07-08-25 KOA Sports Hour 1 with Susie Wargin

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Susie Wargen is shooting with us?

Speaker 2 (00:02):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sus How are you? I didn't even have my headphones
on yet. Hill we go fast? You do go fast?
Dang Hi, it's going to be back Rams go rams right?
Sorry about that?

Speaker 3 (00:15):
How about what I say, go rams too? As long
as they're not playing.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
The buffs right, which is not going to happen for
a while.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You know again, And first of all, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm well, thank you, see both of you.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
But I would like to state what I believe to
be the truth. I know from my standpoint, I root
for c ISSU all the time unless they play CEU.
I just don't feel like that is reciprocated from my
two friends and colleagues in the studio.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Do y'all root for.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
SeeU every game except the one they play the issue?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
No, We've had this discussion so many.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Do you think Florida and Florida state the the that
they root and you know that the Gators root.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'll stick with you and see issue.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Fine, I just don't just stay up standpoint.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Why don't you.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Do you think see you roots for Okay?

Speaker 4 (01:08):
You are different because you have players that have gone
to see issue you have.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
You have a history that have gone to issue. See yeah,
so so you have that going.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
I would just challenge you, Susie to maybe not look
at it as as like the little step sister anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
You know, just root for the in state.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
School and you Ryan feels the same way, right, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
I.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Do not.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
I did. I did. A younger version of me. I
agreed with everything you said.

Speaker 6 (01:36):
The older, more wise version of me has since said,
you know what, it's good for football in the state,
is good for for the college athletics.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Until you said you have me when you said the
older version, when you tagged it with older or wiser,
you lost me.

Speaker 6 (01:52):
I have taken a lot of stage advice from you
over the years, and I've incorporated it into my daily life,
including a cluding.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Now the internet another see you gear like gosh, I
would disown you, Ryan if you did that. Never nice work.
I didn't do that on purples.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I mean, seriously, if we're going to wrap your
school day, I guess I missed the memo.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
I would with great almost always have something on mostly mostly.

Speaker 6 (02:20):
But the point of it is is is I want
college athletics, especially college football, to be.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Relevant, and I would agree with you on that.

Speaker 6 (02:26):
And so for me, if CU is relevant and they
are a good team, then we get to talk about
college football a lot more in the States, and.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
That's air Force I like. I like to see air
Force succeed. I like to see Wyoming succeeds. Okay, wow, okay.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I mean, could you name any other schools?

Speaker 5 (02:46):
Well?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
How many schools are we naming here?

Speaker 4 (02:48):
You know, I know a lot of people from Wyoming,
and I mean the border were separate.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Not that I want them to.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
Go out and win a whole bunch of games, but
but to me, it's a regional thing.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
I include them in our region.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
You have to think about how hideous this is you actually, we.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Don't root for Wyoming.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
I just kind I like to have them be I
don't want them to be like Horrible, because then you
can't talk about.

Speaker 6 (03:07):
It as compared to how you feel about Horrible every day.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
That's what I mean, at least about you know, And
maybe I shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I shouldn't say that I root for Wyoming all the time,
because I don't.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
At all the hell, but I like being I like
what you said, Ryan, I like being able to have
relevant in our region because people just always dismiss our
whole region that we just were crap as far as
football goes, basketball goes in college, and it would be
nice to be relevant.

Speaker 6 (03:34):
And plus one more thing, it's it's a little warm
in here. Change your life.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
We work. You have a lot of hot flashes to
watch it.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Seriously, and I'm on stuff for it too, And they
just started coming back.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Oh yeah, you.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Want me to get you your sweating.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I'm a little Yeah, I just forgotten.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Are you clammy?

Speaker 1 (03:56):
I'm a clammy? Yeah, I'm clammy. Yeah, I don't know.
I'm okay. That's not usually what doctor Dave recommends. No
for Ryan, does you get do you get Holt flashes?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, what the element is, yes, he does.

Speaker 6 (04:12):
The recommendation is an edema. I'm like, boy, have a headache.
I know it's going to fix that.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, have you pooped lately?

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Well, I'm just trying to be a friend, Just trying
to be a friend, exactly.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah, No, seriously, I'm okay, though I know this. I
actually take some testosterone cream, which is probably to be.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
The one woman that I like in America.

Speaker 6 (04:34):
That what.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
It does help me.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
But it's kind of I'm like on ten miligrams a day,
and I think you need to up it a little.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
It's going to be a long broncice go. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
I just started it not too long ago, so watch
out because I'll.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Be up to like thirty milligrams.

Speaker 6 (04:49):
A day day.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Nothing's happening right now in the injury. Why do you
sound like a wrestler? Is it?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
W W?

Speaker 1 (05:05):
What is this?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
That's yeah, exactly, Yeah, it'd be like Lyle Alzado this week.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Well, we're excited and studio we have all sorts of
fun stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
We got another abbreviated show today.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
We got Rockies Baseball coming up at four thirty day
when you get a chance. It just came out today,
The Quarterback Show.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Is I've not seen it, but that it came out.
You watched it.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Already, watch it.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
I got two episodes in and you know they're I
think there's six or eight.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Did they release all of them at the same time
they did? Wow, that's odd. Well Netflix does that like
every everywhere else Super Yellowstone, but I guess that's not
on Netflix. On Netflix yah Paramount, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 (05:42):
Netflix tends to just put everything out now they are
on something, not that anybody cares about this but aren't
some things they'll do like part one and part two
of a season. So like Stranger Things, for example, they're
gonna split that up into two. Watch Joe Burrow yep,
Kirk Cousins, Kirka again again, and Jared Goff Okay, yeah,
it's really it's really great. I told our resident Bengals fan,

(06:06):
Grant Smith, that Joe Burrows amazing.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
I like reliving the disaster that their defense was. It's
kind of a I.

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Would imagine from Bengals fan when you're watching him throw
from five touchdowns at a game and.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Losing, saying, oh, it's absolut heartbreaker.

Speaker 6 (06:23):
Haven't gotten to the the Broncos games just yet, the
Broncos versus Falcons and of course later in the season
Broncos versus Bengals. But it was an interesting moment today
watching it, and this came out first thing this morning,
where Kirk Cousins admitted that he probably wouldn't have gone
to the Falcons if you'd have known that they were
interested in a quarterback at number eight. Michael Pennix. He

(06:43):
said he felt misled. That was the word that he said.
He felt misled by the process. And I started thinking
about that ye did. And it's really cool. I mean,
and Jared Goff had a really nice, candid moment talking
about how he thought Sean McVay gave up on him
when they made that trade with the Troy Lyons and
he you know, he say spiral.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean, I could, I could understand how he would
think that.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, and can't you? And frankly, I can.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Understand how Kirk Cousins might feel a bit misled even
though he's made several hundred million dollars right as It's
like we've talked about this before. I think the NFL,
even even at times for high ticket guys, that's just

(07:29):
that's just business, just how it is. If they if
they think they can go out and better themselves, and
if it's at your expense, unfortunately, that's just the way
it is.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well it is.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
And and Jared Goff, before I get back to Kirk Cousins,
he said that I wish we could have had a
mature adult conversation before they'd made this trade, which I
thought was okay.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Meaning I would I haven't seen it yet, but taking
that comment verbatim, I would take that as him saying,
you know, they really didn't let me know anything was
going on until they called me and told me.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was traded.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
And that's exactly what he said.

Speaker 6 (08:06):
He said, he just got to random off season call
from Sean McVay, and he said, seconds after I hung
up the phone, it was already on Twitter.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
He's like this, this is all really Yes, He's like seconds.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Welcome.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
I mean, I hate to say it, but I honestly
believe this to my core.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Welcome to how the NFL operates.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
So you're a quarterback of a team, like you're the
face of franchise. You were the first overall pick for
that organization.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
Yeah, and you're a number, you're a liability, you're a
your's line on the financials.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
And I think in in deference to the Rams and
Sean McVay in this case, I mean, he really can't
pick up the phone and call Jered Goff and say, listen,
I mean, we're working on a deal maybe with the Lions,
and we think we're going to get Matt Stafford. But

(08:57):
I'll keep you posting on how I mean you can't
do that. Happens that the deal didn't go through, Then
you got Jared Goff thinking oh okay, so now now
I'm your guy now.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
So the league.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Is in a difficult position too with some of some
of these type deals because you're not sure it's actually
going to happen until it happens, and.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
So different from like when you played Day where you
could actually and correct me if I'm wrong, But when
you were in Cleveland, you went to them and said, Hey,
who'd you go talk to when you wanted to get traded?

Speaker 2 (09:25):
I went to the head coach.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
You went to the head coach, and so then he
I mean, back in those days, they could have those
kind of conversations.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
You can't have those conversations now.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
There's too much money, there's too many people involved, there's
too many agents.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, it's I mean, it's a totally different deal.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I think it's you know, and I crack in the
NFL at times because I think it's you know, there's
a certain element of cutthroat business practices in the NFL.
But as I just said, realistically, a lot of times
you have to do it that way because you can't.

(10:00):
You can't make all the players involve privy to what
might or what might not happen, yeah, or.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Be emotional about it. You can't be emotional there's no.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Point and getting emotional twice. If they tell you, hey,
we're actively trying to trade you, then you're going to
be emotional.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Then okay, the trade went through.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
But if the trade doesn't go through, what is the
emotional state of in this case with the Rams, they're
starting quarterback Jared Goff, how do you resurrect sort of
that relationship?

Speaker 2 (10:33):
So you really can't.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that's a tough spot to be in.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Oh this sounds like radio, doesn't it.

Speaker 6 (10:41):
But her Cousins though, the whole misled thing I think
is sort of fascinating, right because the timelines are tough
because it's not like if you're the Falcons and you're
trying to convince Kirk Cousins to be your quarterback right
in free agency and he was the big domino remember
that year that Like it was twenty twenty four, but it.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Was the big domino.

Speaker 6 (10:58):
Everybody wanted to know where he was going to go.
And then so the subsequent moves that happened after that.
But in March when that's happening, it's not like the Falcons.
Do you think the Falcons was knew at that time? Hey,
regardless of what we're doing here, with Kirk Cousins, we
really like Michael Pennix Junior, because I feel like if
they liked Michael Pennix Junior enough at that point, you're
probably not spending one hundred plus million on a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
I will say this, I have a little bit of
intel on that particular deal, and I think without giving
betraying a confidence, I can say this, there was.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
More than a little and less.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Than a lot of concern from Atlanta's standpoint with respect
to how the Achilles injury to Kirk Cousins was coming along.
There were those in camp, in the Atlanta camp that thought,

(11:59):
he's going to be fine, Everything's going to be good.
It wasn't completely healthy when the trade went down, but
he was trending in the right direction. There also were
those that said, we got an issue here. This dude's
not this is not going is He's not where he
should be. We're going to be real lucky to get

(12:20):
him completely ready for camp. So I think now that
that part of it, I know this part of it
is conjecture. In my part, I think the split camp
may have played a role in we might need to
think about getting a quarterback early.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah, who's going to be there besides him, right, yeah,
And they talked themselves into and they did in the show,
talked themselves into well, now he is.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
A chance to learn behind Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 6 (12:49):
But that happened for half a season before they turned
the page to Michael Pennix Junior.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Now he's the starting quarterback.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Well and Kirk Kirk didn't play well enough and he
didn't you know what, and the team didn't play well enough.
Kirk when they played here in Denver looked like a
completely different guy, right.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I mean, he's never been a great athlete, but he
was always.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Able to kind of maneuver in the pocket a Lah
Tom Brady and a Lah Peyton Manning. I didn't see
very much of that decisions where he made some decisions
where it's like, wow, what's he what's he doing? So,
I mean he he has to look at himself and say, hey, man,
if I'd have played really well and this team would
have been contending, which they thought they would be able

(13:29):
to when they got him for over one hundred million
dollars on that deal, then Michael Pennix Junior would be
going into his second year pretty much the same as
JJ McCarthy different circumstances, but neither guy would have played much.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
He didn't play well enough. Kirk Cousins didn't, and.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Not every quarterback likes to be that, Oh, let's have
somebody learn underneath you.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I E. Aaron Rodgers, I Je Black.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, they're just not into it, and they're just like, really, okay,
so you want me to play at a high level,
and then this guy behind me needs to learn for me.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
So yeah, and they lost thirty eight to six.

Speaker 6 (14:02):
He threw four hundred and seventy three yards in the interception,
like no touchdowns, So yeah, he obviously struggling, and I
think that was that's pretty close to the end. I
think he got a couple more games after that, but
it's it's sort of fascinating. The last thing I wanted
to ask you guys on this is just the whole
concept of misleading because.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Because this talk about radio or are we talking about.

Speaker 6 (14:22):
Uh no, in this case just specifically just NFL team Okay, like.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
What are they?

Speaker 6 (14:27):
Oh, anybody if they can put it in perspective of
we're trying to help our organization, like what are they?
What are they really owe Kirk Cousins or is it
different because it's the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Ah, that's a good question, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
The way the NFL is going to look at it,
and I think most players know this and learn it
the hard way is that they're in the NFL is
in it for themselves.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
It's all about the dollar.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
And so they're not going to take into account that, oh,
it's our quarterback. We need to coddle, we need They're
in for winning games, making money, and that's what they're
in it for. And some players might I think that
it's different than that, and then they learn very quickly
that it's not.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:03):
I mean even Jared Goff to a certain extent, like
he said, I wanted to have that conversation with Sean
McVay about my where I'm at, And to your point,
Seawan's like, well, I'm already done, So I don't think
we need to have that conversation.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
I've already I've already moved on.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
So it is.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
It is sort of fascinating. Again. I think I think
we all agree that.

Speaker 6 (15:20):
Probably in better shape right now with Michael Penick junior
then they would be if they're coming back with Kirk
Cousins another year.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Although although it was interesting talk.

Speaker 6 (15:27):
I think it was the Shelby the other day when
he was saying, oh, I think Kirk Cousins is going
to be much better with his mobility this year, and
he had to recover from his achilles. We're talking about
Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, he's like, I think he's going to
be much better this year.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
I mean, I think Cousins can still play. I think
the interesting thing from their standpoint is what do we
what do we do with him? He's going to be
He's not going to be He's not going to be
a problem in the locker room. He'll not be a
problem in the quarterback meeting room. But if you're Michael
Pennox junior going into your second year, and more importantly,
if you're the Falcons, to me, that's not a situation.

(15:59):
I want to put my young quarterback in because he's
gonna make some bad throws, He's gonna have some tough series,
tough quarters, tough halves, tough games. Well, if he has
two tough games in a row and you have Kirk
Cousins sitting there, do you have veterans on the team

(16:19):
that are now looking.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
And saying, Okay, what are we doing Why are we not?

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Because that's how that's how locker rooms get in trouble
and become divided. So if I'm if I'm running in Atlanta,
I'm going to try to make the best deal I
can in training camp for Kirk Cousins. I am not
going into the regular season and expecting that thing to
sort of miraculously work out.

Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah, I'm gonna PJ lock joining us here in about
ten minutes. We did hear from Yonis Valanchunas today.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
I saw that.

Speaker 6 (16:53):
Yeah, he said a whole lot of nothing. Do you
see that part too well?

Speaker 3 (16:57):
That That was my conclusion you based on what I read.

Speaker 6 (17:02):
So the quote, and again I think it's being translated,
but it says you can say anything. A lot has
already been said, all kinds of thoughts. Doesn't feel like
directly quote the bubble burst, everyone shared what everyone thinks.
Will only find out when the first game is played.
Everything will be clear when the trade is finalized, will
come up with a plan, The Nuggets will express their wishes,

(17:23):
how they think, how they see it, medical other details
that will depend on them.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Do you think like I mean, maybe the translator who's
paid presumably by the hour in terms of what do
they speaking Lithuanian?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Lithuanian?

Speaker 1 (17:42):
Is that what they good question? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Lithuanian stands to reason, right.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So do you think that the Lithuanian So if.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
You have a Lithuanian translator.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's a Baltic language, Well, thank.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
You, there's that c issue education.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
No, do you think that maybe you might want to
reconsider getting another translate? I mean, well, it doesn't make anything.
It makes him sound like did you actually say this?
And if so, we're going to renig on the deal.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Just from our standpoint, you can't make a sense.

Speaker 5 (18:25):
No.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
I I still think at the end of the day
you will see Yonis Valentiunis as a nugget this year,
and I think you'll see him play very well.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
You give me the look Ryan as though you don't agree.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
You don't think he's coming.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well, I don't qualify it.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
I don't want to be a teeter twer man, which
is way too late for that.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Just on the way up or the way down, spit
out and say it with your chest, which do you
believe to be true?

Speaker 2 (18:53):
He's here or he's not.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
I feel like a noncommittal answer is what.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
You give all the time.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Do you here's the question, he will play for the
Nuggets starting in the regular season in October or not?

Speaker 6 (19:14):
Answer no, But there's so many layers to this conversation
it has to answer. Apparently, his agents told he he
confirmed to the Greek team that that he's coming, that
Valentis is going to play.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Okay, well, let that.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Persuade you to make your your your answer one that
we can understand.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Let me add one more wrinkle into this, Okay.

Speaker 6 (19:42):
Al Horford reportedly is waiting on this decision and is
interested in playing for the Nuggets. Yes, if you were
the Nuggets, do you decide to trade one situation where
you're saying, hey, guy does not want to play for us,
move on and go get Al Horford would be a
better fit for you.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
I do not believe, although I mean, Al Horford is
a very good for a big man, for a three
point shooter, but I think Valentius, his skill set and
his age, it would be a better fit for the Nuggets.
So now back to the pressing question.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Do you think Valentiunis plays for the Nuggets this year?

Speaker 5 (20:22):
I do.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
I do, So that's a yes, that's a yes.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Wow, on the record, is he playing in the Greek
Basketball League, which is also known as the GBL.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
That's what he wants, he wants, okay, and that goes
October through June.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Good to know the way I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Maybe it was a summer league or something. Me answering
yes basically means it's going to be a no. You
know now for sure? On the record is quite literally
the last thing we need to hear.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
I am simply doing the job that our audience has
asked me to. Don't pin you down just for a
simple yes or no, and you don't have to do
it all the time, just occasionally.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
This wasn't a while, just different now and then a
text line.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Ryan could be a great politician with how much he
tiptones arounds yes or no questions, thank you, five six
zeros or ka.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Comidation might be good elected. Right.

Speaker 6 (21:14):
All I've learned through politics in the last several years
is be wrong and then double down on it.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
That's literally all I know. This hour chanting when one
thousand dollars coming.

Speaker 6 (21:21):
Up the next five minutes thanks to color Joint replacement
coloroadjoint dot org PJ lock joys Us next and we
are thrilled to head out to the KWA Common Spirit
Health Highline and welcome him to our program.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
PJ. You're on with Dave Logan, Ryan Eversus Susie Warten.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
How are you, sir?

Speaker 5 (21:41):
I'm good, I'm good. How are you guys?

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Thank you for having me?

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah, we we appreciate you coming on PJ for sure.
So I guess first and foremost, how you feeling physically.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
I'm getting there, man, I'm getting there. I feel I
feel really good. Though I will say hall of fame
that I was getting in during the season, I don't
have that no more. So, uh, the thank God for that.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, that's huge, PJ.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
You and I had a chance to catch up at
Passer Tans event a few weeks ago, and you were
kind of describing what happened.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
You were in some pain during the season, and you
played through a lot of pain. Described like what happened.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
And I mean, there's a lot of people that go
through vertebrae and next next surge, reason here you are
and you're gonna come back and play after it.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
So really, I feel like everything kind of really started
around ot as a little bit normally, Like I always
had like a bit of like a little bit of
back pain, and I tried to alleviate the pain a
little bit by taking taking like these quarter gold shots

(22:49):
and did it. Did it during OTAs and it kind
of helped for a little bit. And then right around
training camp, uh, took it again and it literally like
I don't know, it didn't it didn't help at all.
And it was like times during training camp and I
was just like, man, I do not I do not
feel like myself. I remember coming home from one day

(23:12):
in training camp, I think we had an off day,
and I went into my closet and how my wife
was looking for me. I was in my basement closet
kind of just sitting there, like just trying to figure
out what's going on because I'm like, man, I feel
like this is supposed to be like a breakout year
for me. I just had a new contract everything. It's
kind of like being put in the place. So I'm
thinking like, yeah, this is the breakthrough year right now.

(23:33):
I've been through a lot, you know, practice squad, undrafted,
finally like having my opportunity to start. I'm just like, man,
here it is. And I was just like man, training
I'm just I'm just not feeling like me, Like I'm
not I feel like I'm not moving the same, not
coming on my.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Breaks the same. Like it was just weird. And so.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
Yeah, I mean she she gave me, my wife gave
me some few a few tep talks, gave me some
words of encouragement and just kind of just kind of
kept me going. And we would say, like the middle
of the season, like the pain just got like even worse.
We tried to take another quarterson shot. We got like
a second opinion on why I wasn't working, and another

(24:16):
doctor had told us he was a doctor out of
LA He told us to take this shot, I believe
like above where the pain is and hopefully the medicine
will like drop down and kind of like enter that
area where it's having I'm having a nerve pain and
that that numbness. And we did it and were waiting.

(24:36):
They always say it takes like three days to kick in,
and like literally I didn't do anything. So at that point,
I was just like, you know what, I'm just gonna
I'm gonna you know, man up and just get through
the season. And yeah, and so like I would say,
probably like the third of the season, like I started
having like these weird quad pain. I had numbness in

(24:58):
the quad. But the I was like, I started like
losing strength. I would do I would do like workouts
during the season and specifically like leg extensions, and like
I can feel the difference in my quad, Like why
is my quad becoming more weak? So I'm like blaming myself.
And I was like, man, I did I not do

(25:19):
enough in the off season? Did I not you know,
do the correct workouts or what is going on? I
cannot figure it out. And I think to myself again,
I'm just like night, it can't it can't be that.
But anyway, long story short, I started working out with
on our strength coaches, like early early in the morning,
like six o'clock in the morning before meetings, and like

(25:41):
we started pulling slaves and stuff like that just to
like get me some type of common normally when I
pull sledgs and stuff, that gives me my confidence, my slowsertness,
my speed and everything and none of like we did it.
One week, we kind of set numbers and then the
next week my numbers like dropped. What is going on?

(26:02):
So I mean, long, long story short. After the bills
game on our trainers was like, yeah, I think it's
a good idea for us to get another m around
your back got the AMRA and uh doctor doctor Chad
Chad Presmack was like, Yo, you need to get surgery
right now. And I'm like like what about what about

(26:23):
my career? Like what about you know? Am I going
to come back? Like what I'm trying to do. Obviously,
when somebody said you're going to have surgery, you do
all the research. So I'm on YouTube, I'm on the internet,
I'm on TikTok trying to figure out like, hey, how
do how.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Do people feel?

Speaker 5 (26:40):
How do people bounce back? And like it was literally
like no research on it, especially for like how you
know high level athletes. Sure, And I'm like, man, I'm
pulling pulling my hair out of my head. I'm just
like it is my my career done. And I got
up getting like top of my agent. I'm getting second, third,

(27:03):
and fourth opens and some doctors saying like, hey, it's
gonna take nine to twelve months, and I'm just like
held off, like I don't have nine to twelve months,
Like this is my contract year, Like I don't have that.
And you know some other doctors that was optimistic saying like, yeah,
I think it might but the most of eight months
and I'm just like that that just doesn't sound, you know,

(27:25):
convincing to me. And then I'll start getting like a
peens around from other teams and stuff like that, and uh,
you know, they were saying like, if you can play
without it, please play without it. So I'm at this
point like I'm I'm thinking is over and I did.
The doctor's going to tell you, well, the longevity of
were not the longevity but the after life, like after football,

(27:47):
like your kids and stuff like that. You want to
be able to play with them and all that stuff.
So I kind of like just chopped it up too, like, man,
if it's it's gonna be, what it's gonna be, you know, like,
if I'm able to play football, cool, I would love that.
But you know, obviously when they kind of start throwing
in your kids and you know, growing up with them,
I'm like, okay, yeah, that's that's a little bit more important. Right.

(28:11):
So yeah, So, I mean I was I was super
nervous end up going ahead and getting the surgery, and
I would say like the first first two weeks of
it was like, man, I think I made the wrong
decision because I couldn't I couldn't really move. I couldn't
evenly get get myself out of bed under my own

(28:31):
strength if I would. I couldn't get off the couch.
If I'm just sitting up right, I couldn't get off
the couch if I dropped something on the ground, like
I'm telling my son, Hey, come get this remote for me,
or something like that. And then I would say around
around three and a half weeks, like stuff started to
look a lot more, look a lot better, And I

(28:57):
think I had another appointment, probably like a month out,
and it was it was especially just kind of telling me,
like what what does the protocols look like moving forward?
And he was just saying, like, man, about at about
three and a half four months, we're going to have
another appointment. It's going to be a cash can and
we're going to check the bone density if like the

(29:18):
bones are growing between the screws, like we have screws
in my back of a spacer. I actually grew an inch,
So we're gonna change that the player profile. Change that
the player profile. But yeah, and when that time came,
like everything kind of started checking out and I had

(29:38):
like this miraculous healing. We expected to be like sixty
percent healed. Uh when I when I stay here, we're
talking about the bone growing through the screws through the space.
We expected to be fifty to sixty percent. My doctor
said it would be. He would be ecstatic, y'all if

(29:59):
I was there and I got to about three months
and we took another cash in, he was like, yeah,
you have bone going through it, behind it everything, so
that he wow, oh wow. They were completely completely shocked.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
That's incredible.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
And I would say the rest of the store, honestly,
the rest of the story would be the rest of
stove on my YouTube.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
And yeah, you got you got a big story going
on with YouTube.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Yeah, so everybody can kind of follow your your rehab
and everything you're doing. And they fused your your fourth
and fifth vertebrand to be able to come back from that,
PJ is just, uh, it's pretty incredible. We're we're really
excited to see what you do in training camp.

Speaker 6 (30:42):
How about how much do you think you'll be able
to mean again, you're this is significant and obviously have
thoughts with you and just recovery, but are you hoping
to be able to do some stuff here in training camp.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
I mean, how how are you sitting with that?

Speaker 5 (30:55):
Yeah, that's that's that's the play. I don't know how
long they're going to hold me out or if I
be clear for day one, but I have a doctors
appointment actually coming up like next week, and that's that's
gonna tell me a lot of stuff moving forward. But honestly,
just you know, just hoping to be like super healthy.
And I think this whole process has been enough to

(31:17):
short of a blessing and a miracle from God. And yeah, man,
I think I think that was a breakthrough I was
looking for, honestly, just not knowing because it got to
the point and I'm kind of speaking a lot right
now and I'm kind of going back, and I just
remember that me getting the surgery, what dictated me getting
the surgery? He was saying that from three years ago

(31:41):
when we got an MRIs, like, man, why why is
my back hurting me? We kind of came down to
like the structure of my body, how it was born,
how it was doing. I had like a natural curve
and kind of like the upper back a little bit.
If you kind of look at me sideways. I had
like a from my lumbar spine. It was straight and
then they kind of curve. I used to get joked

(32:02):
on people said, like a turtleshell, but yeah, but anyway,
it was just a structure. So like the wan ter
playing football all my years and lifting weights or squad
and stuff like that, it was just a matter of time.
But I remember three years ago they was like, yeah,
I like, you don't have any nerve pain anything like that,

(32:23):
or it doesn't really affect you, then you're fine, Like
you just get whatever done after football and you'd be fine.
It says it's very common. Well, like this past year,
it's just out of nowhere. Just I had like super
super bad nerve pain, had backstaddings all that. But he
was saying, like I had like a shift a parts defect,
which is like a fracture in like the L four vertebrae,

(32:48):
and it caused my spine.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
To shift forward.

Speaker 5 (32:50):
So that shift forward kind of blocked the nerve canal.
That's why I had all this nerve pain and like
numbness and a gone down spot.

Speaker 6 (32:58):
Yeah yeah, and yeah, well hey I apologize, man, we
do have to run, but listen, man, I'm glad to
hear you're doing a little better.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
You said.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
People can follow along on your YouTube on what's going
on with it.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
Yes, yes, yes, it'll be on my YouTube page and
that'll be like just to follow up with everything.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
So people inspiration that have the back surgery for sure.

Speaker 6 (33:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. Well hey listen, man, we're we're
we're happy to hear your voice. Looking forward to seeing
you out there in the practice field. And again, I
you know, all the best to you and your family.
Man appreciate you.

Speaker 5 (33:29):
I really appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Thank you, PJ lock.

Speaker 6 (33:37):
N iHeartRadio app Make sure you subscribe to the podcast
that we never missed an episode of the show, including
interviews like that with PJ lock Dave.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
I'm a man.

Speaker 6 (33:45):
Oftentimes we talk a lot of x's and o's and
about on field stuff and you know, the mental side
of it. I was really struck certainly by that part
we was talking about, you know, being around as kids
and being able to play with them post football, but
then also just what he was going through during the
season when it's supposed to be his breakout year.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Like that right there really resonated for me.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
You could hear.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Just in the way he described it and sort of
how he said what he said, the pressure that he
put on himself to try to get back as quickly
as possible because it's a it's a big year and
the league, and we talked about this before the league.
The league doesn't wait for anybody, and the train continues

(34:30):
to roll and you're either on it and part of it,
or you're not on it and you're not part of it.
And you know, the three Corter zone shots. It just
I mean, if people, I mean players choose to be
part of that, and so you you understand some of
the risks involved when you get in just just the

(34:53):
way it is, you're gonna you know, everybody says one
hundred percent injury rate. That's absolutely true, and so people,
you know, I don't think players are asking for sympathy,
but I think it's interesting just to hear somebody doing
everything they can, including taking three separate cortzone injections, trying

(35:15):
to heal up as fas as you can so you
can go back out and basically run into park cars again.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
Well yeah, and most of us can't even imagine doing
that with a healthy body and a lot of these
guys have injuries all the time. They're in pain, and
it's like you said, Dave, people are going to go oh,
you know, for them, they're making a whole bunch of money,
but they're people too, and they don't get to make
that for a very long time.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
And a lot of them don't make a lot of money.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
They're making it to every week, grabbing a paycheck and
trying to support their family and staying as long as
they possibly can.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
I think the key thing is just, you know, it's
I think, really cool to hear from a player. I mean,
PG one drafted, came in, you know, found ways to
make teams and here he is, as he said of
the breakout season last year, finally a starter and his back.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Goes bad and what are you willing to do? You know,
what do you want?

Speaker 3 (36:07):
I mean he even said when they said you gotta
have surgery, He's like, hell no, right because I can't
be out a year.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
That's that's just the mindset of how NFL.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Players think and the majority of guys think.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
And again we accept it going in, but that's just
how players think, and that's a realistic view. Hey man,
if you're not out there, and you're not out there
like you used to be. Somebody else is going to
be out there

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Forgotten, just the way the league works.