As a sports analyst who’s broken down millions of data points, I’ve seen the stats—but this story hits different. When Tijs Linders was told at 16 to find a real job, he spent a year stacking shelves. No contract. No safety net. Just groceries and grit. That raw reality—what life feels like without football—became his fuel. Now he's on the rise, and I’ll tell you why that year in the supermarket matters more than any highlight reel.