Best story in Giants camp is a cancer survivor

The paycheck will have less zeroes than the one he would have made as a first-round draft pick. But Herzlich is playing football again, and to him that's just as important as any riches the sport might provide.

He doesn't think about the titanium rod in his leg when he is on the field, doesn't dwell on the fact he had cancer. Off the field, he wants to be a role model and he wants people to know they, too, can overcome adversity.

"I tell people all the time I'm proud to be a cancer survivor. To eliminate that would not do justice to myself or to what I went through," Herzlich said. "It's part of who I am."

Right now is Mark Herzlich of the New York Giants.

Cancer survivor and football player.

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg