The uncertainty of where—or even, if—we were going to be drafted was something we all shared in our final years in college.
Brian Winters remembers the call he received from the Jets which ended the suspense for him in the third round of the 2013 Draft.
“The Jets were not a team I honestly thought was on the radar for me,” Winters recently told Jim Gehman of NYJets.com. “I didn’t really think they were in need on the offensive line. When I got that call from (then head coach) Rex Ryan, he said ‘I’m a defensive guy, but I handpick one offensive player each draft. You’re my guy I picked this year because you play offense like a defensive player. You’ve got a nasty attitude, and I like that.”
Winters was an offensive line starter at Kent State all four years he was there. He also started as a rookie guard on the Jets talented offensive line. Playing in front of sold-out crowds at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey between future Hall of Fame candidates center Nick Mangold and tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson quickly made him realize he was playing in the Big Leagues. He had seven productive years with the Jets before signing with the Bills (2020) and Cardinals (2021). He started 88 of 105 games during a solid nine-year career.
An Ohio native, Winters returned to the Buckeye State after his playing days.
“I was building my home and got a quote from a guy who does epoxy flooring,” Winters recalls. “It’s like a protection layer on your garage floor. The price was like $30,000 for my three-car garage. I’m like ‘This is a high price for this…’
Then I got to thinking and talking to my wife ‘You know, maybe I should start a business something like this’.”
Winters eventually founded a First and Floors company which later was renamed his current Fair Painters business.
“We still do garage flooring,” he says, “but now we have a number of paint crews as well. I have 18 employees out of our place in Streetsboro (OH) but we eventually plan to open another branch in the Columbus area and continue to grow that way.”
We at NFL Alumni congratulate our 33-year old brother Brian Winters and wish him much success in his home state.
