A few years into his NFL career, Brent Urban thought there was no chance he would play into his 30s.
He suffered season-ending injuries in three of his first four seasons, and his spot on an NFL roster was far from guaranteed.
But sometimes you can surprise yourself.
Urban is now 33 and entering Year 11 in the NFL. Since his rookie contract expired, he has signed seven consecutive one-year deals and played for four different teams.
Urban is an NFL survivor and a good lesson that some careers aren't linear.
"It was tough times – a lot of dark days, and a lot to fight through," Urban said after Friday's practice. "I think guys like Terrell Suggs [and] Marshal Yanda, they dealt with a bunch of injuries throughout their career, and they were kind of there to lift me up and be like a benchmark on what to work on coming off of [an] injury – how to have the right mindset going into the whole thing.
"There was a lot of sitting back and watching and trying to figure out how I fit in, and that sort of thing. But relying on those vets and stuff, that helped me a ton, and [it] allowed me to get through that and turn that into a career. It was just one year at a time and thankfully [it] worked out."
Urban is now one of those veterans. The Ravens have a few players that have struggled to stay healthy early in their careers – outside linebackers David Ojabo and Malik Hamm are two pass-rushers that have missed significant time – and Urban is the perfect example of someone who made it past that.
"I'm going to start using [Brent] as an example for those guys, because it's a perfect point," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "... Those first couple of years were tough, and here he is now. He's got a testimony as a result of all the tests he's been through."
The average length of an NFL career is less than three and a half years, and Urban has tripled that after he wasn't sure if he would even make it there.
He's spent so much time on the roster bubble but always finds a way. Even last season, Urban didn't make the initial 53-man roster but was signed two days later. He then posted a career-high three sacks and played in all 17 games.
Now, as one of the oldest players on the team, he's looking to spread his wisdom of surviving in the NFL.
"Just being in the league is privilege," Urban said. "Every single day, you've just got to relish it, because you see so many guys in and out, and just even looking at my class now, nobody's still around. So just finding your own role, just appreciating it.
"As I get older, I've started to be able to take a seat back and really just appreciate how thankful I am to be here. When you're young, your nose is on the grindstone, you're just hustling every day – you're stressed out and all that stuff – and now I feel like I can kind of be at a luxury to sit back and just really appreciate things each and every day – and that's kind of helped me continue to play well in this later stretch of my career."
