Ben Garland’s NFL journey has been long and arduous.
At age 29, he made his first NFL start in the Falcons’ 20-17 win over the Saints on Dec. 7. With left guard Andy Levitre out with a triceps injury, Garland is set to make his second start when the Falcons (8-5) play the Bucs (4-9) at 8:30 p.m. on Monday at Raymond James Stadium.
“He is the epitome of team,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said, “What he stands for as a guy on the field, off the field, and I think it just shows his level of grit to where he started here on the practice squad a few years ago, then onto the active (roster) and going.”
Garland, who lost an exhibition-season battle with Wes Schweitzer for the starting right guard spot, subbed for Levitre, who’s streak of 140 consecutive starts was snapped against the Saints.
Garland had the lowest game grade (40) of the linemen against the Saints, from profootballfocus.com. He allowed two quarterback hits. In the run game, he was called for a holding penalty, gave up two tackles and another tackle opportunity that was missed.
The Falcons started the same line in all 19 games last season. They have used three different combinations this season.
“That’s why we’re fortunate that we’ve got men like Ben (Garland) and Ty (Sambrailo) who can step up in those spots when you need to because it doesn’t show up until it shows up,” Quinn said. “Those are the ones that you better make sure you have the right guys at the right spots ready to answer the challenge.”
On the field, Garland has been versatile.
In the divisional round win over Seattle last season, he recorded a safety-sack on Russell Wilson, a few weeks later he was preparing to step in for injured starting center Alex Mack in the Super Bowl.
This season, Garland’s been filling in for Levitre, while not playing along the defensive line in some situations. It’s this type of flexibility that’s earned him the trust of the coaching staff and team.
“His role on this team has been behind the scenes a really significant one,” Quinn said, “He’s played on defense in games, he’s played at tight end in games, he’s played at center in games, he’s played at guard. There was not a man on this team that would flinch with Ben in any role amongst our team.”
Garland has played 140 snaps on offense, five on defense and 117 on special teams.
For now, Garland is focused on helping his team finish out a tightly contested NFC playoff race in the best way possible.
While Garland doesn’t know how long his starting lineup stint will last, he’s enjoyed every step along the way.
“I’ve been all over the place,” Garland said, “I’ve played a little bit of everything, constantly moving around, it’s been a journey but I learned a lot from it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
In addition to moving in the lineup against the Saints, Garland’s was nominated for NFL’s Walter Payton man of the year award.
“It meant a lot to me, especially with the guys on this team,” Garland said, “There are so many guys doing so much in the community, to be selected as the Walter Payton man of the year out of this group means even more.”
Garland’s heavily involved in the community. He’s a frequent visitor of Atlanta Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and participates in “Fishing with the Falcons,” an event where players fish with soldiers who were recently injured in service.
When he’s not with the military, Garland also spends time with the youth. He’s a participant in NFL PLAY 60 camps, both in the United States and Canada, visits hospital patients and sings carols during the holidays.
In all, Garland has participated in over 60 community events in his three seasons in Atlanta.
“We were excited, I was fired really fired up for him,” said left tackle Jake Matthews. “He’s a really good leader on this team, someone that leads by example and always does things the right way and I really respect him for that.”
Each NFL team has a man of the year nominee with the three finalists announced in January and the winner announced on February 3rd at the NFL Honors program the night before the Super Bowl. For coach Quinn, the nomination and possibly the award couldn’t have gone to a more deserving player.
“The work that he does off the field, behind the scenes, it’s a fantastic story,” Quinn said, “I’m hopeful that many, many more people get to see the good work that so many of the men in the NFL are doing because there are guys like Ben on this team and other teams that set a fantastic example in their communities.”
A native of Grand Junction, Colorado, Garland played his college football at Air Force. Despite signing with the Denver Broncos following the 2010 NFL draft, he didn’t immediately start playing football. Garland was placed on the reserve/military list to serve his two-year military commitment where he was assigned to the athletic department at U.S. Air Force Academy as a strength and conditioning coach and later to the 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs at Scott Air Force Base as a public affairs officer.
Once he was done in 2012 he was faced with a choice: Continue in his service or try-out for the NFL, he chose the latter.
His return to football was not met without change and turnover. Garland switched from his native defensive line to offensive guard and bounced between free agency and the Broncos practice squad until 2014 when he made his NFL debut, he played in eight games for Denver that season.
He was released by the Broncos in September of 2015 and signed with the Falcons shortly after, he served on the practice squad for 14 weeks before being called up to the active roster; he’s been on the team ever since.
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