NEW YORK -- Keith Mitchell only ever considered himself a football player. It was a label he willingly claimed for so long. When that was ripped away, he was lost.
"You don't realize how attached you are to the identity," said the former All-Pro linebacker, who played 79 games for the New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 2001. "I didn't know myself."
He had to relearn who he was.
On Sept. 14, 2003, playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mitchell made what appeared to be a routine tackle -- until he wound up flat on his back, unable to move.