Keilen Dykes will be sideline member of Arizona’s squad

By Joe Scalzo

The Chaney High graduate is on the Cardinals’ practice squad as it prepares for Sunday’s NFL championship game.

When James Dykes was 12-years old in 1964, his dad took him and his brother to Cleveland Memorial Stadium to watch the Browns play the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship.

Cleveland routed the Colts 27-0 in what turned out to be the city’s last major title.

Forty-five years later, Dykes will fly to Tampa to watch his new favorite team play against another favored opponent in the NFL’s championship game.

Only this time, his son will be on the sidelines.

“We’re proud as proud can be,” said Dykes, whose son Keilen is a defensive lineman on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad. “I figure they’re gonna win it all.

“You’ve gotta have faith.”

Keilen Dykes, a Chaney High graduate who went on to a standout college career with West Virginia, will be on the sidelines when the Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Steelers in next Sunday’s Super Bowl. He’s one of two area natives in the game, joining Steelers safety Anthony Smith, a Hubbard High graduate. Smith did not return a phone message.

After going undrafted last April, Dykes quickly signed with the Cardinals. He played in the teams’ four preseason games but didn’t make the team’s 53-player roster. He was signed to the practice squad after getting released.

“It’s exciting to walk into a situation where you’re going to the Super Bowl,” said Dykes, who spoke by phone from Arizona on Friday. “A lot of guys go 10-12 years and never get a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

“Even though I’m on the practice squad, I get to be down there and enjoy the festivities.”

Not surprisingly, Dykes has mixed feelings about his role. He’s happy for the team and believes he’s grown as a player and a person over the last 20 weeks. But he’s also a competitor.

“I’m still healthy and I still want to play,” he said. “You go from playing in college and high school all the time. ... Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be on the team but it’s hard to sit back and watch.”

NFL teams can keep up to eight players on the practice squad (also known as the taxi squad). They practice with the team during the week (usually taking part in 15 to 20 plays per practice, mimicking the opponent’s defense) but usually do not travel with the teams or suit up for games. Teams can activate practice squad players at any time — usually when a regular gets hurt — and those on the squad can sign with any team at any time without compensating the host team.

“I know Keilen really wanted to be drafted, but I told him, ‘Hey, you made the practice squad,’ ” said James Dykes. “There’s only 32 teams, so there’s only about 2,000 players in the NFL and they’re the best athletes in the world.

“There’s nothing like getting paid to do what you like to do. And besides, he still has his degree hanging here on the wall.”

Since the Cardinals stayed healthy on the defensive line, Dykes never got a promotion. But he believes the team wouldn’t have kept him if they didn’t have future plans for him.

“I’ve seen guys get cut in Week 15, which is crazy,” he said. “This year my mindset was to make the team, get on the roster. Next year, it’s totally different. I want to start and I’ll do whatever I have to do to get out there. If that means going to work the day after the Super Bowl, I’ll do it.”

Dykes can remember watching Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner on TV as he led the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl in 1999 and admits he was a little awed at first to see guys like Warner and running back Edgerrin James. But that soon vanished. And while the Cardinals stunned the NFL by advancing to the Super Bowl, Dykes remembers seeing something special in the team last April.

“When I sat down with Coach [Ken] Whisenhut and talked, I had a good feeling about him,” Dykes said. “I mean, the team went 8-8 and it isn’t like that team didn’t have players. They just needed the right guy to come in here and do it right.

“Coach Whisenhut was the right guy to take the team where it had to go.”

Dykes and the team will leave Monday for Tampa. His parents, along with his brother and sister-in-law, will fly down on Friday. Most of the family grew up cheering for the Browns — Dykes said he gave up his loyalties this time last year — and his uncle Randy is still a rabid fan.

Consequently, cheering against the Steelers is nothing new.

Even though he won’t be playing, Dykes plans to enjoy the week — and the moment.

“I’ll be down there on the sideline trying to get on TV,” he said, chuckling. “Believe me.”

scalzo@vindy.com