PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- After more than a year out of football, Brandon Spikes was back Monday -- back in pads, back on the practice field and back with the Buffalo Bills.
Wearing a "Prove People Wrong" t-shirt -- a coincidence, he said -- Spikes looked to the past before he turned the page forward, reflecting on his brief return to the New England Patriots last spring that ended when he rear-ended his Mercedes Maybach into a Nissan Murano on a Massachusetts highway last June.
"A lot of things could have happened that day," Spikes said Monday at St. John Fisher College, where the Bills continued training camp. "I could have died. I could have killed somebody. I'm here. I'm healthy. I could have ended my career. Who knows? I'm here for a reason, and I'm going to figure that out, and it's just a chapter in my book."
Spikes fled the scene of the early-morning crash, which injured the family traveling in the Murano. He initially claimed he hit a deer, but he later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to a year of probation in addition to fines for speeding and a marked lanes violation. The NFL also suspended Spikes for the first four games of the 2015 regular season, which he served as a free agent after the Patriots cut him amid the crash investigation.
As he sat on his couch watching the Dallas Cowboys play last season, Spikes dreamed of the moment that came last weekend, when the Bills called him with interest in a reunion. Spikes had played 16 games for Buffalo in 2014 after spending four seasons in New England before returning to the Patriots last May once the Bills declined to re-sign him as a free agent.
"I was there [in New England] a month," Spikes said. "It was weird, going in there. The vibe was different. They welcomed me back with open arms, but something was just different. It didn't [feel] right, but look what happened -- a month later, I was out of there, gone. I appreciate the opportunity there. I let a lot of people down."
The Bills gave Spikes the call after rookie linebacker Reggie Ragland injured his knee in Friday's practice. A source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that an initial MRI appears to show a partially torn ACL, although the second-round pick is seeking a second opinion before any decision is made about surgery.
If Ragland cannot play again this season or misses significant time, the Bills will lean on Spikes to regain his form as an early-down thumper who can play alongside returning starter Preston Brown in the base defense. In that scenario, Spikes will likely be replaced in sub packages by by speedier offseason acquisition Zach Brown, a former second-round pick of the Tennessee Titans.
Spikes credits his time as a "student" of football with the Patriots for giving him a leg up in learning Rex Ryan's complex defensive playbook. He also comes to Buffalo with a "chip back on [his] shoulder" after he feels he became "complacent" several years into his NFL career.
"You get put in situations for you to change," Spikes said. "It's either a lifestyle change or you personally. You can't stay the same. So maybe I was doing something I was staying regular. Maybe it's excellence that's my plan in my book [now]. So I had to change, I had to make a change. I've been doing some things personally and I feel great.
"You grow from something like that. When something is taken away from you that you love and you can't do it anymore, you take a huge step of growth, I think."
Spikes' re-evaluation as he awaited his next NFL opportunity included transitioning to a vegan diet.
"I could have folded," he said Monday. "A lot of people do. They turn to alcohol, they turn to this. They go into a hole and never come out. But I think about [former University of Florida coach] Urban Meyer. I go back to that program. He always preached mental toughness, mental toughness. And I was prepared for that moment."