Saffold Won't Let Father's Death Break Their Bond
Before and after every game Rodger Saffold has played in his football career, there was always a conversation with his father. In-person conversation or not, it was routine.
Saffold announced last Wednesday that his father, Rodger Saffold II, passed away.
This season, therefore, there won’t be any audible conversations between the two. However, Saffold said he will stay connected with his father through two things: football and the power of prayer.
“I am still going to talk to him,” the 32-year-old Tennessee Titans guard said Friday. “One of my rituals is going to be praying … still going to be talking to my father through that form. And then I am going to continue to play the way I know how to play.
“Of course, this raises a lot of motivation for me and just wanting to get out and do what I can for myself and for my family. Motivation is not going to be a problem for me this year. I think just taking all of that and putting it in the right direction and being productive for this team is what’s going to be best for me, the team and my family.”
Saffold learned almost everything about the game of football from his father, who played college football at the University of Iowa.
Growing up in what he called a “football home” in Bedford, Ohio, it all started at a young age when Saffold watched high school, college and professional football games with his father. When, as a 9-year-old, Saffold decided he wanted to make a career in the sport, it was his father who helped him pick his position.
“I was a skinnier kid that had a little bit of athleticism and loved to go out there and play all day,” Saffold said. “He looked at my size and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be an offensive lineman.’
“And I was like, ‘Okay, cool. I am down with that.’”
From that point on, the elder Saffold taught his son how to block before age got the best of hom. In turn, the younger Saffold was “always focused on the ultimate goal.”
“I used to train every single day,” he said. “I used to run around my block. It was about a mile long, so I would run a mile every day. I would do push-ups and sit-ups.
“(My father) would take me to my school, and I would run bleachers. I would do extra lifts with my strength coaches.”
Even off of the field, his father found ways for him to improve.
Saffold recalled that after his high school football games on Friday nights, the two would watch Ohio State football games at a restaurant every Saturday. In those moments, Saffold said he would watch what worked and didn’t work for other athletes. While he was a standout at Indiana University, Saffold said that his father would often send him film of professional offensive linemen.
Those early efforts paved the way for his professional success.
Chosen by the Los Angeles Rams in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Saffold started 127 of 130 games over nine seasons with the that franchise. He signed with Tennessee prior to the 2019 season and started all 16 regular season games in addition to each of the Titans’ three postseason contests.
Every step of the way, Saffold’s father was there.
“He was a huge support system for me,” Saffold said. “Talked to him before every single game and after every single game. Even in high school when I would come off from a drive, he would give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Thankfully it was always a thumbs up.”
This season, those pre and postgame conversations and small father-son moments won’t happen in the ways that they used to. But as Saffold marches on into his 11th NFL season, the lessons and memories his father left him with will travel with him this season and forever.
“He basically taught me the values of good character and leadership and all of those things,” Saffold said. “To match that will being in love with hard work and grinding. That’s carried me through this entire time.
“I have been playing for over 20 years now and he is a big part of that.”
