Welcome to Getting Real with Grady Jarrett, a podcast in which Atlanta Falcons DL Grady Jarrett and co-host Kelsey Conway “get real” on anything from football, lifestyle, and beyond. Dansby Swanson, Atlanta Braves shortstop, joins the show to discuss playing for his hometown, the importance of mental health, and his love for the Atlanta Falcons. 0:00 Intro 1:10 Playing for Your Hometown 5:24 Balancing Demanding Schedules 8:06 Playing Sports at Next Level 10:25 Being a Falcons Fan 14:43 Game Mentality 17:22 Motivation 20:36 The Importance of Mental Health
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're what's up. God's Grady Jared back at it again
with me and my co host Kelsey Conway. Today we
got a sweet treat for you guys. We got Dan's
Be Swanson of the Atlanta Braves, local boyd Georgia boy
like myself. We're gonna talk about some good things, getting
into some things more than just ball, but also just
his daily process and there will be a lot of
(00:28):
things you guys to take away from this, so I
hope you enjoy. And here's our conversation with Brave Shortstop
dans Be Swanson. Grady. I'm pumped we have on Brave
short Shortstop Dan's By Swanson and we're getting him in
the middle of his season. So, first of all, Dan's By,
we wanted to say thank you for taking some of
your busy schedule time for us on getting RealD with
(00:51):
Grady Jarrett podcast. And we wanted to have you on
for a number of reasons. But one of the main
reasons why is you and Grady share a lot of
similarities in that you're both from Atlanta and you're now
the face of your hometown team, which I think is
really cool in a very unique situation. So I wanted
(01:11):
to ask you both, does it feel like sometimes or
when you first got drafted there was more pressure that
came with that rather than if you got drafted in
a city that you didn't know anyone or nobody really
knew you. Is there more pressure? And what is the
best part about that and what's kind of the hardest
part about it? I guess, well, for me, I know,
(01:35):
Grady got drafted by Atlanta. I was drafted by Arizona
and I got traded over here like five months into
my professional career. And let me tell you the night
I got traded, Grady, you actually haven't been traded. I
hope you don't get traded, because not only it's tough, right,
like obviously I want you to go Falcon, but at
(01:56):
the same time, like business wise, like that's so tough.
And I didn't really know how to respond or how
to react. But I do remember getting about three hundred
text messages and like one hundred and fifty phone calls,
and that was like that kind of started off on
a rough note because I was like, I don't am
I going to have to deal with this all the time,
(02:18):
you know what I mean? Like, is this something that
I'm gonna have to be dealing with and luckily it
has not turned out to be like that. It's probably
been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I
think being able to be with family is huge. Being
able to be around, you know, my best friends that
I grew up with, and then kind of being able
(02:39):
to settle down and have like a home in Atlanta
that I can be in consistently is is you know,
something that only the Good Lord could have had planned,
because I definitely wouldn't have done that. Yeah. Absolutely, man,
you said, it's like being in that comfort zone. It's
really like a blessing because you know, for for me
(03:00):
it was you know, it was balancing, like you said,
how you got all those text messures and calls. Once
you got that balanced, everything else is really just you know,
it's all good because like for me at the games,
you know, I can go off to my mom house
and Kanye's gonna hang out and then you know, when
I I'm fortunate enough to know that I'm a you know,
I'm a beat in Atlanta, you know, after I'm playing,
so I was, you know, able to buy me a
(03:22):
nice home here and and feel comfortable and if anything,
really from uh, like treatment, training, stuff I've been comfortable
with come before, coming out of college, like being able
to have that here, Um, just access to UM, I
don't know your regular lifestyle, you know, without that full adjustment.
But UM, I think it's definitely, like you said, if
you don't know how to balance it, Man, it could it.
(03:43):
It can really hurt a couple of guys. I think
being away. UM sure, y'all you got teammates like this too,
being away from you know, environments that they grew up in.
It's better for them versus you know, being in somewhere
they grew up in. So if I think it all
works out how supposed to at the end of the day.
But um, yeah, So so yeah, that was that was
a great question. You know, it is nice. I'm glad
(04:05):
you mentioned that because familiar with lifestyle is a big one,
right And and and I feel for the people that
you know, they're from somewhere that they love and they're
not there. And it's smartest you know, like we um,
we started out you know, spring training. We're down in
Florida for like six seven weeks. Then we started on
the road for another week week and a half, and man,
(04:27):
I was homesick, like I couldn't wait to get home.
I missed my dog, I missed my bed. I just
missed all the people that I'm normally spending time with.
Whereas in spring training, like you get up early, you
do your work, you play a game, and you go
home and you're just sitting at home. There ain't nobody
else there, just like you just like looking around, you know, like, yeah,
(04:48):
I guess I'll go hit some more golf balls, you know,
like I guess I'll go. Like how long is preaking
training to use your least? That's that's kind of like
you'll training camp, you know, mindset before I'll start the season, right,
it's uh six weeks? Yeah, yeah, yeah man, Yeah, Grady,
you got lucky if you football players. I mean, between
your schedule and the fact that training camp is really
(05:10):
only I mean, what do you have like fifteen fully
padded practices. He's got six weeks of training training camp essentially. Yeah. Yeah,
that's tough and all the games of volume y'all play man,
how do you balance that? You know? I always wonder, like, um,
how major League baseball players can balance that that that
schedule is like, yeah, playing over one hundred games. It's
(05:30):
only three hundred sixty days in the year. If you
take a day off every two days, you're gonna not
have enough days to play. It's like, how do you
how do you do that? Bro? Yeah? Well, the craziest
way to put in perspective is, so we play one
hundred and sixty two games in the regular season. Um,
usually that's in one hundred and eighty days, so we
get eighteen off days. Um. And what I always blows
(05:53):
people's minds is if you add spring training, and then
if you add if you make the whole run the playoffs,
you play over two hundred games. M. Which is it's wild, right,
It's it's wild to think about part of it. I
could ask you the same question, like how do you
how do you once a week go and basically abuse yourself,
(06:15):
Like and y'all only have one off one off week. Um,
it's just it's part of our lifestyles, just part of
what we do. Um. You kind of grow a little
bit accustomed to playing every night, but with that comes
like plenty of nights rough you're kind of just like, well,
(06:35):
this just ain't my night, you know, Like, because baseball
is so hard, you play it so often. And then
the biggest thing I think that people don't see is
travel because like, for instance, we have a Sunday night
game coming up in Chicago U this Sunday, we fly
to New York. After that, luckily we have an off day,
(06:56):
but we'll get in around you know, three four in
the morning, and then we play two games against the Yankees,
come back home, but once again, we won't get home
until in the middle of the night. And then luckily
we have that day off. But normally, you know, we'll
get places at you know, three four or five in
(07:16):
the morning and have to play that next night. So
you're literally sleeping until noon one o'clock just to get
a little bit of rest and then showing up to
get some work done and then and then play, and
then you do it again the next night. And it's
just it's just crazy how the game of baseball itself
isn't like the most physically demanding, Like oh, that's it's
(07:42):
mental and that it's just like brind of doing it
so much like that adds up. Yeah, I was gonna say,
like just here and you talk about the schedule, man,
that that the mentality of it is something that people
you know, casual fans, I'm sure just don't really understand
what it takes. And I mean even adding all that
travel to it. Bro I never that's that's crazy. You
got to go somewhere, go somewhere after the game, taking
(08:03):
that play another game. Well, So we had Grady's mom
on our podcast the episode before you, and she told
us that Grady was actually a really good baseball player
in high school. So, Grady, I guess it sounds like
you made the right decision and going to play, well,
you know what professionally. You know, I was because nobody
in my family would played baseball, so I was really
(08:24):
natural at it. But I stopped. You know why I
stopped playing in high school because, um, there was I
don't even there was a situation with this coach and
I was like late to do something. I was, I
was doing some kind of training thing, but he would
not let me sign up for the baseball team. So
and then from then I was like, I guess I
just want me I want to play because the football
was my love. I don't want to play football. But
(08:44):
um but yeah, I think my mom I was good,
but I think she kind of hyped me a little bit.
I ain't gonna lie, like, I'm not even gonna sit there.
And it's like it's like and then being a professional athlete,
you know, it's easy for people always be like, oh
I can do that, I can do that now. To
be a professional at the highest level, it takes a
lot of skill, a lot of work, dedication. So I
ain't even about to sit there and make that comparison
(09:06):
exactly what And like, I think there's why do you
think there's only been a handful of guys that have
ever played at the highest level and two sports, Because
it's almost impossible, man, like the ability to do that.
Like the only one out right now would probably be Kyler.
You're the only one that would have Yeah, that would
(09:27):
have a chance. Yeah, I think, But like it's just
a different it's just a different ample because you gotta
think too, like body like body wise, like how many
baseball guys, I mean, there's some big baseball dudes, but
how many baseball guys could go play like in the NBA. Yeah,
like purely from size probably not. You know, Yeah, it's
(09:51):
crazy because it's like it's just easy for fans sometime
to just think, like I see it on TV baseball.
I enjoying the baseball games. But you know, oh can
do that now? You know you get out there. Boy,
It's almost like a casual person going on a golf course.
Tell him going a golf golf club, like, oh my gosh,
(10:11):
oh my god. We can talk about golf now. I'm
trying to get better, try to get I definitely got
to get better. Magic came from a charity tournament of day.
Way I can, I can, I can connect with the magic.
Can't keep it, keep it, keep you straight online. We'll
talk about that time. Well, so Dan's but you just
brought up Kyler Murray. So we know that you're a
(10:31):
big football fan, and we know that you're a big
Falcons fan. So I wanted to ask you a little
bit about how you became such a big Falcons fan.
What are some of your favorite Falcons memories? And uh,
you were at Super Bowl right in Houston and just
talk because you know who had his coming out game
(10:51):
that game was the guy that guy that's the host
of this podcast. So when did you become such a
big Falcons fan? And I mean, how much football do
you watch? Man? So I became a fact I've kind
of always been a Falcon san tried to watch every
Sunday growing up, and then once I started getting into
(11:12):
high school, I really really got into it because I
feel like I started to understand it more too. And
my we'd go over to one of my best friend's
houses names Logan Marshall and another story about him in
a minute, but we and my other best friends we
would go over there watch games on Sundays, so it
just kind of became like our thing to do. And
(11:33):
then I'd said, the toughest part about watching games now
is because our season overlaps just a little bit. So
when we play on Sunday, we normally play at one o'clock,
which is when y'all normally play, unless you're either on
the West Coast or you know, you got Sunday Night
football or something, or but even if you play Monday
night football, we play Monday night normally. So I spent
(11:57):
a lot of money on NFL Game Pass, baby, so
I can watch games. You know, I watched. I watched
the condensed version after the game's over. That whole thing
A favorite of Falcons player. That's tough. Um. I feel
like I was always a big Ronny White fan. Um
because I was kind of like, I guess it's a
little bit more like hey day of high school. Um,
(12:21):
So i'd say I would say that he would kind
of be like the one that I mean, everybody could
say Matt, everybody can say Huly, you know, like that'd
be the easy one. But I say, Roddy was one
of my favorites. Um. And then one of like one
of my sneaky favorites was the Sante Samuel for like
the year that he was here. I love me some
mister pick six, but yeah, I was in Houston. That's
(12:45):
usually when the conversation ends, understood, well, it doesn't. It
doesn't have to end when we're on a podcast with
Greedy Jarrett because that game had the Falcons won. He probably.
I mean sometimes I think they always give it to
the quarterback, which I just think is unfair if they
give the MVP. But if I had a vote, I
(13:08):
had a vote, Granny would have been a Super Bowl MVP. Yeah,
you know that was that was fun. You have gy
on Tom Brady three yeah, three of them it was
almost four died and like the fourth man. It was
just it was it was a good it was a
good day personally, but it was a hard hard data
to bring good you know, yeah, truck me. I was
like I So I took my buddy Logan Marshall with me,
(13:32):
and it was like talk about like the biggest roller
coaster of emotions of like my life. I sometimes tell
people and you can put this in the podcast because
I always think it's funny. I'm like, I think sometimes
I like the Falcons moren I like the Braves. Like that.
That's how I feel sometimes, Like that's how like passionate
(13:53):
I am. I'm not like a TV yeller, and I'm
not a yeller in general, like at games because A
I understand and and B what's that gonna do? Like
I have no idea about football, Like I played once
when I was seven. Yeah you know what I mean.
So uh but no, imb I remember Grady's still coming
(14:14):
out party. I remember that. Yeah, I'm trying to We're
trying to figure out if he's going to have a
sack dance this season. We had Ray Lewis on the
show and I asked Grady as like me and I
give the fans a sack dance, and you said it
He's he's deciding, So who knows? Maybe are we seeing that, Yeah,
you just make plays, man, you just you just make plays.
(14:34):
Going but that yeah, I mean sometimes it's like more
swaggy to not do not think because it's like, all right,
I've been there, done that. Yeah I do got a
question for you though. So it's so in obviously a
super Bowl setting that's you know, the biggest game. Is
(14:55):
there something like is there's just something different about like
your mentality when you go into big games because I
just know for me, like personally and bigger moments, somehow,
some way, God blessed me with the ability to like
the game feels like it's in slow motion and the
bigger moments, it's usually just in like the regular moments
(15:16):
where I kind of just kind of can get a
little like relaxed instead of dialed in. Yeah. No, I
definitely feel on that. And I feel the exact same way.
It's crazy going into the super Bowl. Um, we were
in Houston and you know we do the pre the
pre stadium walk and they got all the what they
know when your teams around for the prestatum walk like
a day before, and just seeing my name up there
(15:38):
in the on the big jumbo trying man and just
being like Wow, this is really like you know, like
this is this is, this is about to happen, like
this dream come true. You know. But for me, I've
always been prime time games. I'd be ready, I would
you tuned in like it's like I remember even like
in college we used to play like the you know
one double A schools. I'd be like, I don't even
want to be be out here to day. Like but like
(15:59):
but like you know, the big time games, you know,
everybody tuned in. It just bring out the best team.
I think that bring out the best and true competitors.
But as you know, everybody not built for that. You know,
some people can show up when it's you know, so
the regular stuff, but when the pressure room, you know,
some some people shut down. But you know, being blessed
to be able to be able to go into that
mindset and just know it's like it's like, you know,
(16:21):
it's go time. Like an example for that for me,
this year was like it was hard playing with no
fans in the stadium this year. That that was terrible.
And then as the season went on, some places would
be little more lenient, some places would be a little
more I'm strict, but I remember we went to Kansas
City this year. Man, but they about how they say
being packed out, and I'm feeling like and I love
to play. One thing about me, I love to play
(16:43):
in hostile away games, like because it feel like everybody
like against you, just going crazy. So it's like even
like we would play San franc last year in these
these past a couple of years been tough for us,
but I feel like I played my best games against
the best teams. And just because that animosity, whatever it
may be, or just the you know, the doubt that
people have that you're gonna get crushed by this team,
(17:04):
it just bring out the best of me. So um,
so yeah, so like that's that's that's something like a
motivation for me. And um but like so I got
like a question for you, So like as a just
as like a competitor, you know, obviously being the best
of the best of what you do, being you know,
top pick um growing up or as a professional to
(17:25):
this day, even like what do you find as your
biggest motivation to continue to get better and be better?
Or um, you know, when you when you look back
and reflect on your path, like what was the thing
that pushed you to be? Like, look, I'm gonna be
the best I can be, and you know it got
you where it got you. I think you correlates this,
(17:46):
uh when you're when you're a competitor and you care
and you want to win, like there isn't really anything
else that you need. Because how I was raised was
to always like do my best and to be the
best that I could be in anything that it was,
like if it was in school, if it was in
(18:09):
history class, if it was in whatever. You know, it
was an expectation of my household to make really good grades.
And my parents would always ask if I was, you know,
struggling in a class or something. They would say, are
you working to get the grade that you want? And
if the answers know that I needed to, you know,
check myself. And if if the you know, work ethic
(18:31):
was where it needed to be and I just wasn't
getting the grades, they were okay with that, And I
feel like that's just kind of really what's that That
whole principle has really guided me throughout my life because
I want to be the best player that I can be.
I want to be the best player, you know, in
the world, right, so that that work stays consistent to
that um, and there are times where it can slack.
(18:53):
I mean, we're human, right, and it's just a matter
of how quickly you can recorrect yourself get yourself where
you need to be, especially like in this game, like
first eleven games for us in general, I haven't been great,
uh nor personally, and it's like you got to kind
of take a step back and die. All right, I
(19:14):
have one hundred and fifty one games left. I would
just like take a chill pill for a second, get
back to what makes me me. Um. But I would
say the in two and seventeen, it was my first
full year in the big leagues, and I was terrible, dude,
Like I had to have been the worst player in
the big leagues. I had to have been. And with
(19:35):
that came is a substantial jump from it. Well it
was I came up the year before, like the last
month of the season, and I killed it. Okay. I
think partially what happened was, you know, when the league
starts to know you, right, it's the second year is
usually the harder year because everybody knows you now. And
(19:57):
obviously a little bit too of like having that early success,
it was very easy to get caught up into like, oh,
like I can do this, you know. Instead of it
being the quiet confidence, it was a little bit more
on the arrogance side. And obviously baseball really really way
of humbling you. So it kind of allowed me to
(20:19):
get back to work and get back to the things
that made me successful. And then what's really helped me
over the last couple of years has been I worked
with the with like a mental coach, and we do
a lot of different things to basically I struggle with
like anxiety issues and things like that. So we've done
a lot of work to like get me through anxious
(20:41):
moments from the past, like the you know, the trauma
from being a really bad baseball player, Like there's some
built up in there, you know. And even now, like
when I start going through spurts, like it's really easy
to get anxious about performance and anxious about failing and
those kinds of things. So that for me has been
like the big a separating factor moving forward is like
(21:04):
dealing with those things. Like we always talk about mental
health is a is a big deal, and I feel
like a lot of it is we try I try
and look at more of like mental wellness more so
than anything like trying to keep it in the positive direction,
because that was holding me back way more than any
of the physical stuff. Man, that thing, that that mental
(21:26):
thing is huge, Man, that mental thing is huge. I've
thought about um reaching out to like a mental coach
or sometimes because I feel like there's sometimes where sometimes
most of times I'm sure you locked like you locked in,
but it's like when you're getting it, I don't know
if it's like a slump or you know, you just
it's just something me right, like you're playing bad. Like
for me, like if I'm getting reached blocked the cellamare,
(21:46):
like I just can't if I'm going I'm taking my shots,
I'm just missing. So now I'm hesitating. So it's like
that's that's something good. I'm I'm glad you dropped that
gym on me, man, because that's I saw I might
I might look into because yeah, well, man, immediately when
we start going bad. This is my real passion talking
about this kind of stuff, because when we start going bad,
our first thought is we go, why am I not
(22:07):
doing what I normally do? Then you start to convince
yourself that you're wrong, that something is wrong, that you're
and then you start to make an adjustment for something
that you never need to make an adjustment for the beginning,
and then it just goes in this cycle and then
you get back to the problem where you're still failing
because you haven't made an adjustment, and you go like this.
And for me, what I've learned is you basically like
(22:29):
in those moments, like you said, you're getting a funk
or whatever, even just life happens, like you get like
my dog sick, or you know, like I haven't mal Is,
you know, out conquering the world playing soccer, and I
haven't seen her in a month. Like it's it's hard,
and you can get in a funk, and it's like
what core things do you have that are like pattern
(22:50):
interrupters is what we call them. So like for me,
if I just go and like shoot around, like play
basketball just by myself, just go shoot around, like that's
a pattern an interrupt or. If I'm struggling at the plate,
sometimes I'll only go into the cage and just like
hit left handed, just to have fun, you know, just
there's certain like pattern. Sometimes it's having with my friends,
(23:14):
you know what I mean, Like it's like we have
our like little pattern interruptors that can kind of like
get you out of the cycle, like just get you
out of it. So back to Grady being Grady or
dance By being dance By got man. That's awesome. Well, Grady,
we gotta let Dansby go. He's got a game, he's
got probably got a lot of stuff he's gott to
(23:35):
you before his game. But Dancey, thank you so much
for joining us on getting Real with Grady Jarrett podcast.
And we wish you the best of luck this season
and hopefully we'll we'll see y'all at a Falcons game,
maybe sporting in ninety seven Jersey sometimes soon huh Bentley
pop in the picture. Yeah, I'm down for that. I'm
down for that. Yeah, definitely. I gotta shoot you so
them too much with you like a Jersey some sign? Yeah,
(23:57):
please do? I would. I love that. I'm getting the
basement finish right now, so awesome, and I'll send you
something back. So yes, sir, So I appreciate your brother,
Thank you please for coming on man, and we can
one day hang out whatever. Yeah, no, I appreciate your brother,
keep doing it. Thank you, Dansby. Well, that was really
cool to listen to you and Dan's By talk about
(24:18):
the mental aspect of how you guys go about perfecting
your craft, and although baseball and football are very different,
there's so many similarities in terms of what it takes
for you to mentally and physically get to the level
that you need to every day. And I cannot imagine
having to do that every single day, like Dansby has too,
(24:42):
that I would be horrible as a baseball player because
I think I internalized things way too much and I
think it'd be all up in my head and I, oh, yeah,
it takes a strong It takes a strong mental human
to be able to play at the level that Dansby
is playing at. And I just thought the way he
(25:03):
kind of was so honest and transparent about his struggles
was really interesting to listen to. So it brought up
a question in my head. You, like we talked about Dansby,
you kind of put the rest of the NFL in
the world on notice about who you were as a
player during the Super Bowl when you had three sacks,
(25:25):
and ever since then, you've been on a trajectory where
you've just been exploding. What did it take for you
to get there? Like did you after your rookie season
have to create a plan for yourself And have you
ever been in a funk? And would you do to
get out of it? You know? For me, my rookie year,
(25:50):
you know, it was it wasn't as fast as I
wanted to be, but I took every opportunity like internalized
like my frustrations and whatever it may be to play
more and just was like I made the decision like
when I get my opportunity, I'm gonna just go out
there and do my best. And um, towards the end
of the as a year got going, I you know,
I got better and better and finished out um, you know,
(26:11):
doing doing doing a solid solid rookie season and um
and um. And then I think that, you know, to
going to the second year, now I'm a full time starter,
and it was some bit more ups and downs, but
and it was still trying to just find my way
in the league, you know, And and it was really
just just you know, repetition stuff like that, and and
(26:35):
and I don't think there was like a funk time
because every time I'm just kind of like just trying
to get a little better and better. But it's also
when you know what you can do, and it's like
something that's like holding you back. So like for me,
um versus like getting away from the game to try
to reset, I had to kind of like just dive
into it more and just commit more. And whether that
(26:55):
was watching more film of you know, other guys other
than myself or um um you know the thing that
and also and like the biggest uh, I guess pattern
breaker for me was but it had something to do
with the game. But I love to like work out
and be like in the gym, like even away from
(27:16):
like you know, I do everything that's supposed to be
for football. You know, I'm gonna work out of the gym,
do practice out of that. But when I get in
that gym by myself, that's that's the biggest um therapy
for me even to this day, Like like just working out,
I gotta I gotta have two senses of training and
I'll just you know, I'm gonna find something to do
and just work out cuts of musical But and then
it may be like you know, um free, I might
(27:38):
want to come in and work out with I just
need that time alone real quick, you know. And that's
just how how I how I get in my head,
you know. And because I'm not a big video gamer.
Um yeah, yeah, so I mean or whatever it is,
so I just you know, chill, watched movies or something.
And then but solo time in the gym is is
really really big for me. But um, I feel like
when I turned that corner for you said like if
(28:00):
that's after that super Bowl, that's when I realized, like
you know, I can really like be good, like really good,
and and that get I think that gave me the
confidence after that to know that I can be as
good as I want to be, you know, just with
the work I put in and then just the growth
that a show. And then so I mean that's all
I say. Like every year, I just keep I keep
(28:21):
fighting a sin because I just want to find out
ways in my game where I can get better, be
better and stay coachable and um and just keep myself
humble because like dan as we talked about, it's easy
when you had that success, um to to you know,
let hear how good people telling you're doing that you're
doing so good, pat on the bank, and before you
know it, like you it's just a it's just a
(28:44):
shell shocking you so far behind a because you thought
you were doing good while all these other people is
out here working. So um, you don't never want to
fall into that because in this professional league, it's a
revolving door. Somebody coming every year every time, they trying
to take your spot. And at the end of the day,
your team love you and they they want the best
for you. But everything is about what have you done
for me lately? So I mean, I mean it's like
(29:04):
you got to perform, you know, you know, oh nothing
like UM, And that's that's the biggest thing that guys
have to wrap their mind around, is what you did
last year? Don't it don't matter? You know, we talk
about the super Bowl, you know, just for as part
of my accolades, but for me, UM, I want to
get back to a super Bowl and win it and
win the MVP, you know what I'm saying, and win
(29:25):
the super Bowl and whatever it may take, because just
that that that that that that that what is that
to the to the day I stopped playing, you know,
that's that's a that's a goal of mine, you know,
to to get back and chase that. But as long
as I do my best to get that, I'm gonna
be Okay, at the end of the day, you know
what I'm saying. But I don't want to just you know,
(29:45):
ride on the past stuff. I just want to continue
to get better. So yeah, I think it's you're in
football and in your position, with your position is what
how many stocks you get is a factor. People look
at the end of the day, how many sacks. It's great,
and I know a lot of coaches will try and
tell you, you know, it's not all about sacks, and
(30:07):
it is not. It's not like there's so many places
that you make that aren't on the stat sheet, but
like that's a part of it. For Dan's Be, how
he's hitting, what his what his batting average is, It's like,
who cares what Dan's Be's batting average was last year?
It's about what is his batting average right now? How
is he playing and if he's not getting the job done,
(30:29):
they don't care that he's the starting shortstop. If there's
someone that's swinging the bat better than him, you know.
So I think it's you guys your sports similar in that,
and it sounds like you both have the right mental
the right mentality of how you go about knowing that
(30:50):
and staying in front of it. So you talked about
how much working out is like a release for you,
and I'm the same way. I know last year during
quarantine you told us a little bit that you're big.
You were a big peloton guy. Um what what are
some of your favorite things to do from workout standpoint?
Do you have a gem in your house? Do you
(31:10):
how much? How often do you write peloton? Can the
listeners of Grady Jarrett podcast ride. Yeah, so I definitely
got a gym in my house. It was as like
a guest bedroom in the basement when I bought my
house and gutted it out, it had the perfect space,
made a nice gem in there. And um and you know,
(31:31):
maybe when we do the do the show, we can
post a picture of it or whatever. But um, so yeah,
so I do I got the peloton. Um, I'll just
do like a little certain classes I love, like the
like interval classes. Um, do you have a favorite favorite instructor?
And then like playlist, Like I don't have a peloton,
(31:51):
but further's like it's like it's like pop rides. Yeah,
so it's like pop rods, pop rods nineties, eighties or
be whatever it may be. They they they got that
thing playing out now. But uh, you know, I like
the instructor. Her name is Tune Day. She's she's she's
a beast. If I click on her, I know I'm
getting work. Um, Alex Toussan is really good. Um, it's
(32:15):
a it's a couple more that I like it, because
I mean I just do like little random classes and
stuff I usually do, like a my I most oftenly
do a thirty minute ride. You know what I'm saying.
That's that's like a and it's some I don't know,
it's gonna be intense, not too long and for me
to she kind of hurt hurt my back. But I
just now started doing my forty minute, my forty five
minute rids, So I'll do that like maybe like twice
(32:38):
a week or something in addition to all the training
and stuff. You know, if I wasn't doing like certain
stuff like a ride more, but I ain't. I gotta
be good for training too, because they put they put
that work on. You know. Yeah it's fun. And then um,
I got like wood Way Trade mills and stuff. So
I have some horror stories from Rodway Train, the woodwaye
Triad mills from college. Oh no, they are beast now. Yeah,
(33:01):
like nothing will humble you more. And when you're like,
oh home in shape and then you have to pop
if I am dogging it right now. I got that
at the training for City. That's been a lot of
time on that. I got up one of the training
spot I go to him Vitality, and I got one
at the house. So and if they they had a
big deal, big boys. So so yeah we could get
it even Yeah for sure. Well, another great conversation with you.
(33:26):
I thought it was awesome that we were able to
have another local Atlanta guy who's star of his team
in and having a having a Brave spire on and
think of the Brave season. It's pretty cool for us too. Yeah,
that's super cool. That's super Colop really really appreciate him
for doing that, taking the time up and they do that,
and you know, I gotta go to work. So they
just showed his commitment to his love for Atlanta Focus. Yeah.
(33:49):
And Grady Jarrett Yeah yeah, all right, Well thanks for
tuning in to another episode of Getting Real with Grady
Jarrett podcast. We look forward to talking with you guys.
So M
You're what's up. God's Grady Jared back at it again
with me and my co host Kelsey Conway. Today we
got a sweet treat for you guys. We got Dan's
Be Swanson of the Atlanta Braves, local boyd Georgia boy
like myself. We're gonna talk about some good things, getting
into some things more than just ball, but also just
his daily process and there will be a lot of
(00:28):
things you guys to take away from this, so I
hope you enjoy. And here's our conversation with Brave Shortstop
dans Be Swanson. Grady. I'm pumped we have on Brave
short Shortstop Dan's By Swanson and we're getting him in
the middle of his season. So, first of all, Dan's By,
we wanted to say thank you for taking some of
your busy schedule time for us on getting RealD with
(00:51):
Grady Jarrett podcast. And we wanted to have you on
for a number of reasons. But one of the main
reasons why is you and Grady share a lot of
similarities in that you're both from Atlanta and you're now
the face of your hometown team, which I think is
really cool in a very unique situation. So I wanted
(01:11):
to ask you both, does it feel like sometimes or
when you first got drafted there was more pressure that
came with that rather than if you got drafted in
a city that you didn't know anyone or nobody really
knew you. Is there more pressure? And what is the
best part about that and what's kind of the hardest
part about it? I guess, well, for me, I know,
(01:35):
Grady got drafted by Atlanta. I was drafted by Arizona
and I got traded over here like five months into
my professional career. And let me tell you the night
I got traded, Grady, you actually haven't been traded. I
hope you don't get traded, because not only it's tough, right,
like obviously I want you to go Falcon, but at
(01:56):
the same time, like business wise, like that's so tough.
And I didn't really know how to respond or how
to react. But I do remember getting about three hundred
text messages and like one hundred and fifty phone calls,
and that was like that kind of started off on
a rough note because I was like, I don't am
I going to have to deal with this all the time,
(02:18):
you know what I mean? Like, is this something that
I'm gonna have to be dealing with and luckily it
has not turned out to be like that. It's probably
been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I
think being able to be with family is huge. Being
able to be around, you know, my best friends that
I grew up with, and then kind of being able
(02:39):
to settle down and have like a home in Atlanta
that I can be in consistently is is you know,
something that only the Good Lord could have had planned,
because I definitely wouldn't have done that. Yeah. Absolutely, man,
you said, it's like being in that comfort zone. It's
really like a blessing because you know, for for me
(03:00):
it was you know, it was balancing, like you said,
how you got all those text messures and calls. Once
you got that balanced, everything else is really just you know,
it's all good because like for me at the games,
you know, I can go off to my mom house
and Kanye's gonna hang out and then you know, when
I I'm fortunate enough to know that I'm a you know,
I'm a beat in Atlanta, you know, after I'm playing,
so I was, you know, able to buy me a
(03:22):
nice home here and and feel comfortable and if anything,
really from uh, like treatment, training, stuff I've been comfortable
with come before, coming out of college, like being able
to have that here, Um, just access to UM, I
don't know your regular lifestyle, you know, without that full adjustment.
But UM, I think it's definitely, like you said, if
you don't know how to balance it, Man, it could it.
(03:43):
It can really hurt a couple of guys. I think
being away. UM sure, y'all you got teammates like this too,
being away from you know, environments that they grew up in.
It's better for them versus you know, being in somewhere
they grew up in. So if I think it all
works out how supposed to at the end of the day.
But um, yeah, So so yeah, that was that was
a great question. You know, it is nice. I'm glad
(04:05):
you mentioned that because familiar with lifestyle is a big one,
right And and and I feel for the people that
you know, they're from somewhere that they love and they're
not there. And it's smartest you know, like we um,
we started out you know, spring training. We're down in
Florida for like six seven weeks. Then we started on
the road for another week week and a half, and man,
(04:27):
I was homesick, like I couldn't wait to get home.
I missed my dog, I missed my bed. I just
missed all the people that I'm normally spending time with.
Whereas in spring training, like you get up early, you
do your work, you play a game, and you go
home and you're just sitting at home. There ain't nobody
else there, just like you just like looking around, you know, like, yeah,
(04:48):
I guess I'll go hit some more golf balls, you know,
like I guess I'll go. Like how long is preaking
training to use your least? That's that's kind of like
you'll training camp, you know, mindset before I'll start the season, right,
it's uh six weeks? Yeah, yeah, yeah man, Yeah, Grady,
you got lucky if you football players. I mean, between
your schedule and the fact that training camp is really
(05:10):
only I mean, what do you have like fifteen fully
padded practices. He's got six weeks of training training camp essentially. Yeah. Yeah,
that's tough and all the games of volume y'all play man,
how do you balance that? You know? I always wonder, like, um,
how major League baseball players can balance that that that
schedule is like, yeah, playing over one hundred games. It's
(05:30):
only three hundred sixty days in the year. If you
take a day off every two days, you're gonna not
have enough days to play. It's like, how do you
how do you do that? Bro? Yeah? Well, the craziest
way to put in perspective is, so we play one
hundred and sixty two games in the regular season. Um,
usually that's in one hundred and eighty days, so we
get eighteen off days. Um. And what I always blows
(05:53):
people's minds is if you add spring training, and then
if you add if you make the whole run the playoffs,
you play over two hundred games. M. Which is it's wild, right,
It's it's wild to think about part of it. I
could ask you the same question, like how do you
how do you once a week go and basically abuse yourself,
(06:15):
Like and y'all only have one off one off week. Um,
it's just it's part of our lifestyles, just part of
what we do. Um. You kind of grow a little
bit accustomed to playing every night, but with that comes
like plenty of nights rough you're kind of just like, well,
(06:35):
this just ain't my night, you know, Like, because baseball
is so hard, you play it so often. And then
the biggest thing I think that people don't see is
travel because like, for instance, we have a Sunday night
game coming up in Chicago U this Sunday, we fly
to New York. After that, luckily we have an off day,
(06:56):
but we'll get in around you know, three four in
the morning, and then we play two games against the Yankees,
come back home, but once again, we won't get home
until in the middle of the night. And then luckily
we have that day off. But normally, you know, we'll
get places at you know, three four or five in
(07:16):
the morning and have to play that next night. So
you're literally sleeping until noon one o'clock just to get
a little bit of rest and then showing up to
get some work done and then and then play, and
then you do it again the next night. And it's
just it's just crazy how the game of baseball itself
isn't like the most physically demanding, Like oh, that's it's
(07:42):
mental and that it's just like brind of doing it
so much like that adds up. Yeah, I was gonna say,
like just here and you talk about the schedule, man,
that that the mentality of it is something that people
you know, casual fans, I'm sure just don't really understand
what it takes. And I mean even adding all that
travel to it. Bro I never that's that's crazy. You
got to go somewhere, go somewhere after the game, taking
(08:03):
that play another game. Well, So we had Grady's mom
on our podcast the episode before you, and she told
us that Grady was actually a really good baseball player
in high school. So, Grady, I guess it sounds like
you made the right decision and going to play, well,
you know what professionally. You know, I was because nobody
in my family would played baseball, so I was really
(08:24):
natural at it. But I stopped. You know why I
stopped playing in high school because, um, there was I
don't even there was a situation with this coach and
I was like late to do something. I was, I
was doing some kind of training thing, but he would
not let me sign up for the baseball team. So
and then from then I was like, I guess I
just want me I want to play because the football
was my love. I don't want to play football. But
(08:44):
um but yeah, I think my mom I was good,
but I think she kind of hyped me a little bit.
I ain't gonna lie, like, I'm not even gonna sit there.
And it's like it's like and then being a professional athlete,
you know, it's easy for people always be like, oh
I can do that, I can do that now. To
be a professional at the highest level, it takes a
lot of skill, a lot of work, dedication. So I
ain't even about to sit there and make that comparison
(09:06):
exactly what And like, I think there's why do you
think there's only been a handful of guys that have
ever played at the highest level and two sports, Because
it's almost impossible, man, like the ability to do that.
Like the only one out right now would probably be Kyler.
You're the only one that would have Yeah, that would
(09:27):
have a chance. Yeah, I think, But like it's just
a different it's just a different ample because you gotta
think too, like body like body wise, like how many
baseball guys, I mean, there's some big baseball dudes, but
how many baseball guys could go play like in the NBA. Yeah,
like purely from size probably not. You know, Yeah, it's
(09:51):
crazy because it's like it's just easy for fans sometime
to just think, like I see it on TV baseball.
I enjoying the baseball games. But you know, oh can
do that now? You know you get out there. Boy,
It's almost like a casual person going on a golf course.
Tell him going a golf golf club, like, oh my gosh,
(10:11):
oh my god. We can talk about golf now. I'm
trying to get better, try to get I definitely got
to get better. Magic came from a charity tournament of day.
Way I can, I can, I can connect with the magic.
Can't keep it, keep it, keep you straight online. We'll
talk about that time. Well, so Dan's but you just
brought up Kyler Murray. So we know that you're a
(10:31):
big football fan, and we know that you're a big
Falcons fan. So I wanted to ask you a little
bit about how you became such a big Falcons fan.
What are some of your favorite Falcons memories? And uh,
you were at Super Bowl right in Houston and just
talk because you know who had his coming out game
(10:51):
that game was the guy that guy that's the host
of this podcast. So when did you become such a
big Falcons fan? And I mean, how much football do
you watch? Man? So I became a fact I've kind
of always been a Falcon san tried to watch every
Sunday growing up, and then once I started getting into
(11:12):
high school, I really really got into it because I
feel like I started to understand it more too. And
my we'd go over to one of my best friend's
houses names Logan Marshall and another story about him in
a minute, but we and my other best friends we
would go over there watch games on Sundays, so it
just kind of became like our thing to do. And
(11:33):
then I'd said, the toughest part about watching games now
is because our season overlaps just a little bit. So
when we play on Sunday, we normally play at one o'clock,
which is when y'all normally play, unless you're either on
the West Coast or you know, you got Sunday Night
football or something, or but even if you play Monday
night football, we play Monday night normally. So I spent
(11:57):
a lot of money on NFL Game Pass, baby, so
I can watch games. You know, I watched. I watched
the condensed version after the game's over. That whole thing
A favorite of Falcons player. That's tough. Um. I feel
like I was always a big Ronny White fan. Um
because I was kind of like, I guess it's a
little bit more like hey day of high school. Um,
(12:21):
So i'd say I would say that he would kind
of be like the one that I mean, everybody could
say Matt, everybody can say Huly, you know, like that'd
be the easy one. But I say, Roddy was one
of my favorites. Um. And then one of like one
of my sneaky favorites was the Sante Samuel for like
the year that he was here. I love me some
mister pick six, but yeah, I was in Houston. That's
(12:45):
usually when the conversation ends, understood, well, it doesn't. It
doesn't have to end when we're on a podcast with
Greedy Jarrett because that game had the Falcons won. He probably.
I mean sometimes I think they always give it to
the quarterback, which I just think is unfair if they
give the MVP. But if I had a vote, I
(13:08):
had a vote, Granny would have been a Super Bowl MVP. Yeah,
you know that was that was fun. You have gy
on Tom Brady three yeah, three of them it was
almost four died and like the fourth man. It was
just it was it was a good it was a
good day personally, but it was a hard hard data
to bring good you know, yeah, truck me. I was
like I So I took my buddy Logan Marshall with me,
(13:32):
and it was like talk about like the biggest roller
coaster of emotions of like my life. I sometimes tell
people and you can put this in the podcast because
I always think it's funny. I'm like, I think sometimes
I like the Falcons moren I like the Braves. Like that.
That's how I feel sometimes, Like that's how like passionate
(13:53):
I am. I'm not like a TV yeller, and I'm
not a yeller in general, like at games because A
I understand and and B what's that gonna do? Like
I have no idea about football, Like I played once
when I was seven. Yeah you know what I mean.
So uh but no, imb I remember Grady's still coming
(14:14):
out party. I remember that. Yeah, I'm trying to We're
trying to figure out if he's going to have a
sack dance this season. We had Ray Lewis on the
show and I asked Grady as like me and I
give the fans a sack dance, and you said it
He's he's deciding, So who knows? Maybe are we seeing that, Yeah,
you just make plays, man, you just you just make plays.
(14:34):
Going but that yeah, I mean sometimes it's like more
swaggy to not do not think because it's like, all right,
I've been there, done that. Yeah I do got a
question for you though. So it's so in obviously a
super Bowl setting that's you know, the biggest game. Is
(14:55):
there something like is there's just something different about like
your mentality when you go into big games because I
just know for me, like personally and bigger moments, somehow,
some way, God blessed me with the ability to like
the game feels like it's in slow motion and the
bigger moments, it's usually just in like the regular moments
(15:16):
where I kind of just kind of can get a
little like relaxed instead of dialed in. Yeah. No, I
definitely feel on that. And I feel the exact same way.
It's crazy going into the super Bowl. Um, we were
in Houston and you know we do the pre the
pre stadium walk and they got all the what they
know when your teams around for the prestatum walk like
a day before, and just seeing my name up there
(15:38):
in the on the big jumbo trying man and just
being like Wow, this is really like you know, like
this is this is, this is about to happen, like
this dream come true. You know. But for me, I've
always been prime time games. I'd be ready, I would
you tuned in like it's like I remember even like
in college we used to play like the you know
one double A schools. I'd be like, I don't even
want to be be out here to day. Like but like
(15:59):
but like you know, the big time games, you know,
everybody tuned in. It just bring out the best team.
I think that bring out the best and true competitors.
But as you know, everybody not built for that. You know,
some people can show up when it's you know, so
the regular stuff, but when the pressure room, you know,
some some people shut down. But you know, being blessed
to be able to be able to go into that
mindset and just know it's like it's like, you know,
(16:21):
it's go time. Like an example for that for me,
this year was like it was hard playing with no
fans in the stadium this year. That that was terrible.
And then as the season went on, some places would
be little more lenient, some places would be a little
more I'm strict, but I remember we went to Kansas
City this year. Man, but they about how they say
being packed out, and I'm feeling like and I love
to play. One thing about me, I love to play
(16:43):
in hostile away games, like because it feel like everybody
like against you, just going crazy. So it's like even
like we would play San franc last year in these
these past a couple of years been tough for us,
but I feel like I played my best games against
the best teams. And just because that animosity, whatever it
may be, or just the you know, the doubt that
people have that you're gonna get crushed by this team,
(17:04):
it just bring out the best of me. So um,
so yeah, so like that's that's that's something like a
motivation for me. And um but like so I got
like a question for you, So like as a just
as like a competitor, you know, obviously being the best
of the best of what you do, being you know,
top pick um growing up or as a professional to
(17:25):
this day, even like what do you find as your
biggest motivation to continue to get better and be better?
Or um, you know, when you when you look back
and reflect on your path, like what was the thing
that pushed you to be? Like, look, I'm gonna be
the best I can be, and you know it got
you where it got you. I think you correlates this,
(17:46):
uh when you're when you're a competitor and you care
and you want to win, like there isn't really anything
else that you need. Because how I was raised was
to always like do my best and to be the
best that I could be in anything that it was,
like if it was in school, if it was in
(18:09):
history class, if it was in whatever. You know, it
was an expectation of my household to make really good grades.
And my parents would always ask if I was, you know,
struggling in a class or something. They would say, are
you working to get the grade that you want? And
if the answers know that I needed to, you know,
check myself. And if if the you know, work ethic
(18:31):
was where it needed to be and I just wasn't
getting the grades, they were okay with that, And I
feel like that's just kind of really what's that That
whole principle has really guided me throughout my life because
I want to be the best player that I can be.
I want to be the best player, you know, in
the world, right, so that that work stays consistent to
that um, and there are times where it can slack.
(18:53):
I mean, we're human, right, and it's just a matter
of how quickly you can recorrect yourself get yourself where
you need to be, especially like in this game, like
first eleven games for us in general, I haven't been great,
uh nor personally, and it's like you got to kind
of take a step back and die. All right, I
(19:14):
have one hundred and fifty one games left. I would
just like take a chill pill for a second, get
back to what makes me me. Um. But I would
say the in two and seventeen, it was my first
full year in the big leagues, and I was terrible, dude,
Like I had to have been the worst player in
the big leagues. I had to have been. And with
(19:35):
that came is a substantial jump from it. Well it
was I came up the year before, like the last
month of the season, and I killed it. Okay. I
think partially what happened was, you know, when the league
starts to know you, right, it's the second year is
usually the harder year because everybody knows you now. And
(19:57):
obviously a little bit too of like having that early success,
it was very easy to get caught up into like, oh,
like I can do this, you know. Instead of it
being the quiet confidence, it was a little bit more
on the arrogance side. And obviously baseball really really way
of humbling you. So it kind of allowed me to
(20:19):
get back to work and get back to the things
that made me successful. And then what's really helped me
over the last couple of years has been I worked
with the with like a mental coach, and we do
a lot of different things to basically I struggle with
like anxiety issues and things like that. So we've done
a lot of work to like get me through anxious
(20:41):
moments from the past, like the you know, the trauma
from being a really bad baseball player, Like there's some
built up in there, you know. And even now, like
when I start going through spurts, like it's really easy
to get anxious about performance and anxious about failing and
those kinds of things. So that for me has been
like the big a separating factor moving forward is like
(21:04):
dealing with those things. Like we always talk about mental
health is a is a big deal, and I feel
like a lot of it is we try I try
and look at more of like mental wellness more so
than anything like trying to keep it in the positive direction,
because that was holding me back way more than any
of the physical stuff. Man, that thing, that that mental
(21:26):
thing is huge, Man, that mental thing is huge. I've
thought about um reaching out to like a mental coach
or sometimes because I feel like there's sometimes where sometimes
most of times I'm sure you locked like you locked in,
but it's like when you're getting it, I don't know
if it's like a slump or you know, you just
it's just something me right, like you're playing bad. Like
for me, like if I'm getting reached blocked the cellamare,
(21:46):
like I just can't if I'm going I'm taking my shots,
I'm just missing. So now I'm hesitating. So it's like
that's that's something good. I'm I'm glad you dropped that
gym on me, man, because that's I saw I might
I might look into because yeah, well, man, immediately when
we start going bad. This is my real passion talking
about this kind of stuff, because when we start going bad,
our first thought is we go, why am I not
(22:07):
doing what I normally do? Then you start to convince
yourself that you're wrong, that something is wrong, that you're
and then you start to make an adjustment for something
that you never need to make an adjustment for the beginning,
and then it just goes in this cycle and then
you get back to the problem where you're still failing
because you haven't made an adjustment, and you go like this.
And for me, what I've learned is you basically like
(22:29):
in those moments, like you said, you're getting a funk
or whatever, even just life happens, like you get like
my dog sick, or you know, like I haven't mal Is,
you know, out conquering the world playing soccer, and I
haven't seen her in a month. Like it's it's hard,
and you can get in a funk, and it's like
what core things do you have that are like pattern
(22:50):
interrupters is what we call them. So like for me,
if I just go and like shoot around, like play
basketball just by myself, just go shoot around, like that's
a pattern an interrupt or. If I'm struggling at the plate,
sometimes I'll only go into the cage and just like
hit left handed, just to have fun, you know, just
there's certain like pattern. Sometimes it's having with my friends,
(23:14):
you know what I mean, Like it's like we have
our like little pattern interruptors that can kind of like
get you out of the cycle, like just get you
out of it. So back to Grady being Grady or
dance By being dance By got man. That's awesome. Well, Grady,
we gotta let Dansby go. He's got a game, he's
got probably got a lot of stuff he's gott to
(23:35):
you before his game. But Dancey, thank you so much
for joining us on getting Real with Grady Jarrett podcast.
And we wish you the best of luck this season
and hopefully we'll we'll see y'all at a Falcons game,
maybe sporting in ninety seven Jersey sometimes soon huh Bentley
pop in the picture. Yeah, I'm down for that. I'm
down for that. Yeah, definitely. I gotta shoot you so
them too much with you like a Jersey some sign? Yeah,
(23:57):
please do? I would. I love that. I'm getting the
basement finish right now, so awesome, and I'll send you
something back. So yes, sir, So I appreciate your brother,
Thank you please for coming on man, and we can
one day hang out whatever. Yeah, no, I appreciate your brother,
keep doing it. Thank you, Dansby. Well, that was really
cool to listen to you and Dan's By talk about
(24:18):
the mental aspect of how you guys go about perfecting
your craft, and although baseball and football are very different,
there's so many similarities in terms of what it takes
for you to mentally and physically get to the level
that you need to every day. And I cannot imagine
having to do that every single day, like Dansby has too,
(24:42):
that I would be horrible as a baseball player because
I think I internalized things way too much and I
think it'd be all up in my head and I, oh, yeah,
it takes a strong It takes a strong mental human
to be able to play at the level that Dansby
is playing at. And I just thought the way he
(25:03):
kind of was so honest and transparent about his struggles
was really interesting to listen to. So it brought up
a question in my head. You, like we talked about Dansby,
you kind of put the rest of the NFL in
the world on notice about who you were as a
player during the Super Bowl when you had three sacks,
(25:25):
and ever since then, you've been on a trajectory where
you've just been exploding. What did it take for you
to get there? Like did you after your rookie season
have to create a plan for yourself And have you
ever been in a funk? And would you do to
get out of it? You know? For me, my rookie year,
(25:50):
you know, it was it wasn't as fast as I
wanted to be, but I took every opportunity like internalized
like my frustrations and whatever it may be to play
more and just was like I made the decision like
when I get my opportunity, I'm gonna just go out
there and do my best. And um, towards the end
of the as a year got going, I you know,
I got better and better and finished out um, you know,
(26:11):
doing doing doing a solid solid rookie season and um
and um. And then I think that, you know, to
going to the second year, now I'm a full time starter,
and it was some bit more ups and downs, but
and it was still trying to just find my way
in the league, you know, And and it was really
just just you know, repetition stuff like that, and and
(26:35):
and I don't think there was like a funk time
because every time I'm just kind of like just trying
to get a little better and better. But it's also
when you know what you can do, and it's like
something that's like holding you back. So like for me,
um versus like getting away from the game to try
to reset, I had to kind of like just dive
into it more and just commit more. And whether that
(26:55):
was watching more film of you know, other guys other
than myself or um um you know the thing that
and also and like the biggest uh, I guess pattern
breaker for me was but it had something to do
with the game. But I love to like work out
and be like in the gym, like even away from
(27:16):
like you know, I do everything that's supposed to be
for football. You know, I'm gonna work out of the gym,
do practice out of that. But when I get in
that gym by myself, that's that's the biggest um therapy
for me even to this day, Like like just working out,
I gotta I gotta have two senses of training and
I'll just you know, I'm gonna find something to do
and just work out cuts of musical But and then
it may be like you know, um free, I might
(27:38):
want to come in and work out with I just
need that time alone real quick, you know. And that's
just how how I how I get in my head,
you know. And because I'm not a big video gamer.
Um yeah, yeah, so I mean or whatever it is,
so I just you know, chill, watched movies or something.
And then but solo time in the gym is is
really really big for me. But um, I feel like
when I turned that corner for you said like if
(28:00):
that's after that super Bowl, that's when I realized, like
you know, I can really like be good, like really good,
and and that get I think that gave me the
confidence after that to know that I can be as
good as I want to be, you know, just with
the work I put in and then just the growth
that a show. And then so I mean that's all
I say. Like every year, I just keep I keep
(28:21):
fighting a sin because I just want to find out
ways in my game where I can get better, be
better and stay coachable and um and just keep myself
humble because like dan as we talked about, it's easy
when you had that success, um to to you know,
let hear how good people telling you're doing that you're
doing so good, pat on the bank, and before you
know it, like you it's just a it's just a
(28:44):
shell shocking you so far behind a because you thought
you were doing good while all these other people is
out here working. So um, you don't never want to
fall into that because in this professional league, it's a
revolving door. Somebody coming every year every time, they trying
to take your spot. And at the end of the day,
your team love you and they they want the best
for you. But everything is about what have you done
for me lately? So I mean, I mean it's like
(29:04):
you got to perform, you know, you know, oh nothing
like UM, And that's that's the biggest thing that guys
have to wrap their mind around, is what you did
last year? Don't it don't matter? You know, we talk
about the super Bowl, you know, just for as part
of my accolades, but for me, UM, I want to
get back to a super Bowl and win it and
win the MVP, you know what I'm saying, and win
(29:25):
the super Bowl and whatever it may take, because just
that that that that that that that what is that
to the to the day I stopped playing, you know,
that's that's a that's a goal of mine, you know,
to to get back and chase that. But as long
as I do my best to get that, I'm gonna
be Okay, at the end of the day, you know
what I'm saying. But I don't want to just you know,
(29:45):
ride on the past stuff. I just want to continue
to get better. So yeah, I think it's you're in
football and in your position, with your position is what
how many stocks you get is a factor. People look
at the end of the day, how many sacks. It's great,
and I know a lot of coaches will try and
tell you, you know, it's not all about sacks, and
(30:07):
it is not. It's not like there's so many places
that you make that aren't on the stat sheet, but
like that's a part of it. For Dan's Be, how
he's hitting, what his what his batting average is, It's like,
who cares what Dan's Be's batting average was last year?
It's about what is his batting average right now? How
is he playing and if he's not getting the job done,
(30:29):
they don't care that he's the starting shortstop. If there's
someone that's swinging the bat better than him, you know.
So I think it's you guys your sports similar in that,
and it sounds like you both have the right mental
the right mentality of how you go about knowing that
(30:50):
and staying in front of it. So you talked about
how much working out is like a release for you,
and I'm the same way. I know last year during
quarantine you told us a little bit that you're big.
You were a big peloton guy. Um what what are
some of your favorite things to do from workout standpoint?
Do you have a gem in your house? Do you
(31:10):
how much? How often do you write peloton? Can the
listeners of Grady Jarrett podcast ride. Yeah, so I definitely
got a gym in my house. It was as like
a guest bedroom in the basement when I bought my
house and gutted it out, it had the perfect space,
made a nice gem in there. And um and you know,
(31:31):
maybe when we do the do the show, we can
post a picture of it or whatever. But um, so yeah,
so I do I got the peloton. Um, I'll just
do like a little certain classes I love, like the
like interval classes. Um, do you have a favorite favorite instructor?
And then like playlist, Like I don't have a peloton,
(31:51):
but further's like it's like it's like pop rides. Yeah,
so it's like pop rods, pop rods nineties, eighties or
be whatever it may be. They they they got that
thing playing out now. But uh, you know, I like
the instructor. Her name is Tune Day. She's she's she's
a beast. If I click on her, I know I'm
getting work. Um, Alex Toussan is really good. Um, it's
(32:15):
a it's a couple more that I like it, because
I mean I just do like little random classes and
stuff I usually do, like a my I most oftenly
do a thirty minute ride. You know what I'm saying.
That's that's like a and it's some I don't know,
it's gonna be intense, not too long and for me
to she kind of hurt hurt my back. But I
just now started doing my forty minute, my forty five
minute rids, So I'll do that like maybe like twice
(32:38):
a week or something in addition to all the training
and stuff. You know, if I wasn't doing like certain
stuff like a ride more, but I ain't. I gotta
be good for training too, because they put they put
that work on. You know. Yeah it's fun. And then um,
I got like wood Way Trade mills and stuff. So
I have some horror stories from Rodway Train, the woodwaye
Triad mills from college. Oh no, they are beast now. Yeah,
(33:01):
like nothing will humble you more. And when you're like,
oh home in shape and then you have to pop
if I am dogging it right now. I got that
at the training for City. That's been a lot of
time on that. I got up one of the training
spot I go to him Vitality, and I got one
at the house. So and if they they had a
big deal, big boys. So so yeah we could get
it even Yeah for sure. Well, another great conversation with you.
(33:26):
I thought it was awesome that we were able to
have another local Atlanta guy who's star of his team
in and having a having a Brave spire on and
think of the Brave season. It's pretty cool for us too. Yeah,
that's super cool. That's super Colop really really appreciate him
for doing that, taking the time up and they do that,
and you know, I gotta go to work. So they
just showed his commitment to his love for Atlanta Focus. Yeah.
(33:49):
And Grady Jarrett Yeah yeah, all right, Well thanks for
tuning in to another episode of Getting Real with Grady
Jarrett podcast. We look forward to talking with you guys.
So M
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