Brian Miller

Democrat staff writer

Seth Roberts isn’t satisfied with just being in the NFL.

Though undrafted out of West Alabama, the former Maclay School star has made himself known, not just in northern California’s Bay Area by Oakland Raiders fans but to the rest of the country as well.

After two years of catching passes for a combined total of 70 receptions for 877 yards and 10 touchdowns, Roberts is eyeing the one-year, $615,000 deal he signed in April as a launching pad to greater heights.

That includes financially, but that’s also predicated upon consistent performance.

“It’s a little more than I had last year and I’m thankful for that, but I want more,” Roberts told the Democrat while back in Tallahassee. “I definitely have been blessed, but it’s not enough. My performance outweighs what I should be getting paid. But I’m not worried about the money.

“You just want to get paid more because you don’t know how many years you’ve got in this league. The average guy is three to four years. I want to get it all while I can, feed my family and create business opportunities.”

Roberts, 26, views the 2017 season as a showcase to just how capable the 6-foot-2, 195-pound wide receiver is of being an offense’s focal point, in the same manner people view the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Antonio Brown or the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr.

“There’s a breakout this year,” Roberts said. “I’m really feeling it. I know it can happen and will happen, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Related: Maclay alum Seth Roberts reaches the NFL with Oakland

Making a name for himself

Roberts actually leads the NFL in an important category over the last two seasons – game-winning touchdowns. His total of four beats out two tight ends with two apiece.

“It blew my mind,” Roberts said. “When I train, I think about stuff like that – end-of-game situations. Through the week, I try to stay locked in. I’m a big rep guy. If I have this many reps, I want to take that many reps. I don’t want coach to put someone in front of me and give me a break because I want to get the feel.”

Maybe you remember the first game-winner Roberts had in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens during his rookie season. His first NFL catch was a 12-yard scoring play.

Maybe it was last season’s 41-yard catch-and-run down the middle of the field to beat the Buccaneers in overtime in Tampa, which resulted in an emphatic throw to a padded wall behind the end zone.

“I saw I was good (on the jumbotron),” Roberts said. “I threw the ball, and that’s my demeanor, when I get in the end zone, like ‘Let’s go!’”

Friends and family got to see jersey No. 10 score up close and personal. He has impressed more than just his biased supporters with his two-year performance.

“Seth is super clutch,” Oakland quarterback Derek Carr told reporters after the Tampa Bay game. “We always talk about this, but that guy catches game-winners all the time and it’s crazy. I told him he went into NFL streak game-breaker mode on that last touchdown. He just didn’t want to get tackled.

“Seth is a tireless worker. He is always off to the side when we are not in at offense catching balls. He’ll grab (backup quarterback) Connor (Cook), he will grab whoever and they will always be throwing to him. When you got a guy that works hard like that, I am happy when they make plays.”

Rapid ascent

After spending the 2014 season on Oakland’s practice squad, Roberts impressed the Raiders during the 2015 preseason with his play-making and silky route-running in the slot. They kept him on their 53-man roster and signed him to two-year, $1.14 million contract.

In his rookie season, Roberts quietly observed veterans such as Charles Woodson, Justin Tuck and other high-caliber players to see how they approached the game.

He went about his business, never in disbelief that he had reached a career pinnacle.

“I think about this often – the NFL is no different from college, you’re just on your own,” Roberts said. “What I mean is meetings, meetings, meetings, work out, hit the field, and then you do it again. You meet and you train.”

The realization of reaching a dream sunk in during his Week 2 game at Baltimore as the Raiders started their fourth-quarter drive which would culminate in Roberts catching a pass from Carr on a slant across the middle with 26 seconds left.

“We were in the heat of the game, in the huddle and I just looked around at my teammates and thought ‘God, I play in the NFL,’” Roberts said. “The fans were crazy. It was crazy loud and I was just laughing.”

Calling the NFL season a grind, Roberts’ work paid off when he’d make a clutch catch on third-and-9 in the fourth quarter of a game or secure a game-winning score.

Believe it or not, Oakland is 9-0 when Roberts catches a touchdown, including 5-0 during a 2016 season that saw the Raiders reach the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

“When you show up and make it happen, that’s how you feel good about working out,” Roberts said. “It makes you realize ‘Dang, I made that play because I did an extra set.’”

Preparing for Year 3

The Raiders wrapped up Organized Training Activities in June, and Roberts was praised by Oakland head coach Jack Del Rio for having a good OTA, something the gruff coach isn’t prone to do.

Every week, Roberts is trying to get better at something.

One week, it could be exploding off the ball, hands ready to catch a pass. The next week it could be making sure he doesn’t get so locked in on the quarterback that he misses the DB that has sneaked up to jam him at the line.

“You have to remember the little things,” Roberts said. “The good thing about me is once a mistake happens, I always remember. I don’t make the same mistake again.”

Roberts would like to emulate Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown, in several ways.

He likes Brown’s work ethic, from a 5-foot-10, 180-pound player that had a similar role as Roberts in his first three years to one that has led the NFL in receptions and yardage the last three seasons.

He likes the rapport Brown has with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, something he believes he can have with Carr even though Oakland has top receivers already in Amari Cooper, a 2015 first-round pick from Alabama, and eight-year veteran Michael Crabtree.

“He is always working,” Roberts observed. “His relationship with Ben is crazy – they’re always on point. Two years ago, he had like 300 yards on us on 28 attempts. I feel like he worked his butt off and it paid off. I want to be that caliber.”

Roberts spent yesterday in his birth town of Moultrie, Georgia, talking to youths and families as part of the city’s community day.

He signed autographs for kids that one day hope to be where he’s at – whatever playing or financial level he reaches – and it’s not lost on him how he once sat in a similar spot, dreaming about the future.

“I talk to them like they talk to their friends,” Roberts said. “I want them to know I’m an ordinary person. I put on my pants just like them. I’m from Moultrie, Georgia. Even when I came (to Tallahassee), I still went home every summer to my grandmom, same streets. I tell them to stay in school, listen to their parents and just have fun.”

He might one day return home and coach children, raise his family which currently includes a beautiful 7-month-old girl, and enjoy the quiet life.

But for now, his purpose has a bit more vigor.

To find out just how good he can be.

“In football, you need a forgetful mind – you want to be perfect, but you can’t be perfect,” Roberts said. “I don’t feel like you’ll ever be satisfied. There’s always something you’ll mess up on and something you can get better at.”

Seth Roberts, career stats:

2016: 16 games played, 6 starts, 38 rec., 397 yards, 5 TD

2015: 16 games played, 5 starts, 32 rec., 480 yards, 5 TD