October 13, 2025 • 56 mins
Solomon Thomas joins Brad Sham and Nicole Hutchison on the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour presented by Albertsons and Tom Thumb on 105.3 The Fan.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Cowboys Hour, our regular stop in Frisco at the
Star District is a sidecar social. We're thrilled to be here,
and we're and I mean that, we're thrilled to be here. Absolutely,
there's nowhere else. That is what Harbaugh's dad say, Where
else would you rather be? This is just a great
opportunity tonight to enjoy some fine food and beverage seventy
(00:25):
five screens with no matter which direction you turn, there
will be two football games and baseball playoffs going on tonight.
Where else would you rather be? Besides, We've got Cowboys
defensive tackle Solomon Thomas with us. So thank you, thank
you for coming.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Appreciate you, apprecid you, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I am I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do this
right at the beginning. If you don't know Solomon Thomas's story,
We're gonna talk about football. We're gonna talk about a
lot of things. I'm not gonna get overly melodramatic, I promise,
but Solomon Thomas is and I choose my words carefully
(01:07):
because that's how I make my living. Solomon Thomas is
one of the great human beings that's played this game
and the reason I say that is what he's done
and is doing with his life is going to impact
people in a positive way way above what football can do.
And well, if you don't know why I'm saying that,
then we're gonna let you take a peek behind the
(01:30):
curtain before we're done. So I'm honored to have you here.
Thanks very much. We always welcome all of you who
have come to join us at Sidecar Social. Thank you
very much, regulars and first timers, and delighted to have
those of you who are joining us on the Dallas
Cowboys Radio Network and those of you who are streaming
(01:53):
wherever and whenever on Dallascowboys dot Com. But I have
a question. I don't think Ivan is If Ivan is
our producer engineer and he keeps us going, I don't
think you're in charge of these cameras, are you. Paul's
in charge of the camp. So let me just ask
you this. There's one camera there that is pointed kind
(02:16):
of almost like a two shot on Nicole and Sally,
and there's one that would be kind of a three
shot over here, and then the one in the middle
seems to be shooting up at the ceiling. Is that
on purpose, Paul, is that it's going. It's getting the crowd.
It's turned around and getting the crowd. There we go.
That's why you ask questions to get educated and learn things.
(02:37):
Thank you, Paul.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They're trying to get creative today.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You know, I just I looked up and I said,
what the hell is that shooting? I don't understand that?
But okay, now I do. Now I understand it. So
for the for Solomon's benefit and those of you who
have not necessarily been with us before, when we celebrate
victory Monday, we celebrate it as big as we can.
And when it's not victory Monday, we acknowledge that there
(03:03):
was a game played, and we'll talk a little bit
about that, and let's then let that have happened and
move forward. How about that? Because I was thinking about
this today. I think it was church Hill who said,
when you're going through hell, keep going, right? Is there
any other way to get out of a funk, a
(03:25):
kind of a team slump?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, you just gotta like you said, Churchill said, just
keep going. So you just got gotta keep going. Get
back to work, you know, be very in tune with
your technique. What the coaches are saying, make sure everyone's
on the same page. But it's not lose faith, not
waiver on our goal. Our goal doesn't change our processes
and change you know, we show up and just get
back to work, you know, touting on and all that.
(03:47):
You know, get back in your routine, understand what the
goal is here and how to fix your things, fix
the things that we're missing, you know, getting our corrections
and just you know, believe in who we are and
know who we are and we know our identity. But
we have to, you know, get back to playing that
way and you know, get grind through the hard times
and you know the light will come.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
What's your I'm sorry, no, please?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
How do you personally reset with losses like this?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know, uh, last last night, I mean two, a
couple of nights ago, and whoever, whatever it was, was
a tough one, you know, going on the way trip
trying to get a two win streak and losing is tough.
So you know, and and in the sport, we sacrifice
so much, we time away from our families, We put
them through so much, we put our bodies through so much,
so much discipline, dedication to this game, so any loss
(04:34):
is just really hard to deal with. So after any
loss in my in my career, I'm a little down.
So I'm down and I need to get back up.
And so for me, like last night, you know, we're
just spending the night with my fiance. You know, came
home to chili and homemade corn bread, so you know
that kind of boosted my mood up a lot. So
and then then from there just going on in the film,
seeing seeing the game for what it was, no emotion,
(04:54):
no bias, you know where my technique was wrong, where
it was right, the good things that came out of
the game, the bad things that came out of the game,
and how to fix them, how to get better from them.
And then you know, to you know, the big thing
for me to take emotions out because if you're if
you let a game on Sunday make you emotional throughout
the whole week, the next Sunday you're going to be off.
So I need to make sure that hey, I accept
(05:15):
what happens, flush it, let it go, and be intentionaled
the whole week to get better on the things that
I didn't think I did well, to make sure that
I have a great game the next week.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You guys have good players, and some of the things
that were happening yesterday, it happened maybe some of the
second half of the Jets game. That's not who you are.
Matt Abram Fluss has been a really good coach in
this league for a long time. He doesn't He did
not get dumb overnight. So clearly there are some things
that are broken. How hard is it to keep that
(05:45):
stuff in perspective when you're trying to get out of
the ditch and back on the smooth highway.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, I think the the I mean, the really important
thing is to understand, Hey, like we've put out. We've
put some games, like the first three games of the
season it was like three point three point one yard
to carry, two point nine, three point two whatever it was,
and so we put it on tape that we're going
to stop the run. And then the last couple of
games it hasn't been where we're at. So okay, listen,
we've done it before. We didn't do the last couple
(06:13):
of weeks. So we know what we need to do
to get back on track. And it all starts in
your preparation and practice, being intentional, understand the whole scheme
of what we're trying to do and just keep moving
forward with that. I think that's always always the biggest
thing is being intentional in your preparation. In practice, I'm
making sure every one's in the same page, whether it's
players having extra meetings, guys being over communicating during practice
(06:36):
like that, those are the things we have to do
together on the same page, because right now we're just
you know, we're having a play where guys are perfect
and there's a slip up or you know, and this
the good thing about the things are happening. Everything is fixable.
It's not not this skill is lacking or the talent's lacking.
It's we're messing up. We're we're beating ourselves right now,
and so everything that we're doing is fixable and we
(06:57):
know we can do it. We just got to, you know,
get to work and get it done.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
What's been the message from you and guys like Kenny
Clark Beause post game? The thing he said as well
was we just got to get back to work, like
that's the only thing that I know how to do.
So what's been the message for some of those young
guys who necessarily haven't been in this position before.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, and we're so lucky to have a guy like Kenny,
I mean, the player, he is, a leader, he is
I mean, he's someone who you know, I've watched his
career over a whole time in the NFL and just
been admired his game and him as a person, as
a leader, and to have him in the room has
been such a blessing. So I mean today, he even
talked to the guys today about holding guys accountable, Like, hey,
this is our job. Like we played football, this is
(07:33):
what we work for. We sacrifice. So if someone comes
up up to you and tells you, hey, you're messing up,
like getting the B gap or hey you're messing up,
you know, get your coverage right, like you know, there's
no sensitivity there, Like you know, you have to hold
guys accountable. This is our job and we have to
do it to the best of our ability. And we
want to win. And we know we're a great team
and we're not putting great film out there right now.
So that's a frustrating part. It's like, you know, if
(07:56):
we knew that we weren't good and we had a
game like that, you know, be easier to sit back
and be like, Okay, you know they beat us, But
when we're going out there and teams are beating us
that were no that we know we're better than them,
we're not playing to our level. That's when it gets frustrating.
It's like, okay, hey, we have to hold guys accountable.
We have to get back to work, be intentional, grind
through the hard times, and keep believing and be confident
(08:18):
in what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Speaking of Kenny, when he was acquired from Green Bay,
like a day or two later, I was waiting in
the area the media waits for the locker room to
open as these guys are coming off the practice field,
knowing that Solomon and Kenny both been in the league
for a while, and Sally was coming in. I said,
did you know Kenny before? And you said yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So Kenny hosted me at my official visit to UCLA
when he was I think a freshman there.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So he must have done a terrible job, because you understand.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Kenny did a great job. I mean, we had a
good time. He showed me you're on campus. He's always
been a really, really nice and fun dude. So Stanford
was just about choice for me. But no, no harm
in UCLA. I love all my Bruins, jay Osa, Kenya
are all great guys.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
But you, I mean you, you never played with him before,
you'd never been teammates, because you got a lot of
You've got a lot of personality traits in common. It
seems to me. Is that a fair assessment?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, I'd say so.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, Yeah, all right, I'm terribly distracted before I go on.
I have absolutely become besotted with this garment that Solomon
is wearing. This is for those of you on listening
on the radio. This appears to be a pullover white
(09:38):
pin striped and it looks like the navy hoodie with
the long sleeves that's sewn in that's part of the garment,
and so there it says it's a pin stripe like
a Yankees baseball jersey, except it says Cowboys the upper
left chest. There's a big D on the right shoulder.
What's on the left shoulder? Anything? The star Star? Where
(10:00):
did you get that? And how do I get mine?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
So?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I just got at the Pro Shop.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I mean is it a pro shop?
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
The Pro Shop, I know where I'm going for. Yeah,
they got some great stuff from there.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, that is seriously sick. I really love that. I
love that thing. All right, One more quick thing to
delve into the just a little bit into the past,
to give you a window of why this. In addition
to having played in the NFL for nine years, Solomon
sounds like he's able to put this in perspective. You
(10:31):
may or may not know that Solomon was the third
picking the draft coming out of Stanford by the San
Francisco forty nine ers. And I'd forgotten if if what
I read was correct, that your rookie year the forty
nine ers went oh to fourteen before you won a game.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We did, We did it. It was a long, long fourteen.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Months, all right. I hold that thought. I hate asking
you to hold that thought, but hold that thought for
just a minute, because that's got to be instructive when
it happens to a young player who's a customer to excellence.
That's got to help formulate how you handle football adversity
going forward. Solomon Thomas is our guest on the Miller
like Cowboys Hour this evening, and Nicole who else brings
(11:14):
us the Miller like Cowboys Hour?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Albertson's When it comes time to shop for tailgate favorites
go to Tom Thumb and Albertsons. Get ten off your
groceries every Dallas Cowboys game day when you wear your
Cowboys jersey. Tom Thumb and Albertson's, the official supermarket and
pharmacy of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We'll be right back on the Cowboys Hour, Tom.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Cowboys, Don't CAAs, Don't come Boss.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson's.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
We're a sidecar Social in the Star District. Welcome back,
Thank you for joining us, Brad Sham, Nicole Hutchinson, and
our very special guest, Cowboys defensive tackle Solomon Thomas. I'm
getting over Nicole making fun of me during the break.
You locked me, You locked me. I ass because we're
(14:59):
here sidecar Social, which is the I told you it's
a great place to watch multiple sporting events. So there's
a semi final, basically baseball game being played. It's the
American League Championship Series and I Seattle in Toronto, and
I was remarking to Nicole, how about Seattle. They played
fifteen innings Friday night. Their reward was to get on
(15:22):
a plane and go to Toronto. That's like a seven
hour flight and then they come out and win last night,
and now they're winning seven to three in the sixth
inning or whatever it is. I said, how about that?
And Nicole looked at me like I had just recommended
that she like drink sour milk. And she said, you
(15:44):
you really are a baseball fan.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
You are?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And I always and I said, and you're really not,
are you? Are you a baseball fan at all?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I mean, it's fun to go to games. I can't
say I watch it. I mean I definitely admire the
discipline and everything the guys do. It's extremely but I
can't lie and say I'm the biggest baseball fan. But
I do enjoy going to game.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, it's so I lived in Nobody cares about
this but me. I lived in Copell when Solomon Thomas
was playing at Coppel High School. And part of you
may have plot Copel High School if you wish, but
part of I think part of the attraction of you
signing here was that this was the team you watched
(16:28):
growing up. And that I mean, had you thought when
you were in high school? Did you think about playing
for the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I mean, it was always a dream just to play
in the NFL in general. You know, it's like, you know,
football was so big in Texas growing up, and it
was big in my hometown. So when I was when
I said out my mission to like, you know, be
the best, I wanted to, like, you know, be the
best in every level that I played in. So I
definitely wanted to make it to the NFL someday and
you know, have a dream of playing there. And you know,
(16:54):
if I could had the chance of playing for my
hometown team, you know, I thought it would be like
a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I'm going to get you back to that rookie year,
but I want to soften the blow because it was
not a fun rookie year. So Solomon was born in Chicago.
Me too, by the way, another thing nobody cares about
but me. Uh. And then you you were a little
boy when your family moved to Australia, Yes, sir, And
what do you moved when you were seven? When you
(17:18):
moved away from Australia something like that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it was actually on my i think my eighth
birthday we moved.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And happy birthday. We're going for a very long ride. Yeah,
what are your memories of living in Australia.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I just remember it was like very really happy time
shre with my family, Like you know, everything was pretty
free and fresh, like it's like very peaceful, you know,
going to the beach all the time.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
School was very you know, I did they called it
year one there, so I did pre school a year
one there, and you know, really just enjoyed like kind
of being in the atmosphere, like a different environment. You know.
I just thought it was like a really integral for
me and my sister, like growing up to like broaden
our perspective in our world view, just to be a
different country, you know, how you know they do things
(18:03):
there is different and how the people are as different.
So it's just like I thought, it was like verly
really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I think I did watch one of your interviews when
you're with the Jets, and you talked about how living
there kind of change your perspective on living in a
different country. How did it change your perspective and what
ways did you kind of learn that they did things
there then it's kind of a little different here, well,
I think, you.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Know, especially I moved around a lot growing up, like
you know, Chicago, Australia to Connecticut to Texas. So especially
going to a different country, you just learned that, like
there's different people everywhere, different like beliefs, different world views,
different ways people find to like make community or like
run government or you know, run schools or like use
(18:42):
a different metric system, whatever it is. Like there's so
many different ways to do something. So like for me,
just like made me realize, hey, there's so many different
people out there. Like to not judge someone for being
like in one way or having a certain belief because
maybe they've just been in this place or whole life.
Like well for me, I've been able to move around
see from states, countries, and it just helped me realize, like, hey,
(19:06):
there's like so much world out there. There's so many
more things to care about then you know, then one
state might might may admire this, one state country may
admire this. But like so just moving around has had
me realize that there's more out there, more more beliefs.
Just helped me to be curious and to want to
learn more, put judgment away, just like accept people for
(19:28):
who they are.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Was there a tradition that you and your family kind
of did there that you try to bring.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Here and do.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I was young, so like tradition wise, I can't remember too.
I mean, I just remember, like going to the beach.
I remember some of the foods we used to eat,
or you My dad still spells mom m u m
because he just loved how they spelled spelled it over there,
you know, just the things like that. But uh not,
not too many traditions I truly remember. On originally he's
(19:57):
actually from Zanesville, Ohio, Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Solomon Thomas our guest this evening on the middle of
like Cowboys hours. So let's I want to return to
your family, but I want to get I want to
get back to your rookie year so we can put
it behind us what you thought you had done a
long time ago. So here's the third pick in the draft.
Now right, he's the third pick in the draft. Good, well,
let's go to the NFL. We're gonna go to the
(20:22):
San Francisco forty nine ers, and you lost fourteen games.
I had really forgotten that. What was that light?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It was? It was really hard, you know, you know,
coming from I've won a lot of my career coming
up to that point. You know, I think I lost
more games my rookie year than I had lost in
my whole like high school and college career coming by. Yeah,
so it was it was different for me. And also
being in the NFL. Now you're in the business of
the NFL, where you know you lose. The building is tense,
(20:55):
you know. People make it fired, may lose their their
way to provide for the family. People make it cut traded.
It's not like high score college where you know your
coach yels at you. It's way bigger repercussion. So it's
like it was a huge culture shock in the way
that I viewed football, because football to me was always
like this fun loving game and something you worked really
hard for and then it became like this business. So
(21:18):
that transition for me was really hard. And then losing
was really hard, you know, And so it was lots
of lots of come over. But it taught me a
lot because my first like my first two years, I
think we lost twenty plus games at the Niners. Then
my third year we went we go to the Super
Bowl and we lost, But like it was just it
really taught me to buy into the process of what
(21:38):
Kyle and John were building there, getting the right people
in the building, you know, getting the right coaches in
the building, and then from there, once we have all
the all the things that click, you know, we'll be
good to go. So that was like the big thing
that I learned is like really buying into the process,
believing in what works in leadership and getting the right
people around. And so it taught me a lot. Even
though it was a lot of a lot of hard loss,
(22:00):
I definitely learned a lot from it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know, you're describing a little bit of what obviously
happened here in the late eighties and early nineties. But
what was more mind bending in retrospect losing your first
fourteen games as a pro or being in the super
Bowl two years later?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I would say being in the super Bowl, because like,
you know, we just like we had two bad seasons
in a row, and we kept making transactions and free agency,
kept like you know, kept like the same coaches, made
a couple of changes here and there, and it's like
really just kept preaching buying the process. And we won
the first game of the season, We're like, Okay, this
(22:40):
feels good. And then we went on the run win streak.
We're like not and oh and so that's all it take.
It just tastes having the right people in the building
and everyone buying in the process no matter what happens.
And so that, you know, going from you know, I
think we're like two and fourteen to like what four
and twelve and then to you know, on to the
super Bowl was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
What did those two rough seasons teach you about yourself
that you didn't necessarily know that when you look back
now you appreciate.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, I mean I learned a lot my first first season,
two seasons and seasons in the league. It was hard
for me, you know. I I came you know, I
was playing majority D tackle through technique at Stanford, came
out to the Niners, was playing a lot of edge
and so I was having to learn how to you know,
adjust my talents and techniques to play out there. And
(23:30):
so I was really struggling with that. So that was
something that you know, I've learned from a lot in
my career. And then just like really just like how
to handle losses, how to when everything seems like it's
going down, like just to keep going and to keep
buying in the process and what that actually looks like
and it's not just like you know, you're telling yourself
keep going, but it's hey, like, Okay, it's Monday. After
(23:50):
five losses in a row. Are you going to get
up and do the same routine? Are you gonna cold tub?
Are you going to get in the hot tub? Are
you gonna sauna? Are you gonna like still go over
your plays? Are you gonna still show up and be
the same person locker room every day, whether it's a
win or loss. And so that's what I learned the NFL, Like,
being a leader is not you know, being a great
player on the field. You have a lot of great
players in the field who aren't great leaders, but you
(24:10):
have guy The great leaders, to me are the ones
who come in win or loss, no matter how their
body feels. I'm the same person every single day in
the locker room, and you know they're doing the same routine,
same workouts, same recovery, same mental study, and still holding
the same standard for their teammates.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I alluded to this before, but this is a good transition.
I think to remind people that you have you have
devoted a lot of emotion and personal investment for the
cause of mental health, and one of the reasons is
(24:45):
you've been public about the fact that you struggled with
depression a little bit. When you go from third picking
the draft to what, we can't win anything, and where
do I fit in? And what is that? When you
I had a started feeling like mental health was something
that you were gonna have to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, I mean there was a lot of things that
kind of led to that. You know, I lost my
sister's suicide thatth and eighteen, right after my rookie year.
And then you'll come from college, you know, winning, come
to the league, you know you're losing, You're not playing
the position that you think you're invest at, and you know,
knowing nothing about mental health growing up, like you know,
in the locker room, everything's like be tough, be strong,
(25:27):
and be a man. And then you know your sister
dies and you're now also struggling at the same time
trying to find your own way in this new life
and new lifestyle that you've didn't know that you were
going to be thrown into. And now I'm like, mental
health is like surrounding my life and I don't know
how to you know, approach it, and so it was
it took me a lot of like sad nights, hard nights,
(25:48):
depressed nights, like to get to a place where, you know,
you find out what mental health is and you go
get help and you go to therapy and you learn
how to you know, accept your emotions. You know, you
learn how to feel them, you learn you learn how
to like that there's ways to get better and like
from that, you know, just learning how mental health and
physical health are the same thing. And so that was
like a big thing for me. Like, hey, like if
(26:09):
I hurt my ankle, I'm gonna rehab it, and like
the same thing with my brain. Like, so you know,
that was a big thing for me because I was struggling,
but I wasn't attending to my brain. And then when
I tend into my brain somehow in the middle of
the season, I would start playing better, I would start
feeling better. And you know that's when I learned that, hey,
it's all connected, and like, you know, therapy is just
as important of for me as do my film study.
(26:29):
You know, So that really was a huge thing for
me my first year.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, just so you know, I asked these questions from
the perspective of someone who has been in therapy on
and off for more than twenty years, and I don't
know if i'd be I don't know if i'd be
functional with without it. So it's I wish we Like
I'm making this list, the older I get of things
I wish I'd been told when I was younger. So
here's number five, and that is I wish I wish,
(26:56):
as you're saying, you got into a locker room and
found out that was not okay to say, I'm really
kind of struggling, Yeah, it is, and I wish we'd
been told that when we were all younger. Okay, So
we're going to take our next break, and then we're
going to figure out how you go, how you handle
(27:18):
against all that backdrop, going from the Niners to the
Raiders to the Jets, with a major injury being thrown
in in there, and it's all fascinating to me, and
it helps make you who you are today. Sitting here
in that dad gum sweatshirt that I have. Don't know
(27:38):
if I can wait until tomorrow to go get at
the Cowboys pro shot Nicole. Who else must we thank
for the opportunity to be here?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
That's what I'm here for, Luke Casey, I'm just kidding.
Stand tall all your tailgating or cheering in the stands
with the Dallas Cowboys Collection by Luke Casey. Shot the
collection today at Luke Casey's six DFW locations are online
at lucasey dot com. Lu Casey the official boot of
the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
We're with Solomon Thomas of the Cowboys on the Miller
Line Cowboys Hour at Sidecar Social at the Star District
and Frisco. We'll be right back. I'll tick three, oh.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Cowboys, No cowboys, don't cowboys.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
As to the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour supported by Albertsons.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We're at Sidecar Social in the Star District. Thank you
very much for being with us wherever and whoever you are.
I'm Brad Sham with Nicole Hutchinson, Solomon Thomas, the Cowboys
defensive tackle, our very special guests. Please give him all
of that and more so. This whole process of adjustment
(31:45):
professional adjustment fascinates me because there was so much adversity early.
As you've just outlined. Clearly, you didn't stop loving playing football,
because here you still are and still playing a high level.
But not only so you got to the Super Bowl
with the forty nine ers, and then they decided not
(32:07):
to use the fifth year option on you, so you
wind up going to the Raiders. And by the way,
what year was it that you tore up your knee?
Your third year?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That was my fourth year, so it was a year
they didn't sign my fifth year option. So I went
back to play my fourth year basically as a contract year.
You had a great camp, everything, come out to the
second game and tear my well, my entirety. Yeah, and
then that following year, after the next offseason time with
the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
The timing sally right there for that. So, but did
discouragement I'm just talking about professional what you envisioned your
career would be, not just as a kid in high school,
but the third pick in the draft, and now it's
(32:55):
not kind of it's not terrible, but it's not great
according to what maybe you were an imagining. How did
you handle discouragement and turn it into positivity?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, I mean that was something I really struggled with
my first couple of years in the league, you know,
going through my own off the field like depression and
then like my own like expectations of what I envisioned
this all to be so it was all like expectations, discouragement,
doubt was something that I really struggled with. And then
you know, after like in therapy, understanding like you know
(33:26):
a lot of work where all these are coming from,
like from fear, from like you know, failure, all these
things into really looking at it, like what's the worst
thing that can happen? Like I'm out here living my dream,
playing football, playing it past longer than I ever was
supposed to play, and paying it, playing it past high school,
past college. I'm getting paid to do something that I love,
so like to really like break it down, like to
(33:47):
eliminate all outside noise, to like, you know, all the
people tweeting at me, you know, all the mean things
all like the social media. Hey, I got for years
to tune all that out and to understand like what,
like the only thing that matters is as long as
I'm it to continue to play and continue to play
the way that I know how to play it. And
so once I got back to that in my mindset,
I was like, you know, I love this game. Like
(34:08):
I took the business side out of it. I found
a way to compartmentalize it and make football football, and
once I was able to do that, like I was
able to like to just go full out, no shame,
no anything, to go go hard for my job, go
hard for what I love, and you know, go hard
for what I believe in myself.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Aside from therapy, who else kind of did you lean
on during that time to kind of get you through
that discouragement?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Definitely my parents. You know, my parents have been you know,
by my side my whole career. You know, they don't
they really don't miss too many games, and but they're
just people that can be like very transparent with you know,
and so like throughout that time, like they're always lifting
me up. You know. Then, like we said, we talked
about therapy. But then just like I have a group
of like close friends from home from Coppell, like who
you know would always be encouraging me, like, hey, like
(34:50):
just remember who you are, like sending me my high
school highlights, sending me my college highlights, like don't forget
who you are at any time in the process. And
then always even though like she wasn't hearing my sister,
I was totally on her old notes, from her old
text messages, from her things of her telling me like
what she believes of me and who she thinks I am.
Always just kept me going during that time in my
first couple of years in the league.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
What's your favorite message that you looked back to that
your sister left you.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I actually have a new one about. I think it
was the Packers game. You know, my fiance she dresses
me and gets me right before games, and she chose
a pair of boots that I had in storage in
Vegas for a whole bunch of years. I hadn't worn
since I was in college. And I go in there
and I pull out a note and it was just
my sister telling me, brought a note to my parents
(35:36):
to tell me something, and it was her telling me, like,
always remember how important it is to be a great
teammate and to go out there and excuse my language,
to kick ass and take names and so like.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Like a physical.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, in the boots that my parents must have put
in there during the moving process, but I had never
seen it before, and it was it was it was Yeah,
it was emotional, sweet, uplifting, uplifting for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I don't want to dwell too much on this, but
it is a part of your story and you have
been brave to share it with with everyone. Things like
losing a child or losing a close loved one who
took their own life. Those must be the most devastating
personal things that can happen to a person. You were
(36:27):
so young still when that happened, with where you were
in your own mental health journey at the time, how
did you even begin to process that?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
And I think that was the hardest thing for me
is I would I would block it off as much
as I could. There was a lot of feelings and
emotions I had never felt before, you know, depression, grief,
a lot of anger, a little bit yeah, like mad
at myself, mada her, the survivor's guilt. All that is
extremely real. So just dealing with a lot of that
was so I didn't know how to address it so
(36:59):
off because push it down and try to act like
I was fine on the outside. I was like, you know,
I feel like, you know, I can't come out here
and tell people I'm depressed or tell people I'm sad
because they expect me to go perform, and you know,
and I was like, where I was in my career,
anything I said was going to be an excuse for
my performance. So you know, I just would do that
all the time, and then you know, it just would
fester and turn into you know, just my whole world
(37:22):
turning dark. And then from there, you know, I realized
I was in a really bad place. I need to
get help.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
How'd you find the courage to finally get help?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Well, and that's the thing, it wasn't even just me.
I can't take all the credit for it. You know,
my mom was pushing me to get help, and I
would tell her no, like I'm fine, I don't have
time for it. But my general manager, John Lynch to me,
came to me at the time and he told me, hey, Sally,
like we got you if you need help, like you know,
we we can, we can help you out. And for me,
that took all like the weight off my shoulders and
like having to be this strong man and act like everything.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Was okay because he's a tough guy.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
He is, yeah, and he is and and so just
like for him to come tell me that like gave
me all the permission in the world that I needed
to go get help. But so like now, but that's
the thing that I try to go tell when I
talk to people, I try to give them that permission, like, hey,
help is the strongest sign of courage you could get,
you give yourself. I try to tell them that, like,
you know, just go get help, Like you know, there's
so many people out here who want you here and
(38:14):
who love you. Because I wasn't even able to do
that myself, I leaned on other people to help me.
And the thing is that's another thing you can't do
it by yourself. So that's why help is there for you.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You know what it strikes me is I'm listening to
you say that many of us who have long careers
professional athletes, you know, people in the arts and especially
with public lives, it can be easy for that profession
to become your identity, to become who you are. And
(38:47):
it sounds like this whole process has, in an interesting way,
kept you from seeing yourself as football defining who you are.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yeah, no, it's say so. And it's something that I
definitely struggled with, Like early in my career, I was
like I would struggle with like being able to identify
who I was because I was putting everything in all
of me into football and trying to figure it out,
like what's going wrong. Why am I not playing well?
You know? Why am I playing out here? Why are
we losing all this? And so I had to find
to find happiness in my life. I had to find
(39:20):
happiness outside of football. And that was first with getting
right with myself, addressing the things I was going through,
how to handle them, and then just pass that. You know,
understand that there's a bigger picture out here. And just
to say there's a bigger picture I hear does not
mean I don't give my all to my job. Like
I'm fully dedicated and disciplined in my job. But I
understand when I pour in other areas of my life,
(39:40):
I'm a better football player because I'm investing in myself.
When I'm investing in my identity. So when I work
with my foundation, or when I do charity work, or
when I spend time with my fiance, time with my friends,
when I you know, do legos at home or bake
bread things like that, that is really pouring into me
as a person. And when I am full, I'm going
to be a better football player. But if I it's
like pouring to myself as a football player, and I failed,
(40:02):
and my whole world, my whole world ends, and I'm like,
where do I pick it up at? But when I
understand this more to my life and this football, I
can pick I can understand after a loss, hey, I
can get back on track and get I can get
back to my routine. I can go be my best
self like except the loss and move forward. So you know,
these are all things I've learned throughout the early years
of my career.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
And finally the square this circle and we'll move on.
This is not why you're here, but what better a
place for you to come to that with someone like
Dak who has done so many of these things and
is like you brave to be out front with it.
I mean you you two are like a two man
(40:43):
justice league for this cause it seems today.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, No, Dak's been amazing, and you know, our foundations
were closer together. Dak and I have done a lot
of public service announcements for nine to eight, the Mental
Health Crisis Line, We've done a lot of help with
a FSP, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, But just
in general, like I just have a lot of respect
for the man, like he has gone through some you know,
(41:05):
tragedies in's life that you never want anyone to go
through and he has done nothing but you know, make
great change for it, get back to causes, been a
great human being, Watson Payton Man of the Year, and
then on top of that is a great leader, great
football player. So it's like, you know, what, what else
can a guy like that do to you know, just
prove how great he is?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
And is it also correct that you have been mistaken
for him?
Speaker 5 (41:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Out in public, people see you out and they say, hey, Dak. Yeah,
how often does that happen?
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I mean, if we're out in public, it happens about
every day. Like it's even when I'm worth a team,
like and people are walking by for autographs, they they'll
assume I'm Dak. But it's happened since I got in
the league, so like ever since. I'll come home training
in the off season, training Dallas an offseason, and I'll
be out with my friends. If people like Dak, Dak, Dak,
You're like even NFL events people think I'm Dak. It's
(41:54):
It's yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Has anyone ever mistaken Dak for Solid Scott? Where's Scott A. Golling?
We're gonna get the answer to that question. Has anyone
ever mistaken Dak Prescott for Solomon Thomas. It seems only fair. Well,
we're gonna Wednesday. I'll try to get the answer to
that question. Solomon Thomas is are you see what I
(42:15):
meant at the beginning? But this guy, in my faith,
we call this man a mensch. We will be back
with more with Solomon Thomas and your questions, and Nicole
has some surprises for you. Think about that when we
come back on the Cowboys Hour.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Hey Cowboys men, Oh cowboys, No cowboys, No Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (45:34):
To the millerte Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson's.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
And welcome back to Sidecars Social in the Star District
in Fresco. Brands Dam and Nicole Hutchinson and the great
Solomon Thomas. We're so happy to have all of you here,
very happy to have you here. Are you? Obviously you're
still having fun playing right?
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah? I love the game. It's the sport. This job,
it takes too much of your life. It's too hard,
too much routine, too much discipline, too much dedication, like
persistency to like, if you don't love it, you can't
do this job the right way. And so like, I
fully love it. I'm fully into it and I'm giving
you it all I can.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
What's the best thing about it for you?
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I mean, to me, the best thing about it is
you know, coming in like for me. So this is
why I've always on the game. It's a group of
guys like and in the NFL, it's even more so
because I'm new to the team getting to know like
new guys, new personalities. But at the end of the day,
we're also different in our ways, our world views, our
beliefs in life. We all come together to like one
common goal and that's still win the super Bowl. And
(46:35):
so like all the sacrifice you make, like I actually
believe if our society and our world acted more like
a football team, we live in a healthier society and
more peaceful and loving society. And so that's what I
love about football. To me, that's always been the greatest
thing to me.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Let's take some questions from the audience. You may start sir.
Speaker 7 (46:53):
Good evening, Solomon.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
My name's Rambo, Rambo. What's going on?
Speaker 7 (46:59):
So mental health is very very important.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
What is your go to.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
Therapy that lets you unwind and just kind of makes
you feel good about just waking up every day? In
my case, my high in life is cooking for a
large amount of people, seeing the smiles on their face. Yeah,
that just gives me a lot of excitement and happiness.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
What's your go to? And by the way, don't think
that we didn't hear the baking bread. Don't think No,
that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
I love that you do that, and that's like that's
really sweet and sentimental. But I would say, like, for me,
it really is just being with the people I love.
So for me, like coming home for a long day,
sitting on the couch of my fiance just talking.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
She's here, Yes, she is here, Yes, thanks for coming,
thank you for coving.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
And so it's just like just being with her, like
it's like it's my piece. That's that's that's where I
kind of uh like refresh, like recoup myself, get to
the back of the present moment and like am healing.
So but yeah, you meditate, I do. Yeah, I do
some meditation.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well how old were you when you started meditating?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
My I would say my third year in the league,
I started using headspace. And I used to use headspace
like every day, I'm not I'm not my sorry. So
headspace is a guide of meditation app and I used
to use it every day and I haven't. My membership
ran out and I haven't been using it the last year.
(48:31):
But with my sports psychologists that I that I work with,
she sends me meditations to do on game day. So
I'll do a meditation first thing I do when I
wake up on game day, just to get grounded and present,
be my best self, be centered.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
When you started meditating, did you find your mind going
all over everywhere?
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Definitely? And I felt like I was failing at meditation.
But then when I realized that just trying to meditate
is meditating, it made me get in the flow of
it better and then like stop judging myself for like
it's this wrong. Yeah, yeah, so that's that took a while.
But like once you understand the meditation, that the skill
of meditation is to come back from the present moment
(49:11):
like a distraction, just letting you know, hey, come back
to the present moment and forgive yourself, give yourself grace
and get back from the flow.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
I don't, I don't, how No, you're fine. How long
do your meditations kind of last?
Speaker 2 (49:23):
No, I'm only like a ten minute meditation person. There
was one year at the Raiders. I was working with
this my last sports psychologist, and he hooked me up
with the single point meditation person and so we would
do an hour alarm meditation where you stare at a
single point while he like guides you through feelings in
your body. It was I was It was hard, but
I really like the feeling from it. But I just
(49:45):
don't have time for my game.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Day, you know. You know it was a huge advocate
of meditation. Is ache. Okay, if you're gonna have two
Monday night games, you'll run into him a couple of times.
You have a conversation with him. He's now he liked
with everything he does. He gets a little obsessive sometimes,
but he's done things I could never dream of doing
(50:06):
in the in the meditative arts. But yeah, you'd be interested.
Let's take another question. Hell Little Solomon Larry from McKinney
Slash originally from Olpasa, Texas.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
First off, congratulations were being selected at MVP of the
twenty sixteen Sun Bowl.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
While you were there, did you try the local famous
Chico Stocks? If not, what was your favorite dish there?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
I do not remember trying the famous tacos, but when
I whenever I go back, I'll try them. But I
would say my favorite time there. They took us out
to a ranch and they gave us. They gave us
all boots from Luke Casey and all this stuff, and
so it was we were out there eating steaks, dancing
as a team, and it was like my last time
in college with my teammates. So that was always like
(50:49):
a sacred moment for me. The Sumbow was absolutely amazing.
The way the community in town comes around it was
really cool.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
You did hear him saying, Lucy, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 3 (50:59):
You, Ivan, go ahead and hit our little special for
him because I did some digging right and I used
to do musical theaters. I saw your debut and Broadway,
so I wanted everybody else to see them.
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Some of the pictures that I found.
Speaker 3 (51:15):
You made your debut in MJ the Musical, So talk
about that.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (51:20):
That was this off season?
Speaker 1 (51:22):
I know it was in June. I'm a huge theater.
I would have waited and gone instead of going in they.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Yeah, So, I mean so I've always loved theater growing up.
When my parents put me and my sister and namil
Mary Connecticut from there, when we moved to Texas, I
just like grabbed onto it and loved it, you know,
the theater and Coppell. And then my freshman year I
actually had a chooser between doing select theater and football
because there are schedules collide. That chose football, obviously, but
I never lost a love for theater. Just like the
(51:50):
way through out there telling a story that you know
is not real, but they make the emotions of and
the feeling of the off feel real. I just thought
was always so cool. I was never too talented enough
to do it professionally, but I always admired it.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
How do you know, had you tried?
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Not really, I mean they just threw me in there
just for for fun. But it was uh. But when
I went back to New York, I wanted to reconnect
with that, and so I started going to shows again.
And then my second year there, Hard Knocks came out
and I took the team to Hard Knocks, and I
remember then I watched that I took the team the
team on Hard Knocks to end of the musical and
end of the music. School is so thankful for that
(52:26):
shout out that they wanted to give me a goodbye
gift when I left New York after three years, and
they wanted to give me just a little like, you know,
five minutes stint. And the show was a security guard,
so it was it was super fun.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
You said, your parents put you and your sister in
it growing up. Do you have like a favorite show
that you did?
Speaker 2 (52:43):
I did. I mean in middle school we did The
Wizard of Oz Powers of Presance. That that's where my
does sing.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
I have consulted the highest authority in the room. Solomon
does in fact not sick. Other great strengths. Go ahead,
sorry interrupted, I mean.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
I just like I just like being out there. It
was like fun. It was a different type of performance
to me, different type of like art. And you know,
I just like just always loved it.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
I have made some very good friends who are outstanding actors,
many of them theater actors. You have not made your
last appearance on the board. I think that I see
you dabbling in the off season.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
We'll see, we'll see some.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Great local theater around Dallas. Fort taking. This is a challenge,
this is your this is your next like tertiary career
or something like that. Bread go ahead.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
I knew that I make I make Brad and my
mom started doing it during COVID and then she passed
on to me and my third second season with the Jets.
It also was like a way for me to like,
you know, get out of football, be present in whatever
I'm doing. And I just fell in love with making
bread and haven't made as many lows recently, but I
(54:10):
just ordered some starter should get here tomorrow. And my
fiance's favorite is a holo or cheddar loaf, So that's
the first one on the list.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah, She's like, yeah, yeah, again, I've consulted the highest
authority available in the room. We can confirm. What is
it about that that's that, by the way, is a
form of meditation.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
It seems to me, No, it definitely is. And to
me why I like bread. I started relating bread to football,
which you know, people might think is crazy, but to me,
like my whole time in this league, I was trying
to find myself and I really found my I had
my best season the year I started making sourdough, best
season of my career so far. And what I really
related to bread and football was in sourrough. There's so
(54:49):
many different ways to make sourdough, Like there's so many
different like techniques, processes. Everyone has their own perfect way
and at the end of the the end of the result,
you're still going to get a nice loaf. But for me,
I related to football as in the art of you know,
there's only one me, and there's only one way to
do it, like my way, and like I can't go
be Aaron Donald or I can't go be you know,
(55:10):
Michael Strahan. I have to do things the way that
Solomon Thomas does things. And so it just made me like,
you know, I have to put my own art to it,
my own twist to it, believe in it, be confident
in it, and you know, just find my kind of flow.
So that's like what Bred taught me in football.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
You know, I just think it must be very as
a football player. Here you have the Christmas gifts for
all your teammates, solid personalized lope for everybody. Hey, thanks
for spending part of your evening with us, mad respect
for what you do with your life and what you
do on the football field. Solomon Thomas, everybody get him
a big round of clause. And Nicole and I will
(55:47):
be back, probably without a breadmaking actor, but we will
be back next week at the same time. Here at
Sidecar Social at the Star District, Frisco. On the next
Cowboys Out
Hey, Cowboys Hour, our regular stop in Frisco at the
Star District is a sidecar social. We're thrilled to be here,
and we're and I mean that, we're thrilled to be here. Absolutely,
there's nowhere else. That is what Harbaugh's dad say, Where
else would you rather be? This is just a great
opportunity tonight to enjoy some fine food and beverage seventy
(00:25):
five screens with no matter which direction you turn, there
will be two football games and baseball playoffs going on tonight.
Where else would you rather be? Besides, We've got Cowboys
defensive tackle Solomon Thomas with us. So thank you, thank
you for coming.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Appreciate you, apprecid you, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I am I'm just gonna I'm just gonna do this
right at the beginning. If you don't know Solomon Thomas's story,
We're gonna talk about football. We're gonna talk about a
lot of things. I'm not gonna get overly melodramatic, I promise,
but Solomon Thomas is and I choose my words carefully
(01:07):
because that's how I make my living. Solomon Thomas is
one of the great human beings that's played this game
and the reason I say that is what he's done
and is doing with his life is going to impact
people in a positive way way above what football can do.
And well, if you don't know why I'm saying that,
then we're gonna let you take a peek behind the
(01:30):
curtain before we're done. So I'm honored to have you here.
Thanks very much. We always welcome all of you who
have come to join us at Sidecar Social. Thank you
very much, regulars and first timers, and delighted to have
those of you who are joining us on the Dallas
Cowboys Radio Network and those of you who are streaming
(01:53):
wherever and whenever on Dallascowboys dot Com. But I have
a question. I don't think Ivan is If Ivan is
our producer engineer and he keeps us going, I don't
think you're in charge of these cameras, are you. Paul's
in charge of the camp. So let me just ask
you this. There's one camera there that is pointed kind
(02:16):
of almost like a two shot on Nicole and Sally,
and there's one that would be kind of a three
shot over here, and then the one in the middle
seems to be shooting up at the ceiling. Is that
on purpose, Paul, is that it's going. It's getting the crowd.
It's turned around and getting the crowd. There we go.
That's why you ask questions to get educated and learn things.
(02:37):
Thank you, Paul.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They're trying to get creative today.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You know, I just I looked up and I said,
what the hell is that shooting? I don't understand that?
But okay, now I do. Now I understand it. So
for the for Solomon's benefit and those of you who
have not necessarily been with us before, when we celebrate
victory Monday, we celebrate it as big as we can.
And when it's not victory Monday, we acknowledge that there
(03:03):
was a game played, and we'll talk a little bit
about that, and let's then let that have happened and
move forward. How about that? Because I was thinking about
this today. I think it was church Hill who said,
when you're going through hell, keep going, right? Is there
any other way to get out of a funk, a
(03:25):
kind of a team slump?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, you just gotta like you said, Churchill said, just
keep going. So you just got gotta keep going. Get
back to work, you know, be very in tune with
your technique. What the coaches are saying, make sure everyone's
on the same page. But it's not lose faith, not
waiver on our goal. Our goal doesn't change our processes
and change you know, we show up and just get
back to work, you know, touting on and all that.
(03:47):
You know, get back in your routine, understand what the
goal is here and how to fix your things, fix
the things that we're missing, you know, getting our corrections
and just you know, believe in who we are and
know who we are and we know our identity. But
we have to, you know, get back to playing that
way and you know, get grind through the hard times
and you know the light will come.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
What's your I'm sorry, no, please?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
How do you personally reset with losses like this?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You know, uh, last last night, I mean two, a
couple of nights ago, and whoever, whatever it was, was
a tough one, you know, going on the way trip
trying to get a two win streak and losing is tough.
So you know, and and in the sport, we sacrifice
so much, we time away from our families, We put
them through so much, we put our bodies through so much,
so much discipline, dedication to this game, so any loss
(04:34):
is just really hard to deal with. So after any
loss in my in my career, I'm a little down.
So I'm down and I need to get back up.
And so for me, like last night, you know, we're
just spending the night with my fiance. You know, came
home to chili and homemade corn bread, so you know
that kind of boosted my mood up a lot. So
and then then from there just going on in the film,
seeing seeing the game for what it was, no emotion,
(04:54):
no bias, you know where my technique was wrong, where
it was right, the good things that came out of
the game, the bad things that came out of the game,
and how to fix them, how to get better from them.
And then you know, to you know, the big thing
for me to take emotions out because if you're if
you let a game on Sunday make you emotional throughout
the whole week, the next Sunday you're going to be off.
So I need to make sure that hey, I accept
(05:15):
what happens, flush it, let it go, and be intentionaled
the whole week to get better on the things that
I didn't think I did well, to make sure that
I have a great game the next week.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You guys have good players, and some of the things
that were happening yesterday, it happened maybe some of the
second half of the Jets game. That's not who you are.
Matt Abram Fluss has been a really good coach in
this league for a long time. He doesn't He did
not get dumb overnight. So clearly there are some things
that are broken. How hard is it to keep that
(05:45):
stuff in perspective when you're trying to get out of
the ditch and back on the smooth highway.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, I think the the I mean, the really important
thing is to understand, Hey, like we've put out. We've
put some games, like the first three games of the
season it was like three point three point one yard
to carry, two point nine, three point two whatever it was,
and so we put it on tape that we're going
to stop the run. And then the last couple of
games it hasn't been where we're at. So okay, listen,
we've done it before. We didn't do the last couple
(06:13):
of weeks. So we know what we need to do
to get back on track. And it all starts in
your preparation and practice, being intentional, understand the whole scheme
of what we're trying to do and just keep moving
forward with that. I think that's always always the biggest
thing is being intentional in your preparation. In practice, I'm
making sure every one's in the same page, whether it's
players having extra meetings, guys being over communicating during practice
(06:36):
like that, those are the things we have to do
together on the same page, because right now we're just
you know, we're having a play where guys are perfect
and there's a slip up or you know, and this
the good thing about the things are happening. Everything is fixable.
It's not not this skill is lacking or the talent's lacking.
It's we're messing up. We're we're beating ourselves right now,
and so everything that we're doing is fixable and we
(06:57):
know we can do it. We just got to, you know,
get to work and get it done.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
What's been the message from you and guys like Kenny
Clark Beause post game? The thing he said as well
was we just got to get back to work, like
that's the only thing that I know how to do.
So what's been the message for some of those young
guys who necessarily haven't been in this position before.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, and we're so lucky to have a guy like Kenny,
I mean, the player, he is, a leader, he is
I mean, he's someone who you know, I've watched his
career over a whole time in the NFL and just
been admired his game and him as a person, as
a leader, and to have him in the room has
been such a blessing. So I mean today, he even
talked to the guys today about holding guys accountable, Like, hey,
this is our job. Like we played football, this is
(07:33):
what we work for. We sacrifice. So if someone comes
up up to you and tells you, hey, you're messing up,
like getting the B gap or hey you're messing up,
you know, get your coverage right, like you know, there's
no sensitivity there, Like you know, you have to hold
guys accountable. This is our job and we have to
do it to the best of our ability. And we
want to win. And we know we're a great team
and we're not putting great film out there right now.
So that's a frustrating part. It's like, you know, if
(07:56):
we knew that we weren't good and we had a
game like that, you know, be easier to sit back
and be like, Okay, you know they beat us, But
when we're going out there and teams are beating us
that were no that we know we're better than them,
we're not playing to our level. That's when it gets frustrating.
It's like, okay, hey, we have to hold guys accountable.
We have to get back to work, be intentional, grind
through the hard times, and keep believing and be confident
(08:18):
in what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Speaking of Kenny, when he was acquired from Green Bay,
like a day or two later, I was waiting in
the area the media waits for the locker room to
open as these guys are coming off the practice field,
knowing that Solomon and Kenny both been in the league
for a while, and Sally was coming in. I said,
did you know Kenny before? And you said yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So Kenny hosted me at my official visit to UCLA
when he was I think a freshman there.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So he must have done a terrible job, because you understand.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Kenny did a great job. I mean, we had a
good time. He showed me you're on campus. He's always
been a really, really nice and fun dude. So Stanford
was just about choice for me. But no, no harm
in UCLA. I love all my Bruins, jay Osa, Kenya
are all great guys.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
But you, I mean you, you never played with him before,
you'd never been teammates, because you got a lot of
You've got a lot of personality traits in common. It
seems to me. Is that a fair assessment?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, I'd say so.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, Yeah, all right, I'm terribly distracted before I go on.
I have absolutely become besotted with this garment that Solomon
is wearing. This is for those of you on listening
on the radio. This appears to be a pullover white
(09:38):
pin striped and it looks like the navy hoodie with
the long sleeves that's sewn in that's part of the garment,
and so there it says it's a pin stripe like
a Yankees baseball jersey, except it says Cowboys the upper
left chest. There's a big D on the right shoulder.
What's on the left shoulder? Anything? The star Star? Where
(10:00):
did you get that? And how do I get mine?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
So?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I just got at the Pro Shop.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I mean is it a pro shop?
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
The Pro Shop, I know where I'm going for. Yeah,
they got some great stuff from there.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, that is seriously sick. I really love that. I
love that thing. All right, One more quick thing to
delve into the just a little bit into the past,
to give you a window of why this. In addition
to having played in the NFL for nine years, Solomon
sounds like he's able to put this in perspective. You
(10:31):
may or may not know that Solomon was the third
picking the draft coming out of Stanford by the San
Francisco forty nine ers. And I'd forgotten if if what
I read was correct, that your rookie year the forty
nine ers went oh to fourteen before you won a game.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We did, We did it. It was a long, long fourteen.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Months, all right. I hold that thought. I hate asking
you to hold that thought, but hold that thought for
just a minute, because that's got to be instructive when
it happens to a young player who's a customer to excellence.
That's got to help formulate how you handle football adversity
going forward. Solomon Thomas is our guest on the Miller
like Cowboys Hour this evening, and Nicole who else brings
(11:14):
us the Miller like Cowboys Hour?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Albertson's When it comes time to shop for tailgate favorites
go to Tom Thumb and Albertsons. Get ten off your
groceries every Dallas Cowboys game day when you wear your
Cowboys jersey. Tom Thumb and Albertson's, the official supermarket and
pharmacy of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We'll be right back on the Cowboys Hour, Tom.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Cowboys, Don't CAAs, Don't come Boss.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
To the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson's.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
We're a sidecar Social in the Star District. Welcome back,
Thank you for joining us, Brad Sham, Nicole Hutchinson, and
our very special guest, Cowboys defensive tackle Solomon Thomas. I'm
getting over Nicole making fun of me during the break.
You locked me, You locked me. I ass because we're
(14:59):
here sidecar Social, which is the I told you it's
a great place to watch multiple sporting events. So there's
a semi final, basically baseball game being played. It's the
American League Championship Series and I Seattle in Toronto, and
I was remarking to Nicole, how about Seattle. They played
fifteen innings Friday night. Their reward was to get on
(15:22):
a plane and go to Toronto. That's like a seven
hour flight and then they come out and win last night,
and now they're winning seven to three in the sixth
inning or whatever it is. I said, how about that?
And Nicole looked at me like I had just recommended
that she like drink sour milk. And she said, you
(15:44):
you really are a baseball fan.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
You are?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And I always and I said, and you're really not,
are you? Are you a baseball fan at all?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I mean, it's fun to go to games. I can't
say I watch it. I mean I definitely admire the
discipline and everything the guys do. It's extremely but I
can't lie and say I'm the biggest baseball fan. But
I do enjoy going to game.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I mean, it's so I lived in Nobody cares about
this but me. I lived in Copell when Solomon Thomas
was playing at Coppel High School. And part of you
may have plot Copel High School if you wish, but
part of I think part of the attraction of you
signing here was that this was the team you watched
(16:28):
growing up. And that I mean, had you thought when
you were in high school? Did you think about playing
for the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I mean, it was always a dream just to play
in the NFL in general. You know, it's like, you know,
football was so big in Texas growing up, and it
was big in my hometown. So when I was when
I said out my mission to like, you know, be
the best, I wanted to, like, you know, be the
best in every level that I played in. So I
definitely wanted to make it to the NFL someday and
you know, have a dream of playing there. And you know,
(16:54):
if I could had the chance of playing for my
hometown team, you know, I thought it would be like
a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
I'm going to get you back to that rookie year,
but I want to soften the blow because it was
not a fun rookie year. So Solomon was born in Chicago.
Me too, by the way, another thing nobody cares about
but me. Uh. And then you you were a little
boy when your family moved to Australia, Yes, sir, And
what do you moved when you were seven? When you
(17:18):
moved away from Australia something like that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it was actually on my i think my eighth
birthday we moved.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And happy birthday. We're going for a very long ride. Yeah,
what are your memories of living in Australia.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I just remember it was like very really happy time
shre with my family, Like you know, everything was pretty
free and fresh, like it's like very peaceful, you know,
going to the beach all the time.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
School was very you know, I did they called it
year one there, so I did pre school a year
one there, and you know, really just enjoyed like kind
of being in the atmosphere, like a different environment. You know.
I just thought it was like a really integral for
me and my sister, like growing up to like broaden
our perspective in our world view, just to be a
different country, you know, how you know they do things
(18:03):
there is different and how the people are as different.
So it's just like I thought, it was like verly
really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I think I did watch one of your interviews when
you're with the Jets, and you talked about how living
there kind of change your perspective on living in a
different country. How did it change your perspective and what
ways did you kind of learn that they did things
there then it's kind of a little different here, well,
I think, you.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Know, especially I moved around a lot growing up, like
you know, Chicago, Australia to Connecticut to Texas. So especially
going to a different country, you just learned that, like
there's different people everywhere, different like beliefs, different world views,
different ways people find to like make community or like
run government or you know, run schools or like use
(18:42):
a different metric system, whatever it is. Like there's so
many different ways to do something. So like for me,
just like made me realize, hey, there's so many different
people out there. Like to not judge someone for being
like in one way or having a certain belief because
maybe they've just been in this place or whole life.
Like well for me, I've been able to move around
see from states, countries, and it just helped me realize, like, hey,
(19:06):
there's like so much world out there. There's so many
more things to care about then you know, then one
state might might may admire this, one state country may
admire this. But like so just moving around has had
me realize that there's more out there, more more beliefs.
Just helped me to be curious and to want to
learn more, put judgment away, just like accept people for
(19:28):
who they are.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Was there a tradition that you and your family kind
of did there that you try to bring.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Here and do.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I was young, so like tradition wise, I can't remember too.
I mean, I just remember, like going to the beach.
I remember some of the foods we used to eat,
or you My dad still spells mom m u m
because he just loved how they spelled spelled it over there,
you know, just the things like that. But uh not,
not too many traditions I truly remember. On originally he's
(19:57):
actually from Zanesville, Ohio, Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Solomon Thomas our guest this evening on the middle of
like Cowboys hours. So let's I want to return to
your family, but I want to get I want to
get back to your rookie year so we can put
it behind us what you thought you had done a
long time ago. So here's the third pick in the draft.
Now right, he's the third pick in the draft. Good, well,
let's go to the NFL. We're gonna go to the
(20:22):
San Francisco forty nine ers, and you lost fourteen games.
I had really forgotten that. What was that light?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It was? It was really hard, you know, you know,
coming from I've won a lot of my career coming
up to that point. You know, I think I lost
more games my rookie year than I had lost in
my whole like high school and college career coming by. Yeah,
so it was it was different for me. And also
being in the NFL. Now you're in the business of
the NFL, where you know you lose. The building is tense,
(20:55):
you know. People make it fired, may lose their their
way to provide for the family. People make it cut traded.
It's not like high score college where you know your
coach yels at you. It's way bigger repercussion. So it's
like it was a huge culture shock in the way
that I viewed football, because football to me was always
like this fun loving game and something you worked really
hard for and then it became like this business. So
(21:18):
that transition for me was really hard. And then losing
was really hard, you know, And so it was lots
of lots of come over. But it taught me a
lot because my first like my first two years, I
think we lost twenty plus games at the Niners. Then
my third year we went we go to the Super
Bowl and we lost, But like it was just it
really taught me to buy into the process of what
(21:38):
Kyle and John were building there, getting the right people
in the building, you know, getting the right coaches in
the building, and then from there, once we have all
the all the things that click, you know, we'll be
good to go. So that was like the big thing
that I learned is like really buying into the process,
believing in what works in leadership and getting the right
people around. And so it taught me a lot. Even
though it was a lot of a lot of hard loss,
(22:00):
I definitely learned a lot from it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know, you're describing a little bit of what obviously
happened here in the late eighties and early nineties. But
what was more mind bending in retrospect losing your first
fourteen games as a pro or being in the super
Bowl two years later?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I would say being in the super Bowl, because like,
you know, we just like we had two bad seasons
in a row, and we kept making transactions and free agency,
kept like you know, kept like the same coaches, made
a couple of changes here and there, and it's like
really just kept preaching buying the process. And we won
the first game of the season, We're like, Okay, this
(22:40):
feels good. And then we went on the run win streak.
We're like not and oh and so that's all it take.
It just tastes having the right people in the building
and everyone buying in the process no matter what happens.
And so that, you know, going from you know, I
think we're like two and fourteen to like what four
and twelve and then to you know, on to the
super Bowl was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
What did those two rough seasons teach you about yourself
that you didn't necessarily know that when you look back
now you appreciate.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, I mean I learned a lot my first first season,
two seasons and seasons in the league. It was hard
for me, you know. I I came you know, I
was playing majority D tackle through technique at Stanford, came
out to the Niners, was playing a lot of edge
and so I was having to learn how to you know,
adjust my talents and techniques to play out there. And
(23:30):
so I was really struggling with that. So that was
something that you know, I've learned from a lot in
my career. And then just like really just like how
to handle losses, how to when everything seems like it's
going down, like just to keep going and to keep
buying in the process and what that actually looks like
and it's not just like you know, you're telling yourself
keep going, but it's hey, like, Okay, it's Monday. After
(23:50):
five losses in a row. Are you going to get
up and do the same routine? Are you gonna cold tub?
Are you going to get in the hot tub? Are
you gonna sauna? Are you gonna like still go over
your plays? Are you gonna still show up and be
the same person locker room every day, whether it's a
win or loss. And so that's what I learned the NFL, Like,
being a leader is not you know, being a great
player on the field. You have a lot of great
players in the field who aren't great leaders, but you
(24:10):
have guy The great leaders, to me are the ones
who come in win or loss, no matter how their
body feels. I'm the same person every single day in
the locker room, and you know they're doing the same routine,
same workouts, same recovery, same mental study, and still holding
the same standard for their teammates.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I alluded to this before, but this is a good transition.
I think to remind people that you have you have
devoted a lot of emotion and personal investment for the
cause of mental health, and one of the reasons is
(24:45):
you've been public about the fact that you struggled with
depression a little bit. When you go from third picking
the draft to what, we can't win anything, and where
do I fit in? And what is that? When you
I had a started feeling like mental health was something
that you were gonna have to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, I mean there was a lot of things that
kind of led to that. You know, I lost my
sister's suicide thatth and eighteen, right after my rookie year.
And then you'll come from college, you know, winning, come
to the league, you know you're losing, You're not playing
the position that you think you're invest at, and you know,
knowing nothing about mental health growing up, like you know,
in the locker room, everything's like be tough, be strong,
(25:27):
and be a man. And then you know your sister
dies and you're now also struggling at the same time
trying to find your own way in this new life
and new lifestyle that you've didn't know that you were
going to be thrown into. And now I'm like, mental
health is like surrounding my life and I don't know
how to you know, approach it, and so it was
it took me a lot of like sad nights, hard nights,
(25:48):
depressed nights, like to get to a place where, you know,
you find out what mental health is and you go
get help and you go to therapy and you learn
how to you know, accept your emotions. You know, you
learn how to feel them, you learn you learn how
to like that there's ways to get better and like
from that, you know, just learning how mental health and
physical health are the same thing. And so that was
like a big thing for me. Like, hey, like if
(26:09):
I hurt my ankle, I'm gonna rehab it, and like
the same thing with my brain. Like, so you know,
that was a big thing for me because I was struggling,
but I wasn't attending to my brain. And then when
I tend into my brain somehow in the middle of
the season, I would start playing better, I would start
feeling better. And you know that's when I learned that, hey,
it's all connected, and like, you know, therapy is just
as important of for me as do my film study.
(26:29):
You know, So that really was a huge thing for
me my first year.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, just so you know, I asked these questions from
the perspective of someone who has been in therapy on
and off for more than twenty years, and I don't
know if i'd be I don't know if i'd be
functional with without it. So it's I wish we Like
I'm making this list, the older I get of things
I wish I'd been told when I was younger. So
here's number five, and that is I wish I wish,
(26:56):
as you're saying, you got into a locker room and
found out that was not okay to say, I'm really
kind of struggling, Yeah, it is, and I wish we'd
been told that when we were all younger. Okay, So
we're going to take our next break, and then we're
going to figure out how you go, how you handle
(27:18):
against all that backdrop, going from the Niners to the
Raiders to the Jets, with a major injury being thrown
in in there, and it's all fascinating to me, and
it helps make you who you are today. Sitting here
in that dad gum sweatshirt that I have. Don't know
(27:38):
if I can wait until tomorrow to go get at
the Cowboys pro shot Nicole. Who else must we thank
for the opportunity to be here?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
That's what I'm here for, Luke Casey, I'm just kidding.
Stand tall all your tailgating or cheering in the stands
with the Dallas Cowboys Collection by Luke Casey. Shot the
collection today at Luke Casey's six DFW locations are online
at lucasey dot com. Lu Casey the official boot of
the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
We're with Solomon Thomas of the Cowboys on the Miller
Line Cowboys Hour at Sidecar Social at the Star District
and Frisco. We'll be right back. I'll tick three, oh.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Cowboys, No cowboys, don't cowboys.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
As to the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour supported by Albertsons.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We're at Sidecar Social in the Star District. Thank you
very much for being with us wherever and whoever you are.
I'm Brad Sham with Nicole Hutchinson, Solomon Thomas, the Cowboys
defensive tackle, our very special guests. Please give him all
of that and more so. This whole process of adjustment
(31:45):
professional adjustment fascinates me because there was so much adversity early.
As you've just outlined. Clearly, you didn't stop loving playing football,
because here you still are and still playing a high level.
But not only so you got to the Super Bowl
with the forty nine ers, and then they decided not
(32:07):
to use the fifth year option on you, so you
wind up going to the Raiders. And by the way,
what year was it that you tore up your knee?
Your third year?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That was my fourth year, so it was a year
they didn't sign my fifth year option. So I went
back to play my fourth year basically as a contract year.
You had a great camp, everything, come out to the
second game and tear my well, my entirety. Yeah, and
then that following year, after the next offseason time with
the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
The timing sally right there for that. So, but did
discouragement I'm just talking about professional what you envisioned your
career would be, not just as a kid in high school,
but the third pick in the draft, and now it's
(32:55):
not kind of it's not terrible, but it's not great
according to what maybe you were an imagining. How did
you handle discouragement and turn it into positivity?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, I mean that was something I really struggled with
my first couple of years in the league, you know,
going through my own off the field like depression and
then like my own like expectations of what I envisioned
this all to be so it was all like expectations, discouragement,
doubt was something that I really struggled with. And then
you know, after like in therapy, understanding like you know
(33:26):
a lot of work where all these are coming from,
like from fear, from like you know, failure, all these
things into really looking at it, like what's the worst
thing that can happen? Like I'm out here living my dream,
playing football, playing it past longer than I ever was
supposed to play, and paying it, playing it past high school,
past college. I'm getting paid to do something that I love,
so like to really like break it down, like to
(33:47):
eliminate all outside noise, to like, you know, all the
people tweeting at me, you know, all the mean things
all like the social media. Hey, I got for years
to tune all that out and to understand like what,
like the only thing that matters is as long as
I'm it to continue to play and continue to play
the way that I know how to play it. And
so once I got back to that in my mindset,
I was like, you know, I love this game. Like
(34:08):
I took the business side out of it. I found
a way to compartmentalize it and make football football, and
once I was able to do that, like I was
able to like to just go full out, no shame,
no anything, to go go hard for my job, go
hard for what I love, and you know, go hard
for what I believe in myself.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Aside from therapy, who else kind of did you lean
on during that time to kind of get you through
that discouragement?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Definitely my parents. You know, my parents have been you know,
by my side my whole career. You know, they don't
they really don't miss too many games, and but they're
just people that can be like very transparent with you know,
and so like throughout that time, like they're always lifting
me up. You know. Then, like we said, we talked
about therapy. But then just like I have a group
of like close friends from home from Coppell, like who
you know would always be encouraging me, like, hey, like
(34:50):
just remember who you are, like sending me my high
school highlights, sending me my college highlights, like don't forget
who you are at any time in the process. And
then always even though like she wasn't hearing my sister,
I was totally on her old notes, from her old
text messages, from her things of her telling me like
what she believes of me and who she thinks I am.
Always just kept me going during that time in my
first couple of years in the league.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
What's your favorite message that you looked back to that
your sister left you.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I actually have a new one about. I think it
was the Packers game. You know, my fiance she dresses
me and gets me right before games, and she chose
a pair of boots that I had in storage in
Vegas for a whole bunch of years. I hadn't worn
since I was in college. And I go in there
and I pull out a note and it was just
my sister telling me, brought a note to my parents
(35:36):
to tell me something, and it was her telling me, like,
always remember how important it is to be a great
teammate and to go out there and excuse my language,
to kick ass and take names and so like.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Like a physical.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, in the boots that my parents must have put
in there during the moving process, but I had never
seen it before, and it was it was it was Yeah,
it was emotional, sweet, uplifting, uplifting for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I don't want to dwell too much on this, but
it is a part of your story and you have
been brave to share it with with everyone. Things like
losing a child or losing a close loved one who
took their own life. Those must be the most devastating
personal things that can happen to a person. You were
(36:27):
so young still when that happened, with where you were
in your own mental health journey at the time, how
did you even begin to process that?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
And I think that was the hardest thing for me
is I would I would block it off as much
as I could. There was a lot of feelings and
emotions I had never felt before, you know, depression, grief,
a lot of anger, a little bit yeah, like mad
at myself, mada her, the survivor's guilt. All that is
extremely real. So just dealing with a lot of that
was so I didn't know how to address it so
(36:59):
off because push it down and try to act like
I was fine on the outside. I was like, you know,
I feel like, you know, I can't come out here
and tell people I'm depressed or tell people I'm sad
because they expect me to go perform, and you know,
and I was like, where I was in my career,
anything I said was going to be an excuse for
my performance. So you know, I just would do that
all the time, and then you know, it just would
fester and turn into you know, just my whole world
(37:22):
turning dark. And then from there, you know, I realized
I was in a really bad place. I need to
get help.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
How'd you find the courage to finally get help?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Well, and that's the thing, it wasn't even just me.
I can't take all the credit for it. You know,
my mom was pushing me to get help, and I
would tell her no, like I'm fine, I don't have
time for it. But my general manager, John Lynch to me,
came to me at the time and he told me, hey, Sally,
like we got you if you need help, like you know,
we we can, we can help you out. And for me,
that took all like the weight off my shoulders and
like having to be this strong man and act like everything.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Was okay because he's a tough guy.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
He is, yeah, and he is and and so just
like for him to come tell me that like gave
me all the permission in the world that I needed
to go get help. But so like now, but that's
the thing that I try to go tell when I
talk to people, I try to give them that permission, like, hey,
help is the strongest sign of courage you could get,
you give yourself. I try to tell them that, like,
you know, just go get help, Like you know, there's
so many people out here who want you here and
(38:14):
who love you. Because I wasn't even able to do
that myself, I leaned on other people to help me.
And the thing is that's another thing you can't do
it by yourself. So that's why help is there for you.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You know what it strikes me is I'm listening to
you say that many of us who have long careers
professional athletes, you know, people in the arts and especially
with public lives, it can be easy for that profession
to become your identity, to become who you are. And
(38:47):
it sounds like this whole process has, in an interesting way,
kept you from seeing yourself as football defining who you are.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yeah, no, it's say so. And it's something that I
definitely struggled with, Like early in my career, I was
like I would struggle with like being able to identify
who I was because I was putting everything in all
of me into football and trying to figure it out,
like what's going wrong. Why am I not playing well?
You know? Why am I playing out here? Why are
we losing all this? And so I had to find
to find happiness in my life. I had to find
(39:20):
happiness outside of football. And that was first with getting
right with myself, addressing the things I was going through,
how to handle them, and then just pass that. You know,
understand that there's a bigger picture out here. And just
to say there's a bigger picture I hear does not
mean I don't give my all to my job. Like
I'm fully dedicated and disciplined in my job. But I
understand when I pour in other areas of my life,
(39:40):
I'm a better football player because I'm investing in myself.
When I'm investing in my identity. So when I work
with my foundation, or when I do charity work, or
when I spend time with my fiance, time with my friends,
when I you know, do legos at home or bake
bread things like that, that is really pouring into me
as a person. And when I am full, I'm going
to be a better football player. But if I it's
like pouring to myself as a football player, and I failed,
(40:02):
and my whole world, my whole world ends, and I'm like,
where do I pick it up at? But when I
understand this more to my life and this football, I
can pick I can understand after a loss, hey, I
can get back on track and get I can get
back to my routine. I can go be my best
self like except the loss and move forward. So you know,
these are all things I've learned throughout the early years
of my career.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
And finally the square this circle and we'll move on.
This is not why you're here, but what better a
place for you to come to that with someone like
Dak who has done so many of these things and
is like you brave to be out front with it.
I mean you you two are like a two man
(40:43):
justice league for this cause it seems today.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, No, Dak's been amazing, and you know, our foundations
were closer together. Dak and I have done a lot
of public service announcements for nine to eight, the Mental
Health Crisis Line, We've done a lot of help with
a FSP, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, But just
in general, like I just have a lot of respect
for the man, like he has gone through some you know,
(41:05):
tragedies in's life that you never want anyone to go
through and he has done nothing but you know, make
great change for it, get back to causes, been a
great human being, Watson Payton Man of the Year, and
then on top of that is a great leader, great
football player. So it's like, you know, what, what else
can a guy like that do to you know, just
prove how great he is?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
And is it also correct that you have been mistaken
for him?
Speaker 5 (41:26):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Out in public, people see you out and they say, hey, Dak. Yeah,
how often does that happen?
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I mean, if we're out in public, it happens about
every day. Like it's even when I'm worth a team,
like and people are walking by for autographs, they they'll
assume I'm Dak. But it's happened since I got in
the league, so like ever since. I'll come home training
in the off season, training Dallas an offseason, and I'll
be out with my friends. If people like Dak, Dak, Dak,
You're like even NFL events people think I'm Dak. It's
(41:54):
It's yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Has anyone ever mistaken Dak for Solid Scott? Where's Scott A. Golling?
We're gonna get the answer to that question. Has anyone
ever mistaken Dak Prescott for Solomon Thomas. It seems only fair. Well,
we're gonna Wednesday. I'll try to get the answer to
that question. Solomon Thomas is are you see what I
(42:15):
meant at the beginning? But this guy, in my faith,
we call this man a mensch. We will be back
with more with Solomon Thomas and your questions, and Nicole
has some surprises for you. Think about that when we
come back on the Cowboys Hour.
Speaker 4 (42:32):
Hey Cowboys men, Oh cowboys, No cowboys, No Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (45:34):
To the millerte Cowboys Hour, supported by Albertson's.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
And welcome back to Sidecars Social in the Star District
in Fresco. Brands Dam and Nicole Hutchinson and the great
Solomon Thomas. We're so happy to have all of you here,
very happy to have you here. Are you? Obviously you're
still having fun playing right?
Speaker 2 (45:55):
Yeah? I love the game. It's the sport. This job,
it takes too much of your life. It's too hard,
too much routine, too much discipline, too much dedication, like
persistency to like, if you don't love it, you can't
do this job the right way. And so like, I
fully love it. I'm fully into it and I'm giving
you it all I can.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
What's the best thing about it for you?
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I mean, to me, the best thing about it is
you know, coming in like for me. So this is
why I've always on the game. It's a group of
guys like and in the NFL, it's even more so
because I'm new to the team getting to know like
new guys, new personalities. But at the end of the day,
we're also different in our ways, our world views, our
beliefs in life. We all come together to like one
common goal and that's still win the super Bowl. And
(46:35):
so like all the sacrifice you make, like I actually
believe if our society and our world acted more like
a football team, we live in a healthier society and
more peaceful and loving society. And so that's what I
love about football. To me, that's always been the greatest
thing to me.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Let's take some questions from the audience. You may start sir.
Speaker 7 (46:53):
Good evening, Solomon.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
My name's Rambo, Rambo. What's going on?
Speaker 7 (46:59):
So mental health is very very important.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
What is your go to.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
Therapy that lets you unwind and just kind of makes
you feel good about just waking up every day? In
my case, my high in life is cooking for a
large amount of people, seeing the smiles on their face. Yeah,
that just gives me a lot of excitement and happiness.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
What's your go to? And by the way, don't think
that we didn't hear the baking bread. Don't think No,
that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
I love that you do that, and that's like that's
really sweet and sentimental. But I would say, like, for me,
it really is just being with the people I love.
So for me, like coming home for a long day,
sitting on the couch of my fiance just talking.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
She's here, Yes, she is here, Yes, thanks for coming,
thank you for coving.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
And so it's just like just being with her, like
it's like it's my piece. That's that's that's where I
kind of uh like refresh, like recoup myself, get to
the back of the present moment and like am healing.
So but yeah, you meditate, I do. Yeah, I do
some meditation.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Well how old were you when you started meditating?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
My I would say my third year in the league,
I started using headspace. And I used to use headspace
like every day, I'm not I'm not my sorry. So
headspace is a guide of meditation app and I used
to use it every day and I haven't. My membership
ran out and I haven't been using it the last year.
(48:31):
But with my sports psychologists that I that I work with,
she sends me meditations to do on game day. So
I'll do a meditation first thing I do when I
wake up on game day, just to get grounded and present,
be my best self, be centered.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
When you started meditating, did you find your mind going
all over everywhere?
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Definitely? And I felt like I was failing at meditation.
But then when I realized that just trying to meditate
is meditating, it made me get in the flow of
it better and then like stop judging myself for like
it's this wrong. Yeah, yeah, so that's that took a while.
But like once you understand the meditation, that the skill
of meditation is to come back from the present moment
(49:11):
like a distraction, just letting you know, hey, come back
to the present moment and forgive yourself, give yourself grace
and get back from the flow.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
I don't, I don't, how No, you're fine. How long
do your meditations kind of last?
Speaker 2 (49:23):
No, I'm only like a ten minute meditation person. There
was one year at the Raiders. I was working with
this my last sports psychologist, and he hooked me up
with the single point meditation person and so we would
do an hour alarm meditation where you stare at a
single point while he like guides you through feelings in
your body. It was I was It was hard, but
I really like the feeling from it. But I just
(49:45):
don't have time for my game.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Day, you know. You know it was a huge advocate
of meditation. Is ache. Okay, if you're gonna have two
Monday night games, you'll run into him a couple of times.
You have a conversation with him. He's now he liked
with everything he does. He gets a little obsessive sometimes,
but he's done things I could never dream of doing
(50:06):
in the in the meditative arts. But yeah, you'd be interested.
Let's take another question. Hell Little Solomon Larry from McKinney
Slash originally from Olpasa, Texas.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
First off, congratulations were being selected at MVP of the
twenty sixteen Sun Bowl.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
While you were there, did you try the local famous
Chico Stocks? If not, what was your favorite dish there?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
I do not remember trying the famous tacos, but when
I whenever I go back, I'll try them. But I
would say my favorite time there. They took us out
to a ranch and they gave us. They gave us
all boots from Luke Casey and all this stuff, and
so it was we were out there eating steaks, dancing
as a team, and it was like my last time
in college with my teammates. So that was always like
(50:49):
a sacred moment for me. The Sumbow was absolutely amazing.
The way the community in town comes around it was
really cool.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
You did hear him saying, Lucy, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 3 (50:59):
You, Ivan, go ahead and hit our little special for
him because I did some digging right and I used
to do musical theaters. I saw your debut and Broadway,
so I wanted everybody else to see them.
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Some of the pictures that I found.
Speaker 3 (51:15):
You made your debut in MJ the Musical, So talk
about that.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (51:20):
That was this off season?
Speaker 1 (51:22):
I know it was in June. I'm a huge theater.
I would have waited and gone instead of going in they.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Yeah, So, I mean so I've always loved theater growing up.
When my parents put me and my sister and namil
Mary Connecticut from there, when we moved to Texas, I
just like grabbed onto it and loved it, you know,
the theater and Coppell. And then my freshman year I
actually had a chooser between doing select theater and football
because there are schedules collide. That chose football, obviously, but
I never lost a love for theater. Just like the
(51:50):
way through out there telling a story that you know
is not real, but they make the emotions of and
the feeling of the off feel real. I just thought
was always so cool. I was never too talented enough
to do it professionally, but I always admired it.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
How do you know, had you tried?
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Not really, I mean they just threw me in there
just for for fun. But it was uh. But when
I went back to New York, I wanted to reconnect
with that, and so I started going to shows again.
And then my second year there, Hard Knocks came out
and I took the team to Hard Knocks, and I
remember then I watched that I took the team the
team on Hard Knocks to end of the musical and
end of the music. School is so thankful for that
(52:26):
shout out that they wanted to give me a goodbye
gift when I left New York after three years, and
they wanted to give me just a little like, you know,
five minutes stint. And the show was a security guard,
so it was it was super fun.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
You said, your parents put you and your sister in
it growing up. Do you have like a favorite show
that you did?
Speaker 2 (52:43):
I did. I mean in middle school we did The
Wizard of Oz Powers of Presance. That that's where my
does sing.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
I have consulted the highest authority in the room. Solomon
does in fact not sick. Other great strengths. Go ahead,
sorry interrupted, I mean.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
I just like I just like being out there. It
was like fun. It was a different type of performance
to me, different type of like art. And you know,
I just like just always loved it.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
I have made some very good friends who are outstanding actors,
many of them theater actors. You have not made your
last appearance on the board. I think that I see
you dabbling in the off season.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
We'll see, we'll see some.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Great local theater around Dallas. Fort taking. This is a challenge,
this is your this is your next like tertiary career
or something like that. Bread go ahead.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
I knew that I make I make Brad and my
mom started doing it during COVID and then she passed
on to me and my third second season with the Jets.
It also was like a way for me to like,
you know, get out of football, be present in whatever
I'm doing. And I just fell in love with making
bread and haven't made as many lows recently, but I
(54:10):
just ordered some starter should get here tomorrow. And my
fiance's favorite is a holo or cheddar loaf, So that's
the first one on the list.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah, She's like, yeah, yeah, again, I've consulted the highest
authority available in the room. We can confirm. What is
it about that that's that, by the way, is a
form of meditation.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
It seems to me, No, it definitely is. And to
me why I like bread. I started relating bread to football,
which you know, people might think is crazy, but to me,
like my whole time in this league, I was trying
to find myself and I really found my I had
my best season the year I started making sourdough, best
season of my career so far. And what I really
related to bread and football was in sourrough. There's so
(54:49):
many different ways to make sourdough, Like there's so many
different like techniques, processes. Everyone has their own perfect way
and at the end of the the end of the result,
you're still going to get a nice loaf. But for me,
I related to football as in the art of you know,
there's only one me, and there's only one way to
do it, like my way, and like I can't go
be Aaron Donald or I can't go be you know,
(55:10):
Michael Strahan. I have to do things the way that
Solomon Thomas does things. And so it just made me like,
you know, I have to put my own art to it,
my own twist to it, believe in it, be confident
in it, and you know, just find my kind of flow.
So that's like what Bred taught me in football.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
You know, I just think it must be very as
a football player. Here you have the Christmas gifts for
all your teammates, solid personalized lope for everybody. Hey, thanks
for spending part of your evening with us, mad respect
for what you do with your life and what you
do on the football field. Solomon Thomas, everybody get him
a big round of clause. And Nicole and I will
(55:47):
be back, probably without a breadmaking actor, but we will
be back next week at the same time. Here at
Sidecar Social at the Star District, Frisco. On the next
Cowboys Out
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