Leonard Johnson was almost ready to exchange his cleats for a cleaver.
The veteran cornerback had begun to think about life after football in recent weeks as training camps around the NFL opened up without him. Culinary school was where he wanted to go, to get an education in what has been a life-long infatuation with cooking, and eventually maybe even land a show on the Food Network. He and his agent were having discussions about those possible paths, in fact, when they had to be put on hold.
The Giants called.
If there is any player who knows about watched pots and boiling, it's Johnson, so it probably wasn't much of a surprise that as soon as he turned his attention away from football for a moment it seemed as if football bubbled back up.