College lacrosse can be pretty brutal at times, so that definitely helped me with the toughness. It's a fast-paced game, so that helped me kind of translate over to the game speed of playing in the NFL. I think just the one-on-one aspect of trying to beat the guy in front of you definitely helped me as being a receiver.
Chris Hogan
I think there's a ton of carryover with the two sports, lacrosse and football.
It's all about opportunities in this league, and when you get the opportunities, you have to make the most of them.
Every single year is a year for me to take a look at how I've grown and how I can get better and better myself as a football player as a receiver and just as an overall team player.
No matter what, you're going to have hard days out here. There's going to be a drop here or a tough pass that you didn't come down with there.
Getting cut four separate times really never stopped me.
What we can do is control what we can control.
Professional lacrosse isn't very lucrative.
My family is the most important thing in my life.
This game is ups and downs. It's ebb and flow. It's never going to be high the entire time. It's never going to be low for the entire season. That's part of being a professional and dealing with the opportunities you get throughout the year.
When it came down to it, I felt Penn State was an amazing school. I loved the campus.
I've done a barre class before. I swear.
Monmouth was important to me because that was the first stepping stone. I am very grateful to the Monmouth program for taking a chance on a four-year lacrosse player who had a year of eligibility left. It was an awesome experience to go back there and play football again, especially since it was close to home.
I love coffee.
I'm playing in the NFL and getting to compete with these guys every single day, getting to play in the pre-season games. That's a dream come true right there.
I've learned so much whether it was, I played a lot of team sports, so being part of a team, learning how to be a leader on different teams, and how to deal with the ebb and flow of different games.
Training camp for me is a day-by-day thing. It's a grind. If you lose focus on what you're trying to work on, you won't be there mentally, and it'll be tough physically.
As a football player, as an athlete, as a competitor - that dream of being able to play in the Super Bowl, you're never going to let that one go.
I think everyone's goal at the beginning of the year is to get to this time, to get an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.
It's tough to put that in perspective, playing in back-to-back-to-back Super Bowls.
Wayne Chrebet, obviously, I love watching him play.
In baseball I was very singularly focused. If I was pitching it was me versus the hitter.
I've had a lot of bumps in the road, but I kept my head down and kept working.
I love to compete. No matter what we're doing, it doesn't matter. We could be playing video games or ping pong, and I'm going to get fired up, win, lose or draw.
Hard work pays off.
As a football player, as an athlete, as a competitor, that dream of playing the Super Bowl... I was never going to lose that.
I am excited about the concept of the Premier Lacrosse League. The idea is to bring the best lacrosse players from around the world together and showcase their talent to the fans.
I know they don't come very often in this business, so every chance I get to step out on the field, wherever it was, I worked as hard as I could.
I just have to make sure that for 60 minutes, I'm going out there and doing my job, running routes the best that I can and trying to get open.
A big part of that quarterback-receiver relationship is communication. You've got to be on the same page because if you're not, it just doesn't work. Then you're kind of guessing.
As far as coach Belichick, yeah, he's a huge lacrosse fan. I'm pretty sure I played against his son at Rutgers my sophomore and junior years. There's always that. We have that lacrosse connection.
I think I do a pretty good job of not letting things distract me from what I want to do and what I want to accomplish as a football player.
I never took anything for granted.
When opportunities come my way, I'm going to try to make the play.
I think the Patriot Way definitely makes its way into the Hogan household.
Any time you see your quarterback hurt, your heart drops for a second.
Preparation is key.
The air in Foxborough is just a little different. Like, Special things happen here. Winning happens here.
I mean I've been around a lot of places and there's been a lot of guys that - every single team that I've ever been on, I really try to take advantage of the older veterans that are there, try to learn about their process, how they take care of their bodies, how they study, how they watch film.
When I was in Buffalo, Fred Jackson was you know, I would say he was a big mentor of mine and when I was in Miami, I probably picked apart Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, those guys.
You know, I don't ever - I don't really compare myself to receivers.
I'm always competing.
I've never been a stat guy.
I made my way in this league playing special teams and then kind of worked my way into playing receiver. It was always just kind of doing whatever I could do and taking advantage of all the opportunities that I got.
You can have all the experience in the world and come out and not play well.
That's football. It's going to happen. Guys are going to get hurt.
I mean, I don't think a lot of people know this, but I played corner in college.
I can control my effort, how hard I work and taking advantage of the opportunities.
I was a soccer player, but everyone said I was too physical so I moved over to football.
The Bills gave me my first opportunity. In my mind, I'll be forever grateful for that organization.
