For the past seven weeks, Ty Summers has been taking care of a three-and-a-half-year-old, a 20-month old, and a wife who’s expecting a third child in November. For Summers, that’s a joy he’ll never take for granted, but it was also a mental challenge. He was in danger of losing a football career he’s spent nearly his entire life fighting for.
Starting as a seventh-round pick in 2019 for the Green Bay Packers, Summers climb into the league wasn’t easy. But despite the long odds to make the roster, he battled and earned an essential role on special teams for Green Bay. In his rookie season, he led the Packers in special teams snaps and held that four-core role for three seasons. Since then, he’s jumped from team to team. Given his value on special teams, tenacious attitude, and ridiculous athletic build, he rarely had trouble finding a new job and earning his keep on the field.
But this offseason was different from any other. After failing to make the New York Giants’ squad out of training camp, the phone calls stopped coming… for well over a month.
“It’s definitely mentally taxing,” Summers said. “It tests your will a little bit, and how much you really want to do this. Because it feels like when you get let down over and over again, it can attack you mentally, take you away from what you feel like you’re called to do.”
Summers kept working out, kept staying in shape, and on Monday night, the call he was waiting for finally came via the Detroit Lions.
“My wife was cooking dinner Monday night, we’re going through our regular night routine. My agent calls, says, ‘Hey, the Lions are flying you out tonight for a workout.’ I was like, ‘Uh, okay.’ (They) set a flight for 2.5 hours later, had to pack real quick, had to fly out. There was no time to think about it,” Summers recalls.
Not only did the Lions immediately sign Summers to the practice squad, but a day later, they added him to the 53-man roster, and he’s expected to play this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals on special teams.
It’s unusual for a player to come in on a Monday, workout and sign on a Tuesday, get promoted on Thursday, and play that Sunday. But the Lions were familiar with Summers due to a short stint with the team in 2024. And back then, he proved he can handle a quick promotion.
Last year, he was signed on a Monday and then asked to play 39 defensive snaps—second most on the team—and 12 special teams snaps (also second most) that Saturday for Detroit’s second preseason game. He responded in a huge way, posting three tackles and a 79.2 PFF grade vs. the Chiefs, then tallied nine tackles, two for loss, one sack, and two QB hits in the team’s preseason finale against the Steelers.
“(He) got up on the defense that fast, understood what we were trying to do, and played—man, he played hard,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “He played relentless in that preseason game against Kansas City, and so he caught our eye there.”
The Lions didn’t want to lose him at the time. While he was too far down on Detroit’s depth chart to make the 53-man roster, they had fully intended on signing him to the practice squad. Unfortunately for them, a better opportunity was calling from the Giants. New York was offering Summers immediate playing time, something a player in his position simply cannot pass up.
“I didn’t want to leave here because I love the way that I played here, and the atmosphere here, but I had to take the opportunity to play,” Summers said.
It was the right choice. Summers played in 16 games for the Giants last year, racking up 272 special teams snaps. More importantly, his play on the field led to an opportunity for him to get defensive looks at the end of the year. And like most opportunities throughout his career, he made the most of them. In his starting debut for the Giants—just his second career defensive start—he posted 11 tackles for New York, helping the Giants snap a 10-game losing streak.
Summers credits his short opportunity last preseason with the Lions for re-energizing his career in a way he hadn’t felt since his college days at TCU with iconic coach Gary Patterson.
“It was really gritty, tough. You’ve got to be physical, you’ve go to be mentally strong, basically just play with your hair on fire. That was the mentality,” Summers said. “So to come here, kinda awoke that part of me. It feel like I left it dormant, let it sleep, just became complacent in places I’ve been with the way I played, and my back was kinda up against the wall, too. It was my last opportunity to prove to teams that I deserve to play in this league. So I feel like the two coming together just produced what it did.”
It was an important reminder for Summers, that no matter how small, how tough every little opportunity may seem, it could be a life-changing experience.
“I think every day matters, every play matters,” Summer said. “It’s easy when you get in the routine of doing things to become complacent about the process, but if you take it seriously and are intentional on everything—no matter if you’re here for two weeks or two years—everything matters.”
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