On this special edition of the Lights Out Podcast, a 3X First-Team All-Pro brings some Tampa Bay love to Shawne Merriman. Listen to DT Gerald McCoy reminds us that Tampa has had some big-time players and this current team had winning in their blood. McCoy also talks about his first time stepping into the locker room in Carolina. Why was he conditioned to hate these players? He talks about the misconception of Cam Newton and how people have it all wrong about him. And finally, Gerald had big plans for Dallas, but after his injury during the preseason, where does he stand now?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(01:08):
ready for this? Sean Merriman A one hand effack boom
boom boom out Go to light. This is lights Out
with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys. We're back again with
another Lights Out podcast with me, Sean Merriman and uh
got Gerald McCoy man UM, longtime Tampa Bay buccaneer, one
(01:32):
of the staples in the locker room. Just all around
leader and just there's somebody that that you want in there,
especially when you got a young team. Um, we talk
a lot about it. We're gonna be talking a lot
about injuries and um him bouncing back. We got a
lot of similarities to man and having some back to
back injuries and trying to figure it out. Man. But
this dude as a warrior, UM, just an artimate leader
(01:55):
and I always used to watch him. We had our
mutual trainer in San Diego, all Durkin UH Fitness Quest
used to work doing the all seasons. And you watch
a lot of these guys on the field, UM, and
you know that there bets you see him making plays,
but you never get a chance to see him during
the all season. And I remember going to work out
down to San Diego. It's probably uh maybe a little
bit after I retired in two thousand thirteen, two thousand fourteen,
(02:18):
somewhere around there, and I saw Gerald McCoy working. I said, Okay,
now I see why he's doing what he's doing Sundays
because this dude he loves to work. So um, great
conversation coming up here, Gerald McCoy, Gerald was up Gonad
He you doing? What's happening? I'm great? What I know?
We talked the other day. You were down in Texas.
(02:38):
But what part where are you at now? I mean, uh,
I'm living in McKinney, but I'm training in Frisco. Uh
not far from the Star so but I actually just
bought a house in rock Wall. So, um, my wife
and whenever I do return, were playing on living in
Dallas anyway, so we just is win the head since
(03:00):
we was already down here, just started the process that
way what I do retire, we are you know, we
ain't gotta do all that. Afterwards, were just what I'm doing,
I'm done. We got a house and we're good to do.
I was. I was just down in Uh, I was
just down in Dallas and Frisco too, because it's a
big one of my partners out he's he's big in tech.
But that whole tech, the whole area down there as
(03:21):
far as tech man is booming like crazy. I don't
know if you knew that or not. No, I didn't.
I didn't. I just know. Uh, this uh, Fristco area,
there's a lot of areas around is being built up,
the prosper area of Frisco. Uh, they're building up Walkwall
Heath area where I'm living. Everything starting to be built up.
(03:42):
I know a lot of people. You know, you think
about like the suburb, I guess type area you're thinking,
like South Lake or west Lake. Yep. But the Frisco
area is building up a lot. Man like Kenny playing
on all them areas and building up big, real fast.
I swear every time I come down and I got
to head back down to the Dallas and Frisco in
(04:03):
a few more weeks. Every time I get down there,
the first thing I always tell myself is I can
live down here. Probably not now, like right now, because
I'm still I move around too much, but definitely at
some point. So what what brought you down there? I
know you, I knew you grew up in Oklahoma, right,
you grew up Oklahoma. So is that what kind of
brought you there? Yeah? Well it's such a great place man,
Like you know you drive you live in Oklahoma? You
(04:23):
drive up to Dallas to such an easy driver this
two and a half hours to get down here, and
then you know a lot of different things than when
I signed the Cowboys. Uh. We kind of decided we
was kind of in between because my son went to OU.
So it was like, I'm going to Dallas, he's going
to Oh you should we make the move now so
we're gonna be close to him. Should I keep everybody
(04:45):
in Florida or I don't know. Then we asked my daughter,
who was going into high school, do you want to
finish high school in Florida or you want to go
to Texas. She was like, now, I want to go
to Texas. I wanna be around my family. So we
made the move. See, you know that's crazy because so
I grew up in Maryland and Washington D C. Area,
and I got when I got drafted by the charges,
(05:06):
like I just and I love home. I go back
all the time. All my family is still back in
Maryland and Washington D C. Area. But I can't move.
I can't live back there. I don't think I can
never live back there a full time. And so I'm
I'm hooked on on on California. Either southern California or
somewhere around se Ago because that's home. So you but
you played in Tampa for for nine years, so like,
(05:27):
how how how much time are you gonna go back
and spend there. I'm gonna say I'm always being Tampa. Man.
We kept our house there. You know, my son was
just there. They had to break after the Cotton Bowl.
He went back. He was there for two and a
half weeks, and then I'm gonna go back. That's where
I'm gonna train. You know that Tampa that's Florida heat
or something different. Oh man, it's special that Oh my god. Yeah,
(05:48):
whenever I started training and really getting ready for the season,
because what it sounded like is we're gonna have the
same offseason we had last time, the Zoom meetings and
all of that jazz. So I'm gonna have a lot
of time and just work out. So when I actually
get clear to just work out, workout, I'm gonna Florida.
I'm not gonna be I'm gonna actually be in San
Diego working out with Todd Um when I get clear
(06:11):
at first, but then when it's training camp start coming up,
I'm being Florida working out. So We're gonna be going
back there a lot. It's just so much to do.
It's an hour from more Lando. There's so much doing
on Lando. Instead of having to come back and find
the hotel and do all this, we just kept our house.
My kids basically grew up there, so it's a great place.
It's a big, big shout out, big shout out to
(06:33):
our guy, Todd dirkin Man in San Diego, one of
the best trainers. Um and I you, dude, I used
to see you working out all the time during the
all sheets when I when I go back there and
you know, you see a lot of cats on the field, man.
You know, you see guys bawling, but you don't never
get a chance of seeing o the patch. And I
saw you working. I said, oh man, this dude special.
You know what I'm saying, because I was kind of
(06:54):
looking at it from the outside in and I saw
it on the field. But then you you you kind
of see what what what guys do off of it
and then that preparation and who they're working too with
two man, Because um, I started working out with Todd
back when I was in San Diego during the all
season with you know me Drew Brees, Um Darren Spros.
You know, well, we'll go out there and we'll work. Man.
(07:15):
So how much time you spending with with Todd and
I know he's his specialty, is really getting you back, Hunter,
because I know after my injuries, I want to go
spend a lot of time with him. So you're working
with him out, you know, outside of the injuries. Absolutely, absolutely,
that's what That's what I'm uh, that's why I'm going back.
You know. I told my wife when I got injured,
and I said, when it when I started, when I
(07:36):
get healthy enough, she gave me that look like going
to see Todd. Ain't you like you already know it?
I see, I gotta go see the man. And I
was blessed enough to be able to go out there
after my first injury my rookie year. I told my
boxep tender and I went out to San Diego to
a fitness quest tin and I met Todd and and
(07:59):
he put me around Drew Brees and and Deren s
FROs and people of their magnitude. And I'm sitting there
watching these guys training. I realized, Man, I like to
work out, but these guys love it. And until unless
I get to that point, I'm not gonna ever be
where I want to be. And somebody, a smart man
(08:20):
told me, a wise man told me, if you want
to do better, you gotta put yourself around people who
are doing better than you. So don't be around people
that are, I don't want to say beneaths, but are
not doing as good. You can have family and friends
like that, but in order to make yourself better, you
gotta surround yourself for people that's doing better than you.
(08:42):
And that's what I did every time I got to
San Diego. I mean, you're thinking the names of Drew
Brees and Darren Spros. He's a Super Bowl champions, he's
a future Hall of Famers, And to watch how these
guys work and to put myself around those guys, those
guys are a lot quicker than me, a lot faster
than me. So having to keep up with the of
Americ conditioning, and it didn't never to make me better
on the field. And so I want to go back,
(09:05):
man um, So you had to. You had your first
biset injury that was what a like a three to
six month deal or something like that right somewhere around there,
and that happened. I think what in the middle two
thousand and ten or two thousand eleven, right, it was
that was my second when my first one was at
the end of it was week right in my rookie year,
(09:26):
and then my second one was in twenty eleven. It
was the middle season in twenty eleven. Yes, so I
did it twice. I did my right army and my
left arm. But it's crazy, man, because any time I
bring up your name and I'm talking about guys with
so much damn respect around the league, and you know,
your name constantly come up, um, even even when you
just had the latest injury. I just you know, just
seeing all your former teammates and all this stuff, man,
(09:47):
And how does how does that happen? You know what
I'm saying? That is it? Do you just kind of
walk in in the locker room and you know, I
always I knew that you always come in a lot
of respects for guys. But was it you've been vote
cool when you came in or you just showing guy's
ropes by working? It was a little of both. I
believe guys have to see you don't ever ask people
(10:08):
to do stuff you're not willing to do so when
you go to guys saying, hey, I know this works.
This is how I've had so much success, Guys who
have done it before me and have showed me this.
I see it work with them. I try it works
for me, and then you do it first. Once they
see you do it and it works, then they're more
willing to learn. And for me, it's not even a uh,
(10:30):
let me show you, I know this works. It's more
of a hey, listen, man, I want us all to
be successful. I'm not the only person who's worked his
entire life to make to the NFL and wants to
be great while they're here. I believe that's why we're
all here. For whatever reason. You want to be the
best at what you do, for whatever reason. Everybody has
their why. But to me, all I wanna do is
(10:52):
do my best to help anybody I can. So if
I see I can lend the help and hand, that's
what I do. And it goes from doing it into
being more vocal. And once you become more vocal and
you're doing it that partners and guys are like, man,
this guy will leader and I could follow him because
he's being a true example. He not just all talk.
He's walking in And that's why I was blessing up
(11:13):
to go to Carolina last year and become a captain
because I came in with my name. But then once
they see how it worked and then it wasn't just
a name and I earned their respect, then that's where
guys start to you know, it's kind of like word
of mouth man, Like this guy is like the real deal.
You know, he's not just all talk, and he's about
his business. He's gonna have fun and play, but he's
(11:35):
about his business. And now we can see why he's
so successful and you right doing so. And I was
just thinking that right now when you guys, when you
came in, it was what ten, two thousand and ten,
right going into the two thousand a year. Yeah, you guys,
y'all had some dogs. Y'all had some dogs in that team.
But some of those years never reflected. And I always
(11:56):
tell people that's when I went to Buffalo and their
record was on that great. But I'm looking around. You
got Fred Jackson and Stevie Johnson and Williams. You know,
you got some of these dogs in the field, but
their record never reflected. You guys had some dogs down
in Tampa man around that time, and of course we
don't have to Yeah, yes, who wasn't when you walked
in the locker room and he was like, oh damn,
(12:17):
I'm I'm here, like the first person you've seen, the
first the first person he knew before and then, which
was Davin Joseph. He was an officer Lomon from Oklahoma,
all American Guard had made a couple of probos in Tampa,
and he just demanded so much respect on top of
the fact that he's just a large human. He just
demanded so much respect from how he carried himself, the
(12:40):
professional he was. And then when you get a field,
you got you get to see guys moving around. And
once you get to see guys moving around, see the
thing is Tampa was so young man. We were all young.
That's why Rockny Morris and my second year came up
with the term young greed because we were young guys.
We was hungry man. We had just went ten and
six and we had a lot of guys come through
(13:01):
my time and and a lot of these guys went
on the win championships. Michael Bennett, he was there when
I was there, played three years with Michael Bennet, he
went on the Seattle and deal he did to keep
the leaves with me. He went on to did what
he did Lagarret Blunt, he went on to win three championships.
I mean, I can keep naming these names. Well, I
got to play with Reevers, I got to play with
Vincent Jackson. You know v Jackson, play with Vincent Jackson.
(13:24):
You know, Mike Emmonson is still there, Lavante, David and Studd.
I've seen so many people come through and you know,
like State that Claim and Tampa and it just didn't
paying out. Man. But we had some guys, guys that
went on and contributed big time to Super Bowl teams,
and uh, we just couldn't put it together. Man. So
so let me think I was just about to know.
(13:45):
Was my next question. What do you think the difference
is now? I mean, obviously Tom Brady has gone, and
I don't want to throw no shade of Tom. I think,
you know, now he's obviously the goal he's the greatest
quarterback of all time. But there was there was a
lot of that core that was still there right but
before he came down and some of them, some of
those guys, you know, from that locker room. What was
the difference other than other than the quarterback position. Do
(14:07):
you think it was a culture change from back when
you were playing there and what it is now. Honestly,
I don't. I don't believe that's what it was. Like
you said, we always had those guys, We always had
the core. Um. I believe coaching was a big part
of it. They got a new coaching staff. If you noticed,
once the coaching switch came in, Tampa had a solid
(14:28):
core last year. Like I always say, Um, like you said, no,
shade the time ready, he is who he is, so
we're not knocking him. But he also went to a
team and the quarterback had thirty five turnoeners. That makes sense,
and James is like my little brother, but reality's reality.
He had thirty five turnovers. So and they still won
(14:49):
seven games. If Jamis takes care of the ball. Just
let's cut that at half. Let's make that instead of
thirty five, let's just cut it down the fifteen. Let's
just say seven team. Let's say seven. That's probably three
more wins and they make the playoffs. So that team
was already really good. And I believe that, you know,
Bruce arians came in, and to Bows came in and
(15:10):
they put in new systems and top those defense. He's
had great defenses everywhere he's went. So partner that with guy.
They brought in the right guys. You know, you plug
the right people. You find these gyms. You know, you
go get a Shack Barrett who he played behind the
Marcus ware and in von Miller in Denver. But when
he came in he always made splash plays. So they
bring him in and say, let's see what he can
(15:32):
do if we're get him a starting role, and he
gave you nineteen sacks. You have a stablished winner in
JPP who's won the Super Bowl before, he's led at
the league in Sax. You got your Lavonte Davis, and
then you got your young bulls like you're Devin White,
You're Carlton Davis. Is they got it. They had a
great core. Your Vita Vys, William Gholston, well, don't get
enough creative. Will has been around. This is twin thirteen
(15:53):
and he's just one of those role graders, you know,
those guys that just keep fighting and keep fighting. You
just had a great core. Not mentioned the Office of Whippers,
and I believe they just put it together. And if
you bring in a guy with the right mindset like
Tom Brady, that teach them how to really win. Hey,
we're gonna check our egos at the door. We're not
gonna worry about stats. We're gonna I'm gonna give it
(16:15):
to the open man, and we're gonna do what it's
takes to win. We're gonna live with these penalties and
let's see what happens. And they am a super Bowl.
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subscribe now, you know, So we just talked about you
being like respected by everybody we've seen when you went
to the Panthers, even what the Cowboys me respected that too.
(18:29):
Did you did you think that you were probably gonna
finish up your career with them? Was that like the
goal for you? Where you said, you know what, this
is where I met and normally in my course of
time and watching people around, the guys is most respected
on the team organization. Those are guys that are lifers, right.
I mean, we know it's the business, get traded, cut wave,
all that other stuff, but it was your expectations. Was
(18:51):
the people the team for your entire career? Yeah? Yeah,
I want to stay with Tampa and all the fans
out there. You know, they took it as a slight
and when I lived and sometimes people have to not
Sometimes people need to understand this. They football is just
that it is a game. When you come into the NFL,
(19:11):
it's still a game, but now becomes a business. It's
a business game. And when it becomes a business, people
do whatever they can to keep the business afloat, to
make the most money out of the business, and in
business sometimes there's disagreements, sometimes there's tensions, and just because
it's not always in the media doesn't mean it doesn't
(19:32):
take place. There was just some disagreements, some stuff where
we couldn't get on the same page while I was
in Tampa, and it was starting to spill over into
my outside life and my my family, and my outside
life is way bigger than any sport I ever played.
So I had to do what I had to do.
We you know, figured out and came to a conclusion, Hey,
(19:53):
this is what we're gonna do. No love, loss, We're
gonna move on, and whatever happens happens. But the love
is always The plan was to always be in Tampa.
I never want to. I grew up a Tampa Bay fan.
I was blessing enough to get drafted there. The year
I resigned my new contract, we went to and fourteen.
So if you don't think the purchase committed to a
team after you're going to and fourteen, then I don't.
(20:16):
I don't see what else you need to see. If
you got an opportunity to leave a two and fourteen
team and you say no, I want build it, that's
the true commitment. So yeah, I want to uh stay
in Tampa. But also in twelve, uh the off season
of twelve, seeing that the Indianapolis coach told pay Manning,
(20:37):
we appreciate what you did, but we'll see you later.
It was at that moment I said, this is a business.
If if, if the Coats can telp pay Manning, we'll
see you later. I appreciate you. That didn't can happen
to anybody, So I didn't take nothing personal. I still
talk to the Glazers. I still talked to Jason like
I still talked to all my former teammates. I still
(20:58):
root for Tampa. I love Tampa. You know, it's a business.
And I started thinking, okay, and my first person has
happened to so I can't stay in Tampa the whole time.
Brooks didn't say, I mean, uh, lynch to stay in
Tampa the whole time. Run they did. Brooks did, but
not everybody did, you know what I'm saying. And then
you think about a person like Dan and he went
(21:19):
he was in Atlanta, then he stopped saying friend. Then
he went to uh Dallas and he had to stop
at Baltimore. That you know, guys, just around. That's just
what happens. It doesn't tarnish your legacy or the type
of player you are, you know, but that's just part
of the business. I always say, it's it's kind of
cool to um to experience another organization with customers, different place,
(21:39):
experience different places, because it's you know, nothing, nothing gets
the charges. Obviously I don't love my squad, but when
I went out to Buffalo, it was a whole different
situation as far as a fan base and the field.
It was just a different happens Like I got refreshed,
you know, a little bit from because you know, the
way out, it's it's always the chatter. It's it's like
you can never leave out just shaking hands. Everything cool.
It's always the little jabbing the stomach here, and you know,
(22:02):
just kind of it's always that little bit out the door.
So you walk into another organization, it's fresh. How was
it when you went to the Panthers, man, what how
was that different from from being in Tampa all them years?
The first difference was now I'm in the locker room,
sharing locker room with guys that I had to despise
on Sundays. You know, you're chasing around Cam Newton. You
(22:26):
don't like him, you know, ain't got no hard feelings
towards them, But I mean, he's your enemies. Ain't at
the visions. So you gotta on the way to not
like this guy. Twice a year you see Luke Keickley,
he's bawling, he's doing this thing. Man, Christoph McCaffrey's over there,
and you see these guys. But when you walk in
and you own your visit so you can see the facility,
(22:47):
you know, when you create that, you go on your visits,
and these guys are like welcoming you, like, bro, it's
about time you came over here. Then it's like, man,
this is we're just in the NFL. Man, that's not
really no hard feelings. We all one common goal. Man.
We all just want to win. That's it. We all
just want to win. And it was cool to be
around those guys, man. And you see a lot from
(23:10):
the outside looking in, Like when they went on their
run and he went fifteen to one, and they started
dabbing and taking all these pictures and stuff, and then
you get in the locker room and get to see, man,
I don't say this. We had a rough year. Last
year in Carolina, you know, we struggle, a lot of injuries,
Can went down, just a lot of stuff took place,
but the professionalism and guys just enjoying the job. It's
(23:34):
one of the funnest years I've ever had in my
entire time of being the NFL. And it's just a
testament just the guys in the locker room. Just a
lot of fun. Man, you build I built a lot
of friendships in that locker room and it was just
a joy to being around. Man Camus. I'm gonna say
this is about Ken whatever the media perception of him is,
(23:55):
whether he's ah, if he's uh, you know, he's a
diva or anything. And the magnitude man Cam is just
can But cam is one of the one of the
best guys you've ever been around. He's a great teammate,
great person, lends and helping hand the people get gifts
for the team and just done. He's just a really
good dude. Man. So I said the same thing. I
(24:16):
didn't play with him, but you know, I know cam
um just away from the game and uh hell, I
was even trying to poach them when before they drafted
just to her. But I was with the charges I
was talking to. I was talking to calm down that
uh we was that prime at at a Prime one twelve.
But the state joint out there and uh in Miami.
And you know, I got my whole crew over at
the table and I've seen him he back there about
(24:36):
two or three tables over. I get up, man. You know,
I'm I had his gay brother. Listen. You know, I
know you got a couple of place to go, but
you know we need you out there. And I known
Cam he's to go out and training. Uh he's just
training to San Diego to and you know, so I
always say it, man, he was. He was a great dude. Man.
You can always just get kind of get that good
(24:57):
vibe from him. And and once some people try to
kind of throw shade and say certain things, I'm like, na, man,
you listen all the clothes and fashion stuff that y'all see. Whatever. Man,
look this this is a good dude, a really good
dude at heart. And so so let me so let
me ask you. So you, um, you play there and
then you end up going to the Cowboys, and so
this is one thing I remember, and when you went
(25:19):
to the Cowboys, Um, well, I'll take it back to
when I got when I end up going to Buffalo,
I had a partially torn Achilles, like I already had
a little something there um and I think my killings
or maybe like thirty or forty on they knew that
they knew already. But it was like my first practice out,
my first real practice out, and I popped that sucker,
not fully, but like another fifteen or twenty and I
(25:41):
was done for the year. And like I had all
these expectations of going there, and people obviously knew who
I was coming into the locker room because of what
I've already did in the NFLS. You walk in the
locker room, maybe I know you are. Now I go
out there and I popped that sucker, and I'm sitting there, man,
I I can't even tell you what was going through
my head. I was like, God, damn, And I remember
you have been one of your practices out there with
(26:01):
the Cowboys. Yeah, yeah, what what what you almost? It's
like you just told my story that said when I'm
sitting back looking at it, I'm sitting back looking at it,
and I and I was, And that's when I think
I even reached out to you to make sure you
were straight. Um, because I just knew what that feeling
was like. Man. But what happened through that process the same.
You know, I'm telling you, just told my story. So
(26:22):
I go get my m R. I, and I'm gonna
say this, my I've been having horrible tender nights and
my nief about four or five years. I mean to
the point to where I can only drive for so long,
I can't sit with my knee bent for a long time,
you know, just bating none of it, which is what
(26:43):
I thought it was. Well, I go to give my
m R. I and and uh for Dallas, and Dr
Cooper says, hey, um, did y'all know his quatent and
is like fifty halfway towards And I'm like, my quarten
it's not torn like I've been playing with it. I mean,
it's I got ten of nice, but I've got numerous
(27:04):
in my eyes. And nobody said that my quatent is touring.
So d Cooper says, no, yeah, it's fift and there's
a chance that they could go and you may get
through the year, but I don't know if you're making
through the year. And you know, we talked about agent
talk with with Dallas, and we came to an agreement. Hey,
(27:24):
I'll sign this injury, Waver. Something happens to my quad,
It's okay to release me. No hard feelings. It's a business.
We gotta do. We gotta do. But we're gonna take
out the injury. Waver on this need when this particular injury.
And uh, I'm like, man, I just play sixteen, So
if it's it can't be that bad. You know. I'm working,
I work out off season, I get in great shape,
(27:46):
I'm running the lifting, I'm squatting heavy way, I'm doing
all this stuff. We do the two weeks acclimation period
that we had to do, and I go through to practices,
no pads, nothing, running um as much contact as we
can have. I mean, because it's training camp, you can
only do so much, like the first couple of days
or whatever. But we're going the first day of pads.
(28:11):
It was the third practice. I mean, we hadn't had
we was in the middle individuals. We hadn't had on
seven team running none of this stuff. We haven't done
none of this stuff. We're doing a basic drill in
individual and I'm giving a look, me being me like
I always always you know how you event, and when
guys have to give a look, you like Brooks, come on, man,
(28:32):
give a look. What y'all doing? I tell you, I
tell you all the time. I never asked people to
do stuff that I'm not willing to do. So when
we're just time to give a look, I always go
first and I let a coach tell me, g get
out of there. What are you doing? So I was
up there giving a look because as I'm giving a look,
I can help coach. I can help teach. That's what
they brought me there for. Ain't want about, you know,
(28:53):
to use my knowledge and health these young guys. So
I'm giving a look. As I'm giving a look, I'm saying, okay,
I can help help him him as he's doing this well,
um Antoine Woods goes. He goes to work a drill
and I stepped backwards in my quad. It felt like
he needed me in my quad. And I know, if
you look at the video, it looked like he hit
(29:15):
me really hard. He barely touched me. I don't even
know if he did touch me, but when I stepped back,
I just felt popped and it felt like we're not
knees and I'm like and I'm sitting here like rolling
on the ground like man, I said, jeez, I said,
I ain't never knock knees that hard, you know, like
anybody has ever had an injury, like a castle. It
(29:37):
feels like somebody kicked you, Like yeah, so um, it
felt like we knock knees and I'm like on the
ground and then I try and get I'm like, I'm good,
I'm good. I said, it's hurting, like I said, man,
I ain't never felt pay like this. I said, this
is really hurting. So I go to stand up and
(29:58):
they're like, hey, take your time, take your ti him like, no, no,
I don't want to lay on the ground because my
dad and my wife. My wife has a stick lit
about it, and my dad always told me, man, you
can get up, just get up and get you Yeah.
So I tried to hop up and I got up
and I'm like I can't really putting no weight on again.
So I let them help me walk a little bit
(30:19):
and I'm like, man, forget this, I don't even know
help walking. It's just a little you know whatever. I
go to take a step and I had I can't
like feel nothing in my leg. My leg literally just
gives out. Is it his knee? He was like yep.
He's like this is right knee and it and I
was like yeah. And he looked and he said, geraldn't
want you to making flex your quad And I was
(30:39):
like I am. He's like, no, I want you to
flex your must So I said I'm trying. I can't. Man.
You know, when you got that injury. That doctor when
he leaned over do that little whisper come on, said hey, Cooper,
tell you. I said, hey, don't do that, tell me
and he was like Gerald Gerald. They went the car,
(31:00):
it went man toward you, toward did you see did
you see it? Wrote? Did it roll up on you? Yeah?
When I went to try and flex it, there was
a big gap right there between my kneecap and my quad.
And I was like, man, like you know and it was.
It was tough. But at that moment, I knew what
my teammates didn't need me to see, didn't need to
(31:21):
see for me, is broken. If I'm gonna be broken,
I need to break when I get home when I'm vulnerable,
can be vulnerable around my family, and I needed them
to see if I'm blessing up to come back here.
If I do come back here, this is what you're getting.
You're getting You're getting a warrior. You're getting somebody that
(31:42):
it don't matter what what he's facing, he's always gonna
keep his head up. So that means, you know, if
this guy just toward his quadt man, he just toward
and he's already hyping us up, that means what stuff
get tough in the fourth quarter. We know we can
depend on him. And that's just that's the type of
person I am. So you know, I didn't really shared
no tears until I talked to my wife, until I've
(32:02):
seen my dad and all of that. But um, it
was tough, man, and it's been to like dealing with
injuries like this. I always told my dad, he said,
do You always told me, man, as long as your
legs are good, you can keep playing. Will your legs
go it's done? And I always prayed I never get
a leg injury. But this is where we get. The
(32:26):
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You know song and I would just say this because
I told I hurt my knee, but I felt like
I told my PCL and l C l UM. I
played the second half of my or two thousand seventh season.
But I never really had no big injuries before like
that in my life that I missed big time. Maybe
a week or two something like that here, but nothing
(35:18):
nothing serious. And then for like the first time ever,
because you always, you know, when you're young, you always
feel invincible, like you can't get hurt, you know, and
if you did get her, you can play through it
and everybody patting you on the back because you're a warrior.
And like that was the first time for me where
I was like, Okay, yeah, I gotta you know, I
gotta watch out because this thing could be done at
any given time. But I came back from the neat thing.
(35:40):
And but it gave me a different mentality. What what
what what happened If at any point your career you
had a couple of them, you know, the bicepisode you
can always come back from. That's not anything career wise,
But was there any point where you was like, man, huh,
I don't know, I don't know if I can come
back from this. And I'm not saying, you know, to
be negative about it, but it actually put some kind
out of fear and you're like, okay, this, yeah, I
(36:04):
hear you. And it didn't happen. It was didn't happen
like that. At this moment that my second boss sept here,
I prayed and I said, God, am I not supposed
to be doing this? Like am I supposed to be
doing something else? If I am, just reveal that to
me and I stopped, like I'm not gonna quit. But
that's back to back injuries, and at that time a
little doubt creeped in. And even if this injury, you know,
(36:26):
I'm thirty two years old, I'm a defensive lineman. I'm
going into I was going into my eleventh season. You know,
guys have played fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years, so it's not
like I don't have more left, but the same token
I've been playing football so seven years old. So you
at the end of your career and your need your
(36:48):
legs go out, your legs go And this injury is
not like an a c M or or a broken leg.
This is like the injury for for for people don't
know the injury that I have. It controls your knee flecture,
so people take it for granted being able to just
bend your knees. I have to learn how to bend
(37:09):
my knee all over again. Forget learned, forget building muscle
and and learning how to run and jump and all
this stuff again. I had to learn how to bend
my knee again, so I couldn't even bend my knee.
And what the tendant towards. It controls neeflecture, So now
I have to build up the muscles around the tending
(37:29):
so all the weight of my three hunder pound body
is not on just my tender. So it's a. It's
a It's not just like an A c L because
around the A c L is still good that tending.
You heal it, you learn how to cut and get
the strict you know, get the strength back and that
then you're good. But this quad tending, it controls a
lot man and attaches to the kneecap. You have to
(37:50):
sit for two before you can do anything, and then
at six you can't do really anything like real work
until six weeks because if you do anything too early,
attending can pop again. You gotta let it like basically
weld itself to the bone. Did they did they put
you in the hard cast? They put you in the
hard cast the whole time where you couldn't bend you
(38:10):
need it all for a certain period. Uh No, it
wasn't like hard cast, but it was pretty wrapped up.
It was verty wrapped up. I couldn't move and if
I wanted to bend it, I couldn't because you don't
know it. It gets so tight. You have to work
it until you can learn how to bend it again.
And plus I had a brave and crutches, and it's
been tough to get to where I'm at. But I'm
ahead of schedule. You know. I just posted today on
(38:32):
my Instagram I got a hyper barrick chamber I've been using.
I mean, I go five days. I go six days
a week for treatment. I do two days work days,
uh Region Day, which is today. I do two more
work days Thursday and Friday, and then I do another
Region Day Saturday. So I'm working around the clock, man,
and I'm feeling great. It's very, very tough to get
(38:54):
back from this injury. Though it's a lot tougher than
what I expected. But I'm built for this man nor person.
And it was funny, I m after my first injury,
I went out and bought that damn hyper baric chamber two.
I think I bought mind for around two grand And
I know people think that's a lot of money, but
not when you're trying to come back from these type
of injuries. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's an investment. Like
(39:17):
when a person and I know people say, like was
Lebron James, but it's not just Lebron James, you know,
and he says I spent a million dollars a year
on my body. It's like, you guys, all right, this
person is who we argue whether he's the gold or
Jordan's to go, whether it don't matter who you pick,
you're not before him. We wasn't arguing nothing. It was
(39:40):
like Kobe's the closest we've seen the Jordan. But we're
not gonna argue that he's better than Jordan's. We've never
seen anything like lebrona. So if a person of his
magnitude is saying I spend a million dollars a year
in my body, don't think that what you're seeing out
there on the court is just him showing up and
being working out. It's a lot more to make that
to take care of you. But so when a person
(40:02):
spends money on a hyper Barrick chamber, or they get
this machine and that machine, and it's an investment in yourself.
It's an investment into your career. You perform well, then
that that million dollars you're talking about, you get that back,
you know, so you gotta eat right and take it's
a It's an investment, man, And that's what I did.
And um, it wasn't cheap, like you said, it wasn't cheap,
(40:23):
but it's worth it, well worth hunted. So what's next, man,
What's what's on the agenda? So I know you guys
you're moving in it down in Texas, right, and then
have you talked to the fame yet and try to
figure out, like, you know, what's what's gonna be the
next moves your agents, if y'all, if you guys kind
of sat down yet and try to figure it out? Yeah,
we have, we have, man. We've been taking the slow
letting this season playout because it's new to the NFL's
(40:45):
new to everybody. Man. We lost a lot of people
from COVID and a lot of you know, just a
lot of it the rough of you last year that
everybody was working their way through. But we're getting somewhat
of a hold on it and kind of getting more
info about everything. So with knowing what we know, I've
sat down and talked to my agents, sat down and
talked to my wife, and we're just gonna play about
(41:06):
air Man. We're not gonna rush in the signing with anybody.
We're gonna see what suitors come and you know, see
what happens. But I'm definitely gonna play again. I man,
when I tell you, like when I tell you, I
was in some of the best shape I had ever
been in, Like, I was in really really good shape. Man.
I was ready to go. I was feeling good. I
(41:28):
was explosive. But this day, man, and I just felt
I had so much. You know, you go into some
seasons and you just got that feeling like, yeah, I'm
ready to rock. That's how I felt last year and
it just got derailed. But I didn't lose that fire.
So I have so much, Like it's just built up.
Like you gotta think if you go from the first
(41:50):
week in January and don't play football all the way
because you know he played football in the spring. You
get your O t A and you get your mini camps.
Well that got taken from us. So I didn't play
football all into training again. We missed the first weeks
in July, I mean the end of July, so we
all the way in August at this point, and then
I get to practices to play football that I've hurt again.
(42:12):
So it's like I ain't played and over a year
and a half, you know what I'm saying. So I
got so much built up fire that I need to
unleash on the field. I'm ready to go, man. And
the great thing about being able to buy this house
in Texas is I'm working on my post football. I've
been having a business meetings for stuff after football, um,
(42:33):
working with networks and doing a lot of different interviews
and stuff, and you know, we're just trying to map
out a plan for what's next. But right now it's football,
and I will be ready. If I needed to pass
a physical right now, I could, but I wouldn't be
able to play football right now, you know. But we're
not gonna rush in and gonna take our time and
signed with who we need to sign within and and
(42:56):
let this stay rouy that that's dope, bro Um. I
can tell you right now, I know that there's thirty
two teams that that need you know, you in that
locker room with your voice and your presence and grabbing
these young boys man, because you know a lot of
these cats, man especially, they got these teams that are
super young, talented teams. They're missing that they're missing that
(43:17):
guy in the locker room. I'll tell you I talked
about all the time if I didn't have a Jamal
Williams or Randall Godfrey and Donnie Edwards. Um. You know
these guys when I walked in the locker room, man,
they just really Lorenz O'Neil who just set the tone
for me. And I said, okay, lt that's how you
do it. Okay, cool, That's that's what I'm gonna do.
So I know it's thirty two teams out there, Man,
(43:39):
it's gonna need you in there. And uh, I can't
wait to see you. Bro. I gotta get out there
and we gotta get a workout in with Todd. You know, Todd,
I'm every every time I'm working out or something like that,
I'll get a d M or text from Todd and someone.
You know, I can't hang I can't hang him. I said,
all right, man, come down and I can still get it. Hey, man,
I'll be peeping you and checking you out. Man, I'm
(44:00):
my wife and I you know the pandemic. Uh. You
sit around and you just get you. You get into
stuff you like to start, like certain stuff like we
were watching a lot of little boxing and stuff like that.
But I always I started to get more into the
M M A and UFC, and you know, I started
letting my wife watch some fikes. Now it's like we
don't miss nothing. We don't want we don't miss any
(44:20):
of We watch them all. We I watched training videos,
I watch interviews. We always she always tell me, hey,
it's a fight on a fight now, you know, we
just we stay into it. So we're seeing you after
doing the trainer. It's like, man, that ain't no easy training.
So I know, I know, man, like that's a that's
a that's some serious trainer. Man. No, I can still
(44:41):
get it, mad. I'm I'm gonna get my ass down
there and uh and gets working with y'all. When when
you head back out to the west, coast. Yes, sir,
I'll be out there around March aprilage, so I'll be
out there. Hey, let's do it. Let's do it, my dude. Man,
I appreciate you as always. Man, hell up, I can't
wait to see you back there killing. Thanks all right, Like,
appreciate it, bro, all right, my bro, you got it.
(45:03):
Thanks guys for tuning in once again with another lights
Out podcast with me Shawn Merriman. And uh that was
cool because uh a few different reasons. So we we
talked about the guys he played with, um, the cultures
of the locker room, and who he looked up to
walking in. Also we played with some of my former
teammates and then going to US robbery leaving Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
(45:25):
going to the Carolina Panthers and uh trying to you know,
figure guys out there, and uh talk a little bit
about Cam Newton and just some of the guys he
had in the locked room and then his way on
back from to full health. And there's nothing like you know,
having big injuries, because they do something for your building adversity, Um,
you know, build character and you just find ways to
(45:47):
bounce back from everything. Man, Like I said, before this.
Dude is an ultimate warrior in life, always the best attitude.
And uh, I say he got at least another three
or four more years left to play. And uh whatever
organization picked us eye up is going to be happy
at hell that happened there because he's ultimate leader. So
appreciate gerref coming on it. I appreciate you guys for
(46:08):
tuning in again and leaving these great reviews. Man Um,
you know we I see the downloads and I see
the reviews. Guys. Lead manages just keeps me going. It
keeps me fired up and keep me firing up all
the guests we have. So we'll be back next week
with another lights out podcast. Keep subscribing, keep leaving those
great reviews, and we'll keep heating up. Thanks. I'm John Gonzalez,
(46:35):
the host of s i s new podcast, Sports Illustrated Weekly.
Sports Illustrated has delivered some of the best storytelling in
sports for seventy years, and now that continues. On our show.
Each week, we'll dive deep into the best stories from
around the sports world. Sports Illustrated Weekly is available every
Wednesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(46:56):
wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now. Hi everybody, I'm
Rachel Banetta and I have my very own podcast called
Bench with Banetta. You kidding me? I'm just here so
I won't get fine. Every week, I'm gonna be talking
about all the things I find fascinating about the NFL.
(47:17):
And I'm doing something that has never been done before.
I'm opening my d m s. D MS now open,
listen every Tuesday and join me on the Bench. Subscribe
now and listen to the Bench with Banetta podcast on
the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(47:37):
you get your podcasts. Look for your children's eyes and
you will discover the true magic of a forest. Find
a forest near you and start exploring it. Discover the
forest dot org, brought to you by the United States
Forest Service and the AD Council.
What girls in the forest, our imagination and our family bonds.
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
near you and discover the fourth dot Org brought to
you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
Hi everybody, I'm Rachel Banetta and I have my very
own podcast called Bench with Banetta. You get mad, I'm
(00:23):
just here so I won't get fine. Every week I'm
gonna be talking about all the things I find fascinating
about the NFL. And I'm doing something that has never
been done before. I'm opening my d m s. D
MS now open, listen every Tuesday and join me on
the Bench. Subscribe now and listen to the Bench with
(00:45):
Banetta podcast on the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Look for your children's
eyes and you will discover the true magic of a forest.
Find a forest near you and start a exploring and
discovered the forest dot Oregon. Brought to you by the
United States Forest Service and the ACT Council. Are you
(01:08):
ready for this? Sean Merriman A one hand effack boom
boom boom out Go to light. This is lights Out
with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys. We're back again with
another Lights Out podcast with me, Sean Merriman and uh
got Gerald McCoy man UM, longtime Tampa Bay buccaneer, one
(01:32):
of the staples in the locker room. Just all around
leader and just there's somebody that that you want in there,
especially when you got a young team. Um, we talk
a lot about it. We're gonna be talking a lot
about injuries and um him bouncing back. We got a
lot of similarities to man and having some back to
back injuries and trying to figure it out. Man. But
this dude as a warrior, UM, just an artimate leader
(01:55):
and I always used to watch him. We had our
mutual trainer in San Diego, all Durkin UH Fitness Quest
used to work doing the all seasons. And you watch
a lot of these guys on the field, UM, and
you know that there bets you see him making plays,
but you never get a chance to see him during
the all season. And I remember going to work out
down to San Diego. It's probably uh maybe a little
bit after I retired in two thousand thirteen, two thousand fourteen,
(02:18):
somewhere around there, and I saw Gerald McCoy working. I said, Okay,
now I see why he's doing what he's doing Sundays
because this dude he loves to work. So um, great
conversation coming up here, Gerald McCoy, Gerald was up Gonad
He you doing? What's happening? I'm great? What I know?
We talked the other day. You were down in Texas.
(02:38):
But what part where are you at now? I mean, uh,
I'm living in McKinney, but I'm training in Frisco. Uh
not far from the Star so but I actually just
bought a house in rock Wall. So, um, my wife
and whenever I do return, were playing on living in
Dallas anyway, so we just is win the head since
(03:00):
we was already down here, just started the process that
way what I do retire, we are you know, we
ain't gotta do all that. Afterwards, were just what I'm doing,
I'm done. We got a house and we're good to do.
I was. I was just down in Uh, I was
just down in Dallas and Frisco too, because it's a
big one of my partners out he's he's big in tech.
But that whole tech, the whole area down there as
(03:21):
far as tech man is booming like crazy. I don't
know if you knew that or not. No, I didn't.
I didn't. I just know. Uh, this uh, Fristco area,
there's a lot of areas around is being built up,
the prosper area of Frisco. Uh, they're building up Walkwall
Heath area where I'm living. Everything starting to be built up.
(03:42):
I know a lot of people. You know, you think
about like the suburb, I guess type area you're thinking,
like South Lake or west Lake. Yep. But the Frisco
area is building up a lot. Man like Kenny playing
on all them areas and building up big, real fast.
I swear every time I come down and I got
to head back down to the Dallas and Frisco in
(04:03):
a few more weeks. Every time I get down there,
the first thing I always tell myself is I can
live down here. Probably not now, like right now, because
I'm still I move around too much, but definitely at
some point. So what what brought you down there? I
know you, I knew you grew up in Oklahoma, right,
you grew up Oklahoma. So is that what kind of
brought you there? Yeah? Well it's such a great place man,
Like you know you drive you live in Oklahoma? You
(04:23):
drive up to Dallas to such an easy driver this
two and a half hours to get down here, and
then you know a lot of different things than when
I signed the Cowboys. Uh. We kind of decided we
was kind of in between because my son went to OU.
So it was like, I'm going to Dallas, he's going
to Oh you should we make the move now so
we're gonna be close to him. Should I keep everybody
(04:45):
in Florida or I don't know. Then we asked my daughter,
who was going into high school, do you want to
finish high school in Florida or you want to go
to Texas. She was like, now, I want to go
to Texas. I wanna be around my family. So we
made the move. See, you know that's crazy because so
I grew up in Maryland and Washington D C. Area,
and I got when I got drafted by the charges,
(05:06):
like I just and I love home. I go back
all the time. All my family is still back in
Maryland and Washington D C. Area. But I can't move.
I can't live back there. I don't think I can
never live back there a full time. And so I'm
I'm hooked on on on California. Either southern California or
somewhere around se Ago because that's home. So you but
you played in Tampa for for nine years, so like,
(05:27):
how how how much time are you gonna go back
and spend there. I'm gonna say I'm always being Tampa. Man.
We kept our house there. You know, my son was
just there. They had to break after the Cotton Bowl.
He went back. He was there for two and a
half weeks, and then I'm gonna go back. That's where
I'm gonna train. You know that Tampa that's Florida heat
or something different. Oh man, it's special that Oh my god. Yeah,
(05:48):
whenever I started training and really getting ready for the season,
because what it sounded like is we're gonna have the
same offseason we had last time, the Zoom meetings and
all of that jazz. So I'm gonna have a lot
of time and just work out. So when I actually
get clear to just work out, workout, I'm gonna Florida.
I'm not gonna be I'm gonna actually be in San
Diego working out with Todd Um when I get clear
(06:11):
at first, but then when it's training camp start coming up,
I'm being Florida working out. So We're gonna be going
back there a lot. It's just so much to do.
It's an hour from more Lando. There's so much doing
on Lando. Instead of having to come back and find
the hotel and do all this, we just kept our house.
My kids basically grew up there, so it's a great place.
It's a big, big shout out, big shout out to
(06:33):
our guy, Todd dirkin Man in San Diego, one of
the best trainers. Um and I you, dude, I used
to see you working out all the time during the
all sheets when I when I go back there and
you know, you see a lot of cats on the field, man.
You know, you see guys bawling, but you don't never
get a chance of seeing o the patch. And I
saw you working. I said, oh man, this dude special.
You know what I'm saying, because I was kind of
(06:54):
looking at it from the outside in and I saw
it on the field. But then you you you kind
of see what what what guys do off of it
and then that preparation and who they're working too with
two man, Because um, I started working out with Todd
back when I was in San Diego during the all
season with you know me Drew Brees, Um Darren Spros.
You know, well, we'll go out there and we'll work. Man.
(07:15):
So how much time you spending with with Todd and
I know he's his specialty, is really getting you back, Hunter,
because I know after my injuries, I want to go
spend a lot of time with him. So you're working
with him out, you know, outside of the injuries. Absolutely, absolutely,
that's what That's what I'm uh, that's why I'm going back.
You know. I told my wife when I got injured,
and I said, when it when I started, when I
(07:36):
get healthy enough, she gave me that look like going
to see Todd. Ain't you like you already know it?
I see, I gotta go see the man. And I
was blessed enough to be able to go out there
after my first injury my rookie year. I told my
boxep tender and I went out to San Diego to
a fitness quest tin and I met Todd and and
(07:59):
he put me around Drew Brees and and Deren s
FROs and people of their magnitude. And I'm sitting there
watching these guys training. I realized, Man, I like to
work out, but these guys love it. And until unless
I get to that point, I'm not gonna ever be
where I want to be. And somebody, a smart man
(08:20):
told me, a wise man told me, if you want
to do better, you gotta put yourself around people who
are doing better than you. So don't be around people
that are, I don't want to say beneaths, but are
not doing as good. You can have family and friends
like that, but in order to make yourself better, you
gotta surround yourself for people that's doing better than you.
(08:42):
And that's what I did every time I got to
San Diego. I mean, you're thinking the names of Drew
Brees and Darren Spros. He's a Super Bowl champions, he's
a future Hall of Famers, And to watch how these
guys work and to put myself around those guys, those
guys are a lot quicker than me, a lot faster
than me. So having to keep up with the of
Americ conditioning, and it didn't never to make me better
on the field. And so I want to go back,
(09:05):
man um, So you had to. You had your first
biset injury that was what a like a three to
six month deal or something like that right somewhere around there,
and that happened. I think what in the middle two
thousand and ten or two thousand eleven, right, it was
that was my second when my first one was at
the end of it was week right in my rookie year,
(09:26):
and then my second one was in twenty eleven. It
was the middle season in twenty eleven. Yes, so I
did it twice. I did my right army and my
left arm. But it's crazy, man, because any time I
bring up your name and I'm talking about guys with
so much damn respect around the league, and you know,
your name constantly come up, um, even even when you
just had the latest injury. I just you know, just
seeing all your former teammates and all this stuff, man,
(09:47):
And how does how does that happen? You know what
I'm saying? That is it? Do you just kind of
walk in in the locker room and you know, I
always I knew that you always come in a lot
of respects for guys. But was it you've been vote
cool when you came in or you just showing guy's
ropes by working? It was a little of both. I
believe guys have to see you don't ever ask people
(10:08):
to do stuff you're not willing to do so when
you go to guys saying, hey, I know this works.
This is how I've had so much success, Guys who
have done it before me and have showed me this.
I see it work with them. I try it works
for me, and then you do it first. Once they
see you do it and it works, then they're more
willing to learn. And for me, it's not even a uh,
(10:30):
let me show you, I know this works. It's more
of a hey, listen, man, I want us all to
be successful. I'm not the only person who's worked his
entire life to make to the NFL and wants to
be great while they're here. I believe that's why we're
all here. For whatever reason. You want to be the
best at what you do, for whatever reason. Everybody has
their why. But to me, all I wanna do is
(10:52):
do my best to help anybody I can. So if
I see I can lend the help and hand, that's
what I do. And it goes from doing it into
being more vocal. And once you become more vocal and
you're doing it that partners and guys are like, man,
this guy will leader and I could follow him because
he's being a true example. He not just all talk.
He's walking in And that's why I was blessing up
(11:13):
to go to Carolina last year and become a captain
because I came in with my name. But then once
they see how it worked and then it wasn't just
a name and I earned their respect, then that's where
guys start to you know, it's kind of like word
of mouth man, Like this guy is like the real deal.
You know, he's not just all talk, and he's about
his business. He's gonna have fun and play, but he's
(11:35):
about his business. And now we can see why he's
so successful and you right doing so. And I was
just thinking that right now when you guys, when you
came in, it was what ten, two thousand and ten,
right going into the two thousand a year. Yeah, you guys,
y'all had some dogs. Y'all had some dogs in that team.
But some of those years never reflected. And I always
(11:56):
tell people that's when I went to Buffalo and their
record was on that great. But I'm looking around. You
got Fred Jackson and Stevie Johnson and Williams. You know,
you got some of these dogs in the field, but
their record never reflected. You guys had some dogs down
in Tampa man around that time, and of course we
don't have to Yeah, yes, who wasn't when you walked
in the locker room and he was like, oh damn,
(12:17):
I'm I'm here, like the first person you've seen, the
first the first person he knew before and then, which
was Davin Joseph. He was an officer Lomon from Oklahoma,
all American Guard had made a couple of probos in Tampa,
and he just demanded so much respect on top of
the fact that he's just a large human. He just
demanded so much respect from how he carried himself, the
(12:40):
professional he was. And then when you get a field,
you got you get to see guys moving around. And
once you get to see guys moving around, see the
thing is Tampa was so young man. We were all young.
That's why Rockny Morris and my second year came up
with the term young greed because we were young guys.
We was hungry man. We had just went ten and
six and we had a lot of guys come through
(13:01):
my time and and a lot of these guys went
on the win championships. Michael Bennett, he was there when
I was there, played three years with Michael Bennet, he
went on the Seattle and deal he did to keep
the leaves with me. He went on to did what
he did Lagarret Blunt, he went on to win three championships.
I mean, I can keep naming these names. Well, I
got to play with Reevers, I got to play with
Vincent Jackson. You know v Jackson, play with Vincent Jackson.
(13:24):
You know, Mike Emmonson is still there, Lavante, David and Studd.
I've seen so many people come through and you know,
like State that Claim and Tampa and it just didn't
paying out. Man. But we had some guys, guys that
went on and contributed big time to Super Bowl teams,
and uh, we just couldn't put it together. Man. So
so let me think I was just about to know.
(13:45):
Was my next question. What do you think the difference
is now? I mean, obviously Tom Brady has gone, and
I don't want to throw no shade of Tom. I think,
you know, now he's obviously the goal he's the greatest
quarterback of all time. But there was there was a
lot of that core that was still there right but
before he came down and some of them, some of
those guys, you know, from that locker room. What was
the difference other than other than the quarterback position. Do
(14:07):
you think it was a culture change from back when
you were playing there and what it is now. Honestly,
I don't. I don't believe that's what it was. Like
you said, we always had those guys, We always had
the core. Um. I believe coaching was a big part
of it. They got a new coaching staff. If you noticed,
once the coaching switch came in, Tampa had a solid
(14:28):
core last year. Like I always say, Um, like you said, no,
shade the time ready, he is who he is, so
we're not knocking him. But he also went to a
team and the quarterback had thirty five turnoeners. That makes sense,
and James is like my little brother, but reality's reality.
He had thirty five turnovers. So and they still won
(14:49):
seven games. If Jamis takes care of the ball. Just
let's cut that at half. Let's make that instead of
thirty five, let's just cut it down the fifteen. Let's
just say seven team. Let's say seven. That's probably three
more wins and they make the playoffs. So that team
was already really good. And I believe that, you know,
Bruce arians came in, and to Bows came in and
(15:10):
they put in new systems and top those defense. He's
had great defenses everywhere he's went. So partner that with guy.
They brought in the right guys. You know, you plug
the right people. You find these gyms. You know, you
go get a Shack Barrett who he played behind the
Marcus ware and in von Miller in Denver. But when
he came in he always made splash plays. So they
bring him in and say, let's see what he can
(15:32):
do if we're get him a starting role, and he
gave you nineteen sacks. You have a stablished winner in
JPP who's won the Super Bowl before, he's led at
the league in Sax. You got your Lavonte Davis, and
then you got your young bulls like you're Devin White,
You're Carlton Davis. Is they got it. They had a
great core. Your Vita Vys, William Gholston, well, don't get
enough creative. Will has been around. This is twin thirteen
(15:53):
and he's just one of those role graders, you know,
those guys that just keep fighting and keep fighting. You
just had a great core. Not mentioned the Office of Whippers,
and I believe they just put it together. And if
you bring in a guy with the right mindset like
Tom Brady, that teach them how to really win. Hey,
we're gonna check our egos at the door. We're not
gonna worry about stats. We're gonna I'm gonna give it
(16:15):
to the open man, and we're gonna do what it's
takes to win. We're gonna live with these penalties and
let's see what happens. And they am a super Bowl.
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(17:23):
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(17:44):
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(18:07):
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subscribe now, you know, So we just talked about you
being like respected by everybody we've seen when you went
to the Panthers, even what the Cowboys me respected that too.
(18:29):
Did you did you think that you were probably gonna
finish up your career with them? Was that like the
goal for you? Where you said, you know what, this
is where I met and normally in my course of
time and watching people around, the guys is most respected
on the team organization. Those are guys that are lifers, right.
I mean, we know it's the business, get traded, cut wave,
all that other stuff, but it was your expectations. Was
(18:51):
the people the team for your entire career? Yeah? Yeah,
I want to stay with Tampa and all the fans
out there. You know, they took it as a slight
and when I lived and sometimes people have to not
Sometimes people need to understand this. They football is just
that it is a game. When you come into the NFL,
(19:11):
it's still a game, but now becomes a business. It's
a business game. And when it becomes a business, people
do whatever they can to keep the business afloat, to
make the most money out of the business, and in
business sometimes there's disagreements, sometimes there's tensions, and just because
it's not always in the media doesn't mean it doesn't
(19:32):
take place. There was just some disagreements, some stuff where
we couldn't get on the same page while I was
in Tampa, and it was starting to spill over into
my outside life and my my family, and my outside
life is way bigger than any sport I ever played.
So I had to do what I had to do.
We you know, figured out and came to a conclusion, Hey,
(19:53):
this is what we're gonna do. No love, loss, We're
gonna move on, and whatever happens happens. But the love
is always The plan was to always be in Tampa.
I never want to. I grew up a Tampa Bay fan.
I was blessing enough to get drafted there. The year
I resigned my new contract, we went to and fourteen.
So if you don't think the purchase committed to a
team after you're going to and fourteen, then I don't.
(20:16):
I don't see what else you need to see. If
you got an opportunity to leave a two and fourteen
team and you say no, I want build it, that's
the true commitment. So yeah, I want to uh stay
in Tampa. But also in twelve, uh the off season
of twelve, seeing that the Indianapolis coach told pay Manning,
(20:37):
we appreciate what you did, but we'll see you later.
It was at that moment I said, this is a business.
If if, if the Coats can telp pay Manning, we'll
see you later. I appreciate you. That didn't can happen
to anybody, So I didn't take nothing personal. I still
talk to the Glazers. I still talked to Jason like
I still talked to all my former teammates. I still
(20:58):
root for Tampa. I love Tampa. You know, it's a business.
And I started thinking, okay, and my first person has
happened to so I can't stay in Tampa the whole time.
Brooks didn't say, I mean, uh, lynch to stay in
Tampa the whole time. Run they did. Brooks did, but
not everybody did, you know what I'm saying. And then
you think about a person like Dan and he went
(21:19):
he was in Atlanta, then he stopped saying friend. Then
he went to uh Dallas and he had to stop
at Baltimore. That you know, guys, just around. That's just
what happens. It doesn't tarnish your legacy or the type
of player you are, you know, but that's just part
of the business. I always say, it's it's kind of
cool to um to experience another organization with customers, different place,
(21:39):
experience different places, because it's you know, nothing, nothing gets
the charges. Obviously I don't love my squad, but when
I went out to Buffalo, it was a whole different
situation as far as a fan base and the field.
It was just a different happens Like I got refreshed,
you know, a little bit from because you know, the
way out, it's it's always the chatter. It's it's like
you can never leave out just shaking hands. Everything cool.
It's always the little jabbing the stomach here, and you know,
(22:02):
just kind of it's always that little bit out the door.
So you walk into another organization, it's fresh. How was
it when you went to the Panthers, man, what how
was that different from from being in Tampa all them years?
The first difference was now I'm in the locker room,
sharing locker room with guys that I had to despise
on Sundays. You know, you're chasing around Cam Newton. You
(22:26):
don't like him, you know, ain't got no hard feelings
towards them, But I mean, he's your enemies. Ain't at
the visions. So you gotta on the way to not
like this guy. Twice a year you see Luke Keickley,
he's bawling, he's doing this thing. Man, Christoph McCaffrey's over there,
and you see these guys. But when you walk in
and you own your visit so you can see the facility,
(22:47):
you know, when you create that, you go on your visits,
and these guys are like welcoming you, like, bro, it's
about time you came over here. Then it's like, man,
this is we're just in the NFL. Man, that's not
really no hard feelings. We all one common goal. Man.
We all just want to win. That's it. We all
just want to win. And it was cool to be
around those guys, man. And you see a lot from
(23:10):
the outside looking in, Like when they went on their
run and he went fifteen to one, and they started
dabbing and taking all these pictures and stuff, and then
you get in the locker room and get to see, man,
I don't say this. We had a rough year. Last
year in Carolina, you know, we struggle, a lot of injuries,
Can went down, just a lot of stuff took place,
but the professionalism and guys just enjoying the job. It's
(23:34):
one of the funnest years I've ever had in my
entire time of being the NFL. And it's just a
testament just the guys in the locker room. Just a
lot of fun. Man, you build I built a lot
of friendships in that locker room and it was just
a joy to being around. Man Camus. I'm gonna say
this is about Ken whatever the media perception of him is,
(23:55):
whether he's ah, if he's uh, you know, he's a
diva or anything. And the magnitude man Cam is just
can But cam is one of the one of the
best guys you've ever been around. He's a great teammate,
great person, lends and helping hand the people get gifts
for the team and just done. He's just a really
good dude. Man. So I said the same thing. I
(24:16):
didn't play with him, but you know, I know cam
um just away from the game and uh hell, I
was even trying to poach them when before they drafted
just to her. But I was with the charges I
was talking to. I was talking to calm down that
uh we was that prime at at a Prime one twelve.
But the state joint out there and uh in Miami.
And you know, I got my whole crew over at
the table and I've seen him he back there about
(24:36):
two or three tables over. I get up, man. You know,
I'm I had his gay brother. Listen. You know, I
know you got a couple of place to go, but
you know we need you out there. And I known
Cam he's to go out and training. Uh he's just
training to San Diego to and you know, so I
always say it, man, he was. He was a great dude. Man.
You can always just get kind of get that good
(24:57):
vibe from him. And and once some people try to
kind of throw shade and say certain things, I'm like, na, man,
you listen all the clothes and fashion stuff that y'all see. Whatever. Man,
look this this is a good dude, a really good
dude at heart. And so so let me so let
me ask you. So you, um, you play there and
then you end up going to the Cowboys, and so
this is one thing I remember, and when you went
(25:19):
to the Cowboys, Um, well, I'll take it back to
when I got when I end up going to Buffalo,
I had a partially torn Achilles, like I already had
a little something there um and I think my killings
or maybe like thirty or forty on they knew that
they knew already. But it was like my first practice out,
my first real practice out, and I popped that sucker,
not fully, but like another fifteen or twenty and I
(25:41):
was done for the year. And like I had all
these expectations of going there, and people obviously knew who
I was coming into the locker room because of what
I've already did in the NFLS. You walk in the
locker room, maybe I know you are. Now I go
out there and I popped that sucker, and I'm sitting there, man,
I I can't even tell you what was going through
my head. I was like, God, damn, And I remember
you have been one of your practices out there with
(26:01):
the Cowboys. Yeah, yeah, what what what you almost? It's
like you just told my story that said when I'm
sitting back looking at it, I'm sitting back looking at it,
and I and I was, And that's when I think
I even reached out to you to make sure you
were straight. Um, because I just knew what that feeling
was like. Man. But what happened through that process the same.
You know, I'm telling you, just told my story. So
(26:22):
I go get my m R. I, and I'm gonna
say this, my I've been having horrible tender nights and
my nief about four or five years. I mean to
the point to where I can only drive for so long,
I can't sit with my knee bent for a long time,
you know, just bating none of it, which is what
(26:43):
I thought it was. Well, I go to give my
m R. I and and uh for Dallas, and Dr
Cooper says, hey, um, did y'all know his quatent and
is like fifty halfway towards And I'm like, my quarten
it's not torn like I've been playing with it. I mean,
it's I got ten of nice, but I've got numerous
(27:04):
in my eyes. And nobody said that my quatent is touring.
So d Cooper says, no, yeah, it's fift and there's
a chance that they could go and you may get
through the year, but I don't know if you're making
through the year. And you know, we talked about agent
talk with with Dallas, and we came to an agreement. Hey,
(27:24):
I'll sign this injury, Waver. Something happens to my quad,
It's okay to release me. No hard feelings. It's a business.
We gotta do. We gotta do. But we're gonna take
out the injury. Waver on this need when this particular injury.
And uh, I'm like, man, I just play sixteen, So
if it's it can't be that bad. You know. I'm working,
I work out off season, I get in great shape,
(27:46):
I'm running the lifting, I'm squatting heavy way, I'm doing
all this stuff. We do the two weeks acclimation period
that we had to do, and I go through to practices,
no pads, nothing, running um as much contact as we
can have. I mean, because it's training camp, you can
only do so much, like the first couple of days
or whatever. But we're going the first day of pads.
(28:11):
It was the third practice. I mean, we hadn't had
we was in the middle individuals. We hadn't had on
seven team running none of this stuff. We haven't done
none of this stuff. We're doing a basic drill in
individual and I'm giving a look, me being me like
I always always you know how you event, and when
guys have to give a look, you like Brooks, come on, man,
(28:32):
give a look. What y'all doing? I tell you, I
tell you all the time. I never asked people to
do stuff that I'm not willing to do. So when
we're just time to give a look, I always go
first and I let a coach tell me, g get
out of there. What are you doing? So I was
up there giving a look because as I'm giving a look,
I can help coach. I can help teach. That's what
they brought me there for. Ain't want about, you know,
(28:53):
to use my knowledge and health these young guys. So
I'm giving a look. As I'm giving a look, I'm saying, okay,
I can help help him him as he's doing this well,
um Antoine Woods goes. He goes to work a drill
and I stepped backwards in my quad. It felt like
he needed me in my quad. And I know, if
you look at the video, it looked like he hit
(29:15):
me really hard. He barely touched me. I don't even
know if he did touch me, but when I stepped back,
I just felt popped and it felt like we're not
knees and I'm like and I'm sitting here like rolling
on the ground like man, I said, jeez, I said,
I ain't never knock knees that hard, you know, like
anybody has ever had an injury, like a castle. It
(29:37):
feels like somebody kicked you, Like yeah, so um, it
felt like we knock knees and I'm like on the
ground and then I try and get I'm like, I'm good,
I'm good. I said, it's hurting, like I said, man,
I ain't never felt pay like this. I said, this
is really hurting. So I go to stand up and
(29:58):
they're like, hey, take your time, take your ti him like, no, no,
I don't want to lay on the ground because my
dad and my wife. My wife has a stick lit
about it, and my dad always told me, man, you
can get up, just get up and get you Yeah.
So I tried to hop up and I got up
and I'm like I can't really putting no weight on again.
So I let them help me walk a little bit
(30:19):
and I'm like, man, forget this, I don't even know
help walking. It's just a little you know whatever. I
go to take a step and I had I can't
like feel nothing in my leg. My leg literally just
gives out. Is it his knee? He was like yep.
He's like this is right knee and it and I
was like yeah. And he looked and he said, geraldn't
want you to making flex your quad And I was
(30:39):
like I am. He's like, no, I want you to
flex your must So I said I'm trying. I can't. Man.
You know, when you got that injury. That doctor when
he leaned over do that little whisper come on, said hey, Cooper,
tell you. I said, hey, don't do that, tell me
and he was like Gerald Gerald. They went the car,
(31:00):
it went man toward you, toward did you see did
you see it? Wrote? Did it roll up on you? Yeah?
When I went to try and flex it, there was
a big gap right there between my kneecap and my quad.
And I was like, man, like you know and it was.
It was tough. But at that moment, I knew what
my teammates didn't need me to see, didn't need to
(31:21):
see for me, is broken. If I'm gonna be broken,
I need to break when I get home when I'm vulnerable,
can be vulnerable around my family, and I needed them
to see if I'm blessing up to come back here.
If I do come back here, this is what you're getting.
You're getting You're getting a warrior. You're getting somebody that
(31:42):
it don't matter what what he's facing, he's always gonna
keep his head up. So that means, you know, if
this guy just toward his quadt man, he just toward
and he's already hyping us up, that means what stuff
get tough in the fourth quarter. We know we can
depend on him. And that's just that's the type of
person I am. So you know, I didn't really shared
no tears until I talked to my wife, until I've
(32:02):
seen my dad and all of that. But um, it
was tough, man, and it's been to like dealing with
injuries like this. I always told my dad, he said,
do You always told me, man, as long as your
legs are good, you can keep playing. Will your legs
go it's done? And I always prayed I never get
a leg injury. But this is where we get. The
(32:26):
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You know song and I would just say this because
I told I hurt my knee, but I felt like
I told my PCL and l C l UM. I
played the second half of my or two thousand seventh season.
But I never really had no big injuries before like
that in my life that I missed big time. Maybe
a week or two something like that here, but nothing
(35:18):
nothing serious. And then for like the first time ever,
because you always, you know, when you're young, you always
feel invincible, like you can't get hurt, you know, and
if you did get her, you can play through it
and everybody patting you on the back because you're a warrior.
And like that was the first time for me where
I was like, Okay, yeah, I gotta you know, I
gotta watch out because this thing could be done at
any given time. But I came back from the neat thing.
(35:40):
And but it gave me a different mentality. What what
what what happened If at any point your career you
had a couple of them, you know, the bicepisode you
can always come back from. That's not anything career wise,
But was there any point where you was like, man, huh,
I don't know, I don't know if I can come
back from this. And I'm not saying, you know, to
be negative about it, but it actually put some kind
out of fear and you're like, okay, this, yeah, I
(36:04):
hear you. And it didn't happen. It was didn't happen
like that. At this moment that my second boss sept here,
I prayed and I said, God, am I not supposed
to be doing this? Like am I supposed to be
doing something else? If I am, just reveal that to
me and I stopped, like I'm not gonna quit. But
that's back to back injuries, and at that time a
little doubt creeped in. And even if this injury, you know,
(36:26):
I'm thirty two years old, I'm a defensive lineman. I'm
going into I was going into my eleventh season. You know,
guys have played fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years, so it's not
like I don't have more left, but the same token
I've been playing football so seven years old. So you
at the end of your career and your need your
(36:48):
legs go out, your legs go And this injury is
not like an a c M or or a broken leg.
This is like the injury for for for people don't
know the injury that I have. It controls your knee flecture,
so people take it for granted being able to just
bend your knees. I have to learn how to bend
(37:09):
my knee all over again. Forget learned, forget building muscle
and and learning how to run and jump and all
this stuff again. I had to learn how to bend
my knee again, so I couldn't even bend my knee.
And what the tendant towards. It controls neeflecture, So now
I have to build up the muscles around the tending
(37:29):
so all the weight of my three hunder pound body
is not on just my tender. So it's a. It's
a It's not just like an A c L because
around the A c L is still good that tending.
You heal it, you learn how to cut and get
the strict you know, get the strength back and that
then you're good. But this quad tending, it controls a
lot man and attaches to the kneecap. You have to
(37:50):
sit for two before you can do anything, and then
at six you can't do really anything like real work
until six weeks because if you do anything too early,
attending can pop again. You gotta let it like basically
weld itself to the bone. Did they did they put
you in the hard cast? They put you in the
hard cast the whole time where you couldn't bend you
(38:10):
need it all for a certain period. Uh No, it
wasn't like hard cast, but it was pretty wrapped up.
It was verty wrapped up. I couldn't move and if
I wanted to bend it, I couldn't because you don't
know it. It gets so tight. You have to work
it until you can learn how to bend it again.
And plus I had a brave and crutches, and it's
been tough to get to where I'm at. But I'm
ahead of schedule. You know. I just posted today on
(38:32):
my Instagram I got a hyper barrick chamber I've been using.
I mean, I go five days. I go six days
a week for treatment. I do two days work days,
uh Region Day, which is today. I do two more
work days Thursday and Friday, and then I do another
Region Day Saturday. So I'm working around the clock, man,
and I'm feeling great. It's very, very tough to get
(38:54):
back from this injury. Though it's a lot tougher than
what I expected. But I'm built for this man nor person.
And it was funny, I m after my first injury,
I went out and bought that damn hyper baric chamber two.
I think I bought mind for around two grand And
I know people think that's a lot of money, but
not when you're trying to come back from these type
of injuries. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's an investment. Like
(39:17):
when a person and I know people say, like was
Lebron James, but it's not just Lebron James, you know,
and he says I spent a million dollars a year
on my body. It's like, you guys, all right, this
person is who we argue whether he's the gold or
Jordan's to go, whether it don't matter who you pick,
you're not before him. We wasn't arguing nothing. It was
(39:40):
like Kobe's the closest we've seen the Jordan. But we're
not gonna argue that he's better than Jordan's. We've never
seen anything like lebrona. So if a person of his
magnitude is saying I spend a million dollars a year
in my body, don't think that what you're seeing out
there on the court is just him showing up and
being working out. It's a lot more to make that
to take care of you. But so when a person
(40:02):
spends money on a hyper Barrick chamber, or they get
this machine and that machine, and it's an investment in yourself.
It's an investment into your career. You perform well, then
that that million dollars you're talking about, you get that back,
you know, so you gotta eat right and take it's
a It's an investment, man, And that's what I did.
And um, it wasn't cheap, like you said, it wasn't cheap,
(40:23):
but it's worth it, well worth hunted. So what's next, man,
What's what's on the agenda? So I know you guys
you're moving in it down in Texas, right, and then
have you talked to the fame yet and try to
figure out, like, you know, what's what's gonna be the
next moves your agents, if y'all, if you guys kind
of sat down yet and try to figure it out? Yeah,
we have, we have, man. We've been taking the slow
letting this season playout because it's new to the NFL's
(40:45):
new to everybody. Man. We lost a lot of people
from COVID and a lot of you know, just a
lot of it the rough of you last year that
everybody was working their way through. But we're getting somewhat
of a hold on it and kind of getting more
info about everything. So with knowing what we know, I've
sat down and talked to my agents, sat down and
talked to my wife, and we're just gonna play about
(41:06):
air Man. We're not gonna rush in the signing with anybody.
We're gonna see what suitors come and you know, see
what happens. But I'm definitely gonna play again. I man,
when I tell you, like when I tell you, I
was in some of the best shape I had ever
been in, Like, I was in really really good shape. Man.
I was ready to go. I was feeling good. I
(41:28):
was explosive. But this day, man, and I just felt
I had so much. You know, you go into some
seasons and you just got that feeling like, yeah, I'm
ready to rock. That's how I felt last year and
it just got derailed. But I didn't lose that fire.
So I have so much, Like it's just built up.
Like you gotta think if you go from the first
(41:50):
week in January and don't play football all the way
because you know he played football in the spring. You
get your O t A and you get your mini camps.
Well that got taken from us. So I didn't play
football all into training again. We missed the first weeks
in July, I mean the end of July, so we
all the way in August at this point, and then
I get to practices to play football that I've hurt again.
(42:12):
So it's like I ain't played and over a year
and a half, you know what I'm saying. So I
got so much built up fire that I need to
unleash on the field. I'm ready to go, man. And
the great thing about being able to buy this house
in Texas is I'm working on my post football. I've
been having a business meetings for stuff after football, um,
(42:33):
working with networks and doing a lot of different interviews
and stuff, and you know, we're just trying to map
out a plan for what's next. But right now it's football,
and I will be ready. If I needed to pass
a physical right now, I could, but I wouldn't be
able to play football right now, you know. But we're
not gonna rush in and gonna take our time and
signed with who we need to sign within and and
(42:56):
let this stay rouy that that's dope, bro Um. I
can tell you right now, I know that there's thirty
two teams that that need you know, you in that
locker room with your voice and your presence and grabbing
these young boys man, because you know a lot of
these cats, man especially, they got these teams that are
super young, talented teams. They're missing that they're missing that
(43:17):
guy in the locker room. I'll tell you I talked
about all the time if I didn't have a Jamal
Williams or Randall Godfrey and Donnie Edwards. Um. You know
these guys when I walked in the locker room, man,
they just really Lorenz O'Neil who just set the tone
for me. And I said, okay, lt that's how you
do it. Okay, cool, That's that's what I'm gonna do.
So I know it's thirty two teams out there, Man,
(43:39):
it's gonna need you in there. And uh, I can't
wait to see you. Bro. I gotta get out there
and we gotta get a workout in with Todd. You know, Todd,
I'm every every time I'm working out or something like that,
I'll get a d M or text from Todd and someone.
You know, I can't hang I can't hang him. I said,
all right, man, come down and I can still get it. Hey, man,
I'll be peeping you and checking you out. Man, I'm
(44:00):
my wife and I you know the pandemic. Uh. You
sit around and you just get you. You get into
stuff you like to start, like certain stuff like we
were watching a lot of little boxing and stuff like that.
But I always I started to get more into the
M M A and UFC, and you know, I started
letting my wife watch some fikes. Now it's like we
don't miss nothing. We don't want we don't miss any
(44:20):
of We watch them all. We I watched training videos,
I watch interviews. We always she always tell me, hey,
it's a fight on a fight now, you know, we
just we stay into it. So we're seeing you after
doing the trainer. It's like, man, that ain't no easy training.
So I know, I know, man, like that's a that's
a that's some serious trainer. Man. No, I can still
(44:41):
get it, mad. I'm I'm gonna get my ass down
there and uh and gets working with y'all. When when
you head back out to the west, coast. Yes, sir,
I'll be out there around March aprilage, so I'll be
out there. Hey, let's do it. Let's do it, my dude. Man,
I appreciate you as always. Man, hell up, I can't
wait to see you back there killing. Thanks all right, Like,
appreciate it, bro, all right, my bro, you got it.
(45:03):
Thanks guys for tuning in once again with another lights
Out podcast with me Shawn Merriman. And uh that was
cool because uh a few different reasons. So we we
talked about the guys he played with, um, the cultures
of the locker room, and who he looked up to
walking in. Also we played with some of my former
teammates and then going to US robbery leaving Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
(45:25):
going to the Carolina Panthers and uh trying to you know,
figure guys out there, and uh talk a little bit
about Cam Newton and just some of the guys he
had in the locked room and then his way on
back from to full health. And there's nothing like you know,
having big injuries, because they do something for your building adversity, Um,
you know, build character and you just find ways to
(45:47):
bounce back from everything. Man, Like I said, before this.
Dude is an ultimate warrior in life, always the best attitude.
And uh, I say he got at least another three
or four more years left to play. And uh whatever
organization picked us eye up is going to be happy
at hell that happened there because he's ultimate leader. So
appreciate gerref coming on it. I appreciate you guys for
(46:08):
tuning in again and leaving these great reviews. Man Um,
you know we I see the downloads and I see
the reviews. Guys. Lead manages just keeps me going. It
keeps me fired up and keep me firing up all
the guests we have. So we'll be back next week
with another lights out podcast. Keep subscribing, keep leaving those
great reviews, and we'll keep heating up. Thanks. I'm John Gonzalez,
(46:35):
the host of s i s new podcast, Sports Illustrated Weekly.
Sports Illustrated has delivered some of the best storytelling in
sports for seventy years, and now that continues. On our show.
Each week, we'll dive deep into the best stories from
around the sports world. Sports Illustrated Weekly is available every
Wednesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(46:56):
wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now. Hi everybody, I'm
Rachel Banetta and I have my very own podcast called
Bench with Banetta. You kidding me? I'm just here so
I won't get fine. Every week, I'm gonna be talking
about all the things I find fascinating about the NFL.
(47:17):
And I'm doing something that has never been done before.
I'm opening my d m s. D MS now open,
listen every Tuesday and join me on the Bench. Subscribe
now and listen to the Bench with Banetta podcast on
the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever
(47:37):
you get your podcasts. Look for your children's eyes and
you will discover the true magic of a forest. Find
a forest near you and start exploring it. Discover the
forest dot org, brought to you by the United States
Forest Service and the AD Council.
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