Lawrence Guy has tried to use every trial he’s faced in his life as an opportunity to learn something about himself.

It helped the Patriots defensive lineman trudge through learning disabilities as a child and in college.

Later Authentic Ronald Jones II Jersey , he overcame the emptiness he felt while helping his wife through a miscarriage during her fifth month of pregnancy.

But as he begins his second training camp in New England, the eighth-year defensive lineman is feeling more grounded and less like an NFL nomad.

He proved to be one of the few consistent pieces on the Patriots defense last season and expectations will be higher as one of the most-tenured players on the defensive line.

Guy is embracing it as his next challenge and says the lessons he’s learned off the football field have prepared him for whatever comes next for him on it.

”I’m still growing,” Guy said. ”Every year you play you’re growing trying to be a better player. … I’m not looking at my years in the league as `Oh, I’ve made it.’ I’m looking at how I’m going to get better.”

Last season Guy highlighted the struggles he and his wife, Andrea, endured in 2016 by honoring the organization that helped him through the loss of their unborn child , Estelle, during the NFL’s My Cleats, My Cause Initiative.

The pain will never fully subside, Guy said, but they did reach a milestone this past June when Andrea gave birth to a daughter Authentic Braden Smith Jersey , Adriana Paola.

Her arrival not only gave Guy an emotional pickup, he said it has grounded him as a football player.

”When she came, the outlook on life became different,” Guy said. ”Your perspective when you come on this field is different. You know you have someone else behind you. I’m playing for my last name, I’m playing for my teammates and I’m playing for my daughter.”

Adriana is already walking and has run into her father’s arms every day after practice.

”To have her here … she may not quite understand it, but you can see the eyes open up when she sees me,” Guy said. ”That feeling is amazing.”

The Patriots signed Guy to a four-year, incentive-laden free agent deal prior to last season. He proved to be worthy of investment, producing 58 combined tackles during the 2017 season – more than any other New England interior lineman. The team showed its appreciation for his efforts in 2017 and following their Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia added a $500,000 bonus to his 2018 salary.

It was a gesture the team didn’t have to make.

Guy appeared in 54.91 percent of New England’s snaps in 2017, just short of the 55 percent that would have triggered the bonus.

He will have to make the roster to see that money Alex Erickson Jersey , with no guaranteed salary left in his deal after the $4.9 million he made last season. But Guy seems to be a lock on a unit that needs continuity after struggling down the stretch of 2017.

Run stopping is an area that Guy excels in. The hope is that 6-foot-2, 305-pound Danny Shelton, an offseason trade acquisition from Cleveland, can supplement Guy’s efforts in 2018.

Shelton said recently that it’s been easy to develop a rapport with fellow linemen such as Guy, Malcolm Brown and defensive end Trey Flowers.

”We’re all kind of at that point in our career where we know of players and we respect each other’s game,” Shelton said. ”It’s not hard to make friends when you know and you respect the guy’s game.”

The defense will have a new look to it with linebackers coach Brian Flores calling plays following former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia’s departure.

Guy said he’s ready to fill whatever role the Patriots ask of him.

”Right now, we’re just trying to stack days,” Guy said. ”We’re not looking who’s this or who’s that. We’re trying to come together as a unit and move forward every single day. … Every day I step on that field I have to get better at something.”

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METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson sees his ease in front of a swarm of microphones as symbolic of the more secure person and player he has become since his unsatisfying first stint in New Orleans.

He left the Saints in 2015 as a five-year veteran who’d never quite lived up to expectations since being selected out of Florida State in the first round of the 2010 draft, just months after the Saints had won their only Super Bowl. Now he’s back one season after winning his first Super Bowl with Philadelphia.

“My first tenure here I was quite weak-minded, to be honest Browns Game Jerseys ,” says Robinson, who signed a four-year free-agent contract worth about $20 million with New Orleans this offseason. “I wasn’t that mentally strong. I left and had some experiences, and that definitely helped me. So now I’m a totally different person.”

Early in his career, Robinson routinely struggled to get out entire sentences without seizing up in awkward silence as he tried to make his mouth utter the words in his head. It was known that he preferred to conduct interviews off camera.

Not anymore. And the way the 30-year-old Robinson sees it, the same growth in maturity and confidence that helped him overcome his speech impediment also helped him on the field, and he asserts that the Saints are regaining his services at a time when he’s the best he’s ever been.

“Going through the trials and tribulations — that really helped me as a person. So I’ve definitely grown since then, a lot,” Robinson said. “I’m more comfortable. I just try not to make it more than what it is.”

Robinson said a combination of self-doubt and a tendency to get discouraged by injuries kept him from playing to his potential early in his career. It also didn’t help that he played man-to-man coverage all throughout his college career. He described learning the Saints’ more exotic defense his rookie season as something akin to “a different language for me. And I was kind of lost — very lost.”

He didn’t become a full-time starter until his third season, in 2012, when New Orleans fielded one of the worst defenses in NFL history. Injuries sidelined him nearly all of the 2013 season, when New Orleans defense improved dramatically and the team made the playoffs. He returned as a starter in 2014 C.J. Mosley Jersey , when New Orleans again struggled defensively, ranking last in the league, and the Saints missed the playoffs.

Robinson then spent one season each in San Diego and Indianapolis before sliding into a role as a slot defender last season with the Eagles. It seemed to suit him. His four interceptions tied his career high, first set with the Saints in 2011. Robinson added an interception for a 50-yard touchdown in the Eagles’ NFC title game triumph over Minnesota.

Now Robinson even has the confidence to discuss some of the changes he’s noticed in coach Sean Payton since his previous stint with the club.

“I’ve definitely seen a difference. Before he was just like very serious about everything,” Robinson said. “Now he’s kind of lightened up a little bit, has a bit of leeway with certain things.

“I’m not sure why, but he’s a little bit more lenient.”

Saints quarterback Drew Brees was fresh off his Super Bowl MVP season when he was invited to announce Robinson as the Saints’ top pick in the following draft. He said Robinson’s maturity has been evident in camp.

“He just doesn’t look like a young guy who’s still trying to get it and understand it,” Brees said. “He looks like a guy who’s been there, played that position, and has had that experience. He’s seen that route and that concept. … He is much better with his communication with other defensive backs out there on the field.”

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