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Zamir Cobb: Gaining Steelers Respect, How The Trust Works for NFL Legends · NFL explained.

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And I remember my coach is pulling me to the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo fields, don't cheat
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And this
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is more than a game. This game can take your places.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So football to me was from that moment on, was
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: more than just a game.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: It's been life or death.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And I like the fact or I appreciate the fact
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that I get to work for the business every day
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: that changed my life, and for the players every day
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that changed my life.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: What's up, everybody, I'll peanut to me and this is
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: the NFL Player's Second Acts podcast, and with me, as
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: always is my trusty co host, Roman Harper.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: That's it. That's all. I got nothing.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: You're not gonna okay serious mode right now, So you're
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: you're right, yeah, go to our next all right, our
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: next guest. He played for the Steelers and the Cardinals.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: He is now the executive director of the Trust Ladies
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: and Gentlemen's Mere Cop.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: Welcome to the pop.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, thanks for having.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Thanks for coming on. Appreciation you.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I mean you literally just arrived like you haven't even
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: been in your room and you came right down. So man,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I thank you for coming here and just wanting to
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: get this thing right right to it.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you, no, thank you, thank you for having.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Where was you where'd you come in from?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: D C hometown? Now?
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: When you say DC, like because like d C that
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: that's a lot is it Virginia?
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Is it? Like? Yo? No? No, no, no, truly like
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: in DC? So the indigenous folks, d C is d C. Okay, yeah, teach,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: When I say d C, I mean the city of Washington.
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: So but you may hear d m V.
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: Yeah that's yeah.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Where Ken, okay, brothers and now but you're in it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: But I'm okay, all right. I like that.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Ken. That's country talk right there.
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: That is kind of country talk.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: No, ain't no kind of it is.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: We can well, you know everybody got cousins, but we
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: say but we say kim folk though, like it ain't
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: just you can say kim folk.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: That's what that's. That's some country right there.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: It might be country cousins.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: There we go. I get it.
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: I respect it, Samir. Do you remember this past that
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: happened in training camp two thousand and four? I guess
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: it was a deep pass from Ben Roethlisberger It was
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: a write up, an article about it, and it said
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: that you caught it for a touchdown, and this was
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: the play that showed the news and possibly that team
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: that like man, I think Ben Ben, maybe Big Ben
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: may be our answer or the future.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I can say I remember that
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: play vividly or specifically, but I remember many plays where
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Ben did that. That training camp, yes, also rookie mini camp.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: That mini camp.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: So tell me, tell me a couple of them.
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: I want to hear, Like, at what point, because big
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: being going for coming from Miami of Ohio, everybody had questions,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: small school guy, but he had the body, he had
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: the arm, and he literally made Miami Ohio good. So
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: what were some of the things that happened early on
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: in camp that you were.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Like, Yeah, I would say confidence, charisma, you know, and athletics.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: We call it the it factor.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: He walked with a city swag, so stepping on the field,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I think he brought up I think he raised the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: level of the offense and the team, and then his
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: talent was apparent immediately. So he helped actually helped me
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: make a name for myself in short order, feeding me
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: plenty of boss that would eventually lead to me quickly
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: moving up the depth chart. So I would say it
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: was it was early, and it was often that he delivered.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: Here's the question that we like to ask most of
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: our guests, but what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: My welcome to the NFL moment?
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: It was actually that that training camp Cheety who's now
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a corner
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: at the time. I beat him on the deep ball
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and the ball was underthrown. But I was confident that
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: he was not going to get to this football. It
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: was no way he was behind me. I shielded him,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: did all the technical savvy things. The brother went over me,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: and I mean reached over me, picked the ball off.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I said, this is a different level of athletics out
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: you know, could never be comfortable.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: So I got too comfortable that play. But that was
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: my welcome to the NFL moment.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: He was shorter than me. I mean by all measure.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: He wasn't supposed to get to that ball. No way
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: he's supposed to get to that ball. And he got
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to that ball. And to this day, I'm trying to
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: figure out this brother got some game his vert must
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: have been forty six. Yeah, Brod must have been a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: ten to four because he got up there.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: So that was my welcome to the NFL moment.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: So that two thousand and fourth season, you guys went
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: fifteen to one. You lost AFC title game to the Patriots.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: But that year Ben Roethlisberger, he was Rookie of the Year,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Officers Rookie of the Year, Hines Ward, drowing better say
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: all made the Pro Bowl. Three defensive guys made the
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Pro Bowl. Talk about how special that season was.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So for me that season in it relatively early for me.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I had actually broke my leg just before the season started,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: but I stayed with the team. Yeah, that whole season
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: watching film, so I got to see all, yeah.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: All of the players.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah that it would eventually lead to all of the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: accolades that you just mentioned. What I recall from that
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: season was just being amazed by the collection of talent,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: but more so how that collection of talent operated as
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a family or team. And I think it really showed
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: the leadership from the coaching staff standpoint front office, as
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: well as the players in the locker room. I mean
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: when you walked in the locker room, it was no
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: question that this was a veteran team.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: You would there to win, you would there to get
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: a job done.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: So what you eventually saw in the field, I think
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: came through hours of bonding and hard work before they
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: got out there.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Talk about you alluded to it earlier when you when
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: you answered the question, when you first started talking about
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: the question you got you got injury broke to let
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: how was it dealing with that injury and still being
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: with the team, But you're really not I don't want
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: to say a part of the team, but you're you're
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: not out there with your brothers and you're seeing they
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: have success, but you want to be out there knowing
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: that you contribute.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Like, how did you do with that?
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Mentally?
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: That was?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: That was tough.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It's probably the one of the most difficult challenge of
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: challenges of my lifetime for sure. I think the team
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: first and foremost did their best to make me feel
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: at home. The week after I broke my leg. No
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: mind you, I'm on a team with Hall of famers.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Man All pros, Pro Bowls.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Was just the minimum you can do on that team, right,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And the week out that broke my leg, they actually
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: hung a photo that I have in my home of
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: me on the wall and all the players laughed. They
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was like, man, you break your leg and you know
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: you get posted.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: On the wall, you know. And then during the season.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: They did like a local news segment like catch Up
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: with Zamir Cobb. Now they had won probably ten games
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: in row this time. I remember hy as Ward laughing
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: at me, like, man, we all here winning games and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they interviewing you. So you know, so I was in isolation.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: The isolation was tough, but I think the team and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the players did their best to make me feel like
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I was a partner.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Went a long way. You know.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: It's so I tore my acl my rookie year, so
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: I get what you're saying. My team went to the
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: NFC Championship game that year, trying to stay engaged when
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: you know, you still got rookie duties, so there's still
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: certain things that have to be involved in you're trying
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: to stay engaged as much as you can. For me,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: I thought the experience was so different because when they
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: have to like travel on road games, I don't do that,
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: so like I was just in the city, so I
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: kind of became like a normal person, you know. But
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: I don't have the same lifestyle as everybody else. What
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: was that lifestyle like in Pittsburgh for you, because Pittsburgh's
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: already a very unique city. I was in New Orleans,
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: but I always like to hear people's ir experience as well,
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: especially on a team that's doing well.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I got married young.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: So I was married as a after my second semester
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of college.
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: Freshman year.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my freshman year.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: My wife was actually still in high school, so she
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: was in the twelfth grade. She graduates, I go watch
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: her graduate, she rock across the stage.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: And then we had Temple University. So my wife and
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: I went.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: To school together, study together, have our first child maybe
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: a year after marriage. So throughout college, I mean, you
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: know what the vision one sports is like, man, all
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: your time is accounted for. So I got very little
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: time with my family. Actually, so that year that I
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: was injured, it was actually time for me to catch
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: up with my wife and kid after practice because I
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: would go to practice, I would watch film, but I
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: didn't have all of the other obligations as the rest
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: of the team. So I actually used that time to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: catch up with my family.
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: For sure, you might be the youngest guy.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: First of all, you are the youngest guy we've had
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: on here that was married that young. That is actually
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: an amazing stat. I didn't know that. Congratulations. I mean,
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: so when y'all are studying together, like who doing the homework?
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: We were you know, my wife was was a high
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: school athlete, so we would compete, okay, hey, because she
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: always everything's competitive yah yeah, yeah. She always hit me
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: with the you just here because you could catch you know,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: so I would try to show up. You know, I
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: got my keeping the classroom, you know. But I would
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: be remiss if I didn't admit that I had a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: you know, a good a good study party.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Definitely helpful brother.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: Hey, stay strong.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, two thousand and four, you had a Bill Coward
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: was your coach? What was he like for a coach?
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: I actually got to talk to him. He did not
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: let me down.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tough but fair. Tough but fair man. I was.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I was an undrafted free agent. But you know Larry
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald and I were both first team All Big East.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I was honorable mention All American.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately I don't get drafted, but I go into Pittsburgh
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: as an undrafted free agent. Plexico holds out and uh many.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I think up to training camp that year, so I
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: had a tremendous opportunity to get more reps. And by
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the second press preseason game, I was fourth on the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: depth shot. So I say, Man, he honors results, no
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: matter how you get him, where you come from, he
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: honors results. I've seen fourth rounders get cut. I've seen
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: first rounders make their way to the bench. Yeah, at
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, as you mentioned, you're on
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: the team with all pros and Hall of Famous results
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was the only thing that matter. So tough, but fet Man,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: he was a tough coach, but he was fair and
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I appreciated that.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: I want to know a little bit more about, like
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: the transitioning and getting comfortable with your second act. When
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: did you know that you could have success after.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Football was done.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I was injure my sophomore year of college, and we
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: now know it as a sports hernia, and it's like
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: a routine surgery, right, But when I got it, it
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: wasn't aine surgery.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I'd actually had.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: It for maybe a year and a half, two years
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: before they actually could diagnose it, so I was misdiagnosed,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: went in as a promising freshman, but due to injury,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: that outlook at sort of dwindle. During that time, I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: ingratiated myself with like the world of scholarship and being
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: an actually student right, and my professor, doctor Mechannadora, actually
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: became one of my closest friends and mentor. And one
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: day we were just talking and he said, man, one
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: day you'll realize that you're more than just pigskin and air.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: What a shallow man to be, right, And I took
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: that as a challenge. It was then where I started
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: to be more complex. I think, to appreciate deck sturdy,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: you know, create multiple forms of myself. I interned my
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: sophomore in senior year, I'm literally the only Division one
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: athlete that I've knowed actually had a true internship. My
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: senior year of football, I worked sixteen hours a week.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't like you go in and sign your
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: name and they give you hours.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: No.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I worked, and I worked at the U Study Center,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: which was the detention center for the city of Philadelphia.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Did I did real work.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: I did the same thing I worked at the Cincter
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: in life.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did real work.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: So it was then I discovered that I could be
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: successful beyond the game. I just didn't expect to apply
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: it as soon.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: As First of all, how did you get hooked up
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: with that job? And maybe kind of tell me about
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: your scheduling because you have this twenty hour you know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: you said in college you're athlete. Your day's booked up, done,
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: And so when did you find in time to go
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: to work? And what was your mentality because you also
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: had a wife and a family too, Like your mindset's
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: already completely different than every other teammate.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: You have husd cent.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: So just in terms of work, it was actually a
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: part of my major.
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: What was your major?
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Social work? So you have to have some field hours
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: or hands on work. Well, we called it a practical
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: right where you practically apply to theories that you're learning
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: in the classroom.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no, all good.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: So my sophomore year, my coach actually wanted me to
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: change my major, and the dean of my of the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: School of Social Work actually called my head coach and said,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: most Temple students work or go to work and go
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to school. What makes me any different? Either he continues
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: as major or he's not playing football. So it actually
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: my school stood up to my coach the whole time.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I'm caught in the middle, but I appreciate it in
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the lower Yeah, I appreciated lower.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: So it was actually a part of my.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Academic requirements to achieve my degree that I work my
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: sophomore in senior year.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that didn't happen to a lot of SEC schools.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: That Yeah, where the school can stand up to the coach.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: I don't think it happens that any SEC school. I
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: put that out there on the record.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: It does.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: That doesn't happen at SEC.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: You're here to play football second, and you're here for
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: an education first.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we used to get we used to get we
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: used to get that speech.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: But that's high speech closed.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: But when you're not winning, it's just words. You don't
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: have that level of pool. Yeah with the university when.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: The same speech.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: But yeah, okay Alabama. So the football thing is kind
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: of doing what it's doing. You signed with the you
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: wanted to keep playing, but you had injuries your first
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: couple of years.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: So yes, So I ended up getting us going to
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: a specialist doctor myriers just before my.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: Crazy he was down the street, down the streets.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: So I had hernia surgery and I was like, look, Doc,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: this ain't doing nothing.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I still feel this pain.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: So before my senior season, my training at the time,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Dwight Strandsbury said, we got we got one more option.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: It's a specialist uh at Honeyman Hospital. Ironically, that's when
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: my son was My first son was, my first child
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: was born.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: So I go, man. He examined me for like five minutes.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: He was like exactly. Yeah. He was like saying, you
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: gotta have this surgery. So I haven't.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And within six weeks, Man, I feel like a chance.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: Well you can get to max speed and not like
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: because it's just the governor.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: What did it feel like?
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: It's hard to describe, like it doesn't hurt all the time,
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: but it's like you'll be running.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: And all of a sudden you're about to limit.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is just especially as a wild out when
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: you got stop and go.
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I couldn't imagine.
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: I also like laying in the bed like I'd be good,
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: I'd cough make that feel it, or like I roll
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: over and you're like, oh what is that?
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: So So my junior year, I didn't practice the whole season.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I took vajos before games and that's how I made
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: it through my my junior year. Then I go into
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: my senior year, I have the surgery, and I'll tell you,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: after the first seven days of training, cat my coaches
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: shut me down. They said, if we want the DBS
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to have any confidence during this season, man, you cannot practice.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: So I knew I was back then.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And after the first six games my senior year,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Larry and I were actually neck and neck in every
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: national stat and every stat WI receiver stat nationally. So
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: it was pretty strong senior season. It was literally my
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: only healthy season.
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: It's banana.
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: And so you go to the league league a couple
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: of years, you've been signed at the Voodoo, I saw you.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: So I did three years in the league, uh, And
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: then everybody wanted to see if I could sort of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: recapture who I was before I broke my leg and
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: injured my knee. So I get to uh the Voodoo.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: I must have had.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Three or four good practices.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: They think they got the next Cadillac that nobody's ever seen.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Then I think I ended up starting to drain my
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: knee again because I started getting bone on bone.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: It's funny.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: The broken leg definitely slowed me up, but I was
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: able to just regret get back from that. But the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: bone on bone, it wasn't no, there's no really, they
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: start draining. It was like every day they started draining
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: my knee and it was it was a wrap from.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: That wrap from there.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: So now you feel your's wrap. So then you reach
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: out to the trust or how does this hold?
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: No, no, actually going back.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: Because I want everybody else to hear how these things
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: get started.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: So that internship I told you about UH and having
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to go to class at Temple, you had to go
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to every class bro they checked. I mean you had
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a class checker and if you didn't show for that class,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you had that morning wake up. I'm smiling because like,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I went to class, So I realistic say I never
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: had a morning wake up.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I don't want to give myself too much credit.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I can't say I was that committed to class, but
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: I was surely committed to not getting up before in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the morning and running wrong class right.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: So it definitely served its purpose.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Once I got injured, the two internships I had, they
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: actually reached out to me first and they were like, hey,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: so you hurt, as soon as you need us, let
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: us know. And that segue into my first job I
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: started as a case manager man in Philadelphia program called
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Adolescence Violence Reduction, working with the one hundred youth in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia that would more likely to kill or be killed.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I've actually testified over one hundred and fifty times in
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: court on behalf of adolescence. Well, we called them youth offenders, right.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I've only had one kid held, had the lowest recidivism
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: rate of any one with a case load. Quickly escalated
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to upper management and I ended up managing two forty
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: thousand square foot community centers in Philadelphia, one in North Philly,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: one in West Philly they called the Bottom. From there,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I transitioned back home to my hometown of DC, where
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I was a director of a local nonprofit. I was
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: looking for support for a camp I was doing in
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: my neighborhood, Emry Heights Playground, and I noticed that the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: NFLPA was in DC. Didn't know that, so I reached
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: out to him, and they came with a bowload of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: equipment and volunteers and you know, helped me put on
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: the first camp at my childhood playground. Yeah, and I
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: was actually living in the back, living in the neighborhood
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: at that time, so it kind of sort of resparkle
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: per my interests of getting back in sports, kept my
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: out on the job openings of the PA. Saw they
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: were launching the Trust, looked at the PD or position description.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I mean it literally read like my experience. Yeah, it
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: was actually a step back from a title standpoint or
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: position standpoint, but I've always been mission driven up position driven,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and it was sort as a calling for me.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: What actually does the trust do?
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: We provide an ecosystem of support, comprehensive system of support
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to help former players thrive post career, and.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back and what are some of the
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: things in that ecosystem.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I'll start with one in which I think we should
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: socialize and we should all do, is the brain and
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: body assessment. Players have obtained to date over four thousand assessments.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: So if you haven't done it, players, you're behind right,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: So any player with two or more credited seasons, it's
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: eligible or are eligible for the benefit. That benefit includes
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: your travel, your accommodations meals if needed. Your spouse can
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: travel with you as well, although she's not a part
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: of the assessment. The assessment is over three days. I
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: mean it's gonna be the most extensive physical you ever
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: have in your life, head to toe. You have that
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: once every five years for your lifetime. So the first
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: thing we need to be for our families in our
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: community is present, right. And what better way to be
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: president than to be healthy?
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: So I think we start there. I think all of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: us we need to start there. We need to socialize
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: that as you transition, of course, you're gonna wonder what's next.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: It's a very complex scenario. You're gonna wonder what's next.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: What's next is gonna be different for all of us.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: So we help with the resume, the cover letter, the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: LinkedIn profile, the interview skills. You have a one on
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: one coach to walk you or walk along with.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: You in that process. You're never alone.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have a skill assessment, a personality assessment, whether
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: you're pivoting in a career or you're entering a career.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Our educational advancement or our scholarship is twenty thousand dollars
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: per calendar year for your lifetime. You don't come out
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of pocket. We pay the school, or the benefit pays
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the school directly. It's undergrad grad, PhD. Whatever it is
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of your choosing To date, we're roughly eleven hundred completed
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: degree programs, and over fifty percent of those are graduate degrees.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Players can also take advantage of a certificate up to
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: five thousand a year for your lifetime.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: So those are three that I.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Would definitely keep in mind if you're looking to have
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a good time with the.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Family, like like I. You know I am, and.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: You got a big household like we do. You know,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: my wife and I we have five kids. YMCA is
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: good for everybody. We just added swim to the YMCA benefits.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: So brothers, if you don't know how to swim, learn
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: how to save yourself and save it life. We got
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: all right you could take it depending with you as well.
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: So it's a lot of things. I appreciate that.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Those are just a couple.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: So I've done the braining, the bringing brain body.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: I did mine in the Cleveland Cliny Okay, so yeah
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: I'm in Cleveland.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, did in Cleveland.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I did it like around COVID. So I think I'm
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: due in like twenty twenty six. Is when twenty five
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: twenty I gotta check, But I'm I don't worry. We
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: know we'll call you before I think we keep, we keep,
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: I'm about doing. My five years is just about up.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: So I'm I think I'm ready for my next skin.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Because you're a good example of what we all.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: And it was cool for three days.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: I think I found out I have a sleep avenue,
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: but I don't sleep with the machine because it's it's
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: very annoying and loud.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: But so have you tried the pillar surgery?
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: No, I don't. I don't think I'm gonna do any surgeries.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: But so how are you treating your apney? Brother? If
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: you don't know me, ask you. Let's go there.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping good.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: You come over, you come.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: I'm just saying we can you know I'm sleeping good.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: I'm six and a half hours in, like I'm still.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Because we helped with the follow up. Now, yeah, brother,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: we got you.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: I feel So I tried it. I'm not gonna I
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: tried it and I woke up and it was like
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: a damn desert in my mouth, like it was just dry,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: and so it's it definitely takes some you some It
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: took me a minute to get used to it, and
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: I never got used to it.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: So I just was like, I think I'm with you.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I think I think I'm Yeah.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: I tried it in my and my kids said it
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: looked like I was going to the moon at night. Yeah,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: so I couldn't I had, I wouldn't have had the surgery.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: So they put Yeah, so that's the I don't know
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: what what is this surgery?
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Hold talk just a pillar. I had a pillow put
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: in my throat. It's helped reduce my storing and I
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: can sleep and everybody that lives in my house now
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: can sleep because I don't.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, right, isn't there an app that you can track
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: it with an app?
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: There's something there's there's some type of a device that
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: it can connect to with an app and it will help.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: It helps with the Yeah.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit about that treatment.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: My kids are just like that.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: You you sound like you're gonna die, And I was like,
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: I've but I slept fine.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: I feel good, like I'm good. But yeah, well we'll
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: talk offline after this.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: But yeah, you got to do the brand and I'll
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: be telling you to do this stuff, but you won't
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: be trying to listen to your boy.
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because I don't want them to tell me I
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: can't have bacon no more. I'm sorry, I.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Don't think that. You know, don't limit yourself over bacon.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: As a matter of fact, the price of bacon is
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: going up so much. I stopped so I've gotten out
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: of it.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: So just remember as the Arab benefits, so you're leaving
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: money on the table.
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: I agree.
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: This is something I talked to my wife about this
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: morning that I'm this is two things.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: They committed to it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna do it. Yes, I gotta continue to commit
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: to it.
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: What about all the answers that you felt that after
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: you joined the trust that maybe got answered for yourself
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: when you finally committed to it.
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: You're going into it. I think you said.
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: The first two questions asked before making a career move
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: is number one, can I maximize impact? And number two?
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: Can I amplify the mission? You already told me that
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: you're a mission driven person. I wrote that down. I
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: actually love it. It's mission driven, not position driven. And
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: then if you can do that, if there's a third,
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: can I do those two in a deeper way that
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: I can already accomplish in my current role. So all
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: these questions, what did the Trust help you in answering
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: those questions, I.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Would say, you know, going a bed and waking up
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: with the weight of can we improve the lives of
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: former players and their families? I think it's an honor
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: and a half. It's a discussion that's normal, normal in
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: my household. What can we do? What are we not doing?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: How could we look at our family as a reflection
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: of the other family to be productive? How could I
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: look at myself introspectively, right, my strengths, my weaknesses, my toils,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: my tears, you know, in a way that can be
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: reflected out on what we do. But greater than that,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: as a program manager, I was able to serve over
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: five hundred players in a role of program manager in
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: that sense, helping players figure out or empowering players to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: figure out their what's next. And it's the collection of
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: those experiences that I think has helped me amplify our mission.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I think going into the trust, which I was created
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: by players for players, in collaboration with various subject matter
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: experts as well as NFLPA staff, there was a core
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: of services that remain our core today, but there were
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: also gaps, and I think my past experience helped me
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: and the others that I was working with at the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: time see those gaps and feel them in a way
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: that players could appreciate. We didn't start the trust with
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the ability to go impatient, so we literally can go
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: from basic counseling to impatient services. Player pays no costs.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: We didn't have that when we first started, right, So
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: when you talk about being mission driven, it's always the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: what's next. It's always questioning what we do, turning over
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: what we do, how can we think differently about what
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: we do to make it better on behalf of players.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: The YMCA didn't come with the trust. That was again
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: a gap that we saw that we were able to feel.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: We didn't have the free agent program, which, if you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: don't know, every active player with two or more credited
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: seasons who is not on the roster, we pay for
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: them to train up to twelve months at Bambar Rito
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Exos DSA and Atlanta Yo Murphy Sports in Tampa up
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: to twelve months.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: We didn't have that. We saw a guy.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: We know players want to get back in the game first,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: so we start there. But that also creates a natural
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: road to the transition because, as you guys know, you've
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: a power clean front squad, realize you're not getting a
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: call and you move on to what's next. So we
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: want to be right there when the player makes that decision.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: So we talk about being mission driven, amplifying the mission.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Those are some of the things that I've been able to.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Do along with or create along with the team of
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the Trust that I think players are benefiting from today.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Fulfilling?
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: Is it to do that though, knowing that you came
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: here or you're a former player, you step into you
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: step into this position, and you've just filled all these gaps?
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: Fulfilling?
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Is it?
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: Do you ever just sometimes sit back as Blake hey Man,
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: we we did that.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: We I know I'm not benefiting from some of these things,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: but I made the game better for this next group
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: of guys.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Like absolutely, there were seven of the There were seven
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of us when we first launt the Trust. Of the seven,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: three remain myself, Andrew Zink, who's our director of Ops,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and Danielle Foreman, who's our director of Service. Those two folks,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: along with the folks who have served the organization in
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the past and continue to serve the organization today. Those
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: folks are heroes and I'm just a part of a
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: team of heroes and our service team.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I would go a step further.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I call them superheroes without capes because the things they
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: do on behalf of players, the unseen that they do
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: on behalf of players every day, you wouldn't believe how
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: it benefits us. Right, So it's fulfilling for me as
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: an individual, but it's even more fulfilling knowing that I
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: have a team of committed individuals that drive the train.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: For players every.
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: Day and we'll be right back, all right.
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: So you say it's only three of you guys that
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: have been there since the beginning, and you happen to
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: be one of those guys. At what point did you realize, like,
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: you know what, I think I'm not just a person here,
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: but I think I'm ready to move up and take
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: on more.
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: Of a leadership. Bro, what was it you are?
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: You're a manager, a program manager to player director, then
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: you went managing director, now the executive director. So like
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: you know, I look, I'm not I haven't had a
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: whole bunch of jobs where I know what those exact
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: terms mean. But sounds like you're moving up the last
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: When did that start to hit for you?
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: Like, man, this is.
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: What I think my calling is, and this is my mission,
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: I might as well be the best at it.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: So I started as a program manager on the Trust side,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: But the Trust and the NFLPA are distinctly different organizations
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: legally distinct organization. The Trust is a collectively bargain benefit
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: and our board members are made up of equal NFL
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: trustees equal NFLPA trustees.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: But we're located.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Within the nflpa's sort of infrastructure building per se or space.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: So naturally the work I'm doing on my floor is
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: reverberating throughout the building for lack of better terms, So
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: that gave me the opportunity to serve players in the
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: role lists player director. So I was a program manager
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: for two and a half years. Then I go with
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Player Director on the NFLPA side for roughly five years
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: through the twenty twenty Collective Barney Agreement larger responsible for
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: engaging in educating players writing them to bargain. Right after that,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I go back to the Trust as managing director for
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: roughly three years, so I get to see sides of
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: the business that I was familiar with but didn't have
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: my hands in, such as our operations, how we pay
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: our bills, how we pay the scholarship, how we pay
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: for medical costs. Took that collective experience and then became
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: executive director. The way I describe it is, I've always
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: been on good teams. Good teams allow you to excel
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: as an individual, no doubt, made multiple promos and all
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: pro teams allowed me to escalate. And I'm still celebrating
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: with my team.
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that.
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: So this is a question we like to ask all
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: of our guests. You have had an amazing life, high school, college,
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: you know, NFL, now post life, your transition to where
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: you are right now, vinize the director, if you had
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: four people to pick from that help you turn you
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: into the menu are today right now, sitting right here
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: in this chair.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Who would those four people be? And we're putting them
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: on your own personal amount rushmore.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna say in order, because if it's ordered,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: you know, wife is premium.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Order, Yeah, wife is premium. But my four is easy.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Uh you know, I call them my holy you know,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: my holy trinity, just to spind off, not to be
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: disrespectful of any religious belief. Uh, my mother, my grandmother
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: and my great aunt. Those are the folks that that
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: got me to my wife. And once I got to
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: my wife, she took it over from there.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: Now, why all three, you know, mother and grandmother and
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: your auntie, Ye, why.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Each as a team. They raised me and they raised us,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: meaning my siblings, my cousins, we were all. My cousins
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: are like my brothers and sisters. My extended family is
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: like my nuclear family. Because they kept us all close.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Sunday dinners, Easter Sundays, Christmas dinners, all those times at
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: the table, all those times enjoying those moments allowed us
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: to I think, have a heightened level of fondness for
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: each other. It's helped us as children, has helped us
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: as an adult, and I think they turned over a
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: good man to my spouse and we've been able to,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: i think, carry on many of those traditions that she
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: came with from her family, but particularly as you asked me,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: that I came with from those three individuals.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: Hey, I appreciate you coming on the pot man. Thank
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: you for blessing us and giving us a little bit
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: more education and understanding of what the trust actually does
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: for former players. But I'm definitely looking to the thing.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: We'll talk a little bit about it. We're gonna get
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: room hooked up of just getting the brain and mindy skin.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: Can you can? You can do it in l A.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: You don't it, don't have.
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: To do I love l A.
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: Like, let's let's go to LA and we.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Can get it done on the beach and your hotel
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: in l A is on the beach.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: There's't got nothing to do with you.
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: This is this guy always trying to talk me into
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: doing something, and I'm just like very hesitant.
• 38:27
  Speaker 6: You on the other end, number one, very mature.
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: I can tell by your journey, your path, the way
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: you speak, how much your knowledge is and everything that
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: you spoke about. You don't talk unless you know what
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: you're talking about. You can tell, uh, and so that
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: means you you listen extremely well. But I do want
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: to know one more thing, and maybe it's a little
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: bit of insight, and I.
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: Want to know just a little bit more about who
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: you are.
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: And I'll probably pick up on it, but it's like,
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: at what point are like what about your football career
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: from whether you were playing from you were little high
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: school temple to where like that led you to this point?
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: What did you learn or what all did you take
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: from football in your life that has helped you grow
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: to exactly where you are, And it's just mature wealth
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: of knowledge that's really leading a group and really serving
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: so many people.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I hate to get so serious on this one,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: but no, don't.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: Turn Yeah, my.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Little league coach di'angelo Phelds was the second round draft
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: pick and.
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: He grew so you saw NFL in front of you.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: So he grew up about two blocks away from me
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: in my neighborhood. He's Jerry Porter's second round draft pick.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: He grew up about a couple of blocks away from me,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Vernon Avante Davis. We also have a superstar agent who
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: would go unnamed. We all grew up on the same playground.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: It was a he's the ones that went to the league,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: but particularly that a year nineteen ninety two ninety three,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: it was a very difficult year for my city DC.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: We were at the height of the crack epidemic. Violence
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: was rampant, and I remember my coaches pulling me to
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: the side and saying to me, particularly D'Angelo Fields, don't
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: cheat your opportunity. You have a responsibility beyond yourself. And
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: this is more than a game. This game can take
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: you places right in football, Although I enjoyed it, from
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: that moment on it took on a more serious form.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I saw it as my obligation to be
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the best I could be. I saw as my obligation
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to be the best I can be and transform that
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: in a way that can support my family and my community.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: So football, to me, he was from that moment on,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: it was more than just a game. It's been life
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: or death, and I like the fact or I appreciate
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: the fact that I get the work for the business
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: every day that changed my life, and for the players
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: every day that changed my life because it was the
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Lts of the world.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: It was the Jerry Rices.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Of the world, the Montanas of the world that I
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: saw that allowed me to dream, to see what's next,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: what I could accomplish, and what those accomplishments can do
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: for me.
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: Excellent answer.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: That's why I love it.
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: Thank you, and I appreciate it for you to continue
• 41:36
  Speaker 5: to serve and all that other stuff. I knew you
• 41:39
  Speaker 5: were gonna have some great words, and it's just really
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: cool because when you see greatness in front of you,
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: and when they say something to.
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: You, you hold on to it.
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: I bet that coach probably had no idea that that
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: was gonna stick with you, but it's a very vivid
• 41:52
  Speaker 5: memory in your life. I can tell you remember, like
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: bro it from there on, football was no longer just
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: a game. Way of life is a way providing and
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: you didn't even know what future we're going to have,
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: but I needed this to to be a part of it,
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: So I appreciate it. Man, thanks for everything that you're doing.
• 42:09
  Speaker 5: Thank you, and man for all of our listeners and
• 42:12
  Speaker 5: viewers out there wherever you pick up your podcast, whether
• 42:15
  Speaker 5: it's Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio app Man, leave a like, subscribe comment, Man,
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: hit that follow button, and you can also check us
• 42:23
  Speaker 5: out on more episodes on the NFL pages YouTube channel
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: and Peanut Man get us out here and don't be weird.
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: Hey, pre chut, y'all tune it in. I'm Peanut Tubman.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: This is my guy Roman Harper NASAMir and this is
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: the NFL Player's second act podcast.
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: We out