The last few weeks I've just remained in relax mode.
I skipped on making the trip to Detroit for the Super Bowl and caught it, and the Pro Bowl, on television. I haven't talked to my guy Champ Bailey yet since the Pro Bowl, but I did talk to Marcus Stroud. He was pretty pumped because he got a sack and a half, and he's always complaining about how hard it is to get sacks when you are playing inside. I joked with him that he had probably just doubled his career high.
As every year, some guys play harder than others but by the time the fourth quarter rolls around, guys start thinking about that money and it gets competitive and the game seems to be a little more interesting.
The Scouting Combine is coming up later this week. I can remember my experience years ago, and it was a whole lot of basically selling yourself. Teams ask you a lot of questions, and you tell them the reasons why they should pick you. There's a whole lot of prodding and poking, meetings, some drills and weight lifting stuff. I remember the year I came out it was a really big year for offensive linemen. Steve Hutchinson, Jeff Bachus, and Leonard Davis all came out my year. I remember Davis was my partner in the drills and he was holding the bag and the first time I hit it, it didn't move. I thought to myself that he was the biggest dude I had ever seen. So, I started grunting and really putting some force into that bag.
To all the guys heading out there, I'd say they need to stay head strong and make sure to always FINISH. That's a big thing at the Combine.
On the heels of the Combine will be the start of free agency. I was talking about it the other day with some guys about to go through the process and I can remember very well what it was like to be in their shoes, just a year ago. You kind of have a good idea what teams might be interested in you, but you can't have any contact or anything till the deadline kicks in, so it's a whole lot of waiting around. My mom was in the middle of moving during that time and she kept me busy with chores, but that's what you have to do. Keep yourself busy and fill the time because all you can really do is sit back and wait for things to work out.
I look forward to the 49ers adding some guys to our roster through free agency. Anytime you can bring some guys in who can be a help in obtaining our goal, it's a positive. I'm also looking forward to contributing and having a healthy season, and getting all of our injured guys back to where they can make a difference. It is hard when you don't have all the pieces you expected to have to get everything in place.
My newest, and most favorite, DVD is Wedding Crashers. I watch it every other day because it's just so funny. It reminds me of my friends back in college because we used to crash parties all of the time. Once whoever was throwing the party realized we played for the team, they'd start doing the dog barking and cheering for the Bulldogs, so it was usually okay. We never got kicked out. One time we did crash this AKA sorority party. We heard it was a ball and so we thought we had to dress real nice, but it turned out it was a costume ball. We went out to the car and dressed it down and went right back in.
I hung out with Kwame Harris a couple of weeks ago when I was back home, and then I ran into Justin Smiley at the facility the other day. I've been around most of the times as I continue rehabbing and lifting, but a lot of guys will start to file back in soon for that March 20 off-season program. It'll be good to start working together and getting on the same page again.
At this point, I'm feeling good and I'm running and lifting, and I'm more and more back to being old Jonas.
- Jonas Jennings
