LB Brian Peters | Where Are They Now?

Brian Peters played linebacker and excelled on special teams during his time with the Texans from 2015 through 2018. He recently caught up with Drew Dougherty of Texans TV and discussed his innovative approach to helping pro sports teams and the military achieve advantages, and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are many Houston Texans, but there aren't many like
this guy, Brian Peters one of my favorite all time
players for my favorite football team of yours. So Brian
played linebacker here for about four five years. And first
things first, what are you doing now? Where are you?
What's up? I'm in the exotic beaches of Columbus, Ohio.
But I'm doing a little bit of everything. I'm lifting,

(00:22):
living and learning. But I'm a performance consultant now. I
consult on breathwork and mental skills, a little bit of
heat and cold exposure for pro athletes, college athletes, and
one on one kind of thing just by a select basis.
But it's been super fun to dive into that and learn.
Like I was obviously into those kind of things when
I was playing, and then I was able to translate

(00:42):
it into the business world. And then everything keeps me active,
learning and lifting. I competed in my first power lifting
meat two weeks ago. Do some jiu jitsu, I stay
competitive where I can fit it in, and then yeah,
then outside of that, I just I do a little
bit of everything to stay busy. I love it. There's
there's a lot to cover right there. But how the event. God,

(01:03):
the competition that you just took part in, go for
you good. The powerlifting is fun. I fell into, like
transitioning from football, I needed some structure, and I fell
into this powerlifting group here in Columbus out at old
School gym where we train at four in the morning.
So that structure was medicine for me. Is able to
get me competitive competing with my under heavyweight all the time,

(01:25):
and then it translated. I end up a deadlifted six
h six, squatted five sixty two, and then my bench
I got red lighted a couple of times on but
it was wait, wait, wait, what is red lighting? What's
that all about? So like the basis, the basis of powerlifting,
like the competitions is, it's all formed base. Obviously it's
like depth. I'm to listening to intention. So you got

(01:46):
to like stabilize to wait before you can squat, and
the same thing when you complete the squat bench you
got to stabilize it. And then it's the bench press
and power lifting you basically have to pause for an extent.
It's almost two seconds, so you have to be able
to control and the weight. But so I actually got
red lighted because he like I was wearing wrist wraps
and I there's like a stretchy elastic thing where you

(02:06):
use it. You can't use it, but most of the
guys I trained with do it during training, so I
didn't know any better, so it was a learning experience.
I wrapped my thumb. It didn't give me any competitive advantage,
but they red lighted me on my best lift of
the day. So my bench what was like under par
for what I wanted. But well, why didn't they just
say before you were getting on there, like hey, you
can't use that? Like what how did that? How'd that

(02:27):
come up? It was just it was one pretty tedious judge.
The other judges were like, I would have never I
would have gave you a warning, done something, but this
guy red lighted me. Some people like are the powerlifting
group kind of has a little reputation too, so they
look for any excuse to come after the boys four am.
Why four am? It's more of a separator for his
group of people's names Corey Gregory, who owns and runs

(02:50):
the gym. See who's committed basically yeah, basically like if
you're committed, like you're not gonna be out boozing or
staying up late doing things like it's they used to
do it at like seven am, six am, five am,
and then like once four am struck like only the
dog showed up and it turned into a really cool,
uh really cool thing they had. Like they're a bunch

(03:11):
of the smaller powerlifters. They hit like the um can't.
It's like one sixty one to one ninety eight weight
classes and they have a couple of world records in
the group and the RPS training method and then uh yeah,
it's it's it's a really competitive group. Like pound for pound,
these boys are strong. Now I've seen powerlifters and there's
there's some absolute monsters. You're a you're a big guy.

(03:32):
I think somebody wore describing Hey he's a big guy.
But are you one of the bigger ones? Where you
one of the smaller? Where do you? Where are you
fall in that that structure of that group. I'm still
pretty pretty much of my playing weight around two thirty five,
but like I'm a I'm definitely like a longer lever guy,
not really built for powerlifting. Obviously, you've you've seen some
of like the big bellies, big bodies, big necks that

(03:53):
fall on powerlifting. Um excuse me, but uh yeah, like
I'm still like one of the heavier weight class guys
with us, I'm between like the two twenty two forty
two light classes kind of deal. Um, but yeah, it's
just uh it's more like I could I could care
less about um my look in the powerlifting world, because

(04:14):
like when when it comes down to it, like when
you get under a heavy bar or any like risk
you want to take in your life, Like it's like
you have that self talk where it's like I'm gonna
get buried, I'm gonna grow. It's like a coin flip
of like success and failure, and that motivated me massively
and like just getting a dose of that every morning.
Um was literally a medicinal formula. Reminded me of football.

(04:35):
It's like doing one on ones and things like that,
like like are you up to the stuff, like are
you up to them opportunity? Are you up to the challenge?
And uh yeah, then I just kept doing it. I've
been doing it with them a little over a year,
a year and a half. Now, Um, I'm gonna get
into a bunch of crazier stuff here coming up, not powerlifting. Um,
so I'll phase a little away from that. Yeah. Also,

(04:56):
I'm doing I'm doing a fifty I'm doing a fifty
mile rock, um, a memorial day on rock where you
have the backpack like a like a soldier basically yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then so we're doing fifty miles around washing DC.
We're starting at the Veterans Hospital and then ending in
Arancing that national cemetery supporting the group. The fifty for
the Fallen is the charity, but it's put on by

(05:18):
the Special Forces Trust. So, um, some of my coaching
has stemmed into that world. And the optimal performance and
controlling your state is military and they do it at
a much higher stake than athletes do. So I've been
gravitating towards them and their stories and um, their recovery
from serving and things like that. So it's been, uh,

(05:38):
that just kind of where my life's gone. That's awesome, man.
You know. And when you were with the Texans, you
were kind of starting to get into the cold tub
plunging and I don't that's probably the wrong word for it,
but that's that stuff you're you You mentioned your breathing
mechanics and all that. That's incredibly important, especially for snipers,
you brought up special special forces and whatnot. But you're

(06:00):
you're applying that to everyone, you know, because I don't
think the general public understands and appreciates the importance of
proper breathing and breathing exercises, right, No, not even close.
And it's just something that's it's kind of just like
a missing pillar and human performance, not even like athletic
performance a lot of Like so my doctor sends me

(06:21):
some cases that like people can't solve with medicine or
things like that, and the breathing ends up helping everybody.
It's all just like the base root of human existence.
And you can prioritize it how you want. But like
every other resource our our body needs, water, food, other
things that you can survive days without water, weeks without food,
all those kind of things. But like three minutes without oxygen,

(06:43):
like it's important. And then like every breath helps or
hurts you. What body part are you breathing in and
out of? Is the auction getting absorbed? Are you overbreathing?
If you're overbreathing, your veins and arteries are getting smaller,
so you're getting worse auction nation Like all these compounding things.
Sleeping with your mouth open, so does your tongue fall back?
And then are you in a sympathetic state when you're sleeping,

(07:06):
so you wake up to use the bathroom or wake
up with the dry mouth, and all these things, they
deteriorate your sleep. And if you can't sleep right, you're
not going to perform right mentally, physically, anything emotionally. Like,
so my whole thing is getting people out of that
sympathetic state, that anxious state that we live in because
we're overstimulated or stressed out or anxious or anything like that.

(07:27):
And just kind of how the whole mind breathing evolved
into everybody gem pop and it like what we teach
and what I coach and things like that are just
like base, very simple things that have simple compound effect,
Like yeah, we can improve VO two max and push
off the delay set of lack of acid and things
like that for athletes and help them recover in between

(07:49):
plays or shifts on the ice or anything like that.
But like every human should adopt breathwork or at least
an awareness of their understanding because now, like you can
feel when you're out of control and when your physiology
is out of control, your mind regresses, you actually lose
blood in the brief prefrontal cortex. It's like, I want
to maintain my wits and my problem solving, my communication

(08:09):
skills as much as possible, but I really just want control.
So like if I, like any human, wants control, we
have a negativity bias in our psychology, So like, what
can I do? And like the simplest thing, the lowest
hanging fruit is the breathwork stuff. And it's simply you
can calm yourself down and rush hour traffic or before
you public speak or anything. It's just it's simple and significant.

(08:30):
When didn't you start taking an interest in that, because
I know it for sure it was when you were
with the Texans. But how long before that did this
does all get going for you? Now? It was around
twenty fifteen when it like it was over my eyes.
I solved my sleep problems by taping my mouth in
twenty sixteen when I was with the Texans, like we
had we had the whoops and we had the gardens.

(08:50):
They gave us the garments, I think in sixteen and
I was trying to be a pro in sleep nine
hours and it was saying I got five hours of
sleep six hours of sleep. So I was getting frustrated,
where like some of the wearables can cause stress because
you you do have a metric. But um, so I
started taking my mouth shut and that like my sleep
problems in a way. And the research behind that now

(09:10):
is dynamite, like people that can adopt nasal breathing, which
is the forced mouth closes, but mouth closed because the
tongue and those kind of things. But seventy percent of
sleep bapnee and wake ups go down if you can
learn to tape your mouth, like simple things table with
regular tape or what do you do? Yeah, I mean
like you'd be surprised. So if you like Amazon mouth
tape for sleep, it'll blow your mind how many products

(09:33):
there are. But I use basic three M tape and
just go across my list. But some people think that's
too rough, but uh yeah, But things like that. And
then and then I started holding my breath in the
sensory deprivation chamber that the Texans were sponsoring at the time,
and I noticed that my like, because we came into
a scenario when Luke Richardson took over as a strength
coach and we weren't running for the first month. So

(09:54):
we were up our functional movement, like our mobility, core strength,
those things like that, and I got really into breathing.
Then I was pulling my breath like over three minutes
at that point because I was doing free diving protocols
and whim Hoff and things like that. Just I was
just curious. I had no structure to it or didn't
understand the tool. But when we did come back to running,

(10:17):
like I was less winned than everybody else, I was
running better as far as conditioning goes, I was like,
all right, there's something here. And then I had a
buddy in Minnesota that was using breath work for mental
skills at the time for baseball players and hockey players,
and we kind of ended up making a company around
it that I started while I was playing, and then
it's grown sense. But yeah, it's just that's how it grew.

(10:38):
But so I was like the guinea pig like performance
enhancing side of things, and he was the mental skills
and then we kind of merged both worlds and created
this company, the Mind Strung Project. Well, it was really
fun because whenever I kind of caught you in the cafeteria,
I would sort of hold you up and be like,
well listen, I'm swimming and what about that? And I
would always pick your brain about these things. So it's
always been fascinating to me. You know, I get the

(11:01):
secondhand information, so it's helped me out. I can say
I can speak for example, but let's talk a little football.
You have one of the most unique stories. You were
a great player at Northwestern, mainly a safety right and
then you kind of checked all the boxes of every
professional league there is. It seems you were really good

(11:23):
in the CFL. You helped win a Gray Cup. You've
gobbled up tackles, you know, I mean, you're you're outstanding
on defense, on special teams. You come to the Texans, though,
how did you get to Houston? Tell tell that story
because it's a fascinating one in my mind. Yeah, it's
a saga if anything. Um, it started like I was

(11:44):
all big ten in college, led the big ten interceptions.
Thought I had a chance, got no calls on draft day.
It was probably too slow or something along those lines,
or wasn't polished enough, whatever it was. Went to some
minicamp workouts for the Bucks and the Bears and competed
against draft picks and helped my own. So that was
where it kind of got planned that I could play.
And uh so I was willing to do whatever, and

(12:05):
half my motivation was to avoid the real world and
never get a nine to five kind of deal. M
but I knew I could play, So just how it
worked out. The only the only chance to play football
was the Renal Football to like stay in shape in
case they needed bodies and training camp for NFL. So
I went out there. I thought I was on the
team when I showed up, but it was like a
thirteen man tryout for two positions. Was lucky enough to

(12:27):
make the team. Left there after like four weeks. I
was working three jobs in Chicago. Got what were the
three jobs? What were the three jobs? Oh dude, So
I was working demolition, personal training, and then I was
basically like babysitting something like the hockey players kids that

(12:47):
I trained with. Yeah, craziness and uh but it paid off.
But yeah, I'm very grateful for that kind of time
in my life. Gave me some perspective. Then I'd trained
myself at or nine ten pm at night at this
like old school boxing gym downtown Chicago, and then like
wake up and do it all over again, and then
but I got to try out with the UFL, got

(13:09):
asked the training camp with them, and I was doing
really well with the Omaha Nighthawks and then got cut
when all the NFL had their cuts, so they took
all the NFL guys that got cut cut me. My
agent was kind of wishy, washing was didn't want me
to go to Canada because you had to sign a
two year deal, and he didn't said nobody was responding.
I emailed all the CFL and NFL people like my

(13:29):
tape and like an email saying I'll work my butt
off for you kind of deal. The only team that
responded to me was a Skatchewan rough Riders. So I
went up there on practice squad for three weeks and
the season to sign a two year contract for the
next two years fourteen fifteen or thirteen or thirteen and
fourteen and anyway. So came home, actually got jumped at

(13:52):
a bar broke my jaw was wired shut for seven weeks.
Liquid diet learned how to train and like protect the
dream at that point because at one point how my
mannibo shield. They didn't want me potentially playing football again,
So like that was another wake up call to me
to grow up and learn and learn and learn. And
that's why I learned how to train properly, learn how
to And I was actually switching the linebacker this time,

(14:14):
so while I was wired shut, I actually I lost
twenty pounds and I ended up gaining twenty five and
learned how and I was twice as strong. I went
back to Northwestern's pro day, ran faster, jump, tire jump farther,
those kind of things, went to Canada. Had actually got
cut in Canada and put on their P squad for
a few years, got activated and balled on special teams

(14:35):
the first year, special teams in defense. The next year.
That first year, we won the Great Cup, which was
incredible experience. Then as I was coming out of the CFL,
the teams were hitting my team up because they didn't
really know who my agent was because they didn't communicate
with him a lot. So anyways, got some workouts. Through
the workouts, I found out I had a blood condition

(14:57):
that was going to prevent me from playing football or
signing a con track. Had to solve that deal. Solve
that deal. Eventually signed with the Vikings, had a great
preseason with them, when incredible locker room, great people up there,
had two interceptions in the preseason, got put on Peace squad,
and then I got put in this decision point week three.
I think it was Texans wanted to like John Simon

(15:21):
was down here Vaugin formula with Raves and oh b
and you guys were both Ohio Boys, but we had
we had trained together for two years at Ohio State.
I was living in Columbus and my buddy Zach Born,
who actually was the Texans for an offseason, got me
into train with Ohio State NFL group, which is a
massive blessing for me. Anthony Schlegel was an assistant strength

(15:41):
coach and asked me to join them if I wanted to,
And it was huge because I had no money and
need needed to train and met some dogs and learned
how to work there too, so it just translated really well.
But so I had a decision point where the Vikings
were offered me full guaranteed salary like active really like
four hundred and forty thousand dollars at the time, whatever

(16:02):
it was for the rest of the year, and the
promise to get me up or that I go for
the Texans UH for three games active um, and kind
of bet at myself and ended up having a few
cool conversations over at the airport. Decided to whether or
not to get on the plane, and one of my
buddies was talking to me and he's like, you, uh,

(16:23):
you played what three years in three different leagues to
play in the NFL, not practice in the NFL. I go, yeah,
you're you're freaking right, Let's ride. So I hopped on
the plane. Which friend was that? By the way, Dan
Percy is my quarterback in college? Okay, yeah, but so
that's that's the guy that I showed up to Houston
and just uh played with my hair on fire on

(16:43):
special teams and took over that role and did what
I could while I was there, And uh, I kind
of left on a little bit of an injured season
and eighteen, but yeah, that was in my career. Well
let's uh, you're being very humble there, because you had
a good You were one of the best special teams
players in in team history. I mean, you're really one
of the best Texans on special teams of all time.

(17:03):
Tell me about that first game when you actually did
get in the game and it was a regular season contest,
did you take just a teeny tiny second to appreciate
what was going on or was it all business? Just
focus on that. What was it like for you? Yeah?
I mean I was playing hungry for sure, and Brian
Gaine at the time had reminded me, like before the
game that like I'm on a three three week contract

(17:26):
and I need to produce, So um, yeah, I was
playing super hungry. I was dialed, but like I was
very grateful and I think I appreciated the NFL just
because of the path I took. But I actually made
the first tackle on my first kickoff, so that kind
of got everything out of the way, and after that
had a really good first season down There was that

(17:46):
the Bengals game Monday that was that year, and that
was perfect for me because it was that in Cincinnati,
which is an hour and a half from my home,
so I might have had sixty people there and probably
had one of my better special teams games, like a
couple of big hits. So it was just h That
was a that was a fun game. That was a
massive win because Texans, I think we're about two and

(18:08):
five at that point and the Bengals had not lost.
It was a primetime game. Texans were an afterthought in
their eyes. I think they kind of were like, this
is gonna be a win, what's next? And you guys
took it to them and it really helped turn the
season around. You wind up making the playoffs in large
part because of that game. Was a big, big win.
And yeah, it's like you said, you mean, you were

(18:29):
locked in and you produced there when the time came.
And one of the things I remember was you came
out to the rodeo with me a time or two,
I think, and you were all duded up and I
would put the suit and tie on and we'd walk
through the carnival or whatever we wrote a camel together.
I believe that was that was always fun on, wasn't it.
You were You were always very active in the community
when you were here with the Texans. Yeah, I'll follow

(18:52):
you wherever you want to go. Bud Well, what's your
favorite memory as a Texan because you were on some
pretty dark, good teams. Yeah, I mean that those those AFC,
those AFC South titles were phenomenal, great memories for me,
Like after the game in the locker room with the
boys kind of deal um that Cincinnati Bengals game was
dynamite for me as well, just with my family and

(19:14):
being in Ohio and everything. Um those things, Uh, I
do one of my favorite things. So I got a
I had a charity going through charitables down there, um
Happy Hearts Foundation, and I actually held a charity event
at Top Golf one year, and uh, the amount of
guys that showed up to the golf outing or to

(19:34):
the Top Golf thing was just matt It was humbling.
I was so excited. I mean we might have had
forty guys there. Wo. And that was after the Texans
golf outing that morning, so like it was like it
was like I actually scheduled my thing first. The Texans
picked their golf outing after that. But but uh, the
amount of guys that showed up and sacrificed to show

(19:57):
up just like that was one of my most like
happiest proud moments, like being in texting is having the
boys show up and everybody had a blast too, So
it all worked out. Well. It's a testo to who
you are, man, I mean you're you're a pretty magnetic dude,
and you got along well with a lot of people
who are some of those players, those former Texans that
you still keep in touch with and are still friends with.

(20:18):
Oh yeah, I still me, So me and Scarlett are
still boys. Uh. I've been down and seeing coaching. Uh
probably like four or five times two since I moved
out of Houston. Yeah. I went up and trained the
wat brothers a little bit. We got we cut a
hole in the ice and did all that kind of stuff.
So with him, Um, and then we kind of have

(20:39):
some group texts, uh still with like Sean Hayese, old
strength coach, Uh Whitney Merciless, John Simon, like those guys
that like that group. I don't think we've ever failed.
We gotta, we gotta. We had a super fun linebacker
room at the time. I'm still in touch with Shaq
Rashad as well. Um did I'm probably in touch still
with ten fifteen guys on the regular there. Um, we

(21:01):
had a we had a really good locker room down
in Houston. Yeah, okay, and you go through so much together.
I mean there was a game I think it was seventeen,
and it was after Watson had gotten injured, so it
was it was kind of a struggle and a lot
of guys had been injured on that defense. You're at Baltimore.
It's kind of November, so it's later on in the season,

(21:22):
and I think Scarlett went down and somebody else went down,
and you had to go in and play outside linebacker.
And I remember seeing in the locker room. I'm like, hey,
how you feeling, dude, And You're like, I feel like
I just played outside linebacker and I'm not an outside linebacker. Yeah,
it was I was like, ooh, are you all right?
So that was a memorable Brian Peters experience for me,

(21:42):
at least say that back now. That was super fun.
And actually, I mean you just learning on the run
and then had to play some more outside linebacker the
next week in Indianapolis. Um but yeah, I mean as
a learning experience, and Rabel coach the hill out of me. Um. So,
like I like I was in a position to do
my job and make players and I and I I
surprised myself and help my own on the edge there.

(22:03):
Me and coach were kind of splitting the duties the
second game. Um but yeah, I mean that that's I mean,
that's like guy goes down, like you had to adapt
and that it happened. I think as the Ravens game
was a primetime game too, I think it was. And
uh so that was fun, like uh, a little bit
of family there, but like I getting to play in
primetime and actually getting to play on defense meant a

(22:25):
lot to me. M And then like obviously like special
teams and being a captain that last year was incredible
as well, like that was honored and um excited to
take on that role as well. Yeah, I mean you're
part of a team that won eleven games like that
was a really good team and really special teams changed
that year. It was you were a part of that.
I mean it really got a lot better, coverage got

(22:47):
a lot better, and you were, like you said, you
were one of the leaders there. That was. That had
to be a fun final year. Injury aside, I'm guessing right, yeah,
I just uh, I mean I think I was like
week three early. I was just playing it like whatever
kind of until my ankle eventually caused my calf to tear.
But um, but uh, now that was a great year.
Seely came in as a special teams coordinator and his

(23:10):
uh his methodology and his uh systems and um, like
everything was dialed and it was it was really cool
to see a lot of great incredibly coached what wise
nuances to the game. So I learned a lot from him.
I wish I'd have produced a little bit more for him,
but uh yeah like that, Like it was really cool
to see the evolution of special teams through my time

(23:31):
there because I came from a team in Minnesota under
a preefer Um who's now the head special teams coach
for the Browns. Uh that they everybody took a lot
of stock and respect and special teams and that was like,
you're right, a passage onto the team. Yeah. And um
and his uh I'm lack of a better term, like,
his methodology was incredible, Like it was very smart. Um,

(23:55):
it was sound technically, Um sound from a depth standpoint
on all the drops and everything. So when I came
to Houston, uh initially and there there was a little
lack in the respect for the special teams world. I
saw an opportunity to bring some the knowledge I had
that I've learned from Canada and from Minnesota and share
that as many as guys as possible. That's how I

(24:16):
came into that captain role eventually, where it was just
like trying to make everybody better and and solidify the
third phase of the game for the because damn sure matters.
I mean it's vital to success and especial special teams
won some games that year for the Texans, um because
like all on the margins with what they were able
to do. Yeah, what's what's next for you? Man? We

(24:38):
got to wrap things up? But what do you uh,
what's next for Brian Peters? Dude? I don't know. And
that's the fun part. Um. I'm hoping to get into
a little more uh speaking in the breath world. I
want to get it into the military and professional football
as well. Um, So hopefully I'll be cracking that world
here pretty soon. I'm working with a bunch of one
on one NFL guy, some dogs, um and so hopefully

(25:01):
that helps negotiate the world that I'll be pairing up with,
hopefully some military forces that they do some resilience training
for UM NFL teams as well, so I may become
like a middleman there to teach guys to control their state.
And then as far as like outside of profession and
those kind of things like, I'm just gonna keep learning
as much as possible and living like I'm these rocks

(25:23):
surf it ends up being skydiving or anything crazy. Um,
hopefully that all evolves into something cool and maybe I
can document it and things like that. But uh yeah,
I'm not too worried about what's incredibly next. I know
if I keep living, learning, growing, lefting, like I'm gonna
be fine. So I'm excited to see where it goes. Yeah, well,

(25:43):
your your schedule sounds exhausting. I salute that. I'm happy
for you, and I'm not surprised by any of this
success you're having. This is this is all very in
line with what we saw from you as a player. Well,
you gotta we gonna come down and see us in
Houston a time soon. You're coming back, Yeah, yeah, I'll
probably probably, I'll probably stop by this summer because I
got a podcast on I want to grab some guys

(26:03):
on there too. That's been a little hobby of mine.
That's been just again it's just a learning experience. I
get a chance to talk to players, people from different sports,
doctors specialists in their field, a lot of recovery modawity
stuff stuff I love. And then I like a lot
of the coaching I do. Like we come under the guys,
so like we have a contract with the San Francisco

(26:24):
Giants right now. And even though we come in as
breathwork coaches, even with these one on one people, we
come in as breathwork coaches, but it bleeds into psychology,
mental skills, recovery, body maintenance, supplementation, things like that, people
things people overlook in their diet at nutrition and so yeah,
so like that's that. The podcast has been fun for

(26:47):
me to do there and it's only fueled my intelligence
and then push the company forward too. So it's been fun.
Love it. Well, Hey Brian Peters, we appreciate the time
with Missia. We can't wait to see you again soon
and the best of luck moving forward. Easy, Yeah, you're
the man, dude, appreciate you having me on and yeah,
I always enjoy the conversations