Ed McCaffrey talks pregame superstitions, lessons from Jerry Rice, and the play that still replays in his mind

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank y'all for tuning in.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Peanut Tuman and this is the NFL Players Second
Acts Podcast and with me as always as my guy Roman,
mister Rogers Harbor.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
What's up baby?

Speaker 3 (00:17):
What's up baby?

Speaker 4 (00:19):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
That's a general welcoming. So I'll take that.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
You know.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
No, look with the sweater and all that legs crossed
like mister Rogers.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
It's good.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
We got the good posture going on, like a like
a grandpa and stuff, you know, so I like it.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm trying. Thank you introduce our guests.

Speaker 5 (00:35):
I'm really excited about this one too, because and then
I want to jump right into something.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
All right, So this gentleman played thirteen seasons for the Giants,
the forty nine ers in the Broncos won three Super Bowls,
but he's got four Super Bowl rings. He's high school
college U Sports aka at Easy aka Adie mac a

(01:00):
White Lightning. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the pot and
McCaffrey to the show.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
McCaffrey, thank you. I mean, I think we.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Could say one other thing.

Speaker 5 (01:08):
The man has literally blessed the NFL with multiple children
of the NFL as well. Yes, he's just the guy
that continues to give mister Ed McCaffrey, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Well, thank you. It's an honor to be here. I'm
thrilled to be here with you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I didn't realize it was I think so you
retired in two thousand and three.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
My first year was O three.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I don't remember the exact of what you did in
the game or what I did in the game, but
we came up there Chicago my rookie year, and I
remember being so out of breath, and I don't know
how y'all got used to playing in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I just was I remember just dying. I was dead
the whole game.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, they have signs all over the stadium. They have
oxygen tanks hooked up there. They're trying to get in
your head. They're trying to get in your head. It
does affect some people. First time I went to a
mini camp there, it affected me that first day. Yeah,
you know, it's just tough to breathe. But I've lived
there for so long I'm used to it now. But
they they get in your head. They remind you you're
a mile high and the oxygen is thin. Oh, my god,
it is real.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
Even just walking down the street, you will get more
tired if you're not used to the elevation. The first
time I went out there, I definitely felt it. It
felt different trying to play out there. I never won
in Denver either, so maybe that had something to do
with it. At least I'll blame it that. Now, what
I want to talk to you about, Ed, is this
ring you're wearing.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yes, this is now.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
This is the big Boy too.

Speaker 5 (02:24):
Now this is your fourth out of you won three
as a player with two of Denver, one with the
forty nine ers.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
And I apologize for wearing this. I didn't put the
connection with you. Two guys haven't played in this game,
so I can tell how this interview is going to
go right off the bat. So, yeah, this is from
Super Bowl fifty. Yes, I did a whole lot to
earn this ring, Fellas, What was that? I talked about
the game on the radio for about three and a
half hours as a broadcaster for Denver Broncos Radio, but
I was at the game. It's the reason I wear

(02:53):
this is I do have the other three, but they're
locked up in a safety deposit box. If I were
to lose one, it's going to have to be this
one because I can replace it. But I'm still proud that.
You know, John Elway got me my first two rings
with the Broncos. Yeah, I got one with the forty
nine ers before that. But then he was also the
general manager who approved given the broadcast team rings. I
don't know if you knew that, but they give the

(03:13):
broadcast teams rings. And so we were, you know, calling
games at different stadiums across the country, and all the
other radio broadcast teams would walk in and they kind
of clink their hand on the desk and we're looking
over there like we don't have one of those. Dave
Logan and I play by play voice of the Broncos,
who played in the league for a long time as well,
did not have a ring. And so John Elwie decided,

(03:34):
probably more for Dave than for me, that it was
important to give the broadcast team rings. And so there
you have it. But again, I don't want to bring
back any bad memories or have one of you guys
take me out. No bad mirriores.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Okay, now I would I do.

Speaker 5 (03:48):
I would love to know from when you're calling that
game Super Bowl fifty. Denver was clearly the underdog in
that game. What was your feelings? How are you going
about calling that game when all of a sudden, Denver's
got the momentum really hand on their business in that game.
How are you doing it as a call as a
broadcaster knowing that you had kind of been in these
similar situations when you were as a player winning the

(04:09):
Super Bowl and then all of a sudden seeing your
team that you're calling the game for go out there
and play that they were playing that day.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, I had the utmost respect for the Carolina Panthers.
What a phenomenal team you guys had. It was really
unbelievable offense, defense. And my son Christian are playing for
the team next year. So as you know, which he
didn't know at the time, he was actually in a
Broncos jersey during that game, and then a year later
he because he was a big fan of Terrell Davis,
I grew up rooting for the Broncos. The next year,

(04:33):
you know, you see a picture and he's playing with
the Panthers. So it's pretty crazy. But I mean, you
had such a good team, it was unbelievable. But the
Broncos defense was also pretty phenomenal, and that was a
season of such a bizarre season. Peyton Manning was the starter.
They got benched for a long time because of either
injury or production, but he chomped at the bit. There
was a funny episode that happened during the year where
Gary Kubiak would watch him work out every morning, and

(04:56):
after a couple of weeks of not starting, and Brock
Oswaller did a great job became and so wins to
help get him there. But Peyton flipped off the camera
knowing Gary Kubiak was watching his film in the morning,
and that was kind of the sign after. You know,
Brock had a little bit of a struggle in a
game and in the end of the regular season to
bring Peyton back, and he didn't. You know, he didn't
put up great numbers, but he led the team to victory.

(05:16):
He did what he had to do. They had a
good run game, but that defense was phenomenal. They were
flying around von Miller, obviously, DeMarcus Ware They had a
really good team and so you could you could argue
that that defense and I guess Vaughn was the MVP
of the game, right. You could argue that the defense
was able to match the offensive power of what Cam
Newton and the Carolina Panthers.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I definitely think if we didn't have or if they
didn't have the defense that they had, we we totally.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Would have won that game. I mean, I don't want
to do the what if game. I just I just well,
that's what defense.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
And do you guys go back and replay plays in
your head and think we're one play away from winning.
Two players and you and you look at the film
and I do that. I still have PTSD from last
year's forty nine Ers lost the Chiefs, Like I didn't
even play. You know, my son's playing, So it means
more to me than than anyone. And I just see
so many different plays on offense, defense, special teams that

(06:09):
could have been made that would have been the difference
in the game. And sometimes the games are that close,
and that was a close game. And it's tough because
you can have a great team like you guys had
a great team, not good great, and when you come
up a little bit short, it's just so tough. It
doesn't take anything away from the players that played in
the game, or how great they were or the successful
careers they had. But it's just so tough to get

(06:30):
to the game to begin with, yes, and then to
win it is even tougher. Yeah, and that's why. That's why. Yeah,
I mean last year and you probably never get over it.
I remember all of our losses and luckily I didn't
lose the Super Bowl, but we lost playoff games. Yeah,
and it's tough. So I still replay that game last
year in my head. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I had the good fortune of going to last
year Super Bowl and I happened to just sit next
to John Lway watching the game in the It was
like all the Hall of Famers and a Man of
the Year winners, We're all in this sweet and my
daughters have no idea who John Oway is.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
And I'm sitting here like that's.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, that's John Elway, Like do you know who they're
just like dad, I just there were more geeked out
about like the A List celebrities of Kim Kardashian and
you know whatnot. But I had the good fortune of
sitting next to John Elway, and you know, he's all
about the teams and and everybody else. And my question

(07:25):
to you is having been to the game, having won
at the highest level three times and you have the
fourth ring. What was your What did you talk about
with your son about like the loss of that game.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Yeah, it was tough. I mean we met right after
the game. Yeah, before we even went to see the
rest of the team or friends and family, and we
sat down for about an hour just kind of debriefing.
It's like you do have PTSD. It's like you just
finished a battle. You've been competing the whole time, you
know how it is after the game, you're getting interviewed
and you're you know, you're staying strong, and then afterwards
you just have to let it out. And it was

(07:58):
very frustrating as an I love him no matter what
we lose or draw, and you know, I just let
him know that, you know, you know, no regrets, man.
I mean sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But if
you prepared the right way and you left it out
all on the field, that's all you can ever do,
and that's all you can ever ask of yourself as
a man. So I know he does that every time
he takes the field, and he can hold his head
up high, but it doesn't take away from the pain

(08:20):
of defeat.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
Okay, So word on the street is that you are
an all time great at being a prankster.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Me you, Oh no, not me.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's not what I'm hearing. So we all know we
have this.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
We've heard this story through the great I guess back
in the day you called Claude Lemieux and Bill Romanowski,
you and your wife. You had your wife in on
this prank where you guys are going to be the
water company, and that you called him and said we're
here to check your water pressure at the house, and
that I need you cut on all the faucets in

(08:56):
your house and flustered toilets at the same time.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Now, this is a great prank.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Oh you know that is a true story. But I
don't think of myself as a prankster. I'm usually I'm
a retaliatory prankster. Like if someone pulled a prank on me,
I will retaliate unless I think they have more time
on their hands than I do, in which case I
will not engage in that battle. Okay, yeah, but that
that is Lisa is probably more the prankster than I am.
Oh really, She's funny and energetic, and she obviously has

(09:22):
more energy than I do, so she it was probably
her idea, but I did partake.

Speaker 5 (09:26):
Okay, all right, so we got it cleaned up. So
retaliatory prankster.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
Yes, sometimes, Like there's some people that you don't mess
with them, like the third string quarterback on the team.
Oh yeah, you don't want that, you're not so special
teams player. No, you're not messing with them because they
got all day long to think up of something and
they'll they'll follow through with it. So but if it's uh,
those guys, yeah, I wasn't too too afraid of those
guys doing anything creative.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Back to me, what's one of the best all time pranks?
So I respect the retire I'm a bit I play
pranks all the time, like I'm I'm here for and
I think that's why I was pulling on this earth
is to punch out footballs and to prank people.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
It is hilarious.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
I think, Well, you know, it is honor to meet you.
I don't know what it feels like to have an
actual defensive technique named after you, But I've been coaching
football for over twenty years and every single team I
played for we taught them the peanut punch, And like, yeah,
I know you know that I'm sure, people tell you
that all the time. Yes, but like it's kind of cool.
I'm like, wait a minute. You know, I've been teaching
this technique for twenty years and now I'm sitting down
here doing an interview. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
He goes on the road too, So yeah, a traveling
show if you ever need it.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
I've put together so many different highlight clips of all
the plays that you made. Yea, it's pretty incredible. So yeah,
and so anyway, it's a thrill. So where we going
with the pranks. The funniest prank I ever saw was
done by somebody that I know. I'm not giving up names, okay,
but there's like a charity basketball game going on. They
used to do those back in the day. They frown
upon them. Now I think they don't. Guys get hurt.

(10:47):
But this particular person dressed up in a mascot outfit,
and he dressed in the mascot outfit show up to
the high schools the high school's mascot and it was
the forty nine ers were playing, and the mascot was
a panther, and he dressed up in a panther's outfit,
so nobody knew who he was except for two people
in the stands, and he was rebounding for the forty

(11:09):
nine ers team, and he was kind of joking with them,
slapping on the backside, throwing the ball at their feet,
like really aggravating them to no end. And they had
no idea was him. But you know, you're at a
charity event, so if you're a pro player, I can't like,
it's a high school kid, what am I gonna do?
And they're just he's throwing it at their feet and
he's throwing the ball away and he's like blocking their
shot and patting them and they're getting so frustrated. Finally,

(11:30):
one of the players and the team walk overs whispered
to him, Hey, look, man, you better stop this right now.
We're gonna have a problem. And so you know, and
he's probably thinking, that's a high school kid, but he's
messled with them so badly. And they videotaped it. Never
made it public, but they videotaped it. Cried laughing so
many times watching this prank. But I mean that when
you put a mascot outfit on and you don't stop

(11:51):
moving and you're just doing what you got to do
for the whole he must have done it for two
hours and it was Oh man, it was hilarious. So
the amount those are the guys you don't with someone
that's willing to spend like plan out something like that
and spend a couple of hours following through. I'm not
going to get in a prank battle with that guy.

Speaker 6 (12:07):
We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
And I knew you growing up. I watched you play.
I knew you were a wide receiver with the Giants.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
You stood out to me because you were the guy
that didn't wear gloves.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
You weren't a big glove guy. I have a picture
of you right here.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
You're in gloves, okay, all right, which is totally not
how I imagine you. But the other part of this picture, though,
is what's up with this this neck world?

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Oh yeah, your rookie year. You went way back in
the art your rookie year. You know ed McCaffrey.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Neck world.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
Do you know how much grief I got from all
the other receivers? What are you doing?

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
What injury?

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Okay, so it.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Still doesn't look like a help.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
So that was before I started. That was before I
got cut by the Giants and started shedding on my gear. Okay,
lighting it up, so this you know, believe it or not.
I never played special teams in my life until the NFL.
So the first time I ever had to play on
kickoff coverage was for the New York Giants, which was
a blessing, but at the same time, it's like, wait,
my first attempt at playing special teams is going to

(13:25):
be in the NFL. And so I ran down on
kickoff and you know, back in the day, I'm trying
to bust up a wedge or something and I tweaked
my neck and Ronnie Barnes, who is still the head
athletic trainer for the New York Football Giants, was an
incredible trainer. But I jacked my neck up and he
was seriously like, yeah, you don't have to wear the
neck roll. I'm like, good, except but you won't take
the field. And so he made me wear that neck roll.
And I'm like, oh, I'm like, please don't make me

(13:46):
wear that neck roll, Like I know my next are
but he like, looking back, he did care about the
health and safety's players, and I got much respect for
Ronnie Barnes. He'll be a future Hall of Fame trainer
in the NFL. He's been there a long time. But anyway,
I got a lot of agree from everybody body that
I played against regarding the gloves. They didn't have NFL
receiving gloves. They they didn't make them so well in

(14:09):
the beginning they had you were like baseball gloves, but
they don't have tack on them, so they get wet
or slippery, and it's worse than not having any gloves
at all. And I remember the first time I got
any kind of glove that kind of works, it would
get freezing in New York. You'd get some really cold
games at the end of the year. I grew up
in Pennsylvania, so I was used to the cold. But
I just got done graduating from Stanford, where the weather

(14:29):
it's perfect every day. Didn't need gloves at all. But
Stephen Baker, the touchdown maker back in the day, went
to like home depot and bought They're like the rubber
gloves that used to mix chemicals, and they had more
tack on them than what the baseball gloves did. So
I do remember when it was you know, wind show
below zero. There's a couple of games where I put
those on just because I was freezing. But I had

(14:51):
much better feel without the gloves, so it would only
it'd have to be pretty cold for me to throw
some gloves on.

Speaker 5 (14:56):
Well, I always want to know this is the thank
you for that, This is wh I knew you as
the guy that didn't wear gloves. I'm like, who's the
white wide receiver with the arms out and no gloves.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
And when it's humid like East Coast, there's humidity, so
my hands were tacky. And then when I got to Denver,
in the Mile High City, it's a little dryer, and
that was the first place where I'm like, you know,
and they made better gloves. And so once they made
the better gloves with the thin air, I started wearing
them a little more frequently.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
So when did you start to shred all the equipment?
Because I know you were like the trend sutter for
like having like the small pads, And was that where
were you in San Francisco or was that when you
were in Denver?

Speaker 4 (15:33):
Well, it was in Denver. It started in San Francisco. Well,
then it finished up in Denver. So when I went
to New York, I'm a rules guy, like they're telling
you gotta wear your pads. You did like saying I
wear I had thigh pads, I had knee pads. I'm
wearing gloves and neck roll. You know, they still didn't
hem the jerseys up. I was a little ahead of
my time because, like I started taking it upon myself
to cut my jerseys and tighten them up. But back then,

(15:55):
you remember, they still had the wide sleeves and everything.
If you guys are old enough to remember that, at least, yeah, yeah,
and so so you know, in New York, I went
through three head coaches in three years. Basically part Bill
Parcell stepped down with a hard issue. He was the
coach that drafted me. Ray Hanley ended up getting fired.
They hired Dan Reeves, and then you know, Dan Reeves

(16:15):
brought in all of his own guys, which a lot
of coaches do, and I wasn't one of them that
he wanted to keep. So I was told there was
enough receivers in camp, and I had a pretty good year.
I led the team in receiving my second year. But
new coach knew new team, new players, the whole deal,
and so I got cut. That's it. I don't know
if you got you ever guys ever get cuts. Okay,
it's a tough experience, right, and it was only my

(16:36):
third year in the league, so it's pretty early, yes, uh,
to get cut. And I'm thinking it was right before
camp too, and some teams had already started camp, and
so it was pretty stressful. And the the you know,
the little index card that the broadcasters put together, and
I was a broadcaster. I tried not to do it
in pigeonhole people, but it's you know, slow, No, that

(16:56):
was on my card and whatever forty times they got
like I ran a four to three eight. I mean,
you could watch film until I wasn't like four to
seven eight or whatever they were putting on my card.
I'm like, oh, they're killing me with the speed thing.
But I'm like, you know what if people think I'm slow,
I'm gonna get faster. And in addition to training to
get faster, what can I do. I'm going to shed
about eight pounds of equipment, So no thigh pads, no
knee pads, no extra material, no extra equipment went down,

(17:19):
dropped his size and shoulder pads. I had to wear
a helmet, so I had a helmet and shoulder pads
and that was it. And I'm thinking, if these other
dudes are lugging around another eight pounds of equipment, that
immediately makes me faster. And at that point, I'm like,
I'm not concerned about my body at all. I got
to make a team. So, like my season was training camp,
So like I'm going into training camp like this is
the Super Bowl. And so I did make a conscious

(17:41):
decision though, to try out for a team I thought
could win a Super Bowl. So, you know, they had
a handful of teams interested, and I went and tried
out for the forty nine ers and they were a
team that had a shot at winning a Super Bowl.
And I got to camp and it's Jerry Rice and
John Taylor and two other receivers who made the team
the year before, about fourteen receivers in camp, and you know,
so I'm competing to back up Jerry Rice. It only

(18:02):
took four receivers. I mean, I don't know how many
teams in the History League and take four receivers, but
that's all we took on the team. And all four
of them were back from the year before. And then
so I'm backing up Jerry and I'm going against Dean
Sanders every day in practice, and I'm thinking, this is
how I'm gonna make the team, right, like having to
compete with Jerry and having to beat Dean Sanders in practice.

(18:22):
And so I tried to do everything humanly possible to compete.
So I lost every bit of equipment. I found a
pair of shoulder pads in the college equipment room that
were like, they're probably their punters pads from the nineteen sixties.
I could show them to you'd laugh at them. You
would never let anybody care about where these pass.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
I tried to look it up the kind that you had.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
They're about this big. But you know what trendsetter like,
I missed my calling because now what I mean, even
d Lyman, how small are their passed?

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Everybody?

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Right, So that's what I was wearing just before it
became trendy. And then regarding the uniform, I would cut
every little and I was a little superstitious about this.
Eventually every game that I play, once I started doing it,
I had to at least cut off a little bit
of material. So mentally I'm a little bit lighter than
the week before. I hate it when we wore new uniforms,
when they Hey, we got a new uniform for this week.

(19:11):
I'm like, no, I got to do a lot of
work to trim that thing down. You're gonna give it.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
So you would cut uniforms every week?

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, So did you have it hemmed or anything, or
you just cut the jersey?

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Well, yeah, I I would do whatever they would let
me get away with, so a lot of you know,
sometimes you get a flag back then if your pants
were too high. I did get fined for showing too
much skin because I try to you know, have the
pants used to come below your knee with the knee
pad and think about it. You know, nobody wants to
run around in that. So you know, I slowly started
hemming the pants up a little bit. At one point
I sewed the socks to the pants so they just

(19:41):
hung from the pants. And then you know, wore regular
socks and kind of put a piece of tape around them,
and then with the jersey. Back in the day, they
make good equipment now, but back in the day, you
had two layers of padding, like on your shoulder pads,
because you know, the equipment managers don't want to hem
up your jerseys every time there's a hole in it.
So there'd be a lot and then another layer under
that and they'd be heavy. So I would just cut

(20:03):
out all the second layers out of out of my pants, Like,
if you're not wearing thipads and the pads, what do
you need the things that hold with thipads and the pads.
So they were just like tights, And then cut out
all the extra material out of the jersey. And I'll
tell you what, I felt lighter. I really did feel lighter,
even if it even if it was mental, we're talking
like a couple pounds maybe, yeah, but mentally I felt
way better. Yeah, Yeah, it worked.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
I want to know what it was like being on
that forty nine Ers team. That's I grew up a
forty nine Ers fan. That was a great year to
be a forty nine Ers fan. Dion Sanders comes in
for free agency, Steve Young gets the monkey elfice back
whinning the Super Bowl. Jerry Rice puts up monster numbers
which he was used to doing. Just what was it
like being on that team, being in that same wide

(20:47):
receiver room with the grade of Jerry Rice, And you
weren't there long at all, but then I for totally
forgot you were competing against Dion Sanders, just trying to
make the tea.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah. No, it was a turning point in my career.
I'm so glad I believed in my self and try
it out to make that team. You know, I had
to ask my agent to get me a tryout, Like
I just want to get in camp and try to
prove myself. And I would love it to win a
Super Bowl. How cool would that be? Because I had
just gotten cut, so I wasn't I played for the
league minimum one hundred and thirty six thousand, right, and
I'm like, I don't care about money. Just get me
on that team. Give me a chance to compete to

(21:17):
make that team because it was not going to be easy,
and it was. It was an unbelievable experience that Steve
Young embraced me right away, was totally cool to me.
Bart Oates was with the New York Giants. He was there.
Harris Barton literally, yeah, Harris Barton let me live at
his house until I had a place, until I made
the team. Brent Jones was cool. William barn and Floyd

(21:37):
was my roommate. He was a rookie that year, but
he was a great player. Yeah, and uh so he
gave name even better, Yeah, even better, and then uh,
you know, just going against Deanner. It was a great team.
Jesse Sapola. I mean, so many of those guys I
still keep in touch with to this day. I was
there seven months and we won a super Bowl, and uh,

(21:57):
I got there late in training camp, we won a
super Bow. On signed with Denver, you know, like a
month later. But I still have friends this day from
that team. And it was it was such a professionally
run organization. And I give Eddie de Bartlow credit for
that and Jed York. Now, they treated their players the
right way. They practiced the right way. It was the
first team ever played for that had shells. I'm like,

(22:18):
what are shells? I'd only practice in full pads all
the time. Helmet we win, you have helmet day, helmet
day on Friday, just a helmet like that was new,
That was innovative. Now, I came from a place where
we went full pads every day and had two live
scrimmages a week in training camp, live scrimmages all the
way to guys like you be taking people out over
the middle for sure, and there's no flag. You're celebrating

(22:40):
because there's no refs either. I'm like, oh man, what
is going on? So I just couldn't believe it. They
fed them right, they treated them right, They traveled first class.
The players. They're expected to win super Bowls. That was
the expectation. And I was around a bunch of Hall
of famers and a bunch of great coaches, and they
had won Super Bowls, and so that was for me.
That's the first time I got to experience such a

(23:00):
different field than New York. Now New York had just
won a Super Bowl right before I got there, so
they were good. You know. It was Bill Pelajack defensive coordinator,
Parcels head coach, and they had a lot of thirty
plus year old players, probably the oldest team in the league.
But then by the time I left there, a lot
of those guys had retired or moved on, but they
were That was a phenomenal team as well. But it
was a different experience in San Francisco, and it was

(23:21):
really tough to make that team. I bet you if
if we could go back behind closed doors, I barely
made that team. But the reason it was a different
experience is because I remember walking out to practice one
day and I had sprained my ankle and it was
killing me. We were doing all kinds of crazy stuff,
like running rubbing EMU.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Oil on it because they still do.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
So we broke out the EMU back in nineteen ninety four,
and maybe it was before that, I don't know. Dmso
with some cortizone cream. Anyway, we were doing everything. But
you know, you're competing against the most accomplished receiver. I'm
not trying to beat them out, but I'm just trying
to hang. You know, the show that I belong with
Jerry Rice and then going against the on Sanders every day,
and I'm like, I got beat him and show that
I can do something in practice every day. And I

(24:04):
remember walking out to practice just kind of limping a
little bit with the ankles taped up like spatted so thick,
it was like a cast. And I'm walking out there thinking, Okay,
there's fourteen receivers here, all four from the year before here.
It's like one hundred and twenty two degrees in Rockland, California.
It was like, I'm going against Dion again today, and
I just started laughing, like amount I don't even care anymore,
Like I'm just gonna I'm gonna win the day, Like

(24:25):
win one route, beat Dean on a slant route. I'll
talk about it to my two month old son Max
for the rest of his life. That's what he's gonna
hear about. Maybe that's my NFL career. I don't know.
You're not worried about making the team, not worried about money.
I love football. This might be my last day. And
I just started laughing in I literally physically stood up straighter, yeah,
and felt lighter and walked out. I'm like, I feel different,

(24:47):
like just letting all of that go. Stop stressing, stop pressing,
Just whatever happens happens. And you know, to me, that
was kind of a flashpoint in my career. I became
a better player just because I stopped pressing as much
and went on. You know, Luckily, I was on some
great teams and we won three Super Bowls in the
next five years, and it was just a miraculous run.

(25:08):
But it all started with getting cut, and then it
all started with just me being able to surrender to
whatever happens happens. Let me control what I can control, Yes,
my attitude, my effort. I'm gonna do the best that
I can, and whatever happens happens, and it's almost not
even up to me anymore. I don't know that it
was a changing point in my life.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah, so being in San Francisco for the seven months,
you got there late in training camp, and then you
go to Denver. You change your number from eighty one
to eighty seven. You go to Denver and you become
that dude. You know, you make the Pro Bowl, you
had three straight seasons of one thousand yards. You're an
integral part of that organization to help them win to

(25:51):
Super Bowls. Did you take what you learned in San
Francisco with you to Denver?

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yeah? I think we're always learning. I mean everything that
happened to me leading up to my career in Denver
helped me come the player that eventually became. And so
I took lessons that I learned in New York. I
took lessons that I learned in San Francisco. I did
copy Jerry Rice, like the way he ran some of
his routes.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
How would you not?

Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah? No, I mean, I'm like, I'm just gonna take
whatever I can from him and just watch him on film.
And one of the things he was really really good
at is getting off the line fast. He was the
first one off the line every time. He timed the
snap count perfectly. So even if you were faster than him,
when you looked at the tape, he was five yards
down the field quicker than you were. And so I'm like,
I'm going to be as fast as i can off
the line. Another thing he did really well, he was

(26:38):
such a he was so good at running through the catch.
So he would catch it and turn up field instantly,
you know, So he'd run like a shallow cross and
catch it and be gone. And he turned so many
six yard routes into six yard touchdowns because he was
so good at running through the catch. And I'm like, okay,
I'm gonna try to get a little better at running
through the catch. The way he ran his comeback route,
so twenty yards back down your stem at a forty

(26:58):
five degree angle to eighteen. But he would not just
run it like it's drawn up in the book. He'd
run it and bend a little bit to the post
sometimes or like fake like it's a go route, and
then come back sometimes look over his shoulder and I'm like,
he runs his comeback routes three different ways, and I'm like, Okay,
I never felt like I had the autonomy to do that.
I wasn't allowed to do that. Yeah, and I'm like, well,
it's working for him. So I actually learned for him
before I got there, because we played when I was

(27:20):
with the Giants, we played against him in a playoff
game in San Francisco, and I was watching his film
before we played him and stole how he ran his
comeback route and got open again against them in the game.
And so, you know, I learned a lot just by
watching how hard he competed, how he ran his routes,
how he conditioned in the off season. And I took
whatever I could, like we all do, right, You learn

(27:42):
whatever you can and you take it with you to
try to become better. And then I got, you know,
I got to Denver. I was betting on myself again,
like they had a couple of first round draft picks
as receivers, and you know, it was kind of Rod
Smith and I. He was coming off the practice squad
and I just signed with the team and we were competing.
But it almost felt like I was a rookie all
over again, because now I'm getting a chance to compete,

(28:02):
but I'm definitely starting out as a backup. And Rod
and I would only get in like on run plays
and they'd make us block. But that was again because
I had kind of surrendered already. I'm like, I'm just
gonna be the best I can be. And Rod and
I had so much fun blocking like that. As a receiver,
you're not known for your blocking, right, But that's the

(28:22):
only way we got on film. In One of our
goal was to get our head coach, Mike Shanahan to
notice this on film, whether it was in a scrimmage
we scrimmage back then, and whether it was in a game.
It's like we went in front of the team when
they're breaking down the film us to have a decleader.
And it wasn't enough to just block. We're looking for
dec leaders, like we have to knock someone on the
ground to get noticed. And if the head coach stopped

(28:44):
the film and rewound it and showed it to the
whole team, oh that was That was the best thing
that could happen to us at the time. And so
and then we'd have bets in games, you know, because
you know how it is with backup receivers. A lot
of people don't know this, but some of those guys
are never getting the ball. You're in on run plays
and you're clearout was probably knew who they were when
they got the play.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, yeah, we'd be like rabbit alert, right because so
so that was.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
Me and I'm like, okay, well, you know, here we
go and we'd have little side bets like five bucks
for every dec leader, and we get a couple of
game and just we'd get our chance. And then eventually,
right when you're doing so well in the run game,
the coaches maybe accidentally leave you in and then you
catch a pass and you're like, all right, you know
you got to you got to take advantage of that

(29:28):
opportunity if they throw you a pass. But then all
of a sudden, you make a couple of plays. Maybe
you weren't even supposed to be making plays, but you did,
and now they feel more comfortable leaving you in, and
so that's so it was really cool. Rod was such
an incredible teammate, but we climbed the ranks together even
though he was coming off the practice squad, like as
a second year gun. I was a fourth year guy
at the time, going in my fifth year in Denver.

(29:50):
It felt like I was starting all over again. And
then that was the beginning of a really good run
for us on the Denver Broncos. And we had we
had a lot of fun. But I think it started
with with guys like Rod and some of my other
teammates to go along with John Elway and Hall of
Fame type caliber players for us to be able to
put those teams together. But I was having fun, and
you know, sometimes sometimes it doesn't seem like fun. Sometimes

(30:12):
you're working so hard and you want it so bad
you start pressing. But it was again me just being
able to surrender. I'm a backup. They put me on
a run play, So what am I going to do
about it? Let's have some fun.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Blocking, you know, you leave me right into where we
wanted to talk about. Which is the big block you
made in Super Bowl thirty two versus the linebacker.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
His name was Brian Williams, and he's a heck of
a player, too great player, But what a block?

Speaker 4 (30:37):
I mean, thank you.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
First of all, that's two penalties in today's NFL.

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Thirty yards of penalty. No doubt I might have got ejected.

Speaker 7 (30:44):
Yeah, And then the point, which what did you legal. All, yes,
all very much. It was the rules you said that
you let.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
It was illegal back then I would not have done it.
But yeah, and in his defense, he was a linebacker,
was a pretty big duty and he didn't see me coming,
so it made the block a whole lot easier. But uh,
I will never I never will never tell the.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
Super Bowls did the five dollars go up to ten dollars?
I think they should know it.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
But by that time Rod and I were starting and
we didn't have to worry about those bits. Yeah, okay,
we were just worried about wins at that point.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Okay, okay, but I want you to take me through
that play and what exactly did.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
You say to him or did you say anything?

Speaker 4 (31:22):
Yeah, you know, I was so concerned. You know, if
if crack back blocks or peel back blocks were legal,
that would be on the teach tape, no doubt, right,
because so I'm so careful to make sure I get
my head around hit him in the front and not
from behind, because I don't want to get a penalty.
Howard Griffiths caught a pass out of the backfield and
I just kind of peeled back literally and tried to

(31:43):
help out and get a block, so it worked out great.
I don't know, it was instinctual, like I didn't plan
a point. You know, you never even know if that
block's going to happen. It just I don't know. I
got caught up in the emotion of the game.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
It just kind of happened, Okay, Yeah, I just I
just want to know.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
I've been asked many times, but I never I'll never
tell what I said.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
I have an idea of what he said. We're not
gonna repeat it.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
I definitely it was all grated.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Absolutely was g rated. Who says r rated stuff on
the football field?

Speaker 4 (32:09):
Right?

Speaker 1 (32:10):
My My question to you is, you've been in.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
You've got three Super Bowls, You've been to one, You've
got one, I've lost one.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Whatever, that's another story for another Be quiet, why you
do that?

Speaker 4 (32:25):
Why you do that?

Speaker 3 (32:26):
I want to be honest with it.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Don't need to know that.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
You want two conference championships. Yes, I like that, Yeah,
I like that. I used to not think that way,
but I have recently.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
I'm gonna start I received it is not easy to
win a conference championship.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Sir, you are I'm gonna start receiving that. Having won
three Super Bowls? What did that do for your career?

Speaker 4 (32:51):
One? It made my life living in Colorado like a
dream in what way? Because people are so cool to me.
I go to the grocery store, people are saying hello
talking about the nineteen nineties when we won Super Bowl
thirty thirty three. The Broncos organization treats me really well.
It just it creates these lifelong memories that you get

(33:12):
to take with you for the rest I mean the
rest of your life. But it also created a bond,
you know, not just with your teammates and the players
that you played with in your coaches, but almost the community.
It was. It was especially cool because it was the
first championship the Denver Broncos ever won. Yeah, so they
had lost a lot of Super Bowls, and the fan
base was, how do I say, not very confident that

(33:37):
we were going to beat the Packers when we went
into that game as fourteen point underdogs. And so I've
gotten a better appreciation for lifelong fans because of our
ability to win Super Bowl thirty two. There were, you know,
fathers and sons who had been going to games for
thirty years, and some of them were like my father
passed and couldn't make this one, but he would be
so happy if he was here to witness. And so

(33:59):
the game of football is obviously about playing the game,
but for fans, it's like it unites family members and
friends and they create memories rooting for their favorite teams.
The people that work in the community, that run restaurants
and bars, or are doing the valet or the parking
or cleaning the stadium, like so many people's lives are
invested in these games. And it was such a thrill

(34:23):
for so many people. And I feel like I meet
a new person almost every other day that I had
never met before, and we have this common bond of
having shared that experience together. And I don't know, for me,
it's cool. I never envisioned that when I was a
little kid dreaming of catching touchdowns and Super Bowls are
making plays. I never thought about like when you're retired
and not playing anymore. I never thought I'd get to
as old as I am right now. I mean I

(34:44):
was a kid that like the average age is fifty
six for NFL football players. I'm like, all right, that's
that's me.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Now.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
I didn't plan on getting as far. But I never
thought about, like just how cool it is to share
that bond with people just in everyday life. You know,
mail in a letter, go to the grocery store, I
had a movie, theater, you name it. It's like every
other day I run into somebody and they are so
cool to me and I'm so appreciative of them.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
That's kind of how Chicago fans are. Like you said
about the father and the Son, I didn't really just
to peggyback what you're saying. I didn't feel that. I
got injured one day and I never had a chance
to tailgate. So I got injured. I'm on ir so
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go tailgating.
So I go hang out with some fans and I
eat the food and we're celebrating, and it was like, oh, we've.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Been doing this since.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Nineteen yeah, forty five, my dad this and that, and
so yeah, I completely get what you're saying.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
It was that a cool experience, wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
It was a great experience because it allowed you, a
player to connect with those fans on a level that
I never thought I would ever dream of. I just
thought about playing football. Now it's like, well, wait, I'm
a fan with the fans like.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
This is, and when you were playing, it would have
been too crazy because you'd have had like one hundred
thousand people wanted to get your autograph and take pictures
and everything. Just like once you retire and you step back.
And I was thinking about that the other day, like
when you're playing, you're in it, yeah, like you're competing.
You don't really, I don't know. I didn't have time
to reflect on any successes or even failures, Like you're
still in it, you're still competing. But then years later

(36:13):
you can sit back and kind of appreciate the good
times and then maybe you know, interact with the fans
in it at a level that you wouldn't do when
you were a player. I know that's what's happened for me,
and so I'm glad you got to have that experience.
That was great. Yeah, absolutely great.

Speaker 6 (36:27):
Yeah, we're gonna take a short break and we'll be
right back.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
You know.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
I just think it's so cool and I would love
to hear if you've had the chance to do this,
So you know, every you know, whenever Super Bowl Week happens,
all on the NFL network, they always replay all the
Super Bowls, the thirty minute cut ups, this, that and
the other. And my oldest son who's in second grade now,
really he just figured out that, like his dad was
like a real back in the day, and he thinks

(37:01):
it's the coolest thing ever. And they had Super Bowl
forty four where we won, and just seeing me on
TV like in a jersey because he was not an
age where he actually can remember that. And to see
that sharing those moments with your kids, what is that
moment like as they continue to grow, Like, what does
that do for them? I would love to know from you,

(37:23):
from yours, your experience, to know what I might have
an actually opportunity to actually do or live through because
I've seen your children. I've seen your sons be all
stars at all different levels and continue to do those things,
and you being right there in the shadows the whole time,
making sure that it's still all about them, but still
sharing in all the joys of what they've been able
to create and ultimately just trying to be like their dad. Really,

(37:46):
and also give a shout out to your wife and
your father in law as well, is also known as
a great athlete.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
I'm very lucky, I'm married well, I think one of
the best things a man can do in this world
is married. Well, yes, marry the right person. And I
was very blessed to have met Lisa, fall in love
and gotten married. And she's an incredible mom and incredible wife.
Hey look, there's no like perfect textbook that teaches you
how to be a dad. So thank you for being

(38:13):
a dad who loves your kids. And it's there for
him because not everyone has that luxury. And and so
you know, my oldest two boys, Max and Christian, were
old enough, barely old enough to remember the Super Bowl,
so they remembered when I played and had that experience.
I have two other sons, Dylan and Luke, who were
a little too young to remember. When I retired. They
were still too young to remember that I played, but
they heard about it, and and I think it's cool

(38:35):
that they get to watch your film and are proud
of you know, when they get older, they'll be making
fun of you. That's where I am. Okay, okay, yeah,
they'll be making fun of you. Like I was talking,
you know, someone brought up our two high school basketball championships,
and my youngest son found a way to google it
and saw me throwing the ball out of bounds at
the end of the game to lose the game, Like,
where did you find that tape? Yeah, in my memory
we won that game. Yeah, And so they'll mess with you.

(38:59):
But but you know, Lisa and I decided early on
that we wanted to encourage our kids to follow their
dreams and pursue whatever it is they wanted to pursue,
as long as they were passionate about it, as long
as they loved what they were doing. It didn't have
to be football. We never signed them up for football.
We waited for them to ask to play, and I
thought it was important. I don't know, you know, I

(39:20):
know NFL players who won't even let their kids play
FOOTBA because they don't want them to have to live
up to those expectations. And it's tough, right, if you're
really successful in something, you live in that city and
then you're you know, a kid of a professional athlete
has pressures if they allow them to be, pressures that
other kids don't have, right, they're always getting compared to someone.
I didn't get compared to anybody. There were no pro
athletes in my family. Whatever I accomplished was great because

(39:43):
there were no expectations, but when you know, there might
be added expectations for a kid of a pro athlete.
So you know, I don't even have Lombardi trophies at
my house. I never I've been to the Super Bowl
every year. I've never worn a ring. But I'm an
empty nester. Now my kids are grown up. They're playing
in the NFL well, and I am proud of the
years that I had as a player, and they know

(40:04):
about it for sure. But I never tried to add
any undue pressure on what they were doing, and I
supported them. It just happened to be that they all
ended up playing football, which is crazy. I don't think
it's that crazy, I guess. I mean a lot of
kids do following the footsteps of their fathers and have
the similar passions. But I tried. I tried to always
make sure they knew after every season that they could

(40:28):
stop playing. Like, hey, once you commit, you're committed to
your team, teammates and your coaches and your school. And
then if you don't want to play at the end
of the year, you know, reassess, and but you're not
going to sit around and do nothing, Like we weren't
going to have the video game kids, you know you're
gonna either. You know, you can be part of STEM,
you can get a job, you can play another sport,
you can join a club. But you always have to

(40:48):
be doing something. So find out what you love and
chase your dreams and be the best at what you're doing.
So that was my goal. But it is cool. I mean,
you know, they're playing with you on a video game
and they're throwing you the ball. That's kind of cool.
Uh you know. Now now my kids are on their
own video games, probably throwing the ball to themselves. But no,
it's fun. Kids are a blessing. They're blessing and so

(41:11):
enjoy it. Thank you. Yours are young. They will grow up.
You will blink and they will be all grown up.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
I got one out of the house now, and I'm
I think it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
I tell you, yeah, I have one out of the
house now. She's in college. She's a she's my hooper,
she's my basketball.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Player, and I, like you said, I have more joy
watching her play basketball, like it is the coolest ever.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
I absolutely love it. It's the coolest thing. I just
sit back and just man, that's like the first game
I was like, oh my god, this is I got
teary out, like, oh man, is she at college? Like,
oh my god, this is this is awesome.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
Yeah, having more love for someone than you have for yourself,
wanting more for them than what you than you want
for yourself, is such just an unbelievable experience. It's the
miracle of being a parent.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yeah, I think the coolest one of the We do
a little bit of research and someone asked you your
top three plays of your career, and you had just
said something that made me think about it. I think
that one of the coolest things about you in the
twenty minutes that we've got to talk and us getting
to know you is you are a very selfless guy.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
And out of the hundreds of plays that you've played
in your career in the NFL, two of the three
are about other people that don't even involve you.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
I think one was Rod Smith super Bowl thirty two.
He caught one post posts you said.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
You knew it was over.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
Yeah, Oh I knew it was over. The game was
over on that play.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Oh it's good.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Yeah. I was so happy for Rod too, and I
was I had great teammates, man. So my number one
play I don't even blink. It was Super Bowl thirty
two victory formation job, Yeah, that was. I mean I
think about that play almost every day. Yeah, that play
is in slow motion rewind for me every day of
my life. And you know, I'm don in the v
I I'm in the back, in the backfield behind John Elway.

(43:11):
John Elway has gone to a couple Super Bowls and lost.
The Denver Broncos have never won a Super Bowl, and
so I'm happy for myself. I mean, we're about to
win this game. But at the same time, you know,
there is a chance that the nose guard nose tackle
slaps the ball and it's flopping around back there, right,
that's the purpose of the guy having been in the
backfield in the victory for.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Me to get the tax.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
So I'm back there and I'm like, there's no way
we're going to go out with some crazy kind of
trick play where they slap the ball and score somehow.
So I'm looking down at the ball, I'm looking up
at the clock. I'm looking down at the ball. I'm
looking up at the clock, and the pixelation on the
on the scoreboard is in slow motion just three two,
and it's like it's taken forever. That's that's how frozen

(43:53):
in time I was in that moment. I'm like, this
clock is taken forever to tick down, and it's just
frozen in time for me looking up, looking down, and
then the one is like just slowly picks late into zero.
And then John takes the knee and turns around and
he is laughing, crying, every emotion a human can feel.
He is feeling in that moment, and I am right there,

(44:14):
right behind him, first one that gets to celebrate with
him after such a long journey for him to get there,
and for our whole team, and also for everybody that
rooted for the Denver Broncos first Super Bowl in the
history of the franchise. So I mean, I'm not kidding
when I say I think about the play probably every day. Yeah,
and by far my favorite play of my career.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Do you know what your third play was?

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Finally, No, I do remember super Bowl thirty three, So
there was a lot that went into that too. There's
a lot of history, you know, side stories. You know,
for instance, the head coach was John always head coach before,
so we're playing he was also my coach who cut me.
So we're playing against him. So there was a lot
going into that game for me personally, but also for
John coach Shanahan. It was a big time rival and

(44:58):
we wanted to win so badly in so many different ways.
And I also like Rod was a really good friend
and a great teammate. And Rod, believe it or not,
despite being a Ring of Famer and hopefully Hall of Famer,
one day, he didn't catch a pass in Super Bowl
thirty two and he was the ultimate team player. But like,
for as great of a player as he was, to
not catch a pass, you know, he sold out. In

(45:18):
the run game, we blocked Terrell Davis's MVP. We're just
running the ball all day, so we didn't throw the
ball a lot. It was one of those games. Even
John's best play was a run where he did the helicopter,
and so you know, this was a big game for
Rod too. Is a little bit of a redemption. Hey
we got back here. Now I'm going to make some play.
And when I saw him take off on that post
route and catch it and start runout, was right behind
him watching him run at the end zone, I'm like,

(45:40):
it is over. This is it? Man? Like that? And
it wasn't technically over, but in my mind, there's nothing
that's going to stop.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
Well, I think it's so cool because I didn't know
that he didn't catch a pass in Super Bowl thirty two,
and so for him to open up and get that
big deep post round thirty three, that's why the motion
is behind it. You like, No, that's like my favorite
because of how great and ships you were that you
talked about these relationships that you had with Rod Smith
multiple times already, and then to see him on the

(46:06):
biggest age get that big play that early in the
game set up that's why you feel like specifically.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
It meant a lot to me. Yes, to see him
experience that, and because we remember we're two guys that
climbed up through the ranks. He came up the practice squad,
I signed with a new team. We were only getting
in on run plays. We eventually competed and became starters.
And then you know, I remembered the year before he
didn't have a catch, and to watch him have such
a big play in such a big moment was I

(46:34):
was so happy for him and that one of the
greatest things I think you can experience in sports is
having teammates who you root for, because like there's some
teams you might play forward, it's very competitive. Maybe you
don't love the room that you're in. Guys are competing
for a job. Maybe you know it's it's not a
friendly situation. But in this situation, I wanted as much
for him as I ever wanted for myself because I

(46:55):
came up through the ranks with him. I know how
hard he worked to get to where he was, and
he was completely self He would do anything for the team.
He was running down on kickoffs, breaking up wedges when
he first got to the Broncos, and like he would
do anything he could possibly do to help the team.
And he was such an unselfish player that I rooted
for him. Like when he scored, I scored, and so
that was just such a great moment. But it was also,

(47:16):
you know, a momentous moment, like when you have momentum
in a game, you feel it shift, it's palpable, and
that was one of the plays in that game where oh,
I feel it now, like there's nothing that's going to
stop us. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Yeah, So I want to start to get into your
some of your post career stuff, and so.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
After you retire.

Speaker 5 (47:35):
We all go through these moments, you know, we all
you have to try, and you know, we do a
lot more studies on it now than when you retired.
I don't think we talked about the NFL post retirement
as much as we do now, and that's.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Why we're all here today.

Speaker 5 (47:47):
So I want you to talk about what you did
when you stopped playing. I know you did some youth
sports coaching, so you did some high school coaching. You
also were at the University of Northern Colorado. I checked
out your ed muccaffrey website. Okay, oh yeah, so I
saw the what's what do you call the sports Eddie?

Speaker 3 (48:06):
Is that you can't that you guys do?

Speaker 4 (48:08):
Yeah, we've been doing. Man, we've had I've had so
much fun. And luckily I had a successful enough career
and provided for my family so that I could do
whatever I wanted to do when I retired. I tried
to be smart with my money. As you know, it's
tough when you first retire. You got to make sure
you don't ruin the rest of your life the first
couple of years after retirement. But I did a lot

(48:29):
of different things at first, you know, I stepped away
from football, worked for a real estate company. We had
private residence clubs all over the world. Got to travel
and see really cool resorts. And then, you know, I
started coaching my son Max with his little league team,
mainly because the coach was a really good friend who
lived in my neighborhood. But they also needed a little
bit of help. They need coaching, right, I mean, they

(48:50):
were doing bull in the ring for like an hour.
I'm like, dude, you're going to kill some kids out here.
You need like Oklahoma drill school. So they're outlawed now.
But yeah, but they were teaching tough. I'll give them that.
But you know, I wanted to be around my family.
My wife had made sacrifices where we good four boys.
She made a lot of sacrifices when I was playing.
You know how you're traveling on the road hole fall,
and I'm like this, I want to experience some time

(49:11):
with my kids. Want to coach them, hang out, be
a part of their lives. And so I chose to
do that and did different types of jobs for a while,
their experiment with other things, trying to figure out what
I wanted to do. I loved coaching and loved being
around my family, you know, experimented with the real estate
company for a little while, and then you know, I realized,
maybe after three four years, that you know, I still

(49:32):
love football, you know, and so I got into broadcasting.
I called the Broncos games for five years. That got
me the Thring, which is kind of cool. This is
a media ring, but the silly ring. I did that.
But I always love football. So I ran football camps.
I've been doing it since the nineties. And we run
camps for elite players. We run camps for boys and

(49:52):
girls that have never played before. For ten years, I
did a dare to Play football camp for young adults
with Down syndrome. And it's just a way to bring
people together through the sport of football, yes and uh,
and let them have that experience. I didn't go to
a lot of football camps when I was a kid,
and I wish I did, and so I try to
teach them the things that I wish I could have
learned when I was young. So in addition to teaching them,

(50:13):
you know, linear speed mechanics and change your direction and
sports performance, we obviously teach them football. We're a non
padded camp, so nobody's going to get hurt or get hit,
and we bring in former players to talk to them
about life, and uh, that's probably the most fun they
have when the former players come in and talk to
them and they get to ask them questions. But you know,
it's just it's football, family and fun is what it's

(50:33):
all about. And then you know, I coached at high school,
had a lot of fun coaching in high school. The
high school coach stepped away and uh took a job
somewhere else. So I stepped in for a couple of
years and had so much fun coaching high school football.
And we did we did well, you know, we want
to We went undefeated when a state championship had a
lot of funds. Thank you the ring.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Just all I do was lay and win, win, no
matter what.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
That was a really good experience. And some of the
players that I coach are in the NFL now, which
is even more name one, Roger Rosengarten start and right
tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. Let's go right. My son
Luke plays for the Washington Anders. There's a couple others
that are still in college that might get a shot.
Drake Nugent made the practice squad coach him in Little League.
He's on the forty nine ers practice squad, played center

(51:19):
win a national championship in Michigan. So for me as
a coach, the most rewarding thing you can experience is
that being able to create a bond with another human
a player that you coach, that goes on that has
success and they earned everything on their own, but just
being able to witness them grow and mature and develop
and have success of their own, it creates those bonds.

(51:41):
So there's like people that coached me and we still
have those connections, and there's people that I coach. So
the time frame is like thirty forty years of young
people that play football that are now my kids age
that are in the NFL, and coaches that coach me
that had retired twenty years ago, and it's just such
an incredible family, you know how it is. It's like
a family. You guys have so many people you know

(52:03):
that you would run into today. You might not have
seen them in ten years, but you have that shared experience.
That's what it's like being a coach. That's the most
rewarding part of being a coach. But I did that
for a couple of years, then did at the collegiate
level for a couple of years. Elijah Dotson's a guy
got to coach who is in Atlanta now, is a
running back and he was with the Chargers for a while.
Just a great human being and such a hard worker

(52:25):
and has literally worked his way. He's physically gifted, but
worked his way into being an NFL player. And you know,
it just feels so good to have had some kind
of small part in their development. But then, you know,
as of a couple of years ago, I retired, and
I love going. I still love going to watch my
kids play. You know how it is like you have
when you get all emotional watching your daughter. Man, I

(52:45):
get that way too. I have no control over what's
going to happen. I can't have any effect on the game.
I'm not coaching them. I don't even know. You know,
I watched their film, but I don't know what they're
installed in terms of their plays. But there's still my kids,
So I'm still watching them like they're playing Little League,
and I like going to their games, so because I
like coaching too. But I watch all the film. I
watch all the Commanders film, I watch all the forty

(53:06):
nine ers film. My oldest son, Max, coaches at Miami.
I watch their film and I get to talk to
them about football, which is cool. So I get my
football fixed that way. And I do a show on
series x MNFL Radio, so I get to follow all
the NFL games and watch them. So that's my football fix.
But professionally, you know, I had a brand of food
products that I launched in the nineties, Okay, Spicy brown mustard,

(53:29):
Horse Radish SoC the McCaffrey's Rocky Mountain mustard, and it's
been it's been selling since the nineties. But I have
a really good business partner who basically ran the company.
So we came up with our food products and over
the years we had a cereal, we had mac and cheese.
But when you're a player, you know you're you're leveraging
off your popularity and your success at the time. But

(53:50):
the reason the mustard has sold for over twenty five
years is this a really good quality product. Our manufacturers
we're in business making mustard for over one hundred years,
and their generational family, and they make a really good product.
So people buy it. Now they know me either as
Christian or Luke's dad. At this point or the mustard guy.
But recently, you know, I really wanted to learn more

(54:10):
about the business. So I'm learning about how we manufacture
our products. I'm learning about shipping and margining and the
retailers that we deal with, and warehousing and just everything
about the business. And so once I kind of took
over the mustard business for about a year when my
business partner had a step aside, he ended up, as

(54:30):
fate would have it, healing up. He had a health issue,
healing up and came back, and I hired him back
to help me run our mustard company. And we got
along so well, and I was putting so much more
time into it learning this new business that we decided
to launch another product, and we just this week launched
McCaffrey Protein Bites. So you can find it on McCaffrey

(54:53):
brands dot com and it's man, I hope you try some.
I think you'll like them. But it's a super healthy,
not a gluten free on GMO snack that you can eat.
So you guys, know when you were you guys are
still in pretty good shape. By the way. I'm definitely
so number one has to taste good. That's the one
thing You guys have probably tried every bar and supplement

(55:14):
out there, and so many of them taste like cardboard
or the heel of your shoe, and you're like, I
know it's healthy, but I can't eat this, I can't
do it right, and you can't carry around like I
talked to some NFL players. They have chefs, right, I
didn't have a chef when I played me either, but
they had like topperware full of chicken cubes and the
chef makes them all this food. If you can do that, great,
do that. But most of us, it's like, we're not
going to have a chef make us food to carry

(55:36):
with us throughout the day. So how can you come
up with a healthy snack that's good for everybody? For
your daughter, for you, for your kids. Right, they can
eat it. It's super healthy for you, and it has
protein in it, and a lot of even kids don't
get enough protein. Your protein levels are based off your
activity level and your weight for the most part. But
they're delicious. They had to taste good. So chocolate chip, cookie, dough, fudge, brownie,

(56:00):
birthday cake, birthday it tastes like a treat, But are
they they're good for you? So I mean I started
at mustard. I started using spicy brown mustard because I
used to eat super healthy like turkey sandwiches every day,
non fat turkey burgers, chicken, and after a while you're
eating the same thing all the time and it's getting bland.
I'm like, I got to do something to add some
flavor to this healthy food. So the mustard was all

(56:21):
about making good food taste better and making healthy food
taste better. And the protein bites are about creating a
healthy snack for everybody. So these are for kids that
play Little League, They're for moms in the car driving carpool.
They're for you know, athletes, pro athletes who want something
like twenty minutes before a game. It's like, look, pregame

(56:41):
meal was too long ago. I'm a little bit hungry.
I need a little bit of fuel easily digestible. You
can have them as a halftime snack right after a
game to get some protein intakes so you recover better.
So they're really for everybody. It took it took like
over a year to come up with something that tasted
good because the more protein you add, the more it
affects the taste, and you don't want to put cane
sugar in there, or unhealthy ingredients or preservatives. So to

(57:02):
come up with a super healthy snack that tastes great
that everybody enjoys was not easy. There was a lot
of people involved with being able to put this product
out to market. But I'm really proud of it. I'm
really excited about it, and thank you for mentioning I'm excited.
Cano Yes, they're yours. Ok, Okay, they are yours and
anybody right now. They're online at McCaffrey Browns dot com.
But we're going to be in Dick's Sporting Goods, and

(57:22):
we're going to be in Shields, and we're going to
be in Kroger Shorgers, which is King Supers in Colorado
with Shields. Yeah. It's a really big outfit in the
Midwest mostly. Yeah. But they have food, they have athletic equipment. Yeah,
and they're probably I want to say there's twenty seven
of them. Yeah, but they're really giant superstores located mostly
in the Midwest.

Speaker 6 (57:43):
We're going to take a short break and we'll be
right back.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Life looks like it has been treating you well. You
look like you have so much joy as this question
to a lot of our guests that hold, hold I want.

Speaker 4 (58:03):
I got it.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
I gotta get this question before you.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Why is it that I asked questions that you always
I never interrupt you.

Speaker 4 (58:11):
I never.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
I just let you go.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
You do not know to read this.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
And I don't want to go.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
You guys been doing the show together. Man like he twenty.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Years all the time, step so my I never step
on his shoes, never step on it.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
He's not lying, he's noting. He teks my questions.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
I let it ride.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
I flow with it, trying to be the good teammate,
trying to be selfless, just trying to just hey, I
want it for him.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
I want him to shine.

Speaker 4 (58:37):
Let him get his reps, and.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
Then I will come up with this dope ask question
the way I phrase it, I'm thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
I just like I.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Got my inner Oprah Winfrey in me, and I'm just
like I can say this thing.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
And he's like, no, we're not doing I'm like, it's
going to a question, man, ask your question. I quit
because I quit.

Speaker 5 (58:56):
I think this is one of it's going to be
the second best question and you're gonna get because I
think the one that Peanut has in the story is
going to be.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Off the charts.

Speaker 5 (59:05):
But as a father, your son Christian, I've heard him
talk about different ways how you helped raise him from
let me write him down, from telling him that squinting
during the day was wasting energy, so he don't squint
in the sun, okay, wearing jeans too heavy on your legs, son,

(59:27):
Like I need you to be more comfortable on game day, getting.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
Ivs in the middle of the day.

Speaker 5 (59:33):
The workouts we know about the workouts, the linear running,
all these other things that you were very, very in
tune with, bedtime seven point thirty, strict, ready to go,
no phone, get it, all of these things like going
into as being a father and being impactful, all those things.

(59:54):
Despite all that, he says, the best thing that you
ever taught him was how to handle at the mentality,
the mental toughness that you instilled in him as a
young man. How do you do that in today's generation
for like my son, how do you continue these trends
and teach our young people this? Because I think for

(01:00:14):
me that is the real superpower that you instilled in
your children.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
Yeah. Well, the news of my parenting is greatly exaggerated.
I'll say that about Christian. First of all, I don't think.
I don't think they were home from practice a seven
point thirty. But look, you know I've learned over the years.
You know, I'm not for everybody. I probably you know,
not every kid probably would have resonated with my parenting style.
I'm not afraid to admit that. You know, I got
the reputation as being one of the more strict parents,

(01:00:41):
but I loved my kids and I wanted them to
grow up as good people who respected other people, who
did things the right way. And so, you know, some
of the I don't remember the squinting thing. I know
he mentioned that, And if I knew that he was
going to repeat everything I said, I might have been
more careful with what I told him.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
But it worked.

Speaker 4 (01:00:59):
But yeah, you know, he was. He's a he's a
great come lucky I mean he was. He's a great kid.
He's a student of life, not just of the game.
And he is a super hard worker who always wants
to be the best. He's very conscientious of other people.
He really cares what other people think, and he's such
a loyal friend and teammate. So he was he made
it pretty easy to raise him, honestly, but I did

(01:01:21):
want the best for him. So whatever knowledge I had
I tried to share with him, was I write all
the time? Probably not. As parents, we try our best. Man,
I'm sure we're going to mess up, right, and I'm
no different. And kids will be quick to point it
out if you messed up too. They will. They'll grow
up old enough to remember and then remind you about
what you said and did. But you know, I want

(01:01:41):
him to be his best. The the IV thing. I
do have an interesting story about the IV thing. So
there was one game, like in high school, he didn't
come off the field. So it's offense, defense, and special teams,
so you know you're playing the whole game. And there
was a couple of night games where you know how
you remember high school. You go to school, you're in
school all day, stand on your feet, go into class,
you never go then you probably don't eat right and

(01:02:02):
you're probably dehydrated. It's hot in the beginning of the
summer when you play your first game, and then you
go out and play a game on Friday night. And
so I remember him cramping up one game and he
had to come out of the game for cramping up.
And it's not surprising. He probably didn't really have a
real dinner or drink enough flewis during the day. So
I'm like, okay, only on night games, we should probably get,
you know, give you an IV. And he took an

(01:02:22):
IV before one of his night games and played out
of this world, and so you know how that is
too psychologically. You're like, okay, I got the IV and
had one of the best games of my career. And
so in the beginning it was only for night games.
But then after a while, you know, he's like, hey,
maybe I should get an IV for this big game
that's on a Saturday afternoon. And even though I wasn't

(01:02:45):
sure he needed it, I'm not going to step in
the way of somebody thinking that it's going to help him. You're, yeah,
so he would get the IV, but you know, the
placebo effect is a real deal too. I do think
ivs help you, especially in hot weather. But if you
think they help you, they definitely help. So there was
this one game at the end of the year, there
was a state championship game, and I didn't you probably

(01:03:05):
didn't need an IV for that game because it was
on a Saturday and it was not that hot out.
It was cold at the end of the year in Colorado,
but he wanted to get it and I'm not about
to not get him the IV before a state championship game.
But normally we go to a doctor's office to get
the IV in a controlled setting, but the doctor was
out of town, so like, we got to get an
IV somewhere. Nowadays, there's ivs, like in a mall. You

(01:03:26):
can get ivs anywhere. They'll come to your house. But
back then, you know, you still had to look for
place to get an IV. So we just go to
like a nurse practitioner's office in a strip mall to
get an IV and it's just sailing solution. It's nothing special,
and they go to give it to him and I'm
like on my phone, not paying attention. It's pretty routine.
Just get the IV in. Let's get out of here.
And he's like, hey, Dad. I look over and his

(01:03:49):
arm is swelling up like a bubble because they they
didn't hit the veane when they put the IV in,
and it was just fluid going under his skin. So
I'm like, oh my gosh. So I call the nurse
practitioner and she runs and takes out. It's like, don't
worry about I'm panicking because I'm like, they have a
state championship in a few hours. And she starts pushing,
pushing down on it to get the fluid out of there,

(01:04:10):
and uh, and so I'm thinking it'll be all right,
don't worry about it. And meantime, I'm panicking a little bit.
I'm like, I've never seen that happen before, but he's
gonna be okay. She says, it's fine, it's just fluid.
It'll it'll dissolve or evaporate. And so then she goes
to do it again, and this time she hits the
vein and I kid you not, blood squirted up to
the ceiling. I don't know what happened, but she hit
it in a way. And now I'm really starting to panic,

(01:04:31):
and so eventually I'm like, you know what, we're good.
It's good, you know, uh, you know, we're good. We're
just gonna leave, no big deal, thanks for trying. And
we leave, and you know, he's flush because he's like,
what just happened? Blood squirted up to the ceiling. Put
a band aid on there, start walking out to the car,
and I'm like, you know, what man, it's it's it's
you know, Gatorade's fine. Just drink drink some Power Aid

(01:04:53):
or some gatorade and you'll be fine. And and he's
like that he looks at me. Then what have I
been getting these high feats all the time? But I
didn't know what else to say. Anyway, you had a
great game, long story short, but I was panicking. I
started thinking, I really have a big time parent fail
going on right now if this affects him in this game.
But he played fine anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
You try to keep him calm. He's like, oh my god, Yeah,
I probably would have did the same thing.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
Yeah, when you're a parent, you got to keep calm
even though absolutely freaking out on the Absolutely they can't.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
They can't let the kids see a sweat.

Speaker 4 (01:05:27):
Yeah. And also, like you get into a routine, and
there are things that are beneficial. Like my wife Lisa
used to always mix up some form of like power
Aid and coconut water and like mix it up and
she'd make this healthy drink form and she'd run it
down to him on the sideline and they'd drink it
and they'd feel good. So, I mean, the hydration is
a real thing. You gotta stay hydrated, especially when it's hot.

(01:05:47):
But there's also something to your routine. I don't know,
did you guys probably had a routine, right, There's certain
things she did before every game, and so I think
those things matter, like if for no other reason than
to have you mentally clear and feeling confident that this
is my routine. Right, what was your routine?

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
I didn't. I didn't eat before games.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
I would eat a really big meal before, like crazy
pasta the night before. Then I'd wake up super early.
I would listen to my audiobook of Earl Nightingale and
it talked about like mental toughness, and then I would
sit there and visualize myself punching out footballs or whatever,
and then I would I would walk over to the stadium.
I'd get over there super early, and then I would

(01:06:26):
get this, you know, get taped by the same person,
and I'd wait for Lance Briggs to come and we'd
go do our routine, and then someone would help me
put my pads on, and I would go in my
little corner and just meditate and pray and on the field,
and I just, yeah, that was kind of like my
my thing.

Speaker 4 (01:06:43):
I know, you had a routine too.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
I did.

Speaker 5 (01:06:45):
I definitely ate before the game. But I learned early
in my career that cramping is unprofessional because you truly
can prevent it, yeah, if you just drink and do
the right things. So I was always extremely hydrated. My
to my routine was listening to the same same music,
which was can we talk about Tevin Campbell?

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
Great song?

Speaker 5 (01:07:08):
Great song, great, it doesn't get a lot of people
fired up, but written my baby, it is my jam.

Speaker 3 (01:07:15):
That was my jam. That yeah, that was my jam.

Speaker 4 (01:07:18):
And then.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
One one toward all. One must relax a couple of
sparks to get.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
You Yeah, yeah, I forgot to the old school, you know,
old school turn off.

Speaker 5 (01:07:33):
One must relaxed within a couple of sparks. That makes
your offset the downs with the ups.

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Did you did you eat the same way when you
were like a rookie as you did later in your career.
No more nervous when you're younger, right.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
Yeah, yeah, way more nervous. But by the time I
was older, I had it all Like I'm good. I
knew it. I had a system. I had a system.
I trusted it.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
But it's like you said, the more and more you
do these things you actually start getting more maniacal about it.
You know, you lay your jersey out the same way
you do these starts to get a little bit repetitive.
We're nowhere near as bad as baseball players.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
But but it helps with your mental though.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
Yeah, I think it does.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Helps you settle down and get to a place of
calmness and ready to go to battle.

Speaker 4 (01:08:13):
Yeah, And it's less decisions you have to make. Yes, right,
It's like I already know what I'm doing game to day.
I don't even have to think about it. No new decisions.
I'm gonna eat the same thing, dress the same way,
go through the same routine, and that's just less things
to think about, so you can focus on the game.
But eating is a big issue. I remember we used
to have so many offensive linemen that would be puken
before the game, Like a lot of the young guys, especially,
they get so nervous and they eat a lot, you know,

(01:08:35):
the guys that have to try to maintain their weight,
and they would always get sick before games. And then
it's funny because some of the same guys four or
five years later weren't getting sick anymore. But in the
beginning they get really nervous, and it's difficult to eat
the right amount and the right foods and not have
it upset your stomach. It's honestly one of the main
reasons I came up with these protein bites, because like

(01:08:55):
when you're playing sports, it's hard to eat steak and
eggs too soon before a football game and go out
and play and have it not sit in your stomach.
At the same time, you need fuel. Yes, you know
it's hard. You get hypoglycemic, you run out of energy,
and you want to perform at your best. So how
do you eat something that's easily digestible and not a
bonk or run out of energy and still perform at
a high level. But I used to lean towards what

(01:09:17):
you did. I couldn't eat too much before a game,
but I remember, like about halftime, I'm like, man, I
got a I got to eat something, but I wanted
to feel light, going back to wanting to feel light,
but at the same time, I didn't want to run
out of energy. So it was a real challenge. So
you know, I learned over time to start eating a
bite or two of a bar or something that I
could digest without feeling sick. I saw Jerry Rice one
time eat a hot dog at halftime, Like, how's he

(01:09:38):
eating a hot dog at halftime and then going out
and catching I think he set a record that he
caught a touchdown against the Raiders. It was some kind
of record, he said a lot of them, and I'm like,
he just ate a hot dog at halftime, then went
out and caught a touchdown and set some kind of record.
How does he do it? But then that's another thing
I learned from him. I'm like, look, I'm not gonna
eat a hot dog. I'll puke, but I'm gonna I
got to eat something at halftime because it's it's a

(01:10:00):
long three and a half hour game. That's a long time.
Your pregame meal a couple hours before the game. You're
going five, six, seven hours with no food, and you
can do it, but it's just it's just hard. So
I found it it's better if you can. And some
people do lick. You might have drinken a liquid. Yeah,
gave you some calories which is easier to digest, right,
and so uh, but I think for athletes, staying properly fueled,

(01:10:21):
properly hydrated is so incredibly important and those are things
you can control.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Yeah, so my last question, don't step on my toes. Uh,
here we go, mister Harper. You've had tremendous success.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
On the field, off the field, family product, Mustard, the bites,
the protein bites. Who is on your personal Mount Rushmore?

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
And you get to pick four?

Speaker 4 (01:10:48):
Oh wow, I got to pick a Mount Rushmore.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
You got to pick a personal mount mount Rushmore.

Speaker 4 (01:10:52):
Oh man, my personal Mount Rushmore are my four kids, Man, Max, Christian,
Dylan and Luke. That's my Mount Rushmore. Those are the
people that I love and the matter to me. But
I mean, I played with so many Hall of Famers
and good players.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
It's tough. It's tough.

Speaker 4 (01:11:05):
Yeah, just only pick four? Yeah, it's tough because then
I'll make enemies of some of my really good friends
if they don't make it. Oh. You know one that
you'll never argue with is John Elway. He belongs on there, right,
And then I've played with so many other Hall of
Famers just on the Broncos alone. But I'll say one
that no one will argue with, John Elway is a
Mount Rushmore. He's the greatest ever Bronco'd ever play the game,
greatest quarterback I had so much fun with him. He's

(01:11:27):
a great person and was obviously a legendary football player.
Yeah that's all we got.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
Yeah, Yeah, appreciate you man, no doubt on the podcast.
Thank you for having again, it's a great deal. Yeah,
from just talking and asking these questions, and yeah, you
blessed us. I appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:47):
We Yeah, I appreciate it. Well, you guys had phenomenal careers.
I watched you guys play a lot of football games, Man,
and you guys played it the right way. So it's
a real honor for me to be sitting down here.
And I still have that teach tape.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
I'm sure.

Speaker 4 (01:11:57):
I'm sure many people have set you that teach tape.

Speaker 5 (01:12:00):
Like I said before, he travels, so if you ever
need him to come on out, we can put him
on a plane for you too.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
That's easily done.

Speaker 5 (01:12:07):
And Ed Man, thanks so much. Man, always been such
a big fan of yours. Everything you've been able to
do as a career on and off the field, in
what you continue to bless the world with. Man, thank
you so much for coming and spending your time in
your day with us. We really really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
So thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:21):
It's an honor.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Thank you, no doubt, man, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
All right, Well, first of all, me and Peanut want
to thank all of our listeners and everybody that views
us wherever you're picking up your podcast, where the Apple podcasts,
our Heart Radio app continue to give us shout outs,
give us five star rating, give us review, leave a comment,
make sure you subscribe.

Speaker 1 (01:12:38):
Like, share a follow.

Speaker 4 (01:12:40):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:12:40):
Tell a friend, yeah, and tell a friend to tell
a friend to tell a friend. Appreciate that it and
thank you guys for always having us.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
Peanut, get us out of here. Dollar don't forget.

Speaker 1 (01:12:48):
You can watch us on our NFL YouTube page.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
It's the new money.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
I got you.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
That's see, I got you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
That's why I'm here. Yeah, I'll be robbing this time.

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
Thank you man, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Look, we appreciate you'all tuning in. I'm Peanut Tillman.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
That's from a Harper, White, Lightning and McCaffrey. We appreciate,
we appreciate y'all tuning in.

Speaker 3 (01:13:05):
Thanks HM

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Charles “Peanut” Tillman

Roman Harper

Popular Podcasts

True Crime Tonight

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

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

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ed McCaffrey talks pregame superstitions, lessons from Jerry Rice, and the play that still replays in his mind