By Jim Gehman, Player Engagement Insider
Few were more determined to play professional football than NFL Legend Jake Delhomme.
An undrafted quarterback out of the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now known as the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Delhomme signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints in 1998. That’s when his career path began to resemble a game of pinball.
Placed on the Saints’ practice squad for one season, Delhomme was allocated to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, spent another season on New Orleans’ practice squad, returned to NFL Europe where he played for the Frankfort, Galaxy and was then placed on New Orleans’ active roster as a backup.
Appearing in just six games over five seasons for the Saints, (1998-2002), Delhomme became a free agent and signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2003.
“I was raised in a household that if you wanted anything, you worked for it. You don’t take the easy way out,” Delhomme said. “The NFL, it’s a very difficult business to break into. All I ever wanted was an opportunity. I felt my talent was on par if not better than many of the guys that I was playing with at the time. That’s kind of what kept me driving, kept me going.
“I was a free agent and I had a couple of opportunities, one in Dallas to compete for a starting job and another one in Carolina. The Carolina opportunity was the best opportunity for success on the football field and that’s why I signed. And it worked out.”
That it did. Becoming the starting quarterback in only his second game as a Panther, Delhomme sensed that he was surrounded by something special.
“I felt like I was on some very talented teams in New Orleans, but we were very void of leadership,” Delhomme said. “But with (Panthers head coach) John Fox and some of the talent on the team, man, we were pretty talented. We started winning some games and things started snowballing and the confidence grows. If somebody got hurt, somebody else just kind of took their spot. It was the next man up type of deal.
“We were very unselfish. That’s usually the good teams. Unselfish teams that are not afraid to just keep playing and keep grinding away even when things don’t go their way or injuries happen.”
The unselfish squad would post an 11-5 record in 2003, capture the NFC Championship, and meet the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Patriots scored on a field goal with four seconds left in the game and won, 32-29.
“It was probably one of the greatest weeks of my life,” said Delhomme. “Or should I say two weeks because the week after the NFC championship, you’re just trying to get tickets lined up and get all the logistics lined up. Because when you make that trip, it’s all business. It’s a business trip to try and win a Super Bowl. I vividly can recall everything about that week and that game. Everything was fantastic except for the last four seconds.”
Delhomme, who was voted to play in the NFL Pro Bowl following the 2004 campaign, would spend seven seasons with Carolina before concluding his 14-year career with the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans.
Experiencing all the ups and downs that the game had to offer gave Delhomme an opportunity to learn about himself.
“When I started playing quarterback in the third grade little did I know that I signed up for a contract that you had to be prepared for any type of criticism there is. You’re going to get praised too much on wins and criticized too much on losses. But that’s the nature of the beast playing the quarterback position,” Delhomme said.
“But I’ll be quite honest, I was proud to play in the National Football League. It’s not only an honor; it’s a privilege. You learn to respect the shield and everything the great game brings.”
After retiring following the 2011 season, Delhomme’s family business brought him back home to Louisiana. A place he actually never left.
“I’m a third-generation thoroughbred race horse owner,” Delhomme, who started Set-Hut Stables while he was with the Panthers, said. “I always knew I’d be in, and have some capacity in, the race horse business. I truly love it. I didn’t grow up hunting or fishing or playing golf. I grew up going to school, playing sports and being in a barn. We lived on 15 acres. Dad had a six-stall barn behind the house. He always trained two or three horses at a time and it was something that I loved.”
Delhomme, his dad, Jerry, and brother, Jeff, run the business. They buy, sell and are always training and racing eight to 12 horses.
“I was a very competitive person when I played (football),” Delhomme said. “I think for many players, when they’re done playing, there’s a competitive void. They can’t re-create the competition aspect that we’ve been doing for so long. And with the horse racing, for me, I know that fills that competitive void.”