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Call me crazy, but I was starting to think Joey Galloway might be ready to wind things down.
At 36, Galloway is the oldest No. 1 wide receiver in the league. He has endured 13 seasons of wear and tear and was pulled from Tampa’s playoff loss to the Giants last season by head coach Jon Gruden, who was concerned about a nagging shoulder injury, which required surgery in the offseason.
For the past few seasons, Gruden and Galloway have designed a customized schedule for the team’s star pass catcher, keeping him out of training camp for a certain number of days to make sure he stays fresh and healthy.
If you’re looking for a sign that the end of an NFL career might be near, take your pick.
Galloway, however, said he has yet to even think about retirement.
“My body doesn’t hurt,” he said. “On a daily basis, when I roll out of bed, I don’t have a chronic issue that makes me think, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’
“I think the older you get, the more attention you pay to your body and the more attention you pay when something may be bothering you. I just don’t have that issue that is making me count to say, ‘How much longer can I do it?’ As long as I can go out and do my work, prepare the way that I have, then I don’t know what would make me start to look at the end.”
Despite bumps, bruises, scars and shoulder surgery, Galloway is growing stronger, posting career-best type numbers. Some even thought he’d make his first Pro Bowl last season, but to no avail. He has already joined an elite class of receivers. There have been only 24 recorded wide receivers since 1960 to play at age 36.
He’s on the verge of becoming a football enigma, sipping from a fountain of youth to do things that fly in the face of conventional wisdom. For some reason this 5-11, 197-pound receiver who built his career on speed seems to be putting off the eventual breakdown that so many like him have suffered by the time they hit his age.
In the first six seasons of his career, Galloway missed 24 games, but since 2001, he has sat out just eight. He finished with an eye-catching average of 17.8 yards per catch in ‘07, which was his highest mark since ’03. He’s fought his way to three consecutive seasons of more than 1,000 yards receiving, something he had never done before.
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Joey Galloway
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“In this offensive system, Coach Gruden uses me in a certain way that I just hadn’t had a chance to do that before in my career,” said Galloway. “It’s been fun for me. It’s been a challenge. As far as offenses go, I’ve never seen a guy as creative as he is on a week-to-week basis.
“We come in every Wednesday and take a look at what he has in store for me. It makes it a lot easier to go out and put up the numbers and to have fun trying to help this team win because he keeps things challenging.
“I think it’s my job to compete. It’s what I love to do. I’m going to go out and compete as hard as I can, regardless of whether I have 10 years or one year left.”
In other words, he can stand the sweltering summer-in-Tampa heat, so he’ll stay in the kitchen.
Rather than wait until his retirement from the NFL to find a new career, Galloway is running about four different ones simultaneously.
Galloway partnered with his childhood friend, Dr. Michael Youssef, to get into the smoothie business. Last year the pair opened Smoothie Junction, a health-food store that carries smoothies, wraps, supplements and vitamins. There are two stores already operating in Florida, and they hope to add two more by the end of the year.
“(We) actually got into a kitchen last summer and just started mixing things for hours to come up with our recipes that are on the board,” Galloway said. “It was interesting, to say the least. We were happy with the product that we came up with.”
Galloway credits the stores with helping him change his diet from fast food at least once a day, to wraps with 10 grams of fat or less and a steady flow of the smoothies.
The Bellaire, Ohio, native is also part owner of the Arena Football League’s Columbus Destroyers, who came one step short of an ArenaBowl title last year, and he owns a landscaping company, which he said keeps him busy this time of year.
At this rate, Galloway is going to become the receiver version of Morten Andersen, who was kicking for the Falcons at the age of 47 last season. It’s near certain he won’t stick around that long, but Galloway is on pace to become one of the most-veteran No. 1 receivers of all time, with no obvious replacement pushing him for the spot with the Bucs.
If anybody is getting ready to pen Galloway’s football obituary, hold off. Oh, and go pick up a smoothie to help pad his retirement savings, just in case.
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