Glyn Milburn is not what you would call flamboyant. In his free time, he is given to sketching and calling up the Fidelity Investments Web site. His favorite game-day meal is mixed fruit. He tried a touchdown dance–once. . Then he talked to his mother.
“It shocked me,” said kindergarten teacher Jessie Hammock, Milburn’s mom. “He usually doesn’t show a lot of excitement. I didn’t give him a hard time. I was equally happy that he scored. But it was, well, out of character.”
So it’s not particularly surprising that when Milburn reflects on his NFL career, he does not bemoan the fact that three teams over the last six years have sent him on his way for one second-round draft choice and three seventh-round picks.
Instead, he calls it a “mixed blessing.” He believes that everything happens for a reason. And if he’s OK with it, then surely the Bears are as well.
“I thought he was a steal when we got him,” special teams coach Keith Armstrong said. “He’s always been a good returner, a good guy, hard-working, smart. He’s not a big guy, but he’s tough, and that’s hard to find. You can find a lot of fast guys, but not many are as tough as Glyn.”
At 5 feet 8 inches and 174 pounds, Milburn claims to be more elusive than tough, and the Bears are trying to take advantage of skills that make him perhaps the most indispensable player on the team. Currently the NFC leader and third in the NFL in kickoff returns with a 26.3-yard average, Milburn has helped the Bears lead the NFC in field position after kickoffs with an average start at the 32-yard line.
He also has eclipsed his rushing yardage of the last three seasons with four carries for 31 yards. And with three catches for 26 yards, he’s one catch and one yard short of last year’s receiving numbers.
“There are a lot of places where he can fit on the offensive side of the ball and we’re going to fit him in,” coach Dick Jauron said.
Milburn was known for his all-around ability in college. After playing one year at Oklahoma, his stepfather’s preference, Milburn became an All-American at Stanford in football and academically. He played under Dennis Green and Bill Walsh and set school records with three punt returns for touchdowns his senior season and 2,222 all-purpose yards in his sophomore year.
Milburn was Denver’s second-round pick in the ’93 draft, and in his first NFL game had a 50-yard catch (still his career long), a 36-yard punt return and a 25-yard touchdown catch on his way to 148 all-purpose yards.
He played in all 16 games his rookie year with two starts, gaining 1,125 total yards, and is yet to miss a game in six years since. But what he remembers most about that year is his 10 fumbles, including one bleak day when he fumbled three punts in one game.
“I’m not ashamed to say I cried after that one,” Milburn recalled. “I thought for sure I’d get cut the next day. The game was the day after Christmas and I remember reading the paper and articles saying they should boot me out of town.
“The Broncos were not pleased, but they stuck with me and let me play through it. They let me take those lumps and eventually it paid dividends. Going through tough times in your career can force you to learn from them and you either turn one way or the other.”
Always a hard worker in the off-season, he became that much more dedicated, returning to the Bay Area that spring to work out with Joe Montana, Steve Bono and Jerry Rice.
“I’ve always considered myself a running back, but working with those guys made me believe that wherever they put me, I could be effective,” Milburn said.
The next season, his 77 catches were the most by an NFL running back and the most in one season by a Broncos back. In ’95, Milburn set an NFL record with 404 total yards against Seattle: He rushed a career-high 18 times for 131 yards, caught five passes for 45 yards, returned five punts for 95 yards and five kickoffs for 133 yards.
He also was named to the Pro Bowl as a kick return specialist. Then he was traded.
Caught since then in the modern-day squeeze that has little room for well-paid “specialists”–Milburn makes $1.1 million–he has become a Pro Bowl-caliber journeyman, going from Denver to Detroit to Green Bay and finally, in August of ’98, to the Bears. Along the way, he has been nudged aside by the likes of Terrell Davis and Barry Sanders, bumped by Roell Preston, but, he says, never discouraged.
“I felt I’ve been a positive contributor for every team I’ve been on and a lot of those things were out of my control,” he said. “Good players get traded and change teams all the time. I don’t hold any resentment toward any of the teams I’ve been on, but naturally I would like to play on one team the rest of my career. It would be a lot easier.”
Bears tight end Ryan Wetnight, a teammate of Milburn’s at Stanford, said Milburn’s instability should not be mistaken for being unwanted.
“Obviously, he has the ability to play in this league at the highest level, but in the NFL, you have to find that niche,” he said. “He’s going to be a good kick returner wherever he goes, but until he got here, he hasn’t fit in with an offensive scheme. With our offense, he creates mismatches.”
A talented receiver out of the backfield, a versatile “third-down back” not built for every down, Milburn may have found his best fit with the Bears. In two games, he has been used as a tailback and as a flanker, running an end around for a 10-yard gain and catching screen passes over the middle.
But not since his days in Denver has Milburn taken his greatest gift for granted.
“Most guys definitely don’t grow up as kids thinking, `I’m going to be a kickoff cover guy or a returner,’ ” Milburn acknowledged. “Those things are usually reserved for second-tier players. But at the same time, when you’re in the NFL, you do the things necessary to help your team win.
“For me, versatility has been the mark of my career. I’ve had to do whatever it takes to get on the field and it has helped my attitude, my maturity and just my understanding of the game.”
After just one year with the Bears, Milburn is seventh on the team’s career kickoff-return list. If he has a season close to last year’s, when he averaged 25 yards per return and had two for touchdowns, he will move ahead of Gale Sayers into second place behind Dennis Gentry. “Glyn gets better every time he touches the ball,” Armstrong said.
Milburn’s 54-yarder against Seattle last week is the NFL’s longest punt return of the season.
“I really enjoy returning the ball,” he said. “It brings me back to when I was a returner as an 8-year-old. That was another way I could get the ball in my hands. Now I look at it as an opportunity to make the big play. Instead of going to get popcorn, I want people to expect something positive to happen.
“At times I didn’t appreciate special teams. Now I’m honored to do what I do. And if it’s my only time in the game, I’m going to make it exciting.”
