He felt his phone buzz. He saw the name of his agent flash on the screen. But he didn't answer. When the phone buzzed again, indicating a voice mail, he clicked it quiet.
He thought his dream was dead.
But again his phone buzzed, first a Facebook notification, then a Twitter message. And finally, exhausted by his agent's persistence, Danny Lansanah listened.
And on that day, his life changed.
***
Lansanah, a strongside linebacker for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is still somewhat new to a starting gig as a professional football player. And yet, even as he preps for another week as a pass-rushing, run-stopping cog in defensive coordinator Leslie Frazer's methodical Tampa 2 machine, Lansanah stills finds himself dreaming - California dreaming, in fact.
It's not something the former undrafted free agent is doing all on his own though. No, Bucs head coach Lovie Smith has Lansanah and his 52 other Tampa Bay teammates thinking big, aiming high. And there's no bigger aim than Levi's Stadium, no greater goal than Super Bowl 50.
And while the 3-5 Bucs might seem a longshot to make it to the NFL's annual championship game, set to be played this season in SoCal, for Lansanah, nothing, whether it be football or otherwise, seems all that impossible now.
***
And when a Week 5 injury again brought Casillas' campaign to an early close, Lansanah laid claim to the strongside spot for good and, with strength born of years of dismissal, of three lost seasons spent outside the NFL entirely, gripped it for all he was worth.
***
For Lansanah, it was the opportunity - literally - of a lifetime. And he didn't disappoint. In 16 total games of work in 2014, Lansanah, at age 29, broke out at the NFL level for the very first time, collecting 81 tackles, 1.5 sacks and three interceptions, an astounding two of which he returned for touchdowns.
In what could only be deemed a fitting turn of events, that underestimation, that being passed over, followed Lansanah this season as well. Bruce Carter, a former second-round draft pick of the Cowboys, unexpectedly started the preseason at the top of the Buccaneers' depth chart at middle linebacker. Rookie fourth-rounder Kwon Alexander found himself on the strong side. With standout Lavonte David entrenched at weakside linebacker, it looked to be shaping up as just another season struggling for snaps for Lansanah.
Again Lansanah battled. And again, he dreamed.
And in the end, Lansanah persevered.
"It's just been the story of my life," he says. "I always had to battle my whole life. You can tell from my story. It didn't catch me by surprise. It kind of hurt my feelings a little bit, but at the end of the day I have the mentality that I'm going to control what I can control and I'm going to just ball and let the chips fall where they may. And that's what I did and that's what I continue to do to this day, playing ball at a high level."
Through nine games of his age-30 season, just his second seeing starter's snaps, Lansanah has managed a fitting 30 tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles operating alongside the electrifying Alexander and the somewhat fallen-back-to-earth David.
For Lansanah, the road has been long and it has certainly been arduous, but there's no time to reflect on the past now. No, there's only time to consider the looming matchup with Dallas and the remainder of the current season. Only time to control what he can control.
"Just keep progressing and help my team win games, do whatever my coach asks me to do and do it to the best of my ability," Lansanah says, when asked what he expects out of the rest of the Bucs' 2015 season. "And hopefully we get this thing turned around and win games. A lot of games we've been in or had a chance to win, so we just got to get over that hump and keep working and hopefully we'll come out on top in some of our games that are coming up here."
***
On paper, the Bucs' second-half slate seems to feature a fair amount of winnable games. The next two weeks - a pair of NFC East battles versus a desperate Cowboys team and the potentially blossoming Philadelphia Eagles - certainly look tough, but after that things seem to take a fortuitous turn for Tampa. There's the Andrew Luck-less Colts, a Falcons team that's lost three of its last four after opening the season on a 5-0 run, a Saints group whose defensive struggles are of nearly historical proportions, a Rams team with almost no passing game to speak of and a Bears squad that will only go as far as Jay Cutler takes it, before Lansanah and Co. finish up the season with a final NFC South brawl against Cam Newton and the currently undefeated Carolina Panthers.
But Lansanah isn't worried about the upcoming teams on the schedule. He's worried about what he can control, what he and his Tampa teammates can take care of in the weight room, the film room, on the practice field. The rest will work itself out.
"Every game we had a chance to win a game except one," he says. "Our offense is playing great. They're giving us a chance to be in games. Defensively we have to find a way to stop the other team and make a big play. Coach Lovie always emphasizes turnovers, getting turnovers, and we've got to make those things happen."
Now entrenched in the Bucs' defense, Lansanah has allowed himself the luxury of feeling - of living and dying with the fortunes of the team with which he was finally able to blossom as an NFL player. And for Lansanah, as for the rest of his Buccaneers teammates, the immediate focus rests on their Week 10 matchup with Dallas.
But it also rests on California, and the dream of every NFL team, born anew every NFL season.
"We call it 'California Dreamin','" he says with a laugh. "It's always been the goal since this thing started rolling this year, and it's still our goal to get there. We just have to take it one game at a time."
Before every meeting at One Buc Way, Smith puts a picture up on the projector screen depicting Levi's Stadium with "50" superimposed over it in large lettering, an in-no-way subtle reminder that the goal isn't just to return the Tampa franchise to the conversation for the league's playoff teams - it's to reach, and win, Super Bowl 50.
"You don't play the game to be a contender," Lansanah says, his voice sobering. "You play the game to win a Super Bowl."
And Lansanah wants to win. He wants to win for the city of Tampa Bay - he wants to win for his Buccaneers teammates. He believes that with new franchise quarterback Jameis Winston in place - "Man," he says, pausing before offering the word, "surprising," when asked to describe the leadership Winston's shown already this season, "lights out" when asked to gauge Winston's level of play through eight NFL games - the Bucs have a real shot to do just that.
But for Lansanah - for a man whose NFL career started in 2008, faded like only a happy memory can, resurfaced again fresher, newer in 2013 - in a way, he's already won. He's already beaten the odds, overcome the greatest obstacle he may ever face in his professional career.
Lansanah's story's not done yet though, the dream not finished by any means. And while Lansanah might be entering that decade in which most NFL stars suddenly seem to find themselves in the twilight of their career, and playing this season on a one-year restricted free agent tender, his focus isn't on what's next - his focus remains on the here, the now, Super Bowl 50 and an NFL dream that almost never was, an NFL dream that's now an NFL reality.
"I like it here. I like the guys, I like the coaches, so I would love to come back here, but at the end of the day it's the team's decision to bring me back and my agent and the team can hopefully work something out," he says, the shrug of his shoulder almost audible in the tone of his voice.
"But right now I'm just worried about winning games. Everything else will take care of itself."
