FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Jamaal Westerman, a Jets rookie linebacker, has only had time to stock his new locker with the basics: practice uniform, seven pairs of shoes, two sticks of deodorant and white helmet, a green mouthpiece stuck in the facemask. At least he has a locker.Westerman survived Coach Rex Ryan’s final roster cut Saturday to become the only free-agent rookie to make the team. Ryan loves free agents — 18 undrafted players are on his roster — because they tend to have the same no-frills, gung-ho attitude as Westerman.
“There’s really no time to sit back and admire anything,” Westerman, a former Rutgers star, said this week. “The season hasn’t started yet, so what is there to admire? I just want to keep working hard, be consistent. As soon as I sit back, things will take a wrong turn.”
His approach has served him well during a career that was launched playing pickup football as a third-grader on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The last 10 months, though, have been especially daunting. Early in Rutgers’s 54-34 victory over Pittsburgh on Oct. 25, Westerman tore his left biceps while sacking quarterback Bill Stull. Westerman was told later in the week that he needed surgery. Although he could barely turn his wrist, he played the last three regular-season games, helping Rutgers overcome an unexpected 1-5 start with seven straight victories.
He missed the Scarlet Knights’ bowl game because he had surgery. When he resumed working out at the TEST Sports Club in Martinsville, N.J., Westerman’s repaired left biceps had atrophied and was six inches smaller in circumference than his right biceps.
“His determination and his mental approach were incredible,” said Brian Martin, the president of the club and Westerman’s personal trainer. “He did everything to the letter. He’s intelligent and focused. The N.F.L. was his dream. He worked very hard, and maybe more important, he was smart in the way he worked.”
There was another hitch: Westerman, who had 26 sacks and 141 tackles as a three-year starter at Rutgers, was 6 feet 3 inches and 255 pounds, a bit too small to continue playing defensive end. His future was at linebacker, a position he had not played since high school.
And Westerman had played 12-man high school ball at Notre Dame Academy in Brampton, Ont., where he had moved with his mother when his parents split up after he played one year at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, a football powerhouse.
Westerman worked with Martin on his footwork. He took yoga classes to increase his flexibility. No one selected Westerman in the N.F.L. draft, but Ryan had told Westerman he was interested in signing him as a free agent.
Ryan’s roster is packed with undrafted players; four of them are defensive starters. Bart Scott, a linebacker who made the Baltimore Ravens as a free agent from Southern Illinois in 2002, signed a six-year contract with the Jets that could be worth $48 million.
“He’s versatile, he's coachable, and to me, the No. 1 thing about him is that he’s fearless, and you can’t be afraid to fail,” Scott said of Westerman. “He’s relentless. It’s like looking into a mirror at myself. I know the things that were going through his mind, and he’s earned it. Nothing’s been given to him — and it’s not like he made a team with sorry linebackers.”
Three Jets linebackers were former first-round draft choices, and another, David Harris, was picked in the second round. Vernon Gholston, a first-round pick last year who had an underachieving season, will replace Calvin Pace, another first-rounder who is serving a four-game suspension for violating the N.F.L. policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Although he was playing a different position than he did in college, Westerman had two sacks in the preseason, including one of the Eagles’ Michael Vick in a 38-27 Jets’ victory Sept. 3.
“He had those characteristics we talked about,” Ryan said Tuesday. “He loves to play the game.
He certainly has enough athletic ability to play in this league. He’s got a great temperament. He’s smart. He’s a passionate guy. He’s doing a good job on special teams. He had to earn it. Here’s a free agent who earned a spot on this roster.”
Chansi Stuckey, a wide receiver who is Westerman’s new next-door locker-room neighbor, said Westerman stood out among the training-camp long shots. He played so well in the preseason that Gholston said he had no idea Westerman was coming off surgery.
“You see a scar on his arm,” Gholston said, “but with most guys, you don’t know if it happened last year or 10 years ago. He’s one of those guys who looks like he wants to get after the football.”
Westerman, listed as Harris’s backup at strongside inside linebacker, will probably play mostly on special teams Sunday, when the Jets open the season at Houston.
“I don’t think the transition is finished,” Westerman said. “I still feel like I’m learning something every day. Wherever they put you, you want to do your best. That’s the thing. Whatever role they have me in, I’m going to try to succeed at.”
