Unique football journey of Long Island's Greg Senat brings him to Jets 

At first, football success came surprisingly easily to Greg Senat.

He didn’t even pay much attention to the sport during his time growing up in Elmont, and it wasn’t until 2016, his senior year as a Division I basketball player at Wagner on Staten Island, that he began playing with any level of seriousness.

He was able to log two years as an offensive tackle at Wagner, enough of a sample size — combined with his actual size of 6-6, 305 pounds — to make scouts take notice and gain an invite to the East-West Shrine Game for college all-stars.

Shortly after that, he was drafted in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens.

A year later, he won a Super Bowl ring with Kansas City.

He had yet to play a regular-season snap in the NFL — foot injuries his first two seasons put him on injured reserve nearly that entire time — but in four short years, he’d gone from football novice to world champion.

Sports — and life — have a way of evening out, though. Of turning what seems simple into a challenge.

Senat’s path, once a straight line to the top, began to meander. He was waived by Kansas City, signed to the Cleveland practice squad and added to the Dallas active roster, appearing in 10 games (still his only 10 NFL games) on special teams in 2020. Then he went back to Cleveland, where he hurt his knee in the preseason. He was signed to the Indianapolis practice squad and was called up to the active roster but was waived before he ever played.

In January 2022, he was claimed by the Jets. They re-signed him a few weeks later and he had a good spring in New Jersey before he was dealt one more blow. Training with other NFL linemen at Exos in Florida, on the first day of work, he took a step and popped his Achilles.

Another injury. Another season over.

He spent 2022 on reserve with what was classified as a non-football injury. He was a Jet in name only, and barely so.

Some might have taken that as a sign that he’d squeezed all he could out of this unexpected football adventure. Not Senat. He took this latest dose of bad news and somehow remained optimistic.

“It made me work harder and want to get back and show everybody I’m still here,” he said. “I knew eventually something had to break my way.”

If the easy had become hard, then of course the hard could just as swiftly become easy again, right?

All of which brought Senat here, still with the Jets, still fighting to earn a spot on a team and play a first regular-season offensive snap as he approaches his 29th birthday on Sept. 9. At an age when many players’ careers are starting to wind down, Senat is hoping for his to begin.

He’s been playing second-string right tackle most of this summer, logging long stints on the field in the sweltering preseason games, most of it long after many fans have lost interest in the action.

On Saturday, after playing 46 offensive snaps in the win over the Panthers in what those who have been watching his journey called his best game at the pro level, he stood in the locker room and reflected on .  .  . everything.

“I just never gave up,” Senat told Newsday. “I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Every downfall I’ve had, every injury, every setback, it happened for a reason. I’m a firm believer it was to get me here today. Every setback made me stronger. I learned.

“I think sometimes when setbacks happen, God is trying to tell you to slow down a little bit. There were things I needed to learn and I’m glad I learned them and I’m here today.

“I’m just praying I can keep this momentum going and see what happens.”

The Jets seem impressed.

“He’s improving every day,” coach Robert Saleh said. “He’s trying to make noise and earn playing time and earn a spot on this roster. I thought he did a great job [Saturday] .  .  . Really pumped for him.”

Senat’s goal is to do just that, make the team when cuts are made later this month. His family and friends back home in Elmont mostly are Jets fans, so he wants to give them another reason to root for the team.

He also is aware that it might not happen.

“If it doesn’t,” he said, “I hope my tape speaks enough that there is a team out there that will see my value and bring me on.”

For now, he likes his chances with the Jets. He likes the way his foot, his knee, his Achilles, everything that has been an obstacle for him in the past, are all feeling, too.

“Man, I feel good. I feel better than I have felt in a long time,” he said. “All that work is paying off and I’m back. This is what I wanted to do last year and I’m just happy I finally get this opportunity . . .

“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of stops. I’ve been on a lot of teams with a lot of great players and I’ve picked things up. I think I’m getting into the groove right now where I am figuring things out and things are slowing down for me.”

He was late to football. It would be unfair for him to be angry that football is now running a little late for him.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.