“Go Hawks!” said the jogger, as she left Weslye Saunders alone in the dust last Friday afternoon outside the Seattle Seahawks’ practice facility in Renton, Wash.

That happens a lot to Saunders, the former tight end who struggled during his few short years in the NFL, who continues to struggle as he desperately hunts for a team to give him another shot.

“Well guys, sometimes it just don’t work out like we want it to,” Saunders said in the video he tweeted after his latest “visit” to yet another NFL team that wanted nothing to do with him.

Saunders appeared outside the Virginia Mason Athletic Facility on Friday, hoping for the football equivalent of a miracle.

“They just gave me a trespassing warning here at the Seahawks’ facility,” he explained in the video. “They told me if I show up here within the next 365 days, they’ll arrest me. So time to get on out of here. Why not Wes?”

“I brought my cleats to the facility today just in case coach Carroll wanted to tell me to get on the field and run some routes,” Saunders told me Friday on the phone. “I could show him I’m just as good as Jimmy and any of those guys. That’s pretty much what I wanted to show.

“Of course, I failed miserably at the gate on the front end of things, but exposure and obviously shining a little light on what I’m trying to do here is never a bad thing.”

Such is the life of Weslye Saunders. Persevering well beyond what some would think is normal, almost strange to be exact.

Saunders had his chance in the NFL, initially signing with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2011 out of South Carolina. He was released the following October after a four-game suspension for the unauthorized use of the prescription drug Adderall. Signed next to the Colts, Saunders once again was suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, this time for eight months, his second violation.

He was re-signed to the team but released after just three games in 2014. His short career in the NFL was presumably over and he had no one else to blame but himself.

“Ever since then I’ve kind of been on a scavenger hunt to prove to teams that I’m not this knuckled-headed 23-year-old that was making the same mistakes back in the day,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately people can sometimes pull up stuff on the Internet and assume they know you, so I kind of got the idea over the last couple of years that teams need to actively see me. That I’m a new person, that I’m pretty much mature physically and mentally.

“So I started the ‘Why not Wes?’ campaign.”

“Campaign” might be the wrong word for a movement that basically consists of Saunders showing up unannounced to NFL facilities, begging — even trespassing — to plead his case.

Saunders said Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht called him “psycho,” even blocking him on Twitter after Saunders dropped in on Tampa Bay without an invitation.

“He let me know quite frankly, he wasn’t interested,” Saunders said. “If my being hungry for football is psychotic, then yes, I’m as psycho as they come.”

Saunders has spent the last 16 months as a vegan, dropping 30 pounds from the last time he was on the football field. He trains regularly in Miami and at the at the EXOS facility in Carson, Calif., which also happens to be the new home of the Los Angeles Chargers – whom Saunders said he intends to visit as well.

In April, Saunders participated in the first NFL Spring League in Greenbrier, W.Va., alongside other NFL free agent hopefuls Greg Hardy, Ben Tate, and Ahmad Bradshaw. Saunders logged seven receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown in two games played.

Outside of the cleats, Saunders spends a great deal of time working with others who have also faced unfortunate situations.

“I love going out and talking to the youngsters, juvenile centers, guys who have made mistakes, and letting them know it’s not over,” Saunders shared. “Often times those are the ones people have forgotten about or written off. Out of them can come greatness, with the right opportunity.”

Saunders’ #WhyNotWes campaign has not gone unnoticed. He has a huge Twitter following, although not everyone approves of his tactics.

“People are watching,” Saunders said. “Some people are watching to support, some people are watching to ridicule. I’m a journalist as well. So I’d watch everything my dad did. But I remember getting so angry when people would call the house or write nasty letters, about a column he had written. He would explain it like, ‘they might not like it, but they read it, though.’”

“You want to elicit a response,” he continued. “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But if you get noticed and you get people to actually feel something with what you are doing then you are making a difference. That’s what I’m doing and it’s the fans that keep me going.”

Saunders had a legitimate tryout with Seattle once, shortly after his release from the Colts, but the team signed tight end Cooper Helfet instead. Since then, Saunders has tried to keep in touch with Seahawks tight end coach Pat McPherson. Saunders said he remains on the team’s “short list,” although he’s never been offered a contract.

Saunders wholeheartedly believes his persistence will pay off.

“I really just wanted to let my play do the talking, but obviously I have to get someone’s attention for that to happen,” Saunders explained. “As one of my favorite poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, ‘If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you’ll be sure to awaken someone.'”

So Weslye Saunders made his way off the Seahawks’ property that day, just a man and his cleats as he walked alone to Denny’s to call a ride, scratching another NFL team off his list.

“Go Hawks!” he yelled back to the jogger, still smiling despite his latest defeat.

After all, Saunders has 30 more NFL teams to visit this summer, and he’s still hopeful someone will give him his chance.

#WhyNotWes