When it was suggested to Jets linebacker Mike Catapano that the word “survivor’’ might best encapsulate his football career — which, in the span of just three years, already has included two season-ending injuries and a stunning release by the team that drafted him — he politely interrupted in mid-sentence.
“I think ‘fighter’ is better,’’ Catapano said. “ ‘Survivor’ sounds like you’re just trying to stay afloat. Fighting, that’s what I’m about. I just keep coming. Doesn’t matter what you throw at me, I just keep coming … like the movie, ‘The Terminator.’ ”
Catapano is not your cookie-cutter NFL player who entered the league drafted from a big college football program.