May 25, 2023 • 35 mins
Watch Second Acts on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3ikkR2Q
Follow Roman Harper on Instagram: @Harp_41
Follow Peanut Tillman on Instagram: @peanuttillman
EP #28: The gentle giant D’Brickashaw Ferguson sits down with Peanut and Roman on the latest episode of the NFL Players Second Acts pod. D’Brick lived up to expectations as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 draft. He anchored the Jets offensive line during his 10-year career, started every game, and missed only one snap (there’s quite the story behind that play). For his work, in 2022 D’Brickashaw was inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor. Not bad for a guy who needed open-heart surgery at 9 years old to save his life. In this episode, D’Brickashaw expounds on the “miracle” of overcoming that circumstance to become the NFL’s ironman. He’s also on a journey to find his next calling, which has led him to…nursing school. D’Brickashaw has found success in many arenas, but he shares with Peanut and Roman the bumpy road he took to find himself.
Topic Timeline:
1:00 - D'Brickashaw talks about the only snap he didn’t play in during his entire 10-year NFL career
2:18 - The evolution of the Key & Peele segment based on D'Brickashaw name
3:31 - How yoga and martial arts helped D’Brickashaw become an NFL ironman
6:36 - D'Brickashaw shares what led to him having open-heart surgery as a kid
7:45 - The value of playing different sports as a kid according to D’Brickashaw
9:56 - D’Brickashaw shares the “surreal” experience of being inducted into the NY Jets Ring of Honor
13:02 - D’Brickashaw shares the experience of finding himself after his NFL career
16:21 - D’Brickashaw shares his post-NFL journey to serve other players through financial literacy
18:56 - D'Brickashaw shares what led him to wanting to become a nurse
22:15 - D'Brickashaw talks about education being the foundation of The D'Brickashaw Ferguson Foundation
23:33 - D’Brickashaw shares his “welcome to the NFL” moment
25:15 - D’Brickashaw gives advice to a newly retired NFL player
26:16 - D’Brickashaw reveals why his own teammates fined him for his car choices
27:52 - D’Brickashaw shares who is on his personal Mt. Rushmore
32:00 - D’Brickashaw turns the table and asks Roman and Peanut how their transitions are going
*NOTE: Timecodes are approximate
NFL Players Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Radio.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
So we're honored to have our guests. Saw ferguson what's
going on, boss, How you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm good. How you guys doing.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
We're good Class two thousand and six. We're in the building.
Just to let everybody know, I.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
Mean, you're a big time you're Virginia cavalier. I mean,
everybody loves Virginia if you've been there. I don't know
anything about the campus. Tell me one thing, Brick that
that most people that have not been to Virginia would
know once you go in the campus or play football there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The dorms are different. They redid the dorms. Okay, so
I used to live in old dorms, old Humphreys, and
I think that's gone now. I think they've changed that.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Okay, So I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of new a.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Lot of new construction.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Everybody's keeping up with the Joneses absolutely all right now.
The one thing that I did not know until we
did a little more research on you, uh D break,
is that you only missed one snap. That's crazy, that's crazy.
So you missed one? Man, how did you? First of all,
how did you manage to do that? And I'll share
with the people. It was in two thousand and eight,
(01:15):
Week seventeen versus the Dolphins. You guys are going to
lose the game, and they just pulled you out the last.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, I think we did lose the game, but we're
doing a trick play with something we had practiced. We
take out all the offensive linemen, we put in all
skill position players and kind of hike the ball and
kind of.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Do the the ra throw throw it back.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It didn't work, and that was the play.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Think the Cowboys, Let's or something like this this past
year in the playoffs, and it really.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Very rare that you know, it's like, if you have
to do that, you've lost. Yeah, and you're dying a second.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So another another another player that has a similar stat
Joe Thomas. He's got the I don't know how many
career snaps he's played, but he holds I guess the
record of having the most snaps ever played. Or he
didn't miss a single snap his entire career. He played
what eleven years? If I'm not mistaken, So do are you?
I don't know, how do you feel about it? Is
(02:09):
there any disgruntleness?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Or he's a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he's in consistent. You know,
I applored everything that he's done.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I'm a huge fan of the show, Key and
Pill right, crazy fan. And when I get car services,
I use the nicknames that they had for the All
Star Games. So whenever there's a car service, you might
see the name El Carpatron and Duke Marriott or Charmlotte
(02:38):
mass Doon you know what I'm saying, krig mckringle Berry,
Uh did Jiggo Lynch Margoon, LSU University?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Like I use all those names.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I think you were like one of the original guys
for that, right, tell people, please tell me how you
got that, Like did they come to you?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Did they did come to me? It wasn't as you
know personal. I actually met I think Kegan later at
a separate foundation event, but they were saying that, you know,
the idea kind of spurned from that. I think one
of their representatives reached out to me and I'm like, yeah,
I'd be open to do it. And so it was
just a fun thing. You know, a lot of times
(03:18):
I've heard my name a couple of times in movies
and it's always interesting where it's like, all right, well,
I know who they're talking about it's not too many
of us. Fact, there's one.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So yeah, yeah, tell me this though, all right, back
to your career a little bit more, because I'm still
a little bit taken back that you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Only missed one snap.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Was it anything in particular that you did to stay healthy?
Was it anything that you did to take care of
your body, your mental I mean, did you even miss
practice or did you miss play?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Like you didn't. This is just not your thing.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You just and I think the funny thing is, it
was nothing, nothing that I ever thought about, right. I
think earlier on, you know, Eric Mangini, he had us
doing a lot. We were doing yoga, we were doing
martial arts, jiu jitsu. I mean, we were back in
the old days when everybody that all season, off season,
you know, they kept us at the facility. You know,
there was no time restrictions. It wasn't like four hours, No,
(04:08):
we were there all day. And so I think the
idea of just football being kind of everything stuck. But
I do counted a blessing. I mean, there's a lot
of guys that have done the same things or even more,
and they've suffered injuries. So I don't want to say
like it was something that I was doing that they weren't.
(04:30):
It's okay.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
How's your body feeling now? I mean you did all
those things.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I cross my leg like you, so yeah, shake the
ankle a little bit, so that's a good sign. You know,
hip flex was are good.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You know, I'm good about that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Gets your body good, genuinely because you're that bigger guy.
Most bigger guys have issues as they get older.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
How much way did you lose after you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I was about three ten when I played. I've gotten
down and let's say to about to sixty, but I'm
probably about like two seventy. That's probably what I do.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
You feel good?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You look good, all that joints and all that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Shit that you know. I I think I've always been
a curious kind of athlete, and so I would I
would dabble in different things like what ice skating? I
try to do clinics, Yeah, try.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
To you skate backwards not fast.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I mean, I'm not out of here. Just like you know,
some people are graceful.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
That's not so you're not.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
You would not use the term graceful to describe.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I say, you know somebody who's learning my son, I'm sure.
I'm like most dads, you know, you want your son
to do something to help them get disciplined and learning
focus and things like that, and ours was taekwondo.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
My son is a typical boy.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He wants to run and kicking, punch and jump off
and wrestle and you know, break everything. Taekwondo, you know,
get some good discipline. And my son did it for
about four maybe four or five years, and he ended
up getting this black belt in taekwondo, and it was like,
I was so proud of him because it was something
he stuck with it for a long time to accomplish,
(06:08):
to accomplish something, and it was great for him to
learn that and see that at a very young age.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
I'm very proud of them.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard or I learned that you are a black
belt and you hold a brown belt.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Now what do you hold your black belt in shore
to com okay?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And what is your brown belt in taekwondo? So that
was around the time that I had open heart surgery.
It was very early eight nine.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, this is what we wanted to bring up.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So most people don't know that you actually had open
heart surgery when you were eight or nine years old. Yeah,
maybe you could talk about that if you're willing to
share with us.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah. So, I think as a younger child, I was
just a little bit out of breath and it came
up on a random check through my pediatrician and she
just recommended, hey, can you do some more testing. You know,
we're just noticing some things. And I had a slight defect.
I think in one of my vowels, I had too
many veins on one side and they changed that. So,
(07:07):
you know, I think about that as a as a
starting point, and I think of kind of where I've
ended up, particularly in my football career and even the
things that I do now. And that's why I can't
say like, oh I just did this thing and this thing,
and that's the reason why I've had this outcome, because
I don't think it was, you know, ever supposed to
be that initially. I think even when I had my
(07:28):
initial results, they were saying like, hey, no contact sports.
You know, you may always be limited in some ways.
So I guess it did. It was a miracle. It
is a miracle. Yeah. I had the opportunity to go
on and play sports and it didn't hold me back.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You know, there are a lot of similarities.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Do you think the taekwondo or the martial arts played
a pivotal role in you one being drafted for early
in two helping you manhandle I think you know, defensive linement.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I think the value sports at a young age is
just like learning your body, you know. I think a
lot of times, you know, kids, unless you're in a
sport that's organized and teaches you, okay, no, stand a
certain way, bend a certain way, have your head up,
you don't learn how to move well. And I think
when you have that as a foundation and you continue
(08:19):
that going moving forward, you can build on that. I
think it's sometimes harder when you start later and you're
trying to learn how to be coordinated and learn things.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now, if you look at YouTube, you'll see these little
kids doing these.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Little drugs, all the drills, like at.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Very early ages, and I'm like, wow, Like, how do
you compete with somebody who's been doing that since three
and you're learning to play a sport at nine or fifteen,
It's very hard to compete with that.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
One of the things I try to tell parents, and
I get to ask a lot of questions about, well.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
How old were you when you played football.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Should I let my son play football now?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I guess the one answer I give them every
time is I say let them play. But flag football,
whether you're the big kid, the little kid, the male, female, boy, girl, whatever,
I think flag football is good for you because you
learn how to use your body, whether you're an offensive lineman,
and you know you're not going to be a running
back when you get older because you're one.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Of the bigger kids.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
But play It allows you to play every position. It
allows you to run the ball, it allows you to
learn cut and do all those things. And not only that,
but play basketball, play baseball, play play hockey, play as
many sports, tennis, whatever, maybe not golf, but play all
the sports you can play. I feel like, no, no, no,
he think he tiger woods over here, but any We'll
(09:38):
get to that later on off camera. But I'm a
huge advocate for kids playing every sport they can at
such a at a really young age. I think nowadays
kids they focus on one sport and they specialize more.
And that's not time to specialize. You gotta do that
later on in life.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So you were inducted into the Jets Ring of Ball.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was up there, I was. I went up there
a couple of months ago. I was, Yeah, I went
up there a couple of months Yeah, I was. I
went up there. It was great. But you got a
very a great dry sense of humor. That's what I
love about you. It's like you always got you always
(10:22):
come and something.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
But emotionally, what did that do for you? Especially knowing
that you retired early, people were still wanting more of
the brickishaw Ferguson when you stepped away. You never missed games,
you never missed practice, and to be honored at the end,
what does that feel like?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
What does that do for you?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I know you're a guy that's not you like to
keep things light and you're not gonna you're not gonna
talk about yourself and you're not gonna be too over indulgent.
But for us, I want you to I want you
to tell me what it was like for you to
like be honored in that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You could tell me too, though I'm here.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You know, it's a very surreal moment. I think a
lot of times as athletes on the things that we've
done wrong, the sacks that we've given up. It was interesting.
One of my worst games was against Andre Carter. He
was playing at for the Patriots at the time, and
this was like i'll say, three years before the end whatever.
And then he he and I were coaching. I was
(11:17):
doing an internship with the Jets. It was with strength
and conditioning, and he was actually coaching the defensive line
at that time, I think under Greg Williams, and I
would look at that guy. I'm like, man, you you.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Just never got over it. You never get over it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And I'm still looked at it, and we were pretending
to do a moves and I'm like, still hot.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I'm like, how many years is this afterwards?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I mean it's it's got a bit. I mean it
was a considerable amount of years. I meant it was
at least like I don't know, like I don't know seven,
Like it was considerable or more. And it was considerable.
And I'm looking at this man like, I don't know
that I could ever be your friend because of what
you did to me. We played a game, we played
them twice, played them earlier in the year, normal game,
(12:02):
you know, of doing my shots, feeling good about myself.
I guess he didn't feel that way, right, And then
the next game changed everything. He went to the Pro
Bowl that year and I helped him. I don't like that.
So when you have moments like that, you fixate on that.
You don't forget those moments clearly, and then you know
(12:23):
you you get a call and you know, mister Johnson
and Nick, Nick Mangle and Mark Sanchez on their show
presented me with this this honor. You're kind of like,
I don't know how, I don't know where to place this.
I think of all the coaches and all the coaching points.
I think of college, I think of you know, the
(12:44):
transition into retirement. I think of all those things that
cause you know, certain amount of challenges, and then you
get this recognition like, hey, you know, you were a
good player. You you did accomplish some amazing things, and
you want to acknowledge that. It kind of gives you
a different perspective. And I think it's sometimes healthy to
get those acknowledgements because you don't know where people are.
(13:06):
You know, you don't know the things that people are
going through. I know we have this podcast to see
like what's happening now, but it's a bit of a journey.
I know a lot of athletes talk about their time
and retirement, and it's a stage of finding themselves. You know,
we were in that executive program together in finance, you know,
a lot of internships. You know, went through a divorce,
(13:28):
Like a lot of things have changed, and now you're
in a position where you're like, I think I'm in
a good place now, you know, And it doesn't just happen.
It takes different opportunities. It takes different things, like a recognition,
like getting into nursing school, like you know, raising your daughters,
(13:49):
like meeting someone and spending time and building relationship. It
takes these things in order to like get to a
different place. So it's a part of that journey.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
How long would you say it took you to get
into that place to find that that safe space, say, after.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
You were dealing with football, after you're retired.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
You know, I think the biggest thing, I'll say one
more thing. I think the biggest thing is as an
athlete trying things, you have an idea. It's like, hey,
you know, I want to be proactive. You know, you
do the things that you learn about. Oh, I'm going
to take this boot camp, I'm going to take this course.
I'm going to intern with this company. But I think
it's very different being a retired player trying things right
(14:30):
because now it's real. Right now you don't have the
football as you're back, well, now you can leverage the opportunity.
But even in leveraging that opportunity, have you carved out
a skill set where you can say, well, no, this
is who I am, this is how I'm showing up.
I don't want to just be the front for this thing.
I want to be able to do that skill. And
I think you know, you have some real personal conversations.
(14:52):
I'm sure you guys have had it as well, where
it's like, all right, what am I going to do,
whether you're financially stable or not, how am I going
to you know, show up in this time in my life?
Who am I today? Who am I now? And I
think it takes a couple of years, whether you're in
a good space or not, in order to like let
that sink in.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The pandemic I don't think was a help in the
sense that it caused people to kind of be distanced
or re evaluate. All right, I don't have the same opportunities.
I can't just go and meet up with friends now,
or if I do meet up with friends. You know,
we have to, you know, make sure we're socially distancing
because this is a real thing that's impacting lives. So
it took a number of years, and I do think
(15:37):
it is an ongoing process, right, it's reinvention. You know
who am I today? You know how am I evolving?
But forward, moving forward is progress and I think having
the opportunity to like continue and pursue the things that
have interest to you has allowed me to be in
a better space.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I think it's so important also to bring up the
fact of being confident in these spaces, like we're so
confident in football, and then when, like you said, you
don't have that to fall back on or to lean
on to say, now I'm really Roman Harper or Penat
Tillman like and I'm just doing this on the side.
But now no, I cut the cable, and now you
(16:18):
have to be in this space and be confident in it.
You're probably a great example because since you've transitioned out
of football, you've done some financial things and I want
you maybe talk to me and share with everybody that
transition what that was like for you to get into
the financial space. Being confident in what you were doing.
Like when we did that executive class, I was just
(16:40):
like enamored with you because you were so confident. You're
already doing some other things, but then at the same time,
you were still learning, you were still on this journey
of growing. And then now since you've moving from finance,
you're doing some other things as well. So I want
you to be able to give you the floor and
share with us on that whole period of this whole
journey that you've been on really found yourself and still
(17:01):
gaining confidence in this space, because I think that's the
one thing that all of us players lack once we're
not playing football.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Absolutely absolutely, So I think you know, it starts with
you know, how can I help?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It starts with how can I help? And that's a
broad statement, right, And I really you know, you read
the SI article why Athletes Go Broke? You hear all
these different things, and it's like, well, how can I
be an advocate for my for my peers, Right, how
can I learn about this space bonds equity? Like, how
can I educate myself in a manner where I know
(17:37):
what I'm talking about? So I interned with a couple
of companies and I I started. I actually work with
my financial advisor for about a year. We had like interned,
and so when I learned about the executive education program
at Columbia, and it was about angel investing, and I
wanted to be able to educate myself on okay, this
(17:59):
area as well as the base of knowledge which I
developed working with my advisor. I worked for a sustainability
impact company that was more of like a startup, and
they were doing some exciting things and like sustainability and
impact investing. So I was like trying to get it all.
But I think I didn't find what I was looking
(18:21):
for from a sense of like purpose purpose, Like how
am I? Like, is this really what I want?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I could ask a question like, Okay, did I want
to try to work for, you know, a different kind
of firm? Did I want to stay individual? You know?
How did I want to work with my peers? I
think I struggle with the idea of like coming to
you like, hey, you know I want to manage your account.
You know I want to I want you to trust
me in my firm and allow me to invest your funds.
(18:49):
I think I probably could have gotten more comfortable, but
I don't think that's really what I wanted. So I
kept on looking, you know, and I kept on looking.
The pandemic happened, you know, again changed my relationships. So
my situation was completely different. And I'm like, well, I
still have to find self. I'm still alive, right, I
(19:11):
still have purpose. Yes I played football, Yes I had
a great career, But what am I today? And I
was having a lot of conversations with my mom and
she was like, you know, the one thing that I
she's a nurse. One thing that she liked about nursing
was the opportunity to learn a new space. But you
can also learn a lot of different spaces, a lot
of these, whether it let's say becoming a doctor, whether
(19:34):
it become a lawyer. Sometimes the barrier of entry is
a little bit longer. You know, you can become a
go to law school and not get a job. You know,
you can become a doctor, but that might be a
seven year commitment, especially if you specialize in the area.
And I just needed that sense of like, I think
(19:55):
I can I can do this, right. I hadn't done
sciences since I don't know high school, so my confidence
in that space was like, I don't know if I
can do this. UVA was hard for me, so I'm like,
I don't know about this, you know. So I went
to community college. I took my prerequisites, and I just
kind of started, you know, one class at a time.
(20:16):
I think for me, it was really important. I think
we touched on it a little bit before. Is like
I wanted something that I could offer, Like, yes, I
played football, but I have this I'm qualified to do
this work. And I played football. So if both of
them helped or you know, encourage one another, great. But
even without football, I can still do my job with excellence, right,
and that's something we learned as athletes. So did the prerequisites,
(20:41):
and then I just started applying to nursing schools. I
applied to nursing programs, got into several, and then you know,
going to start in the fall. So I'm excited for
that opportunity. There gives me an opportunity whether I want to,
you know, do more like a nurse practitioner. You know,
I can, I can do my training and reassessed. Maybe
(21:03):
I don't want to do that, Maybe I want to
do more like urgent care or just so I don't
know and I think I like that I have the
ability to learn and figure that part out.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Are you willing to be a travel nurse?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Travel nursing a little challenging with kids.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Okay, let's back up, guys, we're gonna go.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
In the RV. You know, Lord, that's what's up.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Though, Man, I think I like that I kind of
found myself in your I can identify with that because
when I retired, I I did some media stuff for
a while and I enjoyed it. I just didn't have
fun with it immediately. It was fun, it was good,
but it just wasn't like I needed something just a
little bit different.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
And then now, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Six almost six years later, you know, I'm kind of
back in the media and now I'm I'm loving every
minute of it.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's also about the company you keep.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, definitely about the company.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
It's my guy, say he's been partnering crime. I will say,
I did this show by myself and it was trash.
I was terrible, but I needed somebody to help me.
And this has been my guy, even Age Boone Cooon
since since yeah, since day one.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
So yeah, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So let's talk about somebody that is helping, and that's
you break your foundation really high value in.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Education in our youth.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Could you talk about what clearly education has been a
big part of your life and I can tell your
mom's a big influence on that. Maybe just share with
us the importance of it with you, your foundation and
the educational part of it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And I think that was something earlier on that we
were like, look, everybody doesn't have this opportunity to play
in the NFL. I had people who I went to
school with and for whatever reason, weren't given the same opportunities,
whether financially, to go to college and do those things right.
So I wanted to be able to financially give scholarships
(22:54):
but also have transition programs. You know, what is it
like to be a student athlete. So we had like
skills and drills. How do you learn? How do you
what are some of the learning skills? Are you more auditory?
Do you have to write things down? Like can you
see like what visual?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
What are your learning skills? And so we would bring
in different professionals, even a little finance. You know, do
you want to get that credit card in college or
do you just not mill? Don't you just get the
meal plan, eat the nasty pasta. But you're not going
to be in debt when you're thirty, right, So it's
like you learn those little skills and it was just
a way to kind of equip students as they transition
(23:31):
into college.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
We're going to take a short break and we'll be
back in a minute.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
All right, So what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Well, one of the positive welcome to the NFL moment
was the draft, and I think that was an exciting,
exciting time. I remember my first game Tennessee Titans went
against Travis Leboy and I'm like, man, I could do this.
I think I could play. I've also went against some
other guys where I'm like, I don't I don't know
if this is for me, And I think I got
(24:16):
to think about this. I was going against Warren Sap
one game and he's just telling me what I was
doing wrong, too hot, rookie, too high, sank and I'm like, oh,
you know, I was like, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, I don't think i've ever heard somebody.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I was early.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I was early in the game, but I was older.
I went against DeMarcus where did the same thing, you know,
you know, sack my quarterback.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Hey Brick, how you doing you?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
All right?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Man?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I'm like, get off me.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I don't know you stop.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
We're not friends, but yeah, you know something, I disliked
the nice guys more than I like the angry guys.
Like the angry guys, I like, I don't like you either.
The nice guys are like, hey, man, you know the
sack you you sack a quarterback and they help you.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's the nicest guy.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
He hated him for because I didn't want to jam him,
because I was just like, I want to just shoot you, but.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Then you'll crack blocking when you're not watching.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's like with.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
That Hines Lord.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Fits is.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
That's that's him, all right.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
So let's let's let's do these quick hitters real quick.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So obviously we all have to retire, and we all
have to try to figure out something.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Uh what we're gonna do? What would what?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What would be your advice to a newly freshly retired
NFL player?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Self awareness is key, really learning like who am I,
what do I do well? What don't I do well?
And not from us like not presenting to other people,
but like understanding self like, what are the areas that
I really struggle with? And because I think those are
the things that don't go away, you'll you'll still be
with those as you go to all these different places.
(26:00):
And so I think learning that as best as you
can is helpful. That could be done through therapy, that
could be done through church, that could be done through friendship.
I think it's a collection of everything. You know, some
really tight friendships where people are just telling you about
you and not just you know, telling you maybe what
you want to hear or what has always been the norm.
(26:21):
But I think if you know yourself a little bit better,
you can make decisions that are more in line with
who you are, particularly as a retired athlete.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
All Right, so I'm supposed to ask you a quick hitter,
but I gotta I gotta know this one. Because you
got paid when nobody went back in the day before
they changed the SBOCA. What was your first big splurge purchase.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I mean, so I was I was one of those
rookies that like didn't it was new to me, so
I didn't want to touch it, you know, I didn't
know what to do. And so here's a funny story.
I'm sure you don't know. This one my offense on line,
my brothers in the trenches. They would find me every
day until I bought a new car. I had a
four Tourist green I think it was nineteen eighty three, and.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
You were rolling through this every day. How long did
you know?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Then I upgraded my bed. I'm sorry. So my dad
he used to have cars for work, business cars, and
you can have the option to buy it. So it's
like a two thousand and two gray gun metal four
tours and I had that, and my all lineman would
find me. Pete Kendall, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement, they would
find me.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
How much were they finding you every day?
Speaker 5 (27:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I don't remember. At this point, I guess it was
just enough where I knew that I was messing up.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
It was just annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It was just annoying. And I did buy a car.
It was like a new car, but it wasn't the
latest model. And then I got disappointment looks on them,
They're like, this is what you bought. So it was hard.
It was hard from the beginning. You know, there was
another player like me who was like, yeah, save your money,
do all the things that you're supposed to do. I
(28:04):
wasn't getting that positive reinforcement.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And my last question break is who's on your mount
rushmore of influence in your life, whether it's sports, personally, emotionally. Uh,
it's four and I'd like to know your personal mount.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Rushb m hmm. Definitely my my I'll say my parents.
They're they're a unit. They're solidied, all right.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Can we count him as one?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, willcount them as one. I have a principal. His
name is Jim Brown. He's somebody who I feel kind
of led the way early was this high school, junior
high really junior high school, junior high school. But we've
been in I met with him recently. We stayed in contact.
I was in his wedding, like you know, and I
(28:49):
think he provided a sense of leadership outside of you know,
that family household. I would see him in school and
everybody had that his respect. I would I want to
say a pastor, pastor Harry J.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
White.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
He's sense deceased, but he was a natural encourager. You know,
he got out of his way to acknowledge myself and
my brother, even to the point where you get in trouble,
right because you can't be calling out people's kids. And
then you know, there's a whole church of kids, and man,
these these Burgerson boys, oh man and these other children.
Everybody in the church. Just clap your hands for the youth,
(29:25):
for the youth. And uh you know, so he was.
He was definitely somebody who I felt was impactful. And
I'll give you in the coaching spirit. Uh, he was
my Showta con instructor. His name is Ray Bobin.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
For those that don't know what shodakan is.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So it's a Japanese style of martial arts. You know.
Back when we grew up, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, like
Jackie Chan that was everything. That was everything. Nowadays it's like, oh,
that's that's nice, that that's cool.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But it was Steve.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
So that was the beginning and and so they even
had it, you know, it was retro. I don't remember
if you uh he's an actor, Jim Kelly the uh
he was like, uh, he's a black martial artist back
in the day.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So it's like my my learning was from uh, like
I said, brother, very strong, but it was like the
beginnings of discipline. There's a point where the novelty wears off,
I don't want to do this anymore, and you look
at your parents and like this is we're doing this, and.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
You're like, but I.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
So it becomes hard. You're doing your pushups, you're you're
doing all the things that you don't want to do,
but you're learning your body, you're learning how to fight
through things. And so when I met my high school coach,
I leaned on this. Then I met my college coach,
I leaned on high school. When I met it always
got harder, it never got easy, it never got easier,
(31:02):
but I had something to lean on. And I think
those individuals like that provided foundation throughout my whole life
that I can use even today as I reflect on
you know, everything, And I think even as I get older,
I have a different type of respect for my mom.
I have a different type of respect for pastor White
because now I know them, I know more of their story.
(31:24):
Now when I've heard things that have popped up, it's
like I'm seeing that as an adult and not as
a kid, you know, and so it's like, oh, wow, Okay,
there's depth here. It's not exactly what I thought when
I was a child, but it's actually even richer. Now
you know, when I think of my old instructor, I
think of my old principle, It's like they just provided
(31:45):
leadership at a time that I didn't even realize I needed,
but it was there and it was a pillar, you know'
that's dope.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I'm using that just what I lean on.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I'm gonna try to tell that to my son because
good luck, yeah, good luck.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
I'm still gonna use it though. We're gonna see what happens.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Pete and son is the same kid that gets his
socks wet, takes him off, and then when he needs
to go put shoes on, puts the same wet sox on.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I'm getting there. He is extremely consistent. So I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I love quality. You know, how is your transition? You
know we've been out, we've been out the league for
some amount of times. I mean, I the last time
we had spoken was during that Columbia University, you know,
and so at that time it seemed, you know, that
was that time. So just like a snapshot, like house's
life change for you, guys words, it brought you.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So deep brick.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
At that point in time, I had three kids, and
now I have four at a COVID child, another baby boy.
Me and my wife are still married. But at that
point in time, I was not doing anything. I was
literally just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I took three hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Days did nothing, and then once I did that, this
was part of my after three sixty five days when
I was taking the class at Columbia and and really
just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
And so since then now I work for ESPN SEC Network.
(33:16):
So so Saturdays, we got a show called SEC Nation,
so we travel around the SEC were covering all the teams,
and I do a show on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
So that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
I'm doing this as well and in some other real
estate place around the South that I'm kind of trying
to be looking out for and things like that. So
that's really what consumes my life and four kids. So yeah,
I mean that's that's all I got. But I live
in Charlotte. We got to exchange numbers because you know,
you're one of my favorite people when we get together.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
That's how I praise. I appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Oh yeah, I did the I did Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I did that for a while. Just got out of that,
did some law enforcement. Now I'm working with Rome. We're
doing this show right here, got four kits.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I'm busy. I'm busy with my.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Kids and uh yeah, that's that's that's about it.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
But hey, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
H this is one of the best interviews we've had,
just purely because you were so open candidate, and you
really gave like the listeners and viewers like a real
insight on like not just telling you what to do,
but like some steps to achieve it. Also being vulnerable
and like, look, man, it was a lot of growth
and like the things that happened in my past were
(34:30):
it wasn't always good. Actually, when I got continue to advance,
I needed to lean on those rough times absolut to
continue to push me and to tell me I'm award
for the next journey.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Like you don't even see.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
What's out there, but the things that you're going through
now is it's really going to get you through the
next the next one. And uh man, that was just
really deep and good, bro. It was getting ship very
genuine well break man. Appreciate it, man, Thank you for
joining us. Man, you were off the hot seat.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Man.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Thank you guys, for listening. You know, with every show
we do, in every guest we have, we try to
make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open
and secure and make this a safe place for these
guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for
supporting us. We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
We are here to educate and entertain, So make sure,
like always and I always ask you, make sure you
hit the subscribe button, give us a five star rating,
tell a friend to tell a friend to do repet
tell a friend, make sure anywhere you get to your
podcast where it's Apple or iHeart linked in.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Appreciate y'all
So we're honored to have our guests. Saw ferguson what's
going on, boss, How you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm good. How you guys doing.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
We're good Class two thousand and six. We're in the building.
Just to let everybody know, I.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
Mean, you're a big time you're Virginia cavalier. I mean,
everybody loves Virginia if you've been there. I don't know
anything about the campus. Tell me one thing, Brick that
that most people that have not been to Virginia would
know once you go in the campus or play football there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The dorms are different. They redid the dorms. Okay, so
I used to live in old dorms, old Humphreys, and
I think that's gone now. I think they've changed that.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Okay, So I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of new a.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Lot of new construction.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Everybody's keeping up with the Joneses absolutely all right now.
The one thing that I did not know until we
did a little more research on you, uh D break,
is that you only missed one snap. That's crazy, that's crazy.
So you missed one? Man, how did you? First of all,
how did you manage to do that? And I'll share
with the people. It was in two thousand and eight,
(01:15):
Week seventeen versus the Dolphins. You guys are going to
lose the game, and they just pulled you out the last.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, I think we did lose the game, but we're
doing a trick play with something we had practiced. We
take out all the offensive linemen, we put in all
skill position players and kind of hike the ball and
kind of.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Do the the ra throw throw it back.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It didn't work, and that was the play.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Think the Cowboys, Let's or something like this this past
year in the playoffs, and it really.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Very rare that you know, it's like, if you have
to do that, you've lost. Yeah, and you're dying a second.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So another another another player that has a similar stat
Joe Thomas. He's got the I don't know how many
career snaps he's played, but he holds I guess the
record of having the most snaps ever played. Or he
didn't miss a single snap his entire career. He played
what eleven years? If I'm not mistaken, So do are you?
I don't know, how do you feel about it? Is
(02:09):
there any disgruntleness?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Or he's a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he's in consistent. You know,
I applored everything that he's done.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I'm a huge fan of the show, Key and
Pill right, crazy fan. And when I get car services,
I use the nicknames that they had for the All
Star Games. So whenever there's a car service, you might
see the name El Carpatron and Duke Marriott or Charmlotte
(02:38):
mass Doon you know what I'm saying, krig mckringle Berry,
Uh did Jiggo Lynch Margoon, LSU University?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Like I use all those names.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I think you were like one of the original guys
for that, right, tell people, please tell me how you
got that, Like did they come to you?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Did they did come to me? It wasn't as you
know personal. I actually met I think Kegan later at
a separate foundation event, but they were saying that, you know,
the idea kind of spurned from that. I think one
of their representatives reached out to me and I'm like, yeah,
I'd be open to do it. And so it was
just a fun thing. You know, a lot of times
(03:18):
I've heard my name a couple of times in movies
and it's always interesting where it's like, all right, well,
I know who they're talking about it's not too many
of us. Fact, there's one.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So yeah, yeah, tell me this though, all right, back
to your career a little bit more, because I'm still
a little bit taken back that you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Only missed one snap.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Was it anything in particular that you did to stay healthy?
Was it anything that you did to take care of
your body, your mental I mean, did you even miss
practice or did you miss play?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Like you didn't. This is just not your thing.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You just and I think the funny thing is, it
was nothing, nothing that I ever thought about, right. I
think earlier on, you know, Eric Mangini, he had us
doing a lot. We were doing yoga, we were doing
martial arts, jiu jitsu. I mean, we were back in
the old days when everybody that all season, off season,
you know, they kept us at the facility. You know,
there was no time restrictions. It wasn't like four hours, No,
(04:08):
we were there all day. And so I think the
idea of just football being kind of everything stuck. But
I do counted a blessing. I mean, there's a lot
of guys that have done the same things or even more,
and they've suffered injuries. So I don't want to say
like it was something that I was doing that they weren't.
(04:30):
It's okay.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
How's your body feeling now? I mean you did all
those things.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I cross my leg like you, so yeah, shake the
ankle a little bit, so that's a good sign. You know,
hip flex was are good.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You know, I'm good about that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Gets your body good, genuinely because you're that bigger guy.
Most bigger guys have issues as they get older.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
How much way did you lose after you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I was about three ten when I played. I've gotten
down and let's say to about to sixty, but I'm
probably about like two seventy. That's probably what I do.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
You feel good?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You look good, all that joints and all that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Shit that you know. I I think I've always been
a curious kind of athlete, and so I would I
would dabble in different things like what ice skating? I
try to do clinics, Yeah, try.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
To you skate backwards not fast.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I mean, I'm not out of here. Just like you know,
some people are graceful.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
That's not so you're not.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
You would not use the term graceful to describe.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I say, you know somebody who's learning my son, I'm sure.
I'm like most dads, you know, you want your son
to do something to help them get disciplined and learning
focus and things like that, and ours was taekwondo.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
My son is a typical boy.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He wants to run and kicking, punch and jump off
and wrestle and you know, break everything. Taekwondo, you know,
get some good discipline. And my son did it for
about four maybe four or five years, and he ended
up getting this black belt in taekwondo, and it was like,
I was so proud of him because it was something
he stuck with it for a long time to accomplish,
(06:08):
to accomplish something, and it was great for him to
learn that and see that at a very young age.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
I'm very proud of them.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I heard or I learned that you are a black
belt and you hold a brown belt.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Now what do you hold your black belt in shore
to com okay?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And what is your brown belt in taekwondo? So that
was around the time that I had open heart surgery.
It was very early eight nine.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, this is what we wanted to bring up.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
So most people don't know that you actually had open
heart surgery when you were eight or nine years old. Yeah,
maybe you could talk about that if you're willing to
share with us.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah. So, I think as a younger child, I was
just a little bit out of breath and it came
up on a random check through my pediatrician and she
just recommended, hey, can you do some more testing. You know,
we're just noticing some things. And I had a slight defect.
I think in one of my vowels, I had too
many veins on one side and they changed that. So,
(07:07):
you know, I think about that as a as a
starting point, and I think of kind of where I've
ended up, particularly in my football career and even the
things that I do now. And that's why I can't
say like, oh I just did this thing and this thing,
and that's the reason why I've had this outcome, because
I don't think it was, you know, ever supposed to
be that initially. I think even when I had my
(07:28):
initial results, they were saying like, hey, no contact sports.
You know, you may always be limited in some ways.
So I guess it did. It was a miracle. It
is a miracle. Yeah. I had the opportunity to go
on and play sports and it didn't hold me back.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You know, there are a lot of similarities.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Do you think the taekwondo or the martial arts played
a pivotal role in you one being drafted for early
in two helping you manhandle I think you know, defensive linement.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I think the value sports at a young age is
just like learning your body, you know. I think a
lot of times, you know, kids, unless you're in a
sport that's organized and teaches you, okay, no, stand a
certain way, bend a certain way, have your head up,
you don't learn how to move well. And I think
when you have that as a foundation and you continue
(08:19):
that going moving forward, you can build on that. I
think it's sometimes harder when you start later and you're
trying to learn how to be coordinated and learn things.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now, if you look at YouTube, you'll see these little
kids doing these.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Little drugs, all the drills, like at.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Very early ages, and I'm like, wow, Like, how do
you compete with somebody who's been doing that since three
and you're learning to play a sport at nine or fifteen,
It's very hard to compete with that.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
One of the things I try to tell parents, and
I get to ask a lot of questions about, well.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
How old were you when you played football.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Should I let my son play football now?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I guess the one answer I give them every
time is I say let them play. But flag football,
whether you're the big kid, the little kid, the male, female, boy, girl, whatever,
I think flag football is good for you because you
learn how to use your body, whether you're an offensive lineman,
and you know you're not going to be a running
back when you get older because you're one.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Of the bigger kids.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
But play It allows you to play every position. It
allows you to run the ball, it allows you to
learn cut and do all those things. And not only that,
but play basketball, play baseball, play play hockey, play as
many sports, tennis, whatever, maybe not golf, but play all
the sports you can play. I feel like, no, no, no,
he think he tiger woods over here, but any We'll
(09:38):
get to that later on off camera. But I'm a
huge advocate for kids playing every sport they can at
such a at a really young age. I think nowadays
kids they focus on one sport and they specialize more.
And that's not time to specialize. You gotta do that
later on in life.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So you were inducted into the Jets Ring of Ball.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I was up there, I was. I went up there
a couple of months ago. I was, Yeah, I went
up there a couple of months Yeah, I was. I
went up there. It was great. But you got a
very a great dry sense of humor. That's what I
love about you. It's like you always got you always
(10:22):
come and something.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
But emotionally, what did that do for you? Especially knowing
that you retired early, people were still wanting more of
the brickishaw Ferguson when you stepped away. You never missed games,
you never missed practice, and to be honored at the end,
what does that feel like?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
What does that do for you?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
I know you're a guy that's not you like to
keep things light and you're not gonna you're not gonna
talk about yourself and you're not gonna be too over indulgent.
But for us, I want you to I want you
to tell me what it was like for you to
like be honored in that moment.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You could tell me too, though I'm here.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You know, it's a very surreal moment. I think a
lot of times as athletes on the things that we've
done wrong, the sacks that we've given up. It was interesting.
One of my worst games was against Andre Carter. He
was playing at for the Patriots at the time, and
this was like i'll say, three years before the end whatever.
And then he he and I were coaching. I was
(11:17):
doing an internship with the Jets. It was with strength
and conditioning, and he was actually coaching the defensive line
at that time, I think under Greg Williams, and I
would look at that guy. I'm like, man, you you.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Just never got over it. You never get over it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And I'm still looked at it, and we were pretending
to do a moves and I'm like, still hot.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I'm like, how many years is this afterwards?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I mean it's it's got a bit. I mean it
was a considerable amount of years. I meant it was
at least like I don't know, like I don't know seven,
Like it was considerable or more. And it was considerable.
And I'm looking at this man like, I don't know
that I could ever be your friend because of what
you did to me. We played a game, we played
them twice, played them earlier in the year, normal game,
(12:02):
you know, of doing my shots, feeling good about myself.
I guess he didn't feel that way, right, And then
the next game changed everything. He went to the Pro
Bowl that year and I helped him. I don't like that.
So when you have moments like that, you fixate on that.
You don't forget those moments clearly, and then you know
(12:23):
you you get a call and you know, mister Johnson
and Nick, Nick Mangle and Mark Sanchez on their show
presented me with this this honor. You're kind of like,
I don't know how, I don't know where to place this.
I think of all the coaches and all the coaching points.
I think of college, I think of you know, the
(12:44):
transition into retirement. I think of all those things that
cause you know, certain amount of challenges, and then you
get this recognition like, hey, you know, you were a
good player. You you did accomplish some amazing things, and
you want to acknowledge that. It kind of gives you
a different perspective. And I think it's sometimes healthy to
get those acknowledgements because you don't know where people are.
(13:06):
You know, you don't know the things that people are
going through. I know we have this podcast to see
like what's happening now, but it's a bit of a journey.
I know a lot of athletes talk about their time
and retirement, and it's a stage of finding themselves. You know,
we were in that executive program together in finance, you know,
a lot of internships. You know, went through a divorce,
(13:28):
Like a lot of things have changed, and now you're
in a position where you're like, I think I'm in
a good place now, you know, And it doesn't just happen.
It takes different opportunities. It takes different things, like a recognition,
like getting into nursing school, like you know, raising your daughters,
(13:49):
like meeting someone and spending time and building relationship. It
takes these things in order to like get to a
different place. So it's a part of that journey.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
How long would you say it took you to get
into that place to find that that safe space, say, after.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
You were dealing with football, after you're retired.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
You know, I think the biggest thing, I'll say one
more thing. I think the biggest thing is as an
athlete trying things, you have an idea. It's like, hey,
you know, I want to be proactive. You know, you
do the things that you learn about. Oh, I'm going
to take this boot camp, I'm going to take this course.
I'm going to intern with this company. But I think
it's very different being a retired player trying things right
(14:30):
because now it's real. Right now you don't have the
football as you're back, well, now you can leverage the opportunity.
But even in leveraging that opportunity, have you carved out
a skill set where you can say, well, no, this
is who I am, this is how I'm showing up.
I don't want to just be the front for this thing.
I want to be able to do that skill. And
I think you know, you have some real personal conversations.
(14:52):
I'm sure you guys have had it as well, where
it's like, all right, what am I going to do,
whether you're financially stable or not, how am I going
to you know, show up in this time in my life?
Who am I today? Who am I now? And I
think it takes a couple of years, whether you're in
a good space or not, in order to like let
that sink in.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The pandemic I don't think was a help in the
sense that it caused people to kind of be distanced
or re evaluate. All right, I don't have the same opportunities.
I can't just go and meet up with friends now,
or if I do meet up with friends. You know,
we have to, you know, make sure we're socially distancing
because this is a real thing that's impacting lives. So
it took a number of years, and I do think
(15:37):
it is an ongoing process, right, it's reinvention. You know
who am I today? You know how am I evolving?
But forward, moving forward is progress and I think having
the opportunity to like continue and pursue the things that
have interest to you has allowed me to be in
a better space.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I think it's so important also to bring up the
fact of being confident in these spaces, like we're so
confident in football, and then when, like you said, you
don't have that to fall back on or to lean
on to say, now I'm really Roman Harper or Penat
Tillman like and I'm just doing this on the side.
But now no, I cut the cable, and now you
(16:18):
have to be in this space and be confident in it.
You're probably a great example because since you've transitioned out
of football, you've done some financial things and I want
you maybe talk to me and share with everybody that
transition what that was like for you to get into
the financial space. Being confident in what you were doing.
Like when we did that executive class, I was just
(16:40):
like enamored with you because you were so confident. You're
already doing some other things, but then at the same time,
you were still learning, you were still on this journey
of growing. And then now since you've moving from finance,
you're doing some other things as well. So I want
you to be able to give you the floor and
share with us on that whole period of this whole
journey that you've been on really found yourself and still
(17:01):
gaining confidence in this space, because I think that's the
one thing that all of us players lack once we're
not playing football.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Absolutely absolutely, So I think you know, it starts with
you know, how can I help?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It starts with how can I help? And that's a
broad statement, right, And I really you know, you read
the SI article why Athletes Go Broke? You hear all
these different things, and it's like, well, how can I
be an advocate for my for my peers, Right, how
can I learn about this space bonds equity? Like, how
can I educate myself in a manner where I know
(17:37):
what I'm talking about? So I interned with a couple
of companies and I I started. I actually work with
my financial advisor for about a year. We had like interned,
and so when I learned about the executive education program
at Columbia, and it was about angel investing, and I
wanted to be able to educate myself on okay, this
(17:59):
area as well as the base of knowledge which I
developed working with my advisor. I worked for a sustainability
impact company that was more of like a startup, and
they were doing some exciting things and like sustainability and
impact investing. So I was like trying to get it all.
But I think I didn't find what I was looking
(18:21):
for from a sense of like purpose purpose, Like how
am I? Like, is this really what I want?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I could ask a question like, Okay, did I want
to try to work for, you know, a different kind
of firm? Did I want to stay individual? You know?
How did I want to work with my peers? I
think I struggle with the idea of like coming to
you like, hey, you know I want to manage your account.
You know I want to I want you to trust
me in my firm and allow me to invest your funds.
(18:49):
I think I probably could have gotten more comfortable, but
I don't think that's really what I wanted. So I
kept on looking, you know, and I kept on looking.
The pandemic happened, you know, again changed my relationships. So
my situation was completely different. And I'm like, well, I
still have to find self. I'm still alive, right, I
(19:11):
still have purpose. Yes I played football, Yes I had
a great career, But what am I today? And I
was having a lot of conversations with my mom and
she was like, you know, the one thing that I
she's a nurse. One thing that she liked about nursing
was the opportunity to learn a new space. But you
can also learn a lot of different spaces, a lot
of these, whether it let's say becoming a doctor, whether
(19:34):
it become a lawyer. Sometimes the barrier of entry is
a little bit longer. You know, you can become a
go to law school and not get a job. You know,
you can become a doctor, but that might be a
seven year commitment, especially if you specialize in the area.
And I just needed that sense of like, I think
(19:55):
I can I can do this, right. I hadn't done
sciences since I don't know high school, so my confidence
in that space was like, I don't know if I
can do this. UVA was hard for me, so I'm like,
I don't know about this, you know. So I went
to community college. I took my prerequisites, and I just
kind of started, you know, one class at a time.
(20:16):
I think for me, it was really important. I think
we touched on it a little bit before. Is like
I wanted something that I could offer, Like, yes, I
played football, but I have this I'm qualified to do
this work. And I played football. So if both of
them helped or you know, encourage one another, great. But
even without football, I can still do my job with excellence, right,
and that's something we learned as athletes. So did the prerequisites,
(20:41):
and then I just started applying to nursing schools. I
applied to nursing programs, got into several, and then you know,
going to start in the fall. So I'm excited for
that opportunity. There gives me an opportunity whether I want to,
you know, do more like a nurse practitioner. You know,
I can, I can do my training and reassessed. Maybe
(21:03):
I don't want to do that, Maybe I want to
do more like urgent care or just so I don't
know and I think I like that I have the
ability to learn and figure that part out.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Are you willing to be a travel nurse?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Travel nursing a little challenging with kids.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Okay, let's back up, guys, we're gonna go.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
In the RV. You know, Lord, that's what's up.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Though, Man, I think I like that I kind of
found myself in your I can identify with that because
when I retired, I I did some media stuff for
a while and I enjoyed it. I just didn't have
fun with it immediately. It was fun, it was good,
but it just wasn't like I needed something just a
little bit different.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
And then now, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Six almost six years later, you know, I'm kind of
back in the media and now I'm I'm loving every
minute of it.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
It's also about the company you keep.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, definitely about the company.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
It's my guy, say he's been partnering crime. I will say,
I did this show by myself and it was trash.
I was terrible, but I needed somebody to help me.
And this has been my guy, even Age Boone Cooon
since since yeah, since day one.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
So yeah, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
So let's talk about somebody that is helping, and that's
you break your foundation really high value in.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Education in our youth.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Could you talk about what clearly education has been a
big part of your life and I can tell your
mom's a big influence on that. Maybe just share with
us the importance of it with you, your foundation and
the educational part of it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
And I think that was something earlier on that we
were like, look, everybody doesn't have this opportunity to play
in the NFL. I had people who I went to
school with and for whatever reason, weren't given the same opportunities,
whether financially, to go to college and do those things right.
So I wanted to be able to financially give scholarships
(22:54):
but also have transition programs. You know, what is it
like to be a student athlete. So we had like
skills and drills. How do you learn? How do you
what are some of the learning skills? Are you more auditory?
Do you have to write things down? Like can you
see like what visual?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
What are your learning skills? And so we would bring
in different professionals, even a little finance. You know, do
you want to get that credit card in college or
do you just not mill? Don't you just get the
meal plan, eat the nasty pasta. But you're not going
to be in debt when you're thirty, right, So it's
like you learn those little skills and it was just
a way to kind of equip students as they transition
(23:31):
into college.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
We're going to take a short break and we'll be
back in a minute.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
All right, So what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Well, one of the positive welcome to the NFL moment
was the draft, and I think that was an exciting,
exciting time. I remember my first game Tennessee Titans went
against Travis Leboy and I'm like, man, I could do this.
I think I could play. I've also went against some
other guys where I'm like, I don't I don't know
if this is for me, And I think I got
(24:16):
to think about this. I was going against Warren Sap
one game and he's just telling me what I was
doing wrong, too hot, rookie, too high, sank and I'm like, oh,
you know, I was like, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know, I don't think i've ever heard somebody.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I was early.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I was early in the game, but I was older.
I went against DeMarcus where did the same thing, you know,
you know, sack my quarterback.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Hey Brick, how you doing you?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
All right?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Man?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I'm like, get off me.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I don't know you stop.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
We're not friends, but yeah, you know something, I disliked
the nice guys more than I like the angry guys.
Like the angry guys, I like, I don't like you either.
The nice guys are like, hey, man, you know the
sack you you sack a quarterback and they help you.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's the nicest guy.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
He hated him for because I didn't want to jam him,
because I was just like, I want to just shoot you, but.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Then you'll crack blocking when you're not watching.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's like with.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
That Hines Lord.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Fits is.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
That's that's him, all right.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
So let's let's let's do these quick hitters real quick.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So obviously we all have to retire, and we all
have to try to figure out something.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Uh what we're gonna do? What would what?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
What would be your advice to a newly freshly retired
NFL player?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Self awareness is key, really learning like who am I,
what do I do well? What don't I do well?
And not from us like not presenting to other people,
but like understanding self like, what are the areas that
I really struggle with? And because I think those are
the things that don't go away, you'll you'll still be
with those as you go to all these different places.
(26:00):
And so I think learning that as best as you
can is helpful. That could be done through therapy, that
could be done through church, that could be done through friendship.
I think it's a collection of everything. You know, some
really tight friendships where people are just telling you about
you and not just you know, telling you maybe what
you want to hear or what has always been the norm.
(26:21):
But I think if you know yourself a little bit better,
you can make decisions that are more in line with
who you are, particularly as a retired athlete.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
All Right, so I'm supposed to ask you a quick hitter,
but I gotta I gotta know this one. Because you
got paid when nobody went back in the day before
they changed the SBOCA. What was your first big splurge purchase.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I mean, so I was I was one of those
rookies that like didn't it was new to me, so
I didn't want to touch it, you know, I didn't
know what to do. And so here's a funny story.
I'm sure you don't know. This one my offense on line,
my brothers in the trenches. They would find me every
day until I bought a new car. I had a
four Tourist green I think it was nineteen eighty three, and.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
You were rolling through this every day. How long did
you know?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Then I upgraded my bed. I'm sorry. So my dad
he used to have cars for work, business cars, and
you can have the option to buy it. So it's
like a two thousand and two gray gun metal four
tours and I had that, and my all lineman would
find me. Pete Kendall, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement, they would
find me.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
How much were they finding you every day?
Speaker 5 (27:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I don't remember. At this point, I guess it was
just enough where I knew that I was messing up.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
It was just annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It was just annoying. And I did buy a car.
It was like a new car, but it wasn't the
latest model. And then I got disappointment looks on them,
They're like, this is what you bought. So it was hard.
It was hard from the beginning. You know, there was
another player like me who was like, yeah, save your money,
do all the things that you're supposed to do. I
(28:04):
wasn't getting that positive reinforcement.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And my last question break is who's on your mount
rushmore of influence in your life, whether it's sports, personally, emotionally. Uh,
it's four and I'd like to know your personal mount.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Rushb m hmm. Definitely my my I'll say my parents.
They're they're a unit. They're solidied, all right.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Can we count him as one?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, willcount them as one. I have a principal. His
name is Jim Brown. He's somebody who I feel kind
of led the way early was this high school, junior
high really junior high school, junior high school. But we've
been in I met with him recently. We stayed in contact.
I was in his wedding, like you know, and I
(28:49):
think he provided a sense of leadership outside of you know,
that family household. I would see him in school and
everybody had that his respect. I would I want to
say a pastor, pastor Harry J.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
White.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
He's sense deceased, but he was a natural encourager. You know,
he got out of his way to acknowledge myself and
my brother, even to the point where you get in trouble,
right because you can't be calling out people's kids. And
then you know, there's a whole church of kids, and man,
these these Burgerson boys, oh man and these other children.
Everybody in the church. Just clap your hands for the youth,
(29:25):
for the youth. And uh you know, so he was.
He was definitely somebody who I felt was impactful. And
I'll give you in the coaching spirit. Uh, he was
my Showta con instructor. His name is Ray Bobin.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
For those that don't know what shodakan is.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
So it's a Japanese style of martial arts. You know.
Back when we grew up, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, like
Jackie Chan that was everything. That was everything. Nowadays it's like, oh,
that's that's nice, that that's cool.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
But it was Steve.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
So that was the beginning and and so they even
had it, you know, it was retro. I don't remember
if you uh he's an actor, Jim Kelly the uh
he was like, uh, he's a black martial artist back
in the day.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So it's like my my learning was from uh, like
I said, brother, very strong, but it was like the
beginnings of discipline. There's a point where the novelty wears off,
I don't want to do this anymore, and you look
at your parents and like this is we're doing this, and.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
You're like, but I.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
So it becomes hard. You're doing your pushups, you're you're
doing all the things that you don't want to do,
but you're learning your body, you're learning how to fight
through things. And so when I met my high school coach,
I leaned on this. Then I met my college coach,
I leaned on high school. When I met it always
got harder, it never got easy, it never got easier,
(31:02):
but I had something to lean on. And I think
those individuals like that provided foundation throughout my whole life
that I can use even today as I reflect on
you know, everything, And I think even as I get older,
I have a different type of respect for my mom.
I have a different type of respect for pastor White
because now I know them, I know more of their story.
(31:24):
Now when I've heard things that have popped up, it's
like I'm seeing that as an adult and not as
a kid, you know, and so it's like, oh, wow, Okay,
there's depth here. It's not exactly what I thought when
I was a child, but it's actually even richer. Now
you know, when I think of my old instructor, I
think of my old principle, It's like they just provided
(31:45):
leadership at a time that I didn't even realize I needed,
but it was there and it was a pillar, you know'
that's dope.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I'm using that just what I lean on.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I'm gonna try to tell that to my son because
good luck, yeah, good luck.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
I'm still gonna use it though. We're gonna see what happens.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Pete and son is the same kid that gets his
socks wet, takes him off, and then when he needs
to go put shoes on, puts the same wet sox on.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I'm getting there. He is extremely consistent. So I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I love quality. You know, how is your transition? You
know we've been out, we've been out the league for
some amount of times. I mean, I the last time
we had spoken was during that Columbia University, you know,
and so at that time it seemed, you know, that
was that time. So just like a snapshot, like house's
life change for you, guys words, it brought you.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So deep brick.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
At that point in time, I had three kids, and
now I have four at a COVID child, another baby boy.
Me and my wife are still married. But at that
point in time, I was not doing anything. I was
literally just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I took three hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Days did nothing, and then once I did that, this
was part of my after three sixty five days when
I was taking the class at Columbia and and really
just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
And so since then now I work for ESPN SEC Network.
(33:16):
So so Saturdays, we got a show called SEC Nation,
so we travel around the SEC were covering all the teams,
and I do a show on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
So that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
I'm doing this as well and in some other real
estate place around the South that I'm kind of trying
to be looking out for and things like that. So
that's really what consumes my life and four kids. So yeah,
I mean that's that's all I got. But I live
in Charlotte. We got to exchange numbers because you know,
you're one of my favorite people when we get together.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
That's how I praise. I appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Oh yeah, I did the I did Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I did that for a while. Just got out of that,
did some law enforcement. Now I'm working with Rome. We're
doing this show right here, got four kits.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I'm busy. I'm busy with my.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Kids and uh yeah, that's that's that's about it.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
But hey, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
H this is one of the best interviews we've had,
just purely because you were so open candidate, and you
really gave like the listeners and viewers like a real
insight on like not just telling you what to do,
but like some steps to achieve it. Also being vulnerable
and like, look, man, it was a lot of growth
and like the things that happened in my past were
(34:30):
it wasn't always good. Actually, when I got continue to advance,
I needed to lean on those rough times absolut to
continue to push me and to tell me I'm award
for the next journey.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Like you don't even see.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
What's out there, but the things that you're going through
now is it's really going to get you through the
next the next one. And uh man, that was just
really deep and good, bro. It was getting ship very
genuine well break man. Appreciate it, man, Thank you for
joining us. Man, you were off the hot seat.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Man.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Thank you guys, for listening. You know, with every show
we do, in every guest we have, we try to
make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open
and secure and make this a safe place for these
guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for
supporting us. We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
We are here to educate and entertain, So make sure,
like always and I always ask you, make sure you
hit the subscribe button, give us a five star rating,
tell a friend to tell a friend to do repet
tell a friend, make sure anywhere you get to your
podcast where it's Apple or iHeart linked in.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Appreciate y'all
Hosts And Creators
Charles “Peanut” Tillman
Roman Harper
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