Ravens cornerback Kevon Seymour is still able to smile through the pain – The Athletic

Its always been easier for him on the field. Give up a touchdown and you move on to the next possession. Allow a long catch and you get yourself ready for the next play. Between the lines, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Kevon Seymour has learned how to quickly forget. His position demands it. Of the qualities that make up a good NFL corner, short-term memory is as vital as size and speed.

But it becomes infinitely harder for him off the field, when real life continually intervenes and lands blows far more damaging than a 340-pound pulling guard can deliver. The truth is that the things that Seymour has endured, from not having a father in his life to running from gunshots to losing family members and friends, are impossible to forget. He wouldnt want to anyway. Its all shaped who he is.

Theres been so many times when you feel like, Man, Ive been through it all and theres nothing else that I can go through thats harder than that, Seymour said. And then something else happens.

Seymour was home in Arizona in May preparing to travel to Baltimore for the start of organized team activities when he learned that his older sister, Ebonee Tinnin, who helped raise him, died suddenly at the age of 35. Seymours twin brother, Keon, found her collapsed in their mothers Pasadena, Calif., apartment. Seymour said Tinnin had a heart attack.

Not long after getting the crushing news, Seymour phoned Ravens coach John Harbaugh to update him and ask when he needed to report for workouts. Harbaugh urged Seymour to go to California and be with his family.

I said, Ive got to come. My sister wouldnt have wanted it any other way, Seymour said. But man, it was tough. Still is. Its another battle Im dealing with now. I dedicate every day to her.

As a teenager growing up in Pasadena, Seymour was told that football could be his way out, a path to a better life for himself and his family. It sounded far-fetched. So few people from his neighborhood were making it out. It was hard to dream that big amid such humble surroundings.

Yet, he clung to the idea and his football skills helped him get a college scholarship at the University of Southern California. He still believed, even after a final college season spent partly on the bench. When a litany of injuries led to him being out of the NFL for two years and prompted him to get a job at a car and tire shop to support his family and settle his mind, Seymour never once conceded that his playing days might be over.

Three years later, hes still on an NFL roster. His life really has been kind of a movie-type scenario, said Seymours agent Ali Siam. Pound for pound, Kevon might be one of the most physically and mentally tough and resilient people I know. Hes just bounced back from so much and kept going.

Seymour is now on the proverbial roster bubble heading into the Ravens preseason finale against the Washington Commanders Saturday night at M&T Bank Stadium. Hes probably behind Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Brandon Stephens, Kyle Fuller and rookies Jalyn Armour-Davis and Damarion Williams in the pecking order and there is no guarantee that the Ravens keep seven corners. No matter, hes faced far longer odds and much greater adversity before.

When I watch him, its surreal, just because I know where he came from, said Drew Pearson, one of Seymours mentors and former football coaches. To watch it at a distance is tough. Not only does he represent the high school he comes from, he represents the whole city. A lot of stuff that goes on in our city, man, its tough, in regards to making it out, in regards to having opportunities. Not once has he shied away from doing the right things. Not once has he quit. Its an amazing story.

Seymour, 28, has been a Raven for less than a year, yet almost everybody you talk to players, coaches, equipment staff, secretaries has a story about an uplifting interaction theyve had with him. He is engaging and full of energy and positivity. And oh, that smile. It is wide and welcoming and it belies years of anger and frustration about things entirely out of his control.

But if you look closely at his 6-foot frame, youll see the signs. There is a tattoo on his right bicep that reads: God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. Seymour reminds himself of that often. Stretched across his right forearm is his last name. Seymour says that old teammates used to make fun of him for that tattoo, asking if he had it done so he could remember it. If they only knew.

For me, it was more motivation, because I didnt have the same last name as my mom or dad, Seymour said. I used to ask, Where did I get this name from? I had a lot of built-up anger inside because of little things like that and not knowing my dad.

Seymours grandmother once told him that his last name came from a man who was close with his mother, Veronica Starling, and agreed to look after him and his twin brother when their biological father refused to take responsibility. The mans name was Phil Seymour and Kevon still recalls every detail of one glorious evening he and Keon spent with Phil.

He took them to a Pasadena pizza shop and handed them a roll of coins to use in the machines that dispense toys and trinkets. Kevon and Keon filled their little palms and pockets with plastic rings, bouncy balls and figurines called Homies. Afterward, they returned to Starlings apartment, ate pizza and watched a bootleg copy of the movie, Deep Blue Sea.

We never had a movie night before, Seymour said. I thought it was the best night ever.

It ended with Starling summoning her twins downstairs and telling them that Phil wouldnt be around much going forward. It was a pattern that the Seymour boys would regrettably get used to. Their father made a few half-hearted efforts to get back in their lives, but they were always fleeting. For years, Kevon was led to believe that his father was living in North Carolina, when in actuality, he was staying in the Los Angeles area, a relatively short drive away.

I had a chip on my shoulder growing up, Seymour said. I remember there were times where Id just go in the bathroom and just cry, like, If my dad was here, none of this would happen. Id be able to get these shoes and Id be able to get and do this and that.

Seymour slowly learned to appreciate what he did have. Starling was fiercely protective and supportive of her kids. She worked long days at a Los Angeles hospital and would get home some nights around 9 p.m., but she was adamant about cooking a nice meal, even when the kids insisted a bowl of cereal would do just fine. Starling made the familys small apartment feel like a mansion, Seymour said.

Tinnin looked after the boys when her mother couldnt. Keon might as well have been Kevons shadow, the twins doing everything together. There were mentors like Pearson, who invested his own money and time to make sure Kevon was seen by college programs and taught him how to eat and train like a high-level athlete, and Antyone Sims, a high school football coach who told young Kevon something that proved prophetic.

There was also a troubled, yet caring community that recognized Kevons potential and sense of purpose and was determined to shield him from some of the trouble and temptations that derailed so many kids before him.

The majestic Rose Bowl and all its pageantry casts a large shadow over Pasadena. Its only a couple of miles from where Seymour grew up in the Community Arms Apartment complex in the northwestern part of the city. It might as well be a world away.

The neighborhood, which includes Section 8 housing, carries an apt moniker: The Snake Pits.

If you know anything about a snake pit, thats not a good place where anybody wants to be, said Sims. You have the gangs, the drugs, all those things.

There used to be a TV show called Gangland. That show specifically came to our section, said Pearson, who also grew up in Community Arms. To come from a section like that and to not fall into that, its very rare.

There was an extended time when Seymour accepted what he witnessed as the norm. Hed wake up in the middle of the night, look out his back window and see crackheads having meetings. Hed watch gang initiations, various acts of violence, police storming apartments with guns drawn. Sometimes, it hit entirely too close to home.

Ive been at Jackie Robinson Park playing T-ball when theres shooting going on, Seymour said. You got to hide under a car.

Seymour would listen to classmates talk about their neighborhoods, about playing tag outside, about staying out after it got dark to hang with friends. Hed grow quiet and even went through a phase where he wouldnt volunteer where he was from. Eventually, it became a source of pride.

If youre not from there, you just feel that its dangerous. You dont want to be around, Seymour said. When youre from there, thats home. Ill always go back and show love. Just about all of the friends I grew up with inside there, they didnt make it out. They are either in jail, gang banging or got killed. I lost a lot of friends that I played Pop Warner with, high school ball with.

Seymours grappled with his own immortality, too. He once went to nearby Inglewood to visit his USC teammate and roommate, Devian Shelton, and his mother. He thought he had taken the appropriate precautions. When his then-girlfriend and now wife, Tori, noticed Seymour had on a red Michael Vick Atlanta Falcons jersey, she warned him about wearing the colors traditionally associated with the LA-based Bloods gang.

Seymour changed into a neutral white T-shirt, yet trouble found him anyway. He was outside talking with friends when he started hearing what initially sounded like fireworks.

It was a, Pop, pop, pop, pop, Seymour recalled. And my friends were like, Run.

Seymour did just that, not fully stopping until he darted through the door of a local motel and found a place to hide. When he finally took shelter, Seymour realized he was bleeding from his legs and arms. He quickly deduced that it was not because of gunshot wounds, rather he had sustained cuts and scrapes while tumbling on the street during his dash to safety. The incident triggered an epiphany.

I just didnt want to be a statistic, he said. I looked up to my mom. She was never taken care of and I wanted to be better and give her a better life.

Football was Seymours means of doing that.

It was almost over before it began. As a freshman at John Muir High School, Seymour was told by the head coach to go work out with the running backs. He resisted because he had gotten wind of the fact that the running backs coach wasnt interested in having him. Seymour walked off the field with tears running down his cheeks. He was stopped by Pearson, who questioned the boy about where he was from, who his father was and why he was quitting. Pearson was from the same neighborhood and also grew up without a father in his life. He couldnt relate, however, to quitting, and he told Seymour as much.

I understand it was all emotion. I knew what was in his heart, Pearson said. I couldnt let him do that to himself. I pretty much let him know, If thats the decision for you right now, youll be willing to walk away again. Thats something we dont want. He went back to practice and never looked back.

It would be the first of a plethora of times Seymours resilience and commitment were tested when it comes to football.

Going into his sophomore year, we had 23 seniors graduate. We had a whole new team and we knew we were going to have to rely on Kevon, Sims said. We put him through the wringer to see if he was going to be tough enough to handle varsity at such a young age. We put him in a drill with one of our biggest hitters and we set it up where Kevon had to go one-on-one with this guy. The guy got the best of him. Kevon was upset. He looked dead at me and said, Put me back in there and lets do it again. We knew then that he had the mentality that it takes.

When Sims was trying to convince Seymour to attend Muir High instead of Pasadena High, he made a prediction. He told Seymour that if he listened to coaching and did what he was supposed to do, hed be a high school All-American and attend any college he wanted. Both were proven true. Seymour was on the fast track to the NFL, starting at cornerback in both his sophomore and junior seasons at USC. He had enough of a profile where he considered leaving one year of eligibility on the table and going to the NFL.

A year later, Seymour spent his senior season wondering if he had made a catastrophic choice. His playing time dipped under Clay Helton, one of four head coaches he had in as many years at USC. A few people familiar with the situation said it wasnt a result of anything Seymour did wrong. It was more a matter of new coaches wanting to lean more on players they recruited. Seymour was devastated but never pointed any fingers, at least not publicly. Even now, seven years later, he declines to play the blame game beyond saying that he was treated unfairly.

It would have been age appropriate for him to say how he feels, but when it comes to the football process, sometimes you have to bite the bullet, and sometimes you dont learn that, said Pearson, a defensive assistant at USC for much of Seymours time at the school. The best thing he learned out of there was that life is not fair. The only fair that we know out here is the Pomona Fair and the Orange County Fair.

Seymour still got an invitation to the NFL scouting combine, where he ran a 4.39 40-yard dash time despite not really training for it. Seymour sustained a torn ligament in his ankle in his final college season. He got a medical boot off his foot just days before arriving in Indianapolis for the annual prospect showcase, spread some Tiger Balm on his foot and then toed the line. It was also at the combines medical checkups where Seymour learned that he had been playing for years while mostly blind in one eye. Lasik surgery ultimately fixed that problem.

But the week was mostly spent answering questions from curious NFL scouts, executives and assistant coaches. They, too, wanted to know why a freshman contributor and a sophomore and junior-year starter once considered a likely early-to-mid-round pick barely could get on the field as a senior.

One NFL assistant told Seymour that he heard he had a problem getting along with coaches. Seymour respectfully dismissed that as false. A coach from another team came right out and told Seymour that the perception of him is that hes soft. That one bothered Seymour. Had the coach done any homework on me? Seymour wondered. Did he know where I was from?

The Buffalo Bills drafted Seymour with a sixth-round pick in 2016. There would be Pasadena-area players to follow in his footsteps in the ensuing years. Wide receiver Steven Mitchell earned a roster spot with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2018. David Long Jr. was a third-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams in 2019 and was on their Super Bowl team last season. Darnay Holmes was selected by the New York Giants as a fourth-round pick in 2020. Myles Bryant made the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent that same year.

Those are all guys that looked up to Kevon, Sims said. He was the first guy to make it after a long layoff (for the city).

Seymour has the scars to prove it. There are ones on each shoulder after he had both of his labrums repaired within a month of one another in 2018. He spent that entire season on the Carolina Panthers injured reserve list. Theres another scar on his left wrist, thanks to surgery on his scapholunate ligament. That injury, plus a torn hamstring, spurred his Panthers release in 2019 and forced Seymour into making a choice.

He wasnt healthy enough to pass a physical, so no team was going to sign him in 2019. He had a wife and two young children he needed to support and a psyche that was more fragile than ever before.

I stayed in Carolina and reality started to hit. I was like, Is this it for me? Seymour said. I knew I was going to have to work.

Seymour developed a love of cars in college and he spent a lot of time doting on his Dodge SRT Hellcat. He was already a customer of the Wheel & Tire Exchange in Charlotte and had gotten to know several of the employees there through their relationships with other Panthers. Having a rehabbing NFL player as an employee seemed like an odd dynamic, but it felt very natural to those involved.

Greg Mitchell, an employee at the Wheel & Tire Exchange for the past five years, would walk around with Seymour and meet customers, but then lay back as Seymour carried the conversation. He was certainly still in his element.

It was like a really good friend coming to work with us, said Greg Mitchell. I knew that there were things going on. We didnt get into everything, but hed fill me in on some things. He kept such a good, positive attitude about everything. He was like, I know its going to happen. I know Im going to get back to playing in the league.

Seymour would get in a real early workout at a local Planet Fitness, drop his kids off at school, go to work at the tire shop, pick his kids back up and then work out again in the evening. Having a job was almost therapeutic.

I was getting my mind right, he said. It was so tough for me mentally. I found myself in a low state of mind, not playing and being on the field. I had to get away. I couldnt break down in front of my wife and kids, so Id go there and it uplifted me. The people there gave me so much support.

Seymour and Greg Mitchell still talk regularly, and Seymour will go on FaceTime so he can say hello to his other friends at the tire shop. Other than Seymour, his friends and family members, nobody celebrated his return to the NFL in December 2020 with the Philadelphia Eagles more than the employees at the Wheel & Tire Exchange.

He spent about eight months in the Eagles organization before he was released and again looking for a new NFL home. Siam was hearing from a few teams interested in Seymour, but something just felt right about a workout he had with the Ravens, so much so that he called his wife as soon as it was over and told her that it was where he wanted to be.

It made an impression on Seymour that the Ravens offered to move back his 7 a.m. workout, because he hadnt gotten into town until around midnight the night before after visiting with the Chicago Bears the previous day. Seymour declined. He felt ready. While other squads have instructed him to return the team-issued clothes after a workout, a Ravens official told Seymour to keep theirs. That was before they offered him a practice squad contract.

Seymour played in nine games with the Ravens last season, starting two in what was an injury-depleted secondary. He himself had quadriceps and hamstring injuries. He said it was suggested to him at one point that he should consider shutting it down. Seymour refused. He had already spent too much time off the field in recent months.

He re-signed with the Ravens in January and now, he finds himself with another challenge: trying to crack the 53-man roster at one of the teams deepest positions. Seymour has had a solid camp, by and large, giving up some big gains, but making his share of plays, too.

The first thing that sticks out with him is just his attitude every day, Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald said. Hes a guy that attacks everything.

After a recent training camp practice, Seymour stood outside the weight room and under the hot sun for more than an hour as he retraced his journey to get to this point. He talked with pride about the family hes building with his wife, Tori, and being the supportive father that he never had. The couple, which has been together for more than a decade, has four kids, the oldest 5 years old and the youngest just 8 months.

He talked almost matter-of-factly about things no young boy should have to witness and experience. He choked up when he discussed the influence his mother and people like Pearson have had on his life. He then spoke solemnly about all the personal loss hes endured. His father died in 2020, a few years after he expressed an interest in having a relationship with Seymour, only to not follow through. His sisters sudden death in May is still on Seymours mind, as is the declining health of his grandmother.

Its been one thing after another, he said.

Yet, when the conversation finally ended and Seymour ducked inside the team facility, a smile still stretched across his face.

I used to be so angry, but thankful, too, he said. If I could do this all over again, I wouldnt want it any other way. It shaped me into who I am today. I look at things way differently.

(Top photo: AP / Terrance Williams)

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Ravens cornerback Kevon Seymour is still able to smile through the pain - The Athletic