CORTLAND — A year ago today, Aaron Maybin walked into an office at St. John Fisher College in Rochester and was told the Bills were releasing him.
“He called me when he walked out of the office in shock,” Chafie Fields, Maybin’s agent, said. “He was like, ‘Did that really happen?’ ”
A year later, Maybin is on the practice field with the Jets. The outside linebacker teammates call “Microphone” because his booming voice can be heard from anywhere on the field. He is laughing, joking and talking trash.
“There is no place I’d rather be,” Maybin said shortly after practice yesterday.
Two days after the Bills let Maybin go, the Jets signed him.
“For the first time in my career I had uncertainty,” said Maybin, a 2009 first-round pick who did not record a sack in Buffalo. “I believed that I would play football for a while after that. Physically, I felt I had the tools. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever have fun playing the game again. For me to be able to have that back now, I’m more thankful for that than anything.”
Things did not immediately go smoothly for Maybin, who was released by the Jets at the end of training camp last year. The team re-signed him in the fourth week of the season. Maybin got by on sheer athleticism, needing to wear a wristband to remember the defensive calls. Still, he finished with six sacks.
Now, the coaches are excited to see what Maybin can do with a full knowledge of the defense. They are moving him around from his usual outside pass rush spot. He has lined up as an inside linebacker and even in the 3-technique over a guard.
“Night and day difference,” outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said about Maybin at this time compared to last year. “I think Aaron learned the more you know and you feel more comfortable out there the faster you can play. Even though you’re fast when you don’t have to think and you can go, you play faster.”
The problem for Maybin has never been playing fast, though. His problems have based on poor technique and being too light. When the Bills released him, general manager Buddy Nix said he did not know if Maybin would fit into any system at the weight he was at (around 228 pounds).
This offseason, Maybin has packed on the pounds. He reached 254 pounds before dropping down to 240 before camp. It is a challenge for Maybin to keep weight on. He said he’s needed IVs during camp because he has lost as much as 10 pounds during a practice.
At lunch, he puts on a show. He said his usual lunch consists of 4-8 chicken breast, a steak or fish, a salad, a vegetable, and a “really big” bowl of fruit. Maybin said the Jets plan on using his metabolism to their advantage this season. If they face a run-heavy team, he will add weight. A pass heavy team? He will lose it.
“I can gain or lose 20 pounds in a 3-day period,” Maybin said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Maybin said he realized this week that it was the one-year anniversary of when the Bills cut him. He said that day feels like yesterday.
Before last week’s preseason opener in Cincinnati, Smith offered Maybin a reminder of how far he’s come.
“You need a wristband?” Smith said with a smile.
“It’s great to be in that position where you can have that joke rather than ‘Oh God, I don’t know if he knows what he’s doing. Can we really throw him in there?’ ” Maybin said. “It’s great to be on the other side of that.”