FLOWERY BRANCH – From the time DeMarcco Hellams began playing football at the age of 5, he never had to worry about making the cut for any team he was playing for. He was a two-way star at DeMatha Catholic High in Maryland, developing into a four-star prospect. He became an immediate contributor at Alabama and started at safety in his final two seasons for the Crimson Tide.
And then, in late April, draft weekend offered a serving of cold reality.
“I definitely have always been one of the best players on my team, so going into the NFL draft, being a seventh-round pick, that was my first experience of, in all honesty, like, Dang, that’s how people feel about me?” Hellams said Sunday in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A so-so 40-yard dash time (4.57 seconds) didn’t help how people felt about him. He also suffered from “a lack of quality make-up burst when beaten over the top,” according to an NFL.com pre-draft analysis.
“It’s something that I’ll always remember,” Hellams said of being drafted in the seventh round. “It’s something that, every single pick, every single team that passed me, it just let me know that they didn’t believe in me. So the team that did believe in me, I’m just going to give them everything I have.”
Hellams’ devotion figures to be rewarded Tuesday, when the Falcons and the rest of the NFL cut down to their 53-man rosters in advance of the start of the regular season. A clear standout in the team’s three exhibition games, Hellams was listed as a “lock” on a roster projection by the AJC’s D. Orlando Ledbetter, nudging fellow safeties Micah Abernathy and Jaylinn Hawkins to the bubble. Other media predictions also placed Hellams on the roster.
As the 224th pick in the draft, he looks like a success for general manager Terry Fontenot and his college scouting staff. Hellams spoke of not wanting to let Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith down.
“I was glad I did get an opportunity to be here, and I’m glad that Terry and coach Smith believed in me to let me be a Falcon,” Hellams said.
Hellams has elevated himself to the point that the Falcons could well lose him if they try to waive him and stash him on their 16-man practice squad, as other teams could sign him to their active roster, having seen his exhibition-game performances.
He has shown solid tackling ability and instincts for the ball. In the three-game exhibition season, he led the team in tackles (18) and interceptions (2). He has the look of a player who could be a solid special-teams contributor.
“He shows up when the lights are on, just like he did at Alabama,” Smith said of Hellams after the second exhibition game, against Cincinnati at Mercedes-Benz Stadium Aug. 18. “Continues to find the football. He’s a good football player.”
Hellams said he’ll be at the team’s facility Tuesday receiving treatment when players will be informed of their fate.
“This is my first time, obviously, going through this process,” Hellams said. “I don’t really know how too much of it works. As I’ve said before, I’m just taking it day by day. When Tuesday comes, I’ll deal with Tuesday then.”
Hellams is among hundreds across the league who will learn their fate Tuesday. It’s a cruel day.
For the fortunate, it’s a day of jubilation and relief. Some players who are cut will be able to extend their careers on practice squads or latching on with another team. But for others, it will be the last day of their football careers, whether they realize it at the time or not.
Through the preseason, Hellams has already seen teammates get cut from the roster. It may be his first time through an NFL preseason, but he knows well how precarious employment is in his chosen field.
“Just coming out here every day like it’s my last,” he said. “That’s definitely how I prepare myself coming out here every day here like it’s my last because it could be.”
Hellams is trying to hold onto a dream he has held since he was a child. Growing up in Washington, D.C., He is the youngest of three children, the son of District of Columbia government employees. He said his father Delante Sr. didn’t let him get a job “because he wanted me to train football and knew that was my dream. I definitely credit my family a lot for me being here.”
Hellams carries the dream not just for himself.
“I know a lot of people from back home, a lot of people I’m very close to that never had this chance to even try out for a team or had the opportunity to play in a preseason game,” he said. “So I definitely try to let them live through me as far as when I go out there on the field.”
It looks like Hellams will get the chance. “Underdog” and “Alabama Crimson Tide” aren’t typically associated with one another, but the Falcons are in possession of just such an amalgam. They’d be wise to maintain it.
Said Hellams, “(Making the roster) would mean everything to me, just to know that I have an opportunity other than the preseason to lay it on the line for my brothers, lay it on the line for my coaches, lay it on the line for the team.”
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