It Took a Village to Propel Heyer

"Once you are on the field, playing these guys, they become nameless faces," Heyer said. "If you get caught up in the stigma of who they are, that's when you get into trouble. Once you get sucked up in all that -- saying 'I'm facing a Pro Bowl player' -- sure enough you will become another of his victims."

Not that Heyer was oblivious to whom he was facing. At one point he saw Jason Taylor, the Dolphins' star defensive end, lined up across from him. And it occurred to Heyer that Taylor looked different in person, lean, with a body almost like a basketball player. Then the ball was snapped.

"He was deceptively strong," Heyer said.

He said he is not bitter about the lack of interest teams showed in him during the draft. He knew it was going to take time for his body to recover after the injury, and when he returned to Maryland for the 2006 season, life had moved on from when he got hurt. It was a struggle to catch up to new teammates, new plays.

So when the Redskins called, Heyer figured he should make the most of it. The team found an apartment for him near its complex in Ashburn. He moved in and began to work.

"They're giving me opportunities," he said. "Opportunities to be a better player. They obviously saw something nobody else saw."

And because of it, he doesn't want to do anything to damage that.

Last week, Heyer refused to be discouraged when he learned the Redskins would start veteran Todd Wade at right tackle against the Philadelphia Eagles tomorrow night. Right tackle is Wade's natural position.

"It's how it is when you are a rookie coming in the league," Heyer said in the locker room at the Redskins' practice facility Friday afternoon. "They believe in me, but if there's an older guy who can do it, they're going to go with him."

The Redskins remain very excited about Heyer, and assistant head coach Joe Bugel said Heyer would be on the active roster every week. "He's our Havlicek. He's our sixth guy," Bugel said, referring to John Havlicek, the Boston Celtics' legendary super reserve.

If only the Redskins could have seen him back in Atlanta, when he was the out-of-shape kid being pushed around a football field by Brian Jordan. When they moved to the weight room, Devers walked over to the weights and began to push almost 400 pounds into the air. Heyer, with his huge frame and enormous feet, struggled to lift 225.

Jordan chuckled at the memory. "As a male, that has to be damaging to your ego" he said.