As a young football player in Texas, flipping through Eastbay catalogs (remember those?!), Danny Amendola had his heart set on one product: a Wayne Chrebet No. 80 New York Jets jersey. Only Amendola, who turned 10 the same year (1995) that Chrebet broke into the NFL, didn’t have the money to buy it — a familiar problem for those of us who as kids browsed Eastbay with eyes bigger than our allowances.
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Chrebet, though, was the guy for Amendola growing up. Amendola wasn’t a fan of the Jets, for whom Chrebet played his entire 11-year pro career; he didn’t even really consider himself an avid NFL follower. But in the undrafted, undersized slot receiver, Amendola saw his future.
“I tried to take some of his ideas,” Amendola said. “Tricks of the trade.”
He pulled up online whatever practice clips of Chrebet would’ve been available in the late ’90s and early 2000s. He studied his routes, in particular how Chrebet created separation at the top despite not being the most physically gifted receiver on the field. And while he still longed for that jersey, a friend gifted Amendola a decent consolation prize: a poster of Chrebet, the Jets’ longtime hometown legend. “So I had his poster on my wall,” Amendola said.
On Sunday against the Packers, midway through the second quarter, the Lions’ Amendola made his 581st career NFL reception. That catch bumped him up to fourth place all-time among undrafted players.
Now sitting in fifth? Wayne Chrebet.
“I texted him, ‘Congrats.’ That I was proud of him and everything,” Chrebet said on Monday afternoon. “He said how much I meant to him. That I was helpful and showed him the way. I appreciate it.”
Amendola made another three grabs before Week 14 was over, and in the process passed five more players on the league’s career receptions list (Brian Blades, Ronnie Harmon, Mark Clayton, Vernon Davis and Bill Brooks). He now sits in 92nd place there, and by season’s end should leapfrog the likes of Marcus Allen, Fred Biletnikoff and Harold Carmichael — Hall of Famers, all.
Those will be special, too, whenever Amendola looks back on all that he’s accomplished in the NFL. Surpassing Chrebet, however, was on another level … even if Amendola wasn’t aware he was close until it was brought to his attention a couple weeks back.
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“I’m thankful to be in the same category as Wayne,” Amendola said. “He’s an awesome guy, an awesome player.”
A few years back, after noticing that he and Chrebet followed each other on Twitter, Amendola sent a message to his idol. He told him about the poster, revealed that Chrebet was the reason Amendola has worn No. 80 throughout most of his career. Chrebet told Amendola to hit him up if he ever was in New York.
As luck would have it, Amendola already happened to be there with another Patriots slot-receiver maestro, Julian Edelman. Chrebet invited both of them to his favorite NYC spot, Quality Italian, for chicken parm and drinks. They spent hours there, talking football and swapping stories.
Ironically, Amendola presented Chrebet with a game-worn jersey, as a gesture of appreciation. (As of two weeks ago, Amendola had not yet secured the long-coveted Chrebet gear.)
“They were joking that they call me the ‘Godfather of Slot,’” Chrebet recalled. “I thought that was great. They told me they learned a lot by watching the routes I ran. It was very humbling to me, because I respect Danny and Edelman — as much as they respect me, I respect them for taking the torch and passing it to the next level.”
Across the middle till the day we die. @Edelman11 @waynechrebet pic.twitter.com/tqmstkHq6v
— Danny Amendola (@DannyAmendola) May 1, 2016
Edelman, now at 620 career catches himself, doesn’t come from that undrafted-free-agent fraternity. The rest of his story is familiar. He’s a 5-foot-10 college quarterback who failed to score an invite to the combine, yet found a home as a tough, crafty slot receiver. New England selected him No. 232 in the 2009 draft.
By that point, the Patriots already had developed a reputation for uncovering diamonds in the rough to play inside. Troy Brown spent 15 seasons on that roster, and caught a combined 281 balls from 2000-02; Wes Welker holds down second place on the UDFA catch list, with 903, behind only Antonio Gates (955) and ahead of Rod Smith (849), Amendola and Chrebet.
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A link between them all: Bill Belichick, of course. He coached all of those standout slot weapons in New England, but before that spent 1997-99 as defensive coordinator for the Jets. During training camp and practices, part of Belichick’s job was to figure out how to stop Chrebet and other receivers like him — there weren’t many.
“I had many conversations with him about how he would cover certain things I was doing,” Chrebet said, “what I can do to keep (open), a lot of throwing it back and forth. He took that to New England.”
Amendola joined Belichick in Foxboro in 2013, having bounced between the Cowboys’ and Eagles’ practice squads before finally earning a shot with the Rams in 2009. Over four St. Louis seasons, Amendola caught 196 passes. In his five subsequent years with the Patriots, he tacked on another 230, despite Edelman eating targets alongside him.
Amendola’s game developed along the way, to be sure, but much of the nuance in it can be traced back to those hours spent analyzing Chrebet’s style. “A big thought process in my mind,” Amendola said, “and I know it’s in his: It’s one thing to be fast and big and strong and create separation early in the route, but you’re never going to get the ball too early, so getting separation at the top of the route is something he excelled at and I tried to emulate myself.”
Chrebet has noticed, too, watching Amendola over the years. “A lot of the option routes” have the Chrebet stamp on them, noted the Jets’ Ring of Honor member. “A lot of specific things, like releases on routes, the ability to take one route and make it look 10 different ways when you come off the ball.”
It was fitting, then, that Amendola climbed past Chrebet on just such a route. From the Packers’ 16, Amendola curled back toward Matthew Stafford about 3 or 4 yards downfield, faked a move to his outside shoulder, then peeled back inside to leave a Green Bay linebacker trailing. Stafford hit him in stride for a 10-yard gain.
Nothing flashy or highlight-reel worthy or even all that memorable, except for it being exactly the type of play that’s helped Amendola carve out an impressive NFL career. Just like all those slot receivers before him. Just like his hero.
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“He’s a hell of a guy,” Chrebet said. “I’m so happy for him, the success he’s having, hopefully (he’ll have) continued success. That’s great that he passed me — I didn’t know there was a list. To be top five still, I think is pretty good for me.”
Now, let’s see what we can do about that jersey.
(Photo: Raj Mehta / USA Today)