Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi Scores a Touchdown on his NFL Debut

During Cleveland’s preseason win over Washington, rookie return specialist Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi fielded a punt. He also charged 86 yards, all the way to score a touchdown. Although Cleveland had already got the game in the bag, the Browns dogpiled him and celebrated like they’d just scored in a playoff game.

Sheehy-Guiseppi’s elicited such a strong reaction from his teammates because of his journey. As it turned out, Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi showed up to a Browns workout after hearing about it from “a friend of a friend made through a flag football league in Arizona.” Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi was once a junior college All-American return man for Phoenix College. However, he was unable to find a college to transfer to since playing in 2016. So, to remedy that, he trained and worked for two years to prepare for one last opportunity with the Browns.

Thought-provokingly, he was not even invited to the Miami workout, but showed up anyway. Sheehy-Guiseppi flew to Miami and spent his last $200 to train with well-regarded NFL trainer Pete Bommarito, spending two nights on the grass outside the facility and one night at a 24-hour fitness center once his stay ran longer than expected. When he showed up to the Browns workout, he convinced the doorman that he was friends with Browns vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith, which was a lie.

Once Sheehy-Guiseppi got in front of Highsmith, he convinced the exec to let him run, and he split a 4.38 40-yard dash. That was good enough to get him a camp invite, and a shot at showing out in the preseason, which he clearly made the most of. He also made his touchdown run in a pair of Odell Beckham Jr.’s cleats, which the star receiver lent him after Sheehy-Guiseppi lost his. His goal is the 53-man regular season roster, which even Highsmith admits will be a steep climb:

“It doesn’t happen very often, trust me,” Highsmith said of Sheehy-Guiseppi’s path to the Browns. “I’ve been in this 22 years now and that doesn’t happen very often. And the chances of him making the team are even slimmer.”

“But if he does, it’ll be one of the greatest stories of all time.”

The Cleveland Browns had thrashed the Washington Redskins with a score of 30-10. Unfortunately, not all the news was good news as the NFL suspended Browns player Antonio Callaway for four games for violating the policy on substances abuse.