Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Lester Cotton Sr. has had quite a journey so far in his young career. On the verge of potentially becoming a starter for the Silver and Black, Cotton shed some insight into his path to the 2022 season, particularly looking back at 2020.
For those that aren’t too familiar with Cotton’s odyssey, the former Alabama product was released that year (2020) and didn’t play any games professionally. Cotton recalled some of that while speaking with the media recently. He made it a point to self-reflect and decide whether football was truly something he wanted to do moving forward.
“Yeah, for sure. When I got released in 2020, my second year. It was a big wakeup call. I spent 10 months out, and I had to really look myself in the mirror and say if this is what I’m going to do, I have to lock in and be 110 percent. That’s what I’ve been doing every single day.”
Lester Cotton Sr. took a long look in the mirror in 2020
As far as what he did during that year in hopes of making an NFL comeback, Cotton affirmed some personal details.
“I got closer to God [and] I really had to lean on him. I had to put my faith in him first. He led the way for me. I kind of [stopped] trying to go my own route and [started] going the route that he was giving me. Once I finally gave into that and put my faith in that, then stuff finally started to happen, just started falling into place for me.”
NFL players rely on different things to get them through difficult times, no different than your everyday person. For many, a closer relationship with a higher power certainly helps individuals and puts them at peace. For Cotton, he needed to step back and truly decide if he wanted to pursue an NFL career. He managed to play in four games last year, and now his fellow teammates have noticed his improvement and are proud of him. It’s quite admirable how far Cotton has come along. It’s a truly refreshing and heart-warming story that many of us can relate to. As far as 2002 goes, don’t be surprised if Cotton is a Day 1 starter.
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*Top Photo: Official Raiders Website