While his future with the Redskins has yet to be determined, Kedric Golston just completed his 10th season with the Redskins. It's longevity few thought the 2006 sixth-round pick could achieve.
Kedric Golston's NFL career has been all about defying the odds.
The odds of a player staying with one team throughout their entire career during the free agency era of the NFL are slim.
The odds of a sixth-round pick who rarely starts but sticks around for an entire decade, through four different head coaches, are even slimmer.
Drafted by Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs in 2006, Golston on Sunday completed his 10th season with the Washington Redskins.
Few could have imagined Golston would still be the last player of the Redskins' 2006 draft class to still be playing.
"You've got to be thankful for the opportunity that you've had," Golston said this week. "Being a sixth-round pick out of Georgia, coming here as a young man, raising my family here, just the relationships that I have in the community, you know, you're thankful because not many people have that opportunity."
Golston has started just eight games – all coming during the 2013 season – over the last five seasons.
When the Redskins signed Ricky Jean Francois, Stephen Paea and Terrance Knighton during general manager Scot McCloughan's first offseason with the team last year, many wondered whether or not Golston would even see another season wearing burgundy and gold.
But Golston appeared in 15 games (he was inactive Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles) in 2015 and was a key in the defensive line's rotation.
As the longest-tenured Redskin on the roster, Golston noticed a special bond formed on the roster this season.
"I'm proud because it didn't end the way we wanted to, but it's a special locker room, and a lot of people throw that around, but this locker room, from the old guys to the young guys, they care, they care about each other more than just about football," Golston said. "And so winning the NFC East was a goal that we had and we did that and so this team will be remembered for that. And so no matter what anybody says about them, no matter what the future holds, this group of guys will always have that beside their name."
Golston enters free agency after completing a four-year deal signed before the 2012 season.
While he doesn't know if there will be an 11th season with the Redskins -- or in the NFL -- the 32-year-old will keep the same offseason routine he's used for years now.
"My mindset has been to continue to prepare each and every day," Golston said. "Right now that's getting, getting back healthy, you know, fixing all the nagging and aching injuries that I have, and what's going to happen is going to happen. When the opportunity presents itself, I'll be ready."
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