Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, let's get into it. Maybe go all right,
let's just start off real quick.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Out of the gate.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Patriots patriot wa. You've had a few Patriots on this
week at Radio Row. In your era, how would you
define the patriot way?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh Man, great question.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I think I kind of came in that Second Dynasty era, right,
So we we lost like a lot of that veteran
leadership like Vrabel mcguinnis Bruski, but we still had Tom,
we still had Slate. We set a bunch of key
pieces that experienced that, and they brought that level of accountability,
(00:44):
which I think is was a calling card in New England.
And then also just a meritocracy. You got what you
earned up there, and that's exactly what guys like me,
guys like Julian Edelman, that's what we needed, you know,
because we weren't coming from big football factories that just
spit out, you know, big time football guys. But we
(01:07):
were scrappy. We knew how to work, we knew how
we knew football. Yeah, and so you know, having those
you know, accountability and meritocracy guys can guys can work
up from like relatively you know, rocky beginnings.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So what was your college journey?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, so uh interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, sophomore year of high school, I was a bigger
kid Southeastern Pennsylvania, like pretty good football, started getting some
letters and I got like deep in my My first
visit was Michigan Big House on junior Day and I
was like, oh my god, this is the best thing
in the world, the biggest stadium in the in the country. Yeah,
like I'm I'm Michigan man through and through right, but
(01:52):
I'm also like a six to two and a half,
you know, slow white kid from baough to like, you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Know, make tackles all the time.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
So I went to you know, I sprinkled myself around,
went to Virginia, I went to like some other schools,
and then as time went on, less and less people
started like showing interest. I never got any Division one offers,
and so I said, you know what, if I can't
play big time football in college, I'm gonna get the
(02:22):
best education I can. So I focused IVY League shows
between Brown and Princeton. Took visits to both, and I
just felt like I connected with the guys at Brown
a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And that was that was my journey, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Joe Linta.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
No, oh wait Linta. Yeah, he's a little younger than me.
But I know the name.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, I don't know him super much.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
His dad's my brother. Just signed with his agency and
the kids, TJ and Nick Linta. I know they played
Ivy I FORGID.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, the Linton name. I definitely know. They were younger
than me.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Okay, yeah yeah, small world. Yeah, okay, so Ivy and
like one of my best friends become went out. You know,
I knew I was. I would go to a camp,
I'd torch everybody.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, they'd weigh me.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
See I'm a white guy, be like, yeah, I can't
do it. And I was like and and I'm sending
out emails like. My mom is a champ. She has
three sons. All three played Division one football at the
same screen. She's very proud of it. She has a
gloated Yeah you want to talk about she lets.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
You go right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And it was a hard dude, it was a hard journey. Yeah,
I got my walk on spots of Presno State. But
one of my best friends to this day, his version
of my president State was Stanford. Now in the process
of this, he's a smart guy. Went out do the
whole Ivy League trail, the whole thing, bro and they
(03:49):
really warned him aout these camps. I think he went
to Princeton. I know he went to the Yale and Harvard.
He was gonna go to Yale, but then Stanford came
in and gave him walk on sp and his parents
went there.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It's okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Also it's a lot closer then over there. Anyways, they
really emphasized I remember him telling me about how like
they warned you, not all people go to these games. Yeah,
and you still have to go to school.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Ivy League basically, so it ain't gonna be wake up
Saturday morning seeing Oklahoma sooners. You know, there's there's a
different type of balance here. How hard was that balance
between ball in school and the IVY League.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I mean, it definitely taught me a lot. Man Like
it was.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It was sobering because I got through high school with
relative ease. I'd say, didn't have to try all that much.
I always kind of like did what I needed to
do to to get ease. Ended up like, you know,
doing really well in high school. But then when I
got to Brown, I'd say, one semester I was.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Like, you know what, I got this like I might
be I might be that guy, right, But I'd say
after that, they it was I was just like grasping
for air, you know, like I just had no I
had no business being there.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
To be totally honest, but uh, but so the managing
the time.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It was it was hard, but I really dialed it in.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I'd say, like sophomore year Oka, I kind of got
really good at.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Not necessarily like learning the material.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But learning how to get work done efficiency, yes, and
like what what's the best systems for me to be
able to produce on test day or produce on you know,
Saturday mornings for football. Like I just got very dialed
into in like a systematic approach to life. That way
I could like best optimize what I needed to do.
(05:45):
But whether it was in football or whether it was academically,
I just I've been on.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
A big book kick lately, and I did to read
a sixth grade I read Hunger Games, and then I
had like a like a twelve year old app And
then when I finished playing ball and you know, my
Olympic journey ended, I was in this rut and I
just started going book after book after book. Yeah, and
you know, my mom was like, hey, there's this guy
(06:12):
named Stephen Covey. He wrote The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People and it was the first book backs and
Hugger Games. So I'm reading it. I'm like, you know what,
I'm so used as a football player. I've taken notes religiously.
We had coaches that were saying, writing crystallizes you're thinking.
And I bought into that early in past and they're like,
(06:34):
you know, they would talk about going to a Cults
practice and sitting in the meetia group with Peyton Manning's
going over inside zone and he's diligently writing notes about
like an a gap handoff. You're like, this is Manning,
You're ten, come on, man And he stood up and
just said, like this is why I do my process.
(06:56):
Stuck with me. So going back to the book, I said,
you know what, I'm not gonna just open up this book.
I don't have the attention span to do so. And
I need to be able to have a cheat sheet
of what did I get out of this, because I'm
not gonna lie. I don't know if I got hit
in the head too many times in my life, but
my memory is not like I'm not Crystal crude. There's guys.
(07:17):
My grandpa will tell me stories about his fourth grade
literature class and then I'm terrible. I'll meet somebody for
the fourth time, I'll be like, well, I forget those
other three like it'll come back to me. But I
can't just boom boom boom boom. So I started writing
down has to fid on one piece of paper and
(07:38):
all the important as you're reading, as I'm reading, and
then I'll do a recap and be like, all right,
this is anyways. Seven habits of highly effective people.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
There there's just the biggest thing that I learned out
of that book. Takeaway whise was if there's something you
can do and it's gonna take you less than five minutes,
just do it right now.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Can do it right now.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And I'm at work in my onion job. Man, I
get to work, I'll write down everything I need and
I know I need to do. Stare at it and
be like, what could be let's cross something off right now.
Finding a way to be efficient at an early age
is key. And I didn't play in I League. Although
Fresdo State is considered the Harvard of the West finding
(08:20):
your flow because especially now with these things, but you
could you could be mindlessly. I hope you're looking at
breathe the juice if you are, like, you gotta find
your process in your system. And I think in ball
school and ball, it's like, Okay, I know I got
a class at this time. I know I got ball
at this time. You don't have time. You have no
time for anything. You might have a Saturday night during
(08:42):
spring ball where you could go do the plays. You
don't have time once you're done with ball. You know this.
We're so used to this structure as some guys I
got buddies who. I got some guys who. So when
I was done, I was like, how could I take
that same approach of being so dedicated to the consistent
(09:08):
attention to detail of and now be a good husband, father, businessman,
hat designer. Podcast host Golfer can name it. I need
to you blink in the days over man, years go by.
I got a three month old son. I like looking
at pictures from when he was born, and now I'm like,
it's stolen by so fast, and so let's go too.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I'm about it around here. But when when ball was over,
how hard was that for you to adjust? And what
do you think is the biggest trait you took from
your experience of playing ball to what you do now?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Man, great question. I love I love how you like
circulated that.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, but it was the the lack of the lack
of regulation in your daily schedule. I think it is
one of the hardest things for athletes to like, you know,
come around too, because like you said, I mean, every
day we'd walk into a facility and essentially just look
at exactly where we needed to be at what time,
you know, And it's like so easy to live your
(10:11):
life that way. You know, you get so wrapped up
in like living week by week and day by day
you could start to compartmentalize everything in your life and
then all of a sudden that's all gone. Yeah, And
so I mean I still feel like I struggle at times.
I've been out five years, just like kind of regaining
(10:32):
the traction in those like self regulation patterns, you know,
like trying to figure out, all, right, what is my goal,
how do I get there? And what are the daily
steps I need to take to get there.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So after I retired, I retired.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Right into like the April of twenty twenty, so right
into COVID. So I big time like poured into my kids.
I had three kids at the time. My wife was
pregnant with our fourth, and I was just like dad,
you know, and that I knew what I.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Needed to do.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
It was kind of like its own like little training
camp schedule, if you will, because it was like, all right,
they're gonna wake up at this time, They're gonna need
like diaper changes, they're gonna need to eat. So I
just started falling into that pattern. Then I took some
courses through the NFLPA and got some like entrepreneurial Street
cred and then bought my own business, open up a
(11:29):
second one and uh.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And now I'm working for the PA.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So like just trying to stay busy, trying to always
kind of like redefine myself, find find a new niche
that I can get into dabbling in real estate now,
and just trying to like, you know, find my way,
cause at times like there is I'll wake up and I'm.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Like where do I go today? You know? I wish
I wish I could just look.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
At my TV screen and be like, oh, I got
meetings this this this time. But it's not that easy anymore.
But I think we can do as athletes. We know
the recipe for like.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What we know the recipe nomial's there.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, and it's just sometimes it's hard to get yourself
back in that for whatever reason. There's a lot of
influence when you're done playing the game, and you just
kind of got to be true to yourself and authentic
with yourself and you know know what you need to
get done, and we and.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
We have the right tools, we know how to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
So just got to remember that the consistent attention to
detail is everything in order to have any execution.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
And I say consistent because every once in a while,
look at New Year's resolutions. There's times in years there's
ebbs and flows in life where somebody lights a fire.
You go out, you buy a new notebook, you go
get a new pair of shoes. I'm gonna go get
a brand new fit. I'm gonna get a gym, workout,
and like whatever it is, and you get burnt out
because you go too fast. Everybody wants to get fired
(12:56):
up on New Year's Eve to better themselves. Yeah, what
about June twenty second?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And if you could say to yourself. I need to
go get this work inside. As a football player, you know,
you might not have workouts on Saturday. You might be like,
you know what, man, I gotta go get a rollout in.
I gotta get a light lifting. I gotta get a
little sweat. I should probably cold, sub I don't want to.
Maybe I'm punk over, I got homework. Maybe you know
my mom's in South Yeah you got you have to
(13:23):
get it in and being able to say, you know,
wake it up. It's a little cold outside, waking up
not really feeling it, like flipping that switch. It's like no,
I don't and then not saying I got to saying I.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Get to today.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
It's just like not everybody has it, but at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You do have it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You just got to pull that You gotta pull that
dog out and erase the inn.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Get.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's funny you brought up like the cold. I mean,
I always a lot of guys, you know, in the
off season, they go to California or Texas or Florida,
Arizona to train. I grew up like the greater Philadelphia area.
I used to always just go home, suffer through the
winter outside training and snow and stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Because I felt like it gave me that edge.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yeah yeah, I was big time on diligent and consistent workouts,
doing what I needed to do to like callous my body.
That's what that was always my mindset. I don't want
to be I don't or not that I didn't want
to be, but I didn't need to be like the
most explosive athlete, the fastest guy on the field. But
I did need to be like as durable as possible.
(14:35):
So I just wanted to like calcify my traps, get
them real big, get my legs nice and strong, be
able to run through contact, all that, And so I
used to just suffer, like honestly put myself through like
suffering workouts in the off season just so I could
come back like that much mentally tougher than everybody. And
(14:58):
know that I was at the Jersey s or training
when it was literally now when next to the water
and like it's you know that Rocky inside beer. I
was gonna say, man, yeah, yeah, I mean growing up
in Philly, like that was that was my movie?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I mean I bought I bought a leather jacket with
a white shirt, Sir inside and wear. I've had it
every once in a while just to be like Rocky.
I wear I wear a fedora and because my wife
bought and told me I look like Rocky. So it's
a coupling.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It's the best complicttion. What do you think?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What's the grittiest workout you've done to say I'm gonna
get that edge?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
What?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
How far have you gone? How far have you pushed?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
So I was real good at the two twenty five
bench test, right, I most ever got was forty nine.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
When I was training, like all all coming up through
high school and stuff, I trained with this professional boxer
from out of Boston that settled in the Greater Philly area.
We ended up meeting when I was a sophomore, and
or whatever reason, he thought it's a good idea to
get this dude very good.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
At endurance benching. So we used to do so. Yeah,
we'd we'd.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Pile all the tens on the each side of the
bar and just lay down on the bench. Were not
allowed to lift your back off the bench and just
wrap it out racket. They'd strip a ten, wrap it
out rackets all the way down and then all the
way back up so like a reverse pyramid type style.
And I mean I remember like for days not being
(16:29):
able to straighten out my arms. Yeah, but you know,
throwing up doing the whole thing. Like, I mean, I'm
in sucker for that kind of thing, like endurance, because
it's all mental, it really is all.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Everything's everything.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
We had a we had a couple of Navy Seal
circumstances happened in our time at Fresido State. Okay, one
of them. They came to us, woke us up at
that we had to be at the facility at like
four point thirty. Yeah, this is a new coaching staff too,
This is winter ball of a new coaching staff. I
(17:04):
think they're trying to they're trying to see what do
I got here?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, Who's who's who's the lead in the situation? Who's gonnach?
Who's the diability? It's not that cold and Fresno compared
to Philly in January, it was pretty cold. They gave
us a hoodie and sweatpants, like no logos on it.
I'm just like, bro, okay whatever. We walked to our pool,
(17:28):
like our our aquatics center, right, and these Navy Seals
dudes are waiting for us. Yeah, they I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
They must.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
They had to have picked the teams on purpose. Long
story short. It was a series of exercises they created,
like sugar cookies and all that. But the biggest one
is we had to tread water as a team for
ten minutes and then you did a different exercise and
then it was another ten minutes. Now we have some
(17:58):
guys who can't swim. Yeah, and they're raising their hand
going you can't swim. It was accomplisations like teammate and
team B all these obstacles, blah blah blah. I'm not
gonna put him on blaster right now. Couldn't swim. And
there's one thing he is, you can't swim. He can't swim,
and he's letting you know he can't. I'm I'm five eight,
(18:19):
one sixty two cut. Don't get me wrong, but you
needn't lock it in right now. Yeah, And I said,
this is what we're gonna do. I damn near drowned myself.
I stood at the bottom of the pool. You lifted
them up, went up, down, went up down with down.
I thought I was gonna die. This guy's three fifty.
(18:42):
I was supposed to have another guy and we went
into pool with the hoodie. The next element of it
is we did have number. We just had our number
on the sweatshirts. You had to switch numbers. You had
to switch sweatshirts with somebody. While chatting, Water called out
who switches with him? And they're kind of keeping notes
(19:02):
of like who's the two that can't swim, and they're
making them so they want the weakest links to come
together and the strongest links that raised up.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The weakest links.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Literally, it felt like bro I thought. I thought, an
ambulance is gonna have to come. I'm going, these guys
are going, we're trying to take sweatshirts off. Yeah, you couldn't,
like you couldn't let the sweatshirt not be touched by
a person or some long story short. I don't know
why my head went to that, because I was thinking
about my most thing and I saw my buddy. He's
(19:32):
he played in the league for a little bit. He
was here and anyways, I'm not I'll die before. I've
almost blocked out. I've blocked out many times. Where are
you puke and you're spinning and you can't see like
a big squad, a big heavy deadlift, competing on the
versa climber. Ye, like, I'll die. And you know when
(19:55):
I was done playing ball and I attempted to do
this tbusa bob slid, I really had to flip a
switch because it's not football anymore. I'm learning a whole
new sport and there's no like popcorner. There's no pub,
there's no JV, there's no varsity like Nope, You're training
at a Olympic level in a team USA facility.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Right and dangerous too.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
People die all the time going eighty downhill And honestly,
it just it. You were talking about callous seeing your
body Like my shoulders, I still have like permanent scars
on both my shoulders just because you can run into
these walls eight miles an hour. It's ice and smit like, Yeah,
hardest hits I've ever taken in my life. Yeah, I've
(20:39):
been in this broken ribs, knocked out, unconscious, and I
just went back though. I always would go back to
that swimming day and being a farm kid. My dad.
The only reason I'm good at sports because my dad
made us work on the hot being in fourth grade.
Out there, no one speaks Englishman you're moving pipes in
(20:59):
a field. You know, we're got a phone. You get
dropped off with a sack, lunch and a little old
school heterade ottaining that you bring up football practice. I'll
see you at lunch. One hundred and five out. No
one speaks English. Waters running like we're racing, and that's real.
It builds that in dirts. I'll never man Like, there's
a day where you're crying. I'm like thinking in my head,
(21:20):
like there's no way this is legal. And then you
do it and you're like I could, and I think
you just keep we keep testing our mind and our
because your body could do things you never I never
could play college football. It's like, well if you do this,
that and the other, it's like maybe I can.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Figure this out.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Man Like, do what you work with what you got,
make the best of it. Anyways, didn't mean to go
off on a tangent.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Dude, I love it. You know what you you know
what you kind of reminded me of. I went through
this whole phase.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I still kind of believe this that that physical like
strength you know, like how much can you squat? Is
not so much like about your body mechanic and like
the true makeups of your muscle as it is like
how how mentally ready are you to like suffer for
(22:10):
that period of time in which you need to do
that perform this feat. Like I mean, because I think
about it all the time, like how can someone do
you know, squat six seventy one day and then the
next day they hit like six eighty five, Like their
body didn't change, but like for some reason they were
in the my right mental state to like get down
(22:32):
and get up and just you know, move on with
their life.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, I've also had situations where and I'll be the
first to admit, you know, you got your you got
your pr, yeah, and you're going to beat that pr.
And like I had a plateau. I was weighing like one.
I was weighing like one fifty seven one fifight my
software here at Fresido State, and I couldn't bench, Like
(22:58):
I couldn't rep to seven. I get it down, I
get it right, and I couldn't lock it out. Like
it became a thing where because I came in and I,
you know, I college football and got gets you right,
And I was like I can't get over up. And
I told my dad. My dad played running back at
presto'st like I can't get over there. I plateaued. I
(23:19):
felt like and I'm thinking, I'm like, okay for being
how much I weigh, Like pound for pound I have,
I have a really that's a that's a sault, a
respectable bench press. I'm betting more than some of our
tight ends. And eventually I told my my guys in
my rack, I said, listen to me, it was a
heavy day. I said, I'm not gonna look at the
weight today.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, I don't want to see what it is.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Sometimes you just get onto the bar like I gotta
get up, you will, But me sliding on the two
plates twenty five, You're like, bro, like that's kind of
that's kind of a big wheel there. Man, Like, I
don't I don't know if I can slam the squad.
I used to do the same thing. It was like,
can I hit I gotta hit that four O five
just because I want. I just wanted the four plates, yeah,
you know, And and it's like, ah, like I remember one.
(24:06):
It's like the junior it was like three ninety five,
and I'm like, come on, bro, let me get that
farther to the club. Like I just just just want
to so it is psychological. But I had a straight
thing additioning coach. His name was Joey Bose. He's now
the head straight titing coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Dog.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, my freshman year and you know, if you didn't
hit your reps, he looked at you like sometimes if
he did, he might throw it out you and like, yeah,
I never had I've never been like it's always like, okay,
you know, we're gonna work on mechanics. Sometimes all you
need is something as simple is like speaking of like
the two twenty five thing. We used to do this thing.
It was called it's called twenty fifteen ten. Put one
(24:50):
thirty five on the bar. Yep, one thirty five on
the bar. You twenty reps a squad, great depth, Yeah,
you take you'd get like thirty seconds ten fifteen fifteen reps. Okay,
then you go to do ten and it wasn't ten.
(25:11):
It was still failure. And like there's guys who will
hit one hundred and seventeen. But and listen, you do
enough squats and lack of acid, you you're gonna it
used to be called we come in and there it
goes boys squat till we drop at school. Okay, all
I need is twenty one minutes till after Lusch. It's
(25:33):
gonna take a couple minutes to get readjusted. Yeah that's fifteen.
Like I really don't hear for another hour, Ol' take right. Yeah,
it's but having the ability in your mind to turn
that switch on. Yeah, and you know, I don't know
if you know I got some wires crossed or anything,
but it is a thing where aboutely, you approached something
determine your success.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Did you know Moses Cabrera when you were there? He's
a president steak guy. He was our head strength coach
in New England like my lab last five years. He
was an assistant before when I first got there, and
he was always my guy dude, and and tough as nails,
like exactly the mentality you just spoke of, like like
(26:14):
if you didn't do what you came into doing it
in the NFL, dude, you get a lot of guys
in the in the strength room that like you know,
they're doing they're doing their own little thing and they're
you know, And Moses was always like a you got
in here in squat, Yeah, you got to get in
here and like sweat, like let's like, let's work in
(26:35):
here and that's why we're here, right.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And some guys didn't do that, but he used to,
like you know, call people out.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Very personable, but he'd call people out and be like, no,
you're not doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Sometimes do There's nothing like a good strength coach.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I'm telling you, nothing like if you get a good one,
it'll change your life.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I was blessed on some great strength coaches. Honestly. The
one who's currently at President State, he had me, had
all both my brothers like invited him to my wedding,
like I golf with him, get beers with him. He
lives right by me like I and I if I
have any advice, like I've been asked this on podcasts
when I'm getting interviewed and they and they said, you know,
(27:15):
what's something in college football that as a recruit you
would recommend to high school athletes? And I said, when
you're going on these visits, go into the weight room
and meet the strength coach and get a vibe. Yeah,
because you don't know it, but you're with the strength
coach and the straight staff more than anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
They see you in the January Matt Drifts, they see
you in springball. They're warming you up every day free game.
They're getting you right, like me being the first one
out of all of my brothers, like no idea our
high school like card yeah, math teacher, tying the light
side of the weight river. There's just weights in that
low low caliber. We're not Saint John Bosk and uh
(27:57):
no man a great strength coach. You're going from a
self respected especially like yeah, and there's nothing better when
you get you get that first big push like yeah,
you know, my bench went up twenty and I got muscle,
and you got little definitions like yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
What was your what was your you know, when it
became time to go to the league, what was your process?
Like were you expecting a certain round? Do you expect
to get a certain team? How'd that go?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Uh? Dude?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
So again, I was the process of getting in the
NFL was hugely humbling for me coming out of Brown.
There was four of us that we had a really
good team my senior year or junior year, and then
my senior year we did all right, but had a
couple of prospects. One guy got drafted was not me.
(28:45):
One guy got signed to the Titans was not me.
One guy got a rookie mini camp try out with
the Pats wasn't me. I ended up waiting till the
monday after the draft, got a call from Cleveland to
come out as a three four outside linebacker. I played
d n in college, okay, and went did that. Didn't
(29:07):
even make it to Sunday. They let me go on Saturday,
like we've seen enough, dude, And uh, I mean I was.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I was a fish out of border.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I played with my hand in the dirt my entire
college career and now I'm standing up on two feet,
deathly afraid of getting beating pass coverage because I knew
I was slow. So every every time the ball was snap,
I'd take it like two steps back and they'd be
running stress right at me and I'm.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Giving up the edge. It was a mess dud. But anyways,
so I go back home. I barely got an agent.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
You know, I had to like essentially like talk him
into representing me. He was a local guy that you know,
knew a family I knew growing up, and uh, and
you know, so I'm all three of my my buddies
that I played in college with. They're all in teams
in camps. I'm at home.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I'm doing nothing that mental.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah. I end up. I'm living at my parents' house.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I just graduated from Brown and I get a Facebook
message from a guy that was a GM of the
Oklahoma City yard Dogs of the AFL, and he says, hey,
I'd like you to come down and try out.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So I'm like, you know what, Like, I'm not doing
anything else.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
So I borrow money from my parents, get a flight
to Oklahoma City, do a workout in an indoor soccer
little facility down there, and they signed me. And I
spend five weeks making two hundred bucks a week and
Taco Taco bell meal tickets, living in an apartment that
they provided with boarded up windows because it just hailed
in Oklahoma like crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And I'm like, yeoh, is this is this really what
I'm doing with an IVY degree?
Speaker 4 (30:45):
End up, that season ends, and then I'm back at
home doing the same training like trying to stay ready,
but no prospects at all.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
This is like July, and.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
This is a whole year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Well no oh no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Yes, this is twenty ten I graduated in May, did
my thing in Oklahoma City for like maybe the month
of June. I'm in July living or I'm I'm at
the Jersey Shore and I get a text from my
agent like, hey, get your workout. It's with the Florida
Tuskers of the UFL, which is not the UFL that
exists now but once removed.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Uh. And he's like, hey, it's as a fullback.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Like just go down there, do the workout, and like
you know, we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
And so I go down there.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Jay Gruden's the head coach, got a bunch of NFL
guys on the roster. They tried me out as a
as a fullback. I do the drills and they signed me.
And then four weeks later, the starting fullback gets Vertigo
going out to Vegas for our game and I'm the
darting fullback.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
And then finished that year. It was a nine week season.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
We lost in the championship game to Jeff Garcia. I think,
and wow, Yeah, he was playing quarterback for the the
Omaha Nighthawks.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I believe, Oh they had a running back he got
he was.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
He was a great NFL or great running back at
Ohio State, gott in this in trouble in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Oh my god, his name's for Maurice something.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
But anyways, Yeah, we had some guys in that league.
Like it was like my starting quarter but my running
backs were Dominique Rhodes from the Colts who won a
Super Bowl. Maurice Hicks played for the Niners. Avion Caisson
played for the Cowboys. Like, we had some guys, you know, Uh,
Dante Culpepper was in the league, Jeff Garcia obviously, So
(32:40):
it was it was a great experience. That season ends
and I go right from there. It was in December,
right from there to Cincinnati on their practice squad for
a year and a half and then in twenty twelve
they cut me after camp and I went to New
England and then eight years there.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Rest is history.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Becoming a full back though after not playing that in
like when it first, I mean, just that's a different
side of the ball, yeah, you know, and you know,
offensive terminology, I think a little more difficult the defense
as a fullback. You know, maybe you could simplify it down.
You don't gotta worry with the guy on the outside
is always doing necessarily. But still was that what was
(33:20):
the initial like butterflies?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Oh yeah, dude, absolutely, And that's what was nice about
like having that buffer year in the UFL and then
and then ultimately having like a couple of years on
practice squad is. I got a lot of time, a
lot of reps right just doing it, watching guys, seeing
how they do it, trying to.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Be like that.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
What I quickly found out though, was I was always
very like very aware of my lack of straight ahead speed,
and when I was on the offense side of the
ball as opposed to defense, I knew.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Where I had to be.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I knew where I had to go, So I was
playing and making the first move as opposed to acting
on defense totally. So I felt like that ended up
playing to my strength for sure, because I could, you know,
like I know where this place is supposed to hit.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I know what I got to see, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
In order to like there's an option.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, So that like.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
And I guess my football IQ was good enough like
early on to really like figure that out and be
ahead of the game on each play as opposed to
like playing defense and trying to react and then making
up for my lack of straight ahead speed.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So I mean the fullball position I think needs to
be utilized more and more.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
It is, man, I think there's a lot of there's
a lot of teams, especially in the playoffs, that you
know when it when it comes down to it, like
and you can put like five hundred pounds in the
backfield and two tight ends on the field. Like teams
don't want to see that in January, you know, Like
these guys are beat up.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
You see that in like Detroit.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Obviously they their playoffs didn't go let the way they wanted,
but like teams are still out there like slugging it out. Man,
the Ravens, Like, oh, you know the Raven's backfield, Yes, yeah,
I know. I mean it's over five hundred pounds back.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
There with them, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Recards three something, three ten, maybe three h five.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I don't know what he plays that Derek.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I think like the fact he's in he skates, like, yeah,
I when he's running one of those seventy yarders, I'm like,
is this dude that big and that fast? Yeah, he's
he's I saw yesterday. I should have taken a picture
of them, bro, Yeah, he was one of the dudes.
He's my wife's my wife had him been fantasy football
one year and she's like I loved I'm like, yeah,
(35:43):
great pic, babe. You know yeah, how did you decide
your what your swagger was gonna be as a fullback?
I'd say, because you embraced that I did.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah, you know what I really loved.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I Coming up, I was a big fan of Carney
from the Saints in the Rams, and I remember watching
a little thing, whether it was like I don't know
if it was thirty for thirty back then, but so
a little thing on the ESPN.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
That had it.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
It was a like a documentary style show about Steven
Jackson and Carney and their relationship and how they were
like best buds. It was like a like a like
a brotherhood almost right. And so when I got to
the league and I was like, and I got a
stable of backs that I'm gonna I'm gonna block for,
like I want to be their brother. I want them
(36:34):
to be guy so like someone that I want me
to be someone to them, like they can come to
for anything, and you know, I'm like, they're like low
key bodyguard at times. Yeah, So I tried to take
on like that identity, like just be there, be like
the face of our running game a little bit. And
(36:56):
because I I was always like you know, coming into
the league, I never had much of an ego in
the locker room, Like I just I wanted. I was
happy to be there because my journey there like shouldn't
have happened.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
But so I was like a quieter type. I wasn't
like much of a rah rah guy.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
But when I like stuck somebody and you get that
like electricity in your veins and you can just feel
like it is the greatest feeling.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's the juice.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yes, that is the.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's literally what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
When I say that's the juice, you come off the
sideline and I can't even like contain how excited I am.
And I'm like telling everybody I love them, And you know,
they got me on on Christmas Eve, I we we
played the Jets one of the air beat them, beat
the doors off from forty four to three on Christmas Eve, Christmas,
but we ran, we ran a bunch of gold Line
(37:50):
runs and I'm blocked for la Garrett Blunt and they
caught me on like on his mic, you know, tell
him how much I love him.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
I block them for block for my whole life, I said.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
And I'm just like so giddy, you know, with excitement
because I'm like sticking guys in the home right on top.
And uh so that was my identity, man. I just
I really embraced like the you know, the the lack
of glory in that role, the like I wanted to
be a battering ram for these guys so they can
go and have fun and collect checks. Like I was
(38:20):
just happy to be there, man, Like I just want
to play football and hit somebody and bleed a little
bit and yeah, yeah, man, that's what football's about.
All right, let's get into it. Maybe go all right,
let's just start off real quick.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Out of the gate.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Patriots patriot wa. You've had a few Patriots on this
week at Radio Row. In your era, how would you
define the patriot way?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh Man, great question.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I think I kind of came in that Second Dynasty era, right,
So we we lost like a lot of that veteran
leadership like Vrabel mcguinnis Bruski, but we still had Tom,
we still had Slate. We set a bunch of key
pieces that experienced that, and they brought that level of accountability,
(00:44):
which I think is was a calling card in New England.
And then also just a meritocracy. You got what you
earned up there, and that's exactly what guys like me,
guys like Julian Edelman, that's what we needed, you know,
because we weren't coming from big football factories that just
spit out, you know, big time football guys. But we
(01:07):
were scrappy. We knew how to work, we knew how
we knew football. Yeah, and so you know, having those
you know, accountability and meritocracy guys can guys can work
up from like relatively you know, rocky beginnings.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So what was your college journey?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, so uh interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Yeah, sophomore year of high school, I was a bigger
kid Southeastern Pennsylvania, like pretty good football, started getting some
letters and I got like deep in my My first
visit was Michigan Big House on junior Day and I
was like, oh my god, this is the best thing
in the world, the biggest stadium in the in the country. Yeah,
like I'm I'm Michigan man through and through right, but
(01:52):
I'm also like a six to two and a half,
you know, slow white kid from baough to like, you.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Know, make tackles all the time.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
So I went to you know, I sprinkled myself around,
went to Virginia, I went to like some other schools,
and then as time went on, less and less people
started like showing interest. I never got any Division one offers,
and so I said, you know what, if I can't
play big time football in college, I'm gonna get the
(02:22):
best education I can. So I focused IVY League shows
between Brown and Princeton. Took visits to both, and I
just felt like I connected with the guys at Brown
a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
And that was that was my journey, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Joe Linta.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
No, oh wait Linta. Yeah, he's a little younger than me.
But I know the name.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, I don't know him super much.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
His dad's my brother. Just signed with his agency and
the kids, TJ and Nick Linta. I know they played
Ivy I FORGID.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, the Linton name. I definitely know. They were younger
than me.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Okay, yeah yeah, small world. Yeah, okay, so Ivy and
like one of my best friends become went out. You know,
I knew I was. I would go to a camp,
I'd torch everybody.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, they'd weigh me.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
See I'm a white guy, be like, yeah, I can't
do it. And I was like and and I'm sending
out emails like. My mom is a champ. She has
three sons. All three played Division one football at the
same screen. She's very proud of it. She has a
gloated Yeah you want to talk about she lets.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
You go right.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And it was a hard dude, it was a hard journey. Yeah,
I got my walk on spots of Presno State. But
one of my best friends to this day, his version
of my president State was Stanford. Now in the process
of this, he's a smart guy. Went out do the
whole Ivy League trail, the whole thing, bro and they
(03:49):
really warned him aout these camps. I think he went
to Princeton. I know he went to the Yale and Harvard.
He was gonna go to Yale, but then Stanford came
in and gave him walk on sp and his parents
went there.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It's okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Also it's a lot closer then over there. Anyways, they
really emphasized I remember him telling me about how like
they warned you, not all people go to these games. Yeah,
and you still have to go to school.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Ivy League basically, so it ain't gonna be wake up
Saturday morning seeing Oklahoma sooners. You know, there's there's a
different type of balance here. How hard was that balance
between ball in school and the IVY League.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I mean, it definitely taught me a lot. Man Like
it was.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It was sobering because I got through high school with
relative ease. I'd say, didn't have to try all that much.
I always kind of like did what I needed to
do to to get ease. Ended up like, you know,
doing really well in high school. But then when I
got to Brown, I'd say, one semester I was.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Like, you know what, I got this like I might
be I might be that guy, right, But I'd say
after that, they it was I was just like grasping
for air, you know, like I just had no I
had no business being there.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
To be totally honest, but uh, but so the managing
the time.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It was it was hard, but I really dialed it in.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I'd say, like sophomore year Oka, I kind of got
really good at.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Not necessarily like learning the material.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But learning how to get work done efficiency, yes, and
like what what's the best systems for me to be
able to produce on test day or produce on you know,
Saturday mornings for football. Like I just got very dialed
into in like a systematic approach to life. That way
I could like best optimize what I needed to do.
(05:45):
But whether it was in football or whether it was academically,
I just I've been on.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
A big book kick lately, and I did to read
a sixth grade I read Hunger Games, and then I
had like a like a twelve year old app And
then when I finished playing ball and you know, my
Olympic journey ended, I was in this rut and I
just started going book after book after book. Yeah, and
you know, my mom was like, hey, there's this guy
(06:12):
named Stephen Covey. He wrote The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People and it was the first book backs and
Hugger Games. So I'm reading it. I'm like, you know what,
I'm so used as a football player. I've taken notes religiously.
We had coaches that were saying, writing crystallizes you're thinking.
And I bought into that early in past and they're like,
(06:34):
you know, they would talk about going to a Cults
practice and sitting in the meetia group with Peyton Manning's
going over inside zone and he's diligently writing notes about
like an a gap handoff. You're like, this is Manning,
You're ten, come on, man And he stood up and
just said, like this is why I do my process.
(06:56):
Stuck with me. So going back to the book, I said,
you know what, I'm not gonna just open up this book.
I don't have the attention span to do so. And
I need to be able to have a cheat sheet
of what did I get out of this, because I'm
not gonna lie. I don't know if I got hit
in the head too many times in my life, but
my memory is not like I'm not Crystal crude. There's guys.
(07:17):
My grandpa will tell me stories about his fourth grade
literature class and then I'm terrible. I'll meet somebody for
the fourth time, I'll be like, well, I forget those
other three like it'll come back to me. But I
can't just boom boom boom boom. So I started writing
down has to fid on one piece of paper and
(07:38):
all the important as you're reading, as I'm reading, and
then I'll do a recap and be like, all right,
this is anyways. Seven habits of highly effective people.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
There there's just the biggest thing that I learned out
of that book. Takeaway whise was if there's something you
can do and it's gonna take you less than five minutes,
just do it right now.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Can do it right now.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And I'm at work in my onion job. Man, I
get to work, I'll write down everything I need and
I know I need to do. Stare at it and
be like, what could be let's cross something off right now.
Finding a way to be efficient at an early age
is key. And I didn't play in I League. Although
Fresdo State is considered the Harvard of the West finding
(08:20):
your flow because especially now with these things, but you
could you could be mindlessly. I hope you're looking at
breathe the juice if you are, like, you gotta find
your process in your system. And I think in ball
school and ball, it's like, Okay, I know I got
a class at this time. I know I got ball
at this time. You don't have time. You have no
time for anything. You might have a Saturday night during
(08:42):
spring ball where you could go do the plays. You
don't have time once you're done with ball. You know this.
We're so used to this structure as some guys I
got buddies who. I got some guys who. So when
I was done, I was like, how could I take
that same approach of being so dedicated to the consistent
(09:08):
attention to detail of and now be a good husband, father, businessman,
hat designer. Podcast host Golfer can name it. I need
to you blink in the days over man, years go by.
I got a three month old son. I like looking
at pictures from when he was born, and now I'm like,
it's stolen by so fast, and so let's go too.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I'm about it around here. But when when ball was over,
how hard was that for you to adjust? And what
do you think is the biggest trait you took from
your experience of playing ball to what you do now?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Man, great question. I love I love how you like
circulated that.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, but it was the the lack of the lack
of regulation in your daily schedule. I think it is
one of the hardest things for athletes to like, you know,
come around too, because like you said, I mean, every
day we'd walk into a facility and essentially just look
at exactly where we needed to be at what time,
you know, And it's like so easy to live your
(10:11):
life that way. You know, you get so wrapped up
in like living week by week and day by day
you could start to compartmentalize everything in your life and
then all of a sudden that's all gone. Yeah, And
so I mean I still feel like I struggle at times.
I've been out five years, just like kind of regaining
(10:32):
the traction in those like self regulation patterns, you know,
like trying to figure out, all, right, what is my goal,
how do I get there? And what are the daily
steps I need to take to get there.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So after I retired, I retired.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Right into like the April of twenty twenty, so right
into COVID. So I big time like poured into my kids.
I had three kids at the time. My wife was
pregnant with our fourth, and I was just like dad,
you know, and that I knew what I.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Needed to do.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
It was kind of like its own like little training
camp schedule, if you will, because it was like, all right,
they're gonna wake up at this time, They're gonna need
like diaper changes, they're gonna need to eat. So I
just started falling into that pattern. Then I took some
courses through the NFLPA and got some like entrepreneurial Street
cred and then bought my own business, open up a
(11:29):
second one and uh.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And now I'm working for the PA.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
So like just trying to stay busy, trying to always
kind of like redefine myself, find find a new niche
that I can get into dabbling in real estate now,
and just trying to like, you know, find my way,
cause at times like there is I'll wake up and I'm.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Like where do I go today? You know? I wish
I wish I could just look.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
At my TV screen and be like, oh, I got
meetings this this this time. But it's not that easy anymore.
But I think we can do as athletes. We know
the recipe for like.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What we know the recipe nomial's there.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, and it's just sometimes it's hard to get yourself
back in that for whatever reason. There's a lot of
influence when you're done playing the game, and you just
kind of got to be true to yourself and authentic
with yourself and you know know what you need to
get done, and we and.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
We have the right tools, we know how to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
So just got to remember that the consistent attention to
detail is everything in order to have any execution.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
And I say consistent because every once in a while,
look at New Year's resolutions. There's times in years there's
ebbs and flows in life where somebody lights a fire.
You go out, you buy a new notebook, you go
get a new pair of shoes. I'm gonna go get
a brand new fit. I'm gonna get a gym, workout,
and like whatever it is, and you get burnt out
because you go too fast. Everybody wants to get fired
(12:56):
up on New Year's Eve to better themselves. Yeah, what
about June twenty second?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Right?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And if you could say to yourself. I need to
go get this work inside. As a football player, you know,
you might not have workouts on Saturday. You might be like,
you know what, man, I gotta go get a rollout in.
I gotta get a light lifting. I gotta get a
little sweat. I should probably cold, sub I don't want to.
Maybe I'm punk over, I got homework. Maybe you know
my mom's in South Yeah you got you have to
(13:23):
get it in and being able to say, you know,
wake it up. It's a little cold outside, waking up
not really feeling it, like flipping that switch. It's like no,
I don't and then not saying I got to saying I.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Get to today.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
It's just like not everybody has it, but at the
same time.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You do have it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
You just got to pull that You gotta pull that
dog out and erase the inn.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Get.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's funny you brought up like the cold. I mean,
I always a lot of guys, you know, in the
off season, they go to California or Texas or Florida,
Arizona to train. I grew up like the greater Philadelphia area.
I used to always just go home, suffer through the
winter outside training and snow and stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Because I felt like it gave me that edge.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yeah yeah, I was big time on diligent and consistent workouts,
doing what I needed to do to like callous my body.
That's what that was always my mindset. I don't want
to be I don't or not that I didn't want
to be, but I didn't need to be like the
most explosive athlete, the fastest guy on the field. But
I did need to be like as durable as possible.
(14:35):
So I just wanted to like calcify my traps, get
them real big, get my legs nice and strong, be
able to run through contact, all that, And so I
used to just suffer, like honestly put myself through like
suffering workouts in the off season just so I could
come back like that much mentally tougher than everybody. And
(14:58):
know that I was at the Jersey s or training
when it was literally now when next to the water
and like it's you know that Rocky inside beer. I
was gonna say, man, yeah, yeah, I mean growing up
in Philly, like that was that was my movie?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I mean I bought I bought a leather jacket with
a white shirt, Sir inside and wear. I've had it
every once in a while just to be like Rocky.
I wear I wear a fedora and because my wife
bought and told me I look like Rocky. So it's
a coupling.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
It's the best complicttion. What do you think?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
What's the grittiest workout you've done to say I'm gonna
get that edge?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
What?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
How far have you gone? How far have you pushed?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
So I was real good at the two twenty five
bench test, right, I most ever got was forty nine.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
When I was training, like all all coming up through
high school and stuff, I trained with this professional boxer
from out of Boston that settled in the Greater Philly area.
We ended up meeting when I was a sophomore, and
or whatever reason, he thought it's a good idea to
get this dude very good.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
At endurance benching. So we used to do so. Yeah,
we'd we'd.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Pile all the tens on the each side of the
bar and just lay down on the bench. Were not
allowed to lift your back off the bench and just
wrap it out racket. They'd strip a ten, wrap it
out rackets all the way down and then all the
way back up so like a reverse pyramid type style.
And I mean I remember like for days not being
(16:29):
able to straighten out my arms. Yeah, but you know,
throwing up doing the whole thing. Like, I mean, I'm
in sucker for that kind of thing, like endurance, because
it's all mental, it really is all.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Everything's everything.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
We had a we had a couple of Navy Seal
circumstances happened in our time at Fresido State. Okay, one
of them. They came to us, woke us up at
that we had to be at the facility at like
four point thirty. Yeah, this is a new coaching staff too,
This is winter ball of a new coaching staff. I
(17:04):
think they're trying to they're trying to see what do
I got here?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, Who's who's who's the lead in the situation? Who's gonnach?
Who's the diability? It's not that cold and Fresno compared
to Philly in January, it was pretty cold. They gave
us a hoodie and sweatpants, like no logos on it.
I'm just like, bro, okay whatever. We walked to our pool,
(17:28):
like our our aquatics center, right, and these Navy Seals
dudes are waiting for us. Yeah, they I don't.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
They must.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
They had to have picked the teams on purpose. Long
story short. It was a series of exercises they created,
like sugar cookies and all that. But the biggest one
is we had to tread water as a team for
ten minutes and then you did a different exercise and
then it was another ten minutes. Now we have some
(17:58):
guys who can't swim. Yeah, and they're raising their hand
going you can't swim. It was accomplisations like teammate and
team B all these obstacles, blah blah blah. I'm not
gonna put him on blaster right now. Couldn't swim. And
there's one thing he is, you can't swim. He can't swim,
and he's letting you know he can't. I'm I'm five eight,
(18:19):
one sixty two cut. Don't get me wrong, but you
needn't lock it in right now. Yeah, And I said,
this is what we're gonna do. I damn near drowned myself.
I stood at the bottom of the pool. You lifted
them up, went up, down, went up down with down.
I thought I was gonna die. This guy's three fifty.
(18:42):
I was supposed to have another guy and we went
into pool with the hoodie. The next element of it
is we did have number. We just had our number
on the sweatshirts. You had to switch numbers. You had
to switch sweatshirts with somebody. While chatting, Water called out
who switches with him? And they're kind of keeping notes
(19:02):
of like who's the two that can't swim, and they're
making them so they want the weakest links to come
together and the strongest links that raised up.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The weakest links.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Literally, it felt like bro I thought. I thought, an
ambulance is gonna have to come. I'm going, these guys
are going, we're trying to take sweatshirts off. Yeah, you couldn't,
like you couldn't let the sweatshirt not be touched by
a person or some long story short. I don't know
why my head went to that, because I was thinking
about my most thing and I saw my buddy. He's
(19:32):
he played in the league for a little bit. He
was here and anyways, I'm not I'll die before. I've
almost blocked out. I've blocked out many times. Where are
you puke and you're spinning and you can't see like
a big squad, a big heavy deadlift, competing on the
versa climber. Ye, like, I'll die. And you know when
(19:55):
I was done playing ball and I attempted to do
this tbusa bob slid, I really had to flip a
switch because it's not football anymore. I'm learning a whole
new sport and there's no like popcorner. There's no pub,
there's no JV, there's no varsity like Nope, You're training
at a Olympic level in a team USA facility.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Right and dangerous too.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
People die all the time going eighty downhill And honestly,
it just it. You were talking about callous seeing your
body Like my shoulders, I still have like permanent scars
on both my shoulders just because you can run into
these walls eight miles an hour. It's ice and smit like, Yeah,
hardest hits I've ever taken in my life. Yeah, I've
(20:39):
been in this broken ribs, knocked out, unconscious, and I
just went back though. I always would go back to
that swimming day and being a farm kid. My dad.
The only reason I'm good at sports because my dad
made us work on the hot being in fourth grade.
Out there, no one speaks Englishman you're moving pipes in
(20:59):
a field. You know, we're got a phone. You get
dropped off with a sack, lunch and a little old
school heterade ottaining that you bring up football practice. I'll
see you at lunch. One hundred and five out. No
one speaks English. Waters running like we're racing, and that's real.
It builds that in dirts. I'll never man Like, there's
a day where you're crying. I'm like thinking in my head,
(21:20):
like there's no way this is legal. And then you
do it and you're like I could, and I think
you just keep we keep testing our mind and our
because your body could do things you never I never
could play college football. It's like, well if you do this,
that and the other, it's like maybe I can.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Figure this out.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Man Like, do what you work with what you got,
make the best of it. Anyways, didn't mean to go
off on a tangent.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Dude, I love it. You know what you you know
what you kind of reminded me of. I went through
this whole phase.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I still kind of believe this that that physical like
strength you know, like how much can you squat? Is
not so much like about your body mechanic and like
the true makeups of your muscle as it is like
how how mentally ready are you to like suffer for
(22:10):
that period of time in which you need to do
that perform this feat. Like I mean, because I think
about it all the time, like how can someone do
you know, squat six seventy one day and then the
next day they hit like six eighty five, Like their
body didn't change, but like for some reason they were
in the my right mental state to like get down
(22:32):
and get up and just you know, move on with
their life.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Well, I've also had situations where and I'll be the
first to admit, you know, you got your you got
your pr, yeah, and you're going to beat that pr.
And like I had a plateau. I was weighing like one.
I was weighing like one fifty seven one fifight my
software here at Fresido State, and I couldn't bench, Like
(22:58):
I couldn't rep to seven. I get it down, I
get it right, and I couldn't lock it out. Like
it became a thing where because I came in and I,
you know, I college football and got gets you right,
And I was like I can't get over up. And
I told my dad. My dad played running back at
presto'st like I can't get over there. I plateaued. I
(23:19):
felt like and I'm thinking, I'm like, okay for being
how much I weigh, Like pound for pound I have,
I have a really that's a that's a sault, a
respectable bench press. I'm betting more than some of our
tight ends. And eventually I told my my guys in
my rack, I said, listen to me, it was a
heavy day. I said, I'm not gonna look at the
weight today.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, I don't want to see what it is.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Sometimes you just get onto the bar like I gotta
get up, you will, But me sliding on the two
plates twenty five, You're like, bro, like that's kind of
that's kind of a big wheel there. Man, Like, I
don't I don't know if I can slam the squad.
I used to do the same thing. It was like,
can I hit I gotta hit that four O five
just because I want. I just wanted the four plates, yeah,
you know, And and it's like, ah, like I remember one.
(24:06):
It's like the junior it was like three ninety five,
and I'm like, come on, bro, let me get that
farther to the club. Like I just just just want
to so it is psychological. But I had a straight
thing additioning coach. His name was Joey Bose. He's now
the head straight titing coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Dog.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, my freshman year and you know, if you didn't
hit your reps, he looked at you like sometimes if
he did, he might throw it out you and like, yeah,
I never had I've never been like it's always like, okay,
you know, we're gonna work on mechanics. Sometimes all you
need is something as simple is like speaking of like
the two twenty five thing. We used to do this thing.
It was called it's called twenty fifteen ten. Put one
(24:50):
thirty five on the bar. Yep, one thirty five on
the bar. You twenty reps a squad, great depth, Yeah,
you take you'd get like thirty seconds ten fifteen fifteen reps. Okay,
then you go to do ten and it wasn't ten.
(25:11):
It was still failure. And like there's guys who will
hit one hundred and seventeen. But and listen, you do
enough squats and lack of acid, you you're gonna it
used to be called we come in and there it
goes boys squat till we drop at school. Okay, all
I need is twenty one minutes till after Lusch. It's
(25:33):
gonna take a couple minutes to get readjusted. Yeah that's fifteen.
Like I really don't hear for another hour, Ol' take right. Yeah,
it's but having the ability in your mind to turn
that switch on. Yeah, and you know, I don't know
if you know I got some wires crossed or anything,
but it is a thing where aboutely, you approached something
determine your success.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Did you know Moses Cabrera when you were there? He's
a president steak guy. He was our head strength coach
in New England like my lab last five years. He
was an assistant before when I first got there, and
he was always my guy dude, and and tough as nails,
like exactly the mentality you just spoke of, like like
(26:14):
if you didn't do what you came into doing it
in the NFL, dude, you get a lot of guys
in the in the strength room that like you know,
they're doing they're doing their own little thing and they're
you know, And Moses was always like a you got
in here in squat, Yeah, you got to get in
here and like sweat, like let's like, let's work in
(26:35):
here and that's why we're here, right.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And some guys didn't do that, but he used to,
like you know, call people out.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Very personable, but he'd call people out and be like, no,
you're not doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Sometimes do There's nothing like a good strength coach.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I'm telling you, nothing like if you get a good one,
it'll change your life.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I was blessed on some great strength coaches. Honestly. The
one who's currently at President State, he had me, had
all both my brothers like invited him to my wedding,
like I golf with him, get beers with him. He
lives right by me like I and I if I
have any advice, like I've been asked this on podcasts
when I'm getting interviewed and they and they said, you know,
(27:15):
what's something in college football that as a recruit you
would recommend to high school athletes? And I said, when
you're going on these visits, go into the weight room
and meet the strength coach and get a vibe. Yeah,
because you don't know it, but you're with the strength
coach and the straight staff more than anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
They see you in the January Matt Drifts, they see
you in springball. They're warming you up every day free game.
They're getting you right, like me being the first one
out of all of my brothers, like no idea our
high school like card yeah, math teacher, tying the light
side of the weight river. There's just weights in that
low low caliber. We're not Saint John Bosk and uh
(27:57):
no man a great strength coach. You're going from a
self respected especially like yeah, and there's nothing better when
you get you get that first big push like yeah,
you know, my bench went up twenty and I got muscle,
and you got little definitions like yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
What was your what was your you know, when it
became time to go to the league, what was your process?
Like were you expecting a certain round? Do you expect
to get a certain team? How'd that go?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Uh? Dude?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
So again, I was the process of getting in the
NFL was hugely humbling for me coming out of Brown.
There was four of us that we had a really
good team my senior year or junior year, and then
my senior year we did all right, but had a
couple of prospects. One guy got drafted was not me.
(28:45):
One guy got signed to the Titans was not me.
One guy got a rookie mini camp try out with
the Pats wasn't me. I ended up waiting till the
monday after the draft, got a call from Cleveland to
come out as a three four outside linebacker. I played
d n in college, okay, and went did that. Didn't
(29:07):
even make it to Sunday. They let me go on Saturday,
like we've seen enough, dude, And uh, I mean I was.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I was a fish out of border.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I played with my hand in the dirt my entire
college career and now I'm standing up on two feet,
deathly afraid of getting beating pass coverage because I knew
I was slow. So every every time the ball was snap,
I'd take it like two steps back and they'd be
running stress right at me and I'm.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Giving up the edge. It was a mess dud. But anyways,
so I go back home. I barely got an agent.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
You know, I had to like essentially like talk him
into representing me. He was a local guy that you know,
knew a family I knew growing up, and uh, and
you know, so I'm all three of my my buddies
that I played in college with. They're all in teams
in camps. I'm at home.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I'm doing nothing that mental.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah. I end up. I'm living at my parents' house.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I just graduated from Brown and I get a Facebook
message from a guy that was a GM of the
Oklahoma City yard Dogs of the AFL, and he says, hey,
I'd like you to come down and try out.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
So I'm like, you know what, Like, I'm not doing
anything else.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
So I borrow money from my parents, get a flight
to Oklahoma City, do a workout in an indoor soccer
little facility down there, and they signed me. And I
spend five weeks making two hundred bucks a week and
Taco Taco bell meal tickets, living in an apartment that
they provided with boarded up windows because it just hailed
in Oklahoma like crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And I'm like, yeoh, is this is this really what
I'm doing with an IVY degree?
Speaker 4 (30:45):
End up, that season ends, and then I'm back at
home doing the same training like trying to stay ready,
but no prospects at all.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
This is like July, and.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
This is a whole year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Well no oh no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Yes, this is twenty ten I graduated in May, did
my thing in Oklahoma City for like maybe the month
of June. I'm in July living or I'm I'm at
the Jersey Shore and I get a text from my
agent like, hey, get your workout. It's with the Florida
Tuskers of the UFL, which is not the UFL that
exists now but once removed.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Uh. And he's like, hey, it's as a fullback.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Like just go down there, do the workout, and like
you know, we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
And so I go down there.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Jay Gruden's the head coach, got a bunch of NFL
guys on the roster. They tried me out as a
as a fullback. I do the drills and they signed me.
And then four weeks later, the starting fullback gets Vertigo
going out to Vegas for our game and I'm the
darting fullback.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
And then finished that year. It was a nine week season.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
We lost in the championship game to Jeff Garcia. I think,
and wow, Yeah, he was playing quarterback for the the
Omaha Nighthawks.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I believe, Oh they had a running back he got
he was.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
He was a great NFL or great running back at
Ohio State, gott in this in trouble in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Oh my god, his name's for Maurice something.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
But anyways, Yeah, we had some guys in that league.
Like it was like my starting quarter but my running
backs were Dominique Rhodes from the Colts who won a
Super Bowl. Maurice Hicks played for the Niners. Avion Caisson
played for the Cowboys. Like, we had some guys, you know, Uh,
Dante Culpepper was in the league, Jeff Garcia obviously, So
(32:40):
it was it was a great experience. That season ends
and I go right from there. It was in December,
right from there to Cincinnati on their practice squad for
a year and a half and then in twenty twelve
they cut me after camp and I went to New
England and then eight years there.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Rest is history.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Becoming a full back though after not playing that in
like when it first, I mean, just that's a different
side of the ball, yeah, you know, and you know,
offensive terminology, I think a little more difficult the defense
as a fullback. You know, maybe you could simplify it down.
You don't gotta worry with the guy on the outside
is always doing necessarily. But still was that what was
(33:20):
the initial like butterflies?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Oh yeah, dude, absolutely, And that's what was nice about
like having that buffer year in the UFL and then
and then ultimately having like a couple of years on
practice squad is. I got a lot of time, a
lot of reps right just doing it, watching guys, seeing
how they do it, trying to.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Be like that.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
What I quickly found out though, was I was always
very like very aware of my lack of straight ahead speed,
and when I was on the offense side of the
ball as opposed to defense, I knew.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Where I had to be.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I knew where I had to go, So I was
playing and making the first move as opposed to acting
on defense totally. So I felt like that ended up
playing to my strength for sure, because I could, you know,
like I know where this place is supposed to hit.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I know what I got to see, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
In order to like there's an option.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, So that like.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
And I guess my football IQ was good enough like
early on to really like figure that out and be
ahead of the game on each play as opposed to
like playing defense and trying to react and then making
up for my lack of straight ahead speed.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So I mean the fullball position I think needs to
be utilized more and more.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
It is, man, I think there's a lot of there's
a lot of teams, especially in the playoffs, that you
know when it when it comes down to it, like
and you can put like five hundred pounds in the
backfield and two tight ends on the field. Like teams
don't want to see that in January, you know, Like
these guys are beat up.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
You see that in like Detroit.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Obviously they their playoffs didn't go let the way they wanted,
but like teams are still out there like slugging it out. Man,
the Ravens, Like, oh, you know the Raven's backfield, Yes, yeah,
I know. I mean it's over five hundred pounds back.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
There with them, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Recards three something, three ten, maybe three h five.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I don't know what he plays that Derek.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I think like the fact he's in he skates, like, yeah,
I when he's running one of those seventy yarders, I'm like,
is this dude that big and that fast? Yeah, he's
he's I saw yesterday. I should have taken a picture
of them, bro, Yeah, he was one of the dudes.
He's my wife's my wife had him been fantasy football
one year and she's like I loved I'm like, yeah,
(35:43):
great pic, babe. You know yeah, how did you decide
your what your swagger was gonna be as a fullback?
I'd say, because you embraced that I did.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Yeah, you know what I really loved.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I Coming up, I was a big fan of Carney
from the Saints in the Rams, and I remember watching
a little thing, whether it was like I don't know
if it was thirty for thirty back then, but so
a little thing on the ESPN.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
That had it.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
It was a like a documentary style show about Steven
Jackson and Carney and their relationship and how they were
like best buds. It was like a like a like
a brotherhood almost right. And so when I got to
the league and I was like, and I got a
stable of backs that I'm gonna I'm gonna block for,
like I want to be their brother. I want them
(36:34):
to be guy so like someone that I want me
to be someone to them, like they can come to
for anything, and you know, I'm like, they're like low
key bodyguard at times. Yeah, So I tried to take
on like that identity, like just be there, be like
the face of our running game a little bit. And
(36:56):
because I I was always like you know, coming into
the league, I never had much of an ego in
the locker room, Like I just I wanted. I was
happy to be there because my journey there like shouldn't
have happened.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
But so I was like a quieter type. I wasn't
like much of a rah rah guy.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
But when I like stuck somebody and you get that
like electricity in your veins and you can just feel
like it is the greatest feeling.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
That's the juice.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yes, that is the.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's literally what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
When I say that's the juice, you come off the
sideline and I can't even like contain how excited I am.
And I'm like telling everybody I love them, And you know,
they got me on on Christmas Eve, I we we
played the Jets one of the air beat them, beat
the doors off from forty four to three on Christmas Eve, Christmas,
but we ran, we ran a bunch of gold Line
(37:50):
runs and I'm blocked for la Garrett Blunt and they
caught me on like on his mic, you know, tell
him how much I love him.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
I block them for block for my whole life, I said.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
And I'm just like so giddy, you know, with excitement
because I'm like sticking guys in the home right on top.
And uh so that was my identity, man. I just
I really embraced like the you know, the the lack
of glory in that role, the like I wanted to
be a battering ram for these guys so they can
go and have fun and collect checks. Like I was
(38:20):
just happy to be there, man, Like I just want
to play football and hit somebody and bleed a little
bit and yeah, yeah, man, that's what football's about.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.