Xavier Coleman looked at the jersey hanging in his locker Friday and shook his head.
“It’s still surreal,” said Coleman, a cornerback the Jets signed as an undrafted free agent. “I’m just blessed to be here honestly.”
Many rookies say that, but none may mean it more than Coleman.
He never thought he would play football again after being diagnosed, while a freshman in high school, with a heart condition called a bicuspid aortic valve. The doctors told him football, the sport he loved, was no longer an option at Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore.