Justin Zimmer was told early in his NFL career that there's nothing wrong with being a journeyman.
And even as he's worked his way into a regular on the Bills defensive line rotation, Zimmer still doesn't feel he's found a home.
"You'd like to say that, but I feel like when you say that you get too comfortable," Zimmer said. "And I don't know, as many times as I've been cut I don't know if I'll ever really feel like I'm in one place. So I just try and keep working every day like I don't have a home and just work harder and put in everything I can so I can stay here as long as I can."
Zimmer doesn't know the exact number of times he's been cut.
He does, however, remember well what happened after the first time, which happened to be by the Bills in late August 2016.
Zimmer spent the majority of the fall back home in Michigan, where he coached football while waiting on a call for another shot at his playing career.
"I was realizing that I may not ever play football again and if I don't then I pretty much have to get into coaching and I don't know if that's necessarily what I want to do," Zimmer remembered. "So I better figure out something so I'm not in a profession that I don't like. I don't want to go my whole life in doing something I don't necessarily want to do. So I looked at it that way and was like if this happens again next year or the year after I want to at least be in the process of getting myself to the point where I can be a candidate for a job that I want."
The first step in that process was one Zimmer never thought he'd take again.
"I really didn't like school going through high school and even part of the way through college I wasn't a big fan of it," Zimmer said.
Zimmer started down the path of an exercise science major at Ferris State, but the school eventually dropped the program, forcing him to shift over to education.
With that also not his cup of tea, as few years ago he decided to pursue his original degree, this time through an online masters program at the University of California - Pennsylvania.
His course load really stacked up a year ago with three classes, all while working his way up from the Bills practice squad to seeing the field on the active roster.
"It would pretty much be any time I'd have a little free time during the day," Zimmer explained. "So on Fridays when we have our massage people come in, our acupuncturists, if I was waiting for a slot I would just pull out my school work and start doing it then. And then when I got home at night I'd have a couple hours. Then my off days, I'd spend a lot of my off days doing homework. It was a big time commitment."
One that certainly caught the attention of teammates.
"They'd see me, especially like I said on those Fridays, I'd be in there and they'd come in and be like 'What are you doing right now?' and I'm like 'I'm taking classes' and they're like 'Why?," Zimmer said. "It didn't make any sense to them and honestly most people it probably didn't make any sense to. So some guys were just like 'I don't know what you're doing or why you're doing it right now.'"
But Zimmer knows why, even if he's yet to figure out exactly what to do with his soon-to-be masters degree.
"I'm not 100% certain right now," Zimmer said. "I think strength and conditioning is something I've always been passionate about. I really like sports science as well. That's what my concentration is in, applied sports science. So I think once I'm done playing I'll take a year and do some different experiences and just see what the every day work life's like in both of those fields and kind of go from there."
He has one more online course to take next semester followed by an internship before completing the program.
I gave him one final question of my test: Which is harder, an exam or trying to take down a quarterback?
Trying to get to the quarterback, for sure," Zimmer said with a smile. "Exams you can always study for and you might get a little anxiety, but having another man try and stop you from getting through the line is always going to be a little harder."