Lots to Say: The New England Patriots' Kevin Byard

Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel welcome three-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard to Lots to Say. Byard reflects on the grind of his rookie season and how Mike Vrabel factored into choosing New England. Byard also details his film study evolution, how he stays healthy, and how he recovers week-to-week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is
a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We Got Lots, just.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
We got lost? Just say.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
What a begger here?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
And we hope you say because we got lost, just.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Say, yeah, we got lost.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Just say.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's Bobby and that again. We benefit from Castle's relationships
at a school, which is great. Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
I guess Oh yes, I would love to introduce our
next guest. He is a three time All Pro safety,
three time Pro Bowl safety, led the league in interceptions
last year. He is a friend of mine, an incredible person,
an incredible player, and the newest member of the New
England Patriots Kevin Byron.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Everybody, Yes, yes, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thanks for the introduction. Was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
So you and Castle go back?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
How far? So my rookie year? Rookie? Yar that your
last year in Tennessee?

Speaker 4 (01:09):
No, I was twenty sixteen, seventeen years I was probably
sorry as memorable, not as memorable, twenty seventeen remembory play much,
but yeah, his his rookie year was my first year
in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, so we were teammates for two years.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
If you're a rookie and you come in, You've got
a guy who's obviously a veteran. Do you talk to
the like and he's not your position, he's not on
your side of the ball, Like, do you have a
relationship with those guys at all?

Speaker 5 (01:32):
Not? I mean outside of because obviously Marcus was a
quarterback there as well. Obviously because I was, I was
kind of a part time starter in beginning of mar
rookie year. Obviously Castle was, you know, slinging domes for
the scout team practice squad with ever mey Be obviously
wasn't practice squad, but for me, I was still young,
and I kind of was just looking at Castle, like
I remember Castle, you know, was playing for the Patriots

(01:54):
and obviously went to Kansas City and played for different teams,
so I was almost kind of looking up to him.
So I was kind of nervous. And then you'll kind
of see him around the facility with his family. He
had his four children, his wife and stuff like that.
So it was like and I was still like a
young knuckle had a little bit. Obviously I had a girlfriend,
so but we did have a relationship, but still it
was kind of like that separation from like the younger guys.
You got the best of Mary have children, you want
to get like that. And so if I did have conversation,

(02:17):
was probably asking something about his life or something like that.
So yeah, we did have relationship.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
I do remember that he put a dent in our
relationship early on because he's on the defensive side of
the ball, and so we're running through seven on seven.
If you throw one interception in seven to seven, it's
usually a bad day. Kevin in one period during this
particular training camp practice, picked me off three times and
I was like, oh my god, this rookie just jumped

(02:44):
in front of three ball.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Do you remember that day?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
I don't remember that.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Marcus Mariota, well, yeah, you probably had bigger fisher pray
you know the road in real games.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
But I mean, I just want to build your confidence.
But you heard my confidence that day.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
And I've got Marcus Mariota Alex Tanny in the background
and they're giggling because they're just like what just happened?
And I was like, I know, I have no idea,
And that was one of my first times I'm sitting
there going, Okay, this guy's gonna be.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
That rookie year flies By. It's so many different memories,
so many different points. It's funny. I actually don't remember
that practice three.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Could no, then I didn't throw you any.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
You probably shouldn't even brought that up because I didn't
remember that.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
This is the start of your destiny. Yeah, whenever you
come in as a rookie, does the season seem so
long because it's so many more games?

Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yes, And the reason being is because like when you're
uh By, you're under class and you're about to declare
for the draft of your senior I had a bowl game.
I think my bowl game was like late December or
something like that. You probably get maybe a week or
two off, do you your agent? You sign with an agent,
and you're met to getting shipped off the pre draft training.
So I'm basically going from January training. Do you got

(03:50):
you know, your Pro Day's combines and visits? Then you
literally signed or drafted. I was drafted in May. You're
basically going from January to January, all football, all gas,
no breaks. So that rookie year is like and I
tell all the guys, it's like, you know, everybody talk
about the Rocky Wall, and when you're playing and starting,
it's not as bad as some guys that may not

(04:11):
be maybe just relegated special teams what it may be.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
It's a real thing.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
So by the time you get to like October November,
and most guys in college football you're twelve thirteen games.
You get to like week thirteen, You're like, it's no way,
we're still playing football, and then for like you become
a vest like that's really when the season is just starting.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So yeah, it gets long as a rookie for sure.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Talk about that journey that you had. You went to
Middle Tennessee State. You obviously were a standout there, You're
in their Hall of Fame, but you were not invited
to the Combine. So talk about that mentality of not
being invited to the combine. Did you just do your
pro day? Did you have the workout at the Titans?
How did it all work?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
And how did you come on the radar?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
It was? It was a crazy thing.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
So I had got invited to the rec Singer Bowl
out of college appice that had a decorated college career,
and I'm just knowing, like you have one anticipation. Okay,
you get the recent Singer Bowl votes, like you know,
the combines coming, but at the time like it wasn't
I ain't got the invite, Yes, something like eventually it's
gonna gonna show up, go down to the recinging Bowl,
have a good time. And obviously balled out, and I remember,

(05:17):
you know, you know, we having conversation in the locker room,
guys like yeah, man, you know, letna see you later'
gonna see what at the combine. And I'm just taking
my head like I still don't have the invite. What's
going on? So I'm super I was. I was upset.
I'm not even gonna lie. I was literally about to
fire my agent and all types of stuff because I
was just I'm thinking it was his fault, like he's
the reason why I didn't get an invite.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
So no, I didn't get an invite. Uh.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
I just kept training and then I went to did
the pro day at Middle and I had a really
good pro day.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
It's funny. I had the Titans was there.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
They had a coach, the Lions, couple other teams, and
I remember we did after the after the pro day,
did like a little interview and was kind of get
on the board and stuff, and it was like, yeah,
write your favorite defense just just write it down. And
I had wrote like all eleven guys on the defense,
the D line, and the stunt. I was blistening here
da da da, and it was over the meetings, then
we're good to go. We're good to go. And so
I end up taking like twelve to like twelve or

(06:09):
thirteen visits within like a two week pero before the draft,
which was crazy. And you know, you're going to these
visits because they wanted to get the physical cause I
didn't do the Indianapolis common stuff and they're winding and
dying when not wanting but steaks. You know, you're you're
eating all you know, was like, yeah, order whatever you
want because it's all freeous on the team's butet. So,
probably a week or two before the draft, I'm on

(06:29):
my last visit in Miami and I never forget I was,
you know, he kind of sending the lounge waiting to
meet with a coach or whatever.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
And my agent called me. He's like, hey, you know,
Tennessee wants.

Speaker 5 (06:39):
To work you out, and I'm just like, listen, bro,
I've been on the road for about the last two weeks.
I'm been eating steak like really not more like I
don't think I shouldn't. I really don't want to do it,
you know, if they haven't seen the pro day or
the film, like I think, you know, it's over with.
And he was like, I basically told me to cancel
to me, and he was like, okay, you know, I'll
talk to him and tell him. And so I remember

(06:59):
he called me back probably like twenty minutes later, he said, Hey,
so I you know I told him what you said.
But you know, I mean the general manager, John Robinson's
going to be there, Dick Lebow, who was the defensive
coordinator there was going to be there, the Shade Towns
and the dB coach, the head coach, Mike mclarkey's going
to be there.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think you should do this workout, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 5 (07:16):
So I was like, all right, well just please just
don't tell him, don't kill me, you know what I mean.
We'll get on the film and just do a little
bit of drills. And they worked me out for like
an hour and a half. It was crazy, but uh,
it was a blessing because I think that workout was
the reason why I got drafted the Titans. And it
was a Yeah, it was one of those deals where
like I really didn't want to do it, but you know,
it all worked out for the best.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
It's crazy that you didn't get an invite then you
were drafted in the third round, because like that's a
very valuable round for a second, third, fourth round, like
those are like the upper tier rounds. Absolutely, Like you
can't get an invite, but then you still get drafted
in the third round. Like I've not heard that juxtaposition
of no, we don't think you're good enough to come
to this, but we're still going to draft you so high, right,
And do you think a bit of that is because

(07:59):
the Titans were close they were able to come to
your pro day and then ask you to work out.
Do you think proximity had anything to do with them
discovering you were actually legit?

Speaker 5 (08:06):
Honestly, I'm not even sure. I really don't. I know
remember talking to John. John said that he had been
doing research on me since like my sophomore junior year,
talking to people on campus. But I have no clue,
Like I've gotten to this point in my life where
like when stuff like that that I don't like even
talking to you or Matt, like you don't really have
an explanation for it. I just just point to God,
just all God, in my opinion, because it's like, I

(08:27):
have no clue why I didn't get invited to the combine.
Like I had had the most interceptions in college that
I had like nineteen interceptions. It was like a record
at the time. You know, I had great stats. So, like,
you know, it's still honestly still to this that don't
have an answer, get an answer. I never told me anything
why I didn't give invited.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
I had no clue.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
It's such a weird thing to be drafted so high, right,
But also so I have a conspiracy theory that a
team like the Titans kept you out because they knew
what they had secret invite had seriously might have been.
They will do that. They'll talk players up and down.
Our agents do that all the time. But imagine conspiracy
mind here, the Titans were kept you out because they
knew what they had, and if they can keep other

(09:06):
people from seeing you, they can get you high.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
That that's a great theory.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
And I also had the theory of so you know
a lot of times for the combine, some guys you'll
see some guys at the combine and you look at
their college status and they're really not that good. So
sometime they invite these guys to the combine just because
they want to get around them.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
And I was saying, well, they already knew I was good.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
They say, hey, you could just sit out, We'll get
some of these other guys that maybe not be very
well known.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
So I don't know. I just tried to.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
I've been trying to piece this together for the longest,
and eventually I just kind of let it go. I've
been very over my career, even in high school, I've
been very like under the radar, not really I feel like,
not really rated where.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I probably should be. Star ready, I was a two
star prospect.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
You gotta be kidding me.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
And I was like an all stage that too.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Keep this kid under rack keeps progressing.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
I had like a scholarship from University Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
They pulled it for a guy that was like committed
to Alabama and he de committed. It was like, I've
had a bunch of different phases, so I just, you know,
just my story played my.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Smar positions on high school. Do you play like quarterback
and widers? Did you product? That's true?

Speaker 5 (10:10):
I literally played everything my senior year, I was playing
like iron man football. I literally started on offense and
then which I literally didn't get a break.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
I don't I don't think I did, like field goal
block or something that.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Special teams.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
When you first got the Tennessee Titans, you mentioned Dick Leba,
legendary coach, Hall of famer, just an incredible person, but
one of the best defensive minds to ever coach our game.
Talk to me about the influence he had on you
as a young player.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Big influence.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
So growing up, I didn't really get into NFL football
probably until maybe.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Thirteen fourteen years old. It was just kind of, you know,
you go in the neighborhood, play footba. Everybody wanted to
be Mike Vic, especially in my neighborhood, but really just
getting into the sport I my whole family. Obviously, I
grew up in Philadelphia, all Eagles fans. I went to
completely against the grounds a Pittsburgh still this fan. So
I grew up on like Troy Polamolou, Dickleboto's legendaries, Pittsburgh's defense, defenses,

(11:07):
and so obviously I knew all about dig Lea Bow.
I had no clue Dick Labow was the defensive coordinator
in Tennessee until like I did that workout and stuff
like that. So I'm starstruck in this meeting, like seeing
Dick Leboux right there and we're talking about defenses and
all his fire zone blits and stuff.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
I'm just completely blown away Dick Lebow and I really
wish that I had him longer in my career, only
had my first two years. He's a true legend and
most people don't notice, but I'm pretty sure people that
played for him. Dick Lobow is the only coach that
doesn't use a play call sheet. I don't know if
you notice or not. So Dick Leabou, we'd be in
the games and he would legit be staring you get

(11:45):
a feel for things. And we had a linebacker coach.
He would literally whisper to the linebacker. Coach will play
to give the linebacker. You know, most coach you see
in games, Andy Reid has this big clipboard, different pages
and stuff like that. Dick Laboux had nothing that was
on his head. He memorized every defense that he's probably
ever done, all in his head, and he would just
call it like live. It was the most amazing thing. Ever,
like he's a legend. He used to have these stories

(12:08):
in our meetings. Boy, you know, most people known as
but Dick Larbo is a defensive coordinator. He's a Hall
of Fame defense coordinator. He was also a Hall of
Fame player. He played cornerback in Detroit and all those
days and he would talk about his motown days.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
He got some stories. He got some stories about being
back in motels.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
So now he's a legend man. One of my favorite coaches,
he said. He said, like non holding ones. Honestly, he's
like Kim Jong Ill type stuff. He could play the guitar.
He's a good musician.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Before Christmas, which is legendary.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
So it's a legendary thing that goes around from the
guys back in Pittsburgh and then when he came to Tennessee,
he does He used to for his grandmother who raised him,
and I think was it his mom as well, or
all the women and family that were in around Christmas time.
He did his own version of the Night before Christmas.

(13:02):
That was his gift to them, and he met rise
and adds his own flare and then he tells the
Night before Christmas, and he did it for us.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
I think we were in Jacksonville.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
Yeah, and you've heard about this legend for a long time.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
He tells a story like that, Yeah, it was he
before Christmas, a photografting memory he must have because it
feels like between that and knowing.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
He's incredible, I truly like we it was just like
just running joke on the team, especially on defense that
dig Lebow literally left the facility like on some Batman stuff.
He would just be saving the night like he was
like a superhero all night.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
For he.

Speaker 5 (13:41):
Practices like every morning, like he would jog around like
jog around the practice and he'll do push ups, I
mean at this times, like in the seventy.

Speaker 4 (13:47):
Seventies seven, and then as soon as he's done with
the football field, he's going to go try to get
nine holes in for really like that's was him and
his storytelling, the capacity for him to remember stories, to
convey those stories in such a riveting way.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
As players were sitting there just amazed. He's just even
if a young man, even as twenty three, twenty four
year old young man, they're still a seventy year old
and you're still in.

Speaker 5 (14:10):
Like it's a llegend like he said, it's like stuff
of legends, like when he walked around, he said, has
a certain presence and like you said, I was twenty
three at the time, and like said, we'll be in
the middle defensive meetings and we'll be talking about a
certain play call. He said, I just remember this story.
And he would literally forget about the whole like legit,
forget about the football. He'd just tell his whole meeting
about I mean whole story about being back in the
sixties or seventies, and then we'll get back to football.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
But he was he was a legend, one of the
best coaches.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Is that a guy you liked playing for as a
guy like you would go hard for him?

Speaker 3 (14:38):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (14:38):
Absolutely, because I think he was so relational too, like
he was. I think he really truly cared about the players,
because I said, obviously, this guy invented fire zones.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
He invitted like certain.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Defenses and it was the worst to go up.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
Again, he was the truth when it comes to like
setting up blissed getting guys free.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
So the football stuff was easy.

Speaker 5 (14:58):
But I just think just like him as a person
and just to kind of like wisdom and knowledge that
he had is a god that you truly wanted to
play for I mean, the god didn't have a play
calls she. I mean, it's incredible. He was an awesome guy.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
I have a niece and she's about to go to college,
and I tell her, Hey, don't go to college near
where you live right now, because you want a whole new,
like like list of experiences. Now, obviously you didn't go

(15:35):
to college near where you came from. You came from Philadelphia.
But did you want to go play pro ball right
next door to where you play collegeball?

Speaker 5 (15:41):
I don't know if that's necessarily what I wanted to do.
It's a nicer neighborhood here, yeah, for sure. I mean
I joked that I could have kept my college apartment
from Murph's brother just drove.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Back and forth.

Speaker 5 (15:51):
It It's like I definitely could have did that. But uh,
I don't know. I think it was. I think it was,
like I said, I would say, it's a blessing. I
think it was absolutely cool because, especially being from a
smaller school, I think my like my internal like fan
base that I had built in college just transferred right
to Nashville. So I think it almost made me like
a household name before I already even did anything. I

(16:13):
think that was awesome. But I will say I definitely
liked being in Nashville over probably like in Miami, like
any of these super bigger cities, because obviously when I
got drafted, I had been with my high school sweetheart.
She moved in town with me, and I just felt
like it was when I got when I got drafted
in Nashville, like we had a great culture corps of

(16:35):
guys like say Matt was married. We had like Brian
radfol Dreau. We had a bunch of older vets that
was doing it the right way, showing us the right way.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
And I think that's really a reason why.

Speaker 5 (16:45):
We were so successful, because I feel like we were
just all focus on ball.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Guys were about family.

Speaker 5 (16:49):
We wasn't like, hey, Friday night, let's go out to
the club and stay out till two in the morning,
and then Saturday coming to Saturday walked through drunk, you know.
I mean, it was really like a family culture vibe.
And I think for me as a person, just my maturation,
I think that was the best situation for me.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
I think it all worked out perfectly.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
I had to led the league interceptions that second year,
which was amazing to think how quickly you came to
the top of your position group. But then Mike Rabel
comes in and you obviously are gonna be playing for
Mike again. Talk to me about what he brings to
the table for as a coach, as a teacher, and
what inspired you to go to the New England Patriots.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
I remember, obviously Vrabel was in Houston at the time
defense coordinator, and when they hired him, I was immediate
obviously that I was a fan of Rabel, you know,
growing up seeing him in New England balling out Pro Bowl,
Super Bowls and things like that. So I'm thinking, okay,
we got to proven guy, you know what I mean.
So I didn't know. I didn't really think too much
of it, do I'm not like, Okay, well, we'll see
how it goes. Because Mike Malarkey, I think he was

(17:48):
more laid back the staff. We had a you know,
obviously Labo, we had a fairly older staff, you know
what I mean, So things kind of laid back, And
I never forget this our first meeting, our first day
of like practice OTAs or whatever.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
We're kind of doing like jog through, run the ball.

Speaker 5 (18:06):
Derek Henry off the left side, and the first played
Veryble ripped Taylor Lwan and it was like said normal
jag through And I think at the time like Taylorwan,
like we didn't notice, but we kind of anticipated.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
But I was trying to get a new contract. It
was the year he got a new contract, and.

Speaker 5 (18:21):
I think he purposely just ripped into him to let
everybody know, like, I don't care who you are, because
Taylorwan was one of the best left tackles in the league,
if not the best at the time, just ripped him
and I'm just like, WHOA. Everybody kind of just sat
up in the minute, like so this is how it's
gonna be, you know what I mean. So, but no
verbel is obviously having the sets that I've had with
him over the years, he's one of the best coaches,

(18:42):
if he's actually the best coach I've ever had, reason
being just.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
How detailed he is, how.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
How intentional he is, but then also like how much
relational he is with the players. I mean, man, obviously
you know, verybel like and he's he's like a player's coach,
Like he's a guy he doesn't like he doesn't feel
like he's above you or nothing like that, Like he
literally gets to know your fan. When you see him
in the hallway, he's gonna ask you how you're doing.
But he's not just gonna be like, hey, how you're doing.
Just keep moving, like he's gonna ask how you're doing,

(19:11):
how's your family, how's your children. He's definitely one of
the best coaches and he has a big influence on me.
I became incredible a lot smarter player just by being
around him. Now, obviously you could just be in his means,
Like he had joke about this too. I know he's
gonna say when we get in New England that I
can basically run the meeting. Is how he's gonna run.
He's gonna kim be what I'm gonna say, And uh No,

(19:33):
he's a He's a phenomenal guy, phenomenal coach.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
That feels like a rare dynamic of because you're describing
as a players coach but as hardcore as yes the
same time, because you hear about coaches and aren't players
coaches and they are on you and then players coaches
for the most part are like, you know, one of
the dudes. It feels like Rabel has the best qualities
of both that as a players coach, because he relates
he played, he also cares, but he'll also like snatch

(19:57):
an nod in you for sure.

Speaker 5 (19:59):
I mean I think because he was you know, they
said he was like this in New England, you know
what I mean, like he would do all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
He was.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
He was one of those guys. So he's gonna be
the same way as a coach, you know what I mean.
Like he's he's gonna be loudest voice at practice. He's
gonna be talking all day, but he's gonna get in
the drills with you. He's not just gonna tell you
what to do. Hey, he's gonna you know, everybody's seeing
the stuff, putting the pads on and stuff like that.
He's incredible. He's an incredible teacher. But like you said,
I think he's he's going to be very intense during practice.
But then off the field, like he said, he understands

(20:28):
what a player his his psyche, you know what I mean.
He understands that guys want to take care of their family.
He understand that guys want to go to Pro Bowls
and things like that. Uh, he understands that, you know,
some of the guys that he's trying to make the team.
So he just understands everybody's situation because he's been in it,
you know what I mean. So I think that gives
you an automatic level of like certain credibility because you've
been through this, You've sat and the seas that I've
said that, so you're easily able to buy into what

(20:51):
he's selling because, like I said, he's been there.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
And I think he coaches with intentionality, right, because there's
coaches that get after you and rep you but don't
really coach, you know, and you can take constructive criticism,
but just straight criticism, attack of kids character or some
player's character, get after him. But when you do it
with a purpose because you're showing them, hey, I got
after you because I need you to do this X, Y,

(21:14):
and Z. Now it makes sense to us as players,
and we can grasp that and want to play.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
For somebody like that.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Whereas if you just are dogging me out for no
reason and you constantly are grinding on me, then it
becomes this conflict and you and it usually doesn't work
out really well.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Not at all.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
I think you you hit the head, You hit the
nail in the head. Or I don't know if I
said it right, but.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
The nail on the head.

Speaker 5 (21:40):
But I think as a as a coach, and I
think the best coaches are like this. The best coaches
connect with the players first. I think because especially you
can say this generation whatever generation a player, if I
know that you care about me as a person, then
now you're able to kind of motivate me or inspire
me or get on me in a certain way that

(22:02):
if you're just all transactional, you know what I mean,
you're going to be ripping me. Is like this guy
don't care about me. He don't even know anything about
my family. Like man forgetting him, I'm gonna do it
my way. Versus if a coach really knows and kind
of understands the player, like man, this guy may have
some stuff going on at home or you know, obviously
he's motivating, he wants to be this type of player.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
If you're gonna if I can get to know you.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
For example, Matt Castle is trying to be a Pro
Bowl Hall of Fame quarterback. He's trying to be this
when I can push him to that level now, But
if you don't really get to know a player, understand
what makes him tick or how he goes the hockey.
You don't really know him. You could just be ripped
into a guy. Some guys don't respond well to that,
you know what I mean. So I think that's that's
one thing that he does a great job.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
When you're making your decision I want to play next.
We can even talk about the Patriots. How important is
the head coach?

Speaker 5 (22:46):
It's huge, I think for me, and I say every guy,
every guy is in a different phase in their career.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
You know, when you're younger, you're probably just in high's better.
I'm going to the highest better.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
I'm trying to get paid for me, especially in this
stage of my career. I'm going to year eleven, which
sounds still sounds crazy to say you're.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
The old buck.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
Now, Yeah, I know I've been. I've been unk, like
the last year when they have his fans, bro, No,
it's it's for me. I wanted to go to a
contender first and foremost, and you know I have. Obviously,
I've kept in contact with very Bold over the years.
Ever since I left Tennessee, We've had a great relationship.
So honestly, once I kind of understood that, hey, Chicago,

(23:24):
it might not work out. Honestly, it was really two teams.
It was Chicago and New England. And obviously I didn't
know that. I'm not just sitting here to say like
I already had verybe on the other line or something
like that.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
It was legit, like you kind of did.

Speaker 5 (23:35):
Yeah, agents, I had his contact with my phone, but
uh no, I've been telling myself throughout the whole season.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Obviously I wasn't tend a lot of people.

Speaker 5 (23:43):
I'm like, if it doesn't work out in Chicago, I
would take less to go to New England, just based
on a relationship.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
I was variable.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Obviously I knew he's the hell of a ball coach,
and I had new I was telling guys like this
before the season in Chicago, like y'all watched New England.
I'm not gonna sit here say they gonna goes to the
super Bowl. But he's going to turn it around quick fast,
in a hurry, because I know what kind of coach
he is. So that was kind of like already in
my mind, like if it's not Chicago, I want to
go play for Veriball again.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Talk about that season that you had last year with Chicago.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
What an incredible turnaround you guys had, and being a
part of that obviously new coaching staff, You've got a
lot of young talent on that team, but your leadership
role really on that team because it was pivotal and
it showed through in big games throughout the course of
the year. But talk about that season that you had,
because it was remarkable.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Bro. It was so fun.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
And I've said this before, but this is probably one
of the most funnest seasons I've ever had playing football.
Reason being, you know, playing in Tennessee. We had so
much fun, We had so much camaraderie. We had so
many great seasons. But Tennessee, I want to say the
Titians is probably out of thirty two teams, the twenty
ninth or twenty eighth smallest market in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
Chicago was like number three.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
So this was my first time really playing and like
have a success in a big market. I mean, you know,
I was ticking brag about it a little bit, but
it was pretty crazy. I was top five in pro
Bo votes this year, like overall players, like it was
like Caleb Williams, Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen, myself, and like
Travis Kelsey, like come on like I'm a great player,

(25:15):
but like to be up there with those certain names.
It was like they lets you know, like how much
Chicago comes out for their fans and stuff like that.
So it was so much fun because the previous year
twenty twenty four, we didn't have a great year. We
went five and twelve. We had a lot of games
we were in, but it's like, you know how the
NFL it all comes down to like the last drive,
and we lost so many one score games because of

(25:36):
those things, and it was just like we lost ten
straight games. I never lost ten games straight in my life.
I don't think I lost more than ten games. But
that was a crazy year. And so the next year,
you know, Caleb, second year, they bring in Ben Johnson.
We have the hardest training camp I've ever had in
year ten, which was insane. But to see that turn
we started year zero to two and then we rip

(25:58):
off like seven straight wins or something like that. We
had so much fun. It was the guys, it was
the camaraderie, but just success that we was having on defense.
We're getting picks, turnovers, all that good stuff. But then
the city, the way the city just like it's always
behind the team, and they had been telling me this
when I first got there, like, listen, if you win
here in Chicago, you're like, you don't have to pay

(26:21):
for a meal ever again in this city. I mean,
they still talk about eighty five Bears up there like
they're literally legends, like they don't have to pay for anything.
So it was just a fun time to be in
a big city and to win like that and you know,
go to the playoffs and it was fun. I mean,
like outside of twenty twenty one the year was number
one seed here in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
That was the most fun I've had playing football. It
was awesome.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Man, it's always cold over you, Like, why are you
playing cold places? Cool like that? That does not sound appealing.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
It's not like I'm gonna keep it real. Like it
was brutal this year.

Speaker 5 (26:51):
We played a game at home against Cleveland, and I
think the temperature before that game was probably like it
was somewhere around zero. I don't know if it was
like negative one one degrees, it was around that number,
but the wind chip was like negative eleven and no bs.
Like I remember because the hotel we stayed in we
had like you got to valet your car or whatever.

(27:11):
But I don't know why they got her keys outside
like the little valet deal. My key was frozen. I
couldn't open like. It took me like thirty minutes from
staying there trying to open it. And I'm freezing. I'm
trying to open my car, but my car key was frozen.
It was so cold.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Are you no sleeve guy in cold weather?

Speaker 3 (27:28):
I am.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
See they make all this technology now, but see, I
think it's worse when you wear sleeve because now you
start to sweat.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Now your your shirt and West and now I'm doubling up.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
But I guess you played high school come back too.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
I think it's a little different.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
You're not running around a wet suit underneath the long
sleeve just because that's what I do.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Thet Yeah, I do the West.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Here's the difference in YouTube, though, well, aside from athletic
ability and good lucks, is that you played high school
ball and grew up in southern California. True warm, you
actually played in Pennsylvania. So I guess a little bit
of your blood. I'm not saying anybody, but I'm saying,
like you played in cold it's not to you, It's
not foreign.

Speaker 5 (28:09):
Yeah, but I also say this too, like even if
like if you lived in let's say you lived in
Alaska your whole life or something, and then you moved
to Florida for two three years, that's gone, like the
whole Alaska is gone, Like you've gotten completely adapted to
the warm weather. It's so funny because you know, we
try to talk about different teams, like how the wether
on the felt like guys in Florida and California hate
cold weather games. They hate being in the cold. Chicago

(28:32):
is one of the coldest cities I've ever played in. Obviously,
Kansas City is freezing toil. I know you play in
Kansas City's super cold.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
But the wind in Chicago too, it's NonStop.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
That's the biggest difference.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
And even in April, like I'll go to Cubs games,
it would cut me.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
Yeah, not back there in April last year, for like
the start off it was snowing the first day.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
I'm like, what is going on here?

Speaker 2 (28:55):
And it never leaves the ground.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
And I will say that Chicago is probably the best
summer city in the country, one of the best, because
of the fact that it could be eighty five ninety
degrees but that breeze constantly feels so good. So I,
like I said, I think, but the summer season is
like too much to and have much is so small,
but that that wind is serious because the winds blows

(29:17):
every day all day, no matter where you're at.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
How do you like the Bears uniform on you the
first time? That's a pretty sweet uniform.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
It is cool and it's legendary.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, yeah, emblems.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
Now you almost wish they had a little more variety
because they're very like old school. Like our equipment manager
t Mas, my guy. They don't let you swag out
anything nothing. It's white pants, blue jerseys. You better have
the stripes, you know, gods try to get around some
of that stuff with like the socks.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Those stripes better be shown.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
And and then like they had like I think they
got like a couple of throwbacks, but that's really it.
And then away games, it's blue pants, white jerseys, stripes.
Better as traditional as you get, as traditional as get.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Have you put on the Patriot uniform yet?

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Fully? I have not. I have not. That's looking forward
to that. Yeah I put it.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, I put on our castles every Thursday. It was
the smallest sweater. Yeah, yeah, we just switched out.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
I haven't seen a picture. Best sounds hilarious.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Let's talk about the mentality of your preparation, right because
you come in the league.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Obviously you got vets and stuff, but in terms of
how you watch film and what you do mentally to
prepare yourself week in and week out, and.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Also how offenses have evolved.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
Since you came into the league, particularly with a lot
of these quarterbacks. You see, they're they're multifaceted, their dual threat.
But just talk to me about what goes into your
week of preparation, how you approach each and every week.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
Yeah, so early in my career, I think I was
kind of, i would say, a little bit ahead of
the curve a little bit because in college I watched
a lot of things, like I had I kind of
had an I ad a routine, so like you know
how the weeks are Wednesday first and take it down Thursday,
Thursday down, Friday, RedZone. So I kind of had that
a little bit already in college. So that's kind of

(31:18):
what I would do, just just watch the whatever cut
ups the coaches made.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
But still then when you're young, you don't really know
what you're well, you're.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Just kind of just watching, and so at the time
I would just watch for like, you know, if you're
playing certain guys like it was a good let's say
Travis Kelsey, I'm just watching Travis Kelsey stuff like that.
As I've gotten older, now I think I watched more
for like the scheme, like I want to know who's the.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Coordinator, you know what I mean, Like, Okay, who's the coordinator?

Speaker 5 (31:44):
Okay, Now I kind of know how he wants to
attack this defense based upon what we do, so I
kind of just take it to that next level. So
now I'm more anticipating, Okay, these are probably the play
calls they're going to run against us because we run
this type of defense and stuff like that. So still
routine as far as the days I'm preparing for, you know,
the next day. Previously the night before watching those things,

(32:04):
but now I'm more watching based upon scheme, the coaches,
and obviously still studying the players, the personnel and things
like that, but I kind of have more of a
bigger picture mentality now just based upon the team that
we could be playing or the coach, because that makes
a huge difference, Like studying for like a Kyle Shanahan,

(32:24):
and I say this to today is the toughest coordinator
or coach that you can prepare for because his scheme
is changes week to week and he also gives you
so many different looks, motions, shifts. And I truly believe
this that Kyle Shanahan knows what your rules are on defense.
So if my rules is watching too, and if he
does this, does this, He's going to put you on

(32:45):
conflict every single time. So you basically got to be perfect.
If you're not, who there goes the ball over your head.
So so yeah, I'm kind of a big picture guy
versus in just zoned it in on this one guy,
you know, like a cornerback if it's Jaylen Ramsey or whatever,
he's probably going to watch this recipre because I'm coming
him all games. I'm kind of watching for the big
picture of everything, And as the weeks goes on or

(33:06):
the days goes on throughout the week, then maybe I
can watch some small stuff like hey, looking at this office,
a line right here his foot. If it's far back,
it's probably passed. If it's more squared, it's run. So
it just depends on week.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
The week.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Is it formational alignment?

Speaker 4 (33:19):
And then how much of it is recognizing route combinations
that you're like, Okay, from this formation they like to
do this, or the run their run scheme is going to.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Be wide zoned.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
They're going to run the counter off that. But it's
formationally based. Is that how you're looking at a lot
of these things.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, a lot of it is formation based, you know.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
But throughout the week also you're gonna have the coaches
are going to have these different speeches and packages talking about, oh,
the top three runs, it's gonna be this top three
passes that I first, second down, first of the dam
was kind of is what it is. You kind of
understand what personnet they'd like to use, how they like
to use these guys. Like, for example, most team's gonna
carry two or three tight inso a game one tight
end isn't gonna block the other Titan's gonna be blockers.

(33:59):
So if they got both of those guys separate and
they're gonna run the ball, they probably can run his guy.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
They're not gonna run him.

Speaker 5 (34:04):
Like for Travis Kelson whatever, Like they're gonna give Travis
Kelsey out the way.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
They got another tight end, he's the blocker.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
So yeah, I kind of understand that third down is
when I'm really more focusing in on. Okay, where they
putting this one guy. First of all, he's getting all
the third down targets. Let's find him every third down
because more than like the boss going to him. So
I kind of watched that. But then also a lot
of scheme stuff, like, for example, I had two interceptions
this past year against the Raiders Geno Smith. Earlier in

(34:33):
the week, we knew on third downs they love running
these twelve to fifteen yard d breakers digs, but it
was primarily to Jacobe Myers number sixteen, and they were
getting these bunch formations every time, and so we put
in specific defense. Basically, I was going to be kind
of like the middle of the field Robert type deal.
So obviously you know you're getting the practice reps. So
we get in the game. I see the formation and

(34:55):
I see sixteens in there, and I'm literally the whole time, Okay,
I can trust that I got a guy backside that's
gonna protect me. If I see sixteen. As soon as
he stickers foot in the ground, I am gone. And
I look, you picked the ball I literally almost overran
the play, like I had to spin around and catch
the ball behind me because I had broke so fast.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
But it was just off a film study. Understand.

Speaker 5 (35:14):
Then they ran the same thing like two drops after
and I caught another inception. But yeah, so I think
just being get a little older now, just being able
to have the IQ anticipating stuff a lot more versus
than when you're young, you're just kind of I'm just
gonna run full speed everywhere around the field, try to
go hit somebody and knock somebody out. Now it's more
everything's more calculated versus then just you know, run around

(35:35):
with like a chicken with your hair cut off.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
You feel like most of your interceptions through your career
have been pre snapped more so than during play. Uh,
like you know and you're gonna be there or is
it have been mostly instinctual, like during the play you
make an adjustment.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
It's a mix I definitely say it was a mix up,
because even this past year I had a couple of those,
two or three of those. But then I have somewhere
I just just showed incredible range and just ran and
got the ball like a quarterback was scrambling didn't see
me backside through the ball because he thought he had
his guy wide open. I was able to chase the
ball down. It's definitely a good mix, I think. Obviously,

(36:09):
when you play safety tips overthrows, you know you're gonna
make at least tet to get.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Chests, So you're going to get at least two or
three of those a year.

Speaker 5 (36:18):
You're still got to catch it. Not all the safeties
can catch it, that is true, because most guys are
gonna drop to it. Most safeties well actually would have
like three or four interceptions every year. They didn't drop
them all. But yeah, so it's kind of a mix
of both. I would say, for.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Sure is there and both of you guys can answer
this question a few years ago, and I've done it
almost every year since. I will hire someone to pick
apart what I'm doing, like on my national radio show,
like find my weaknesses, Like I'm gonna pay you to
come and find my weaknesses. When I was to consider
running for office, I hired two different people to go
and investigate me due two ad somebody that I hired

(36:51):
that I told was me, and I hired somebody that
didn't know it was me to see if they would
present two different scenarios to me, So I like try
to beat myself so I can fix the holes. When
you're talking about you're breaking down tape, is there somebody
in these staffs that are trying to beat their own
team so they can report what the other team's are doing?

Speaker 3 (37:08):
And if not, why not?

Speaker 2 (37:10):
You know?

Speaker 4 (37:10):
I think a lot of times you had the advanced
scouting department and they put together schematically, Hey, this is
this coordinator, this is what they like to do. So
they really kind of set the platform for or the
foundation for what you're going to go into, and they
start to give you an illustration because from one week
to the next you've got to concentrate just on that

(37:32):
team because every single week, especially if you're a game
playing defense offense, you're trying to beat what they're doing.
You can't just run the same fundamental plays. Now, you
might have like a certain scheme defensively offensively that works
for every against every type of dease package and stuff, right,
but every team has wrinkles, blitzes, overloads. Some are three
four defenses, which means three defensive linement, four down, four linebackers.

(37:56):
Some people are four down, so it's constantly evolving. You
don't have enough time to jump ahead. But those guys
in the advanced scouting department and some of the young
staff years a lot of time are putting the pieces
together as.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
You're moving forward in the season, especially.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
When you get to a bye week, like a bye way,
you do a lot of like self scout on yourself
and try to change up. It's funny you said that
because I think in the league, like number one, you
got enough people and so many people reporting on the game,
and like just but if it's podcasts, you got new
shows radio, especially big on radio, Like when you were saying,
like you will hire somebody to kind of see what

(38:31):
your weaknesses are, to try to beat yourself, Like you're
gonna have enough of that, trust me.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Like you know, they're all gonna tell you weekness.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
Yeah, like when you have a good game, they're gonna
let you know when you have a bag, and they're
gonna let you know even more. So I think we
all kind of I mean for some I mean me,
I'm a more realistic player, Like I know what my
weaknesses are, and so I think as a great player,
they do the best to not hide your weaknesses. But
you you straight more towards your strengths and you try
to hide more your weakness and that's what you work
on in the off season. But then also too, you know,

(38:59):
obviously first day of the week was probably Wednesday. That morning,
like especially on defense, we would put out a whole
personnel sheet and the defensive coordinator is going to go
through a whole sky report on everybody. They're going to
say the strength of their team is the offensive line.
This left tackle, he's strong, he's fast. He may may
be a little light, so you can probably bull the

(39:20):
disk receiver. He doesn't really have great hands, but he's fast.
So you're going to kind of know the strengths and
weaknesses of everybody. So based upon that, you know for
a fact that they got the Skoyle report on you
as well. Now, I'm not the guy that really wants
to know my skyt report like that during the season
because it's a lot of egos involved. You kind of
want to feel good about yourself. You don't want to
be hearing how trash you are or you know you're

(39:40):
you're in your team. You getting a lot slower now,
so you may need to do some sprints, but uh,
but no, now I think everybody has a true scout report,
and we all did with especially going to the draft,
and everybody has a skyle report. This guy's probably not
gonna run good, or he's a tweener, or for me
it was like, oh, I don't know if this guy's
can tackle. This guy can tackle very well, almost a
thousand tackle now, so they got to tackle pretty okay.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
And I also think the best coordinators in our game
recognized player strengths and weaknesses and put you in the
best position to be successful. To not ask the good
ones because we've been around plenty of that as we
do something I probably shouldn't be doing. But at the
same time, they are able to recognize your strength and
weaknesses and design an offensive system around that or a

(40:22):
defensive system that fits what you do best and stick
to that. And if they can do that consistently, then
you're going to have more success obviously than asking you
to go outside your comfort zone. And then as a player,
the evaluations ongoing throughout the year, you're getting instantaneous feedback.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
It's I mean you literally go in watch.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
The game with the team, You watch the game and
position groups, and then you.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Get hey, your footwork was bad boom boom.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
So it's a lot of times, I would say in
the NFL more so, it's up to the player themselves
if there's certain footwork that you need to get better
out throughout a season, because they're not really coaching fundamentals
during the middle of season. It's more scheme scheme that
you've got to spend extra time on your own after
practice or before practice.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Hone in on those skills.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
But you'll have such a finite period of time to
work on those and that's why off season such a
pivotal time for all of us.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I think, if I'm a coach, I'm hiring a staff
just to predict what the other staff is predicting about me.
Like I'm going full what's the what's the movie The
Dream with DiCaprio, the inception inception, I'm going in on
my coach, Like I want that coaching staff to predict
what the other coaching staff is going to predict about us,

(41:32):
so then I can stay anyway.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
But nowadays everybody has like they're hiding hiring all the
analytics stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Now.

Speaker 5 (41:40):
Before I think it was like kind of a pushback,
like the old school coach, like I don't believe the
analytics like if.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
It's fourth down, we're putting the ball no matter what.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
Like, but now you see now, like I mean fourth
down is basically just an extra down, four three you go,
you know, I mean that's how Ben was.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
How do you stay healthy?

Speaker 6 (42:12):
Like?

Speaker 2 (42:12):
What mean you ain't missed the games? It's like sixty
one you and you and Lebau were playing together.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Seriously, No, man, I don't one hundred and sixty four straight?

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Is that what it is? Now?

Speaker 3 (42:22):
One hundred and sixty four?

Speaker 2 (42:23):
Because do you know that number? Like is that number six?

Speaker 3 (42:25):
One hundred and sixty four? Consent games?

Speaker 5 (42:27):
I will say in the back of my mind though,
now that I kind of have this street going, like
you want to keep it going. So it's like it's
not necessarily saying like, oh, please, don't get hurt, don't
get hurt. But when you have certain nix and bruces
like I got, I'm getting back out there, and I
was always like that, But no, man, I don't A
lot of it is got. I've been blessed, you know,
knock on wood and all that stuff. But I think

(42:48):
a lot of its preparation how I train the offseason.
Certain guys have different ways how they train. Some dudes
don't do anything until they report back in April. Some
guys go almost twelve months. So I think for me,
it's kind of how I phase out my training. I
do a lot of running, and I think that's where
I don't have any like softish jury because I'm aways running,

(43:08):
I'm always conditioned. And then it's a lot of the
you know, the recovery stuff throughout the season, throughout the
off season as well, pilates just a bunch of different
stuff that kind of I think aids me in my
recovery and allowed me to continue to be able to play,
you know, at a high level.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
But like I said, a lot of it.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
Has just been you know, being blessed, you know what
I mean, Like, you know, some people have freak injuries,
you know, right if it's step.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
I had a guy t J.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
Edwards, the linebacker, who was a routine linebacker play tickets
drop and somebody clipped them in the back of his
leg and broke his leg. It was just like super random.
It wasn't like nothing that he did. So I've just
been blessed in that aspect. So hopefully I keep that
streak going.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
We're talking about massage, like it's so many advancements has
happened in terms of recovery, Like what's your go to
weekly routine in terms of recovery?

Speaker 2 (43:54):
How much money is spent on your body? Yeah? Are
you Derrick Henry style? Like, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (43:58):
I don't think so there spent a lot of money
in his bodies. But I'm I'm up there, though I
would say I'm up there. So when I was younger,
it would just literally just be massages. I couldn't. I
hated cold I never did cold tubs. I probably didn't
start doing my first cold tub in the lead to
like year five, Year six was no way, seriously, I
could not get in that cold tub.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
I was. I was the B word. I was. I
was scared. But no.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
So now it's like in Chicago they had a great facility,
like they had so much stuff, so I actually added more.
So like for example, on the let's say games Sunday,
I'm a big massage on Monday. I used to be
a Tuesday because our off day. But I've noticed that
I'm like a second day sore in this guy, So
I'm a.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Lot more so. The Tourdoll War off.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
Well, I'm not even a to guy, which is funny,
but but it's weird because most guys were tell you
in the league that they're more sourced two days after
game versus the day after because maybe still the adrenaline
vitamin T if you're on the vitamin T or whatever painkillers.
So I gave my recoverymedia on Monday. So Monday I
go to facility. I'm a red light guy, so I

(45:01):
got into the red light therapy fifteen minutes in the
real light therapy.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
I had the panels. We didn't have like the Tanning
Band of Chicago.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
We got the bed at the house.

Speaker 5 (45:09):
You got one obviously. I was literally just on Google,
just researching something. Yeah it was seven as as you
charge me the baby sit a little bit, and yeah
in front of the castle.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Get my kid in the school. You have school in
a few years. Well yeah, use it all you want.

Speaker 5 (45:26):
Said, So I do red light first thing in the morning,
lead the red light, getting the hot to about another
ten minutes to warm up.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
So then I'm doing the water treadmill.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
So I do just like not sprints, but like you
know how these different stuff like that to kind of
flush the body in the treadmill, and then obviously if
I have anything like it was injured during the game,
then I'm in the training room getting treatment on that.
So then after that, I'm not depending on if we
had a victory Monday or not. Obviously you got to
do the workout on a Monday. Uh So, do a
workout on Monday. After workout, big sauna cold plunge guy.

(45:59):
So my deal is, I'll do fifteen minutes in the sauna,
four minutes in the cold. I'm like all the way
down to almost chest down, and I'll probably do two
rounds of that. If I'm feeling really good or if
I had like we had a really good game and
i had some pretty good food you know, after the game,
then I'm probably doing three rounds if I need to,
uh So, then that's probably Monday. Then go home, spend
time with the family, massage that night. Tuesday fairly basically

(46:24):
the same thing outside of probably a workout. I'm probably
gonna do red light sign again the water treadmill.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
This is like a ten year old question, but is
it still fun on game day?

Speaker 3 (46:36):
That's the funnest part about football.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
I would say, you know, as you get older, the
hardest part is the process. That's where that's I think
that's where guys start to have those thoughts and those talkts,
like how long I still want to do this?

Speaker 3 (46:50):
You know what I mean. It's the training camps.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
Even off season program earlier sin the spring, like you know,
even you know I might going through with my family now,
like having to you know, go up to New England
and April and have to fly back and forth. Like
that's where it becomes tougher and tougher, especially you have
families and children, training camp, the soreness, the two days, soreness,
all the because it's not just physical, but it's mental too,

(47:13):
Like I'm a big routine guy, No Matt. People that
play in the league, they're so routine based and they're
so used to that. But it takes a lot of
mental strain to be able to have all these appointments
and practitioners all line up and doing the same thing
over and over again. It becomes tougher and as harder
as you age, because it's like man, like you know,

(47:33):
especially you know, you make a little make.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Some dollars, you know what I mean, Like you kind
of get complacent a little bit.

Speaker 5 (47:38):
For me, and I always tell guys like, you have
to have a purpose bigger than just I want to
just be rich. And once you're rich, it's like, okay,
what's next. Like your purpose have to be bigger. It
has to be a legacy. You want to go to
the Hall of Fame, you want to create generation, whatever
may be. It has to be something bigger because as
you get older, it gets tougher and tougher. But game days,
I mean, everybody loves game days because men, you tell

(48:00):
the coaches leave you alone a little bit more on
game day. You kind of just focus on yourself. You
get your little tonnel walks, get a drip going, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
You just feel good.

Speaker 5 (48:07):
Fans like that's the most Like I said in Chicago
this past year was incredible. I mean those fans they
sell out every game. Yeah, Like they sell out every game.
Like those playoff games, that one against the Rams that
we played, the one we lost, Those on the most
incredible experiences I've had. We beat Green Bay in the playoffs.
DJ Moore got a walk off touchdown, was insane. It

(48:29):
was a movie like legit. I remember the ball going
up in the air like I was sitting on the
benches like slow motion, like you stood up, like just
wash the ball and he caught it. It was insane
backward that the rams. Yeah, it was incredibulous. So like
those type of things will never get old. The locker
room never gets old. It's just all the stuff in between.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
It is difficult to stay motivated that the older you get,
just because, like you said, you've got life going on.
You're doing all these things, and there is that's the fight,
is the complacency, right of how do I get my
mind right to know that I'm gonna about to leave
my family behind go here be separated for them for
a little while.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
But you got all the other stuff. What's it like
at this juncture in your career, right, you're going.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
Into year what eleven? Yeah, going into year eleven. But
you're also a new guy on the team, Right, how
do you build relationships in that locker room?

Speaker 3 (49:23):
And how quickly do you get adapted to it?

Speaker 4 (49:25):
And obviously you come in with a reputation, right, and
you've been playing for a long time, a guy that
has a tremendous leader, been a captain on a lot
of the teams that you've played on. But what's that
like going into a new locker room and kind of
adapting to that new environment.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
No, it's different. I've done it in the past, you know.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Obviously I got traded twenty twenty three to Philly, so
I was in a new locker room then, and obviously
going to Chicago, it's another experience for me. I think
the good thing about this experience that I have a
lot of familiarity in the building. My old safety coach
in Tennessee, he's the secondary coach there in New England,
so obviously knowing Braves, the team chaplain that was in Tennessee,

(50:03):
he's there, so I got a lot of mentor like
a lot of people in that building before the locker room.
I think it's just it's for me, it's easy, you
know what I mean, because obviously, you know, even though
I'm unk, you know what I mean, I'm still one
of the guys.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
I'm still playing at a high level.

Speaker 5 (50:15):
And then, like you said, coming in with that credibility already,
I think I'm easy gonna be able to connect with
the team, So I don't necessarily look at that as
a big deal. But like you said, you know, as
you get older, like you know, I don't know if
I'm going to continue to want to do this, you know,
I mean, keep going to new places dealing with the
politics and the NFL and stuff like that. So for me,
you know, I you know, I hope and pray that obviously,

(50:37):
you know, this stop in New England is the one
where I get the Super Bowl and then uh, you know,
obviously we'll see you know, I've said this last year,
past couple years in Chicago, but every year for me
at this point, it's a year to year league, you know.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
I mean, it's a year to year.

Speaker 5 (50:49):
I put everything as possible preparation into this one year
and then we'll see what happens at the end of
the season. But uh, you know what I mean, I
think the familiarity with Rabes and everybody up there is
going to make this transition a lot easier than you know,
the previous couple of years.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
Got some dogs back there in that defensive actually do
It's been Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
I'm exciting and you guys gonna have a great group.
Final question. You're here in Nashville, this is home now, right, Yeah,
same with Cassle, Like not that one of you guys
actually grew up here, you did play college here. It's
gotta be hard to live like during season in Chicago
or Philly for a year when you get traded or
now in New England. But why here in Nashville is home?

(51:29):
And then how hard is it to be gone? Did
your family go up with you a lot?

Speaker 3 (51:32):
Like?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
What's that like?

Speaker 5 (51:33):
Yeah, so the past couple of years in Chicago, the
family has moved up.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
So we'll do half and half.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
So obviously, you know, our kids' school has been great enough,
you know what they allow us to. Hey, you go
up to Chicago for half the year, but then second
semester they come back. So but it gets tougher and tougher.
I will say that, especially if the kids get a
little older. Is it when they're like it's just the
preschool stuff like that, it's like just not pulling up
for friends. Now you're just you know, you kind of
glorified daycare in a way, but they just learned the

(52:01):
ABC is a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
But how it was a health exactly. But you know,
as my daughter's.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
Six now my son's five, and I have a two
year old as well, so you know, as they kind
of get you know, really get into their fearing groups
and the sports and stuff like, it gets tougher. We're
probably gonna do the same thing this year in New England.
But the logistics of it, you know what I mean.
So for example, in Chicago, we just ran, so we
were in the house. Luckily, the guy rooted from the

(52:30):
house came fully furnished, so we didn't have to buy
any furniture. Yes, it was fully furnished, so that part
was a little bit easier. But you know, just you know,
you get into the season and then you know, my wife,
she had stuff going on here that we got to
pick up move everything up there.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
It's tough.

Speaker 5 (52:44):
And it's funny because I was having this talk with
with my god to Mario Davis just the other day
because he's you know, he has a big family as well,
kind of do the same thing, and we're just talking
like how you know, the way we talk about it
is like like it's nothing, you know, I mean, we
were so used to this lifestyle, but when you know,
you talk to other people, it's like, bro, how do
you deal with that? This seems so tough and it
is tough, but you know, I guess we make the

(53:05):
heart look easy whatever, but yeah, just the moving parts
of it is tougher. And so, for example, the first
time I ever had you know, I got traded to Philadelphia,
and I've told the story before, but my wife had
we had literally just had our son. He was born
very premature. He was born at five and a half months.
He was literally just born. So we just played a

(53:28):
game in Indianapolis. We lost to Indianapolis. I remember we
got home on a flight. This was still like Sunday
night because it was it's a whole story. I don't
know if we got enough time to get into it,
but he was born that night. She had an emergency
c section, and he has spent how many months he's
basically from this was October. He was in a nick

(53:49):
You till February. Wow, So I spent the whole so
after he was born a week later, well a couple
of days later. Actually we had a London game, so
I left. He was born two three days later. We
had to go to London for basically two or three days.
Lost Baltimore. Next week, I'm traded at Philadelphia. So my

(54:10):
son's and a nick you we're having deal all this
stuff with my son and I'm up in Philadelphia by myself,
basically miserable, like you know what I mean, Like I
want to be home my family, and I'm talking to
sarround and he was like, man, if you want to
fly home on after a game and be there till Wednesday,
Like I'm completely fine with that. It was so tough,
So like dealing with all that stuff that you know,
that's kind of like the unspoken part of football because

(54:31):
in the football world, people that cover the game, they
don't really know that stuff. They just care about, Hey,
are you producing or not, But just that part of
just having to move around it becomes tougher.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
So yeah, it's not easy.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
That people don't see.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Right, there's a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Yeah, I remember that situation coming up.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
But I mean, you're trying to be the father and
all these things, but also the provider and you know
that this is your job and it's an opportunity. But
at the same time, there's two different hats that you
constantly are wearing that everybody else doesn't see this. Everybody
as a fan just sees this performance space individual and
it's whether you have success or not. But they don't

(55:11):
realize any of the stuff on the background that's going on.
That's real life stuff that players deal with.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
And we really put youre coming by me and it's
been awesome.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
No, absolutely, man, thank you.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
It's one of the special special people you'll meet. He's
incredible in every way.

Speaker 6 (55:24):
So I appreciate every way. Well I try to be
you know, a little bit away. Skeletons in the closet.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
When do you go up? Like when do you go up? Now?

Speaker 3 (55:37):
So we report on the twentieth of April, So coming up. Yeah,
like two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
But the Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (55:44):
No, I think that's the majority of most teams. Yeah,
because it's some teams started this week. Now the guy
they got new head coaches they started, Uh, either yes
they or today? So yeah, I mean, like you say,
as you get older, that that they comes faster and faster.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
It's like, man, off season just started. We appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Hope you have a great season. Yeah. There he is
the great Kenna Bayern.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is
a production of the NFL and iHeart Podcasts. For more
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