October 29, 2025 • 42 mins
On this episode of NFL Players: Second Acts, Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper sit down with Zamir Cobb — former NFL wide receiver turned President of The Trust (powered by the NFLPA) — to talk about his powerful journey from the gridiron to guiding players through life beyond the game.
Zamir shares stories from his time with the Steelers, including training alongside a young Ben Roethlisberger and learning under Coach Bill Cowher, as well as the mental battles that came with an early injury during his rookie season. He opens up about how those challenges fueled his passion for helping others and ultimately led him to a career of purpose — leading programs that have helped more than a thousand NFL legends improve their overall quality of life.
From his early days in D.C. to testifying in over 150 court cases as a juvenile case worker, Zamir’s story is a masterclass in resilience, service, and redefining success after football.
The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And I remember my coach is pulling me to the
side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo fields, don't cheat
your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And this
is more than a game. This game can take your places.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So football to me was from that moment on, was
more than just a game.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's been life or death.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And I like the fact or I appreciate the fact
that I get to work for the business every day
that changed my life, and for the players every day
that changed my life.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
What's up, everybody, I'll peanut to me and this is
the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast, and with me, as
always is my trusty co host, Roman Harper.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
That's it. That's all. I got nothing.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're not gonna okay serious mode right now, So you're
you're right, yeah, go to our next all right, our
next guest. He played for the Steelers and the Cardinals.
He is now the executive director of the Trust Ladies
and Gentlemen's Mere Cop.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Welcome to the pop.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, thanks for having.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Thanks for coming on. Appreciation you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I mean you literally just arrived like you haven't even
been in your room and you came right down. So man,
I thank you for coming here and just wanting to
get this thing right right to it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
We appreciate you, no, thank you, thank you for having.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Where was you where'd you come in from?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
D C hometown? Now?
Speaker 5 (01:33):
When you say DC, like because like d C that
that's a lot is it Virginia?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Is it? Like? Yo? No? No, no, no, truly like
in DC? So the indigenous folks, d C is d C. Okay, yeah, teach,
When I say d C, I mean the city of Washington.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So but you may hear d m V.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
Yeah that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Where Ken, okay, brothers and now but you're in it.
But I'm okay, all right. I like that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Ken. That's country talk right there.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
That is kind of country talk.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No, ain't no kind of it is.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
We can well, you know everybody got cousins, but we
say but we say kim folk though, like it ain't
just you can say kim folk.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
That's what that's. That's some country right there.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It might be country cousins.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
There we go. I get it.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I respect it, Samir. Do you remember this past that
happened in training camp two thousand and four? I guess
it was a deep pass from Ben Roethlisberger It was
a write up, an article about it, and it said
that you caught it for a touchdown, and this was
the play that showed the news and possibly that team
that like man, I think Ben Ben, maybe Big Ben
(02:42):
may be our answer or the future.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I don't know if I can say I remember that
play vividly or specifically, but I remember many plays where
Ben did that. That training camp, yes, also rookie mini camp.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That mini camp.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
So tell me, tell me a couple of them.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
I want to hear, Like, at what point, because big
being going for coming from Miami of Ohio, everybody had questions,
small school guy, but he had the body, he had
the arm, and he literally made Miami Ohio good. So
what were some of the things that happened early on
in camp that you were.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Like, Yeah, I would say confidence, charisma, you know, and athletics.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
We call it the it factor.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
He walked with a city swag, so stepping on the field,
I think he brought up I think he raised the
level of the offense and the team, and then his
talent was apparent immediately. So he helped actually helped me
make a name for myself in short order, feeding me
(03:43):
plenty of boss that would eventually lead to me quickly
moving up the depth chart. So I would say it
was it was early, and it was often that he delivered.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Here's the question that we like to ask most of
our guests, but what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
My welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It was actually that that training camp Cheety who's now
a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a corner
at the time. I beat him on the deep ball
and the ball was underthrown. But I was confident that
he was not going to get to this football. It
was no way he was behind me. I shielded him,
(04:24):
did all the technical savvy things. The brother went over me,
and I mean reached over me, picked the ball off.
I said, this is a different level of athletics out
you know, could never be comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I got too comfortable that play. But that was
my welcome to the NFL moment.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
He was shorter than me. I mean by all measure.
He wasn't supposed to get to that ball. No way
he's supposed to get to that ball. And he got
to that ball. And to this day, I'm trying to
figure out this brother got some game his vert must
have been forty six. Yeah, Brod must have been a
ten to four because he got up there.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So that was my welcome to the NFL moment.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So that two thousand and fourth season, you guys went
fifteen to one. You lost AFC title game to the Patriots.
But that year Ben Roethlisberger, he was Rookie of the Year,
Officers Rookie of the Year, Hines Ward, drowing better say
all made the Pro Bowl. Three defensive guys made the
Pro Bowl. Talk about how special that season was.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So for me that season in it relatively early for me.
I had actually broke my leg just before the season started,
but I stayed with the team. Yeah, that whole season
watching film, so I got to see all, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
All of the players.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah that it would eventually lead to all of the
accolades that you just mentioned. What I recall from that
season was just being amazed by the collection of talent,
but more so how that collection of talent operated as
a family or team. And I think it really showed
the leadership from the coaching staff standpoint front office, as
(06:01):
well as the players in the locker room. I mean
when you walked in the locker room, it was no
question that this was a veteran team.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
You would there to win, you would there to get
a job done.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So what you eventually saw in the field, I think
came through hours of bonding and hard work before they
got out there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Talk about you alluded to it earlier when you when
you answered the question, when you first started talking about
the question you got you got injury broke to let
how was it dealing with that injury and still being
with the team, But you're really not I don't want
to say a part of the team, but you're you're
not out there with your brothers and you're seeing they
(06:41):
have success, but you want to be out there knowing
that you contribute.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Like, how did you do with that?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Mentally?
Speaker 6 (06:46):
That was?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
That was tough.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It's probably the one of the most difficult challenge of
challenges of my lifetime for sure. I think the team
first and foremost did their best to make me feel
at home. The week after I broke my leg. No
mind you, I'm on a team with Hall of famers.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Man All pros, Pro Bowls.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Was just the minimum you can do on that team, right,
And the week out that broke my leg, they actually
hung a photo that I have in my home of
me on the wall and all the players laughed. They
was like, man, you break your leg and you know
you get posted.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
On the wall, you know. And then during the season.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
They did like a local news segment like catch Up
with Zamir Cobb. Now they had won probably ten games
in row this time. I remember hy as Ward laughing
at me, like, man, we all here winning games and
they interviewing you. So you know, so I was in isolation.
The isolation was tough, but I think the team and
(07:48):
the players did their best to make me feel like
I was a partner.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Went a long way. You know.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
It's so I tore my acl my rookie year, so
I get what you're saying. My team went to the
NFC Championship game that year, trying to stay engaged when
you know, you still got rookie duties, so there's still
certain things that have to be involved in you're trying
to stay engaged as much as you can. For me,
I thought the experience was so different because when they
(08:13):
have to like travel on road games, I don't do that,
so like I was just in the city, so I
kind of became like a normal person, you know. But
I don't have the same lifestyle as everybody else. What
was that lifestyle like in Pittsburgh for you, because Pittsburgh's
already a very unique city. I was in New Orleans,
but I always like to hear people's ir experience as well,
especially on a team that's doing well.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, so I got married young.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So I was married as a after my second semester
of college.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Freshman year.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, my freshman year.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
My wife was actually still in high school, so she
was in the twelfth grade. She graduates, I go watch
her graduate, she rock across the stage.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And then we had Temple University. So my wife and
I went.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
To school together, study together, have our first child maybe
a year after marriage. So throughout college, I mean, you
know what the vision one sports is like, man, all
your time is accounted for. So I got very little
time with my family. Actually, so that year that I
was injured, it was actually time for me to catch
(09:18):
up with my wife and kid after practice because I
would go to practice, I would watch film, but I
didn't have all of the other obligations as the rest
of the team. So I actually used that time to
catch up with my family.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
For sure, you might be the youngest guy.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
First of all, you are the youngest guy we've had
on here that was married that young. That is actually
an amazing stat. I didn't know that. Congratulations. I mean,
so when y'all are studying together, like who doing the homework?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
We were you know, my wife was was a high
school athlete, so we would compete, okay, hey, because she
always everything's competitive yah yeah, yeah. She always hit me
with the you just here because you could catch you know,
so I would try to show up. You know, I
got my keeping the classroom, you know. But I would
be remiss if I didn't admit that I had a
(10:07):
you know, a good a good study party.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Definitely helpful brother.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Hey, stay strong.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Yeah, two thousand and four, you had a Bill Coward
was your coach? What was he like for a coach?
I actually got to talk to him. He did not
let me down.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, tough but fair. Tough but fair man. I was.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was an undrafted free agent. But you know Larry
Larry Fitzgerald and I were both first team All Big East.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I was honorable mention All American.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Unfortunately I don't get drafted, but I go into Pittsburgh
as an undrafted free agent. Plexico holds out and uh many.
I think up to training camp that year, so I
had a tremendous opportunity to get more reps. And by
the second press preseason game, I was fourth on the
depth shot. So I say, Man, he honors results, no
(11:14):
matter how you get him, where you come from, he
honors results. I've seen fourth rounders get cut. I've seen
first rounders make their way to the bench. Yeah, at
the end of the day, as you mentioned, you're on
the team with all pros and Hall of Famous results
was the only thing that matter. So tough, but fet Man,
(11:35):
he was a tough coach, but he was fair and
I appreciated that.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I want to know a little bit more about, like
the transitioning and getting comfortable with your second act. When
did you know that you could have success after.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Football was done.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I was injure my sophomore year of college, and we
now know it as a sports hernia, and it's like
a routine surgery, right, But when I got it, it
wasn't aine surgery.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'd actually had.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It for maybe a year and a half, two years
before they actually could diagnose it, so I was misdiagnosed,
went in as a promising freshman, but due to injury,
that outlook at sort of dwindle. During that time, I
ingratiated myself with like the world of scholarship and being
an actually student right, and my professor, doctor Mechannadora, actually
(12:26):
became one of my closest friends and mentor. And one
day we were just talking and he said, man, one
day you'll realize that you're more than just pigskin and air.
What a shallow man to be, right, And I took
that as a challenge. It was then where I started
to be more complex. I think, to appreciate deck sturdy,
(12:49):
you know, create multiple forms of myself. I interned my
sophomore in senior year, I'm literally the only Division one
athlete that I've knowed actually had a true internship. My
senior year of football, I worked sixteen hours a week.
And it wasn't like you go in and sign your
name and they give you hours.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I worked, and I worked at the U Study Center,
which was the detention center for the city of Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Did I did real work.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I did the same thing I worked at the Cincter
in life.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, so I did real work.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So it was then I discovered that I could be
successful beyond the game. I just didn't expect to apply
it as soon.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
As First of all, how did you get hooked up
with that job? And maybe kind of tell me about
your scheduling because you have this twenty hour you know,
you said in college you're athlete. Your day's booked up, done,
And so when did you find in time to go
to work? And what was your mentality because you also
(13:51):
had a wife and a family too, Like your mindset's
already completely different than every other teammate.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You have husd cent.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So just in terms of work, it was actually a
part of my major.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
What was your major?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Social work? So you have to have some field hours
or hands on work. Well, we called it a practical
right where you practically apply to theories that you're learning
in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No no, no, no, no, all good.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So my sophomore year, my coach actually wanted me to
change my major, and the dean of my of the
School of Social Work actually called my head coach and said,
most Temple students work or go to work and go
to school. What makes me any different? Either he continues
(14:49):
as major or he's not playing football. So it actually
my school stood up to my coach the whole time.
I'm caught in the middle, but I appreciate it in
the lower Yeah, I appreciated lower.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So it was actually a part of my.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Academic requirements to achieve my degree that I work my
sophomore in senior year.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Yeah, that didn't happen to a lot of SEC schools.
That Yeah, where the school can stand up to the coach.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I don't think it happens that any SEC school. I
put that out there on the record.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It does.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
That doesn't happen at SEC.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You're here to play football second, and you're here for
an education first.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, we used to get we used to get we
used to get that speech.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
But that's high speech closed.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
But when you're not winning, it's just words. You don't
have that level of pool. Yeah with the university when.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
The same speech.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
But yeah, okay Alabama. So the football thing is kind
of doing what it's doing. You signed with the you
wanted to keep playing, but you had injuries your first
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So yes, So I ended up getting us going to
a specialist doctor myriers just before my.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Crazy he was down the street, down the streets.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
So I had hernia surgery and I was like, look, Doc,
this ain't doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I still feel this pain.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So before my senior season, my training at the time,
Dwight Strandsbury said, we got we got one more option.
It's a specialist uh at Honeyman Hospital. Ironically, that's when
my son was My first son was, my first child
was born.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So I go, man. He examined me for like five minutes.
He was like exactly. Yeah. He was like saying, you
gotta have this surgery. So I haven't.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And within six weeks, Man, I feel like a chance.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Well you can get to max speed and not like
because it's just the governor.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
What did it feel like?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's hard to describe, like it doesn't hurt all the time,
but it's like you'll be running.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
And all of a sudden you're about to limit.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, it is just especially as a wild out when
you got stop and go.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Yeah. I couldn't imagine.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I also like laying in the bed like I'd be good,
I'd cough make that feel it, or like I roll
over and you're like, oh what is that?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So So my junior year, I didn't practice the whole season.
I took vajos before games and that's how I made
it through my my junior year. Then I go into
my senior year, I have the surgery, and I'll tell you,
after the first seven days of training, cat my coaches
(17:41):
shut me down. They said, if we want the DBS
to have any confidence during this season, man, you cannot practice.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
So I knew I was back then.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, And after the first six games my senior year,
Larry and I were actually neck and neck in every
national stat and every stat WI receiver stat nationally. So
it was pretty strong senior season. It was literally my
only healthy season.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
It's banana.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
And so you go to the league league a couple
of years, you've been signed at the Voodoo, I saw you.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So I did three years in the league, uh, And
then everybody wanted to see if I could sort of
recapture who I was before I broke my leg and
injured my knee. So I get to uh the Voodoo.
I must have had.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Three or four good practices.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
They think they got the next Cadillac that nobody's ever seen.
Then I think I ended up starting to drain my
knee again because I started getting bone on bone.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
The broken leg definitely slowed me up, but I was
able to just regret get back from that. But the
bone on bone, it wasn't no, there's no really, they
start draining. It was like every day they started draining
my knee and it was it was a wrap from.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
That wrap from there.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
So now you feel your's wrap. So then you reach
out to the trust or how does this hold?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
No, no, actually going back.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Because I want everybody else to hear how these things
get started.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So that internship I told you about UH and having
to go to class at Temple, you had to go
to every class bro they checked. I mean you had
a class checker and if you didn't show for that class,
you had that morning wake up. I'm smiling because like,
I went to class, So I realistic say I never
had a morning wake up.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I don't want to give myself too much credit.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I can't say I was that committed to class, but
I was surely committed to not getting up before in
the morning and running wrong class right.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So it definitely served its purpose.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Once I got injured, the two internships I had, they
actually reached out to me first and they were like, hey,
so you hurt, as soon as you need us, let
us know. And that segue into my first job I
started as a case manager man in Philadelphia program called
(20:11):
Adolescence Violence Reduction, working with the one hundred youth in
Philadelphia that would more likely to kill or be killed.
I've actually testified over one hundred and fifty times in
court on behalf of adolescence. Well, we called them youth offenders, right.
I've only had one kid held, had the lowest recidivism
(20:33):
rate of any one with a case load. Quickly escalated
to upper management and I ended up managing two forty
thousand square foot community centers in Philadelphia, one in North Philly,
one in West Philly they called the Bottom. From there,
I transitioned back home to my hometown of DC, where
(20:54):
I was a director of a local nonprofit. I was
looking for support for a camp I was doing in
my neighborhood, Emry Heights Playground, and I noticed that the
NFLPA was in DC. Didn't know that, so I reached
out to him, and they came with a bowload of
equipment and volunteers and you know, helped me put on
(21:18):
the first camp at my childhood playground. Yeah, and I
was actually living in the back, living in the neighborhood
at that time, so it kind of sort of resparkle
per my interests of getting back in sports, kept my
out on the job openings of the PA. Saw they
were launching the Trust, looked at the PD or position description.
(21:42):
I mean it literally read like my experience. Yeah, it
was actually a step back from a title standpoint or
position standpoint, but I've always been mission driven up position driven,
and it was sort as a calling for me.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
What actually does the trust do?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
We provide an ecosystem of support, comprehensive system of support
to help former players thrive post career, and.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
We'll be right back and what are some of the
things in that ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I'll start with one in which I think we should
socialize and we should all do, is the brain and
body assessment. Players have obtained to date over four thousand assessments.
So if you haven't done it, players, you're behind right,
So any player with two or more credited seasons, it's
(22:35):
eligible or are eligible for the benefit. That benefit includes
your travel, your accommodations meals if needed. Your spouse can
travel with you as well, although she's not a part
of the assessment. The assessment is over three days. I
mean it's gonna be the most extensive physical you ever
have in your life, head to toe. You have that
(22:57):
once every five years for your lifetime. So the first
thing we need to be for our families in our
community is present, right. And what better way to be
president than to be healthy?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So I think we start there. I think all of
us we need to start there. We need to socialize
that as you transition, of course, you're gonna wonder what's next.
It's a very complex scenario. You're gonna wonder what's next.
What's next is gonna be different for all of us.
So we help with the resume, the cover letter, the
(23:31):
LinkedIn profile, the interview skills. You have a one on
one coach to walk you or walk along with.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
You in that process. You're never alone.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
You're gonna have a skill assessment, a personality assessment, whether
you're pivoting in a career or you're entering a career.
Our educational advancement or our scholarship is twenty thousand dollars
per calendar year for your lifetime. You don't come out
of pocket. We pay the school, or the benefit pays
(24:02):
the school directly. It's undergrad grad, PhD. Whatever it is
of your choosing To date, we're roughly eleven hundred completed
degree programs, and over fifty percent of those are graduate degrees.
Players can also take advantage of a certificate up to
five thousand a year for your lifetime.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So those are three that I.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Would definitely keep in mind if you're looking to have
a good time with the.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Family, like like I. You know I am, and.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
You got a big household like we do. You know,
my wife and I we have five kids. YMCA is
good for everybody. We just added swim to the YMCA benefits.
So brothers, if you don't know how to swim, learn
how to save yourself and save it life. We got
all right you could take it depending with you as well.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
So it's a lot of things. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Those are just a couple.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
So I've done the braining, the bringing brain body.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I did mine in the Cleveland Cliny Okay, so yeah
I'm in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, okay, did in Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I did it like around COVID. So I think I'm
due in like twenty twenty six. Is when twenty five
twenty I gotta check, But I'm I don't worry. We
know we'll call you before I think we keep, we keep,
I'm about doing. My five years is just about up.
So I'm I think I'm ready for my next skin.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Because you're a good example of what we all.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And it was cool for three days.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I think I found out I have a sleep avenue,
but I don't sleep with the machine because it's it's
very annoying and loud.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But so have you tried the pillar surgery?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
No, I don't. I don't think I'm gonna do any surgeries.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
But so how are you treating your apney? Brother? If
you don't know me, ask you. Let's go there.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping good.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You come over, you come.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
I'm just saying we can you know I'm sleeping good.
I'm six and a half hours in, like I'm still.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Because we helped with the follow up. Now, yeah, brother,
we got you.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I feel So I tried it. I'm not gonna I
tried it and I woke up and it was like
a damn desert in my mouth, like it was just dry,
and so it's it definitely takes some you some It
took me a minute to get used to it, and
I never got used to it.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
So I just was like, I think I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I think I think I'm Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I tried it in my and my kids said it
looked like I was going to the moon at night. Yeah,
so I couldn't I had, I wouldn't have had the surgery.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
So they put Yeah, so that's the I don't know
what what is this surgery?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Hold talk just a pillar. I had a pillow put
in my throat. It's helped reduce my storing and I
can sleep and everybody that lives in my house now
can sleep because I don't.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Yeah, right, isn't there an app that you can track
it with an app?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
There's something there's there's some type of a device that
it can connect to with an app and it will help.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
It helps with the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
We'll talk a little bit about that treatment.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
My kids are just like that.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You you sound like you're gonna die, And I was like,
I've but I slept fine.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I feel good, like I'm good. But yeah, well we'll
talk offline after this.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But yeah, you got to do the brand and I'll
be telling you to do this stuff, but you won't
be trying to listen to your boy.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Yeah, because I don't want them to tell me I
can't have bacon no more. I'm sorry, I.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Don't think that. You know, don't limit yourself over bacon.
I know.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
As a matter of fact, the price of bacon is
going up so much. I stopped so I've gotten out
of it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
So just remember as the Arab benefits, so you're leaving
money on the table.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
This is something I talked to my wife about this
morning that I'm this is two things.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
They committed to it.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
I'm gonna do it. Yes, I gotta continue to commit
to it.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
What about all the answers that you felt that after
you joined the trust that maybe got answered for yourself
when you finally committed to it.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
You're going into it. I think you said.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
The first two questions asked before making a career move
is number one, can I maximize impact? And number two?
Can I amplify the mission? You already told me that
you're a mission driven person. I wrote that down. I
actually love it. It's mission driven, not position driven. And
then if you can do that, if there's a third,
(28:24):
can I do those two in a deeper way that
I can already accomplish in my current role. So all
these questions, what did the Trust help you in answering
those questions, I.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Would say, you know, going a bed and waking up
with the weight of can we improve the lives of
former players and their families? I think it's an honor
and a half. It's a discussion that's normal, normal in
my household. What can we do? What are we not doing?
(28:56):
How could we look at our family as a reflection
of the other family to be productive? How could I
look at myself introspectively, right, my strengths, my weaknesses, my toils,
my tears, you know, in a way that can be
reflected out on what we do. But greater than that,
(29:20):
as a program manager, I was able to serve over
five hundred players in a role of program manager in
that sense, helping players figure out or empowering players to
figure out their what's next. And it's the collection of
those experiences that I think has helped me amplify our mission.
(29:44):
I think going into the trust, which I was created
by players for players, in collaboration with various subject matter
experts as well as NFLPA staff, there was a core
of services that remain our core today, but there were
(30:05):
also gaps, and I think my past experience helped me
and the others that I was working with at the
time see those gaps and feel them in a way
that players could appreciate. We didn't start the trust with
the ability to go impatient, so we literally can go
(30:26):
from basic counseling to impatient services. Player pays no costs.
We didn't have that when we first started, right, So
when you talk about being mission driven, it's always the
what's next. It's always questioning what we do, turning over
what we do, how can we think differently about what
we do to make it better on behalf of players.
(30:48):
The YMCA didn't come with the trust. That was again
a gap that we saw that we were able to feel.
We didn't have the free agent program, which, if you
don't know, every active player with two or more credited
seasons who is not on the roster, we pay for
them to train up to twelve months at Bambar Rito
(31:08):
Exos DSA and Atlanta Yo Murphy Sports in Tampa up
to twelve months.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We didn't have that. We saw a guy.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We know players want to get back in the game first,
so we start there. But that also creates a natural
road to the transition because, as you guys know, you've
a power clean front squad, realize you're not getting a
call and you move on to what's next. So we
want to be right there when the player makes that decision.
So we talk about being mission driven, amplifying the mission.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Those are some of the things that I've been able to.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Do along with or create along with the team of
the Trust that I think players are benefiting from today.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Now.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Fulfilling?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Is it to do that though, knowing that you came
here or you're a former player, you step into you
step into this position, and you've just filled all these gaps?
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Fulfilling?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Do you ever just sometimes sit back as Blake hey Man,
we we did that.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
We I know I'm not benefiting from some of these things,
but I made the game better for this next group
of guys.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Like absolutely, there were seven of the There were seven
of us when we first launt the Trust. Of the seven,
three remain myself, Andrew Zink, who's our director of Ops,
and Danielle Foreman, who's our director of Service. Those two folks,
(32:35):
along with the folks who have served the organization in
the past and continue to serve the organization today. Those
folks are heroes and I'm just a part of a
team of heroes and our service team.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I would go a step further.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I call them superheroes without capes because the things they
do on behalf of players, the unseen that they do
on behalf of players every day, you wouldn't believe how
it benefits us. Right, So it's fulfilling for me as
an individual, but it's even more fulfilling knowing that I
have a team of committed individuals that drive the train.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
For players every.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Day and we'll be right back, all right.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
So you say it's only three of you guys that
have been there since the beginning, and you happen to
be one of those guys. At what point did you realize, like,
you know what, I think I'm not just a person here,
but I think I'm ready to move up and take
on more.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Of a leadership. Bro, what was it you are?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
You're a manager, a program manager to player director, then
you went managing director, now the executive director. So like
you know, I look, I'm not I haven't had a
whole bunch of jobs where I know what those exact
terms mean. But sounds like you're moving up the last
When did that start to hit for you?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Like, man, this is.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
What I think my calling is, and this is my mission,
I might as well be the best at it.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So I started as a program manager on the Trust side,
But the Trust and the NFLPA are distinctly different organizations
legally distinct organization. The Trust is a collectively bargain benefit
and our board members are made up of equal NFL
(34:21):
trustees equal NFLPA trustees.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
But we're located.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Within the nflpa's sort of infrastructure building per se or space.
So naturally the work I'm doing on my floor is
reverberating throughout the building for lack of better terms, So
that gave me the opportunity to serve players in the
(34:47):
role lists player director. So I was a program manager
for two and a half years. Then I go with
Player Director on the NFLPA side for roughly five years
through the twenty twenty Collective Barney Agreement larger responsible for
engaging in educating players writing them to bargain. Right after that,
(35:07):
I go back to the Trust as managing director for
roughly three years, so I get to see sides of
the business that I was familiar with but didn't have
my hands in, such as our operations, how we pay
our bills, how we pay the scholarship, how we pay
for medical costs. Took that collective experience and then became
(35:29):
executive director. The way I describe it is, I've always
been on good teams. Good teams allow you to excel
as an individual, no doubt, made multiple promos and all
pro teams allowed me to escalate. And I'm still celebrating
with my team.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
So this is a question we like to ask all
of our guests. You have had an amazing life, high school, college,
you know, NFL, now post life, your transition to where
you are right now, vinize the director, if you had
four people to pick from that help you turn you
into the menu are today right now, sitting right here
(36:09):
in this chair.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Who would those four people be? And we're putting them
on your own personal amount rushmore.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
So I'm not gonna say in order, because if it's ordered,
you know, wife is premium.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Order, Yeah, wife is premium. But my four is easy.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Uh you know, I call them my holy you know,
my holy trinity, just to spind off, not to be
disrespectful of any religious belief. Uh, my mother, my grandmother
and my great aunt. Those are the folks that that
got me to my wife. And once I got to
(36:49):
my wife, she took it over from there.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Now, why all three, you know, mother and grandmother and
your auntie, Ye, why.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Each as a team. They raised me and they raised us,
meaning my siblings, my cousins, we were all. My cousins
are like my brothers and sisters. My extended family is
like my nuclear family. Because they kept us all close.
Sunday dinners, Easter Sundays, Christmas dinners, all those times at
(37:18):
the table, all those times enjoying those moments allowed us
to I think, have a heightened level of fondness for
each other. It's helped us as children, has helped us
as an adult, and I think they turned over a
good man to my spouse and we've been able to,
i think, carry on many of those traditions that she
(37:42):
came with from her family, but particularly as you asked me,
that I came with from those three individuals.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Hey, I appreciate you coming on the pot man. Thank
you for blessing us and giving us a little bit
more education and understanding of what the trust actually does
for former players. But I'm definitely looking to the thing.
We'll talk a little bit about it. We're gonna get
room hooked up of just getting the brain and mindy skin.
Speaker 6 (38:07):
Can you can? You can do it in l A.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
You don't it, don't have.
Speaker 6 (38:10):
To do I love l A.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Like, let's let's go to LA and we.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Can get it done on the beach and your hotel
in l A is on the beach.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
There's't got nothing to do with you.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
This is this guy always trying to talk me into
doing something, and I'm just like very hesitant.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
You on the other end, number one, very mature.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I can tell by your journey, your path, the way
you speak, how much your knowledge is and everything that
you spoke about. You don't talk unless you know what
you're talking about. You can tell, uh, and so that
means you you listen extremely well. But I do want
to know one more thing, and maybe it's a little
(38:52):
bit of insight, and I.
Speaker 6 (38:53):
Want to know just a little bit more about who
you are.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
And I'll probably pick up on it, but it's like,
at what point are like what about your football career
from whether you were playing from you were little high
school temple to where like that led you to this point?
What did you learn or what all did you take
from football in your life that has helped you grow
to exactly where you are, And it's just mature wealth
(39:18):
of knowledge that's really leading a group and really serving
so many people.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, yeah, I hate to get so serious on this one,
but no, don't.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Turn Yeah, my.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Little league coach di'angelo Phelds was the second round draft
pick and.
Speaker 6 (39:38):
He grew so you saw NFL in front of you.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
So he grew up about two blocks away from me
in my neighborhood. He's Jerry Porter's second round draft pick.
He grew up about a couple of blocks away from me,
Vernon Avante Davis. We also have a superstar agent who
would go unnamed. We all grew up on the same playground.
It was a he's the ones that went to the league,
(40:03):
but particularly that a year nineteen ninety two ninety three,
it was a very difficult year for my city DC.
We were at the height of the crack epidemic. Violence
was rampant, and I remember my coaches pulling me to
the side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo Fields, don't
(40:29):
cheat your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And
this is more than a game. This game can take
you places right in football, Although I enjoyed it, from
that moment on it took on a more serious form.
You know, I saw it as my obligation to be
the best I could be. I saw as my obligation
(40:51):
to be the best I can be and transform that
in a way that can support my family and my community.
So football, to me, he was from that moment on,
it was more than just a game. It's been life
or death, and I like the fact or I appreciate
the fact that I get the work for the business
(41:11):
every day that changed my life, and for the players
every day that changed my life because it was the
Lts of the world.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It was the Jerry Rices.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Of the world, the Montanas of the world that I
saw that allowed me to dream, to see what's next,
what I could accomplish, and what those accomplishments can do
for me.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
Excellent answer.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
That's why I love it.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
Thank you, and I appreciate it for you to continue
to serve and all that other stuff. I knew you
were gonna have some great words, and it's just really
cool because when you see greatness in front of you,
and when they say something to.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
You, you hold on to it.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
I bet that coach probably had no idea that that
was gonna stick with you, but it's a very vivid
memory in your life. I can tell you remember, like
bro it from there on, football was no longer just
a game. Way of life is a way providing and
you didn't even know what future we're going to have,
but I needed this to to be a part of it,
(42:07):
So I appreciate it. Man, thanks for everything that you're doing.
Thank you, and man for all of our listeners and
viewers out there wherever you pick up your podcast, whether
it's Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio app Man, leave a like, subscribe comment, Man,
hit that follow button, and you can also check us
out on more episodes on the NFL pages YouTube channel
and Peanut Man get us out here and don't be weird.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Hey, pre chut, y'all tune it in. I'm Peanut Tubman.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
This is my guy Roman Harper NASAMir and this is
the NFL Player's second act podcast.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
We out
And I remember my coach is pulling me to the
side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo fields, don't cheat
your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And this
is more than a game. This game can take your places.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So football to me was from that moment on, was
more than just a game.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's been life or death.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And I like the fact or I appreciate the fact
that I get to work for the business every day
that changed my life, and for the players every day
that changed my life.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
What's up, everybody, I'll peanut to me and this is
the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast, and with me, as
always is my trusty co host, Roman Harper.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
That's it. That's all. I got nothing.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're not gonna okay serious mode right now, So you're
you're right, yeah, go to our next all right, our
next guest. He played for the Steelers and the Cardinals.
He is now the executive director of the Trust Ladies
and Gentlemen's Mere Cop.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Welcome to the pop.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yes, thanks for having.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Thanks for coming on. Appreciation you.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I mean you literally just arrived like you haven't even
been in your room and you came right down. So man,
I thank you for coming here and just wanting to
get this thing right right to it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
We appreciate you, no, thank you, thank you for having.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Where was you where'd you come in from?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
D C hometown? Now?
Speaker 5 (01:33):
When you say DC, like because like d C that
that's a lot is it Virginia?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Is it? Like? Yo? No? No, no, no, truly like
in DC? So the indigenous folks, d C is d C. Okay, yeah, teach,
When I say d C, I mean the city of Washington.
Speaker 6 (01:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So but you may hear d m V.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
Yeah that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Where Ken, okay, brothers and now but you're in it.
But I'm okay, all right. I like that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Ken. That's country talk right there.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
That is kind of country talk.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No, ain't no kind of it is.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
We can well, you know everybody got cousins, but we
say but we say kim folk though, like it ain't
just you can say kim folk.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
That's what that's. That's some country right there.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It might be country cousins.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
There we go. I get it.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
I respect it, Samir. Do you remember this past that
happened in training camp two thousand and four? I guess
it was a deep pass from Ben Roethlisberger It was
a write up, an article about it, and it said
that you caught it for a touchdown, and this was
the play that showed the news and possibly that team
that like man, I think Ben Ben, maybe Big Ben
(02:42):
may be our answer or the future.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I don't know if I can say I remember that
play vividly or specifically, but I remember many plays where
Ben did that. That training camp, yes, also rookie mini camp.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That mini camp.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
So tell me, tell me a couple of them.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
I want to hear, Like, at what point, because big
being going for coming from Miami of Ohio, everybody had questions,
small school guy, but he had the body, he had
the arm, and he literally made Miami Ohio good. So
what were some of the things that happened early on
in camp that you were.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Like, Yeah, I would say confidence, charisma, you know, and athletics.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
We call it the it factor.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
He walked with a city swag, so stepping on the field,
I think he brought up I think he raised the
level of the offense and the team, and then his
talent was apparent immediately. So he helped actually helped me
make a name for myself in short order, feeding me
(03:43):
plenty of boss that would eventually lead to me quickly
moving up the depth chart. So I would say it
was it was early, and it was often that he delivered.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Here's the question that we like to ask most of
our guests, but what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
My welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It was actually that that training camp Cheety who's now
a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a corner
at the time. I beat him on the deep ball
and the ball was underthrown. But I was confident that
he was not going to get to this football. It
was no way he was behind me. I shielded him,
(04:24):
did all the technical savvy things. The brother went over me,
and I mean reached over me, picked the ball off.
I said, this is a different level of athletics out
you know, could never be comfortable.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I got too comfortable that play. But that was
my welcome to the NFL moment.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
He was shorter than me. I mean by all measure.
He wasn't supposed to get to that ball. No way
he's supposed to get to that ball. And he got
to that ball. And to this day, I'm trying to
figure out this brother got some game his vert must
have been forty six. Yeah, Brod must have been a
ten to four because he got up there.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So that was my welcome to the NFL moment.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So that two thousand and fourth season, you guys went
fifteen to one. You lost AFC title game to the Patriots.
But that year Ben Roethlisberger, he was Rookie of the Year,
Officers Rookie of the Year, Hines Ward, drowing better say
all made the Pro Bowl. Three defensive guys made the
Pro Bowl. Talk about how special that season was.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So for me that season in it relatively early for me.
I had actually broke my leg just before the season started,
but I stayed with the team. Yeah, that whole season
watching film, so I got to see all, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
All of the players.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah that it would eventually lead to all of the
accolades that you just mentioned. What I recall from that
season was just being amazed by the collection of talent,
but more so how that collection of talent operated as
a family or team. And I think it really showed
the leadership from the coaching staff standpoint front office, as
(06:01):
well as the players in the locker room. I mean
when you walked in the locker room, it was no
question that this was a veteran team.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
You would there to win, you would there to get
a job done.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So what you eventually saw in the field, I think
came through hours of bonding and hard work before they
got out there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Talk about you alluded to it earlier when you when
you answered the question, when you first started talking about
the question you got you got injury broke to let
how was it dealing with that injury and still being
with the team, But you're really not I don't want
to say a part of the team, but you're you're
not out there with your brothers and you're seeing they
(06:41):
have success, but you want to be out there knowing
that you contribute.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Like, how did you do with that?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Mentally?
Speaker 6 (06:46):
That was?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
That was tough.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It's probably the one of the most difficult challenge of
challenges of my lifetime for sure. I think the team
first and foremost did their best to make me feel
at home. The week after I broke my leg. No
mind you, I'm on a team with Hall of famers.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Man All pros, Pro Bowls.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Was just the minimum you can do on that team, right,
And the week out that broke my leg, they actually
hung a photo that I have in my home of
me on the wall and all the players laughed. They
was like, man, you break your leg and you know
you get posted.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
On the wall, you know. And then during the season.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
They did like a local news segment like catch Up
with Zamir Cobb. Now they had won probably ten games
in row this time. I remember hy as Ward laughing
at me, like, man, we all here winning games and
they interviewing you. So you know, so I was in isolation.
The isolation was tough, but I think the team and
(07:48):
the players did their best to make me feel like
I was a partner.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Went a long way. You know.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
It's so I tore my acl my rookie year, so
I get what you're saying. My team went to the
NFC Championship game that year, trying to stay engaged when
you know, you still got rookie duties, so there's still
certain things that have to be involved in you're trying
to stay engaged as much as you can. For me,
I thought the experience was so different because when they
(08:13):
have to like travel on road games, I don't do that,
so like I was just in the city, so I
kind of became like a normal person, you know. But
I don't have the same lifestyle as everybody else. What
was that lifestyle like in Pittsburgh for you, because Pittsburgh's
already a very unique city. I was in New Orleans,
but I always like to hear people's ir experience as well,
especially on a team that's doing well.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, so I got married young.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So I was married as a after my second semester
of college.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Freshman year.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, my freshman year.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
My wife was actually still in high school, so she
was in the twelfth grade. She graduates, I go watch
her graduate, she rock across the stage.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And then we had Temple University. So my wife and
I went.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
To school together, study together, have our first child maybe
a year after marriage. So throughout college, I mean, you
know what the vision one sports is like, man, all
your time is accounted for. So I got very little
time with my family. Actually, so that year that I
was injured, it was actually time for me to catch
(09:18):
up with my wife and kid after practice because I
would go to practice, I would watch film, but I
didn't have all of the other obligations as the rest
of the team. So I actually used that time to
catch up with my family.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
For sure, you might be the youngest guy.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
First of all, you are the youngest guy we've had
on here that was married that young. That is actually
an amazing stat. I didn't know that. Congratulations. I mean,
so when y'all are studying together, like who doing the homework?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
We were you know, my wife was was a high
school athlete, so we would compete, okay, hey, because she
always everything's competitive yah yeah, yeah. She always hit me
with the you just here because you could catch you know,
so I would try to show up. You know, I
got my keeping the classroom, you know. But I would
be remiss if I didn't admit that I had a
(10:07):
you know, a good a good study party.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Definitely helpful brother.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Hey, stay strong.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Yeah, two thousand and four, you had a Bill Coward
was your coach? What was he like for a coach?
I actually got to talk to him. He did not
let me down.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, tough but fair. Tough but fair man. I was.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was an undrafted free agent. But you know Larry
Larry Fitzgerald and I were both first team All Big East.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I was honorable mention All American.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Unfortunately I don't get drafted, but I go into Pittsburgh
as an undrafted free agent. Plexico holds out and uh many.
I think up to training camp that year, so I
had a tremendous opportunity to get more reps. And by
the second press preseason game, I was fourth on the
depth shot. So I say, Man, he honors results, no
(11:14):
matter how you get him, where you come from, he
honors results. I've seen fourth rounders get cut. I've seen
first rounders make their way to the bench. Yeah, at
the end of the day, as you mentioned, you're on
the team with all pros and Hall of Famous results
was the only thing that matter. So tough, but fet Man,
(11:35):
he was a tough coach, but he was fair and
I appreciated that.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I want to know a little bit more about, like
the transitioning and getting comfortable with your second act. When
did you know that you could have success after.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Football was done.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
I was injure my sophomore year of college, and we
now know it as a sports hernia, and it's like
a routine surgery, right, But when I got it, it
wasn't aine surgery.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'd actually had.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It for maybe a year and a half, two years
before they actually could diagnose it, so I was misdiagnosed,
went in as a promising freshman, but due to injury,
that outlook at sort of dwindle. During that time, I
ingratiated myself with like the world of scholarship and being
an actually student right, and my professor, doctor Mechannadora, actually
(12:26):
became one of my closest friends and mentor. And one
day we were just talking and he said, man, one
day you'll realize that you're more than just pigskin and air.
What a shallow man to be, right, And I took
that as a challenge. It was then where I started
to be more complex. I think, to appreciate deck sturdy,
(12:49):
you know, create multiple forms of myself. I interned my
sophomore in senior year, I'm literally the only Division one
athlete that I've knowed actually had a true internship. My
senior year of football, I worked sixteen hours a week.
And it wasn't like you go in and sign your
name and they give you hours.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I worked, and I worked at the U Study Center,
which was the detention center for the city of Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Did I did real work.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I did the same thing I worked at the Cincter
in life.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, so I did real work.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So it was then I discovered that I could be
successful beyond the game. I just didn't expect to apply
it as soon.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
As First of all, how did you get hooked up
with that job? And maybe kind of tell me about
your scheduling because you have this twenty hour you know,
you said in college you're athlete. Your day's booked up, done,
And so when did you find in time to go
to work? And what was your mentality because you also
(13:51):
had a wife and a family too, Like your mindset's
already completely different than every other teammate.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You have husd cent.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So just in terms of work, it was actually a
part of my major.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
What was your major?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Social work? So you have to have some field hours
or hands on work. Well, we called it a practical
right where you practically apply to theories that you're learning
in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No no, no, no, no, all good.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So my sophomore year, my coach actually wanted me to
change my major, and the dean of my of the
School of Social Work actually called my head coach and said,
most Temple students work or go to work and go
to school. What makes me any different? Either he continues
(14:49):
as major or he's not playing football. So it actually
my school stood up to my coach the whole time.
I'm caught in the middle, but I appreciate it in
the lower Yeah, I appreciated lower.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So it was actually a part of my.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Academic requirements to achieve my degree that I work my
sophomore in senior year.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Yeah, that didn't happen to a lot of SEC schools.
That Yeah, where the school can stand up to the coach.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I don't think it happens that any SEC school. I
put that out there on the record.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It does.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
That doesn't happen at SEC.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You're here to play football second, and you're here for
an education first.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, we used to get we used to get we
used to get that speech.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
But that's high speech closed.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
But when you're not winning, it's just words. You don't
have that level of pool. Yeah with the university when.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
The same speech.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
But yeah, okay Alabama. So the football thing is kind
of doing what it's doing. You signed with the you
wanted to keep playing, but you had injuries your first
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So yes, So I ended up getting us going to
a specialist doctor myriers just before my.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Crazy he was down the street, down the streets.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
So I had hernia surgery and I was like, look, Doc,
this ain't doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I still feel this pain.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So before my senior season, my training at the time,
Dwight Strandsbury said, we got we got one more option.
It's a specialist uh at Honeyman Hospital. Ironically, that's when
my son was My first son was, my first child
was born.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So I go, man. He examined me for like five minutes.
He was like exactly. Yeah. He was like saying, you
gotta have this surgery. So I haven't.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And within six weeks, Man, I feel like a chance.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Well you can get to max speed and not like
because it's just the governor.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
What did it feel like?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's hard to describe, like it doesn't hurt all the time,
but it's like you'll be running.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
And all of a sudden you're about to limit.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, it is just especially as a wild out when
you got stop and go.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Yeah. I couldn't imagine.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I also like laying in the bed like I'd be good,
I'd cough make that feel it, or like I roll
over and you're like, oh what is that?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So So my junior year, I didn't practice the whole season.
I took vajos before games and that's how I made
it through my my junior year. Then I go into
my senior year, I have the surgery, and I'll tell you,
after the first seven days of training, cat my coaches
(17:41):
shut me down. They said, if we want the DBS
to have any confidence during this season, man, you cannot practice.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
So I knew I was back then.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, And after the first six games my senior year,
Larry and I were actually neck and neck in every
national stat and every stat WI receiver stat nationally. So
it was pretty strong senior season. It was literally my
only healthy season.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
It's banana.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
And so you go to the league league a couple
of years, you've been signed at the Voodoo, I saw you.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So I did three years in the league, uh, And
then everybody wanted to see if I could sort of
recapture who I was before I broke my leg and
injured my knee. So I get to uh the Voodoo.
I must have had.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Three or four good practices.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
They think they got the next Cadillac that nobody's ever seen.
Then I think I ended up starting to drain my
knee again because I started getting bone on bone.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
The broken leg definitely slowed me up, but I was
able to just regret get back from that. But the
bone on bone, it wasn't no, there's no really, they
start draining. It was like every day they started draining
my knee and it was it was a wrap from.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
That wrap from there.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
So now you feel your's wrap. So then you reach
out to the trust or how does this hold?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
No, no, actually going back.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Because I want everybody else to hear how these things
get started.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
So that internship I told you about UH and having
to go to class at Temple, you had to go
to every class bro they checked. I mean you had
a class checker and if you didn't show for that class,
you had that morning wake up. I'm smiling because like,
I went to class, So I realistic say I never
had a morning wake up.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I don't want to give myself too much credit.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I can't say I was that committed to class, but
I was surely committed to not getting up before in
the morning and running wrong class right.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So it definitely served its purpose.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Once I got injured, the two internships I had, they
actually reached out to me first and they were like, hey,
so you hurt, as soon as you need us, let
us know. And that segue into my first job I
started as a case manager man in Philadelphia program called
(20:11):
Adolescence Violence Reduction, working with the one hundred youth in
Philadelphia that would more likely to kill or be killed.
I've actually testified over one hundred and fifty times in
court on behalf of adolescence. Well, we called them youth offenders, right.
I've only had one kid held, had the lowest recidivism
(20:33):
rate of any one with a case load. Quickly escalated
to upper management and I ended up managing two forty
thousand square foot community centers in Philadelphia, one in North Philly,
one in West Philly they called the Bottom. From there,
I transitioned back home to my hometown of DC, where
(20:54):
I was a director of a local nonprofit. I was
looking for support for a camp I was doing in
my neighborhood, Emry Heights Playground, and I noticed that the
NFLPA was in DC. Didn't know that, so I reached
out to him, and they came with a bowload of
equipment and volunteers and you know, helped me put on
(21:18):
the first camp at my childhood playground. Yeah, and I
was actually living in the back, living in the neighborhood
at that time, so it kind of sort of resparkle
per my interests of getting back in sports, kept my
out on the job openings of the PA. Saw they
were launching the Trust, looked at the PD or position description.
(21:42):
I mean it literally read like my experience. Yeah, it
was actually a step back from a title standpoint or
position standpoint, but I've always been mission driven up position driven,
and it was sort as a calling for me.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
What actually does the trust do?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
We provide an ecosystem of support, comprehensive system of support
to help former players thrive post career, and.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
We'll be right back and what are some of the
things in that ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I'll start with one in which I think we should
socialize and we should all do, is the brain and
body assessment. Players have obtained to date over four thousand assessments.
So if you haven't done it, players, you're behind right,
So any player with two or more credited seasons, it's
(22:35):
eligible or are eligible for the benefit. That benefit includes
your travel, your accommodations meals if needed. Your spouse can
travel with you as well, although she's not a part
of the assessment. The assessment is over three days. I
mean it's gonna be the most extensive physical you ever
have in your life, head to toe. You have that
(22:57):
once every five years for your lifetime. So the first
thing we need to be for our families in our
community is present, right. And what better way to be
president than to be healthy?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Right?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So I think we start there. I think all of
us we need to start there. We need to socialize
that as you transition, of course, you're gonna wonder what's next.
It's a very complex scenario. You're gonna wonder what's next.
What's next is gonna be different for all of us.
So we help with the resume, the cover letter, the
(23:31):
LinkedIn profile, the interview skills. You have a one on
one coach to walk you or walk along with.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
You in that process. You're never alone.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
You're gonna have a skill assessment, a personality assessment, whether
you're pivoting in a career or you're entering a career.
Our educational advancement or our scholarship is twenty thousand dollars
per calendar year for your lifetime. You don't come out
of pocket. We pay the school, or the benefit pays
(24:02):
the school directly. It's undergrad grad, PhD. Whatever it is
of your choosing To date, we're roughly eleven hundred completed
degree programs, and over fifty percent of those are graduate degrees.
Players can also take advantage of a certificate up to
five thousand a year for your lifetime.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So those are three that I.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Would definitely keep in mind if you're looking to have
a good time with the.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Family, like like I. You know I am, and.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
You got a big household like we do. You know,
my wife and I we have five kids. YMCA is
good for everybody. We just added swim to the YMCA benefits.
So brothers, if you don't know how to swim, learn
how to save yourself and save it life. We got
all right you could take it depending with you as well.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
So it's a lot of things. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Those are just a couple.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
So I've done the braining, the bringing brain body.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I did mine in the Cleveland Cliny Okay, so yeah
I'm in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah, okay, did in Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I did it like around COVID. So I think I'm
due in like twenty twenty six. Is when twenty five
twenty I gotta check, But I'm I don't worry. We
know we'll call you before I think we keep, we keep,
I'm about doing. My five years is just about up.
So I'm I think I'm ready for my next skin.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Because you're a good example of what we all.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And it was cool for three days.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I think I found out I have a sleep avenue,
but I don't sleep with the machine because it's it's
very annoying and loud.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But so have you tried the pillar surgery?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
No, I don't. I don't think I'm gonna do any surgeries.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
But so how are you treating your apney? Brother? If
you don't know me, ask you. Let's go there.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping good.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
You come over, you come.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
I'm just saying we can you know I'm sleeping good.
I'm six and a half hours in, like I'm still.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Because we helped with the follow up. Now, yeah, brother,
we got you.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I feel So I tried it. I'm not gonna I
tried it and I woke up and it was like
a damn desert in my mouth, like it was just dry,
and so it's it definitely takes some you some It
took me a minute to get used to it, and
I never got used to it.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
So I just was like, I think I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I think I think I'm Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I tried it in my and my kids said it
looked like I was going to the moon at night. Yeah,
so I couldn't I had, I wouldn't have had the surgery.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
So they put Yeah, so that's the I don't know
what what is this surgery?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Hold talk just a pillar. I had a pillow put
in my throat. It's helped reduce my storing and I
can sleep and everybody that lives in my house now
can sleep because I don't.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Yeah, right, isn't there an app that you can track
it with an app?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
There's something there's there's some type of a device that
it can connect to with an app and it will help.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
It helps with the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
We'll talk a little bit about that treatment.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
My kids are just like that.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You you sound like you're gonna die, And I was like,
I've but I slept fine.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I feel good, like I'm good. But yeah, well we'll
talk offline after this.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But yeah, you got to do the brand and I'll
be telling you to do this stuff, but you won't
be trying to listen to your boy.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Yeah, because I don't want them to tell me I
can't have bacon no more. I'm sorry, I.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Don't think that. You know, don't limit yourself over bacon.
I know.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
As a matter of fact, the price of bacon is
going up so much. I stopped so I've gotten out
of it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
So just remember as the Arab benefits, so you're leaving
money on the table.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
This is something I talked to my wife about this
morning that I'm this is two things.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
They committed to it.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
I'm gonna do it. Yes, I gotta continue to commit
to it.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
What about all the answers that you felt that after
you joined the trust that maybe got answered for yourself
when you finally committed to it.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
You're going into it. I think you said.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
The first two questions asked before making a career move
is number one, can I maximize impact? And number two?
Can I amplify the mission? You already told me that
you're a mission driven person. I wrote that down. I
actually love it. It's mission driven, not position driven. And
then if you can do that, if there's a third,
(28:24):
can I do those two in a deeper way that
I can already accomplish in my current role. So all
these questions, what did the Trust help you in answering
those questions, I.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Would say, you know, going a bed and waking up
with the weight of can we improve the lives of
former players and their families? I think it's an honor
and a half. It's a discussion that's normal, normal in
my household. What can we do? What are we not doing?
(28:56):
How could we look at our family as a reflection
of the other family to be productive? How could I
look at myself introspectively, right, my strengths, my weaknesses, my toils,
my tears, you know, in a way that can be
reflected out on what we do. But greater than that,
(29:20):
as a program manager, I was able to serve over
five hundred players in a role of program manager in
that sense, helping players figure out or empowering players to
figure out their what's next. And it's the collection of
those experiences that I think has helped me amplify our mission.
(29:44):
I think going into the trust, which I was created
by players for players, in collaboration with various subject matter
experts as well as NFLPA staff, there was a core
of services that remain our core today, but there were
(30:05):
also gaps, and I think my past experience helped me
and the others that I was working with at the
time see those gaps and feel them in a way
that players could appreciate. We didn't start the trust with
the ability to go impatient, so we literally can go
(30:26):
from basic counseling to impatient services. Player pays no costs.
We didn't have that when we first started, right, So
when you talk about being mission driven, it's always the
what's next. It's always questioning what we do, turning over
what we do, how can we think differently about what
we do to make it better on behalf of players.
(30:48):
The YMCA didn't come with the trust. That was again
a gap that we saw that we were able to feel.
We didn't have the free agent program, which, if you
don't know, every active player with two or more credited
seasons who is not on the roster, we pay for
them to train up to twelve months at Bambar Rito
(31:08):
Exos DSA and Atlanta Yo Murphy Sports in Tampa up
to twelve months.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We didn't have that. We saw a guy.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We know players want to get back in the game first,
so we start there. But that also creates a natural
road to the transition because, as you guys know, you've
a power clean front squad, realize you're not getting a
call and you move on to what's next. So we
want to be right there when the player makes that decision.
So we talk about being mission driven, amplifying the mission.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Those are some of the things that I've been able to.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Do along with or create along with the team of
the Trust that I think players are benefiting from today.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Now.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Fulfilling?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Is it to do that though, knowing that you came
here or you're a former player, you step into you
step into this position, and you've just filled all these gaps?
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Fulfilling?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Do you ever just sometimes sit back as Blake hey Man,
we we did that.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
We I know I'm not benefiting from some of these things,
but I made the game better for this next group
of guys.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Like absolutely, there were seven of the There were seven
of us when we first launt the Trust. Of the seven,
three remain myself, Andrew Zink, who's our director of Ops,
and Danielle Foreman, who's our director of Service. Those two folks,
(32:35):
along with the folks who have served the organization in
the past and continue to serve the organization today. Those
folks are heroes and I'm just a part of a
team of heroes and our service team.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
I would go a step further.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I call them superheroes without capes because the things they
do on behalf of players, the unseen that they do
on behalf of players every day, you wouldn't believe how
it benefits us. Right, So it's fulfilling for me as
an individual, but it's even more fulfilling knowing that I
have a team of committed individuals that drive the train.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
For players every.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Day and we'll be right back, all right.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
So you say it's only three of you guys that
have been there since the beginning, and you happen to
be one of those guys. At what point did you realize, like,
you know what, I think I'm not just a person here,
but I think I'm ready to move up and take
on more.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Of a leadership. Bro, what was it you are?
Speaker 5 (33:37):
You're a manager, a program manager to player director, then
you went managing director, now the executive director. So like
you know, I look, I'm not I haven't had a
whole bunch of jobs where I know what those exact
terms mean. But sounds like you're moving up the last
When did that start to hit for you?
Speaker 6 (33:53):
Like, man, this is.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
What I think my calling is, and this is my mission,
I might as well be the best at it.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So I started as a program manager on the Trust side,
But the Trust and the NFLPA are distinctly different organizations
legally distinct organization. The Trust is a collectively bargain benefit
and our board members are made up of equal NFL
(34:21):
trustees equal NFLPA trustees.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
But we're located.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Within the nflpa's sort of infrastructure building per se or space.
So naturally the work I'm doing on my floor is
reverberating throughout the building for lack of better terms, So
that gave me the opportunity to serve players in the
(34:47):
role lists player director. So I was a program manager
for two and a half years. Then I go with
Player Director on the NFLPA side for roughly five years
through the twenty twenty Collective Barney Agreement larger responsible for
engaging in educating players writing them to bargain. Right after that,
(35:07):
I go back to the Trust as managing director for
roughly three years, so I get to see sides of
the business that I was familiar with but didn't have
my hands in, such as our operations, how we pay
our bills, how we pay the scholarship, how we pay
for medical costs. Took that collective experience and then became
(35:29):
executive director. The way I describe it is, I've always
been on good teams. Good teams allow you to excel
as an individual, no doubt, made multiple promos and all
pro teams allowed me to escalate. And I'm still celebrating
with my team.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
So this is a question we like to ask all
of our guests. You have had an amazing life, high school, college,
you know, NFL, now post life, your transition to where
you are right now, vinize the director, if you had
four people to pick from that help you turn you
into the menu are today right now, sitting right here
(36:09):
in this chair.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Who would those four people be? And we're putting them
on your own personal amount rushmore.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
So I'm not gonna say in order, because if it's ordered,
you know, wife is premium.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Order, Yeah, wife is premium. But my four is easy.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Uh you know, I call them my holy you know,
my holy trinity, just to spind off, not to be
disrespectful of any religious belief. Uh, my mother, my grandmother
and my great aunt. Those are the folks that that
got me to my wife. And once I got to
(36:49):
my wife, she took it over from there.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Now, why all three, you know, mother and grandmother and
your auntie, Ye, why.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Each as a team. They raised me and they raised us,
meaning my siblings, my cousins, we were all. My cousins
are like my brothers and sisters. My extended family is
like my nuclear family. Because they kept us all close.
Sunday dinners, Easter Sundays, Christmas dinners, all those times at
(37:18):
the table, all those times enjoying those moments allowed us
to I think, have a heightened level of fondness for
each other. It's helped us as children, has helped us
as an adult, and I think they turned over a
good man to my spouse and we've been able to,
i think, carry on many of those traditions that she
(37:42):
came with from her family, but particularly as you asked me,
that I came with from those three individuals.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Hey, I appreciate you coming on the pot man. Thank
you for blessing us and giving us a little bit
more education and understanding of what the trust actually does
for former players. But I'm definitely looking to the thing.
We'll talk a little bit about it. We're gonna get
room hooked up of just getting the brain and mindy skin.
Speaker 6 (38:07):
Can you can? You can do it in l A.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
You don't it, don't have.
Speaker 6 (38:10):
To do I love l A.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Like, let's let's go to LA and we.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Can get it done on the beach and your hotel
in l A is on the beach.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
There's't got nothing to do with you.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
This is this guy always trying to talk me into
doing something, and I'm just like very hesitant.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
You on the other end, number one, very mature.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I can tell by your journey, your path, the way
you speak, how much your knowledge is and everything that
you spoke about. You don't talk unless you know what
you're talking about. You can tell, uh, and so that
means you you listen extremely well. But I do want
to know one more thing, and maybe it's a little
(38:52):
bit of insight, and I.
Speaker 6 (38:53):
Want to know just a little bit more about who
you are.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
And I'll probably pick up on it, but it's like,
at what point are like what about your football career
from whether you were playing from you were little high
school temple to where like that led you to this point?
What did you learn or what all did you take
from football in your life that has helped you grow
to exactly where you are, And it's just mature wealth
(39:18):
of knowledge that's really leading a group and really serving
so many people.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, yeah, I hate to get so serious on this one,
but no, don't.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Turn Yeah, my.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Little league coach di'angelo Phelds was the second round draft
pick and.
Speaker 6 (39:38):
He grew so you saw NFL in front of you.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
So he grew up about two blocks away from me
in my neighborhood. He's Jerry Porter's second round draft pick.
He grew up about a couple of blocks away from me,
Vernon Avante Davis. We also have a superstar agent who
would go unnamed. We all grew up on the same playground.
It was a he's the ones that went to the league,
(40:03):
but particularly that a year nineteen ninety two ninety three,
it was a very difficult year for my city DC.
We were at the height of the crack epidemic. Violence
was rampant, and I remember my coaches pulling me to
the side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo Fields, don't
(40:29):
cheat your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And
this is more than a game. This game can take
you places right in football, Although I enjoyed it, from
that moment on it took on a more serious form.
You know, I saw it as my obligation to be
the best I could be. I saw as my obligation
(40:51):
to be the best I can be and transform that
in a way that can support my family and my community.
So football, to me, he was from that moment on,
it was more than just a game. It's been life
or death, and I like the fact or I appreciate
the fact that I get the work for the business
(41:11):
every day that changed my life, and for the players
every day that changed my life because it was the
Lts of the world.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It was the Jerry Rices.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Of the world, the Montanas of the world that I
saw that allowed me to dream, to see what's next,
what I could accomplish, and what those accomplishments can do
for me.
Speaker 6 (41:31):
Excellent answer.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
That's why I love it.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
Thank you, and I appreciate it for you to continue
to serve and all that other stuff. I knew you
were gonna have some great words, and it's just really
cool because when you see greatness in front of you,
and when they say something to.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
You, you hold on to it.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
I bet that coach probably had no idea that that
was gonna stick with you, but it's a very vivid
memory in your life. I can tell you remember, like
bro it from there on, football was no longer just
a game. Way of life is a way providing and
you didn't even know what future we're going to have,
but I needed this to to be a part of it,
(42:07):
So I appreciate it. Man, thanks for everything that you're doing.
Thank you, and man for all of our listeners and
viewers out there wherever you pick up your podcast, whether
it's Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio app Man, leave a like, subscribe comment, Man,
hit that follow button, and you can also check us
out on more episodes on the NFL pages YouTube channel
and Peanut Man get us out here and don't be weird.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Hey, pre chut, y'all tune it in. I'm Peanut Tubman.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
This is my guy Roman Harper NASAMir and this is
the NFL Player's second act podcast.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
We out
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