COLUMBUS, Ohio — Standing 5 feet 11, Bianca Ryals surprises almost no one when revealing to others she played volleyball at Tulane University.
What does create a pause in casual conversation is her admission to playing the role of pass rusher opposite a 310-pound offensive lineman.
It’s an arresting visual image that undoubtedly caught the attention of a few residents living in a New Orleans apartment complex in the spring of 2020. That’s when the football world was firmly in the grip of a global pandemic and all of the NFL teams were conducting virtual OTAs. Bianca’s longtime boyfriend, John Leglue, then a member of the Packers, was working out whenever possible with fellow pro players residing in the Big Easy.
But when the 6-foot-7, baby-faced sequoia required additional reps, he lured his girlfriend of six years out of the couple’s apartment and onto a swatch of grass in the neighboring park.
Giving up nearly 200 pounds to Leglue, Bianca wasn’t drawing comparisons to T.J. Watt. Not that the drills got very physical.
“He would just kind of tell me where to stand or run to and he would practice his technique based off what play we were ‘running,’ ” Bianca recalled. “We did that almost every day during the virtual OTAs. We still do this sometimes if he’s just trying to practice something really quick.”
To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to speed-rush or bull-rush, till death do us part.
Maybe the passage should be included in their wedding vows when they finally get married.
“She's been a rock for me,” Leglue told DK Pittsburgh Sports this week. “Supportive through it all. I can’t say enough about all that she’s done. The same with my family.”
Whatever it takes. That’s been the couple’s attitude throughout its memorable voyage to Sunday when Leglue, pressed into service at left guard, made his NFL debut in the Steelers’ taut 20-19 win over the Ravens at Heinz Field. Replacing an injured B.J. Finney after the team’s first offensive series, the undrafted free agent drew praise from teammates and Mike Tomlin for his performance.
It’s premature to say whether the versatile lineman will remain in the lineup long term or become a feel-good footnote in the history of the Steelers-Ravens rivalry, but Leglue likely will make his first start Thursday night in Minneapolis against the Vikings as Pittsburgh tries to stay relevant in the playoff chase.
“That's what these journeys are about,” Tomlin said. “That's why we don't discount any man, particularly a professional man who's working and working hard while he waits for his opportunity. This is not a patient man's business, but they had better learn to work while they wait.”
Most football fans know the stories and struggles of their star players and their regular contributors. It adds to the connection, the bond they feel with the teams they love.
But there’s also a subterranean level to this game that fans rarely appreciate until a player like Leglue — he’s on his fourth NFL franchise in three seasons— cracks the surface and opens a few fourth-quarter running lanes for Najee Harris and Benny Snell. He’s part of a vast network of unheralded players looking for tryouts and occupying practice squads. They are athletes still chasing dreams while scratching around the margins of 53-man rosters.
It’s a world often filled with frustration, disappointment and jigsaw puzzles that rarely allow their piece to be a perfect fit. That’s what made Sunday so special for the Alexandria, La., native and the people who support him.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Bianca maneuvered her way through the lower bowl and stood behind the Steelers bench hoping to attract Leglue’s attention. Big No. 77 ambled over to the wall and clasped hands with his favorite pass rusher, an alert team photographer capturing the moment.
“One of the things I told him after the game was we all knew —me, his family, anyone who’s close to him — that he had what it took,” Bianca said. “He just proved to the rest of the world he has what it takes to play at this level.”
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KARL ROSER / STEELERS
John Leglue (left) tosses a medicine ball with Kendrick Green at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
Mounted on the wall of their Tampa, Fla., home is a 65-inch Samsung television that embodies a gift of good timing — something that had been in short supply for the couple over the past two years.
The Packers signed Leglue off the Saints practice squad on Dec. 19, 2019. He arrived in Green Bay just in time to receive an unexpected Christmas present from quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who gave his offensive linemen big-screen TVs, among other gifts. Leglue reportedly needed a laundry cart to wheel it to his vehicle.
“That’s some pretty good luck,” Bianca said.
The gift was evidence of a burgeoning career headed in the right direction. No, he didn’t appear in a game for the Broncos, who signed him to a free-agent deal out of Tulane. Nor for the Saints. Nor for the Packers.
Leglue’s potential, however, was landing him on practice squads, ensuring regular work and paychecks. His nimbleness for a man his size and his ability to play tackle, guard and center kept the phone of his agent, Mollie McManimie, ringing.
It’s the kind of long game former two-star high school recruits must be willing to play to make it to the NFL.
Growing up in central Louisiana, Leglue was persistent and studious without a whiff of entitlement. He chose to attend Tulane, his high school coach, Freddie Hallman, recalls, in part because of the academic advantages it had over other schools wooing him.
Leglue graduated in 3-1/2 years with a degree in finance before earning his MBA.
“He fits all the descriptions of Tim McGraw’s song, ‘Humble and Kind,’ ” said Hallman of his first former player to reach the NFL in 40 years of coaching. “If there’s such a thing as an all-American boy, it’s John. He comes from a strong Catholic family.”
Leglue has a fascination with the Spanish culture, and when he met a tall volleyball player from Puerto Rico near the end of his freshman year, he was instantly enchanted.
“He tried to talk to me in Spanish,” Bianca said. “He’s fluent in the language now, but back then he would see me around campus and be like ‘Que pasa, chica?’ I would tilt my head down, like, ‘I don’t know this kid.’ ”
Leglue offers a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal: “She found me cute.”
A relationship blossomed and, as Bianca conceded, “I’ve been stuck to his hip ever since.”
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BIANCA RYALS
John Leglue and Bianca Ryals on vacation in Puerto Rico.
If the NFL ever wants to produce a gripping reality series, one that could head slap “Hard Knocks” into concussion protocol, it could film what happens on practice fields and inside field houses around the league during mid week when nobody else is watching.
That’s when out-of-contract players, desperate for another shot, fly in from all over the country to audition for one or two vacancies created by injury or ineffective play. Agents line up the trips. General managers and position coaches conduct the workouts. The pressure is enormous. Most candidates leave town unfulfilled, their careers at another crossroads.
Leglue didn’t get a real taste for such drama in his first year. There was always another team bidding for his services. Denver. New Orleans. Green Bay.
However, as the pandemic hit, the world changed and the mighty NFL wasn’t spared. Team facilities were shuttered. Leglue trained at Tulane until it too closed its weight room. Absent a barbell, he worked out with kettle bells. He enlisted Bianca to practice his pass-rush sets. Sometimes, he pantomimed the actions, blunting the rushes of imaginary defenders.
Whatever it takes.
He spent hours memorizing the playbook, studying the nuances of each position along the line. At Tulane, Leglue had started 16 games at tackle, 13 games at guard and nine games at center.
“When I was at Denver, I got to know Ron Leary, who’s from Baton Rogue,” Leglue said, referring to an offensive lineman there. “He came up through the Cowboys' practice squad. He’d always tell me, ‘Know the playbook. Don’t ever give them a reason to get you out of the building.’ I take a lot of pride in knowing what to do and how to do it.”
All that knowledge wasn’t enough to keep him in Green Bay, however, as the Packers released Leglue at the end of their condensed 2020 training camp. This is when the hard times began.
As the league grappled with ways to keep the COVID threat beyond its walls, McManimie said, NFL officials enacted stricter regulations on tryouts. The number of weekly participants was reduced to five unless teams placed multiple players on injured reserve in a given week.
But the real dream-killer was the guidelines governing how many COVID tests a tryout was required to pass before working out for a team. In a normal season, a player might arrive on a Monday night and audition the next morning. Absent a vaccine in 2020, the league made all tryouts quarantine for a week in the city, forcing them to pass a test for six consecutive days.
McManimie explained that during that span, a franchise’s needs might change. Injuries could crop up at another position. Suddenly, the club didn’t want a versatile offensive lineman, but a safety or a running back.
Leglue attended tryouts for at least a handful of teams, including the Chargers, Chiefs and Saints, but couldn’t secure a deal. The couple was surviving on Bianca’s paycheck from Boston Children’s Hospital, which allows her to work from home in its marketing department.
“When John originally signed with the Broncos, it was one of the most exciting days in our lives. We were crying,” Bianca said. “But you are so naive to how the journey is going to be. Never did we imagine how bumpy the road would really get. We just had to support each other no matter what. Last year was really tough. But one of the best things John has going for him is the ability to persevere mentally. When he wasn’t training, he was studying up on financial planning. He just kept working and staying motivated.”
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GETTY
John Leglue hoists Diontae Johnson in the air after a fourth-quarter touchdown on Sunday at Heinz Field.
Neither Bianca nor Leglue had ever traveled to Pittsburgh before he signed with the Steelers late last season. They felt at home immediately, making friends inside and outside the Steelers' facility.
Leglue didn’t have to worry about landing a timely audition with the Steelers thanks to a quirk in the league’s 2020 COVID protocol. He was diagnosed with the virus around Thanksgiving, McManimie said, and because of the built-in 90-day immunity clause, he became exempt from the normal testing cadence once he recovered.
Following the season, the Steelers signed Leglue to a futures contract. In training camp, he impressed the coaching staff with his ability to compete at multiple positions. That flexibility, Tomlin said, became his “calling card” in a league where a team never knows what position it might need to fill.
“If you remember, we had some dog days in team development where we were running really, really low on offensive linemen in August,” Tomlin said. “That's what I mean when I routinely say, ‘One man's misfortune is another man's opportunity,’ ”
Sunday, Leglue became the fifth player to take snaps at left guard on the Steelers' offensive line.
Leglue credits the coaching staff for preparing him for his moment and veterans such as Trai Turner for providing encouragement and insight, A week after dressing for his first game in Cincinnati, Leglue earned his first playing time against the Ravens.
“It was a very emotional night,” Bianca said. “As soon as he went into the game, I started crying and the friends I had with me started crying, too. I was just so happy that it happened at home, where I was able to witness it.”
Leglue didn’t just occupy a spot on the line, he played a role in the fourth-quarter comeback, helping to open holes and allow the Steelers to gain 45 yards on the ground over the final 15 minutes.
Nice reach block on the DT here by John Leglue. Makes this toss run possible. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/93A14nTCqK
— Steelers Depot 🎅🎄🎁 (@Steelersdepot) December 7, 2021
After the game, Tomlin called his effort “awesome.” Offensive coordinator Matt Canada said Tuesday that Leglue supplied some good and bad moments, but overall he was able to “keep us moving and keep us functioning, and it’s a huge, huge credit.”
Bianca noted that the couple barely slept Sunday night and that Leglue was already scrolling through his cell phone at 6:30 a.m. on Monday.
It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Leglue or the Steelers can build on the momentum. It’s not as though the club has a significant financial stake in his future. One bad game or injury could be enough to send him on his way to another tryout. It’s the cruel side to a league without guaranteed contracts.
“This is the nature of the NFL, and we’re very aware of that,” Bianca said. “The career for most players — I think the average NFL career is like three years — isn’t long so we just have to enjoy it as much as we can because you never know when it’s going to end.”
Leglue’s fourth-quarter blocks are going to look pretty sweet on that 65-inch gift from Rodgers. The key now is adding to the highlight reel while protecting another future Hall of Fame quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger.
“My motto is to get one percent better every day,” Leglue said.
Bianca will do what’s necessary to help him on their journey. Even if it means developing some spin moves on her pass rushes in the offseason.
Whatever it takes.
