Sean Dykes just wanted an opportunity to play the game. And when football didn't come to him, he went to it.
When college recruiters didn't beat a path to Dykes' door during his senior season, after graduating from Clark High School in New Orleans, he chose to head west to Eastern Arizona College.
And after two years, he was on the move again, transferring to Bowling Green (OH) State University, where he'd collect five interceptions playing free safety over two seasons.
Dykes wasn't chosen during the 1986 NFL Draft, but still wanting an opportunity to play the game, he signed as a free agent with the then-San Diego Chargers.
"The knock on me coming out of college was free safeties, they were big guys. I'm 5-foot-10 and was probably 175 pounds. Free safeties back then were like 6-foot-2, 210, 215," Dykes said. "And nobody knew if I could play corner, because all I did in college was mostly play free safety. A lot of teams were reluctant because they didn't know, and I wasn't a big enough safety at the time."
While Dykes did his best to learn the new position, he was eventually released during training camp. The Jets then signed him prior to their 1987 camp, but he was released in the preseason.
But then after the Jets hosted and beat New England on Monday Night Football in Week 2, the NFL players went out on strike. And after the Week 3 games were cancelled, the league chose to have replacement games and the 28 teams signed mostly non-union players to fill out its rosters. Which is how Dykes re-joined the Jets.
Starting in three games at right cornerback during the 24-day strike, Dykes totaled 13 tackles, had five passes defensed, and forced a fumble. And while he and the rest of the replacement players were released when the strike ended, the Jets opted to re-sign him a short time later, and he played three games in the nickel and dime defenses and on special teams.
"It was a lifelong dream. I don't know if you can even express the feeling, not being drafted out of college and then finally getting a chance to be on a team," Dykes said. "Especially a team like the Jets at the time. They had a lot of superstars back then: Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Freeman McNeil, Wesley Walker, Al Toon. It was a team stacked with a lot of talent.
"I was just coming in and being a backup behind the guys like Carl Howard and Russell Carter. We had Harry Hamilton at safety, Lester Lyles. They had a pretty good secondary there."
Going on to spend time with the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, Dykes would then go on to play two seasons for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL. He'd also play in the WLAF for the San Antonio Riders, and in the Arena League for the New Orleans Night.
Following football, Dykes returned to his hometown of New Orleans, where he founded "I Am My Brother's Keeper," a non-profit which taught life skills to at-risk boys, and also became an Orleans County deputy sheriff.
"It's funny, every year I was NFL I thought I was going to retire. I was always interested in law enforcement, and so it was something I had aspired to do," Dykes said. "So that kind of led me down that path. And then I did a coaching internship under Mike Ditka with the Saints through training camp and they wound up keeping me for the whole year. From that point on, I worked at the Ritz Carlton Hotel as the operations manager."
Ten years ago, Dykes chose to go into business for himself and founded SRD Bodyguard Services in Palm Beach County, Florida.
"It was just the law enforcement thing. I had that desire to protect people. Playing free safety, that's what you do. You protect the end zone," Dykes said. "But it's kind of gotten away from bodyguard to executive protection, because we do more than just guard the body now. It's almost like you're a concierge, if you will. There's a lot of different jobs that you're asked to do, but the main job is to protect the family and the property.
"I take a lot of things from football, being a defensive back, and one of the things is to keep your head on a swivel. It's kind of same thing in executive protection. You're always watching around you. You're always paying attention to the defined details.
"And lending a little bit from the Ritz Carlton, you're anticipating their needs as much as you possibly can without jeopardizing their safety in any way, form or fashion of their person and their property. I love that part of it, too."
Making his home in South Florida, Dykes, who has two daughters and a grandchild, touched base with the Green & White again this fall when he made his way back to the Meadowlands to take part in the Jets' Legends Weekend and attend the September 29 game against Denver.
"I had gone pretty much every year since they started, but I missed a few years," Dykes said. "And this year, I'm actually going through cancer. But it's alright. God is good. I already had great faith, believing in God, and this just took that to a whole nother level.
"I'd just finished my radiation treatments, and so it was really important for me to get back this year and see some of the guys and reminisce a little bit."
