FLORHAM PARK - Elijah Chatman was asked what went through his mind when Texans running back J.J. Taylor bounced to the outside and began breaking away up the left sideline last Saturday afternoon.
"There was nobody left to catch him," Chatman said with a shrug.
So Chatman, the New York Giants defensive tackle, the undrafted rookie whose against-the-odds story has suddenly captured the imagination of a franchise, got all 5-feet-11 and 285 pounds packed in his uniform into high gear, racing after the speedy Taylor as if the guy with the football was representative of the roster spot he is chasing down.
Video of Chatman catching up to Taylor nearly 40 yards downfield quickly went viral. Soon after the preseason game in Houston, Giants teammates began posting on social media in support of one of their own.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton told followers that, if you were looking for someone to cheer for, search no further.
Yet Chatman's underdog story goes much deeper than that one play. He has been working with the Giants' first-team defense since the beginning of training camp. He had a sack against the Lions in the preseason opener, then forced a holding penalty against the Texans that would have resulted in another sack.
On Wednesday, when the Giants and Jets hit the practice fields here for their joint practice, the Giants' best pass rush package had Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the edges, Dexter Lawrence and the kid from SMU inside.
Burns is a Pro Bowler with expectations to be even better with Big Blue. Thibodeaux was picked No. 5 overall two years ago, the first selection in general manager Joe Schoen's initial NFL Draft. Lawrence is an All-Pro and widely considered the best nose guard in the game.
Then there is Chatman, who joked after practice Tuesday that, if he could get a few hands off of Lawrence every now and then, maybe even drawing an extra blocker from time to time, he's doing his job. Clearly, his desire to contribute goes plenty further than that.
Aaron Rodgers is headed to Canton whenever he's done playing. Chatman did not take for granted the chance for the Giants to chase him around a little bit.
"I'm just excited for the opportunity," Chatman said with a laugh. "I get the opportunity to meet Aaron Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game of football. I just get the chance to play against different opponents."
Chatman arrived forNew York Giantsrookie minicamp three months ago with promise of untapped potential and a promise from renowned defensive line coach Andre Patterson that he would get a fair look.
Too many times throughout the NFL Draft process, the powerful defensive tackle from SMU had this knock attached to his resume and scouting report: "Yeah, but he's barely 6-feet, that really doesn't play in the NFL."
Just one week prior to Giants' rookie camp, Chatman heard that directly from the Seattle Seahawks, for whom he tried out at their rookie camp. They wanted to move him to linebacker because, in their eyes, he didn't have the necessary length to play up front.
"I don't think height," quipped Chatman, 23. "I'm all heart."
So when Chatman agreed to come to the Giants without a contract as a tryout, just hoping to open some eyes and perhaps more doors to the league as an undrafted rookie down the road, imagine his surprise when Patterson offered a challenge he did not see coming and a chance to prove he belonged.
"First day I got here for rookie minicamp, Coach Patterson brought me into his office and he told me, 'Look, I don't care about your height. I've seen your film, I know you can play, you've got pop to you,'" Chatman recalled. "He was letting me know, reassuring me that I was not here just to be a body. He was actually evaluating me and from that point on, I trusted him. Because I didn't have many opportunities - I really didn't have any opportunity like this one at all. I had to earn this, and the Giants were true to his word."
Patterson and the Giants left Chatman in tears when he was told they wanted him to stay.
Chatman has been making waves while seizing the moment in just about every rep he takes, including with the Giants' starting defensive line. He has worked throughout the rotation, displaying great change of direction and burst in snaps at times that have come next to Lawrence. Patterson has praised his development, his surprising play strength, his motor and his attitude.
“You look at what he can do, don’t focus what he can’t do," Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown said of Chatman. "Quickness off the ball. Him having twitch. And for a guy that’s sub 6-feet, just power. When he strikes a [tackling] bag, you almost feel the air kinda compress out of the bag. It sounds different."
Brown praised Giants scouts Blaise Bell, Justin Markus and Scott Hamel for putting Chatman on the team's radar. They were wowed by the fact that he was a 1,600-yard running back in high school in Louisiana and that SMU even used the player nicknamed "Baby Bison" as a fullback.
Chatman also played special teams, charging down the field to cover kickoffs and punts.
The Giants were impressed. Patterson loved what he saw on tape. But they weren't sold until Chatman stepped inside the field house at 1925 Giants Drive and essentially forced team brass to not let him leave without a contract.
Now he's on the verge of not just making the Giants - he has played his way into a lottery ticket role of sorts on the same line as Lawrence, Burns and Thibodeaux.
“It’s not done until it’s done,” Chatman said. “If I’m gonna make the team, I am. If they want me, then they want me.”
He paused and smiled, knowing the next chapter of that journey is unwritten.
"He still has a long way to go to be the kind of player that I want him to be and to make this team, but he’s gotten better and put some good things on tape. I’ve coached guys his height, and they ended up being pretty good players," Patterson said, referencing Hall of Famer John Randle, among others. "I don’t know if he will, but he’s got some qualities that I can’t give him as a coach.”
And in a moment perfectly describing his quest, Chatman offered up the exact sentiment that explains why he's even in this position in the first place: "And I'm still chasing after that."
