Road trips: the Pro Bowl defensive end talks about a varied NFL career that has taken him from New York to Philadelphia to Jacksonville - Interview: Hugh Douglas

Football Digest, Dec, 2003 by Vito Stellino

IN HIS NINE NFL SEASONS, HUGH Douglas has been one of the league's best pass-rushers, as well as one of its most traveled.

Drafted by the Jets in the first round in 1995, the defensive end spent three years in New York before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1998. Then-Jets coach Bill Parcells didn't think Douglas fit into his 34 scheme, so he sent him packing.

The deal wound up working out well for Douglas, who was perfect for the defense in Philadelphia. He was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his last three seasons on the Eagles and helped them reach the NFC Championship Game in 2001 and '02.

But the restrictions of the salary cap prompted Philadelphia to let him go, and this year Douglas started a new phase of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He hit the jackpot in Jacksonville, signing a $27.11 million deal that included a $6 million signing bonus.

Douglas, who's always been known as a leader in the locker room, went from a Philadelphia team that had been a Super Bowl contender to one in Jacksonville that is rebuilding. In an interview with FOOTBALL DIGEST, he talked about the full scope of his career.

FOOTBALL DIGEST: Pro Bowlers used to spend their careers with one team. Since you're with your third team, do you represent the changing face of the NFL in the free-agency era?

HUGH DOUGLAS: Most definitely. It's so hard to keep your players on a team now. It's kind of tough. It's probably going to be unusual that a guy stays with the team he starts out with.

FD: Is it tough on the player to move, or is it a challenge?

HD: It's a little bit of both. You've got to learn a new system, learn a whole bunch of different guys. Those guys in Philly, I played with them for five years. So it's a little different. You've got to come in and learn how to play with other guys. It's a challenge and a struggle.

FD: You were twice given the Jack Edelstein Memorial Award in Philadelphia by the media for being a player with an uplifting manner, a love for life, and an exceptional sense of humor. Does that describe your personality?

HD: I like to keep the fun. I think it's important to keep the game fun because it's so serious nowadays with so much pressure on you to win and everything. I think it's important you keep the perspective intact--like when you're little and just running around playing, not knowing what's going on, just having fun and making your parents proud.

FD: Did you start playing football when you were young?

HD: I played a little bit of flag football, and then I kind of got away from football for a while. I played two years in high school and three years in college.

FD: How did you get away from football?

HD: I kind of had other interests and got a little lazy, and then when I got a little older, I got back into it.

FD: Were you highly recruited out of Mansfield High in Ohio?

HD: I was highly recruited, but they said I was a little undersized.

FD: Were you surprised to be drafted in the first round after going to a small college, Central State in Ohio?

HD: Yeah. I think that's the first time that happened in my school's history. It was a little bit of a surprise. I was always told if you could play, no matter what school you went to, they always would find you. They found me.

FD: Were you expecting to go in the first round?

HD: A few people said it was possible I could be a first-round draft pick, and other people said they didn't know. I wasn't really worried about it. I just said, "Hey, as long as I get somewhere to play, that'll be great"

FD: Did you have to fight the perception that at 6'2" and 280, you weren't big enough?

HD: You can't measure the fight in the dog.

FD: What was it like going to New York after growing up in Ohio?

HD: That was crazy. I was in New York right before Rudy Guiliani started changing things [as mayor]. I went down to 42nd Street, and I was just like, "Wow:" I couldn't believe some of the sights I saw down there. That was different for a guy that came from a small town and a small school.

FD: What was it like playing in front of Jets fans?

HD: It was brutal, man. But the best part of about that was that there were so many things going on in New York that they didn't have time to dwell too much on what you were doing wrong because there were so many other teams in New York But when it was bad, it was bad. There's so much staff going on in New York, it was ridiculous. One thing I remember about New York, no matter what time of the night it was, there was always some heavy traffic somewhere in the city.

FD: Were you surprised to get traded by the Jets to the Eagles?

HD: I got traded at a time when coach Parcells came to New York, and he ran a 3-4 defense that I really didn't fit into. I think he really did me a favor by trading me and letting me go.

FD: Obviously, the Philadelphia system was better for you.

HD: First, coach Ray Rhodes was there, and we already had some good players. It just didn't go well for us on offense, and then when Andy Reid got there [in 1999], we got things going and made a couple of NFC Championship Games and never really got over the hump.