October 31, 2020 • 22 mins
The former Ravens linebacker talks about his fight for voting rights in Georgia, his frustration with the way his NFL career ended, and his many business dealings.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Greetings, and welcome to What Happened to That Guy? A
podcast about former Baltimore Ravens and life after football. I'm
your host, John Eisenberg. This isn't a podcast about politics,
and I don't want it to be, but there's an
American presidential election coming up, and politics are hard to
avoid right now. When I interviewed former Ravens linebacker A.
(00:24):
Dahlias Thomas for this episode, we talked about his memorable
years in Baltimore, and we talked about his langering bitterness
over how his NFL career ended, and we talked about
what he's doing now, all of which I'll get into momentarily.
Very interesting stuff. He's one of the most unique players
in Ravens history, and he's a unique former player too.
(00:45):
But the subject that really got A. Dahlias going when
we spoke was politics, specifically voting. At age forty two,
he lives in Atlanta, Georgia. It's the epicenter of a
controversy over voting rights and what many minorities perceive as
attempts to suppress their vote. The bipartisan US Commission on
(01:07):
Civil Rights reports that no state has done more than
Georgia in recent years to make voting difficult, especially for minorities.
Adelias Thomas is a front line soldier in that battle,
using his platform as a well known former NFL star
to push back against what he sees as his state
government's attempt to stifle the minority vote. Year after year,
(01:30):
it hadn't gotten any better. They talk about it for
a ticket and then it goes away. Nobody ever does
anything about it. Nobody conspire. The governor that's never sees
one word about it. I don't want to stand how
the same thing happened over and over again and nobody's
ever accountable for it. I mean, you go there and
you wait to vote. There's nowhere in the world the
(01:51):
goal is to oppressed to vote. Why would I have
to wait six hours to vote? That is that? Is
that to me as a crime, and nobody's going to jail.
It's a story the local media and Georgia has reported
on for years, and the story's gotten hotter lately. When
Adelia's references people waiting six hours to vote, he's talking
(02:11):
about a situation that arose in minority neighborhoods in Atlanta.
In recent years. Multiple voting precincts were shut down without explanation,
resulting in a consolidation of precincts, and in the end,
more and more people had access to fewer and fewer
voting machines. People waiting to vote stood in lines that
(02:32):
stretched seemingly forever. All was at the pose, matter of fact,
ejectally end upcoming. We fed the people peezing in line,
so they didn't in case they got hungry. We passed
out water. I mean, just so that people can be
comfortable and give them a sense of you know, listening,
we understand what's going on. People go vote now with lunchers. Now,
(02:52):
why would you go with a lunch here? Because you
know you're going to be suppressed. You know they're gonna
miss with the system. Fact that people to leave their
house with a lunch here so that they can sit
down and they know how long it's going to take
the vote. That this is not right. Last year stood
at a pressing where they had four machines. They closed
(03:15):
down two places, made those people come from other two
places that they closed down to one location, and then
gave them less machine. Now we all know if this
is about people coming there on their lunch, they can't
stay in line, So they go home, and then they
get to they can't come back and vote in time
because the place is closed. And you wonder why they protest.
(03:38):
Then the systemic racism and its finest, it's the oppression
of the vote. So what do you see? Your role
is as far as just continue to call attention to
it and don't give up the fight, and you know,
do correct, you know, meet with whoever I can meet with,
talk to whever you know, keep making noise and keep
it's that important. But die the vote, that's for sure. No.
(04:01):
I did I notice one of your tweets fairly recently
where you said, if you're protesting and not voting, you're
part of the problem. If you can vote and you
and now voting, what are you protesting? For? Your local
government is much more important than the federal government, hands down,
for those the people that you see, and make the
laws from school and do all those things. All those
(04:24):
things are things you have to go and vote. Go vote.
In the twenty five years since they came to Baltimore,
the Ravens have selected dozens of prospects in the late
rounds of the draft, and they've uncovered plenty of bargains,
but They've never found a better late round bargain than
Adelia's Thomas. He was a sixth round pick in two thousand,
(04:47):
a linebacker from Southern Mississippi who was a two time
winner of his conference's Defensive Player of the Year award,
but some scouts thought his motor was inconsistent, so his
draft stock plummeted. The Ravens were thrilled to grab him
as late as they did with the one hundred and
eighty sixth overall selection. They thought he was one of
(05:07):
the best athletes in the draft, actually one of the
better athletes their scouts had seen. Brian Billick, who was
the Ravens head coach that year, told me Thomas was,
in fact so gifted that his college coaches didn't know
what to do with him. So I don't think they
really knew how to knew how to use him or
utilize him properly. You know, he's not You don't put
him in one position, in a fixed role, and he's
(05:30):
going to do just this. His strength is his worst fatility.
Broad chested, fast and agile, Thomas started out playing special teams.
There was no room for him in the starting lineup
of the Ravens. Dominant defense. He was such a playmaker
on special teams that he made the Pro Bowl in
that role. Eventually, Rex Ryan and the defensive coaches wanted
(05:53):
him on the field for them too. He's just incredible athletes,
incredible physical skills. I mean like he used some Brits.
Bryan always took great pride in saying that we literally
used Adelius in every single defensive position, utilized him in
a lot of different ways, which he loved, and he
took on that responsibility. In one famous incident, the six
(06:16):
foot two, two hundred and seventy pound Thomas lined up
at cornerback opposite Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals, a
legendary on field talker. What's your big rear end doing
out here? Johnson asked, Only he didn't say rear end.
Thomas cracked the starting lineup and then soared as an
outside linebacker on a particularly great Baltimore defense. In two
(06:39):
thousand and six. He registered eleven sacks one hundred and
six tackles that earned him First team All Pro honors.
Shotgun formation, four down linemen for the Ravens, and they
showed blitz Man here it comes Roethlisberger pump. He's hit
loose bull. He bumbles up all the party. It's picked
up a Dawla. Thomas has it of the Ravens party.
(07:02):
He's gon test puts down a Dallas. Thomas and the
Ravens deliver the defensive points. Knockout Clow Coriardy again coming
off that edge, that Nickol blitz. You could smell it,
you could feel it, you could hear it the crowd,
the players. The defensive points were there for the taking.
Corey Ivy starts it, a Dallas Thomas finishes it, and
(07:26):
the Ravens may have just grown the knockout punch to
the stealers. His all pro season unfolded at exactly the
right time for him. When it ended, Thomas became a
free agent, and he cashed in big. The New England Patriots,
winners of multiple Super Bowls, already signed him to the
largest free agent contract in their history. At the time.
The deal had a maximum value of thirty five million,
(07:48):
not bad for a guy drafted number one eighty six overall.
Thomas moved on to the Patriots and he played well
for them in two thousand and seven, That's the year
they went into the Super Bowl unbeaten and lost to
the New York Giants. But then things began to sour.
He got hurt in two thousand and eight, and he
got crossways with Patriots coach Bill Belichick. In two thousand
(08:09):
and nine. He complained publicly when he was deactivated for
a game, and then he was sent home one day
for being a few minutes late to practice in a snowstorm.
He complained about that too. I think what happened in
New England is particularly, you know, not typical of New England.
They did give them a big contract, and so that
(08:29):
expectation comes in and then even though New England is
known for a team that utilizes players, you know, finds
their strengths and finds specific roles for them, I don't
think they really did that with Adelias. That there was
more there, and so I think the pressure of wanting
to live up to that contract, their expectations, the fact
(08:52):
that they really didn't. They just weren't structured in a
way to allow him to do some of the things
that we did was probably frustrating from both sides, and
that's probably where they got sideways a little bit. But
he is a player that you got to talk to
a lot, you know, and I could see where you know,
Bill's style maybe didn't quite you know, set with the
(09:13):
Dahlias in terms of the way he deals with the players.
The Patriots cut him after that season, and the NFL
rumor meal churned with speculation about where he might land,
maybe the Jets, where Rex Ryan was now the head coach,
But Thomas never played another down in the NFL. It
turned out that when he was done with the Patriots,
(09:33):
he was done, period, and he was not happy about it.
In the course of putting together these podcast episodes, I've
learned that how a player exits the NFL can be
a big deal going forward. Did they leave on their
own terms? Was it their choice, was it someone else's choice?
(09:55):
Were they ready or were they not ready? In many cases,
the players accepted of what happened to him at the
end goes a long way towards determining how things go
for him after football, especially initially, and Nadelia's Thomas is
exhibit a of the end not going down well at all.
(10:16):
I definitely wasn't ready for it. I thought I could
have played, you know, at least another five years. When
I was released by New England and It was one
of those things where death it wasn't ready for trained stay.
They stake for two and a half three years just
in case somebody called with her ended with somebody did
a call was always above or in the ear of
(10:41):
whatever it is, you know, a rumor or whatever it
may be. But for whatever reason I didn't, I didn't
get a chance to get picked up with you. But
I'd have to still playing the game at a high level.
And that's why it's probably so hard to step looking
back now, Thomas believes he was branded an attitude case
because of what happened in New England forbody kind tad
(11:01):
away from him a little bit too rumors or whatever
it is from my guest being in New England or
the record. Brian Billick said he had no problems with
Thomas in the seven years they were together in Baltimore
as coach and player. Could be temptamental, but not in
a negative way. I don't ever remember any issue with it.
(11:21):
He was always quick for a joke and he was
fun to coach. He was an enjoyable player to have
on the team, I thought, and really just such a
unique maybe one of the most ut talents I've ever
been around. How long did it take you to get
over that? Or or are you over that? I don't
think I ever get over It took probably three and
(11:44):
a half four years to really get out of a phone.
Did you hear what he said? He was in a funk,
waiting for a chance that never came for four years.
Eventually he snapped out of it. The cloud lifted. He
doesn't really know why, except that time was passing and
probably at some point reality just set in. He was
(12:06):
thirty six. He wasn't going back to the NFL. That
chapter of his life was over unless he was going
to just drift along forever, and he didn't want to
do that. It was time to find something new to do,
a new purpose. He admits he hadn't thought much about
it while he was still playing. Well, I don't know
(12:26):
if I thought about it. Are probably young and dumb.
You just don't have a identity of what you really
wanted to do, or, for a lack of better words,
attest you hadn't found your passion. Finally, he took the
first step of his second act and found something to do,
something that wasn't football, but gave him similar satisfaction. When
(12:49):
he was with the Ravens, he'd made a good friend
in the restaurant business, a guy who ran a Ruth's
Chris steakhouse. That friend had moved to North Carolina and was,
as Thomas said, still doing it thing. He and Thomas
formed a partnership. That's when I hooked up with my
partner in Raleigh, North Carolina and open up a restaurant.
(13:10):
It gave me something to do. It gave me a
sense of purpose. It gave me a sense of direction,
you know, gave me some type of identity. A year later,
Thomas opened another restaurant with a different partner, this time
near Baltimore in Elegant City Real six twenty. It's called
It's Mediterranean influenced dining spot near Turf Valley golf Course.
It's still going strong. And meanwhile, Thomas has continued to
(13:33):
expand his restaurant empire in North Carolina. And yes, it
is an empire. It's more than one restaurant, is it not.
Is it a chain? Yeah? Now, and now we're up
to one, two, three, four, Bardas Unity six, six restaurants.
It'll be it'll be six in North Carolina. So a cafe,
(13:57):
People's Coffee there's three Hall Burger Beers. He has a
fourth one got to open up late on this year
and we just opened up. Oh yeah, Cantina is that
Peruvian food. It actually has a Peruvian infused Okay, let's
count it up. There's the coffee place, There's Grill six
twenty in Ellicott City. There's the three Burger beer spots,
(14:19):
a fourth plan, there's the Peruvian infused place. No doubt,
Thomas is deep into the restaurant game and he's loving it.
I couldn't have been blessed with two better partners. Talk about,
you know, having a Pro Bowl player on your team
when you're new to the space of the restaurant, having
the ability to lean on guys like that. You can't
(14:40):
thank them enough for their fourth side and the ability
to do such great products. Do you have your hand
in any anything else? Have commercial real estate in North Carolina,
half a run of property in Baltimore and that's an Alabama.
Have a minority Vava distribution here in Atlanta, and have
as year just a company you say so, we deal
(15:02):
with logistricts of shipping products for companies or whatever it is.
And a management a company that kind of manages all
other companies, so management company, logistic company, commercial real estate.
Did I leave anything out? I mean, you got your
hands in a lot of parts. Yeah, I mean, and
the most important of all I'm probably is uber Daddy,
Uber Daddy Uber, he said, in other words, driving his
(15:28):
five kids everywhere. Needless to say, the coronavirus pandemic has
upended Thomas's world, especially the restaurants. These are not easy
times in that business, with indoor dining limited and outright
prohibited in some places. But Thomas is surviving. Again. It
goes back to the leadership of the guys that they're
(15:49):
running it and doing a daddy operations of alien David
ken Dutch that they've done such great jobs of minimizing
and having foresight to justus pivot and keep our teas.
And so everybody has a challenging time during this time,
not just restaurants. I think a lot of places had
a lot of talents times didn't have to just and
(16:09):
deliver food and pick up services that normally didn't do.
And so it's been a challenge. But I've think said
considering you can chemic and I feel that if anyone
and whether it's starm going to be. I wouldn't rather
be in it and it with no one else's times
fels to God. His other businesses are also impacted, you know,
(16:33):
yea to slow down from all of the safety regulations
of shipping, new rules, regulations on you know how you ship,
wiping things down as you receive things. Who has tested,
who's not tested? Because you know rental properties for the
most part, you know, you just hold type be understanding.
You know, just the humane you know, understand that the
(16:54):
pandemic is kind of everyone. Those people that get this
country going, essential workers, you know, have all those people
that worked tires me in the medical field. My first
of the nurse who does travel, nurse you to New
York City? Now, um, dinner with COVID patients shooting California,
then on the cold patients. So knowing and understanding that
(17:16):
first hand. My niece is a theologist, so she was
in Massachusetts dealer with it and so it's um, it's
a scary moments, a scary time, you know, when the
people that you love and care about can't be protected
(17:36):
to what they should be. So again it puts through
all things in perspective. A Darius Thomas's Twitter feed says
a lot about where his mind is these days. He
tweets a little about football, but more about social justice causes.
He calls attention to the work he does with the
Player's Coalition, the group that former Ravens receiver and Kwan
(17:57):
Bolden co founded, which advocates for were widespread change. But
no doubt the issue at the forefront of his mind
is voting, protecting the rights of minorities to go to
the polls and have their opinion count, pushing back against
what Thomas sees as blatant suppression efforts. Georgia has closed
two hundred and fourteen triste are voting places and the
(18:20):
last ten years or so, Georgia has two hundred and fourteen.
Two hundred and fourteen they've closed, so the population has grew.
But those two hundred and fourteen, Now, where in the
world would they make this? And why would you do that?
Last year after the election they found aware how full
of voting machines that never got used. How does no
(18:41):
one go to jail for that? How does no one
answer to that? And you know the crazy thing is,
what does this change about our government here in Georgia,
our leadership that you would continue to allow this to happen.
You have known for this. What does this say about
how the leadership from the governor, secret year of state
and people have complained about it over and over again
(19:04):
and nobody has not with the jail one time? And
how are you the governor and you continue to do that?
The mayor has spoke about it several and many times
and even tweeted about it. When the thing is and hey,
look all the machines are down in the South Side
and the black community is just just here or is
it everywhere? The question for the judge, secret cheer of
the state is who's held accountable for this? And what
(19:28):
happened to the system? Why is it our blind? Is it?
The internet? Is the machine? What is it that's making
the thing going line? We never get a report on it.
He's always do what They're just not working. That's not
an answer. It's just not working is not an answer.
Where the internet is down? What are you talking about?
After fighting this fight for years, Thomas has plenty of
(19:49):
thoughts about what should happen in this country with voting
in general. Make the change for the voting system. You
know what the stakes needs to change the voting for
there's no reason why we should be used in paper ballot.
I mean, most of your deal doesn't even come to paper.
Most of you will come to an email. Now, to
think how foreign advanced we've came in technology, the fact
that I have to leave my house to go stand
(20:09):
in a line to vote at a certain polling place,
versus just saying hey, look, when you get ready to vote,
you register online. You have a social Security number. They
know what counting you're in based on your driver's license.
Choose your accounting. It populates that thing online. Hell, the
healthcare is online. You can go get an insurance online
(20:31):
for all of these people, But I can't vote. There's
no reason for the aptrosity of voting systems that we
have in America. Vote the same way. Since then, why
is voting on the national holiday? I don't know why.
The pandemic shows that we can do it. Everybody can
stay home and you can vote over a three day period,
and I would say give it three days a national
(20:53):
holiday to vote. You live there. You're the heart of it,
sort of the epicenter of this whole situation in Georgia.
You're a former NFL player, not a current NFL player.
I mean, how do you make your voice heard or
what can you do other than just shout? You know,
you can just continue to make it known that we're
(21:16):
going to try to make the change. Try to pressure
to people that have empower to make the change. Make
the change to the voting system. Try to get the
squeaking wheel gist all. And you know you keep trying
to squeak it. You keep trying to squeak it. That's
it for today's episode of What Happened To That Guy.
(21:36):
You can find out more about Adelias Thomas's career at
Baltimore Ravens dot Com slash what Happened to That Guy?
I'd like to thank him for giving me some time
and for speaking so frankly about his disappointment over how
his football career ended. I'd also like to encourage everyone
listening to heed the advice Adelia's gave early in this
episode go vote in the upcoming election. Lease Another episode
(22:02):
of What Happened To That Guy will drop in two weeks,
and they'll keep coming every other week for the rest
of the twenty twenty season. If you like what you're hearing,
please subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. Tell your
Ravens friends about it. This podcast is part of the
Baltimore Ravens podcast Network, which also includes The Lounge hosted
by Ryan make and Garrett Downing, and new this year,
(22:25):
Black in the NFL hosted by my colleague Clifton Brown.
Wherever you get your podcasts, just search for the Baltimore
Ravens Podcast Network and everything will come up. It's all
good stuff. This is John Eisenberg. I'll talk to you
in two weeks.
Greetings, and welcome to What Happened to That Guy? A
podcast about former Baltimore Ravens and life after football. I'm
your host, John Eisenberg. This isn't a podcast about politics,
and I don't want it to be, but there's an
American presidential election coming up, and politics are hard to
avoid right now. When I interviewed former Ravens linebacker A.
(00:24):
Dahlias Thomas for this episode, we talked about his memorable
years in Baltimore, and we talked about his langering bitterness
over how his NFL career ended, and we talked about
what he's doing now, all of which I'll get into momentarily.
Very interesting stuff. He's one of the most unique players
in Ravens history, and he's a unique former player too.
(00:45):
But the subject that really got A. Dahlias going when
we spoke was politics, specifically voting. At age forty two,
he lives in Atlanta, Georgia. It's the epicenter of a
controversy over voting rights and what many minorities perceive as
attempts to suppress their vote. The bipartisan US Commission on
(01:07):
Civil Rights reports that no state has done more than
Georgia in recent years to make voting difficult, especially for minorities.
Adelias Thomas is a front line soldier in that battle,
using his platform as a well known former NFL star
to push back against what he sees as his state
government's attempt to stifle the minority vote. Year after year,
(01:30):
it hadn't gotten any better. They talk about it for
a ticket and then it goes away. Nobody ever does
anything about it. Nobody conspire. The governor that's never sees
one word about it. I don't want to stand how
the same thing happened over and over again and nobody's
ever accountable for it. I mean, you go there and
you wait to vote. There's nowhere in the world the
(01:51):
goal is to oppressed to vote. Why would I have
to wait six hours to vote? That is that? Is
that to me as a crime, and nobody's going to jail.
It's a story the local media and Georgia has reported
on for years, and the story's gotten hotter lately. When
Adelia's references people waiting six hours to vote, he's talking
(02:11):
about a situation that arose in minority neighborhoods in Atlanta.
In recent years. Multiple voting precincts were shut down without explanation,
resulting in a consolidation of precincts, and in the end,
more and more people had access to fewer and fewer
voting machines. People waiting to vote stood in lines that
(02:32):
stretched seemingly forever. All was at the pose, matter of fact,
ejectally end upcoming. We fed the people peezing in line,
so they didn't in case they got hungry. We passed
out water. I mean, just so that people can be
comfortable and give them a sense of you know, listening,
we understand what's going on. People go vote now with lunchers. Now,
(02:52):
why would you go with a lunch here? Because you
know you're going to be suppressed. You know they're gonna
miss with the system. Fact that people to leave their
house with a lunch here so that they can sit
down and they know how long it's going to take
the vote. That this is not right. Last year stood
at a pressing where they had four machines. They closed
(03:15):
down two places, made those people come from other two
places that they closed down to one location, and then
gave them less machine. Now we all know if this
is about people coming there on their lunch, they can't
stay in line, So they go home, and then they
get to they can't come back and vote in time
because the place is closed. And you wonder why they protest.
(03:38):
Then the systemic racism and its finest, it's the oppression
of the vote. So what do you see? Your role
is as far as just continue to call attention to
it and don't give up the fight, and you know,
do correct, you know, meet with whoever I can meet with,
talk to whever you know, keep making noise and keep
it's that important. But die the vote, that's for sure. No.
(04:01):
I did I notice one of your tweets fairly recently
where you said, if you're protesting and not voting, you're
part of the problem. If you can vote and you
and now voting, what are you protesting? For? Your local
government is much more important than the federal government, hands down,
for those the people that you see, and make the
laws from school and do all those things. All those
(04:24):
things are things you have to go and vote. Go vote.
In the twenty five years since they came to Baltimore,
the Ravens have selected dozens of prospects in the late
rounds of the draft, and they've uncovered plenty of bargains,
but They've never found a better late round bargain than
Adelia's Thomas. He was a sixth round pick in two thousand,
(04:47):
a linebacker from Southern Mississippi who was a two time
winner of his conference's Defensive Player of the Year award,
but some scouts thought his motor was inconsistent, so his
draft stock plummeted. The Ravens were thrilled to grab him
as late as they did with the one hundred and
eighty sixth overall selection. They thought he was one of
(05:07):
the best athletes in the draft, actually one of the
better athletes their scouts had seen. Brian Billick, who was
the Ravens head coach that year, told me Thomas was,
in fact so gifted that his college coaches didn't know
what to do with him. So I don't think they
really knew how to knew how to use him or
utilize him properly. You know, he's not You don't put
him in one position, in a fixed role, and he's
(05:30):
going to do just this. His strength is his worst fatility.
Broad chested, fast and agile, Thomas started out playing special teams.
There was no room for him in the starting lineup
of the Ravens. Dominant defense. He was such a playmaker
on special teams that he made the Pro Bowl in
that role. Eventually, Rex Ryan and the defensive coaches wanted
(05:53):
him on the field for them too. He's just incredible athletes,
incredible physical skills. I mean like he used some Brits.
Bryan always took great pride in saying that we literally
used Adelius in every single defensive position, utilized him in
a lot of different ways, which he loved, and he
took on that responsibility. In one famous incident, the six
(06:16):
foot two, two hundred and seventy pound Thomas lined up
at cornerback opposite Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals, a
legendary on field talker. What's your big rear end doing
out here? Johnson asked, Only he didn't say rear end.
Thomas cracked the starting lineup and then soared as an
outside linebacker on a particularly great Baltimore defense. In two
(06:39):
thousand and six. He registered eleven sacks one hundred and
six tackles that earned him First team All Pro honors.
Shotgun formation, four down linemen for the Ravens, and they
showed blitz Man here it comes Roethlisberger pump. He's hit
loose bull. He bumbles up all the party. It's picked
up a Dawla. Thomas has it of the Ravens party.
(07:02):
He's gon test puts down a Dallas. Thomas and the
Ravens deliver the defensive points. Knockout Clow Coriardy again coming
off that edge, that Nickol blitz. You could smell it,
you could feel it, you could hear it the crowd,
the players. The defensive points were there for the taking.
Corey Ivy starts it, a Dallas Thomas finishes it, and
(07:26):
the Ravens may have just grown the knockout punch to
the stealers. His all pro season unfolded at exactly the
right time for him. When it ended, Thomas became a
free agent, and he cashed in big. The New England Patriots,
winners of multiple Super Bowls, already signed him to the
largest free agent contract in their history. At the time.
The deal had a maximum value of thirty five million,
(07:48):
not bad for a guy drafted number one eighty six overall.
Thomas moved on to the Patriots and he played well
for them in two thousand and seven, That's the year
they went into the Super Bowl unbeaten and lost to
the New York Giants. But then things began to sour.
He got hurt in two thousand and eight, and he
got crossways with Patriots coach Bill Belichick. In two thousand
(08:09):
and nine. He complained publicly when he was deactivated for
a game, and then he was sent home one day
for being a few minutes late to practice in a snowstorm.
He complained about that too. I think what happened in
New England is particularly, you know, not typical of New England.
They did give them a big contract, and so that
(08:29):
expectation comes in and then even though New England is
known for a team that utilizes players, you know, finds
their strengths and finds specific roles for them, I don't
think they really did that with Adelias. That there was
more there, and so I think the pressure of wanting
to live up to that contract, their expectations, the fact
(08:52):
that they really didn't. They just weren't structured in a
way to allow him to do some of the things
that we did was probably frustrating from both sides, and
that's probably where they got sideways a little bit. But
he is a player that you got to talk to
a lot, you know, and I could see where you know,
Bill's style maybe didn't quite you know, set with the
(09:13):
Dahlias in terms of the way he deals with the players.
The Patriots cut him after that season, and the NFL
rumor meal churned with speculation about where he might land,
maybe the Jets, where Rex Ryan was now the head coach,
But Thomas never played another down in the NFL. It
turned out that when he was done with the Patriots,
(09:33):
he was done, period, and he was not happy about it.
In the course of putting together these podcast episodes, I've
learned that how a player exits the NFL can be
a big deal going forward. Did they leave on their
own terms? Was it their choice, was it someone else's choice?
(09:55):
Were they ready or were they not ready? In many cases,
the players accepted of what happened to him at the
end goes a long way towards determining how things go
for him after football, especially initially, and Nadelia's Thomas is
exhibit a of the end not going down well at all.
(10:16):
I definitely wasn't ready for it. I thought I could
have played, you know, at least another five years. When
I was released by New England and It was one
of those things where death it wasn't ready for trained stay.
They stake for two and a half three years just
in case somebody called with her ended with somebody did
a call was always above or in the ear of
(10:41):
whatever it is, you know, a rumor or whatever it
may be. But for whatever reason I didn't, I didn't
get a chance to get picked up with you. But
I'd have to still playing the game at a high level.
And that's why it's probably so hard to step looking
back now, Thomas believes he was branded an attitude case
because of what happened in New England forbody kind tad
(11:01):
away from him a little bit too rumors or whatever
it is from my guest being in New England or
the record. Brian Billick said he had no problems with
Thomas in the seven years they were together in Baltimore
as coach and player. Could be temptamental, but not in
a negative way. I don't ever remember any issue with it.
(11:21):
He was always quick for a joke and he was
fun to coach. He was an enjoyable player to have
on the team, I thought, and really just such a
unique maybe one of the most ut talents I've ever
been around. How long did it take you to get
over that? Or or are you over that? I don't
think I ever get over It took probably three and
(11:44):
a half four years to really get out of a phone.
Did you hear what he said? He was in a funk,
waiting for a chance that never came for four years.
Eventually he snapped out of it. The cloud lifted. He
doesn't really know why, except that time was passing and
probably at some point reality just set in. He was
(12:06):
thirty six. He wasn't going back to the NFL. That
chapter of his life was over unless he was going
to just drift along forever, and he didn't want to
do that. It was time to find something new to do,
a new purpose. He admits he hadn't thought much about
it while he was still playing. Well, I don't know
(12:26):
if I thought about it. Are probably young and dumb.
You just don't have a identity of what you really
wanted to do, or, for a lack of better words,
attest you hadn't found your passion. Finally, he took the
first step of his second act and found something to do,
something that wasn't football, but gave him similar satisfaction. When
(12:49):
he was with the Ravens, he'd made a good friend
in the restaurant business, a guy who ran a Ruth's
Chris steakhouse. That friend had moved to North Carolina and was,
as Thomas said, still doing it thing. He and Thomas
formed a partnership. That's when I hooked up with my
partner in Raleigh, North Carolina and open up a restaurant.
(13:10):
It gave me something to do. It gave me a
sense of purpose. It gave me a sense of direction,
you know, gave me some type of identity. A year later,
Thomas opened another restaurant with a different partner, this time
near Baltimore in Elegant City Real six twenty. It's called
It's Mediterranean influenced dining spot near Turf Valley golf Course.
It's still going strong. And meanwhile, Thomas has continued to
(13:33):
expand his restaurant empire in North Carolina. And yes, it
is an empire. It's more than one restaurant, is it not.
Is it a chain? Yeah? Now, and now we're up
to one, two, three, four, Bardas Unity six, six restaurants.
It'll be it'll be six in North Carolina. So a cafe,
(13:57):
People's Coffee there's three Hall Burger Beers. He has a
fourth one got to open up late on this year
and we just opened up. Oh yeah, Cantina is that
Peruvian food. It actually has a Peruvian infused Okay, let's
count it up. There's the coffee place, There's Grill six
twenty in Ellicott City. There's the three Burger beer spots,
(14:19):
a fourth plan, there's the Peruvian infused place. No doubt,
Thomas is deep into the restaurant game and he's loving it.
I couldn't have been blessed with two better partners. Talk about,
you know, having a Pro Bowl player on your team
when you're new to the space of the restaurant, having
the ability to lean on guys like that. You can't
(14:40):
thank them enough for their fourth side and the ability
to do such great products. Do you have your hand
in any anything else? Have commercial real estate in North Carolina,
half a run of property in Baltimore and that's an Alabama.
Have a minority Vava distribution here in Atlanta, and have
as year just a company you say so, we deal
(15:02):
with logistricts of shipping products for companies or whatever it is.
And a management a company that kind of manages all
other companies, so management company, logistic company, commercial real estate.
Did I leave anything out? I mean, you got your
hands in a lot of parts. Yeah, I mean, and
the most important of all I'm probably is uber Daddy,
Uber Daddy Uber, he said, in other words, driving his
(15:28):
five kids everywhere. Needless to say, the coronavirus pandemic has
upended Thomas's world, especially the restaurants. These are not easy
times in that business, with indoor dining limited and outright
prohibited in some places. But Thomas is surviving. Again. It
goes back to the leadership of the guys that they're
(15:49):
running it and doing a daddy operations of alien David
ken Dutch that they've done such great jobs of minimizing
and having foresight to justus pivot and keep our teas.
And so everybody has a challenging time during this time,
not just restaurants. I think a lot of places had
a lot of talents times didn't have to just and
(16:09):
deliver food and pick up services that normally didn't do.
And so it's been a challenge. But I've think said
considering you can chemic and I feel that if anyone
and whether it's starm going to be. I wouldn't rather
be in it and it with no one else's times
fels to God. His other businesses are also impacted, you know,
(16:33):
yea to slow down from all of the safety regulations
of shipping, new rules, regulations on you know how you ship,
wiping things down as you receive things. Who has tested,
who's not tested? Because you know rental properties for the
most part, you know, you just hold type be understanding.
You know, just the humane you know, understand that the
(16:54):
pandemic is kind of everyone. Those people that get this
country going, essential workers, you know, have all those people
that worked tires me in the medical field. My first
of the nurse who does travel, nurse you to New
York City? Now, um, dinner with COVID patients shooting California,
then on the cold patients. So knowing and understanding that
(17:16):
first hand. My niece is a theologist, so she was
in Massachusetts dealer with it and so it's um, it's
a scary moments, a scary time, you know, when the
people that you love and care about can't be protected
(17:36):
to what they should be. So again it puts through
all things in perspective. A Darius Thomas's Twitter feed says
a lot about where his mind is these days. He
tweets a little about football, but more about social justice causes.
He calls attention to the work he does with the
Player's Coalition, the group that former Ravens receiver and Kwan
(17:57):
Bolden co founded, which advocates for were widespread change. But
no doubt the issue at the forefront of his mind
is voting, protecting the rights of minorities to go to
the polls and have their opinion count, pushing back against
what Thomas sees as blatant suppression efforts. Georgia has closed
two hundred and fourteen triste are voting places and the
(18:20):
last ten years or so, Georgia has two hundred and fourteen.
Two hundred and fourteen they've closed, so the population has grew.
But those two hundred and fourteen, Now, where in the
world would they make this? And why would you do that?
Last year after the election they found aware how full
of voting machines that never got used. How does no
(18:41):
one go to jail for that? How does no one
answer to that? And you know the crazy thing is,
what does this change about our government here in Georgia,
our leadership that you would continue to allow this to happen.
You have known for this. What does this say about
how the leadership from the governor, secret year of state
and people have complained about it over and over again
(19:04):
and nobody has not with the jail one time? And
how are you the governor and you continue to do that?
The mayor has spoke about it several and many times
and even tweeted about it. When the thing is and hey,
look all the machines are down in the South Side
and the black community is just just here or is
it everywhere? The question for the judge, secret cheer of
the state is who's held accountable for this? And what
(19:28):
happened to the system? Why is it our blind? Is it?
The internet? Is the machine? What is it that's making
the thing going line? We never get a report on it.
He's always do what They're just not working. That's not
an answer. It's just not working is not an answer.
Where the internet is down? What are you talking about?
After fighting this fight for years, Thomas has plenty of
(19:49):
thoughts about what should happen in this country with voting
in general. Make the change for the voting system. You
know what the stakes needs to change the voting for
there's no reason why we should be used in paper ballot.
I mean, most of your deal doesn't even come to paper.
Most of you will come to an email. Now, to
think how foreign advanced we've came in technology, the fact
that I have to leave my house to go stand
(20:09):
in a line to vote at a certain polling place,
versus just saying hey, look, when you get ready to vote,
you register online. You have a social Security number. They
know what counting you're in based on your driver's license.
Choose your accounting. It populates that thing online. Hell, the
healthcare is online. You can go get an insurance online
(20:31):
for all of these people, But I can't vote. There's
no reason for the aptrosity of voting systems that we
have in America. Vote the same way. Since then, why
is voting on the national holiday? I don't know why.
The pandemic shows that we can do it. Everybody can
stay home and you can vote over a three day period,
and I would say give it three days a national
(20:53):
holiday to vote. You live there. You're the heart of it,
sort of the epicenter of this whole situation in Georgia.
You're a former NFL player, not a current NFL player.
I mean, how do you make your voice heard or
what can you do other than just shout? You know,
you can just continue to make it known that we're
(21:16):
going to try to make the change. Try to pressure
to people that have empower to make the change. Make
the change to the voting system. Try to get the
squeaking wheel gist all. And you know you keep trying
to squeak it. You keep trying to squeak it. That's
it for today's episode of What Happened To That Guy.
(21:36):
You can find out more about Adelias Thomas's career at
Baltimore Ravens dot Com slash what Happened to That Guy?
I'd like to thank him for giving me some time
and for speaking so frankly about his disappointment over how
his football career ended. I'd also like to encourage everyone
listening to heed the advice Adelia's gave early in this
episode go vote in the upcoming election. Lease Another episode
(22:02):
of What Happened To That Guy will drop in two weeks,
and they'll keep coming every other week for the rest
of the twenty twenty season. If you like what you're hearing,
please subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. Tell your
Ravens friends about it. This podcast is part of the
Baltimore Ravens podcast Network, which also includes The Lounge hosted
by Ryan make and Garrett Downing, and new this year,
(22:25):
Black in the NFL hosted by my colleague Clifton Brown.
Wherever you get your podcasts, just search for the Baltimore
Ravens Podcast Network and everything will come up. It's all
good stuff. This is John Eisenberg. I'll talk to you
in two weeks.
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