Colin Allred: From linebacker to lawyer to lawmaker, and inside details of the January 6th attack

Former NFL linebacker Colin Allred joins Peanut and Roman for a powerful, wide-ranging conversation that’s equal parts inspiring and eye-opening. Colin reflects on his unlikely path from the NFL to being a civil rights attorney to Congress - and the lessons he’s taken from each chapter. Colin shares how an unlikely phone call led to him putting off law school for a chance to play in the NFL. Colin also opens up about the injury that ended his career. After the NFL, Colin talks about his time working for President Obama, becoming the first Congressman to take paternity leave, and the harrowing moments during the attach on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6th.  

The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
What's up, everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Peanut Tillman and this is the NFL Players Second
Acts Podcast with me as always as my trusty co host,
Roman Harper. What's up?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
What's up? You have not called me any weird nicknames today,
so it must be at below average day for you.
So I'm really excited about our next guest, though. I've
got to watch this guy a ton on TV and
my wife hates it because she does not watch politics.
So you bring the intro, you bring our Geoper super
excited about this guy.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
He's been talking about this guy all day. He was like, man,
I forget Tim Brown and all these other casts out.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, I was all right. He was a linebacker for
fourth season with the Tennessee Titans, and after football, he
became a civil rights attorney. He served three terms in
the US House of Representatives for the state of Texas.
He was also voted most likely to succeed in high school.
Shout out to my man Thomas doing his research on
the side. Guys, everybody give a warm welcome to mister

(01:06):
Colin already d allright, So did you live up to
most likely to succeed.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
In our own man? So y'all that's a deep cut.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I just want to know I didn't win that award,
So did I what best all around? I didn't even
win most Athletics. I got a class.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Clown, I believe, mister athletics.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if I've done it yet, right,
I feel like I'm still going. But I was. I
was raised by a single mother, and my goal was
to be a good father, right, and so among all
the things that we talked about, you know, being the
rights lawyer, playing the NFL, being in Congress, I think
I'm proudest of that. I got two boys who I'm

(01:58):
raising the right way, and you know, so to me,
that that is success. Right. So I don't know if
my high school would have marked that as my as
what it would be, but that that makes me feel
like I'm doing something right.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
So if you were in high school, let's go back
to high school. If a coach or teacher or principal
would have said you're going to be an NFL player,
for one person said you're going to be a civil
rights attorney, and the other person said you're going to
be a congressman. Which one would you have believed?

Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, I was class president, right, So I think
it might have thought maybe at some point I go
into public service. Right. And my mom was a teacher,
and she didn't care at all about how I did
in sports. She just wanted to see what the report
cards said, right, that's right. So she so I think
she would have been like, Okay, you're going to go

(02:49):
to law school. So I actually think the most unlikely
one was to play in the NFL. Really, yeah, I
mean for me, it was not my plan. Uh can
talk about this a little bit, but I was. I had,
I had applied to law school. An agents started calling
me really and saying they wanted to represent me. And
I was like, in what you know, like, I'm I'm

(03:10):
going to law school. And they're like, no, no, you're gonna
have a shot to play in the NFL. And they
had to send me my pre draft reports. You believe it. Yeah,
they said it was a likely fifth to seventh round pick.
I wouldn't like you guys, right, you know, And so
they were saying you might even get it in the
final rounds or you might even't get sneak in. And
I was like, oh, really, I guess I'll give it
a shot. And I had to defer my law school

(03:31):
just to go try out, you know. And so that
was the more unlikely I think of the three.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Now, had you already gotten a letter into law school
or were you just applying.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I was applying, right, because I like the way it works.
You take your your l SAT and I took that
the summer for my senior year, so I'd do summer
training and then I'd go study from ls AT right,
and I was captain of the team, so I had,
you know, responsibilities and all that, but I would get
my studying in along with summer school, you know how
it goes. And then I took my house, said, and
then I had done well enough, and I was graduating,

(04:03):
you know, in the fall semester, so I could just
get out of there, right. And so to me, that
was it was all planned. It was all like, okay,
I've got my college paid for. This is great, I'm
off to law school, right. And then these folks came
in and said, now you should try this out, you know.
So it was a different big swerve there.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
So tell me this, were a lot of guys, a
lot of your teammates in front of you or before you,
were they all going to the NFL because sometimes, like
with me when I was at Alabama, we were there
doing probation. We were not great, and so a lot
of guys that came before me didn't go to the NFL.
So I wasn't in a place where I was thinking,
like I remember those years, I'm going to the NFL.
Like it was not like that, and so it's really

(04:45):
hard to imagine yourself in those places unless you know
somebody that's in them.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Right, we had like one guy who'd been like a
seventh round d tackle picked up. We had another guy
who'd made it like for a little whiles, like an
undrafted free agent. Like, we just didn't have very many
that's a player to my immediate orbit. Like this is
rough year as a Baylor, right, And we were playing
in the Big twelve at the time when it was
the old Big twelve in Missouri, and yeah, in Colorado

(05:10):
and Nebraska and the North. We had Texas and A
and M and all the big ones in the South,
you know, and they were just beating up on us
a lot, right, And so it just it just didn't
seem like a likely outcome. And I do think that
you're right though, then, having not seen that path. I
was just thinking, well, I'll just give my degree, and
you know, I'll do my best and then I'll say

(05:30):
thank you for the degree and get out of here
and go to law school.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
So all those things all right. Peanut asked you which
one you would have chose? Yeah, what did you learn
from all these different roles from football to being a
congressman to also a lawyer as well? Like what have
you learned from each aspect of your journey and path?

Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know, I don't know what kind of athletes my
boys will be, but I just want them to do sports,
you know, and play sports, because for me, everything has
been based on what I learned. And I played three
sports in high school, football, baseball, basketball. For me, I
just go from season to season to season, you know.
And I never really lifted weights, and I was just like,

(06:08):
I was just a natural athlete, and that's what I enjoyed.
But you know, to me, the determination and the understanding
that I could outwork somebody was what has put me
in good sead and everything else right. And I always
tell young people that asked me, you know what, what
how did you get here? You know, what would you do?
And I said, I was just the hardest worker in
the room. You know, when I'm after I got cut

(06:30):
up through my first year as an undrafted free agent, and
I got cut in a training camp. I felt like
I shouldn't have been And the GM got fired at
the end of the year, and they the next day
they resigned me. And I thought, well, you know, if
I'm gonna go back and do this again and put
off my law school again, I'm not to do a
little differently, right, So I didn't just do the team workouts.
I didn't do my own workout. And you know during

(06:51):
training camp, you know we'll go three strings deep, right,
do first D, second D, third D. On second D,
I would do outside linebacker. On third D, I do
middle linebacker and special teams and do all the special teams.
So I was playing every position. I was practicing more,
and so you know, to me, I was just figured, well,
if I can just outwork folks, Yeah, And that's what
has put me in good set and everything else. In
law school, I wasn't the smartest. I had a neck

(07:14):
surgery and had a fusion see five C six, And
you know, we can talk a little bit about it,
but we're going Yeah, but and so less than a
year after to get out the operating table. I was
in law school and I'm sitting there in these classes
with all these kids who are younger, seems so younger.
I'm six years older than all of them at least,
you know. And I've been playing football, and I felt

(07:35):
like kind of like just a total outlier, you know,
at I walking, we're too big for everything, right, you know. Uh?
And I thought these they're they're all smarter than me.
But I thought, well, you know, I bet I can
work hard at this though and get this down right. Yeah.
And I've always been somebody like that where if I
can figure out what my job is, then I'll work
at that so hard that even if I might not

(07:56):
be the most talented at it, It'll be okay.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Now, how different was it for you going into your
second year because you just said special teams. I was
you know, Mike will Sam he had played all those positions.
Did you do anything like that when you're in when
you're in college having to play all through positions? Did
you have to work that hard to get what you
had to get to Baylor or just even in the league, Like,
what what was the difference?

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Now? I mean in college, I was like, you know,
I'm not covering kicks, right, you know what I mean, Like,
you know what.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
I don't do that. Don't don't do that, don't do that.
That's why that question in there.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Like I know that's why he put that question in there,
because stop laughing.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Stop. I'm not a special team.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
He didn't play not a damn special teams. I played
thirteen years. I played all thirteen years on well I played,
I remember you were on. But I played special teams
like my whole entire career.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
And he was just like, yes, stop stop, Sean b
you have been good at special teams too. It was
never asked me.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
To say it's overrated. It was. It was not asked me.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
I never oh man, did it come.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Natural for you in college to where you was just like, no,
I'm not doing that.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well you know no, it wasn't. I would have done
if they'd ask me, right, but then they were having
me do other stuff. Uh. And you know, I think
when I got to the NFL, I just realized it's
just the more you do, yes, just the more you
can do. And so at the time we were running
the four three defense, and so I figured you know,
I can't just be a miclimbacker because you know my

(09:28):
value is not gonna be that high there. I'm gonna
be as you said, Sam and Will and I'm gonna
learn every position so that if anybody has a question
they can ask me about it, right, And then I'm
gonna do every special team. I'm gonna be a core
special teamer to where when cut time comes, they're gonna say, well,
all Read's dumb and slow. But we can't get rid
of them because we have to sign two or three

(09:49):
guys to replace him. Right. I mean, I remember there
was I was never a I was never you know,
I never missed a game through anything other than injury, right,
So if I was, it was healthy. I was never
a clean scratch, right, But I missed some games with injury.
And our defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, he'd get me and say, well,

(10:09):
why don't you come over here and help me with
the science, you know, because we're doing both the is
before we do the audio into the helmet, right, because
we're trying to mess with Peyton Manning and we're trying
to we're trying to send some different signals in and
I know, you know, the defense well enough that we
can just play off each other. And so it's just
the more you can do, right, Like you're come into
the building, what value you bring into it? And I

(10:31):
have carried that into everything else too, right, which is
just you know what, what all can we do to
provide value here to make sure that you know, people
feel like this is a good investment, you know. And
I think, uh, the NFL is a is a good
teacher in that way because it cuts are not always fair.
I mean, we've all seen numbers.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
I've seen really good players gets I just don't understand.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
But yeah, and I see some some of my some
guys I played with, they get cut by us and
they go somewhere else. Then they balling out, you know
what I mean. And I'm like, but there was just
the numbers game that we couldn't keep six receivers or
whatever it was at that time because of injuries whatever,
and so you just got to have everything at the
table so that when they're sitting there, it's a tough decision,
you know.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
So now one thing I would know is I want
to talk about so you went to cal Berkeley and
got your civil rights attorney, correct, which is called a
j D for Jurish doctor, right or a doctor of jurisprudence.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
There you go, correct, there you go, this.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Which is in the Bill of Rights. Correct, Well, uh uh, jurisprudences.
Just ask the question, just asks the question. Reading is
not about as the question. I was just really excited
about that part. And now I guess a big thing
right now that's going on with our with our government
is about habeas corpus, right, and so all these things
kind of being tied up together.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
And so now you speak of my linko.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Yeah, this is your lingo.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
And I did a little bit of homework guys, and
so like knowing all these things. Yeah, and why did
you go all the way out to cal Yeah? Yeah, yeah, right,
that's probably the first thing I want to know. Yeah,
and then why did you decide I want to be
not just any attorney, but a civil rights attorney?

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah? Well, my aunt, who had helped raise me. Her
whole thing was that she grew up in Brownsville, Texas,
a very tip of Texas at the Mexican border with
my mom, and she wanted to go to cal and
she had she had family out there and she'd visited
them once but she couldn't afford it, and so she
went to ut and her whole life she's like, I'm

(12:39):
gonna get back to Cal some way, right, And it
ended up being through me, right. So, and you know,
she was one of these people who, you know, she
has to do something, you're probably gonna do it, right.
And so she put it the bug in my head
that I should should go to Cal for law school.
And I was like, okay, you know, and I went
and visited. I thought this is foun I'll go. And

(13:00):
as I said, I had a long process where I
deferred my abudance and all that, but I knew I
wanted to do civil rights and specifically with a focus
on voting rights, because I felt that there was so
much going on in Texas in particular, where folks were
being discriminated against in certain cases or where they just

(13:23):
weren't being given a chance. And as an athlete, I
think that bothers you because like we believe in like meritocracy,
we believe in level playing fields, Like we believe that
I give you, if you're doing the right things, you're
working hard, playing by the rules, you should be able
to get ahead. And I just think that that that
just to me, that motivated me to think we got
to do something about this, And especially in voting rights.

(13:44):
I would never ask anybody who they were going to
vote for. I just want them to vote, right. It
wasn't really political, although I think it's become that way
because it seems like there's more people who sometimes want
to talk about voting in that way. But to me,
it's just it's just be engaged, being have a chance
to be involved, right.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
And so you know I was doing that work and
I ended up working in the Obama administration. Uh. And
I thought, you know, in public service is something that
can be noble.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
How did how did you how did that happen? How
did that come about? When you were in school at
law school? Yeah, you were just there signing up You're
signing people up to vote.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah. So I had interned in the White House. I
was in law school. I remember when the Ravens won
the Super Bowl and we had just played them the
year before. Uh, And they came and I had trained
with some of these guys like in Dominican su and
and I'm daffing them up in the White House and
Everybody's like, who is this guy? You know, like I've
played against these guys, like you know, I just I
know Ed and you know, Ray and all them, you know,

(14:43):
and they were all there. And this is the Obama years,
you know, so everybody's excited about being at the White House,
right and you know, and so I was. I had
interned in the White House, and and that kind of
gotten me to see that in public service could be
something that you could help people, you know. And and
I thought, you know, I'm only here because people stepped
up for me, like you know, I mean, we all

(15:05):
have our stories. I mean, I could have easily just
been a statistic, right, just another kid didn't know his father,
you know, didn't make it. And but people had kind
of gone out of their way to help me, and
I wanted to repay that, you know. And so I
worked in the administration. And then I thought, well, the

(15:26):
guy who's representing the my hometown here in Dallas. I
didn't think he kind of reflected the community that I knew.
But he was somebody who nobody thought could ever be beaten
in an election, because no one even ran against him
the previous election. And I was like, eh, I think
I could beat him. I thought, as I had to
run for Congress, and that's how I ended up in
that crazy game.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Now as a amison, as a lawyer, but as an
attorney specifically with the emphasis of voter rights. Are you
just appalled at when sometimes you see an opponent or
a district or someone infringe upon someone's rights, meaning like, oh, yeah,

(16:08):
we're just gonna like prime example, Georgia, they have voter
or not voter registration, but voter suppression. Like they're just
flat out just like, nope, we're doing this, We're doing that.
Like what runs through your mind when you see this
and you know the law and you know all the rules,
and you're just like, you can't do that. What are

(16:29):
you all doing? How frustrating is that for you?

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah? I mean I just think it's that American Yeah,
you know, I think our story isn't what we're always
got it right, is that we've been trying to perfect
our union, right. And I think it's okay to lose
an election. I think it's okay that the person you
wanted to win didn't win. What I don't think is
okay if you try to stop from someone from voting

(16:53):
in the first place, right, because you don't want to
hear what they have to say that we can't do
in a democracy. Right, as you start doing that, you're
picking and choosing who really is somebody who's not, who's
allowed at the table and who's not. And the whole
thing we've been trying to do in this is to
make sure that everybody has a seat at the table.
And I think it leads people to be cynical about

(17:15):
their government about you know, their elected officials are like, well,
the whole thing is rigged. In some ways, you might think, well,
kind of right, you have a jerrymander district, Right, the
result is set before the election, right, or you kick
two or three million people off the voting rolls and
right before an election starts. I mean, in some ways
you're right, But then it leads to cynicism about the

(17:36):
whole project that we had as a country, And to me,
it's just so upsetting. I think as an athlete, you
just think, you know, like, let's have you can have
the game, but you're not going to try and you know,
try and tilt the game in your favor by cheating, right.
And I also think in this case it's also often

(17:57):
happening to the most vulnerable people, you know, people who
don't have somebody to speak for them.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
So you talked about earlier how football has prepared you,
or team sports, it's kind of prepared you to be
able to come into every room and looking like, okay,
how do I add value to this room? What was
it like the first time when you go into the
house where it's like you walk in you clearly don't
you're going to carry yourself with a different sense of
or that's how football players are. We go in this room,

(18:35):
all right, whether I'm a freshman or I'm a rookie,
I gotta come in this room.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
All right, where's my seat gonna be?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
You look around, you measure people up, and you're like,
all right, let's do this right. What was that like
the first time you go in that room or the house?
You know, you got to figure out your spot, like
kind of walk us through because none of us have
probably ever done that.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
I've never yet walking done that.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
I mean I walked in and thought there's a bunch
of legends here, like John Lewis, Yeah, for sure was there,
and I was friends with John Lewis. Yeah right, he can't.
He campaigned for me here in Dallas, and then I
got to you know, serve with him. Uh, people like
Elijah Cummings and you know, so many people who had
been through so much, had had done so much in

(19:23):
the country. Any yeah, right, I mean forever, you know
what I mean. But then some of these folks, you
know that they've done incredible things, but also so much
history has happened here, right, And so I said, I
felt the sense of that, but I also felt like,
you know, I need to figure out what my job
is here and how I can be most effective because
it's it's a big group four hundred and thirty five

(19:45):
representatives hunter senators, and so you're kind of thinking, how
can I add value to your point in this setting?
And to me, I just kind of like, well, you know,
I'm going to focus on my my district, on my
community and the people I represent, and I'm not I'm
gonna try and not be one of these people who
is super partisan who's kind of contributing to the noise. Yes,

(20:06):
because you know we know this, like we got work
horses and we got show horses in football, right, you know,
you guys are both I mean real, I don't know actually,
but I'll just kid y'all are both work horses. That's
why you had the careers that you had, you know.
And we see guys who were talented who bounced around,
you know, because people don't want to keep them on
the team, and we know why oftentimes. Right, it's the

(20:28):
same thing in the House, and it's the same thing
in the Congress, where you'll see there's people who are
actually grinding away trying hard to pass responsible laws to
help people, to help the people they represent, but also
the country as a whole. And there's some other folks
who are just out there just you know, just lobbing grenades,
you know, trying to get attention on social media, trying
to go on the on the cable shows and say

(20:49):
the most outrageous thing they can, right, and they know,
they talk about it that I'm gonna say this, and
I'm gonna get them all riled up, right, and it's
all game for them. Unfortunately, it's not a game for
real people, absolutely, right, you know. And when you grow
up the way I did, you know that these decisions
are going to have a downfill, downhill effect, right, And

(21:12):
so I figured out that pretty quickly that there was
two different types, and I wanted to associate myself with
the working folks who were really putting in that effort.
And you know, I did the best it could. Yeah,
And I think that's that's all I can ask for.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
So I know, at one point, I've been to a
bunch of schools in different classes and things like that,
and I sit down at these tables and I'm sitting
next to someone who is a Harvard grad and then
I'm sitting next to someone someone who's a lawyer, and
I'm just like, man, I'm sitting between these two smart casts.

(21:46):
And then you start they start teaching the the pro
of the information, and you're like, oh, I got this, Yeah,
that's right, I got I got a ninety five, you
got a ninety four, you got a ninety that's right.
I'm just as smart, that's right, as everybody else. At
what point, yeah, did you realize I'm just as smart
as this legend or this raw person.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's right. You know, that's such a good question, brother,
because you know what I remember during your career, I'd
see you sitting on a route, you know, and we
played against the Bears. Actually my old college coach. Brickley
was a D line coach. Yeah. Remember, Yeah, he was

(22:28):
a good, good dude country guy. Yeah, he was definitely.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Always he might have been from Alabama.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Right, right, And I still remember playing. I still remember
playing when Edrie we were watching tape and uh it
was because we played the Colts twice a year, right,
And so Peyton versus Ad and the ball snapped and
you appreciate this, you know, it's too high a safety

(22:56):
look and that doesn't move like the first five seconds
of the play, and I'm like, why isn't he moving?
And he's just waiting, waiting, And as soon as as
soon as Peyton comes out like this, he's breaking and
he takes it to the house for six. And what
I'm what I mean by that is we're smart, right,
these guys, You guys are smart. We were making adjustments
on the fly to a blitz. Right, We're doing two

(23:19):
different coverages on any given play, right, you know, we
got a blitz coming this way, but if they motioned
that way, were to change the whole thing. And we're
doing it on the fly like that, and everybody gets it, right,
and everybody gets it, even Albert Hansworth. Right, I've tapping it,
get over, get over. But I mean, like we're all
so like we have that ability. But I think sometimes

(23:40):
what football players in particular would do is we'll just
leave it there and say, well, I was good at that.
It's like, no, you can be good at all those
other things too, right, And I do think that it
took me a little time in law school before I
realized that where I sit there and thought I'm not
getting this. I was like, why didn't get the defense
at first? Either, you know what I mean, Like I
didn't under stand you know, some of the zone concepts

(24:02):
concepts that we were doing at first either. But if
you work at it, you will And I do think that,
you know, especially with the athletes, I try and tell them,
you know, carry over that determination and that work ethic
to whatever you're doing next. You're gonna be fine. Trust me,
You've been working harder than everybody around you. Because we
went to school and we did sports in the afternoon,
and then we'd had a game on the weekend, and

(24:23):
then we did our homework, you know what I mean,
And so it took me. I remember, I had a
little bit of an identity crisis coming out of the
league and going to law school, because like I said,
it was so abrupt, like I hurt my neck and
I was I was in law school very quickly, and
so it felt just so so fast, and I still
felt like an athlete. And I kind of tell people
I felt like I wasn't like a normal person, you

(24:45):
know what I mean, Like you know what I mean,
you feel you're walking around.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
I went back to school, so I totally get it right.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
You didn't feel like everybody else there. But I did
finally realize, oh, I just got to treat this like
it's my playbook, you know, and I just got to
dive into it and it'll be okay to make my
stakes right. And once I figured that out, I thought, actually,
I think I have an advantage on them, Yeah, because
I've had to do some of this that they haven't
had to do under pressure. And I do think that,

(25:11):
you know, and that's how it worked out.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
So you I want to talk about coming in, leaving
the league, and then going into law school. So you
hurt your neck, yeah, two thousand I think it was
two thousand, October of twenty ten. Yeh, you're playing a linebacker.
I was actually playing Cowboys, right, was it a Mary
and Barber? That's right, Martella's been in. My old teammate

(25:37):
comes through. I don't know what the play was.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
The power running play, power running play and pull the guard,
you know yeah, tight end blocks down. Yeah. So I've
been having stingers, yeah, you know, And I mean we
call them stingers, but it's really kind of nerve damage, right,
I mean it's true football. It's funny, you know, it's
it's true your nerves. Nerves is the problem. And so

(26:03):
I would always be doing like this on the sideland
because once I get a stinger, I couldn't feel my fingers,
you know. And I remember the first time it happened,
I couldn't close my hand and I was like, this
is not good, you know. And it had been going
on for about a year and a half. Uh, and
I had missed all of training camp pretty much because
I had had a severe stinger. And I was just
I was really happy that they had kept me because

(26:23):
my fifth years, well fourth year playing a fifth year
with them, uh, you know, as an undrafted guy. But
they still thought I had the value, you know, and
so I was it was our fifth game and it
had just been bothering me the whole year, and I
did have a bad feeling about it going into the
game because my family was going to be there, and
I thought this would be really bad. It was my
last game. And then Martellos was blocking me into the tackle,

(26:49):
so I made the tackle. But for me, I was
getting stingers when I had a certain way, My head
was a certain way, and so it went that way
and it just shut down my whole right side and
it was it was like it was on fire. And
Martellas was actually on top of me and the bile
and he was like, are you okay? And I was
like I don't. I don't think so, you know. And
after the game, my mom came up to me and

(27:09):
she was like, so what about next week? And I
was like, I don't think it's gonna be in next week, mom,
because I think I need to get this this looked
at and so we had the MRI and everything, and
it showed what I thought I showed, you know, which
was a bulging disk pressing on the nerve. I had
some bone spurs in the nerve canal, so my nerve
was kind of snaking its way out. So every time

(27:30):
I did this, I could give myself a stamper, you know,
and they said, you're gonna need a surgery, and so
I got the surgery. But that was the year of
the lockout, yeah, and we had so we didn't have
an off season program and I so you couldn't rehab there, right,
So I was crewhabbing at home, working on my own

(27:50):
and I decided to just go ahead and reapply to
law school. And then the Titans didn't re up me.
I my contract had expired that and they didn't resign me.
But the Vikings called and they basically offered, if you
want to come and try and make the team, you can.
You know, it's one of those kind of like one
year and show if you still can make it. But
I kind of felt like a linebacker of the bad neck,

(28:10):
a little bit like a pianist or a bad hand,
you know, like it's not really all the word. Yeah,
And my aunt again was like you've already had the neck,
what else is it going to take? And I was like, well, okay,
she's right, And so I decided to go to law school.
And so that was that was how it went, you know,
and I felt at peace with it though I really did,

(28:33):
because I had proved that I could play in the league,
which I wanted to prove, and I felt like I
had started games in the league, I had played in
playoff games, like none of that has been guaranteed to me,
you know, and I didn't want to have something worse
happened to where, you know, my life afterwards would be impacted.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
I want to know this because you talked about feeling
comfortable in these spaces, and you've been in a lot
of really cool rooms where there's NFL being a lawyer
or an attorney to where you know where now you
served our country as a congressman as well. At what point,
because you didn't feel comfortable in any of these rooms
at first? Yeah, at what point or how did you

(29:12):
learn to give yourself grace to be able to give
you enough time to all of a sudden feel comfortable.
I think that's one thing is a lot of males
we struggle with, is you know, we do a lot
of self blaming, a lot of beating our own selves down.
And at some point you got to be able to
give yourself grace to be able to mess up.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
That's right, pick myself up and continue.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
That's so and so, how have you been able to
do that and at all these different points in your life.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
That's such a good point point because I can still
tell your mistakes I made my sophomore year in college,
you know, the play, the down, the distance, everything, you know.
I can tell you what you know, how I messed
up that and coverage right, you know. And I think
that's natural for us. We're self critical. Uh, we have
a lot of accountability in our sport, which we're gonna
watch the tape the next day and everybody's gonna see it, right.

(29:56):
Coach might even put it on in front of everybody,
you know, laser point, you know. And I do think
that I learned just to kind of sit in my
uncertainty and to not react to everything and to kind
of let it come to me. And I kind of

(30:16):
think about it like in baseball, where if you're just
trying to find your pitch right, and you might not
swing at the first one, you might not like the
off speed stuff, but then you know the pitch is
gonna come to you, and then that's when you swing right.
And you have to be confident enough in yourself to
think that's not my pitch, right. I could throw myself
into that, but I don't know as much about it

(30:37):
as i'd like to. I'm gonna come back to that, right,
I'm gonna wait for the right opportunity. And I think
that's something that with maturity is kind of I've arrived
at where I don't feel anymore I have to prove
anything anybody, you know, And I'm sure you guys feel
the same way. Like I've done the hardest things I
could do, right, and if you don't like it, that's fine.

(30:58):
I don't have to prove anything to you, right, Uh.
And I do think for young people, for athletes, we
spent our whole lives, you know, being on uh you're
working at something and being under so much scrutiny that
we think that everything in life is gonna be like that,
and it's not. We've already been through the most scrutinized
thing you're gonna do, right. I Mean, I remember had

(31:19):
a whine lineber coach would on the on the first
first play, He'd always look at your first step, right,
He'd say, why do you step that way? And he'd
rewind it forward, rewind it for of you stepping this way,
stepping this way, stepping this way one hundred times.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Like, why are we watching that already?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
You saw it, it was yesterday, you know, But they're
trying to drill those details into you, and I just
think that, uh, we've we've done that, so there's nothing
else that we can't do, right, And so you just
got to be comfortable with it and sitting that uncertainty
and say, come away from my pitch.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
You're an awesome attorney. You're a great civil rights attorney,
you got slaw degree, and you're helping people. At what
point did you decide to get into politics verse is
just helping people in the courtroom.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah. I think it was when I started to feel
like I couldn't do enough just as a lawyer, that
I was still having to apply the law instead of
helping him make it. Yeah, and that if the law
was being written unfairly, that there's nothing I could do
to overcome it, you know. And so I started to

(32:24):
feel like that, Okay, well maybe an inter ticket this
is a step further, and see what we can do
about getting the law in the right place from the beginning.
And I'll be honest with you, I'm just not a
very political person, like I'm not very partisan. I think
a lot of athletes were not. You know, we don't.
I would vote for anybody who I think I share

(32:44):
values with and who I appreciate, right, you know, but
politics is you know what I mean, And so I've
always been a little bit mismatched with that right to
where you got to run in in a setting in which, yeah,
in which it's very delineated and divided up right, And
that's not my personality. But I do think there are

(33:06):
people out there who that's what they're looking for, that
they also don't wake up every day thinking about things
from a Democratic or Republican perspective, but from their own
family's perspective. I think they're out there, and I think
they're hoping that there'll be a return to people who
are thinking about them first instead of just whatever the
partisan issue of the moment is. Right. And so actually,

(33:28):
once I got elected, that helped me be more effective
in Congress because my Republican colleague sense that I didn't
think that they were the devil, you know, that I
wasn't going to try and you know, put them on blast,
and that they could work with me and that we
could actually get things done. And so I ended up
being the most bipartisan Texan in the entire Congress, and

(33:50):
that just was to me, that was just about trying
to get things done. Right. I still have my values
and I'm not going to sacrifice those, right, but not
everything has to be a fight, right at some point,
training camp in at some point, and then become the
same team, and then we're on the same team exactly, right,
you know, like, yes, we competed hard, but now we're
on the same team, and the other teams are around
the country, around the world, as I see it, right,

(34:11):
and we gotta look out for team you know, America. Right.
I just think, unfortunately, and I say this all time,
I wish that every member of Congress had played team sports,
because not all of them did. And it's very evident.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
You know, I can only imagine when you get in
that room because the same exactly the example that you
gave about. You know, I just couldn't do enough. I
didn't feel like I was being able to help enough people,
you know, me and my boys joke. But that's how
villains are created. Yeah, you know what I mean, not wrong,
you know, I mean that's how that's how villains are creating.
It's like, man, I can't.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
It's like it's like kill Monger, Right, Bruce Wayne became
Batman because he was just like something happened to his
parents and you just go over and next thing, you know,
And so.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
How what would you tell the average listener of view
that has that that's what they think every congress person is.
They have a bad taste in everybody in our government
right now. They think they're all. They see them all
the same, they're all And I don't believe that that's right?
And so what would you do to help me sell

(35:16):
to everybody else that they're not.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, I think we got to fix the kind of
the incentive structure. What's the incentive structure we have as athletes? Right,
we work hard, we're going to see that show up
on the field and a win in our pocketbook in
terms of what the money we're able to make, what
we're able to provide for our family. Right, and so
we then think I'm gonna work even harder. You think
you saw me work hard, I'm gonna show you I

(35:38):
can do even more. But the incentive structure has gotten
now to where we're not incentivizing public servants. And you
know that we want to see people, you know, reach
across the aisle and lower the temperature and not pit
people against each other. We're given the most attention to,
you know, the loudest voices and the ones who are

(36:00):
sometimes the most destructive.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
That's on both sides.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
It's on both sides, absolutely one percent. So I would
just say that to everybody, you know, incentivize what you
want to see, like, reward what you want to see,
you know, support the people who are trying to not
be part of the problem, right, and if you don't
like it, get involved. You know. President Bama used to
tell us that the most important office in the country
isn't president or senator or congressman, it's citizen. Right. Democracy

(36:28):
is not a spectator sport. You're not watching two teams
play it out. You're actually one of the players on
the field, right, And you can either choose to sit
it out or you can get involved. And I know
it's and I know it's ugly. I mean, I you know,
trust me, I know it is. Like you know, my
last campaign it called me everything but the Son of God, right,
you know, but so I get it. But uh, we

(36:52):
can check out. Because I had a coach who used
to always say and I never knew that I said
what he meant. Really, when all the good and leave,
all we have left is a badons because they're not
leaving right, you know what I mean? So you can't
check out? And I would just say, you know, I
just think it's still within reach for us to fix this, right.
And we're a great country. We got a lot of

(37:13):
great people, y'all know through your own charitable work. You know,
like these unsung heroes, people are doing amazing things in
their community. Right you come across them and you think,
this is an incredible person. You should be lifting this
person up. Right, More people should know about this. That's
who we are, right And I think we just have
to incentivize what we want to see and fix this
kind of structure that we have right now, where you know,

(37:34):
the worst things get the most attention.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Is that hard to do? In the sense of specifically
speaking about the running your campaign? Is it hard? Like
you came into this room, Oh pena wants a room?
Was like we dab each other up, we kick it,
we cool, we eat steaks, we play golf. But I'm
a Republican, your Democratic vice versus whatever, and we get
in front of the camera.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
And now it's like, well Collins.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
You know, Colin slept with seventy two women his first
year and now he's.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Trying to be a son of you know, he had
he he loves abortion. He's had seventeen.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
And then the campaign's over and it's like, oh man,
that was great. You want to grab a beer and
we all buddy, buddy.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
We friends now like to me, that has had happened.
It happens all the time. But I just don't know,
like I don't even know.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
My question is because it's so frustrating to see how.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
The showhorse and they're just so.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Rah rah rah rah rah. I'm saying, really, now, you
want to be my friend, but you put me on
blast and you're making all this stuff up. It's a
little difficult, is it to be around that atmosphere or
that culture.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
It's tough, man, It's tough because because you don't.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
You don't strike me as you strike me. It's just like, hey, look,
I'm here to do a job. I want to do
my job. I want to do what's right. If I
side with the Democrats, cool, if I side with the Republicans,
and it makes its cool let's get the job done.
Like you you're very just black or white. This is
what it is. Let is get it done.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
I mean, what are we really doing, Like we're funding
like roads and bridges and like the military and like
health insurance or people like this is not you're not
having like your culture war, right, you know what I mean,
like would leave that you know out. But I agree
with you, man, I think you'd see these people who
had been a part of who campaigned with your opponent
or something, and then they want to come and talk

(39:28):
to you, and it's like, you know, I saw what
you said, you know what I mean. But I also
would think to me at least, and I think some
people take it much more personally. I think what they
really wanted was the power, right. They didn't really care
about me. I was in the way of them getting

(39:48):
that power, right, and that would kind of free me
from seeing it as personal. I do think that some
things that would cross the line at times, and you
know how we are, like don't across the line, right.
But by and large, most of what I've experienced has
just been a bunch of nonsense, right, Like you know,
like just kind of like make up stuff. It's not,
and it's like, okay, you're just trying to get power.

(40:10):
And I can at least put that into a kind
of a side bucket and say, I'm not gonna we're
not gonna be friends, right, like we're not gonna be cool,
but we can work together, yeah, you know. And I
that's one thing that is different of course about football,
like you know, and especially in the league, like yeah,
I would. I would just never try and hurt one
of our guys, right like I might be playing with

(40:32):
them next week, you know. And I would see some
guys who were I thought, we're trying to do that,
and I think, what are you doing? Like we're playing
a sport like we are professionals. We're not trying to
take people out, you know what I mean. And of
course we're aggressive, of course we want to put that
big hit on you. But okay, come on, get up,

(40:52):
get up, let's go, you know. And I think that politics,
as I said, is gotten to a place to where
it's all about just pushing an agenda. IN said about
the people. And if we can get it back a
little bit more, and I know it's not gonna it's
not really possible to just reset things then you can
just have a slign adjustment to where people feel like

(41:14):
it's more about the people than the politicians. Then I
think you'll see people be less cynical and more interested too,
and that I think will help the whole democracy.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
So I got to know this because you've brought up campaigning. Yeah,
number one, are you running for the USC in twenty
twenty six?

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Number two. What is the hardest part about campaigning for you?
Or is it harder on your family? Because I can
only imagine that's right, like what gets heard and told
to the kids, which is what you said you're most
proud of. Yeah, so far as being a father your
most best accomplishment.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
That's right. The truth is I haven't decided, okay on
the center run and I've been like, yeah, that's right,
you did good, you did good. I've been like the
primary parent, you know, since I left the Congress. And
because my wife's a lawyer, she's way smarter than me.
You know, I all kicked my coverage, you know what
I mean, like like a lot of us, we all did, yeah, exactly,

(42:16):
and uh. And so I've just been just loving my
time with my boys, that's all. And because every election season.
We can't watch TV, you know why because every commercial
is gonna be about me, right, you know. Yes, And
then they messed up because then they started being on
YouTube too, so we couldn't even watch YouTube, you know.
And I was like, man, we're gonna pop up.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
It's like, man, there's no safe have it, you know.
And my boys like, oh, I see data, you know,
And I'm like, that's an attack. AD don't look so
yeah right right? Uh. And so the hardest part for me, though,
there's the time away from the kids, you know. And
I went five weeks in the last campaign without seeing
my kids, and that was hard for me. You're just

(43:01):
all over, just traveling, and it just didn't work out
with I couldn't get back to see him, and you know,
and I that was hard for me, and I and
I wouldn't do that again. That was as long as
I've gone without seeing them. But I mean, the real
work is being done by my wife at home where
she's largely a single parent, while I'm out campaigning. And

(43:22):
we do this together though. We decided to run together,
and so it's it's a partnership and she believes in
what we're doing and she knows that this is her
way of serving too, right, is that she's gonna make
sure that these kids are getting to school and getting
their meals and getting their paths in and all that.
And so you know that to me, I think, since

(43:44):
a group without a father, that's been the one thing
I constantly think, Am I balancing this right? Right? You
know what I mean? And I think if I'd had
kids in the LEGA would have felt the same way, like,
am I balancing this right? Because I was so obsessed, yeah,
in the league, Like you know, you go home and
watching and you know at that time tape you know,
uh film, I mean, but and you come in, I'm

(44:07):
the first one of the building, you know, when the
last one is leaving, right, That's how I made it,
you know. But I didn't have kids at the time,
you know, And so now I do. And I'm constantly
think of my balancing this right, because when I'm when
I when I finally go, I don't think the first
thing on at least for me that I think. The
last thing I think I think about is going to
be the campaigns and the hands I shook or whatever

(44:28):
it's going to be about my family, you know, And
I just I don't want to regret that, and I
think I'm getting it right. But I'm constantly making that calculation.
It's constantly exactly exactly right.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
I got a sidebar question. Let's do it when when
you when you shake hands and you shake you hands
and kissing babies, when you shake a white guys saying
is it is it like this? Hey as a going

(45:00):
shake your vote, and then when there's a black guy
just like.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Bring it in right here? Is there any of that
going on? The best person to ever do it? Though?

Speaker 3 (45:15):
You know what? You know what the peanut I think,
I actually think it's just that's the way they put
their hand out. Okay, Yeah, I'm just saying put it
on you start like this, Yes, but there'll be some
straight out, there'll be some some guys with some flavor
to them, you know what I mean, And they'll come
in like that too, like all right, we're good, let's go.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Oh. I love that.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
So obviously playing football, I had my kids when I played,
and the majority of my kids were born during the season,
so it made it kind of hard for me to
stay up all night and do the night feedings and whatnot.
And players aren't getting paternity to leave, like it's tiny
to date, Like, no, you don't get off on Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
You know, you're working on Christmas? Yes, you're working.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
They don't care.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Is it true.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Were you the first congressman to take paternity Yeah?

Speaker 3 (46:10):
I was.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
That's dope.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
It's funny you said my first start was on Christmas.
That's my first ever story. I did. Sit there, you know,
I'm out here with the data, Thomin said, and they're like, lt,
he's from Waco, you know. Anyway. Uh, No, I was
the first one to ever take paternity leave, which is
really weird because I did it.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Oh, they didn't have it.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
No, I just I just took it. You just took it. Yeah.
I was like, I'm my own boss, you know what
I mean? Like my boss is the people, Right. So
I wrote a op ed and the Dallas More News
saying this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take
some time to be with my child. Uh And I
think every man should because there's there's a lot of
research out there actually about this. It says that when
men have time with their babies, it's better outcomes for

(46:55):
the man themselves, for their children and for their spouses. Right,
there's more sharing of the workload, but they also get
an appreciation for their child and it's really important bonding time, right,
And I wanted to I was working on trying to
make sure that everybody in the country could have paid
leave time to take off to be with their family, right,

(47:15):
And that was what And it was actually working with
the Trump administration at the time. Ivanka Trump was interested
in this, and I went to the White House. Didn't
event with her, you know, Democrat there, but hey, they're
trying to work on what I wanted to work on,
So let's do it. You know, we're here. And so
I wrote an up ed and I was worried a
little bit, but the reaction was going to be real
negative and so well, you didn't have the baby, you

(47:36):
know what I mean, like what you need time off for.
But it was very positive. It was very positive, and
people would come up to me and say thank you
so much for highlighting you know, men's working this, for
men's role in this, and I was. I was really
impressed by it because I think there were a lot
of people who in some ways in their professions, even
though it's not football, might feel like they can't take

(47:56):
time off too, right, but they want to. And I
think we have to build kind of a culture where
it's expected that an addition to your family like this
is a big disruption. You're gonna be a better worker
if you've had time to get that right before you
come back to work, right. And companies that do this
see more productivity from their workers, they retain their workers better.

(48:18):
It's a good idea. It's a idea, right, you know.
And actually every country developed country in the world has
some formulist except for us, right, So it's something we
should do. But I was surprised the press had to
tell me I was the first because I didn't. I
wasn't trying to be the first. I just thought, well,
you know, let's just do it. And the reaction, like
I said, was surprising.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, I don't think my dad took time off. That's
why we're not close. He doesn't like me, Dad. I'm joking.
Th was a joke.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
We'll call it, man, dude. We I kind of want
to ask one more and to let you get the
last one. Is that okay?

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yes, it's okay. Thomas didn't say nothing.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Okay, good, Well we're just not going to have a
lot of Congress people and like we don't get to
do this. I'm over it. Take it, take it, thank you,
I appreciate it. So what has what when you when
you were in the Congress and what when did you
see somebody? Were you? And I don't want you don't
have to say names, please don't please don't let us guess.

(49:20):
But did you ever see like man that was like real.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Theater, like were you impressed?

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Were you like wow?

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Like?

Speaker 1 (49:27):
And then maybe somebody because you know in football you
see somebody ahead of you that does something like, dude,
I need to model my game.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
After That's right, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Could you get could I get one of each of
those examples?

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Yeah, that's that's such a good that's good. Bro. Uh
So one time and I won't say the name, but
I kind of want to, but say it. So Matt Gates,
uh huh uh. He's on the House floor and he's
talking to some this other Republican and he said, that's
why you're not going to be in the A block tonight.

(49:59):
What does that mean? You do TV? You know what
this means? A block is the first part of the show, right,
that's also the part of the show if you're on
a political show where you're the star of the night right.
And he said, well, that's why you're He's like talking
smack to this other guy, being like, that's why you
ain't gonna be on the A block tonight, right, And
I will. You know, I did look at this stunt

(50:20):
that I did, right, you know. And so they're actually
thinking about how could I get this attention. It's not
about if it's a good idea to do or not, right,
you know, it's just now, this is why this is
how IM gonna get that chance theater. It's just theater.
And I was like, wow, you're really here for that.
I don't think it's worth it, you know what I mean,

(50:40):
Like the pay you ain't worth it, Like the travel
is worth it. I think that would be a strange
decision to make, you know. But then there are also
people you'd see who would take a principal stand on
something and even though it's going to be tough for
them or really even at least politically for them to say,

(51:02):
I'm not I'm not cool with that. And I saw
that from Liz Cheney, another Republican. On January sixth, the
mob was attacking the Capitol. You know, I'm the only
former NFL linebacker in the room. Everybody's like, what do
you go do college? Like, you know, I'm like, okay, well,
you know, so I took up by a suit jacket.
I'm like, I guess I'll hold this door, y'all try
and get out that one. This is real, yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Know, And why did we not ask him about this yet?

Speaker 3 (51:28):
And I'm you know, because I remember several people were like,
I'm behind you, like, okay, I would do that's a
good dow a lot of good you know. I could
take out one or two at a time. That's about it.
And we got out of there thanks to the bravery
of the police that day. And some of a lot
of them were hurt real bad. And I knew some
of those guys because they defend us, and you know,

(51:48):
you know, we got relationships with our security folks, and
and so we got into this room and Liz Chaney
came up to me and the King Jefferies, and she said,
we need to we need to impeach tomorrow for this.
She's a Republican. This is death for her politically speaking.
She didn't care and she didn't change on that. She

(52:12):
lost her Lex election because of that, but she didn't
change the whole time, and she kept saying the same thing,
which is, I'm a Republican. I'm conservative as anybody. My
dad is Dick Cheney, you know what I mean. Like,
you find somebody more conservative.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
And don't find it voted on in their career, right
reflected you know.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Like in the Dave Chappelle's get were playing against Prince
you like, find them, I'll show I'll beat them too,
you know, she was like, find them, find somebody working, serr,
you go find them, right, right, She's like, but what
I don't agree with is this that we're gonna have
you mob attack in the capital and trying to overturn
elections that I can't. I can't go with you on that.
And I saw that. And you think there's something worse
than losing an election. That's losing your dignity. Right. You

(52:52):
can lose an election, just don't lose your your spirit,
your soul, dignity, right, And so there's examples of both. Nice.
I appreciate that. Thanks, that's the first time I told
that story. By the way, it's.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
A great story you told. So last last question, Mount Rushmore. Yeah,
you get four people of influence from the time you
were born till today. Who would those four people be.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
I'd love to know y'all's But I mean my mom,
you know, she it was tough, right, Like we don't
pay our teachers enough, right, I agree, you know, And
she's working full time as a teacher and still having
to pick up a second job, you know, and like
that's this is not right, right, you know. And that's
something I just carried with me always is these teachers

(53:36):
are taking care of our kids. And we can all
think about our favorite teacher when you close your eyes
and he or she was important to you in in
some way in your life. And then we're not, you know,
we're not treating them right right when they retire, the
retirement isn't good enough, right. So my mom, you know,
she put in those hard years and you know I
helped buy her a house when I was you know,

(53:57):
so I helped she had rented the house for twenty
years that I helped her buy. Right. I got to
the league, and that's something I'm proud of. I had
a principal who just for for whatever reason, she had
crossed over from middle school to high school with me.
So she had me for six years as and you know,
I was class president, but I was also a little

(54:19):
bit of goofball.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Uh And did she drive you to school?

Speaker 3 (54:22):
No? She did, Okay, moms in school, I would take
so I had I took the bus or I had
it like a carpool thing. Okay, yeah. But my principal
it was Vicky Richie. And I got to see her
again the other a few months ago, uh at church,
and she still looked the same. Actually, but she had
me for six years, and she usually give me a
look sometimes when I was acting up. Miss Richie saw,

(54:47):
you know, and she, I mean, she was somebody who
I just didn't want to disappoint, you know what I mean.
And she was one of these, you know, kind of
strong black women who just kind of made you feel like,
all right, I'm I'm what I I do. I can't
get on Miss Richie's bad side. And I really think
that part of why I'm here is because Miss Richie. Right,
you know, I got to give Coach mac who's my

(55:10):
coach Magott at Titans, who was my linebacker. Coach Dave
McInnis is his full name, but we always called him
coach mac. You know. He he believed in me when
you know, I think no one else did. And he
saw some value in me. And he wasn't like the

(55:33):
mentor type. He wouldn't say as much to you, but
then he sometimes he would do things that you just
knew how much he cared, you know, and it made
you feel like, Okay, I'm you know, you can run
through a wall for this guy, right. Uh. And he
was funny as anything. I mean, the film room was hilarious.
You know, he get that laser pointer and just anything

(55:55):
you would be And he would use me sometimes to
tell like Keith Bullock what to do because I would
be like behind Keith, you know.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
Yes they all do. Yeah, I mean I go coach
at the vent I coached the VET by talking to the.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Talking to the guy. Right. But you see you see
this college like he's talking to Keith, he talking to
you know, talking to me, you know, but he you know,
he gave me a shot and I really appreciate that.
And the last one there was a counsel at the YMCA.
I went to after school care program, right so I
go to school in elementary. My mom couldn't get me

(56:27):
till later. So I went after school and there was
a six foot six inch former college basketball player named
Derek Smith who was a counselor at the Y. And
I just wanted to be just like him, you know.
I was like, you know, seven, eight nine, I didn't
know my dad, right, and I just thought this is
that would be the coolest thing ever, just be able
to dunk, you know, Like I was like, he'd just

(56:48):
be out there dunking on us, you know. And he
was a good athlete, you know, and I was like,
this is exactly what I want to be. And we
stayed friends. I've met him. I think I met Derek
I was eight or nine. We're still friends right now, right,
we still text, right, And uh, he was in my
when I first ran for congress. It was in my
launch video, like you the video when I launched my campaign.

(57:10):
And you know, I'm he never made any money but
work at the Y m c A right, you know,
but it meant a lot to me. Yeah, you know. Uh,
and I did finally get the dunk at one point
there it is, I can't do it anymore. I don't
know about you wrote.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I'm still dunking at forty four.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
I played pick up. I'm still dunking pick up like
six months ago. Bro, I'm not dunking no more.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
Yeah, I'm a finger roll guy. Figure out.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
I have a figure out, Okay, man, figure guy.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
Yeah. So that's my that's my right, Mat Rushmore.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
That's a good man.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
That is man.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Appreciate you coming on the part.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Thank you, brothers. Stories and great stories, great times. Y'all
were great players. I just love that here such great players.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
You know. I was someone who just contributed what I could.
But I watched y'all and you know we have defense.
You know we watched defense. Yeah, and you played the
right way. Brothers. I'm glad to be here with you.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
We really appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Man.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Look, I loved your Mount Rushmore because it was I'll
be honest with you. I don't think we've ever had
anybody talk about from a principle to a person that
worked at the wire that they just happened to look
up to. Nobody that's just a superstar of somebody that
you would immediately know. And so that kind of tells
me who you are as a person. The people that
poured into when you were a young man. You never

(58:25):
forgot them. You've never forgetten who you were, and it's
kind of led you down this path or wherever your
life is. It's kind of taken you to all these
different walks of life in these different rooms, and great,
great stories Man, continue to pour into the rest of
the world.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
We need it.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
We need people like you to continue to do what
you've been able to do and accomplish the things that
you've been able to accomplish.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
So thanks continue to do that.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Sure came vote in Texas, but if I could, I would.
You got my vote.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
Now you're coming back.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
I'm coming back.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
That's how you people get locked up now, can't be
voting in multiple.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Studies, voting none that.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
I can't vote. You got it.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Okay, I appreciate what spiritual. We're going to decide if
he's gonna run for anything else soon, Kyle, Hopefully you
share with us. If you do, we'll put out there,
make sure we will continue to promote Man because you
are one of us as a former NFL alumni all
the same.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
You know, and when I see you in the house,
I'm adapting.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
I'm gonna put it up here. I'm coming out here.
We learned something new today too. It's all about how approach,
how you approach it is everything shout out.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
So this is I'm p s A to all the
Caucasian congress men out there. If you want the Obama
bring it out.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
Don't do this.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
You gotta come out like this.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
And then the fellow brother congressman or whoever politician, he gonna.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Give you that that love. So I'm just throwing it
out there.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
That's right, that's right, that's beautiful. Man.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
All right, I learned something new every day, all right. Man.
For all of our listeners and viewers out there, man,
thank you so much for always tuning it. Make sure
you give us a five star rating review, give us
a leave a couple of comments, Share like, share like,
subscribe all the things wherever you pick me your podcast at,
whether it's iHeartRadio or the Apple podcast app. Please please

(01:00:10):
please please tell a friend to tell a friend to
do what Peanut tell a friend.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Then we go.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Man, get us up out of here, bro.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Don't forget to check us out on our NFL YouTube
channel as well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
That's new.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Hey, look, I'm that's calling that's wrong. Hey y'all, we
out And this is the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast