I had, man, I learned a lot about myself. It allowed me to grow in many different areas because I saw a lot of myself that I didn't know I had.”
Besides the injuries, Campbell had to deal with a revolving door at quarterback last season, which he said wasn’t easy.
“Yeah, you know, it's tough, definitely tough as a receiver, going through so many different changes with so many quarterbacks and then especially last year, like playing with three quarterbacks in one season,” he admitted.
“You want to build a rapport with a guy and keep it consistent throughout the season and build that chemistry. As a receiver, it's like you gotta change what you want to do, like, running routes, and you gotta be on the same page as the different quarterbacks.”
One of the things that Campbell learned about himself when he was facing all that adversity was resiliency. Having endured multiple freak injuries while playing the game he loves, Campbell could have easily hung up his cleats and called it a day rather than continue tempting fate.
Thanks to the support given to him by his family and his faith, Campbell never got too down on himself or his situation.
That helped him keep his eye on his goal of making his family and friends proud, living up to his second-round draft pick status, and becoming a productive player for a Colts team that was in major disarray last year.
“I was able to fight and just bounce back so many different times,” Campbell said, noting that he was proud to have made it through his first full season last year. “That's all I ever wanted to do, given the history of my career. So being able to do that, I was blessed, grateful, and, you know, like the injuries that I had were just freak accidents.’
The silver lining for Campbell is that he not only lacks excessive miles on his tires, but he’s also still something of an unknown regarding what he can bring to an offense, the latter of which is so much more than what he’s been able to show thus far.
“I feel like there's a lot of things that football fans haven't seen,” Campbell said when asked what he hasn’t yet been able to show in the NFL. “I’m a guy that can do a lot of different things on the football field, whether that's lining up inside, in the slot, outside, a lot of stuff over the middle, down-the-field plays-- I think it's a wide variety.
“I think last year, you know, with the Colts, it was just a glimpse of what I can be in this league, and I was happy to be out there for all 17 and, and get the opportunity to show what I could.”
Campbell believes he’s yet to reach his ceiling and can be a part of something special in New York.
“I'm grateful to be in the position that I am; to have this opportunity is everything to me,” he said. “This team, this organization, is trending in the right direction. I think we all saw that last year. So being able to come in here and get an opportunity means everything.
“I'm not gonna take that for granted. I'm giving them all I got. But I’m envisioning success with those guys--it's amazing because you've seen what this offense did last year. And just the way they made football look just so fun and how the offense was just coming together and gelling, it was awesome to watch from far.”
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