BEREA — Adin Huntington had a decision to make after he left Browns minicamp in June.
Huntington was going to go back to his home in Virginia and continued to work out as he had done before. However, the undrafted rookie defensive tackle also had an offer to join Myles Garrett — his new teammate and, oh by the way, one of the best defensive linemen in the sport — in Dallas to work out.
The choice seems obvious in hindsight. In the moment, though, it presented Huntington with a challenge to face some inner fears.
“So I called my dad (David), I said, Hey, this is the opportunity,” Huntington said Aug. 26. “And fear would’ve had me stuck at home. Fear would’ve had me back at home trying to be comfortable, but I had to get out of my comfort zone. I had to text Myles, he probably didn’t have my number saved. I had to fly out there basically on a whim, had the opportunity to stay with him as well and get fully immersed in the opportunity.”
So Huntington decided to step out of his comfort zone. He accepted Garrett’s invitation and flew to Texas, where he stayed with his All-Pro teammate and had, as he called it, “the full Myles Garrett experience.”
Those workouts didn’t just include Garrett, though. They included some of the premier young players in the league, such as the Dallas Cowboys’ All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons and recently-drafted Donovan Ezeiruaku, the Houston Texans’ defensive end Will Anderson and two other Browns teammates, Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire.
It was during those workouts that Huntington, whose after high school path took him from Kent State to Louisiana-Monroe to Tulane, realized it could continue on to the NFL.
“Just seeing myself getting out there and getting out of my comfort zone, being with those guys training and seeing how athletically I stack up mentally and just seeing and it was a lot of competition,” Huntington said. “So when I was able to come out here, I told myself before I came out here, Adin, you was out there with those guys, you trained with those guys. You know your abilities. You know what God gave you to do. So just go out here and just trust the ability he gave me and just have fun.”
The Adin Huntington who arrived in Dallas as an undrafted rookie with an NFL dream left as one who had the confidence to turn that dream into a reality. Despite taking the hard way onto the Browns’ 90-man training camp roster, he took full advantage of it by being one of the camp’s rookie standouts.
Huntington made plays in all three preseason games, finishing with six combined tackles, 2.5 sacks, three tackles for loss, five quarterback hits and a forced fumble over 68 combined defensive snaps. He also contributed over 49 combined special teams snaps with four solo and one assisted tackle, while also opening the preseason finale at fullback on offense.
After that final preseason game, coach Kevin Stefanski wasted no time in making it known that Huntington was going to be on the initial 53-man roster which was finalized Aug. 26.
“Adin played fullback for us in the first play of the game,” Stefanski said in the postgame press conference. “He played special teams, was disruptive on defense. He’s on our football team. AB (general manager Andrew Berry) said I could share that with you guys. So, he made the football team.”
One of the last people to actually find out about Stefanski’s declaration, however, was Huntington. Although, it didn’t take long for the word to get to him.
“Actually a lot of people told me,” Huntington said. “I really didn’t know. After the game, people sent me the screenshot. I really didn’t know if it was real or not. And then I called my mom. My mom was hysterical, she was crying and then I really wasn’t even on social media. Then I got on Twitter right after the game and then I saw the video and I just had to hit my knees and just thank God.”
That, in some ways, was the easy part for Huntington. Not that it’s necessarily easy for a player whose path didn’t include either an invite to the NFL combine or being selected in the draft.
What comes next for Huntington is proving he can stay in the league.
“I try not to get too high on those things,” Huntington said. “My journey doesn’t stop right now just because I made the 53-man roster. It’s just beginning. So whatever I did to get here, I have to continue to do that. And that doesn’t matter if I still have to get here at six in the morning, get in the tubs, stretch and just make sure that I’m physically ready to come out here and perform, that’s what I have to do.”
Huntington knows what that requires isn’t just to continue to produce in practice or in games. It isn’t just to continue to fine-tune himself physically and mentally to the rigors of the NFL life.
It’s the same thing that Huntington said led him to continue to try and climb the ladder in college, going from Kent State to, ultimately, one of the top Group of 5 programs in Tulane. It’s the same thing that led him to accept Garrett’s summer invitation to workouts in Dallas.
It’s going to require him to continue to step outside of his comfort zone.
“Either I had the fear of staying the same or I had the fear of getting better,” Huntington said. “And that was a big thing for me. Like I said, I could have went back to Virginia, I had the necessities to train and get better, but I had to see where I aligned myself with guys like Myles, guys like Micah, guys like Will Anderson, and A. Wright and Isaiah. So me stepping out of my comfort zone, it gave myself a mental check to be like, OK, you stack up. OK, this is where you are at.
“Myles is a different breed, but it doesn’t matter, you have to compete every day. And for myself, I went in there every morning to compete to get better and I feel like me just going there for those three weeks, it allowed me to just physically, it changed my body physically, mentally, and I was able to showcase that during his training camp.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Adin Huntington steps out of his ‘comfort zone’ and onto Cleveland Browns’ 53-man roster
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
