How to be a Leader with NFL Legend Andrew Whitworth

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to Studio twenty two. It's not every day
I get to feel small, So I appreciate you coming
all that.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
That's what I'm here for.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, yeah, dude, thanks for coming on. Man, I met
you briefly at Masson Club. I know you will know
each other from before. But how's it hanging. How's everything going?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Bro? Good Man?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Just enjoying a little off season, you know, I think
playing football for sixteen years and then going straight into
doing you know, Thursday night Football's I've my life is now.
The fall is football, and this is the off season.
So it's good.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yeah, that is amazing, Like having that one routine and
then kind of circling back and still contributing and being
a part of the game you love, right, Like that's
got to be special.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
It is, and it's wild though.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
I mean I still get like the last two years,
late July early August, like I'll wake up middle of
the night like well wait a minute, like I'm not
in shape, or like Winds camp, or like for a meeting,
like I still kind of wake up the way because
you got to think since I was, you know, fourteen
years old, fifteen years old in high school, going to
training camp in August last year, you know, really was

(01:10):
the first time ever in a month of August I'm
not in a football training camp. So you know, it'd
been you know, twenty four years or something since I
really had not had that experience.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
So that was the weirdest part.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Like honestly, And then now it's like kind of getting
their groove my first off season after doing Amazon. It's like,
all right, now it's like who are you this time
of year because I don't really know, you know, because
the year before you're coming off was still playing football.
And now this year it's like, I've kind of found
some things that I'm into and I want to do,
and what does the next twenty years look like that
you want to be a part of. So that's part
kind of been the fun journey that I'm on now.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Absolutely, I would have that one nightmare for lacrosse where
I would wake up forgetting my pads, right, Like the
dream is I go to the game and I don't
have my pads and I can't play.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Oh yeah, and I'm like, I don't know what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Mine was is like you know when you show up
to the NFL football used always inevitably the first day
of version of a conditioning test.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So I'd wake up and be.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Like, whoa, I haven't ran any Like I haven't done
any of the sprints or the shuttles or whatever. Like
I'm like, crap, I don't know if I'm gonna pass
the test today. And it's like, no, wait a minute,
I don't have That's great, that's wild.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
So what have you been leaning towards since since retirement,
Like what kind of like hobbies or interest, what do
you come in, what do you see for the next
twenty years.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, I think when you play NFL football, you know,
especially I think any professional athletes this way, you're you're
so scheduled out, like you know, especially football for us,
because I always say our our sport not only is
involved the physicality, obviously that's at a really high level,
but you know, we've probably from a film room film
study days Like our days are crazy compared to most

(02:44):
other sports, you know, like baseball. You know, I'm good
buddies of Christian Yell. It's just like talking to him,
say hey, yeah, I mean they gotta go hit a
couple of balls.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
They got to show up at the park.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
But you know, they're kind of hanging out before a game,
just kind of keeping loose. But it's not like regimented hours, right,
like whereas in football every hour accounted for like every
single week, and so you just feel like you're almost
in the military in the sense of every day is
on repeat. Every week is the same week every week.
On Wednesday, at nine thirty, I know exactly the medium
I'm having. At eleven thirty, I know we're doing third

(03:13):
down install. You know, at one o'clock I'm walking through.
At three o'clock, I'm proxim I know the time I'm eating,
Like I could guess the day every day, right, And
so you're used to that, and then you enter this
world where it's like just do whatever you want today
and you're like, whoa, Like what's going on? Because that's
my favorite question ask for a rookie NFL rookie every year
when the season ends, like what are you going to

(03:34):
do for the off season? Because you got to think
about those kids. They've come from high school where they're
in school all year round, they're playing their sport. The
next sport they go into to college they play college football,
and then the off season they're full training programs, you know,
the whole fourth quarter programs back in school.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Then you go to the NFL.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
You go through this massive process of the combine, the draft,
you get on a team, you're trying to figure out
a playbook, you're trying to figure out how.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
To exist in the league.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
And then January fifth comes and the season's over and
your team to make the playoffs and you're like, hey
see you in May and those kids are like wait
what Like yeah, you know, They're like what's going on?
Like why why isn't somebody shepherding me? Why wasn't tell
me somebody to tell me.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
What to do? Like where am I supposed to be?

Speaker 3 (04:17):
They all of a sudden have four months the first
time in their life, they got a little money in
their pocket, and it's like what do I do?

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Like who am I? Where do I go?

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Where do I like to live? Where do I want
to stay? What places do I want to go to?
For the office. So it's just a weird experience for
them because you go from that, and so it's the
same thing when you retire. You've been one way for
so long, and now all of a sudden, I have
the freedom do what I want. So For me, it's
been some hybrid of a bunch of things. I'm coaching
all my kids. I have four kids, thirteen, thirteen, eleven,
and nine, so it's like coaching basketball and coaching baseball

(04:47):
and coaching football. I'm coaching my nine year old daughter's
basketball team. You know, it's kind of just bouncing all
over the place and those different things, and then also
a little bit of what I love to do, and
that's mentoring guys, you know, creating that space to be
able to help guys across the league, consulting a little
bit in the league for different coaches, different teams, doing
some of that type stuff. Just staying involved, you know,

(05:08):
one way or another. I think athletics, you know, there's
all these common themes and so it's it's really just
staying involved in sports, and you know, that's what I
love and so, uh, that's.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Part of commit in.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
As always say, I think I'm busier now because it's
not a schedule. So I'm just all over the place. Hey, yeah,
can you come do this? Can you come do that?
Where you help this guy, we help this, And so
it's it's been fun. It's been a little chaotic as
far as you're figuring out how to say no to
people sometimes and like hey, no, maybe I can't do that.
But the other part of it's been fun, and it's
fun just kind of redefining who you are and what
you're into.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
That's because you can say you retired from football, right,
but you didn't retire like that.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, you still have so much You're still there, You're
still yeah, yeah, I think too.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
That's the other thing, right, Like young athletes you see
this all the time, Like, you know, you see all
these numbers of the amount of athletes that in the
NFL football and go broke or they have these things,
you know, where just there's life after football. And I
think that's the biggest thing for me to help young
guys understand that I feel responsible for and then also
for myself, is that there's a lot of life after that,
and so like what are you going to do with it?

(06:10):
What's you're planning for it? You know, I've seen Andrew
Hawkins talk about this, like if you haven't started to
have a plan for who you are and when football's over,
while you're playing, you're gonna be in a lot of
trouble because all of a sudden you're gonna be like
there is no more football, Like what's your other identities?
Like what else is there in life that's important to you?
And so for me that's been kind of the fun journey.
It's like what's important to mean, what do I want
to be doing? You know, do I want to travel?

(06:32):
Don't want to be involved in certain organizations or things
that I want to do?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
What does that look like?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
And kind of the discovery of that, Like I call
it the rediscovery, but it's like the rediscovery of who
you are, you know, what you're into. It's been a
lot of fun. That's awesome, man.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, I mean I feel like people go through that
throughout their lives just in a natural process. But to
go from football where you like exactly like you're saying,
you're so regiment and then just have it just clear out,
that's got to be just a trip all around. Do
you have people that have come before you, guys that
have come forward that men do you or help you
through that at all?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
You know?

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Or is it more more more you're just in the
mentor seat helping other people.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, I think it's.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Yeah, there's obviously guys I've paid attention to and then
there's guys I've had conversations with, like I'll never forget
two years ago, uh, being an American century after I've
just retired. It's my first like summer from being done
with football and you know, talking to Larry Fitzgerald and
him talking about hey, man, like just the emotion that

(07:27):
he had and his just from you go from being
especially a guy like him, Right, You're you're the leader
of this entire organization. You are the captain of captains, right,
and every person in organization. And it's not just the players,
it's people in the training room, the TRNK staff, the
coaching staff, like all those people look up to you
for the individual you are and you're involved in Oh dude,

(07:47):
he's amazing, and you're involved in their everyday life of
like what they're trying to be good at.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right, and then you.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Step away, Well, the big will of the league keeps moving.
And to take a guy like that and I never
mend him. Him and I having this conversation of like, wow,
we never realized like how big the wheel was because
it's even as involved as both of us were in organizations.
Now it's like, man, nobody calls you like nobody's reaching
out to you for stuff, Like nobody's because you're not

(08:14):
in the building, right, You're not You're not on the
team anymore, So like who are you in that moment?
And to see guys like like up for us to
have this conversation where you're both like guys who played
forever so involved in the league and now you're like, dang,
I'm on the outside, Like what do you do out here?
Like nobody even reaches out to me anymore. You know,
like people you thought you were really close with, like
you are close with them, but they're busy the wheels turning,

(08:35):
they're still trying to get ready for the next NFL season,
they're you know, training, they have focus with their family,
like all those things right, and so you start to realize,
like you can't get sensitive about it. You got to
realize that that's the nature of the beasts that you
were a part of, and so you got to have
a plan for like how you're going to handle that
and what you're okay with in that. And so I
think for me having learned that heard it from him
than having to apply it to myself, you know, it's

(08:57):
helped me kind of give guys the heads up on
that too, and some guys like Jason Kelsey just you know,
announced his retirement like it's well of the first thing
I told him. Man, it's just it's gonna be different. Bro,
just be ready for it and you're gonna be all right.
But you just got to understand it's it's gonna be
a strange ending because when you've played as long as
we did and then you stop, you're gonna go from

(09:17):
being the guy everybody leaned on to. Like, man, people
keep moving and you're like missing people leaning on you.
As much as you thought that was a problem, you
actually didn't realize, Like that's part of your medicine, right, Yeah.
People need me, people want me around, and all of
a sudden you feel unwanted and you got to get
okay with that emotion.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, that is that's I mean.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Man, I come from such a different side of it
because you know, I grew up moving around all over
the place, and I never got to be in sports
because I moved too much, and so I was just
an artist.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
I was like, I was a surfer, a skater, I painted,
I did everything that was just what I wanted to
do all the time, you know, and I didn't have
a structure so to hear from the other perspective where
it's like I'm just trying to put myself in your
shoes for a moment, and I'm like, I can only
imagine how imagine it being confusing, can be difficult, can
be like emotionally like where I would be mentally, I
would struggle with it.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Dude.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
I think I really would to go from such a
structured thing to almost just like a pure freedom but
with no direction, you know, like where.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, like I have days do bro, I'm literally like,
is it okay if I just like go the golf
course today?

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Like I got to like ask myself, is that okay?

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Like you know, because it's like you're so used to
every day had to be I'm chasing being better so
I can be prepared for next season. And like you
you've almost never given yourself like the freedom to think
it's okay, just do what you want to do.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, you know, And.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
That's like you have to reprogram yourself and then you
got to know what it is you want to do,
right you have never even thought that way.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Well, that's another question I kind of had, Like you see,
with you know, retired athletes or sports personalities, like you know,
Stephen A. Smith on his podcast is leaning a little
bit more into politics, and Shen and Sharp is really
leading into culture. Do you have an avenue like that
where you feel like with your podcast or with what

(11:02):
you're doing, that an angle that you want to attack.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
I think for me, you know, I've always really enjoyed
the big picture of whether it be sports or performance,
and so I think for me it's like, not necessarily leadership,
but just really what all entels to be a part
of success and to be a part of chasing success
as a group. I think that's such a cool complex thing.
Like I always say this, you can I think this

(11:28):
is why you can watch free agency right now. It's
like teams are getting so excited, like, oh man, they
just signed all these guys. They spend all this money
and got these guys, and then we'll be sitting here
next you know, November, and we'll be like, well, dang,
this team still not even good. They spent all that money,
like we got also jacked up about it, right, and
it didn't have an impact and then we're all gonna
you know, like I kept saying the other day, like
we're watching experiencing and all this minds get moved around,

(11:50):
and Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes are just like sitting
around their couch like, man, this is so cool, but
we'll be back there again next year. So it's like,
you know, they're just like whatever, y'all keep doing whatever
you do. Because to me, if you have the guys
on your team that make people around you better and
they impact the entire building to aspire to be better
and to aspire to find whatever the better version of

(12:12):
each one of them is every single day, you can't
buy that in free agency. And when those people exist
in your building, you just keep them there and you
just keep winning. And like, those two dudes are some
of the rarest guys, and not only how they play
the game and what they do, but their ability to
make people around them play better than they're even capable

(12:32):
of and be inspired to play even more passionate they'or
and capable of. So you can sign the baddest free
agent on the planet and you can assemble whatever team
you want. If you don't have people in your building
that make it about more than themselves and make the
people around them better like you will never get there.
So you can spend as much money as you want to,
it's never going to happen. And so I think, to me,

(12:54):
that's really what I'm into, Like, I love finding those.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
People that are just different.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
They just you watch them, Like Joe Burrow, like his
impact immediately in Cincinnati, that's not just how he's played.
He has something about him that that building changed the
moment he walked into it, and their ability to compete
at a high level change, Like there's just rare guys
out there. Jose is another example of they have that ability.
It's just something about them that when you're around them,

(13:20):
you want to be at your best at all times.
You're inspired. And we all know people like that. And
so to me, it's not just sports, it's life, it's business,
it's everything. Like you know the guy who walks in
the room at the country club that you're like, Man,
when I go to the golf course, I see this guy.
The whole entire driving range lights up when this dude
walks into the driving range. We all know that guy, right,
and it's like everyone's mood changes instantly when that guy

(13:41):
walks in the room. And so I think there's just
lots of individuals like that, and I love talking about
that kind of thing and that ability to really make
people around you maybe not only just want to be
better at something, but feel better about who they are.
So that's the kind of things like I love talking about.
And really I'm sure what I'll get more into, you know,
I tuck your head off about that kind of stuff,
But that's what I love.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Man.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
I love people. I love impact, love culture atmosphere, what
makes people tick. That kind of stuff's fun for me.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Yeah, it's almost like, first off, that's really admirable and
I love hearing that because we you know, really try
to highlight on the podcast motivational things, aspirational stuff, and
like really get to the core of you know, what
makes someone who they are and identity, and we love
exploring all that. When you were talking about leadership in

(14:31):
sports too, you think of like a A Steph Curry
right or Klay Thompson and how they have done so
well for so long by really being quiet leaders and
leading by example.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Right.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Neither of them are are very outspoken or to over
energetic or even in entertainment, you think of like when
you mentioned walking into a room you think of like
a clooney, right, like the whole room. Yeah, but yeah,
that's really cool. I love hearing that because it's like
a it's that angle is what makes them special and

(15:07):
like really getting more into that.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, I look at it like I always tell the
story of Patrick, like I've always had a ton of
respect for my homes and you know, I would say
young players had an insane amount.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Of success at an early age.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
But I played for the very first time in the
American Centituy Championship in Tahoe probably three years ago. And
I was literally in a room, had my family with me,
my wife and my kids, and we brought I think
her parents were out with us, and my caddy and
his wife, and we're in like a private room in
the hotel, like in the dining room restaurant, and the

(15:40):
doors kind of cracked open, and I'm sitting at the
end of the table and I hear kind of it
was right after the Chiefs said one a couple years ago,
and I can hear Travis Kelcey and Mahomes and their
crew going down the hallway and they're kind of loud,
they could do They're having a good time, and I
had never met Patrick in person at this point. It's
always kind of been a fan of this young player
is obviously crazy successful, this quick.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
In his career.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
And I hear him going to the hallway and I
kind of like, I'm sitting there talking to my family,
but I see him.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Walk by like corner of my eye through the door.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
And I see him like stop and he like tell
us about hey, you guys, go ahead, and he pops
in the door, and I'm like, never met this dude ever.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Here he is he just won the Super Bowl MVP.
Like this dude's on top of the planet.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
And he's like I just saw the big fella in here,
and like, hey, if y'all don't mind, can I come in?
And so he's like ask my family if he can
walk in the room, Like they're dying. My kids are like, Dad,
you actually know Patrick Mahomes. It's like, calm down. So
he like comes in the room, gives me a hug.
He's like I just had to get this dude a hug,
Like I've watched you play forever and like respect you
so much, man, like if you love and then like

(16:39):
walks through the room and says hey to everyone of
my family members and like, you.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Know, just gives the love and walks out.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
And to me, it wasn't just that he did it,
it was in my mind my first thing I thought
was like, this dude's different, Like because he gets it,
he's young, he's successful, But let me tell you why
he's that way.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Because of that.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
He gives you respect, He knows, he understands what means,
what it means to people to feel respected, to feel appreciated.
And when you're that talented as he is, and you're
that rare as he is, and you also have that,
you are going to be really special at I don't
care what we're talking about, business, sports, life, you name it.

(17:19):
So when he walked out that room, I was like, man,
this dude's going to be rare. And not because he
gave me this love. It's because he identified what that
would mean for him to do that, and he could
realize in that moment he should do it. And to me, like,
that's just being aware of where you're at, how you
have impact and when you're really special and you're also
aware of that impact ability, Man, the sky's the limit.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I mean, so many people in that position could easily
just have a big head, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, just walk right through, Like and I wouldn't be
mad at you be like this, dude, just want a
super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I'm not Like.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
He didn't have a reason to say to me that
was the point. Like to me, I was blown away, like, dude,
why would you even care? But the fact that he's
wired that way just shows you he's different. He's not
your normal guy who successful. He's got a mission to
be everything it is he can possibly be.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean so much what you're saying. It resonates
with me because I one of the first like self
help books. I've always been into that since I was young,
and one of the first ones I picked up I
was about eighteen years old, is a Tony Robins book, right,
and he's talking about all these successful people from all
walks of life, and he said, what's the one thing
that all these people have in common. I'm not sitting
here thinking like what do they have? You know, like
I can't, I don't know. And what he said was,

(18:26):
they all have an extraordinary psychology. So it's their mental game.
It's their mentality that sets them apart from the difference.
And if you have a self awareness of what you're
doing while you're on top on top of that, that's
a whole other level and the physicality of it too. Right,
You've got Malcolm Gladwell's ten thousand hours you can put in.
You can have all the talent in the world. But
the person who outworks everyone else and has the mentality
that to keep on going and persevere and do whatever

(18:48):
it takes, that's the person that's going to succeed through
and through to the end, you know. And I think
what you're saying is so it's good for people to hear,
you know, because you can be great at something naturally.
But for you, was that something that came naturally in
your life that just just from the way you grew
up and being in sports and having the regimen and
all that stuff, Or is it something that you've also

(19:09):
outwardly seeked or are you just like all in all
around you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
I think I've always had since I was little, a
very aware spirit just of people.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Like I could always walk in a room and have
a real.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Good feel for exactly like how people are, who they are,
what they're about.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Always just like crazy, just natural.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
I could pick people out in the room and tell
you like this dude's a good friend, like she would
be a good She's not a good friend.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Like this person.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
Like I could just feel like how people are when
I walk in a room, and I've always been I
can sit in a restaurant and I'm of those people,
like I'm not as worried about our conversation. Like I
love to kind of get a feel for everyone around me,
because I'm just like almost like.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
A protective dog. Like when I'm with my people, my
mood can.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Change instantly in a dinner because I feel like somebody
beside us is like not somebody I'm cool with, or
I don't feel like that, I feel like they're being
disrespectful of somebody I'm with. So like I all of
a sudden went out of like fun mode and now
I'm like in like protective dog wook right, So like
I'm very much that way, Like I'm a watchdog in
that sense, And so I'm always kind of the person listening,
not necessarily talking when I'm at dinner or when I'm

(20:13):
doing things with people like training everything else. I got
my training on joke all the time. Like I probably
spoke to him once when we worked out. Ever, like
don't talk to me while we're training, Like I'm here
to work, but I'm also observing at the same time,
and so like I've always nactually had that. But as
a kid, I was a pretty lonely kid I got,
you know, I always wanted to kind of be by
myself in that sense. I had some buddies I grew
up with, but I was always like not really the

(20:34):
person looking for attention and those kind of things. I
was more paying attention to the rooms I was in,
and but I didn't I wasn't like driven with work
ethic and all those things.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
I wasn't that.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I was kind of just naturally a pretty good athlete
at things like I played tennis, I played basketball, I powerlifted,
you know, I played football, I did track, I played
baseball like I did it all growing up and had
some you know, version of success at all of them.
I was pretty good, you know, for a big, taller guy.
I was a really good athlete, and so that kind
of always came natural, but I never had the work

(21:04):
ethic to go with it.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
And then when I got in the league.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
I always say I stayed healthy long enough to realize, wow,
I could change my life. My family's life, people around
me's life, Like if I apply myself to this game,
and I was always tough, like you were never going
to break me down. When I was younger, I was
always naturally tough. I just didn't have this like diligent
work ethic to fix things all the time. And I

(21:29):
think I stayed healthy long enough to develop that and
work on it, and I changed that part of me,
Like and so I was a different dude, Like in
the sense of you think about NFL off seasons, guys
usually have a place they train or a trainer they
trained with. For me, my first eleven years, I played
in Cincinnati, Ohio with the Bengals, and in the off seasons,
I lived in Louisiana. My life when I lived in Louisiana,

(21:49):
and that's where we were going to raise our kids.
So we flipped back and forth every six months. Well,
I didn't have like a facility, so I would either
like every year. It was kind of different. Some years
I'd go training like a CrossFit gym and like just
like with local just people hanging out in a cross bitchym,
getting after it right, just trying to crush myself.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Like one year I tried to.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
I hired like a swimming coach, and I tried to
do like Olympic swimming stuff like I was just trying
to do like workouts, like I wanted to like just
see how good I could get at swimming. I was
horrific at it. By the way, bad, bad, bad. You know,
my buoyancy's not good. Let's just put it that way.
I'm swimming up, not across. But then, like other years
I got into MMA, I went into you know, I
did almost everything. Every year, I would like, hey, man,

(22:28):
what's a new challenge, like distance running, like anything. Every
year I took on a new challenge and that's how
I trained in the off season. So I wasn't some
like guy who like lifted a lot of weights. I
just you know, yeah, I would lift a weight if
that was the challenge that year, you know, and so
I would really wait. So I was back with the
team to do their regimen. But in the off season
I took it as like, what's something new I can

(22:48):
become really good at. So that helped me develop that
work ethic because I started checking into different energy systems.
Like I always tell people, like.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
I ran one tens in college. They were brutal.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
I always say, listen, you could be on your sixteenth
one ten on jiu jitsu and you're on your back
on a mat and some dude's forms in your face,
crushing your like fractual bone, you know, like facial bones,
and it's like, all right, you feel like you ran
your sixteenth one ten, and now you're like trying to
tell yourself just tap and end it. So you're like,
you're going to these places you never thought you'd ever
go in your mind and your will, right, And so

(23:21):
I just those kind of things. I did enough exploring
that I found parts of me that I didn't know existed,
you know, and that kind of changed. And it's almost
like every year after I do one of those experiences,
my threshold for pain, my threshold for conditioning, my threshold
for like what's hard work kept changing with it, you know,
and it's like I'm learning all these new things, new
these new athletic movements, new trades, new skills, And that's

(23:44):
really what helped me be now where I am, where
I'm forty two. I still go work out with like
the Ramso line. Sometimes I play golf, I do everything,
like you know, and it's like sometimes I feel guilty
when people are like, dude, how do you feel. I'm like,
honestly feel pretty freaking good all, you know. But it's
like I was, I really credit it to my like
curiousness to like, hey, I want to go explore new
things to learn how to be good at.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
Is that something you're encouraging in younger players that you.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, I mean one of the biggest problems we had
today is it's all the specialization of sports. I mean,
you know these young youth, youth athletes, it's like they
hit you know, all they do is play baseball every
day of the week, and they're traveling every weekend, and
they're throwing ten thousand pitches and they're twelve, you know,
and it's you look at the elbow issues, the shoulder
issues that these kid kids have.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's, man, go learn some other skill.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Like you're gonna get to be an even better athlete,
even if it is baseball that you want to go play,
if you can learn all these other skills and think
about what athletics is. It's learning a skill and getting
your body to do what you want your body to
do when you want it to do it. In the
timing with which you want to do it? Like when
does that not payoff in any sport? So if you

(24:48):
continue to redefine your ability to make your body do
those things, then to me, you're only becoming an extremely
better athlete because you can do all these skills and
they all apply. Like I teach offensive line play, I
show guys a lot of different things you do, like
in a different sport and go, hey, if you ever
played defense in basketball, Like do you know what it's

(25:08):
like to defend the goal?

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Like that's what a quarterback is. The goal's the rim, right,
So you're defending the quarterback. He's the rim. Like what
do you have to do to make them run around
and have to go out of bounds to get to
the quarterback? Like how would you move your feet? How
would you adjust your body? Like what's the angle of
attack that the guy's taking with the basketball? That's no
different with a pass rusher? Yeah right? And so like
to me, learning those different things, like there's different skills

(25:31):
and maybe you don't know which one will trigger a
guy's mind and go, oh that makes sense. I've done
that before, and it's like I am now they find
that thing that makes them better and so to me,
like when you're teaching or coaching, to be able to
have athletes that have an understanding of all these different things.
I mean, I think that's one of the things that's
so awesome.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, what it sounds like you're doing
is you're just making sure that you don't stay complacent.
You know, you can get very comfortable in one way
of doing something, but exactly what you're saying, there might
be something you learned in jiu jitsu or something like that,
you could toss a guy a little easier, a little different,
you know, or something like that. That's that's really fascinating
to hear because I've always been as an actor, I've
always been attracted to trying to overcome things, like trying

(26:10):
to figure things out. I'm like, there's there's a sport
I'm gonna figure how to play.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
I be great at it.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
You know, I don't know if I'm gonna be the
best of the best in this one thing, but I'll
be good at it.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
I could figure out how to play basketball, I can
figure how to play chess.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
I can figure out how to do you know, do
this do that you pointed me for chess, came on,
but not.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
The chess phone app I got. Yeah, now I'm trying
to learn that. It's fun, dude.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, I actually enjoyed it. Never thought I would flying
so much with Thursday football. It's like, hey, I need
something to do, so I put the chess app on there.
I've been learning it while fly. You know, it's been great,
little tutorials like okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
The brain is a muscle, that's it.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, every time I beat the computer on the plane too,
I feel good about it. You know, things not it's
not that easy, bro, I agree, but it's those constant
challenges that I think it just it makes you better overall.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Exactly what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
I think as an athlete too, you're you're becoming a
well rounded athlete versus just one version.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
You can be great in one thing.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah, don't get me wrong, but I feel like you're
limiting yourself, is what it seems like if you're doing
only that.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Think about it, like, even if you talk about the
ten thousand hours, ten thousand things, you repeat whatever, it
is right to me, like you're doing a disservice. Actually,
once you pass ten thousand, if you only keep doing
the same exact thing for ten like, Okay, now I'm
to twenty thousand that same right. Well, well, once you've
done ten thousand or something, why wouldn't you include something
else that you start to chase ten thousand of and

(27:27):
then now you master multiple things, and now you apply
all those things together, right. And So to me that
was really what I was after. It's like, how do
I master a ton of different things and then that
can all come together into this beautiful big picture of
like all the things that I really know how to
master and they relate to no matter which one of
those things I'm doing, I can apply all those skills.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
Napoleon Hill wrote a book I think it's called The
Laws of Success, and he compares like Jesse, Jesse, James, Thomas, Jefferson,
all these successful historical figures, and he compares all their
different qualities, right, like charisma, intelligence, athleticism or whatever it is,

(28:13):
and he kind of makes a chart and you see
how different all of them are. Ye, but they were
all still so successful in what they did, right. And
I feel like that applies to this in the sense
of like not only figuring out what you're good at
and playing to your strength, but also, like you're saying,
expand those categories, like get your numbers up in the

(28:35):
ones that you're not good at.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yeah, I mean I look at it like, you know,
Aaron Donald just retired. Okay. I always say this young
guys when I go places.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
Aaron Donald was, you know, this insanely talented, undersized detackle,
you know, with a skill set that's just so rare.
But that isn't what made him so special. What made
him so special is that he had one of the
baddest work ethics I've ever seen in my life. Like
the dude was more talent than everybody played on the
field with. But it's also because he trained at a

(29:05):
level that nobody could repeat. He practiced with an effort
that nobody could repeat. And so when you combine like
character of just being a man's man. I don't care
about the credit, I don't care about people talking about me.
I don't need to tell you anything.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Like he was the.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Type of guy where I feel like players go out
on a field and they're like, man, I want to
make an interception today, I want to get a sack today.
Aaron was like, I'm going to destroy you for sixty minutes,
I don't care what happens, Like all the stats are
going to happen, because I'm going to destroy whoever I
lay up, like line up over and that's it. And
so what I always told people is is if you

(29:42):
take an NFL player and you say that there, every
one of them wouldn't be there if.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
They didn't have this special talent.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
And if you put their special talent at whatever number
you want to call it, ninety okay, ninety nine, whatever,
you put their special talent at a number. The guys
who are the rarest dudes on the planet are the
ones that not only they have this special talent, but
they also have this work ethic to attack all the
things they're bad at, and they start to bring those
things up. And when you start to bring those things

(30:09):
up and also just taking care of your special talent,
you're you know, you're making sure that it's never going anywhere,
but you're bringing all the other things up around it.
That's the guys that go to the stratosphere with being
how good they are, because it starts to be like
the way NFL works, the way athletics work, is people
are going to attack your weaknesses and they're going to
try to say, hey, this is how you block this guy,

(30:30):
this is how you beat this guy. And if you
start to eliminate those, now your special talent is I
don't have any weaknesses, right and oh, by the way,
I also still have this other special talent. And so
that's really like what my mentality was.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Training.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
But that's what separates the really rare guys. And like
Aaron Donald was that guy, Like his special talent was
is he could have just lived off of what he
was good at, but he out trained even up until
the day he retired. And I guarantee you right now
he's getting after it in a gym somewhere like that's
just who he is. But that was what made him
so special, right, And so I think, to me, when

(31:04):
you look at these great athletes, it's that ability. Like
I thought when you watch the show The Quarterback Deal
with Mahomes, I mean, I can't say any people I've
talked to it walked away and they're like, wow, he
works that hard, like in the season like I would
have thought, he just plays in the game, like you know,
people had no idea that that's how hard this dude
works day in and day out. You know that's his intalent.
And I think that's what you really see, is that

(31:25):
there's a lot more to it, you know, And so
I think that that's really these dynamic guys. There's more
to it than maybe we even realize. It's that their
ability to bring everything else around them to this next
level is what really separates them.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
A lot of people too, don't know that. I'm a
diehard Warriors fan, so I bring up Steph Curry a lot,
but a lot of people don't know that he didn't
really take off. It was between him and Monteellis, and
a lot of people wanted to keep Monteellis. And then
what happened is Steph kept hurting his ankles right because
he actually has like thin legs and not that built.

(32:01):
Once he actually built up his leg strength and built
some muscle. Never never got injured again, you know, knock
on wood. But he got rid of the injury problem
and became Steph Curry.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Yeah, and don't forget the dude's insane golfer. Like he's
just a crazy athlete, Like you can play anything. That
dude would be good at anything. He probably be an
awesome wide receiver. I mean, you know, just the reality.
So it's those guys to me like him, rare people
like just daying out the person they are rare, rare talent.

(32:34):
But then also that awareness of, hey man, how do
I find all these things that I can also chase
to be good at that improve who I am when
I shoot, Like there's no doubt that when he's firing
up a shot in.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
A critical moment of a game.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
The skill set of being able to line up a
five foot putt and make it when everyone's watching and
everything's on the line, and the nerves you have over that,
Like those nerves they correlate, Like, yes, it's not as
big as spectle, but it matters. Like I've gone to
play golf with plenty of people who it could just
be you and them, But if you make the putt
work twenty bucks, all of a sudden, they can't even

(33:07):
touch the ball, Like it's like they're scared to death,
Like it, Matt, pressure matters, And so any way that
you can put yourself under pressure, that's on a jiu jitsu, Matt,
if that's on a basketball course, that's on a golf course,
all those things matter. So I think guys, you see
that like chase themselves in a lot of different ways,
like how can I continue to challenge myself? You just

(33:27):
see it come out and their ability to be successful
in big time moments.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
And it's yeah, like really, it's the ability to fail
like over and over again and get comfortable at it
and get okay with it because that's what's going to.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Lead to the successes. Right.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
What you're saying right now too, is like it's for me.
It feels like not just a football metaphor, right, but
it's such a metaphor for life because a mentality I
adopted a few years ago is I really feel like
I want to become the highest version of me. And
I started breaking down what does that mean? You know,
Like I want to be the best athlete I can be.
Obviously I don't play professional sports, but I like to train.
I want to have the best psychology. I want to
have relationships, family, relationship, financial, I want to be able

(34:03):
to take every element in my life, every pillar, and
make it as fulfilled as possible. Right, and not saying
I'm going to get there. And I do have more
skill set in other places than others, but it's how
do you get to that? And how do you have
the self awareness to you know, realize that and then
go attack that.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Right.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Is that something that you know again, is it just
like an innate thing for you or is it something
that you've sat down and you said, like, here's the
things I need to work on, and let's get to
work on them.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
I think it's it's being aware of, like, you know,
watching people, observing people are successful. That's why I say, like,
you know, I don't I love football, it's great, but
I love sports in general. And then I also just
love you know, I don't care what we're talking about,
whether it's somebody's performing in an office building, somebody that's
on a football field, somebody in a courtroom, whatever it
may be, in a doctor's office, you know, in a surgery.

(34:50):
Like I love hearing people who are really successful, seeing
them in their element and what it is that makes
them special. Like I tell this all the time. If
I go speak to you know, high schools or youth
and go read sometimes and they you know, they'll ask
these questions, and you know, it's great. Some of the
questions you get asked are hilarious. Mind usually have to
do with my foot size or how much food I eat.
But you know, every now and then, one I'm gonna

(35:11):
ask you is something about you know, being successful, and like,
what do you think the best route is? And I
used to always say, like man being a great listener
and a great observer and saying, hey, you know, you
know it's it's be careful, idolizing somebody like saying I
have to be exactly like this person, like oh, I
want to be Steph Curry, So I'm gonna have to
be exactly like Steph Curry and do everything.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well. No, but what you can do is watch.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
What Steph Curry's great at, Like how he treats people,
how respectful he is, how you hear this dude talk
about the game, how you hear him talk about competition,
how you see his work ethic and his ability to
push himself to find new links. And see if there's
little traits about him that you could apply to who
you are. And then go over here to this guy
that you that you think is awesome, and what's a
little trait about them that you're like, Hey, does that

(35:53):
fit in who I am? Like always making sure you're
careful to be you, but hey, maybe these are some
little things I can pick up that I can apply
to who I am, And now that makes me this
well rounded version of a bunch of different people that
I respect and admire, and I know how special they are,
and I know why they're special.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
But maybe I don't have to be them.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
I just have to be me, but I can apply
some of those little things they do well, Like I'll
never forget when I moved here from Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Sean McVay comes in.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
He's the youngest head coach in NFL history, goes on,
obviously at the end of my time to become the
first youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl.
But coming in, him and I hit it off immediately,
and it was like because we were both wired that
similar way, but we're completely opposites, and so there were
things we could feed off of each other for, like
things he wanted to be better at and I wanted

(36:42):
to be better at, you know, being confident who I am,
not always like I'm usually the type before I met
him that I may have a great idea or may
have a thought or something that applied, but I would
never say it, and he would always just be like, dude,
the whole room wants to hear what you have to say,
like please, if you have something to say, say it
like everyone's listening, you know. And so he brought that
out of me a lot more than I Like, I
would never be doing thursdaynight football right now if it

(37:04):
wasn't for meeting Sean McVay, because he brought confidence that
he instilled in me to believe in who I was
and like the way I'd gone about it, and so
that to me, when we met each other, there was
a lot of things, and there's things that I gave
him that he wanted, like from a leadership standpoint, from
a you're a young coach, like he's never like had
to lead an entire room, right.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
And so it's like those kind of things.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
There's things we fed off of each other, and we
always joked, like the off seasons, it was like going
to have a drink at NOBU or going on a
trip together, like we would just pow wow on leaderships
and sports and life and those kind of things. And
so we fed off of each other, you know, and
those kind of things. To me, it's like those kind
of relationships that you can learn how to feed off
of people and say, what are some things this person's

(37:44):
great at that, like I could really follow and then
what are some things that I can give to that person?
I think to me that that's that's when you really
find those special relationships, those special things that kind of
chase this new version of you that you didn't even
know you had the potential to do right, And so
I think, I think it's really cool when you found
that was in life.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Yeah, those are a little more rare, I think too,
because I feel like, you know, going through life, I've
found that a lot of people kind of can fit
into boxes, right, like are are you here to help them?
Are they here to help you? Or are they just
heared it in passing? What's are they going to hurt you?

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Like?

Speaker 1 (38:14):
What's what is that person's intention in their life? But
to find someone that you guys can mutually add value
to each other's life and help each other grow, That's
that is pretty unique that I don't think happens all
the time, but it's really cool when it does. Yeah, man,
it's everything you're saying is very relatable for me too,
because I've always been I mean, it sounds like you're
an impath. It sounds like you can read the room

(38:34):
right and I've always been the guy to just sit back,
be quiet, and listen, because I've found that people will
tell you everything that you need to know about them
without even saying anything, right, my wife says, my wife is.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
A news anchor, okay, and she I would always say,
you know, we watching the news or watch something and
she'd be like, oh, that reporter ended it too early
or like moved on to kind of what do you mean.
She's like thebe I didn't investigate reporting for forever, and
she's like, the best way to get everything you want
to know is to ask a Q question and then
just sit there and like they'll answer the question the

(39:04):
first time, and then when you're just sitting there staring
at them, they'll think they didn't answer it right, so
they'll start to answer it again, and the second time
they'll give you everything you wanted to know because they
start to second guess themselves because you didn't say anything.
So you just sit there and listen, and then they
just answer it again, and then it's like everything you

(39:24):
want it's coming out the second time, right, because now
the nerves have hit them and they're like, oh, I'll
go again, and so they repeat it and It's like
I always learned that it's like it's great to ask
questions and all those things and then just sit and
listen and learn. Like I think that's you know, it's
a cool way I think to really be around special people.
Take those moments when you get a chance to be
around somebody to listen to them, you know. And I

(39:46):
think sometimes you know, people think of like what they
want to say when they see that person that they
you know, that they've now.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Always idolized the meat or whatever. Right.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
I always laugh at that because I'm always like, it'd
be better to just think about, like what is it
that you'd want to ask them, and then ask it
and listen, you know, and and maybe that you get
fulfilled whatever it is you've been looking for, you know.
And so I think that's really cool to be really
good at listening and learning, because to me, that's some
of the rarest things I've had the you know, opportunity
be a part of is when I get a chance

(40:15):
to hear from somebody that I respect or admire and
hear what they have.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
To say, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
That was one of the earlier podcasts we had with
Jim Gray and he we asked him to give some advice,
and he said, use your ears. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no doubt. Yeah,
it's I mean the best way to learn. I think. Yeah, what.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
We got asked, you got to ask some questions for
the LA audience out there. What speaking of coach McVeigh,
what were some of the kind of most fun or
crazy behind the scenes moments that now you can share
it that.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Uh yeah, I mean obviously a lot.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
I mean, I you know, I look back, you know,
seventeen coming here as you know, one of the oldest
oul linemen ever to sign free agency at thirty six,
with the youngest head coach in NFL history and Sean
it was quite a ride in a journey like it was.
It was obviously a big league for him in an
exciting way. It was an interesting lead for me because

(41:11):
there's not really been alignman like at thirty six years
old to go some other team and sign like a
lucrative free agency deal. So it was it was a
kind of uncharted water for me. Like I was like, man,
I think my body can last, and you know, I
think I'm gonna be able to play, but I don't
really know. I mean, nobody's really done this that much,
you know, So it was an interesting like that, the

(41:31):
nerves and just the anticipation he had of being successful
and being around. But I mean, I think probably the
best behind the scenes is just you know, all the
good times we had. Really, you know, I always say this,
like you talked about NFL teams. You know, if you
ask the Chiefs right now when they won the Super Bowl,
they tell you that there was a moment in this offseason,
you know, leading into camp that they really felt like

(41:52):
they had a special group of guys. And the way
they train and the way they put in the time.
A lot of those things are done long before you
ever end up playing in game, the relationships, the bonds, the.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Things you build.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
So to me, it was a lot of those moments
just with Sean, with other guys on the team, with
Stafford obviously when he came over you know golf, you know,
played with him for four years.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
I mean, just an awesome dude.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
I think of those things, like when I think back
of my career, it's hard for me to ever remember
many games, like in the sense of just that's not
really what your memories come from. My memories are either
the moments after the moments before and how special they were.
Like a one that immediately comes to mind with Jared
Goff Kansas City Chiefs Monday night football game here that
was supposed to be played in Mexico City, it gets

(42:36):
moved to the coliseum. One of the best football games
ever on Monday night football in insane scoring game. But
the coolest part of that game wasn't that. It was
after the game. That's when you had just had the
shootings that had happened out in Thousand Oaks, you had
just had the fires where people have been displaced. So
we had a lot of first responders, some people from

(42:56):
that horrific situation, all at the game in suits, and
because the game had been moved back to the coliseum,
no suites had been sold because it's supposed to be Mexico City.
So all of us kind of had this opportunity, like
what do you want to do with them? So we
were able to kind of the rams and all of
us put together an opportunity to host all these people
after the game. They had the first responders and a
lot of people from that horrific situation, uh down on

(43:17):
the field and I'll never forget being in the locker
room and Jared Goff's lockers right by me, and the reporters,
our PR staff comes up. It's like, hey, there's an
opportunity to go see all these they actually out on
the field.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
You know, what do you guys want to do? And
I knew what I was going to do.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
I'm a veteran, like you know, I'd been a part
of like kind of helping out with some of the
situations and stuff and just donating some money and things
like that, and so I knew what I was doing.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
But to hear Jared be like, oh, I.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Forget the media stuff, like I'm going to do that,
And so I will never forget walking out there on
the field with him and hugging people who are crying,
you know, had lost people close to them just it,
had lost their homes, different things like that. Like that
moment I'll never forget because they've really never been a
party and thing like that on an NFL situation like
after a game out on the field still kind of
like you know, pads are off at your jerseys on

(44:06):
or whatever, like still sweating, kind of gross, like just
hugging people people are crying, they're emotional and and that
kind of feeling. I'll never forget the respect to add Ford. Jared,
this young quarterback just had this insane moment beating the
Chiefs and Homes in this crazy game, and the first
thing he wanted to do was go give him himself
to these people in LA that just wanted to feel

(44:27):
loved and appreciated and cared about. I thought it was
just a really just unbelievable emotional moment, you know, to me,
that was really special. And then obviously I think the
other one, you know, to go from really the Stafford
trade happens you know in Cabo what in January of
twenty one, and then our twenty and then the next

(44:50):
year to go this our twenty one, Yeah, and then
go to the super Bowl. I'll never forget, you know,
playing in that Super Bowl and in one year, just
watching a guy like that, a veteran and everything he had,
you know, put into the game to have that success
and then give part of something with Odell Beckham and
Von Miller and some of these guys that throughout my

(45:11):
career I had great relationships with and they randomly end
up on our team that year. It's just kind of
those things were like, dang, like we'd always talked about
playing together and then it all happens in this one
year and then all of a sudden, I play a
team in a franchise that I've been with for eleven
years in the super Bowl, in a game that I'd
already declared my last game, the only two teams I
ever played for or playing each other in the Super Bowl,

(45:32):
and to win the Super Bowl, like for me, that'll
be like, I don't know, it's like a movie script.
It's crazy to think all of that happened. And then
and then on top of it, winning Walter preit Man
the Year and my story and really where I felt
like my personal journey with community service and everything started
was at a boys and girls club with Derek Barnes

(45:54):
in Cincinnati, Ohio to play them in the Super Bowl.
For Derek Barnes to be able to be there that
night when I got the award, just you know, really
just a surreal moment. And for me to meet him
for the first time as an NFL player and not
this seven year old at a boys and girls club,
but I spent time with my rookie year, like just
that whole thing going full circle just wild. I mean,

(46:15):
it's just a crazy crazy I don't know if I'll
ever forget that, just all of that just happening in
that moment.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
It was just rare.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Yeah, that really is all incredible. That's the stuff movies
are made of, for sure.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
And to have such a long career, man, and to
be in the position you're in as one of the
oldest you know, alignmen, and everything like it all came
together how it was supposed to be, and that's that
is that's dope.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
Man.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
I'm like almost getting the chilly.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Like and that's what I mean, Like I think people
you know, and I know it's like, man, the games
were awesome. Don't get me wrong. There was a lot
of epic moments, you know, throughout my career. I mean
always joke, I was the only Walts Create Man of
the Year who ever got ejected twice in the NFL
for fighting. But you know, it's like, you know, listen,
I had a lot of cool moments around my career.
I fought Big John Hender's some big bad John Jacksonville Jaguars.

(47:01):
We both got ejected my third year in the league
and a big brawl. You know, just like a lot
of just cool moments around my career. They were really awesome,
intense and you know just bad. There were awesome moments,
badass moments and those kind of things. But you know,
I really when I think back on it, it's you
know the players who you know, I think of a
ge or Bernard, you know, like you know what he's

(47:25):
having his girlfriend. They think about, like you know Chloe,
who's like think of I getting engaged to. And I
think of like the guys who came Mohammed Sanu when
he said his first child, and you know, just like
Taylor Lawan, I remember mentoring him some and him you
know like, hey, I'm about to become a dad, Like
what's that like? Like, you know, just those moments is
what I'm gonna remember the most, like through sixteen years
of being you know, to some people are Grandpa because

(47:47):
I was so old, you know, to others like a
big brother, an uncle, a brother at times you know,
younger in my career, I mean, those those are the
things I will remember the most is watching some of
these guys that got coming to me and just you know,
asking how to handle things with their family, or how
to handle financial things, or the expectations from a significant.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Other or whatever.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
Just those kind of little moments with guys in the
locker room or the things I remember the most just
watching guys grow up and become men and responsible for
all the things they are, and then now getting to
see them with multiple kids and everything else.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
It's just it's just.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Fun, man, to bond in that way and have a
special be a part of people's lives, you know, whether
it was a big way, small way, whatever.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
That's what I look back in.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
My time in the league and those relationships and how
much they meant to me.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
That's it's incredible to hear man. And you know, as fans,
you get caught up in your team and the scores
and all that, and you kind of forget the human
element and all that and the camaraderie and the team building.
But that makes perfect sense.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
Yeah, I was loving, Like when I go to an event,
you know, you'll be at a golf event or something,
somebody's like, hey, man, don't be mad at me. Like
I'm a I'm a Seahawks fan, you know, And I'm like, hey, listen,
if the Seahawks work my check, i'd be a Seahawks
fan too.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Like we are employed by people right.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
So that's just the reality, right, Like, and you you
you might play somewhere long enough that it becomes more
than that, right, But the.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Truth is like we actually work for those.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Organizations, right, so you know, uh, the more of them
you play with, the more of them you're a fan of.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Because they wrote you a check too, right, So it's
like that's just the truth. Right.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
So it's I'm always like, hey, listen, I love sports,
so I'm okay with you being a Seahawks fan.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
You can be a fan of anything you want to.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
Yeah, uh, you know, but if you want to talk
some trash, then now we can go at it a
little bit, you know.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
But it's fun. You know that That to me is
like that's what makes.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
It so special, so that people believe in their team,
they believe in their atmosphere. And I think that's one
of the things I just hope guys understand. It's like
that arena.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Exists, the tickets, the seats, the.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Jersey sales, the concession, that it exists because the fans
and the people that believe in their team and their franchise.
And so you know, if you can lose sight of
that and that that's what you do it for. You
got to remember that first and foremost, that's the people.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Right what what would you say football has afforded you
the most of or what's the best thing it's afforded
you in your life?

Speaker 3 (50:04):
I think right now it's really the the platform that
it that it's helped me build to. You know, it's
this like I got a chance to be on this
stage and be good at something that I got to
go through life and have this amazing job, amazing opportunity
to fail and repeat and find ways to succeed and

(50:26):
like go on this journey that I've failed a ton
of times, I've had success. You know, people forget when
I joined the Los Angeles Rams, I held I was
right there, I think either tied or leading, like NFL history,
the worst record ever in the playoffs. I was oh
and eight in the in the playoffs. When I Cincinnati,
we went seven times uh and never won a playoff game.

(50:50):
And then my first year in LA we won the
division and lost to the Falcons. So I was oh
and eight after my first year as a Ram never
won a playoff game, and so I went from that
and it's like I could have left in Cincinnati, was
like hey, you should probably retire, maybe play one more year.
Nobody really believes that you'll do more than that. And
then I got into free agency and some teams were
willing to like, hey, we think you could play a

(51:11):
little bit longer. We don't know how long, a year,
maybe two. And the Rams are like, we'll give you
a three year deal, like we need you, blah blah
blah blah. And so I ended up signing two more
contracts with them and staying for five years. Right, but
if I'd have stopped then I'd have been zero to
seven in the playoffs. You know, really never had the
opportunity to play at that level. And in five years

(51:32):
in LA, I went to two Super Bowls, I won
a Super Bowl. I went to as many Pro Bowls
as I went to in my entire eleven years in Cincinnati,
and I doubled what I made my NFL career after
eleven years in Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
So like it to me.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
It gave me the opportunity to say, like to people,
not just my story, but like, don't ever let people's
opinion of you become your reality, Like, believe in yourself,
don't be afraid to challenge, don't be afraid to go
for things. You know, don't let anybody put boundaries on you.
Like if you have a dream and you have some
ability to aspire to go do something, do it and

(52:08):
just go for it and see where it all depends out.
Because I bet you, if you give it all you
got and you laid it all on the line for
what it is you believed in, you're gonna walk away
happy and you're gonna walk away content no matter what
the way it ends. And so for me, it just
that opportunity to go through that and to be on
the other side of it now and be like, man,

(52:28):
you know that that was the bravest thing I ever
did to like believe in myself that way and it
actually turned out amazing. Is really cool when it gives
me an opportunity to share it with people and hope
that it helps them, because you think how many middle it,
Like thirty to forty years old, you're in that part
of life where a lot of times people are telling
what you can or can't do for the rest of
your life, like this is where you're at, you're stuck,

(52:50):
or this is what you've given and you've probably got
to pivot something else, right, and it's like to be
able to do that and be able to tell that
story to people that may be sitting in that seat
and saying, hey, I don't know if I have what
it is that I thought I was gonna get to
this dream stage.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
I'm not there.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
It gives me an awesome platform to be able to
talk about it and and hope that other people get
to do that too.

Speaker 4 (53:08):
That's awesome, man, Zariah any thought of going back, But then.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
You know, my first year, I was like, all right,
if some team calls, like I remember the Bengals losed,
I think they lost. Remember they lost two linemen they lose, Yeah,
they lost a couple of linemen and they had that
playoff run going and they lose the right tackle, and
so I was like, man, I wonder if I could
play right tackle. Like I was like, you know, I

(53:34):
maybe I'd go back to one of the franchises I
played for, Cincinnati or the Rams if something happens. I
remember taking a set like in December, that Sunday, watching
games on a Sunday in December, and I was just like,
oh my god, there's no way that terrible.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
And then I started working out.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
Got after this past year, like I was in pretty
good shape, I was trained a lot.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Not only I could have done it, but now I've.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Hit the point where I feel so that I'm good,
like I don't ever want to go back to how
that felt every day, so I don't see it happening.
But I'll never say never, just because you never know.
Like I did say, I'm up for challenges and adversity,
so that part of me has not gone away. So
there's still this. It's not an itch to play football,
it's an itch for somebody to say, like you can't

(54:18):
do you can't do it, Tell me I can't do it. Now,
that's a good chance I'll be there.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
And it's so funny too, because like you kind of
ask for like all the rumor millis stuff of like
he could totally come back, and it's like but at
the same time, you have this like legendary storied ending
and longevity and like amazing career where it's like literally
picture perfect movie stuff. But it's like, is he going back?

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Yeah, I think that's it.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
The team's got to stop thinking about whether they asked
me to come back. Just tell me I couldn't. You
couldn't come back.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
I have a slot if you want it, that would
probably the best way to get me back. But I
don't think so. I don't think it's ever.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Yeah, that's awesome, dude, This is making me wish I
play for MANI me, I just started my cock yet,
you know, yeah, we got time, We got a little time.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
No, Man, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
This is like even just sitting here, just with some
stuff I'm dealing with in my own career and everything,
this is very motivational and inspiring and like, you know,
keep the path right, keep stay focused. And I actually,
you know, I was listening to one of these podcasts
and I heard what I thought was a really cool
story about how you wrote a letter to the owner.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Could you tell us about that?

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Yeah, so I when I was in Cincinnati my next
it was actually the year before I left, so they
you know, I had played in fifteen for Hugh Jackson.
He had gone on to become the head coach of
the Cleveland Browns after that season. But I had gone
through the season, and you know, i'd been really in
fourteen and fifteen. I think I gave up one sack
in two seasons, and so pretty crazy run for a

(55:49):
left tackle and kind of felt like, hey, man, I'm
thirty something years old, but you know, thirty three or
thirty four at that time. But I feel great, I'm
playing awesome. So I went to them and I was like, hey,
my contract ends after this season. I would love it,
like I don't want to go into this year because
for a while there, I've been making you know, I
don't know, probably forty thirty percent of what most left

(56:10):
tackles were making in the league and the last couple
of years of my deal, and I was like, I'm
done doing that, Like I've earned the right, like you
guys should give me an extension and not make me
have to play out this year for such a low number.
And I remember them being like, hey, we'll get back
to you blah blah blah blah before the draft. And
this was like January when the season ended and he
had gone on to Cleveland, and so nothing ever happens.

(56:30):
I keep checking with my agent like any word, you know,
nothing happens, and we get to the draft, and good
way to get an answer without having to go through
your agent is in the first round, they draft cedgriac Away.
He the left tackle from the Texas A and m
who had just injured his kne here in the season.
They drafted a left tackle in the first round, and
then the second round they drafted another left kid who

(56:53):
played left tackle and right tackle, Jake Fisher. So in
the first and second round they picked a tackle. So
that's a good clue if you're wondering and you're a veteran,
you're probably not coming back to that team. So Nilas
is saying, nobody had called me and really told me
they were doing all that, and I was not very
happy about it. So that led to like an ugly
couple weeks of just like I was just I was

(57:15):
pissed because I was like, listen, like who I've been
for this team, for the community, for everything else, Like
I just deserve better communication than that. Like I'm alright
with like honesty. I don't like like, you know, hey,
we're gonna just act like, oh man, shoot, we forgot
to tell you, you know, and communicate it. So I just
I didn't appreciate the communication part of it. So, but

(57:37):
what I've always respected about Mike Brown and Mike and
always had a great relationship because I was one of
the f you guys who like I didn't care like
I'd walk up to Mike's Mike's office if I had
an issue with something going on, or I would just
go walking his office knock on the door, because I
always felt like if it's coming from a good place
and I'm just honestly speaking about you know, where I'm
in my heart, Like there's nothing wrong with me telling
this guy this.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
You know.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
It's like in a lot of times in those kind
of teams where it's family own like that, not this
is not who my kid is, but it's like everyone
perceives it. It's like, oh, that's the big bad wolf,
Like don't go up to the boss's office and speak,
you know, and it's like, eh, you know, like I
think those guys are more approachable than you think a
lot of the time. And so I would always go
up there. And so I went up there when I
was pissed, and he was like, hey, here's the reality.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
We signed these two kids.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
They're probably the future of the team. And that's kind
of how life goes sometimes, Like you're at a point
where we feel like the best thing for us to
do is to move on in life. You know, life's
not fair, Like you've done a great job for us.
He's like, you know, you've been one of the best
leaders that I've ever seen, you know, my time being
around and just a tremendous human being. But we're going

(58:41):
to move forward with these guys and that's our choice.
And I was like, you know, He's like, we have
the right to choose, and I was like, you know what,
I respect that you're honest.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Whatever. So we get into the season.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
We start the season eight and oh, and I'm like,
all right, we're eight and oh, we're going to.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Our bye week. And I have just been miserable, Like
I'm miserable to deal.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
With it at home my wife and kids, Like I
can just tell like it's wearing on her, Like I
am so unhappy and mad that they chose to do
this to me and not give me an extension or
anything kind of send me out here on this deal.
And so I literally write him a letter and I'm like, hey,
I go through the times of like playing Jared Allen
and playing through these different guys that I've had to

(59:20):
like I've had to go out here and protect quarterbacks
for or issues that came up on the team that
like I had to come to him about the things
that were good or bad like they maybe y'all made
a bad decision and you need to fix this, you know,
and all these different things that had come up in
the organization where I had defended the organization and the
people in it, and I said, listen, I have chose
to do those things my entire career and go above

(59:43):
and beyond for everybody. And I don't regret that at all.
But in the same token, what I do think that
is important for me to understand is you know who
I am as a dad, a husband, just as a
man in general to my friends, like I've been not
the person I need to be for the last three
or four months. I'm struggling, and I was like, I
got to make a choice just like you made a

(01:00:04):
choice for you. And that is at this point of
the season, I've actually made the money to pay the
pro rated part of my bonus back to.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
You for what I would owe you if I walked away.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
From the game of football, and I'm choosing just like
you chose. And I think for me, I'll never be
able to live with myself if I don't stand up
for myself. And I feel bad that I caved and
I'm still playing so I'm gonna walk away after this
bye week because I feel like that's the right thing
for me to do if we can't come to some

(01:00:36):
kind of resolution on this situation. And I was like,
I'll go with my kids back to Louisiana and it'll
be over and we'll move on. And I respect the
crap out of him. He hit me up and he
was like basically called me into his office. I went
in there and he was like, you know, you're right,
and he's like, you've continued to play at high level.
You've continued to do everything right. You took the information
that you know how things went that you're upset about,

(01:00:58):
and you dealt with them. And the honorable thing for
us to do is to give you a year extension.
And so I was like, sure, I'll take it. Well,
then I reach out to Katie and Troy Blackburn, who
actually it's his daughter and her husband who were actually
running the operations of the team, like Mike was just
the owner and at that time and kind of stepped
away from doing a lot of stuff. They were negotiating
the contracts and they're like, you know, we don't support this.

(01:01:23):
It was basically like this is between you and Mike like,
don't call us about negotiating it, like it's whatever you
and him talked about, Like we're out of it. That's
between you and him. We don't want anything to do
with it. So I was like, wow, so this is
I'm getting an extension from the owner and no one
else supports it and doesn't even want to talk to
me about it. So I'm like, okay, So I take
the deal and I'm like, hey, this is what's good

(01:01:44):
for me and my family, and I'm gonna protect them
first and foremost. So I took the deal. Went into
the next season, I played great again. I was a
free agent, and I'll never forget Troy Blackburn texting me
in January and saying like, you know, hey, we want
to talk to you about extending you or like figuring
that out that what it would look like for you
to come back. And I was like, you know what

(01:02:05):
this time, y'all can talk to an agent. And it
was like you didn't want to talk to me a
year and a half ago, we ain't talking now, So
cool but not cool, right, So it was like, hey,
you had your moment, and you know you kind of
gave me the response you wanted to give me in
the moment, and I'm going to tell you what mine is.
You talked to my agent in March, so that's where

(01:02:25):
we were at. So it was like it was awesome though,
because I you know, I had heard that Mike's like
paying attention, right, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
I had heard that Mike Brown loved to read.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
And so when I was like, man, I've gone and
talked to him, and maybe that's gotten contentious or maybe
it hasn't worked. Maybe I should just write down what
it is emotionally I feel, and when he sits and
reads it, since he loves to read that and he
doesn't feel the need to have to defend it right
in that moment where we're having this personal conversation, maybe
that'll hit him in a different way. And sure enough

(01:02:52):
it did, Like I wrote him that, and then what's
really cool is I signed with the Rams and Free
Agency and obviously it's a you know, Cincinnati was hard
broke it. It was emotional deal. When that happens that
I decide to go somewhere else. He wrote me a
letter after that and mailed it to my house, and
just an appreciation of for me and those kind of things,
and I have it framed actually in my office, the

(01:03:14):
letter from him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
That's that's that's incredible. It's really cool. So it's a cool.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
Like, man, it didn't end great for us, like in
as far as the organization of me, but like I
always feel like I'll always love Mike and appreciate him
and really what he did for me and my family
and believing in me as a rookie in the NFL,
and then all throughout the years multiple contracts and stuff,
and then that inding, even though it wasn't exactly how
we both planned it out to be for us, uh,

(01:03:39):
you know, inevitably a lot of respect. Yeah, just and
you know how it ended.

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
And look at you know, the best interaction was the
one regardless of outside circumstances. It was the one where
both of you were honest to each other, yep, right,
and and you you told the truth and you expressed
yourself in a respectful way and that ended up being
a good positive reaction right.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Which right now in life just seems to be really
difficult for people to do. It's just like it's okay,
maybe it's just blessed to have different opinions and care
about each other it's okay, right, Like, you know, we
just we got to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Be better about that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
Just the ability to share where each of us is
are at and have a respect about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
It right now to attack each other for you know,
it's like yeah, I'm understanding, yeah, man. But also what
you did too, is you stood up for yourself as
a man, right and as a as a a husband
and a father and what was best for you, you know.
And I think it's very easy to fall into the
it almost feels like a trap of going under the
radar and not speaking up and not standing up for

(01:04:39):
yourself and then getting stuck with some deal that isn't
the best thing for you, right. But to be able
to believe in yourself that much and know your ability
and to know what value you add and what you
put in, I think that's a lesson that a lot
of us can, you know, take home and say, like,
look like I know what I'm worth, I know what
I'm able to put in. I know the time, the
discipline I have and how I show up in the world,
and you know, this is this is my value, you know, And.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Yeah, that's why I like, you know, even for like
that year to finish it with you, and then he
goes on to become the Cleveland Browns head coach after
that season, and I ended up leaving and going to
the Rams and those things. But the next year, so
it's like, you know, having been through that, there's just
so much respect of how each person kind of handled
it right. There was certain coaches on that team that
reached out and called me and knew like, hey, man,

(01:05:22):
I know this is not cool what's going on? And
then there's others that didn't, and like I walked away
with like all right, like and so I learned a
lot from them. Not like I'm bitter at those guys,
but I learned a lot. And me and Sean talk
about this all Tommy Bay is like when a guy
gets fired or somebody's going through something where you're like, dang,
like I bet that's you know, and you think, man,
I'd love to reach out, but that's probably uncomfortable. It's like, dude,

(01:05:43):
just do it because like that person there, they're not
going to walk away from it like whatever if even
if you irritate him in that moment and they're down,
like man, god, I hate here. I don't want to
have to respond to this person they're going to remember
that in their adversity, you were one of the people
that text them. They're not remember whether it irritated them
that can remember what you said, but they are going

(01:06:04):
to remember. Man, I got fired and big Wit text
me and said, Hey, dude, just thinking about you, bro,
Like I hope you're all right. Like I know you're
not alright, but I just want you to know I
hope you are. Like, they're going to remember that you
text them, They're going to remember that you communicate. They're
gonna remember that you reached out, and they're also going
to remember all the people that didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
And that's just the truth and it means something to you.
And so I think for me, I've tried to do
my best to like be aware of that and like, like, hey,
in those moments, even though that seems weird, uncomfortable, make
sure you check on people when they're going through that
kind of stuff and just it could be the easiest,
simplest thing ever, but just something right, just to let
them know you're thinking.

Speaker 4 (01:06:46):
Hearing all this stuff that happens in the locker room
and even the politics with the owners. But then also
going back and mentoring the people after you, right, I mean,
it's like what an ecosis.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
I think that's one of the coolest things that I
don't know if every guy takes advantage of, but I
wish they would, Like, you know, you talk to some
of these guys that have played long enough. It's really
just that to me is the coolest part of the
whole circle is like the ability to go through things
good and bad, provide some feedback to the people you
went through it with, and then also give some wisdom

(01:07:22):
to the people who are coming behind. And so I think,
to me, it's it's always been something I've treasured and
really appreciate.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
And you know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
Unfortunately, the really bad part is I'm really bad at
ever wanting to be compensated or doing it in a
way it's for anything. I just love like talking about
this stuff and sharing it and helping guys get to
where they're at, Like you know, I hear all the time.
I know, forget, when I retired, Kevin Demoff was like, dude,
you should like do consulting for the whole league or something.
They come up with some way to do that, yeah,
And I was always like, eh, you know, somebody don't

(01:07:52):
want to know this stuff, and then now here I
am like two years later, and I do do a
little version of that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
But I'm not getting paid for it. I just do it.
So I just I enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Man. I enjoy seeing people be successful. I enjoy people
getting what they want out of life. To me, like
that that is rewarding. Like to see people live in
their journey and they stay in their journey and not
give up. To me, that's just a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
I love watching it. So yeah, I mean, have you
ever thought about doing a book at all or anything?

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
Yeah, I've been hit up for all that stuff. I'm
just honestly, I just do so much different crap all
the time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
I don't have time to do any of that, but
I need to. I need to sit down. I just
my problem with me is I don't sit down long
enough to ever. Do you know? Like I am, I'm you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Know, running around like I always joke, Like you know,
I'm literally like Discovery's best client, Like I am that
person that like in the sense of like I want
to play golf, I want to work out, I want
to go you know, the spa. I want to eat,
I want to like exercise. I want to go play baseball.
I want to go Yeah, I want to hit everything
they have there. I want to do at the end
of day, right, and then I want to wake up
the next day and do it all over again. Yeah,

(01:08:53):
you know, and so like for me, like that's kind
of how I live life. Like I'm you know, I
worked out with some guys this morning to Moliman in
the league. You know, I'm going back to work with
another guy. Like, I'll probably do some cardio, like you know,
I'll read, I'll do an audiobook. I'll go walk like
I'll get kids practice tonight, like I just love. I
don't sit down. I don't watch enough TV or anything ever.
I mean I don't ever watch anything, so I don't

(01:09:15):
ever sit down long enough to do it. But I
need to. I need to sit down and write a book.
That'd be fun.

Speaker 4 (01:09:19):
You know what you could do too, is you could
get like a good ghost writer to come on with
you and then have them take a golf cart and
play eighteen with Now they don't even have to play, right,
but you talk while you play, or have them come
to the gym with you and maybe do and then
that way you can like knock out an hour a
day or thirty minutes a day and then a couple

(01:09:39):
of months.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
You got Yeah, also bring a camera and turn in.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
I don't know what randomness.

Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
I don't know what randomness I would be talking about
every day, but you know, I'm sure they could do it.
They'll figure out a way to put it into something.
But yeah, yeah, well it'd be fun.

Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
Everything we've covered today is definitely any given Sunday meets.
You know, remember the Titans. I don't know there's some
classic sports film for sure. Man, this what a life
you lived.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
I know we're kind of talking, Yeah, dude, your lifense.
It's it's sick to hear about man and to see
so much of the stuff that you've accomplished it. It's
really awesome. I'm a big fan of reading too, you know,
and I love books. I was wondering if are there
books that you enjoy that you would recommend for people,
whether it's fiction or or not.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
You know, I mean, I think there's lots to me.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
It's I just think continuing to I think a little
bit on what we just talked about. When it comes
to you know, whether it be athletic attributes or mental
things like continuing to maybe find like when you do
your book selection, like I know a lot of people
love to read fictional stuff, but you know, finding things
that maybe touch a bunch of different parts of who

(01:10:42):
you are, you know, and that's what I try to do.
Like there, like when I first started out really having
a lot more free time for all that, you know,
when I retired my first off season, it was like
I wanted to go read like kirkurb Street, al Michael's,
like some guys I ended up randomly ended up working
with at Thursday Night football and then like every every
kind of like sportster and like I want to go
read the Joe Buck like you name it. I want

(01:11:03):
to go read their books and hear their stories and
like how things went for them, because I knew that
was an industry, Like, hey, I'm about to be in it,
so I want to hear their experiences and what it
was like and you know. And then on the same token,
it's like I want to go read you know about
things of you know, leadership and you know culture and
all that. So I'm going to touch things that I

(01:11:24):
really love already, right, and then kind of get into
stuff like you know, whether there be atomic habits or
books like that where it's like, all right, some things
I need to be better at, like just daily tasks,
things that like, man, I want to go freelance all
the time, but like, what are some things I need
to be better just habitually getting good at every day
and what are the how do I apply myself in
those habits. So it's like I love kind of just

(01:11:45):
touching different spectrums of things that maybe I need a
little better at this. Maybe it's something I'm really interested
in or something I'm about to get into that I
need to learn about.

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
I got into storytelling as a kid with the big
thiction novels, and then as an adult I got back
into reading with the Echar tool ages, the Deepak Chopras
and the nonfiction more spiritual, you know, self help type stuff.
And then now I'm doing a fifty book challenge that's

(01:12:16):
all sci fi fantasy like escape take me to other
planets in other worlds. Right, So it's I love reading
in that way. It's like whatever mood you're in, there's
a book for it. And like, like you're saying, even
if you're prepping for a new path in life, a
new career.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
There's books for that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:35):
I love hearing you know, oh I'm going into this,
let me study the people that came before me.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Like that's great.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
I wish more people would do that and pursue, you know,
books in that regard. But yeah, I'm kind of have
this newfound love for reading.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
It's great.

Speaker 4 (01:12:55):
I love hearing your opinions on it and what you're
reading too, because that's important to get.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
That from people. And then you have a.

Speaker 1 (01:13:07):
Y Yeah, but I mean, dude, working in the film
industry right pretty much just my last thing I kind
of want touch. You still have is a big wit
seventy seventh foundation. You guys still doing that?

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
Uh yeah, I say, we probably don't get into that.
I don't really do much with it. That was more
so like I did in Louisiana. Yeah, now here, Like
what's cool playing in a bigger city. And I did
this a lot when was of Cincinnati. So I did
a lot of my foundation when I lived in Louisiana,
for like where Melissa and I were from. We kind
of formed it for that, But like here, I don't know.
Sometimes I just feel like it's better to get I've

(01:13:41):
enjoyed being like an ambassador for foundations I believe in,
or tasks that I think are awesome. It's like, yeah,
you can rout it through your foundation, but it's just
simpler and cleaner to like, hey, this is what I believe,
like you know, some of the housing initiatives, some of
the things I've gotten a part of, like homelessness. Like
it's like I want to go promote the crap out
of them, because one, it's an awesome foundation and they

(01:14:01):
do great stuff, but too, like i'd rather my name
like from a RAM and all this type of senttory,
like help them get other people that come, because inevitably
what I get is some guy reaches out that hurt
it and they're like, hey, dude, I want to help out,
Like should I give your I'm like no, no, no, just
go give directly to these people, you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
And so I think for me, it's like identifying that
like I don't need any credit for this, but I'd
like if I see people that I'm like, man, these
people are awesome and they need some support, Like I
want them to get it right, I want them to
build whatever it is they want through all of that,
you know, because I think that's the best way for
it to have true impact.

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Well that's cool. Yeah, I appreciate it,
Fellosa

Speaker 4 (01:14:47):
Thanks for tuning in to Studio twenty two.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Will Meldman

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How to be a Leader with NFL Legend Andrew Whitworth