R&B: RGIII's future & the Combine experience

Mike and Nate discuss what the future holds for Robert Griffin III and their experiences at the NFL Scouting Combine. Plus, the guys on the legacies of Marshawn Lynch and Calvin Johnson.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, this is Dan Hansis alongside Chris Westling, hey man,
Mark Sessler, and the Boss Greg Rosenthal. Where they around
the NFL podcast. Check us out three times a week
as we discussed the latest NFL news as it happened,
always of course with a touch of mirth. Subscribe at
NFL dot com, Slash Podcasts, iTunes and Stitcher. What's good.

(00:25):
This is Nate Burlison, I'm Real Mike Rob and this
is the R and B Podcast. Yeah, oh yeah, well
I had a whole day now I'm really trying to
go out dressed up for going down. Baby. I got

(00:53):
some staffs and all some real players. Super SPISSI fast
for your chat. This game go down as analyze the winners.
Might show my name out because you're bad. Job show
a season long, all season long, even in the off season.

(01:18):
We're here. Welcome to the R and B Podcast. I
got my man, my main man, back in the building.
Real Mike Rob is back on your favorite podcast. This
is the one to punch everybody wants. This is what
we do. This is like Mattheo Red. This is like

(01:38):
your favorite sports podcast meets the Rock Wilet. I know
you remember that beat. Come on man, you know, I
know the on that was. That was one of the
coldest beats. Hey, alright, so Mike, what's up? Man? How
you been I wouldn't say like it's good to see you,
but Bro, it's been too long. You're like a brother
to me. So where you been at? Bro? I know, Man,
I'm back in v A. Man. I had to get
some health things straight. Man. You know, this game played

(02:00):
a real physical position in this game. Um doesn't leave us,
That doesn't leave any of us without something got to
deal with when we're all done. Man, But I'm back.
I'll be back in a few weeks to be back
in studio. Man, get this thing going. Bro, how are
you feeling good? You're good? I'm good man, I'm turned up. Okay, Hey,
well what well? Speaking of turns up, I'm glad you
could join us via Skype. Coming up on today's show,

(02:22):
we got r G three. We gotta talk about his future. Um,
we're gonna talk Marshawn Lynch and Calvin Johnson, you know, retirement.
I haven't talked to you since mars Shawn Lynch hung
them cleats up, literally sent out a tweet UM and
posted the deuces. So we gotta talk about that. We're
gonna share some stories about the two guys. Uh. We're
gonna talk about the combine, the NFL combine, how it

(02:45):
is now versus how it was when we were in it, um,
and we're gonna share our stories. And we're also gonna
talk about the grunk party cruise. We gotta address it, man,
Like me and TV was just talking and there's really
some some stuff we gotta talk about when it comes
to grounding this party cruise. All positive from my perspective,
but I think the perception of what uh, we'll get

(03:07):
to it. Let me let me stop right now, alright,
so listen, don't let it out too fast. Yeah, you're right,
all right. So as always remember subscribe on iTunes, Um.
You gotta go check out the podcast anywhere you can
get it. Check out our YouTube. We're about to make
this all visual. Like we said in the beginning, it's
not just a podcast, it's a show. It's not just
a show, it's a movie. So beat the whole episode

(03:28):
on YouTube. Man, this is what we do. Let's get
it and I'm ready to get into it. Nate. You
know me, man? Oh you got that fire? Huh fire
you rubbing your hands like bird man. Hey, okay, yeah, yeah,
that's that. Yeah, okay, I see what TV been doing

(03:51):
on this week. Off that that that life for Pablo
came out and he wanna he want to get back on. Okay,
So he's been inspired. He's grabbing these beats out the crates.
I like that one. See he's starting off this show
on fire right now. Alright, Mike, so let's jump right
into it. Man, what would you like to see for

(04:12):
the future of r G three. Oh? Well, first and foremost, Man,
when you talk about r G three, you have to
talk about the person, because you know, he came in.
He was so hyped up, um and I feel like
this year may have humbled him. Well, I hope it's
humbled him enough as to where he can go to
another team man, and and and and flourish from from

(04:35):
the people. I know what the Washington Ridskins, whether you're
talking about players or management, he just he wasn't what
you would call a football player. And I say that
by doing things like, you know, going in the weight room,
and and and and maybe you have some linemen listening
to their music, he just cuts it off and puts
on his music. Without even saying anything. He's the youngest

(04:56):
guy in there, you know what I mean, you can't
do that. And when you go to teams and you
don't teams, it's you know, it's a respect thing and
you don't disrespect people, especially when you're the quarterback when
everybody is fighting um to make sure you look good.
So I hopefully this year has humbled him enough and
he can go to another team man, and uh, you know,
show his skills, because the guy does have a unique

(05:17):
skill set, Like he just has to be humble. Because before, man,
all we all we saw r G three was was
talking about himself. Man. Now now you're you're talking about
being humbled and him not having a season that he
wanted this past year. But he did have one of
the most captivating rookie years. He he really got everybody
on board with this new train of thought that r

(05:39):
G three is the next generation. His rookie year, he
didn't just win over the Washington Redskins fan base, he
went over everybody. So my question is, when it comes
to r G three, how much of that rookie season
can he lean on and take with him to the
next level or or is that over or is it.

(06:00):
Did he bury that and say I need to start
a new It depends, man, It depends on the coach
who coaches, and it depends on the system. Will r
G three ever be a guy who's gonna drop back
thirty five forty times straight, drop back five seven nine
step drop and just beat you from the pocket. No,
I don't think that's his skill set, A definitive no.
You're saying the definitive No. He cannot be. He cannot

(06:22):
be a traditional drop back quarterback. I do not think
that's him. I think you manage him. I think you
also have to teach this guy how to slide. You
have to teach this guy how to protect himself. And again,
all of that goes with humility. Trust me, Nate, I've
been there. I've been in the pocket. I've dropped back
and been the fastest guy on the field. I've dropped
back and knowing that I can get away from everybody.
It takes a certain discipline to to be to be

(06:45):
that type of a player, which I've seen r G
three not really half Okay, So so so I'm gonna
throw out three teams, right, and there's a ton of
teams that could possibly be a landing spot for RG three.
L A Rams Denver Broncos. And I'm gonna throw this
one out there, Dallas Cowboys, what would you like to
see RG three a matter of fact, let me put

(07:06):
Houston in there as well. Oh Houston. Well, I think
Houston and people, but people are gonna say I'm crazy.
I think Houston is gonna wait for Christian Hackenburger fall
in their lap and he's gonna be he maybe that
they want to start the next year. I don't know.
I think he's gonna fall into their lab. Um uh
r G three. I just read an article saying that
you know, the Dallas Cowboys are are saying that they

(07:29):
don't want them, and he's sitting the system doesn't fit
the way I look at it. I look at it
as Dallas probably has one of the best systems for him.
Why they want to outside inside zone scheme, they run
their ZWN scheme. Their scheme um can work just as
just as well from under center as in the shotgun,
which that's what r G three is used to doing.
It can look spread offense light. Now the passing concepts

(07:52):
they're gonna have to get with r G three and
make sure that he understands everything that they want to do.
But the run game and his threat to run obviously
teach them how to slide. But his threat to run
makes this run game interesting. And again, they don't have
a dominant back. I know you've got Drenmic fat news.
They do not have a dominant number one back right now, now,
all right, So because you're you are are a resident

(08:13):
former quarterback, I'm gonna give you some comparisons, and you
tell me the difference between r G three and these individuals.
And mind you let me preface by saying I'm not
comparing r G three to these guys. I'm gonna say
because they're also black, um comparing him to them because
they all have strong arms and they are athletic. It's
just so happened. These guys are African American quarterbacks r

(08:36):
G three and Cam Newton, r G three and Russell Wilson.
What's the difference between those guys? Well, obviously from a
physical standpoint, you talk about Cam Newton, r G three
is not six five. No, he's not gonna run through
a bunch of people. You see what you see in
the video right there. He's a speed guy. He's a
track guy. He wants to get going, he wants to
go straight line speed. I'm gonna compare him to somebody

(08:57):
I'm gonna pare I'm gonna compare him to Colin Kaepernick.
From that standing, I got you playing the football. Um,
when you're talking about Russell Wilson, he's I don't think
he's Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson. Obviously he's shorter, but Russell
Wilson will beat you from the pocket. Let's ax Mike
Nolan in twelve when he was the defensive coordinator for
for the Atlanta Falcons, when Russell through for over four

(09:18):
hundred yards, ken Russell throw from out of the pocket,
they made short, Russell stayed in the pocket and he said,
you know what, I'm gonna expose you for doing this. Um,
I just don't see r G three doing that. It's
for whatever reason. He doesn't see the entire field for
whatever reason. Again, like Capital, he just doesn't see the
entire field. Most of the most of the plays that

(09:39):
you're gonna see r G three be successful with his
rollouts like you see in the video, or him just
reading one half of the field. That's what he does.
That's what you have to do. You have to make
sure he's only reading one side because seeing the old
field is just too much for the kid. So, you know,
there's a saying that a zebra can't change his stripes.
So if r G three can't see the whole field,

(10:03):
he's now a young veteran. He isn't a young player anymore.
Is r G three who he's going to be for
the rest of his career? Is there room for improvement?
I mean, the question I'm trying to ask you is
how how does he rejuvenate his grit? Now? How does
he recreate himself? Can he recreate himself and be better?
Like as a receiver, I could go learn more routes,

(10:23):
I could, you know, take different tools from different receivers
and apply those to my game and be a better
receiver year eight than I was in year two. So
as a quarterback, is that possible for r G three
to go to a new team, recreate himself and be
a different quarterback than we've seen? Yes, Nate, and I
said I kind of alluded to it earlier when we
talked about the humility thing. You would see a different team,

(10:46):
you will see a different player. You see a different
um um success around r G three. If he if
he was more more humble, if he treat if if
he treated his teammates with the respect, if he if
if he brought all his teammates together, he truly was
the leader of a team. I don't know if he's
ever done that at the Washington Redskins that first year year, Nick,

(11:08):
you're absolutely right, spectacular season, spectacular season. But you look
at his coaching staff, look at those guys. I mean,
maybe he had one of the best coaches in um
tell me, don't don't let me forget right right now,
running game coach, Come on, Mike Shanahan and one of
the best run game coach of this game has ever
seen axtar resident or other running back to real Davis.

(11:30):
I'm telling you he kind of made r G three
his first year. You know, it's funny you talk about
the humility and him being injured in the things that
he had to go through. I did three preseason games
as a color commentator for the Detroit Lions. Detroit played
in Washington, and that was the game where he got
banged up and he was on the ground lane there

(11:52):
and what struck me was one the crowd, they didn't
they didn't, you know, hold their breath as if they
were concerned about his well being. They were almost happy
that he got hurt. Some fans were booing while he
was still on the ground. And then the second thing
that struck me was guys didn't rush to r G

(12:13):
three on the field. I'm talking about individuals in the
Washington Risk in his jersey didn't run to him and
check on him. Now, for me, like, that's what football
is all about as a brotherhood. Yeah, I just felt
like there was a disconnect between r G three and
and his teammates and then r G three in that
fan base, which is why I said early in the season,

(12:35):
r G three needs to be in a different jersey,
and everybody got all bent out of shape because they
thought I was taking a shot a him. I wasn't
saying that it's r G three's fault um or he's
the blame. I was just saying that he needs a
fresh start. So to your point, I agree with you, Mike.
There's a lot of things that r G three can
do differently. The question is will he learn from everything

(12:55):
that he's been through, because literally, in this short amount
of time, r G three has had the highs and
lows of the NFL career exactly, so so we'll see.
I think that that's gonna be one of the most interesting,
uh topics next year is where will he land and
what will he be doing when he lands there? Oh yeah,

(13:18):
yeah that? Um? What was that? What was about to
spend something? I I was thinking about it. You almost
went in my desk. On my desk, I got some
stuff written. But it might be it might be too

(13:39):
much for the show. I feel all right. So, um,
next topic retirement Now obviously us as TV personalities now
for the NFL network, Um, we have embraced that. Someone
else who has embraced it seems to be right now,
Marshawn Lynch. Another guy, Calvin Johnson, supposedly allegedly he is

(14:02):
it's said that he wants to retire. Um, so you
are the Lynch whisperer. So is he one done? And
if he is, like, what have you seen this last
year that aside from his words or that tweet or
that instagram of his cleats and him chucking the deuces?
What did you see this year that was the ultimate

(14:25):
sign that your boy is going to retire? Well? First
of all, I know I know what he goes through
each and every week as far as being one of
the best backs in the league, So I know his
body is beat up. UM. I also know he didn't
he didn't necessarily like to have surgeony. He didn't want
to get cut up on. That's not something that Beats
Mode has ever had to do. That's not something that

(14:47):
you know, that's not his a mo was being hurt
and being cut up on. Um through this past year man.
I you know, obviously since Norm Marshawn, I've seen him grow,
but really these past year year and a half, UM,
he's taken so many steps as far as maturity and
as far as um. UM. There's other businesses and and
and he's so bright. Man. People don't look at him

(15:07):
as a businessman, but this guy is so bright. He's
one of the best, one of the best. Brol I
give a little stupid After the Super Bowl last year,
people talked about all that media day stuff, and he
didn't want to talk this that. In the third I
went with him after media did he did about eighteen
other interviews. Okay, sat down with people. UM was very articulate,
talked to him, did everything that that they needed for him,

(15:29):
and he made about seven hundred thousand dollars that week.
We exactly, right, what are we here for? You know?
The the guy Um, he's just grown up so much
in his past year, Maye that doesn't necessarily do the
club thing as much as he used to do back
in the day. He's starting to talk about, you know,
family things and things like that. Man, So just hearing

(15:51):
him lets me know. Hearing him lets me know that
he was thinking about the end. I mean, he really
was made. But I tell you one thing he didn't
really like to be to be cut up on bro
Um the day he retired. Man, I'm in the car
FaceTime and him um out in San Francisco, and we
talked about that. He's like, Mike, you know what you
think is gonna happen? Man? What's uping? You know? We

(16:11):
think with the Seahawks. We had all discussions about that.
I can't let y'all know everything, okay, but we had
our discussions about that. We're seeing some footage of you
and you and Marshawn right now. That's my dog, right,
that's my brother man, And y'all can check out all
this stuff on YouTube. For the listeners and everybody watching
the podcast. After we got off the uh you know,
after we got off the FaceTime, I looked at my

(16:32):
wife and I said, baby, I think he's gonna be done. Um,
I don't know if I don't know when, but to me,
that sounds like a guy who is moving on. And
that's what you want. I mean selfishly, as a as
a football fan, as a running back, as a you know,
I want to see him play football, but as as
a as a you know, his brother, as a friend,

(16:53):
I want to see him move on and continue to
be successful in other things. Now, you mentioned that, uh,
you know, when he was in that Super Bowl a
couple of years ago and was what seemed like refusing
to talk to the media. That was the NFL, but
you said he went on to make you know, around
seven hundred thousand dollars that week, Um, with other interviews

(17:13):
and appearances. Right, So that leads me into my next question. Um,
there's been you know, articles and you know, conversation and
speculation about Marshawn and how he spends his finances. Word
on the street is that he hasn't spent any of
his contract money because his endorsement game is so heavy. Now,

(17:36):
obviously you don't have to put his numbers out there,
but can you share any validity that because Mike, that
is crazy for anybody that is listening and watching. It's
hard to get a check and deposit to check and
not touch the check. You gotta have a lot of
money in different streams of revenue coming in for you
not to touch your contract money. What what do you

(17:57):
what do you have to say about that? Well? What
I do a new about what I don't know about
my dog? Obviously I'm not in this pocketbook or anything
like that. But um, he is a beast when it
comes to the endorsement thing. He makes a lot of
money when it comes to endorsements. And the good thing
about Marshawn he's good to people, he really is. Man.
If he loves you, if he calls you a friend,

(18:18):
he's gonna always love you and call you a friend.
And and the city of Oakland always goes back there. Um,
they embrace him. Um, kind of like my city here
in Richmond, Virginia do for me. You know, they won't
allow they won't allow you to get in trouble. They
won't allow you to do anything bad. You know, they
want allow you to pay for any food. They want
to allow you to pay them when you're helping with

(18:38):
your football camp. So when you look at it like
that and you stay so close to your roots, man,
it looks to me it's pretty easy to come out
this game like this when you know because the community
that the community that's taken care of for so long
when you were young, continues to take care of you
as you grow over. What's your most memorable Marshawn lunch story? Oh,

(19:03):
I know there's a lot, right, I mean, we we've grown, man.
So I'm talking about the one that you can say
on the podcast that I can stay on the podcast,
but we keep it. We keep it all the way funky.
I mean we do we do that. That is facts. Listen,
all right, So all right, I'm gonna let you think

(19:24):
about that. We're gonna we're gonna talk about Calvin Johnson. Right,
So I'm trying not to say now I feel you
and I don't want you to because you you're gonna
get in your zone and then like you know, let's
just keep everything you know in a nice neat box. Okay,
let's get wrap this neatly for the podcast, so I'm
gonna do the same. So, you know, obviously there's stories

(19:44):
about Calvin Johnson retiring, and uh, you know, my good
feeling is that he's done. I literally to this day
have not asked him if he's retired. So so you
don't think he's just trying to trying to go to
another team. You don't think he's just trying to squeeze
the team, whether you know, give him more money, or
you think he's really truly done. I think he's really

(20:07):
truly done. Listen. Calvin is one of the most uh
humble stars no excuse me, humble superstars I've ever been around.
So um, you know, his mother is a doctor, his
father worked on the railroad. He has the perfect blend
of um ingenuity, intelligence and just blue color attitude. So

(20:27):
Calvin never cared about the money. It's crazy because we
were sitting and at these conversations about you know, million
dollar contracts and you know, private jets and you know
all this stuff, and Calvin would just sit back. He
would never say anything. He never talked about the watch
he was wearing or the shoes he had on. He

(20:47):
never talked about the next car he was buying, not
saying that he didn't spurge. But he didn't. He didn't
elevate these things, you know, in the importance that most
guys did. And I'm speaking up myself, like I love
material I do, I'm one of those guys Calvin never did.
So I say all that to say this, It's not
about the money. So if Calvin is talking about retiring,

(21:10):
it has nothing to do with how much he's gonna
get paid by the Detroit Lines. It has more to
do with how his body feels and how he wants
to feel as a grown man moving forward. Um. Now
there's a ton of things that I feel like coming
to play. I feel like him being emotionally fatigued, being
physically fatigued, Um, being tired in every definition of the word,

(21:33):
and having to get yourself up. Mike, you remember, towards
the end of our career, it took everything just for
us to get through twenty four hour day of practice week, right,
you know that? So imagine like Calvin Johnson, who's six
five to forty, you know, ligaments and tendons and strains
and pains and bumps and bruises, what he has to
do just to get up and be the best receiver

(21:56):
on the field. So, um, that's a lot of work.
So I feel like, let me let me ask you
this one thing. What's up? What is he gonna do?
Because you know, I look at I look at it.
I asked my fund is too, and we got into it.
He talked about his beast most story. He wants his
foundation to grow nationally. We're talking about some things about that.
But I don't know Calvin as well. Right, it's Kevin
going to do I mean the guys in his early thirties, right, Well,

(22:19):
he talked, he talked about what he talked about, Um,
you know, getting in the TV and that was briefly
when we're playing together. Um, he does have a degree
in engineering from Georgia Tech. So yeah, so to say
the least, my man could get a job anywhere, right,
you know what I'm saying. Um, And and I think
if he wants to go on that lane and work

(22:40):
for the rest of his life life, he can. But
you know we're talking numbers, right, Numbers don't lie. Calvin
has enough money to not do anything and to be honest,
like the c G. I know, he's a true introvert,
Like he's super chill, super relaxed, never gets too I
never gets too low. And that kind of helps me
get into this story about c J. So c J
never celebrated, he never danced, he never got mad. You know,

(23:02):
he was just one of them dudes. He would internalize
things and he would go out there and torch dudes
on the field. I remember we were playing the Denver
Broncos and he caught a screen and he's getting tackled
in the linebacker kind of bent him up and he's
kind of folded backwards, like almost in a pretzel position.
And I can tell it was a dirty hit and
they were trying to basically bend them backwards through their wits.

(23:24):
Through the whistle, Calvin gets back in the huddle. He's like, hey, yo, Nate,
let me get the slot. And I'm like, what do
you mean the slot? Like you know in the slot.
I'm in the slot. He's like, listen to run play, dude,
gave me a cheap shot. I'm about to put my
hands around this dude's neck, right and he was saying
these words. He's like, basically, I'm gonna go light, just
do that. And I'm looking at him like, man, you're

(23:44):
tripping right now. A whole different Calvin I've never seen.
He was just like, I'm just gonna put my hands now.
He he was basically like, I'm about to I'm about
the latest dude flat down because he wanted to get
in the slot. He knew he couldn't get to the
linebacker if he's on the outside. So me thinking this
is hilarious, I'm like, oh, hell yeah, bro go ahead
and getting the slot. We were in the run play.
I didn't even run around and block my dude. I'm

(24:06):
watching inside like, man, this dude, Calvin is really about
to go knock to do that, And he left his
feet and gave do that work. So for me, like
those moments right there, I was able to see like
the most passionate side of c J. And then I
was able to see every single day the most humble
side of c J. There's an another story that I
share often is we used had these cookouts. It was

(24:29):
a receiver, Marcus Harris, who would cook for me at
the crib because I told him, I was like, look,
you're young, dude, trying to make the team. You don't
need to pay rent. He was like, man, I need
to do something. Who did you say you made a
young guy cook at your house for you. Listen, listen,
you gotta you gotta hear the story. So now listen, listen, hey, listen. Man,
he was trying to make the team. He had no

(24:50):
place to stay. So I told him, I told him,
you don't have to pay rent, you don't have to
pay for grocery on to pay for nothing. He said,
I can cook. I said, bro, if you cook, you
ain't gotta worried about. So we had these cookouts. All
the receivers and c J come by, and to say
the least, like we're grown, we would have grown man drinks.
This is when the rock Peach came out, so we
would have bottles of the rock Peach right just lined
up and it was us. And it was during the

(25:12):
NBA basketball season, so we would cheer over the summer,
and you know, we would have these nights we're eating
great food, drinking, and the next night or the next day,
we would go in on our day off and say,
all right, let's go sweat this out. Let's go hop
in a sauna. So I remember one day we all
got to the facility early. We walked in dragging. Everybody's
moaning and groaning, and then the whole group everybody walks

(25:33):
to the sauna and Calvin walks the opposite direction, and
I'm like, yo, c J, where are you going? He said, Man,
we said we're gonna sweat this out. I'm like, yeah,
we're all about the hop a sauna. We're gonna sweat
out this liquor in this bad food, and then we're
gonna go back to training. He was like, yeah, I'm
gonna sweat it out my way. You can sweat it
out your way. So I'm like, what is he talking about?
I hopped in a sauna. I'm in there for five minutes.

(25:55):
Curiosity is killing me. I'm like, what is he talking about?
Like where did he go? Is he going in the
training room? Like he's about to get in the hot tub.
I look at the training room, He's not in there.
Look in the hot tub, he's not in there. I
walked to the weight room. He's on the treadmill and
not the regular treadmill. He's on the perpetual treadmill that
you move yourself and he's just getting it bro running
like sixteen miles an hour. And I'm looking at him like, yo,

(26:18):
this is crazy, Like this is why he's one of
the best to ever play the game is because his
mindset is if I'm gonna work, I'm gonna manually work.
There is no shortcuts. So that morning, even though it's small,
I looked at it like this. The whole receiving group
was trying to get this shortcut to break a sweat.
Calvin's like, Nah, I'm not gonna do it that way.

(26:40):
I'm about to go in this white room and get
this sweat out the real way. And that was like
one of the defining moments when I think about Calvin,
because that was him every single day he woke up
and work like he was a free agent. Yeah, he's
a Hall of Famer in my opinion. I know we
talked about him before, but nothing's changed. I would love
to see him play a few more years because when

(27:00):
you're getting double digits, then then it starts to really
take shape as far as like your career. But um, yeah,
he's all the famers. I mean with the amount, with
the amount of numbers and TVs and records that he
broke and will hold forever. Um, you have to keep
a consideration that c J was doing this versus double

(27:21):
and triple team and a lot of people say, well,
there's some Hall of famers that got better numbers, But yeah,
these Hall of famers weren't facing the same type of
coverage like I've seen this dude get vised up as
if he was a gunner on punch. He got two
dudes sitting there looking at him in his chest and
he's still getting open. I ain't seen this as Randy
Moss and that was the oh three O four. So
in my opinion, I feel like Calvin Johnson's Hall of Famer.

(27:43):
So let me ask you, Marshawn Lynch hall of Famer?
I think so, and I think so because he was
the heartbeat of a team that won a championship. I
mean not not many backs. Literally, Galvanizer's teams the whole
conference and everybody's be small, and we win a championship.

(28:05):
But then he leads him back to the super Bowl
the very next year, being down um in the playoffs
by the Green Bay Packers, and you just continue to
hand the football off and you win, you win the game.
I think with Marshawn, you're gonna have to do the
eye test. You can't look at the numbers. Obviously has
decent numbers, usually the ten thousand, ten thousand markets that
is the mark for Hall of Fame back Hall of

(28:26):
Fame running back season just short of that with a
little over nine thousand UM. But I don't know if
there's been a guy since Earl Campbell run with the aggressiveness,
the will, um, the heart that Marshawn has run with,
and if he doesn't get into the Hall of Fame,
maybe it would be a shame. Now speaking of that,
just a little side note for those listening. You said

(28:47):
Earl Campbell, who is a Hall of Famer. If you
look at the numbers, Marshawn Lynches numbers and Earl Campbell's
numbers are comparable. So if you if you're trying to
make that decision based off numbers, there's a guy that's
in there. Ocampbell is one of the best. But we
all know we had a guy to get your popcorn
ready who should have been That's true, That's true, And

(29:08):
you know there's there's a lot of there's a lot
of you know, gray area when it comes to Hall
of Fame. But you know it's not my decision to
be made. So now I gotta tee you up again
on that Marshawn Lynch story. I mean, I gave you
a little bit of time to think about it. Yeah
you did, man, But I'm gonna do I'm gonna do
my dogs and justice. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
take I'm not gonna say any of the crazy, super crazy.

(29:31):
You shouldn't. I had reservations about stories I was telling about.
I can't do that. Hey, it's guy code, it's football code.
It's the unridden rule we share. We Hey, we shared
that for the for the movie. Because we're gonna do
the R and B movie, We're gonna say that for
the movie exactly. Um, but I'll take the lighter side
of things, man. I mean, this guy used to literally

(29:54):
show up at my house and I would come down
the stairs and he'd beat there playing with my children,
and there for like five hours. And to see him
around kids, to see him just big. You know it's
tough running back baseball. To see him deal with your children,
to see him pick up my little girl. You know
what I mean? And and and you know, tell my

(30:15):
wife and I hate man, you'll can go to the movies.
I got what you kidd meed my something to leave
my kids with you. Are you kidding me? But that's
the type of guy he is. I mean he my
little boy, which, um my little boy was really really
young when I was in Seattle. He's about he's six now.
He faced times my little boy once a week still

(30:36):
to this day, and they talked all the time. Like
I'll come downstairs and they're just talking. I'm like, he
don't even answer the phone for me, but he asked
the phone for my little boys. That's awesome. That's type
of guy he is. Man, That's what's up? All right? So? Uh? TD,
you got something? Oh hey? Yeah, oh yeah, that's fine. Hey,

(31:09):
I'm you wanna beat? You gonna beat? Uh damn? Oh,
I hear that. I hear that in the background. Head Okay,
t D. He really inspired right now because I'm telling
you that Life of Pablo got him gassed up. That Hey,
that that TV album dropping two thousand seventeen, y'all think
I'm playing. He'd been in the lap cooking and stuff. Yeah,

(31:32):
Dug and Duck in the building. Hey. Hey, So so
let's talk about the combine, the scouting combine, the NFL combine.
I'm gonna take it back now further. Now you you
were a big time player in college and uh, you know,
even though you were one of the top players in
collegiate sports, getting that nod to be invited to the

(31:56):
Combine is still a big deal because it was for me,
like just to know I'm about to be amongst everybody,
everybody every What was your mindset going in and what
stood out to you at the Combine? Well, I hadn't
already known. I wasn't gonna work out. I knew I
wasn't gonna do any that talk to me why. My

(32:17):
agent told me said, Mike, look, um, you're one of
these guys. I know people want to see you throw,
people want to see you do all this, and that
I want to make sure the environment is perfect for
you to do everything that you want to do. So
I went into the combine basically saying, I'm gonna kill
all this psychological stuff. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
go all in for and obviously, you know, as you know, Nick,

(32:38):
you know, coach challenged me on it when I got
when I sat down with guys, guys like, oh, so
you're being a pump. Oh so you're scared just in
the third No, no, no, wait, wait, wait wait, we
ran we want for our listeners. Guys. Guys get invited
into basically these hotel rooms, right, you know, That's how
it was. And there's different teams and some guys they
talked to thirty two teams. Some guys they talked to

(32:59):
ten or two of teams. But, um, you you going
in and say, for example, the Atlanta Falcons called you in.
They might have the head coaching there, the office coordinator,
Devin's coordinator, the GM. It's a whole group of individuals
that work for these organizations and then they light you
up with questions just to see where you are a man.
They told they told me about a fight I had

(33:21):
in high school. Um that I didn't even remember. I
got into bro and all I told myself was and
I'm always like this. I'm still like this. Now you're
either gonna like me for who I am or you
ain't gonna like me at all. Right, So, yeah, I
got into the fight. Dude said this and I beat
him up. Simple was that they were excited because I

(33:42):
was honest with them. All. I think it was the
I think it might have been the Philadelphia Eagles at
the time. I think philadelph Eagles at the time, but
I remember um Bill Parcels. I forget which team, what
team he was with at the time, but he asked
He asked me some crazy questions. But he went from um,
my favorite pass play to my third grade teacher back

(34:06):
to this past play that he had me diagram and
I got and then he was like, Okay, it's over
and it's literally like three minutes. I said if, I said,
but so, you're not gonna that's that's it? What forty Niners.
I'm sitting there with North Turner, Mike Nolan, um, you know,
the entire brass to the forty Niners. I had no idea.

(34:27):
They liked me. We had to combine, you know. They
asked me if I wanted to drink. I said no, right,
and I thought that was I'm like, no, I don't
want to be um. But they beat me up. They
beat me up, and I'm like, why are y'all attacking
me like this? Right? I mean talking about you know,
like I did this, and you don't really know how
to throw the ball. You can't really you're not fast

(34:48):
enough to play running back. All your hands are suspect
this then the four then I get him at this
I had him at the See Your Bowl first, then
I get him at the Combine and then they drafted me.
Then they drafted me, and the whole time I after
I got drafted, I talked to Scott Cloran Mike Nolan.
He said, man, we we just wanted to see how
you're going to respond. And and that's it. It's truly
a test, right and it's it's one big test this

(35:09):
whole weekend. Like we show up and you check into
the hotel. Now I remember my agent and you know
the training facility where I was at in Arizona, a PI.
They kept saying, everybody's watching you. So just remember when
you're walking through the hotel, when you're getting lunch, when
you're getting everything, these guys are watching you. When you're

(35:29):
going from interview to interview. Um, when you're testing, everybody's
watching you. And you know I was different than you, Mike.
So I let the nation and receptions and yards, and
I'm thinking like maybe I don't need to work out.
But then they were saying, well, he might not be
good enough to play because he's playing in the Whack Conference.
So I'm thinking I'm about to work out. My agent
said well, you don't have to do everything. I said, Nah,
I'm about to do everything because I'm about the show.

(35:51):
I'm better than the majority of these receivers. So I
went in. I jumped the highest vertical forty two and
a half. And I remember Andre Johnson was in my
group and he wasn't gonna work out. Andre was the man, right,
so he's not doing anything, and I remember him looking
at my vertical like, I bet you I could jump higher.
I could see it in his eyes, like he was
looking at me like I know I could jump higher,

(36:11):
but he didn't jump. And then we did the broad
jump and I could leap. That's what I can do.
I could jump and I had a nice long broad jump.
I forget what it was, and I remember Andre john
that's my broad jump. Okay, there you go. So I
remember Andre Johnson looking during this whole thing, and he

(36:32):
he starts taking off his sweats and I'm like, what
is this dude doing? And I bet you in his
head he's like I can knock this out, like I'm
not gonna do any other things today, but I'm out
to jump. And I don't know what Andre Johnson jump.
Maybe you can look at up TV. But he pulled
his sweatpants off, jumped and that boy leapt I'm talking
about frog leap and I was like, damn, that boy

(36:54):
got house and and and then we did the way
in and uh, you know, I'm sitting there trying to
gain weight and I'm drinking at this nake. What up?
What was your vertical joke? My vertical was forty two
and a half. Andre was thirty nine. He did he
didn't jump in a combine though, I think that was
at his That was at his pro day. I got
two numbers from him. Yeah, I was ten six, ten six,

(37:19):
which is decent, right. Andre was like I can kill that,
and he jumped to leven and he put his sweat
back and like, yeah, I'm that guy. So but you
know what's crazy is, um, it was a meat market, Mike.
You remember, like I remember walking into the waves where
we're just in these mess shorts, no shirt, no socks,
and they take the length of our arms. They measure

(37:43):
from the bottom of our palm to the middle of
our the top of our middle finger. Um, and all
these people in the room just sitting there watching all
these coaches, Pin and Pad just whispering to each other,
and I thought that was the weirdest thing. And what
was funny is Andre gets up and Andre he's like
six four and I think he must have warned like

(38:04):
two thirty something. And I remember they were like Andre
Johnson six for whatever he was, and it was like
the rome exploded because they know how fast he is
and they know how good he is, but I don't
think everybody really understood how heavy he was. So they
was like, sure, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you
guys hear that. And I'm looking at these coaches like
what they pens today, pads, and I'm like, damn, this

(38:26):
was excite off Andre rightfully, so one of the best
receivers in my hera to do it. So um that
combine was a trip, man, it was. It was everything
I didn't expect it to be because I didn't know
that it was that serious. But the way that you
were talking about it, Mike, it puts it in perspective
that these guys are making an investment. They're going to
a store this is the biggest college store to buy

(38:49):
the NFL player of their dreams. So they're making the
proper investment of who they want to purchase and I
know it sounds kind of crazy, right because obviously being
African American, you talk about purchasing somebody, purchasing somebody, but
but you know, but I'm not making a correlation between
the two. But still though it's similar in the sense
that they are investing in their future as an organization

(39:11):
and they have to do everything within their right to
make the proper decision. And you were talking about it,
and I hope young people are listening to the podcast today. Man,
mad you talk about a weeklong process. You have some
people talk about your whatever the last year you were
in college. That whole year processes is kind of your interview. Man.
Your interview starts in the ninth grade. Your interview starts

(39:36):
in the ninth grade with you post on social media
fights you get into you think, who about post some
pictures and you're smoking this and that your your criminal record,
all that from a record that the third everything to you.
They have a literally have everything, not just your resume
and your stats and what you did on the field.

(39:58):
They have your record, every grade that you've got, every
test that you passed or field. They have everything. And
it's a trip because they will sit in that room
with stone cold faces and put the pressure on you
and I and I believe in my opinion, as I
was talking to these coaches, they were trying to see
how easily I handle these tough questions, how easily I

(40:22):
either exhale in this moment or I crack in this moment,
because that is almost an identification of who you are
as an athlete. So some of these dudes they got
in these meetings, and some of these coaches and gems
will tell you they absolutely bust because they can't handle
the pressure of the moment. And then they get on
the field, they can't handle the pressure of the moment.

(40:42):
And and and you hit it right on the head
and it's the pressure of the moment because it's like,
what were you doing the last few months? Any training
facility of America gives you an answers to the to
the to the written psychological testing, if you everything you
know exact the combine us surprised bro H, Not one

(41:03):
thing surprised me. I went down, I trained down to
tim down with Tom Shaw down there in Florida's Prime Train,
and when he came out right, there was nothing that
we weren't ready for. Man, we were ready for everything,
and actually you talk about way is Um. I wanted
to be as light as possible, right, So I came
down there like two seventeen to eight team, you know,
thinking I can show my lead quarterback, bill, maybe receiver whatever, right,

(41:26):
Um dude, they came into my room the night before,
um my first day and said, look, we gotta pee,
we got we gotta piss test um at four o'clock
in the morning, So don't use the restroom. Oh yeah,
I do remember that. And so Mike, let me let
me ask you going into the NFL, what did you

(41:48):
hope to be? What position did you hope to be?
Now I'm gonna get I'm gonna make this two parts,
after the combine and leaving college because it's two different mindsets.
Because you start to see after the combine, in the
whole process and people starting to judge and give you
your draft grade, you start to understand how you're perceived. Nate,

(42:09):
I wanted to get an NFL bro Um, But what
did you want to be? Bro? Like, there's an answer
like what did you want? Let me talk, Um. I
wanted to play quarterback, to be honestly, I wanted to
ball in my hands. Um, all the time. I think
we're starting to see it even more now. But when
I first got to the combined and see guys like
Vince Young, who I know that my offensive staff went

(42:31):
to Texas and we mimicked exactly what they did up
in Texas to see those guys, to be around some
of those moving to quarterback. I wanted to be a
quarterback coming out um, after my senior game, after my
last game in the Orange Bowl, I wanted to be
a quarterback. Then you talk about the process. I went
to the Senior Boat. They tell me, look like you're
playing quarterback. First two, first two practices of the Senior Bowl.

(42:51):
I'm throwing the ball. I'm, you know, doing my thing.
I obviously see them giving more past plays to Jay
Cutler and Charlie white Hurst and I'm getting all the
quarterback runs. But whatever, I'm doing my thing. And then
the third day they say, hey, go catch kicks, Hey
go pick up this Blitzer linebacker, Hey go try to
run a route on this corner. And I'm like, well,
I don't have any gloves. I'm like, so after this

(43:14):
he was out there raw dogging with no gloves. So
I'm on here, like, okay, they must think I can
do some other stuff. Okay, so let me let me
so after see why I went and worked on other
things when I had my pro day and combine and
all of that. Coming out of that whole process, I'm like, yo,
I just want to get drafted as high as I
possibly can. If the team wants me to play or

(43:36):
running back, I'm gonna do it. If the team wants
me to get in the slot, I'm gonna do it.
You want me to be the wedge buster on kickoff,
guess what, I'll be the best to ever do. So
do you think that the proper decision was made for
your career? That's one question? And then too, do you
think in two thousand sixteen, Michael Robinson comes out of

(43:56):
college second round, second round as as what as well? Quarterback? Oh? Quarterback?
So so times have changed, man, not, So let me
ask you when did they change or who changed it?
Because it wasn't that long ago that you got drafted, right, So, um,

(44:17):
I think I think you look just look at college
football that year, um, and I nate you and I've
talked about this all the time. The BCS quarterback winners
were myself, DJ Shockley, Vince Young and Pat White all
four mobile UM quarterbacks. UM, and Bevin Young is the
only one who gets the first round grade. Um uh.

(44:39):
But for me, uh, I think that's when it kind
of started, you know what I mean obviously seen mobile
quarterbacks from home before him, the Michael Vicks or whatever. Um,
but I think when you saw Vince Young in the league,
you start seeing some of these other guys in the
league starting with my It started with Michael Vick. But
once you started seeing the injection the early part of
the two thousands, think that's when it started to change.

(45:01):
I think that's when and now you're seeing teams say
we're just gonna put the put the best player at quarterback.
I mean, I mean that's what we're doing, right, all right,
putting the guy that that that can manage everything, that
can do anything. We're putting them at quarterback. So, UM,
to ask you a question coming out now, Yeah, out
of the second round pick at quarterback months death times

(45:21):
have changed, that's for sure. All right. So this is
the last topic before we uh, you know, in today's episode,
this was fun may yeah, and we got one more topic.
Let me get that beat though, t d oh. This
is like some this is like some rocket fella right here.
That um um, yeah, yeah, there's some jigger roger. Uh

(45:50):
oh that little right, there was fire that was fired.
T D. Hey, so let's talk about this last topic. Okay. Um, Gronk,
Rob Gronkowski had a party cruise. I don't know if
you've seen the clips that man was turned. The whole

(46:10):
thing was turned. I was watching these clips and I'm like, Yo,
that cruise looks live. I was talking to TV before
we started this episode, and TV was saying, how you know,
chicks were you know, basically an interview like why are
you here? And they just like, we're here to drink,
were to have, We're here to We're here to do

(46:31):
some great things, right, Um, you know we're here, you know,
meet Gronk quote unquote. So I'm like, yo, like that
is what's up? So let me ask you this now,
mind you. I love the fact that Gronk is having
a good time, and I love the fact he's branding himself.
This dude could have a party cruise for the next
thirty years. He could. He needs to strike a deal

(46:51):
with one of these cruise ship lines and and really
make an official right. So, um, the question is do
you think that he gets a pass for his chaos?
Because I remember last year, Lashawan he put out a
flyer talking about he's gonna have a party, and people
like what he put on a fire? What is he doing? Um?

(47:12):
There's certain individuals that do things during the year, do
things in off season, or you know, we hear where
oh some and so is in Vegas some and so
is doing this. Um, but Grunk is clearly like, look,
I'm out to have the wildest cruise party of all times.
I'm hiring Waka Flocker as one of the artists, and
we're gonna turn this thing up and nobody batsing on.

(47:34):
So do you think that do you think that he
gets a pass? Yeah, he gets a pass. You know
why he gets a pass because he's winning, huh straight up?
But you know, and also I think because he handles
his business on the field. I think it's more than
just him being with a winning organization and being identified
as a patriot. I think because he's so good at

(47:55):
what he does and he he handles it like, you
don't see Grunk messing up during the season. So like,
do what you do, whatever you want to do, bro Like,
but like this if Johnny Manzaire was winning and doing
his job, I wouldn't care what he was doing. You
couldn't convince me that what he was doing was wrong.
But but but but look at what I can't say
is and I'm not saying, I'm not taking anything away

(48:16):
from the tight end aside from the domestic violence. You're
right to my bad, Yeah, that's the next level. What
I can't say is the tight end position in the
quarterback you're talking. You use Johnny Manzil as an example.
I don't know if I would be comfortable on my
quarterback like this two terms. Yeah, I just don't know,

(48:37):
because because I do know the preparation at the time,
I do know what um perception is reality to a
lot of people. And your quarterback has to be I
ain't gole say you have to be a certain way,
but you have to show some show a certain level
of discipline and commitment. That's even even if he's winning

(48:59):
and doing his job at a high level. Like I know,
I know, I know quarterbacks and tight ends and all
the positions are different. But like Gronk is still a
professional athlete, and like nobody cares, I wouldn't care, Like
I think I see Gronk and I'm looking at him
when he's talking and interviews or he's showing clips of
your party now, and I think I would like to

(49:20):
have played with him because he is having the best
time ever. So why why is that different than the quarterback?
Because why is it different in the quarterback? Because the
job descriptions are different. And I think you know that.
You know that when I line up a tight end,
and obviously this is a hard position to have to
block God at the point of attack. The run routes

(49:42):
on the inside and things like that. But for the
most part, a guy like Blunk that fast, that big,
that's all that's strong. I'm not saying it's easy for him,
but he could wait, he can fall out of the
bed and beat a lot of guys in cops and
with that, and with that drinking on the on the boat,
he probably was falling out the bed somewhere. I hadn't

(50:04):
been on the cruise boat casually, so I know his
his party's turn. A matter of fact, we gotta do
an R and B episode from the Cruise Bowl next year.
I'm gonna put that into works right now. We will
be at the Grunk cruise boat next year playing simple man, Marcus,
what's up? Yeah, but we're gonna we're gonna get We're
gonna get him on it. Hey, so listen, man, Mike
rob is good to have you, man, uh somewhat in

(50:26):
the building. I appreciate you doing the interview via skype
with the twenty tho dollar outpack of rug behind you.
You got kids running in the background. I don't know what.
Don't get up. I saw I saw a kid running
in the background that you you you fishing right now,
like you really at home doing this for real. And

(50:47):
I must say, just from this small glimpse into your world,
I like the decor and I like the way that
it's set up in there. I don't know how much
you did with the interior decorating, but you laid up
right in there. Hey, man, we have a great wife
who has great style. You just leave it all to her.
That's true. We just we just cut the check right. Yeah,

(51:09):
and man, good to see you. Man. I know you're
gonna be back in l A. When you come back out, man,
we're gonna turn up. Hey, listen, man, that's it for
this week's show. That's the R and B Podcast. Remember
hit us up our a N D B hashtag that
I am Nate thirteen Brolson on Twitter. I'm real Mike
Rob on Twitter. Of course, you gotta shout out our
production team, reach out to my guy, um t D

(51:32):
the producer at my man, and then D'Angelo always in
the building. D'Angelo will be leaving us in a little bit,
so we gotta get d'angels info. That's my man, thug thug,
always doing this thing, and shout infinite for the dope intro. Man. Listen,
you gotta subscribe on iTunes, comment, retweet, Um, it's a
movement because you guys are listening and watching, and the
more you guys listening watch, the bigger it's gonna be.

(51:53):
And I promise you this will be a show and
it's gonna be the best one out t D. Let
me get something on the outro. Um. Okay, okay, yes,
you know, hey, we gotta go. We gotta meeting for
t A. I appreciate you Mike joining us from v A.

(52:16):
I like the house. Yeah, you're in the house on
the East coast, not the South. But that's what it's
all about. It's the R and B show. We always
live off to the top of the dome. I'm live,
all right, Mike. Ma'm gonna let you bro all right.
Ma