The NFL Draft is filled with uncertainty for players. No one has any control where they go. They could go across the country to some place they’ve never been and play with teammates they’ve never met before. That was a prospect Tim Settle and Greg Stroman knew could happen, was even probable.
Settle and Stroman were high school teammates at Stonewall Jackson High School and then again for three years at Virginia Tech (Stroman is one year older than Settle). But the idea of playing together again wasn’t something that either of them had talked about. Let alone for their hometown team. Yet that is exactly what happened.
The Redskins drafted Settle, a defensive lineman, in the fifth round, then followed it up a few hours later by drafting Stroman, a cornerback/punt returner, in the seventh.
“After he got picked my family kind of in-house was like ‘what if it happens?'” Stroman says. “It’s kind of like we spoke it into existence.”
“I called Stro, I was like, ‘man, let’s go,'” Settle adds. He also tweeted “3 for 3” and tagged Stroman on Twitter.
Settle is from Manassas, while Stroman is from Bristow. Their families are still in the area, but they are staying at a hotel near Redskins Park with the rest of the rookies at mini-camp so they can be focused as they attempt to make the team. Knowing each other so well has helped the duo as they try to transition to professional football.
“It’s been easier to have somebody with me; I’m not alone,” explains Settle. “Me and Greg have always been close… I was telling him, ‘I bet you I know [the playbook] more than you.’ You can do stuff like that. I can joke with him because I know how he is, I know his personality; I grew up with him. It’s just easier, it’s fun.”
Stroman describes his longtime teammate as a “good luck penny.” “We just play well together and when we’re on the same team we take care of each other. It’s just a blessing to have one of my good friends be my teammate once again.”
Settle and Stroman know that even though the story seems perfect, nothing is guaranteed at this level. They will both stay on each other, hoping to help one another eventually make the final roster when the season begins in September. They each stressed listening to the coaches, learning the ins and outs of the playbook and knowing their role.
One role that Settle is happy to play is as a resource to his new teammates not from NoVA.
“I just told them if they need anything to ask me,” he says. “A lot of people aren’t from around here. I’m really familiar with the area. I just want to help anybody any way I can… If that’s to help tell somebody where something is, that’s just something I’m willing to do.”
If you want to keep up with the two when the Redskins start playing preseason games, Settle is wearing #97 and Stroman is currently wearing #25.
