Panthers lineman nearly quit football at Alabama. Now, he’s anchoring an NFL offense
Bradley Bozeman wanted to quit.
The then-20-year-old lineman was part of a 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide team that would eventually win the College Football Playoff. But for Bozeman, the campaign drained his love for the game.
Bozeman had the starting right guard job taken from him just before the season opener, and he failed to see eye to eye with then-offensive line coach Mario Cristobal. He was miserable.
“Things weren’t going right,” Bozeman told The Charlotte Observer. “ It just didn’t seem right for me anymore. I just didn’t like football, it wasn’t fun for me. … I was just in a pretty low state.”
Bozeman’s wife, Nikki, was his girlfriend at the time. A four-year starting center for the Alabama women’s basketball team and a team captain, Nikki understood Bozeman’s struggle as a fellow athlete.
“He was supposed to win the job then, but then he ended up going up until the first game — started every series and everything like that — and then they ended up going with someone different the first game,” Nikki said. “And that was kind of his big adversity that he dealt with in 2015.”
The Crimson Tide started Alphonse Taylor at right guard during their national championship run that season. Bozeman would come home after practices and tell Nikki that he wanted to hang up his cleats after the season.
But Nikki wouldn’t let her man go down without a fight.
“I was about ready to be done, and she kind of convinced me to give it one more shot,” Bozeman said. “She’s always had my back, she’s always picked me up when I’ve needed it, and she always brings me back down when I get too big-headed.”
Bozeman eventually embraced his backup role as a redshirt sophomore and tried to be the best teammate possible.
His father, Barry, instilled in him at an early age that doing the right thing and treating people the right way would eventually lead to success. Still, the work wasn’t easy on Bozeman.
“The old saying, ‘Tough times make tough people,’ that’s Bradley’s story,” Barry said. “He’s been through tough times and didn’t lay down, hung in there and kept working, grinding. And it got him to where he is today.”
Today, Bozeman is in Charlotte, where he serves as the starting center for the Carolina Panthers.
After working his way through the muck of the 2015 letdown, he eventually became Alabama’s starting center and a team captain on the squad’s 2017 national championship team. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2018 draft by the Baltimore Ravens — the Panthers’ opponents on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium — and became a three-year starter before joining Carolina this offseason in free agency.
Through the twists and turns of Bozeman’s career journey, the staples of the ride have been position battles, letdowns, leadership, empathy, and of course, Nikki. All of those variables have led Bozeman to his spot in the middle of the Panthers’ offense, which now has a thriving running game, averaging 159.5 rushing yards per game since Bozeman was named a starter in Week 7.
The Observer spoke with those closest to Bozeman to gain an understanding of how he went from nearly throwing his promising college football career away to becoming a breakout performer and leader in the first month of interim head coach Steve Wilks’ tenure.
Finding inspiration
Before heading off to college, Bozeman, a Roanoke, Ala., native, was a high school student who occasionally worked for his father’s heating and air conditioning company on nights and weekends. During that time, Bozeman learned the importance of having a work ethic.
“My dad — he kind of started from the bottom,” Bozeman said. “Worked his way up — me and my family, along with my mother, helped him along the way — built us a very comfortable living growing up. Had both of my parents, very fortunate, very lucky — never worried about there not being food on the table.”
Barry built up his own business after coming from what he describes as “humble beginnings.”
“Kind of had to scratch and claw every day,” Barry said. “But I had a very religious, good mother that helped me through everything. That’s kind of how it began, I just worked.”
Bozeman’s studied his father’s success. He adopted his dad’s empathy and workman-like approach, even though he wasn’t a huge fan of his work assignments.
“He learned early on that he didn’t want to do what I do for a living,” Barry said with a laugh.
Bozeman’s mother, JoAnne, also served as a guide when it came to the importance of having conviction.
“She’s the hardest working woman I know, and that’s probably where he gets his tenacity from,” Barry said. “Cause she won’t give up on anything.”
When Bozeman left for Alabama, he found another inspiration in head coach Nick Saban. During his up-and-down run with the Crimson Tide, Bozeman learned about the importance of having a positive attitude from Saban.
The head coach, according to Bozeman, used to tell the team a story about the importance of not letting negativity get in the way of the job.
As Bozeman tells it, Saban said he worked at his father’s gas station in his youth and his longtime girlfriend dumped him. Stuck at work and sad from the breakup, Saban was distracted and his father confronted him about his attitude. Saban explained that he was upset about his ex-girlfriend, and his father responded by telling him that if he kept dragging, he wouldn’t have a job or a girlfriend.
To Bozeman, the lesson of the story was clear.
“Don’t let one thing ruin everything else,” Bozeman said. “Just continue to work and be the person that you are and do the things that you need to be successful and help out anyway you can.”
Bozeman took that lesson in stride as he worked his way up the depth chart in 2016. He eventually became a starter and notable team leader. In 2017, he was voted a team captain by his teammates.
Deonte Brown — who is currently on the Panthers’ practice squad — was a freshman guard when he arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2016 during Bozeman’s redshirt junior year. Timid and shy, Brown wasn’t eager to speak up, but Bozeman, then a first-year starting center, did everything he could to make him feel comfortable.
“Boze was the type of guy to come to you before you even asked any questions,” Brown said. “He’s a proactive teacher, and more so off the field than on the field. He helped me structure my schedule, helped me to see which classes were which — little stuff like that. In football, he just really taught me the grit and grime of the attitude that we wanted to have at Alabama.”
Brown believes Bozeman is a true example of the personality that Saban seeks in his recruits.
“Unselfish and put the team first,” Brown said. “And I feel that from Boze, in the heart.”
‘What you do now is the person that you are’
It was Week 4 of the 2019 season, and Bozeman, a first-year starter at left guard, looked up at the scoreboard. The Ravens were down by 22 points at home against the Cleveland Browns with 2:14 left in the game.
Eight-time Pro Bowl right guard Marshal Yanda didn’t care about the score. In what would be the final season of his NFL career, Yanda wanted to see his younger teammates battle to the end, even with a victory out of reach.
Before they returned to the field, Yanda gave Bozeman and the other linemen a reality check.
“ ‘What you do now is the person that you are,’ ” Bozeman said, recalling Yanda’s words.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, with Bozeman and Yanda blocking for him, led a five-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to cut the Browns’ lead to 15 points before the final whistle.
While the loss didn’t end up hurting the Ravens too much — they went 14-2 and Jackson won the NFL MVP award that year — Bozeman still remembers that game because of Yanda’s pep talk.
“Ever since then, that’s been my mentality,” Bozeman said.
Bozeman started at left guard for the Ravens for two seasons before moving to center last year. His four-year career in Baltimore included 62 games (49 starts) and three playoff appearances.
But as free agency approached in March, the Bozemans knew they weren’t likely to return to Baltimore after turning down a long-term contract extension ahead of the new league year. The couple started doing research on other potential landing spots.
They decided to head to Carolina for less money than they were offered elsewhere, signing a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the NFC South franchise.
The decision to head to Charlotte was made largely due to the feedback Bozeman received on Panthers offensive line coach James Campen.
“I had heard a lot about Campen over my years in the league,” Bozeman said. “All the guys kind of talk and go back and forth. I called some friends that knew him personally, a couple that played under him — and just the man that he is, the coach that he is, the pride he takes in making his players better was huge to me.”
Like players, coaches tend to chat about who they’ve worked with in the past. That’s how Campen gained an interest in Bozeman.
“I knew he was a good football player,” Campen said. “His tape speaks for itself. I was fortunate to work with Andy Bischoff in Houston last year — he was the tight ends coach there — and he had worked with Boze before (in Baltimore). … Andy had told me about him before he even came here, when we were in Houston. How much of a leader he is and an outstanding player — but not only that, (also) an outstanding citizen. I knew who he was even before I got this job.”
Despite Campen’s knowledge of Bozeman’s ability and leadership, the veteran lineman was still forced to compete with Pat Elflein for the starting center job in training camp.
The pair battled throughout the summer before Bozeman sustained a leg injury that sidelined him for a few weeks. Elflein won the job with Bozeman recovering from injury.
Like in Alabama and Baltimore, Bozeman was forced to wait his turn while supporting his teammates behind the scenes. But given those previous experiences, Bozeman had the perspective to will himself through the first six weeks of the regular season on the sideline.
“I think any time you battle adversity, you grow and you learn, and you learn how to overcome things and how to mentally prepare and combat everything,” Bozeman said.
Nikki looks back on Bozeman’s struggles at Alabama and appreciates the experience because of how it conditioned the couple for the NFL.
“This is our third time going through this,” Nikki said. “Bradley calls it ‘working the cut,’ like in boxing. You work the cut every day and you do the right things for other people, and you are a good person and you come into work happy to be there, because it’s a blessing, what you get to do, and it’ll work out.”
Bozeman’s faith paid off in Week 7. Elflein sustained a season-ending hip injury in the Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and Bozeman was named the starting center.
In the 21-3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bozeman shined as the Panthers’ offense gave up one sack and rushed for 173 yards in Wilks’ first win as interim head coach.
Bozeman has been anchoring the offensive line ever since, becoming a fan favorite in the process.
Said Bozeman: “I’m out here playing ball, having fun — I’m having the time of my life.”
‘The whole package’
Following the win against the Buccaneers, Pro Football Focus — a national football scouting service backed by former NFL receiver-turned-commentator Cris Collinsworth — gave Bozeman an eye-opening grade of 93.2. It was the highest single-game grade for a center to that point in the season.
When Deonte Brown saw the grade, his eyes welled with tears of joy. After being mentored by Bozeman during his first two years at Alabama, and reuniting with him in Carolina this summer, Brown’s admiration for the veteran center triggered a cathartic reaction.
“I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders for him, because I wanted to see him win so bad, because he’s a terrific guy,” Brown said. “He’s the leader, the player, the soon-to-be dad, the husband — he’s the whole package.”
Campen believes the center is an extension of the offensive line coach. And while Bozeman isn’t considered a “rah-rah” guy, Campen believes Bozeman’s lead-by-example style makes a difference for the line.
“He doesn’t have to be vocal, he doesn’t have to beat his chest — when he says something, or when he does something — it shows up on tape,” Campen said. “He’s a very unselfish player. If you watch the tape that we did from the last game (against the Atlanta Falcons), he’s doing things that put himself in jeopardy, his body in jeopardy, but he does it for the betterment of the team. And those are special people who foster that type of commitment.”
Rookie Cade Mays, a fellow SEC alum and sixth-round pick, has become Bozeman’s latest mentee.
Mays, who played at Georgia and Tennessee, spent the first six weeks of the regular season practicing as the backup right tackle. He moved to backup center once Elflein went down and Bozeman took over.
Bozeman has tutored Mays since they both arrived in town this offseason, and he has helped the rookie prepare for his role change behind the scenes.
“He brings great energy every day and he wants to get better, wants to see everybody else get better,” Mays said. “He’s been the same guy consistently since he’s been here. That’s really something special to say about somebody, just consistency.”
Along with being a mentor to his teammates, Bozeman has made an impact in the community with the Bradley and Nikki Bozeman Foundation.
The foundation, which is managed by Nikki, hosted a Halloween fundraiser in October that raised more than $41,000 to feed local children. This week, the charity also managed the packaging of 2,000 meals to give away for Thanksgiving.
“Football is a means to serve, and you realize that when you go into these families and they have nothing, and they’re just excited that you brought them dinner,” Nikki said. “I think it really puts into perspective, like, ‘Yeah, your problems are relevant, but in the grand scheme of things, there are so many people going through so many hardships.’ ”
To Barry, his son and his daughter-in-law’s charitable endeavors are more important than the success on the gridiron.
“That’s everything,” Barry said. “Football is a back-burner thing. What you do in life — how you treat people — that’s what it’s all about. It’s got very little to do with football.”
On Sunday, the Bozemans will return to their old stomping grounds in Baltimore. Their foundation was regularly involved in events that supported the community during Bozeman’s tenure with the Ravens.
And while they’ve moved on from their time with the Ravens, they’re both excited to go back to where Bozeman’s NFL career started.
“It’s cool — I’m ready to go back,” Bozeman said. “It’s going to be a fun experience, it’s going to be a different experience. But I’m excited to go play some of those guys — they’re still some of my good buddies, and just excited to get back there.”
But as much as Bozeman is excited to take a stroll down memory lane this weekend, his feet are firmly planted in Carolina, even as his one-year contract looms large over his long-term standing with the team.
Since Alabama, Bozeman has proven that doing the right things leads to success. He has become a standout in recent weeks, so that could eventually lead to a big pay day and long-term lease on life in Charlotte.
“I wanted to be a starter, I wanted to be a key player in this offense, and I feel like I’ve started to do that,” Bozeman said. “I just want to stay consistent and do the things that I need to do every day. I love this city, I love this organization, I love these teammates, the coaching staff — everything that surrounds this city and this team. I hope to be here for a really long time.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
