The first seven years of Cory Redding's NFL career, he didn't have a lot to do come the first week of January.
Redding, who was born and raised in Texas, would head to his offseason home in Austin and try to put another season of football in his rearview mirror.
Sometimes literally. If you wanted to find him while the NFL playoffs were going on, your best chance might have been to rent a 4-wheeler and cruise the dirt roads of the Lone Star State. Because Redding, all 295 pounds of him, often spends his offseason days straddling a 4-wheeler, churning up dust with a smile on his face.
"I'm a big kid at heart," Redding said. "And I love riding my 4-wheeler. It's one of those things I do just to have fun and live life. I take my kids out and find some trails around the house, and it's fun just to feel the wind in your hair. It's wide-open spaces, man. It's home."
This season, of course, is different. The open road will have to wait, because Redding is on a playoff team for the first time in his career. In fact, this is the first time he has been on a winning team since college. Redding spent six mostly miserable seasons in Detroit with the Lions, including an 0-16 campaign in 2008 that had him questioning himself as a player, and then a dreadful 5-11 year with the Seattle Seahawks in 2009 before signing with the Ravens this offseason.
"It was one of those things where you'd see one of your old college teammates in the offseason and they'd flash their Super Bowl ring," Redding said, sitting in front of his locker at M&T; Bank Stadium shortly after the Ravens wrapped up their regular season. "It would cut pretty deep."
Redding has taken his share of good- natured ribbing from his Ravens teammates this year about having never sniffed the postseason. On his way out of the locker room Sunday, Ray Lewis, who has been to the playoffs seven times, got in one last playful jab.
"He's one of us now," Lewis said.
In truth -- and Lewis would be one of the first to confirm this -- Redding has been one of the guys pretty much from the moment he showed up in Owings Mills. It was Redding who came up with the idea to have games of bean-bag toss, or cornhole, in the locker room this year. And those games have easily been the most popular locker room pastime for the players. He thought it would be one of the best ways to break the ice with his new teammates, and he couldn't have been more correct.
"He's been a leader since he got here," coach John Harbaugh said. "I think he really is excited [for the playoffs]. And you can tell by his demeanor. He's a veteran guy, he's been in a lot of locker rooms. [He is] one of the premier defensive linemen in the league who, if you watch the last three or four games, he's playing at that level again. He's playing the best he's played here all year. We are really happy with the way he's playing. But he's been a leader from Day One with the cornhole game and all that stuff."
Although Redding certainly yearned to play for a winning team, he didn't quite know what to think when the Ravens expressed interest in him during the offseason.
"I'd never played in a 3-4 system ever," Redding said. "Even back to middle school, I was always a 4-3 end. So I knew there would be a bit of a learning curve. But I've always felt like, if you master something, then go master something else. Don't be complacent. That's why I took on the challenge."
Redding's position might be one of the hardest to fill on defense because it requires a blend of speed, strength, patience and wisdom. The Ravens often ask Redding to maintain position and leverage and not penetrate the line of scrimmage, which is much more difficult than it sounds because it goes against a player's instincts. It's a defense that emphasizes gap control and team play over individual glory.
"It's a totally different technique system than what he's used to," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "He's always been an end and a guy that was [an] up-the-field guy and an effort guy. And that's why we liked him so much. Well, now he's settling in to our technique. I've really been proud of him. He's really fit in. He's doing a great job of trying to do what we're asking him to do."
Redding, who started the year rotating with Trevor Pryce, has played his best football in recent weeks. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had six tackles and a sack. Against the New Orleans Saints, he had an interception that helped seal the win. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had two tackles for losses. His 42 tackles are the second highest total of his career.
"I do feel like I'm coming into my own," Redding said. "I feel like I've got a better grasp of what the coaches expect of me and how I can incorporate Cory Redding in every play, my personality, my athleticism. I just have to be patient and pick and choose when to do things."
Redding's ability to adapt and thrive might not have occurred without an assist from defensive line coach Clarence Brooks, who saw Redding as perhaps his most important job this season.
"He's a very high-character guy," Brooks said. "He's a guy who takes coaching well because he listens and he understands. He's an awfully hard worker. He loves to play and he loves to prepare. He really wants to be good. That makes him that much a joy a coach. I think he's thought about [the playoffs] for a long time, and he's worked his butt off to get ready."
In the past, Redding couldn't even bring himself to watch the playoffs on television because it was so frustrating to not be there himself. He would catch the Super Bowl on television with friends, but that was it.
"I just didn't want to think about it once the season was over," Redding said.
It's all he can think about now, and that is rubbing off on the rest of the team.
"He's kind of giving us a little extra energy because he's excited for us," Terrell Suggs said. "He's definitely been a big part of our defense. We needed a veteran guy at that spot. He's having a hell of a season. I don't know that we'd have 12 wins if we didn't have Cory Redding because he's been phenomenal. A lot of people look at numbers, but he does whatever we ask him to do with a positive attitude, and that's what a playoff team needs."
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