Tonyan Shows Cuts Can Be Start, Not Finish

It’s not where you start. It’s where you finish. That’s the message from Packers tight end Robert Tonyan, whose success story started with being released by the Lions.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the three-dozen players on the Green Bay Packers’ roster bubble, Monday night might not have been their most restful sleep.

Tight end Robert Tonyan has been in their sleepless shoes.

“At this point, you can’t really control anything else,” Tonyan said after Monday’s practice. “Everything else is out of your control. So, keep your head down and work, and don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t go your way. And if you do make the team, don’t get complacent or comfortable. Even me to this day, eyes are on me and I’m getting evaluated every day.”

After moving from quarterback to receiver at Indiana State, Tonyan transitioned to tight end as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Lions in 2017. He was among their roster cuts.

“I knew I didn’t have really the best chance to make the 53, so I thought I was going to be a practice squad guy,” Tonyan recalled. “That didn’t go through the way I wanted it to. It was like, ‘What’s the next step?’ You have a lot of questions. But, at the end of the day, none of that really matters. You’re going to find a way to get another chance or get seen by another team. So, thinking like you would on the field, it’s a next-play mentality.”

Tonyan was released by the Lions on Sept. 2, 2017. He was out of the NFL for more than three months before signing to the Packers’ practice squad on Dec. 5, 2017. In between, he was part of the NFL’s workout circuit. Every Tuesday, teams around the league bring in a group of free agents. Maybe they need to bolster a weakness on their practice squad. Maybe they’re building their ready lists. Or maybe they’re just intrigued about a certain player.

For the better part of three months, Tonyan’s life was the equivalent of the Johnny Cash classic “I’ve Been Everywhere.” He figures he took part in 10 of those workouts. The constant interest kept him pushing and hungry even after being rejected again and again and again.

“I think everything honestly was positive feedback,” Tonyan said. “I think every team gave me a futures deal; they just didn’t have a spot for a position-change tight end at the time. So, I got a lot of positive feedback, and that kept me motivated. I went through a position change in college from quarterback to receiver, so I’ve been told ‘no’ before. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to keep trying things. Failure’s good. ‘No’ just means try a little harder.”

Tonyan kept trying and working and improving. He spent the final month of the 2017 season on Green Bay’s practice squad, then was given a futures contract, which meant a spot on the offseason roster.

In 2018, Tonyan made the roster alongside the veteran trio of Jimmy Graham, Lance Kendricks and Marcedes Lewis. After starting one game in 2018 and one more game in 2019, Tonyan’s talent, belief and perseverance paid off in 2020, when he caught 52-of-59 passes and scored 11 touchdowns as one of the NFL’s breakout performers.

That makes Tonyan a poster child for the players who unfortunately will be released on Tuesday. Same with receiver Allen Lazard. An undrafted free agent in 2018, Lazard was toiling on the Jaguars’ practice squad until the Packers signed him late in the season. Lazard caught 108 passes and scored 14 touchdowns the past three seasons, and enters this season as the team’s top receiver.

“It just goes into the type of character you are,” Tonyan said. “Allen is someone who didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He got pissed off and used it as fuel. Instead of getting discouraged and sad and ‘why me?’, he used it as fuel to come back and prove those people wrong.”

Their stories are well-known in the Packers’ locker room. Rookie receiver Samori Toure, who is one of those players on the bubble, pointed to them and cornerback Rasul Douglas as players who have gone from being released to working their way into the starting lineup.

“I just try to keep it positive and motivating among the young guys just because I’ve been there and understand that type of situation,” Tonyan said. “At the end of the day, we want everyone to grow in here. If they’re going to be on our team, we want them to help. If they get cut, we want them to have an opportunity elsewhere, because we got close and built camaraderie with a lot of these guys.”