FOXBORO -- It's hard to picture the Patriots without Rob Ninkovich. He's been a staple on the roster since 2009, starting over 100 games in that span, including a stretch from 2011 through 2015 in which he did not miss a start. But his hold on a roster spot in New England wasn't always so firm.
As he announced his retirement at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Ninkovich recalled a time when he felt like he was in the middle of a make-or-break moment. It was 2009. He had just been released by the Saints after trying to make the club as a long-snapper. He had barely played in three years -- three games as a rookie with the Saints, five games with the Dolphins -- and his early-August trip to Foxboro as a street free agent was perhaps his last hope at making a career for himself as a professional football player.
The resulting story was one of the highlights of Ninkovich's farewell speech in front of family, teammates, coaches, Patriots staff and media members.
"I was on a late flight," Ninkovich said. "I got in super early, and I had to run the conditioning test. Let me tell you, I was all by myself, I was a week into camp, and I told myself, 'If I don't make this test, I'm gone.' I made the test, [but] the first practice I had to turn some heads. I had to do my best. 'This is my only chance. Have to make the best of this chance.' I had to turn heads.
"I was going against [left tackle] Matt Light. I love Matt. We're great friends, but Matt, I had to do it to you. First rep I beat him. Second rep I beat him. Third rep I beat him. [Offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia] was saying, 'This kid just got here and he's beating you!' That was a great feeling."
Later that day, Ninkovich said, he made his way onto the highlight reel put together by his new head coach Bill Belichick.
"This kid just got here, and he knows how to rush," Ninkovich remembered Belichick saying. "By the time we're done with him, he won't know what he's doing."
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Ninkovich paused and smiled.
"I didn't know exactly what that meant," he said, "but it's a great memory. That was the start."
Ninkovich grew up around iron-workers. His father was an iron worker. Belichick, during his remarks before Ninkovich's announcement, happily attributed Ninkovich's toughness to his Croatian heritage (which Belichick shares) and his background with iron-working.
Had things not worked out so well for Ninkovich during those first few tenuous moments at Gillette Stadium, maybe that's the career Ninkovich would have carved out for himself.
"I'm telling you, 2009 was my last shot," Ninkovich said. "When I was released in 2009 from the Saints as a long-snapper, I hadn't played in three years, and I had no tape. In the NFL, if you're out a year, it's hard to get back in. I had the injury my rookie year. I had an injury my second year. I was released. I didn't play in Miami -- their wonderful 1-15 team . . . couldn't play on that team.
"It was one of those things where I had to wait for my next opportunity. Windows of opportunity. One's opened. Boom. It closed on me. I got hurt. Then you got to be patient, be patient. Then I got cut, came here, it opened up, and I hit it. It's definitely been a blessing to come here and play as long as I have.
"My dad would tell me all the time, iron-working's a young-man's thing, you can take care of your family. You can provide for your family, which my dad did for us. He did provide. He did work tons of hours. He worked seven days a week for 30 years. He would say it's a young-man's thing. When you're 25, 30, you feel great. When you're 50, 60, you don't feel so great. I'm just blessed to be able to play as long as I have, and really, now I don't have to iron work. I'll figure out the next thing, but it definitely isn't iron-working."