FOXBORO, Mass. — D.J. Killings will relish every moment he gets to spend on a football field this spring with the New England Patriots. The undrafted cornerback knows better than most that it all could be taken away in an instant.
Two of Killings’ six brothers were shot and killed in Miami while he was in college at Central Florida. His oldest brother, Reginald, was killed in February 2015. Another brother, Fred, was killed in August 2013, just before D.J.’s freshman season.
“It just made me go harder because you never know when your life could be gone,” Killings said Tuesday at Gillette Stadium. “With my two brothers, they used to push me as hard as they could before they left. So it was just a motivation.”
Given what Killings was going through before his freshman and junior seasons, it makes sense that his breakout came in 2016, when he started all 13 games, recorded three interceptions and allowed just a 56.4 passer rating. He wasn’t going through tragedy. And he no longer was distracted by school work.
“My defensive back coach, Travis Fisher, who played like nine years in the NFL, he always stressed ‘film, film, film, watch film.’ I ended up getting my degree that spring before senior year, so as soon as football season came, it was just straight football,” Killings said. “That’s how I had a successful year.”
Killings was born in Miami but escaped the violence by moving to Jacksonville.
“It was the difference between my mom and my dad,” Killings said. “I was in Miami with my dad, then family things, family issues, I had to move up to Jacksonville with my mom.
“It was the best move. I thank God for it every day.”
Killings’ father, Fred Sr., played running back at Richmond, but his brothers also pushed him to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.
“They were the ones who stayed on me, they were the ones who kept my drive going,” Killings told the Orlando Sentinel in November. “They were the ones who when I first got to college said it’s your time. I’m the second to youngest, and they messed up their chances to go to college and make it to the league, but they just kept me out of trouble and kept me going. It was a big impact to lose them.”
Killings was a priority free-agent signing for the Patriots, receiving $31,000 guaranteed as part of his three-year, $1.676 million contract. He’ll have to beat out veterans such as Cyrus Jones and Justin Coleman to earn a spot on the Patriots’ 53-man roster, but he also could land on the Patriots’ practice squad.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
