I stared at the TV screen in disbelief. My replacement had just been chosen. I could hear it in the echo of these words: “With the 36th pick of the 2015 N.F.L. draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars select T.J. Yeldon, running back from Alabama.”

Just a year earlier, the Jaguars had signed me as their starting running back. After one season, which was derailed by a right foot injury that lingered through the year, Jacksonville was moving away from what I had been told about being “the guy.” Lying in bed that night, I cried for the first time in years.

I fought for my job as the Jaguars marquee runner the following season, but that draft day five years ago began the end of my 22-year football career.

I’ve been thinking about that day not just because the N.F.L. draft is here again, but because many thousands of athletes have had their own dreams spoiled this year — by the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps the lessons I have learned can help them.