July 1, 2022 • 7 mins
Wayne Larrivee sits down with former Green Bay Packers defensive end Johnny Jolly to talk about starting in his second year with the team (1:05), the pieces in place and the buildup to the 2010 Super Bowl team (1:51) and overcoming addiction to return to the league in 2013 (5:47).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravi. This is the Packers Alumni Spotlight.
(00:24):
Houston native Johnny Jolly was a sixth round pick out
of Texas A and M by the Green Bay Packers
in two thousand six. From that humble beginning, Jolly emerged
as a starter along the Packers defensive line. That didn't
want to come here at first because I had a
team mate, Mike mcgomer he was drafted the year before.
He was like, man, that's gonna be too slow for
(00:46):
you and all that. But the long story so when
I got here that some cool guys had a lot
of fun. Out of fun on the field, everything's hurn't
that perfect. Didn't play much your first year, sixth round drafts.
I mean you're hoping to just what make the team right? Right?
Second year you start playing and starting tell me about that.
What happened? How did that all happen? It was great? Uh.
(01:07):
I always had a mindset, you know, to go out
every day and just try to do my best to
perform to get me in a position while I would
be on the field, and UH that kept working for me,
got out and trying to count to show some more skills.
I was able to come out and be, UM, somebody
that can count on day in and day out, and
I worked out for me. I was able to be
a starter here for what four years? And it was
(01:28):
it was perfect. You know, Um, you were on a
team that was on the rise. Could you feel that
this team was getting better and better as you I
mean you want you start hearing two thousand and six
and you could. You had that two thousand and seventh season,
make the playoffs two thousand and eight, You're kind of
gearing up two thousand nine. Tell me about that experience
and some of the guys that you they were kind
(01:49):
of close to you as you made that track up.
It was a great experience. So I had guys like
Ryan Pickett, uh Cutting Zinkins, Corey witness here one point
a time, Mike mcgramer, like I said, you went to
a and then with me. Uh later on in my years,
I met with Drill Cool, but that's still my bro
to today. We talked pretty much every other day. Um,
(02:11):
we had guys like Charles Woodson. That's like nobody really
knew this, but I never had a D line favorite player,
favorite football player outside of Charles Woodson and d N Sounders. Yeah,
so you're you're just a defensive back in the three
hundred pound body, being a three hundred pound body. Yeah,
you're you're your your forteb was stopping the run, wasn't it?
(02:34):
Tell me about that? What led to that? Um? I
used to kind of do a mix up of you know,
running pass. But as I got older, I started gaming
more weight, gaining more weight, and then we had guys
that was here that was you know that was awesome
at pass rustling. So you know, coach worked it out well,
you know, jolly go first to run first two players,
(02:54):
you get the run that the pass russers come in.
Tell me about your who was who your close to? You?
I mentioned you mentioned some of the guys you are
close to. What about coaching? Who was the coach for
you on that defensive line that stood out? When I
first got here, we had coach nine. He was he
was an awesome coach. Uh, he ended up leaving, I
think out to my second third years. Came in called Targo.
(03:17):
He's a cool guy to as well. He had a
lot of toys that you guys had a training camp, right,
and a lot of little toys. He brought that out
from Carolina. Yeah, Johnny played him fifty six games from
two thousand seven through two thousand nine, but like so
(03:37):
many Americans, he struggled with addiction, specifically to codeine. Amid
legal troubles. The NFL suspended him indefinitely in July two
thousand ten, costing him three years right in the middle
of his career and a Super Bowl ring. But there's
a message in Johnny's struggles. I would say, man, just uh,
(04:00):
if you have a chance of being successful and getting
to a place that you want to be, when you
get bored, you gotta figure out a way that you know,
just tell of your time into doing things that's helping
you with your career and not doing other things, and
you'll be all right. You'll be fine. But you know,
it was something was difficult to overcome, wasn't it. It
was tough. It was tough because when I started drinking it,
(04:22):
I was drinking it just because I like the way
it tastes, not knowing the fact that it was gonna
have on my body. So when I try to stop,
it was like, oh, something wrong, something wrong. My body
was feeling bad. So other than that, just me not
knowing about it, not knowing the powerful you know, things
that they had in the drug. It was like, it's
kind of it was different for me because I never
(04:42):
I never really done anything or pills and nothing like that.
It was I was drinking served because of the taste,
and I just continue to drink with something that I
like to taste and drink and not knowing when I stopped,
I was gonna feel the way I felt, and they
have to drink it again. Something like It's kind of
like alcohol. You know, people like the taste of called
or whatever or the buzz. But was this, uh that
(05:03):
type of well, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say that. I
it wasn't an alcohol type. It's more like a downer,
like a relaxing field chill, sit back. Yeah, So you
spent some time away from the game, You spent some
time even in prison. Um football people who continued to
(05:23):
reach out to you because you were popular in this
locker room. You were very popular. We had, uh, Aaron Rodgers,
Ryan Pickle was one of the first ones Al Hairs,
b J. Roger Um and then just like you know,
other guys that were just you know, confidently giving me
Coll's text throughout the whole time, making sure I was good.
(05:44):
You got a second chance. Yeah, tell me about that.
I was great, man. Uh. I worked my tail off,
I went through everything I went. I went on a
one year suspension. Uh they ended up turning it said
three years. So, uh, I got to a point where
I was trying to get back in the league. I
was reaching out to Roger Cadale. No one was you know,
responding to me. So my brother A Royd went on
(06:07):
the interview and he spoke up on it. He said, Um,
Roger Godal hasn't got back to me about getting me
back in the league. YadA, YadA, YadA. Probably a month
six weeks from now, I get a letter I'm reinstated.
I hit up A Rod told him pretty well. I
told appreciate it when he first done it. My mama
tids to this day, you caring their chance you get,
tell him, thank you, thank you, thank you. So he's
(06:29):
my brother forever. Um got the rein statement letter, came back,
worked out trying to count back on the team. Then
hurt my neck. Aaron Rodgers got you back in the league. Essentially,
that's what That's how I feel, because he spoke of
when nobody I wasn't get no response from no one
or nothing, and on his platform, he spoke out on
(06:49):
national and TV said they didn't they wasn't responding to me,
and I was back in the league within the next
month and six weeks. For Johnny Jolly, he greatest accomplishment
was not on the field. It was off the field, where,
with the support of his teammates, family and friends, he
overcame his demons and returned to the Packers in two
(07:11):
thousand and thirteen, playing in thirteen games. Today, he dabs
in real estate and is raising a family back in
his native Houston, Texas.
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravi. This is the Packers Alumni Spotlight.
(00:24):
Houston native Johnny Jolly was a sixth round pick out
of Texas A and M by the Green Bay Packers
in two thousand six. From that humble beginning, Jolly emerged
as a starter along the Packers defensive line. That didn't
want to come here at first because I had a
team mate, Mike mcgomer he was drafted the year before.
He was like, man, that's gonna be too slow for
(00:46):
you and all that. But the long story so when
I got here that some cool guys had a lot
of fun. Out of fun on the field, everything's hurn't
that perfect. Didn't play much your first year, sixth round drafts.
I mean you're hoping to just what make the team right? Right?
Second year you start playing and starting tell me about that.
What happened? How did that all happen? It was great? Uh.
(01:07):
I always had a mindset, you know, to go out
every day and just try to do my best to
perform to get me in a position while I would
be on the field, and UH that kept working for me,
got out and trying to count to show some more skills.
I was able to come out and be, UM, somebody
that can count on day in and day out, and
I worked out for me. I was able to be
a starter here for what four years? And it was
(01:28):
it was perfect. You know, Um, you were on a
team that was on the rise. Could you feel that
this team was getting better and better as you I
mean you want you start hearing two thousand and six
and you could. You had that two thousand and seventh season,
make the playoffs two thousand and eight, You're kind of
gearing up two thousand nine. Tell me about that experience
and some of the guys that you they were kind
(01:49):
of close to you as you made that track up.
It was a great experience. So I had guys like
Ryan Pickett, uh Cutting Zinkins, Corey witness here one point
a time, Mike mcgramer, like I said, you went to
a and then with me. Uh later on in my years,
I met with Drill Cool, but that's still my bro
to today. We talked pretty much every other day. Um,
(02:11):
we had guys like Charles Woodson. That's like nobody really
knew this, but I never had a D line favorite player,
favorite football player outside of Charles Woodson and d N Sounders. Yeah,
so you're you're just a defensive back in the three
hundred pound body, being a three hundred pound body. Yeah,
you're you're your your forteb was stopping the run, wasn't it?
(02:34):
Tell me about that? What led to that? Um? I
used to kind of do a mix up of you know,
running pass. But as I got older, I started gaming
more weight, gaining more weight, and then we had guys
that was here that was you know that was awesome
at pass rustling. So you know, coach worked it out well,
you know, jolly go first to run first two players,
(02:54):
you get the run that the pass russers come in.
Tell me about your who was who your close to? You?
I mentioned you mentioned some of the guys you are
close to. What about coaching? Who was the coach for
you on that defensive line that stood out? When I
first got here, we had coach nine. He was he
was an awesome coach. Uh, he ended up leaving, I
think out to my second third years. Came in called Targo.
(03:17):
He's a cool guy to as well. He had a
lot of toys that you guys had a training camp, right,
and a lot of little toys. He brought that out
from Carolina. Yeah, Johnny played him fifty six games from
two thousand seven through two thousand nine, but like so
(03:37):
many Americans, he struggled with addiction, specifically to codeine. Amid
legal troubles. The NFL suspended him indefinitely in July two
thousand ten, costing him three years right in the middle
of his career and a Super Bowl ring. But there's
a message in Johnny's struggles. I would say, man, just uh,
(04:00):
if you have a chance of being successful and getting
to a place that you want to be, when you
get bored, you gotta figure out a way that you know,
just tell of your time into doing things that's helping
you with your career and not doing other things, and
you'll be all right. You'll be fine. But you know,
it was something was difficult to overcome, wasn't it. It
was tough. It was tough because when I started drinking it,
(04:22):
I was drinking it just because I like the way
it tastes, not knowing the fact that it was gonna
have on my body. So when I try to stop,
it was like, oh, something wrong, something wrong. My body
was feeling bad. So other than that, just me not
knowing about it, not knowing the powerful you know, things
that they had in the drug. It was like, it's
kind of it was different for me because I never
(04:42):
I never really done anything or pills and nothing like that.
It was I was drinking served because of the taste,
and I just continue to drink with something that I
like to taste and drink and not knowing when I stopped,
I was gonna feel the way I felt, and they
have to drink it again. Something like It's kind of
like alcohol. You know, people like the taste of called
or whatever or the buzz. But was this, uh that
(05:03):
type of well, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say that. I
it wasn't an alcohol type. It's more like a downer,
like a relaxing field chill, sit back. Yeah, So you
spent some time away from the game, You spent some
time even in prison. Um football people who continued to
(05:23):
reach out to you because you were popular in this
locker room. You were very popular. We had, uh, Aaron Rodgers,
Ryan Pickle was one of the first ones Al Hairs,
b J. Roger Um and then just like you know,
other guys that were just you know, confidently giving me
Coll's text throughout the whole time, making sure I was good.
(05:44):
You got a second chance. Yeah, tell me about that.
I was great, man. Uh. I worked my tail off,
I went through everything I went. I went on a
one year suspension. Uh they ended up turning it said
three years. So, uh, I got to a point where
I was trying to get back in the league. I
was reaching out to Roger Cadale. No one was you know,
responding to me. So my brother A Royd went on
(06:07):
the interview and he spoke up on it. He said, Um,
Roger Godal hasn't got back to me about getting me
back in the league. YadA, YadA, YadA. Probably a month
six weeks from now, I get a letter I'm reinstated.
I hit up A Rod told him pretty well. I
told appreciate it when he first done it. My mama
tids to this day, you caring their chance you get,
tell him, thank you, thank you, thank you. So he's
(06:29):
my brother forever. Um got the rein statement letter, came back,
worked out trying to count back on the team. Then
hurt my neck. Aaron Rodgers got you back in the league. Essentially,
that's what That's how I feel, because he spoke of
when nobody I wasn't get no response from no one
or nothing, and on his platform, he spoke out on
(06:49):
national and TV said they didn't they wasn't responding to me,
and I was back in the league within the next
month and six weeks. For Johnny Jolly, he greatest accomplishment
was not on the field. It was off the field, where,
with the support of his teammates, family and friends, he
overcame his demons and returned to the Packers in two
(07:11):
thousand and thirteen, playing in thirteen games. Today, he dabs
in real estate and is raising a family back in
his native Houston, Texas.
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