“I basically had to start over from scratch,” he said. “They basically had their team already set from last year.
“I was basically like an add-on.”
And he was happy to be.
Cox is thankful every day for the chance to be back in football, even though he plays nickelback and is used sparingly. He plays primarily against three- and four-receiver sets. That meant lots of snaps a couple weeks ago against Green Bay, for example, but in the Super Bowl against Baltimore, a more traditional offense, there are likely to be few plays for Cox.
You won't hear him complain.
“It's just a blessing to actually be there,” he said.
He gained that perspective from the adversity that he faced the past couple of years. He relishes the here and now. He refuses to be bitter about anything.
That means that everything is good these days.
“I'm great, I'm great, I'm great,” Cox said. “Can't complain.”
He chuckled.
“That's my response to everything.”
He admits he's had constant pinch-me moments this past week. He'll be eating with teammates or getting treatment or doing the most mundane thing when it hits him that he's heading to the Super Bowl.
“We're really in the Super Bowl,” he'll say. “That's crazy.”
Cox knows that his spot in this game has probably resurrected talk about his legal troubles. He wishes that wasn't the case, but he realizes that it will forever be part of his story. He knows that it is part of who he is.
That's why he has no plan to rip out that chapter.
“Being from where I was last year, it just made me stronger in every phase,” Cox said. “Everybody's got a story that makes them stronger.”
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at (405) 475-4125. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.
