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Kevin O'Connell and Ryan Poles · NFL explained.

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I'm Peanut Tolman and this is the NFL Players Second
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Acts Podcast. I got my guy Roman Harvard with me.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We're in Phoenix, Arizona at the NFL Annual Meetings. It's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a great time. We got some golf in. It's got
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: some good weather. The weather's great. I hit the ball
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: great on golf. I'm looking forward to winning more, even more,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: even more. And so what we got now is I
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: want to take to make sure we tell all of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: our followers to give us a follow, like a review,
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  Speaker 1: sure to tell a friend to tell a friend to
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  Speaker 1: check us out. We actually got another follower at breakfast
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: this morning. So just know we continue to spread the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: word and we're doing our thing. Peanut, Who we got today?
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: We got a Viking's head coach, Kevin O'Connell and Bears
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: GM and Pulse. Check out their interview. Today's guests went
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: thirteen and four in his first season as a head coach.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: He won Super Bowl fifty six as an offensive coordinator
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: for the Rams. He is a Saint Diego State alum.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: He got his first coaching gig in the NFL in
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: twoy fifteen. Please welcome our guests, head coach of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O'Connell. So, uh, you were at the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: game last night, right, Saint Nigos State, y'all have huge Alabama? Wait?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Wait what team did y'all beat Alabama? Yeah? He went
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to Alabama and I love I'll tell you what. Oh
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: my god, I've never seen I mean, just the athletes
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: on that court. Saint eve State has done an unbelievable
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: job with their program. But Alabama, my goodness, I mean
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the number one overall seed for a reason. In turn, Yeah, yeah,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: we had to We had to slop it up a
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: little bit, make a little bit of a street fight
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to get that one. That's kind of the way we play.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: But it lets you to me though, it doesn't really
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: matter about what seed you are, because they y'all got
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the job done right, well you can it was. It
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: was the first time in a while for me being
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: at an NCAA tournament game. Um, I'm sure you guys
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: have been to those games before. It doesn't feel like
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it just feels like they're regardless of seeds. It feels
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: like there's two teams just playing right and anything can happen.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Like when you're there, you actually feel how a sixteen
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: could be to Purdue. You know, FDU could be Purdue.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: You could you feel it because that ball goes up,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: momentum swings, and that's guard who was on the You know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it's a street going on. Who goes hot and win?
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And so lucky for me, I didn't get to watch
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the game. I was flying here last night, so I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: didn't watch the game. I did keep up with the scores,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: and so San Diego State was up, but it was
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: one half. I'm like, if Alabama shoots well, they beat
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: anybody in the country. Clearly they didn't shoot well San
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Diego State. And after talking to some of my friends,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: it wasn't about what Alabama didn't do, but it was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: more about what San Diego State did to Alabama. Last night,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I had a blog party playing great defense. Just give
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: me a little inside of what you saw as a
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: basketball matchups, because yeah, you're big sports, Well, shoot, they
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: had to be physical because I mean you look at
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: these guys. I mean Alabama has first of all, they're big,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: they're long, they're athletic. I mean, my man, you know
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: some of these guys, I just watching them and warm ups.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: You're looking at one side of the court. It was
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the old like, I know you guys did this in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: your playing career. Sometimes you're playing against the team, you
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: look across the fifty and you're like, my goodness, no, yeah,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: we'll take that guy. That guy, that guy will take
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: them all. I'm standing there with my son. I brought
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: my eight year old Kaden, and we're watching Sandy or
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: stay warm up on one side and we're watching and
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: you're like, I'm having a tough time seeing it. And
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: then that game said got started it and it literally
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: turned into I mean it was nasty, kind of physical ball,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of guys on the ground, big diving for
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: loose balls, and Alabama. I just thought it was a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: great game. Sanday State's up at the half. Then Alabama
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: goes up nine kind of early on in the second half,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and you could just see the skill, I mean, guys
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: above the rim, long threes, quickness, speed, all the things
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: that made them the best team in the country. Um.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: But then Santay State just it was like they decided
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: very about the time they got their bench actually got
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a tea they got teed up. I don't know who
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: said what, um, but right about that time, I don't
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: know if it was the head coach or who it
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: was that got it, they kind of clicked into gear
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and every loose ball became theirs, every long rebound became
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: theirs extra possessions, and before you know what, that one
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: seed started to press a little bit towards the end,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and UM, huge win for the program. Basically, Alabama cave.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Want to pressure yall, y'all cave right. That sounds about
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: that sounds about they're young, though I was. I basically
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: stayed at the Alabama team hotel and talking that They're like,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: we're really good, but we're youngy very they don't know
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: how they're gonna respond. And Sanday State's got a bunch
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of grown, grown men. I think that matters. It does
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: matter at the time. Yeah, well, I'm glad y'all lost.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'm glad your team won it. It's bad because you know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Peter and I got to work out in this morning,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and look, I only packed what I packed, so I
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't anticipating in Alabama lost. So I got my Alabama
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: gearl on this morning. Literally got some guy from Gonzaga
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: apologizes for me. Had some random guy come up to me, Oh, man,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I'm a San Diego State alone and I'm like, you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I didn't even ask you, come hold you. I loved
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: every minute of it. Keeps asking me about it. I'm
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: just like, you know, she's the only packed what I packed? Man,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. It was great. It was I loved every minute. Congrats, Yeah,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: congrats Will I will say this much. The Alabama fans,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: they were awesome. Like during the game, the atmosphere was great,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: but even after talking to some of them, you know,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: they were, hey, credit credit to where it's dude, State
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: won that game, how they played. You know, we gotta
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: but the positivity towards that young team. Man. I know
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: some of those guys you're probably be playing in the NBA,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: but they got a hacker program. We were so proud
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: of them this year. And I know we're supposed to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: be talking football, but it's so in basketball right now.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: We're so proud of them. It was. It was really good.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And also Alabama fans they love on the basketball team
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: as much as they can. If that would have been
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: a loss on the football side, it's totally different emotions.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: That it would not have been all nice and everybody,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you know, they would not have that as well. No,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: either would coach Saban. Yeah probably. Yeah. So I've had
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the I've had the pleasure of going in two Super Bowls.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I've lost two super Bowls thanks to Peyton Manning. Uh,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you won one, you lost one. But we've had the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: joy of going. I know you won super Bowl fifty six.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I hate romanmannow was off, but super Bowl fifty six
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: with the Rams. And three days after winning the Super
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Bowl you get hired by the Vikings. Yeah. Do you
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: feel like you had enough time to like really enjoy
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: that championship? No? And and the crazy thing is, you
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: know I can remember it. You know, I officially became
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the head coach that Wednesday following the game, But I
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: mean I was trying to put together staff, even through
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the interview process. You know, I didn't want to ever
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: leave anything for my current job that would have left
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: me thinking what if? What if I would have done
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: a better job with the third down pass game plan,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: a red zone or whatever it was. So I was
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: all in, But then I'd go home at night, eleven
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: o'clock at night and I'd stay up four or five
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: hours putting together staff zoom calls with potential coaches, just
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: trying to make sure that you know, the Vikings weren't
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year, so they're not waiting to do.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: You know, that's great that you're coaching in the Super Bowl,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: but you got some responsibilities already. So it was a lot.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: But I just remember when I told myself, I got
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to you guys, remember super Bowl week, it's you know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: and we were home in LA. We didn't even go
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to the team hotel till Friday or Saturday, whatever it was.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I just said, about Wednesday of that Super Bowl game week,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I was going to put it all away. And about Wednesday,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: about one o'clock, I was still doing saying, you know
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: it was the phone would ring, and there was never
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: totally kind of brushing it to the side, but I
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was able to focus on it. Unbelievable experience to win
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: that game, but yeah, I was. I literally took my
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: son and daughter, my oldest two to the parade and
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: then met my wife and the rest of my family
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: literally an hour from I left the parade about an
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: hour into it and went to kill get on the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: plane and flew to flew to Minnesota and hadn't been
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: back since to California since you know, basically that day.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: So it was it was fast, man, it was it
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was it was it was not your normal. Let's just
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: put it this way. Other people were enjoying that parade
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit more than I was. Yeah, I was
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: gonna say, because you know a lot of times, you know,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: after games, you win. Okay, we got twenty four hours? Yeah,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: now did you I did. I did go to the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: super Bowl party, got to spend a lot of time.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: But before you know, it was just I'll never forget
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I stayed out. Obviously, you play that game, you go
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the party. Mister Cronkie put it, put on an unbelievable
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: super Bowl party, stayed out late. I just remember my
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: phone going off about six thirty or seven o'clock the
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: next morning, and I might have went to bed two
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: hours before that. And it was people in Minnesota like, yeah,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: we need you to we're trying to get this done
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: or this coaching contract done, or are you good with this?
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And I was like, and it hit me in that moment,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I'm like, this is nobody cares. Nobody cares there. Yeah,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I gotta. I saw I listen to another
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: interview you did and you talked about, you know, managing
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: your time. Yeah, and so I'm not great at that.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: So okay, And you said, as a head coach, you
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: always feels like, man, it's always something to do, somebody's
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: always depending on you, whether it's you know, it's through
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the organization, it's charitable causes, it's you know, lean doing
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: something for a player, or your coach is making sure
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the coordinators everybody's has something going on. So and versus
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a coordinator, maybe you had a little bit more waiting
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: time for somebody else to tell you or assistant to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: tell you where you need to be going or something
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: to be doing. So how do you manage that? How
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: do you get to this point or are you still
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: into this learning process or maybe just give us some
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: insight on the difference of being from a coordinator time example,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to now the head coach and now running the whole thing. Yeah,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I think the unique thing for me is trying to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: be the play caller too on offense. So really, although
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I've got some great coaches, I got a great offensive
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: coordinator in West phillips As the play caller, you're still
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I feel an obligation to get in front of the unit. Saw.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I need to be with Kirk and in the quarterback room.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I can't just be the voice that shows up on
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: game day and being his ear and be calling plays.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: So you've got to totally submerse yourself in the in
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the offense with those players, installs in the past, game,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: run game, you know how we're going to play the game,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: articulating what it's going to take to win the game,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: all those things you do as a coordinator. But I
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: just tried to do a lot of those things on
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a whole scale with our entire team. Um, you know,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I learned from some really good coaches the previous team
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I was with and with the Rams, being around Sean
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and and really the coolest thing you did for me
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: was said, Hey, you're gonna be a head coach, why
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: don't you just kind of tag along on a lot
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: of this stuff. So I watched him go really what
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: it felt like at times and you know, even times
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: where I shouldn't even have been in his office, Uh, hey,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: why don't you come in. We'll talk about you know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the OTA schedule or something crazy. And you're like, man,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: this guy truly is pouring into me to develop me
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to become a head coach in this league. So, um,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: you know, too much as given, much as required. So
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I tried to soak it all in. Um, he's one
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: of my closest friends. But what what that really let
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: me see is he's a play caller that tries to
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: be totally all in on his team. Culture matters, all
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: those things. You can say a lot of things, yeah,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: but then you got to back it up. And the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: ultimate enemy to all that is time when you're trying
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to do everything. Um. I also have you know, we
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: had our fourth child and during the season, about week eight,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: on a Friday, what the heck, let's just go play
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the Commanders in Washington. And I left my wife at
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the hospital and luckily her mom was in town. You know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: she'd had the baby. Every baby was healthy, wife was healthy.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: And I went back and went to walk through, then
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: got on the plane and flew to Washington. So didn't
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: it crazy that we do that? Nobody? Actually a lot
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: of people gave me a you know, I thought people
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: would be like, man, that what a what a coach
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: going to But I took some pretty good, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: pushback from like our our female fan base of Hey,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you don't know what it's like to have a child.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: You're there supporting, you know, basically being a cheerleader for it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But you know, we're the ones that I can't believe
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you left her at the hospital. I there were some
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: people that genuinely were not happy that I left. I
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: got the flip side of it, though, because we had
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: played a game my wife was she was pregnant, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: someone asked the question, um, if she goes in labor,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: you know, are you gonna go? And I was like, yeah,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I'll just miss the game. And then everyone was like, oh,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: why would you do that? Do you want to get
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: paid for sixteen games? You want to work sixteen days
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: a year and all this sold of stuff like so
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: it's kind of like, damned if you do, damned if
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you don't know that. It was one of those questions.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I was just like, whatever, I'm well, well, I missed
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: my first child's birth because she came on a playoff
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: game and you know I was in San Francisco. She
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to go, she was late. Yeah. Then next
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: you know, I get a miss like six phone calls
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: and you look up You're like, oh, she's going too late.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: She's like, I'm gonna hold it. I'm like, okay, baby,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Appreciate that. And it was like, nah,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the second quarter is all good. But when did you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: When did you first get the first text you actually saw?
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Was it before they know? It's after the game? It
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: was after? It was after I'd had no idea. What
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: would you have done if you if you had got that,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Like you come in pregame the last twenty minutes, you
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: come in from that, what would you have done would
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: probably would have been emotional and like I've probably been
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: a little shook. You know, you want to be angry,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: you want to be in this zone. Yea, And all
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: of a sudden you get like the picture of your
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: first child. It's just that, it's gotta it's got to
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: shake you a little bit out of There's no way
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you can't be thinking about that and then try and
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: go out there in the before the biggest playoff game
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of year, you know at the time, but it was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it was fireworks. It was a great game. But talking
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about a day of emotions though, I mean, you're playing
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a playoff game. Actually, you know your daughter's born. You
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: lose the playoff game after you put so much into it,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: a nail biter, and then you know everybody else is sad,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and then you're kind of happy. I remember that game,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: yeah against US No, that was against San Francisco. Ran
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the quarterback s week. We blitzed from his right side
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the whole game and all of a sudden they ran
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: quarterback sweep away. You are that that's part of your inventory, right, No, yeah,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that's you call former film. Well I can remember some
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: of the players in that game. It was who they
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: have crab Tree and yes, oh yeah, and the tight
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: end um burning Davis and so it was a it
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: was a great game. I mean we had five turnovers?
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Was that when? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that was it. Yeah.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: That was a Tony Montana game where they they played
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: it was rocket. It was a great atmosphere. It was electric,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I'm telling and that's saying something because you played in
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: one of the best for a long time than man. Yeah,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: that was one of the best atmospheres I've ever been
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: a part of. So um, who would you say? So
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: you're you're talking about Sean's when your one of your
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: closest friends and I know two thousand and eight, you
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: got drafted by the Patriots. Josh mcdonwalds. He was the
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: o C at the time. Who would you say? A year?
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you learned a lot from him, just
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: kind of you know him and Tom and all that.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Who would you say you're I think a lot of
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: coaches they talk about being a coaching tree, like who
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: would you say you're a disciple of? Or who's a
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: part of? Like just tread them come from, honestly, So
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: much of what we do offensively and everything was kind
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of shaped and in LA and what we tried to do.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: So the first name is always Sean McVeigh just because
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: he did so much for me as a coach. Yeah,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: it was really cool because I had been friends with
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Sean uh or about my entire coaching career since about
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. But really kind of he gets the head
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: job in LA, I go to what he's instrumental in
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: me getting the quarterback job in Washington as he's kind
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: of leaving town and I'll just never forget it. Being
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: like he told me at the time, He's like, we'll
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: circle back and I'm gonna get a chance to hire you.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: And then three years later, he's bringing me out there
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to be the coordinator, you know, a huge moment in
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: my career. And then also ultimately we you know, make
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the trade for Matthew Stafford, we win a super Bowl,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and then I become a head coach. So I owe
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: so much to Sean from that standpoint. But you talk
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: about it, I I don't know if you can be
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: a player and then be part of a coaching tree
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of somebody else. But I learned a ton from coach Belichick.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: You know, last year, I got to sit right next
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to him at these owners meetings for three days and
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: it's like, you know, that's coach next to me. And
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: was that a little weird? At first? It was, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: then he had a real way of kind of breaking
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the ice and it, Yeah, so he made it. He
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: made it not weird at all, and we actually had
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: some great football discussions and kind of and then that
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: carried over it and when we played him on Thanksgiving
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: this year and spend some time with him after the game,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I think the world to him. But Josh McDaniel's Billy O'Brien,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. I mean, there's unbelievable coaches that I was,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: you know, around being around Nick Kissario in the personnel department,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I just learned so much and had no business learning
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: it at the time. I was so far I mean,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: talk about being thrown in the deep end of the pool.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: But I still look back on some of those notebooks
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: from team meetings or some of those offensive installs, and
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: just it's like somebody teaching you things that you had
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: no idea right at the time. You're writing things down
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: and you're really not absorbing it. And then all of
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a sudden, you get this job and you start being
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: responsible for a whole heck of a lot more than
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: than really just being a backup quarterback on a team.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: You go back through some of these notes and it's
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: gold right there, you know, on the pages of that notebook.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: So I have to give so much credit. And then
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: everybody in between. I mean, you guys, know, some of
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the best moments, some of the best playing career moments
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you had, might have been on some of the worst
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: teams you played for. You know, where you're personally individually
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: might have been at your best. I still tell people
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: some of the best coaching jobs that I've ever done,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: we might have won four or five games my first
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: year in Cleveland doing it. But shoot, I you know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I felt like I I coached my tail off. Yeah.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: So that's what you learn about this is if if
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you get and it Sometimes people could say it's a cliche,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: but if you get wrapped up and be and being
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: defined by the results of what we do, whether you're
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a player or coach, h you know, it can really
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: hold you back from reaching your true potential. I tend
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: to focus as much as possible on the process of
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: how I do things, why I do things, and then
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: can I make the people around me better at doing
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: what they love to do and and just being a
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you know, a positive part of their day. So when
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: they walk through the I said it day one, year
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: one in Minnesota, and I think we accomplish it. But
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I wanted our players to walk through the door and
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: feel like shoot leaving at the end of the day.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: This was a positive thing for me today. I got
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: better today. I like being around my teammates. I like
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: being a part of this and it was really important
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: for us to do that. And now we got to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: build on it. I remember RIVERI used to always say
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: that he was like after practice was over, he would
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: always say, you don't have to rush out of here
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to go home. Now, Yeah, y'all, y'all can stay because
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I think he just wanted us to be around each
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: other and just be locker room guys. And that I
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: think it's that that says a lot. It does if
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you like your space, you want to be there, and
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: you care about the people around you. And I think
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: last year was such a great example of you guys
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: really hitting it running. And could you talk about maybe
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the success that you guys had last year maybe what
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: some of the things that you saw early that you
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: knew these guys were going to be successful, and then
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: also where does this team in the organization, what does
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: it look like going forward? Yeah, I think one of
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the cool things for us was I just remember coming
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: in and guys like Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith, Dalvin Cook,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: guys that have been staples Adam feeling of the Minnesota
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Vikings organization and have played a lot of football, won
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of games. I mean, Harrison's yeah, I'm bloom
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and we're lucky enough to be able to bring him back,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: which was huge for me to be able to keep him, um,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you know, on our team and as part of our
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: leadership with that sea on his chest. But I knew
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: we had a good makeup of great leaders that have
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: been around, you know, a certain way of doing things
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: for a long time, and we're going to come in
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and right wrong or indifferent. We were gonna just be different.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And I told our team this, I believe so much
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: in the why behind how we're going to do things
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: because I just got done winning a Super Bowl, doing
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: it that way and feeling a certain kind of way
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: every day, and feeling the joy of even in our league,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: when the circumstances and the stress can sometimes overtake organizations
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: and be their demise in LA we just found a
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: way to enjoy even when we dealt with adversity. It
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: wasn't all just smiles and candy canes and and it
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: was it was real tangible human being interaction, dealing with
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: adversity and overcoming winning a super you know, all of
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: those things to reach the pinnacle of our profession together.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: So nobody can tell me nothing about there's another way
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to do it, because this is the way I know,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: And I think you guys are gonna enjoy this, and
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I think you guys are gonna want to do it
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: this way, and We'll worry about the results when they come.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: And you know, I think in those close games, those
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: end of game moments, we relied on that stuff. So
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: anybody that says it's just kind of cliche coach speak
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: stuff when stuff got really hard, the best version of
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: our team came out, they do. I think that that.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You know, we weren't always perfect. There's a thousand things
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: that I need to do better, and then I'm working
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: on to try to be better for our organization. But
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: we relied on that and it was really cool to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: kind of see how it happened in year one and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: just kind of moving forward. It's easy to do in
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: year one, right, It's easy to come in and be
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: different and kind of sell something off a win in
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: a super Bowl, and hey, we win thirteen games, and
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: this is why I got all the answers. Well, now
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: you got to go, you know, not only duplicate that
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in year two, but now you're playing a first place schedule.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Now you're playing now you're kind of you're not sneaking
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: up on anybody anymore, and you know, we're gonna have
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: to be at our best to be more consistent with
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: how we do it, play a better brand of football,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: rely on all those things and improve from a standpoint
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of our technique fundamentals, and then make sure we understand
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the culture thing doesn't just just because you achieved it
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: in year one. It's a daily thing. Culture is people.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Culture is interaction. Culture is never missing a you a
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: moment to say, hey, great job, Hey, you know we
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: got to get better here. That accountability thing, a new
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: thing for me, is that personal responsibility. Like I think
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: accountability is you guys feeling like I need to be
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: accountable to you, But how about me being accountable to myself.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: That's that personal responsibility that I think is going to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: be huge for our team and the growth of the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: next generation of Minnesota Vikings leadership. We got some of
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the best players that they're positioning football, justin Jefferson, Christian Dai, Saw,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Brian O'Neill. I mean, we've got TJ. Hawkinson, We've got
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: some unbelievably young, talented player with so much potential to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: be great in our league. But I want them to
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: understand it's time for them to wear the sea on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: their chests. It's time for them to take the next
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: step and help be a main reason why we sustained
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the great culture that so many great vikings helped us
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: build in your one. Yeah, so the name of this
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: podcast is the NFL Player's Second Acts Podcast. Yeah, we played,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: we retired. We did something else in our in our
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: second act. You played retired. You got into broadcasting. Yeah,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: did that for a brief stint. Yeah, and I'm sure
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you enjoyed it. What made you? What made you want
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to get out of the broadcasting and get back into coaching. Well,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I just finished up. I was doing some kind of
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: combine training on the side, you know, the quarterback guru circuit,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: thinking you got all the answers. There's no scoreboard in
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: next game, so that's one of the All you need
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: is one to hit them. Yeah. I watched Jordan palm
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: over this last Year's awesome. But he's great good. I mean,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: once he hit Josh Allen, He's like, bro, I got it,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I got the book. It is so convenient to be
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: able to put that, and he's really good at what
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: he does. But it is so convenient to look up
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: at that scoreboard at whatever field that they're playing at,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and that thing is off. There's no there's no running tale,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: there's no you know, two unbelievable defensive players that are
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: tasked with taking away you know, it's just about footwork.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: It's about throwing a pretty spiral. Look at this cool
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: drill you can come up with that as I've been
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: down that road, and it is building each one I give.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: I give guys a hard time because I'm jealous of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: those guys because in March and April, they're at some
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: field for two hours, and then they're they're at home
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: with their kids and on the beach and doing all
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the things that they might even be having. The workout
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: on the beach. All right, but I did that. I
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: did some college football broadcasting. Loved it, I actually really did.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I loved being able to do production meetings and meet
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: coaches and players. I did some games up at Army UM,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I did six games up there, and meeting
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: some of the cadets and just totally different type of
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: human being than than what I felt like I deserved
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: to be spending a lot of time. These guys are unbelievable.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: But then Mike Petton called and he said, you know,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: you know, Mike had tried to get me to come
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: work for him before. Rex Ryan had tried to get
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: me to come work for him before just never felt right.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: I felt like I had kind of owed it to
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: my wife to let her have a life, and you know,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: we had moved around so much with me as a
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: player that I wanted her to have a home base.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: But then Mike Petton called and offered me the quarterback
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: coaching job. And that was not something that I felt
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: entitled to by any stretch, but just felt like it
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: was an unbelievable opportunity and I was ready to at
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: that point. The timing worked out and I've been doing
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: this everything and how long before? How long did you
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: do broadcast? Two years? Two years? I got done, played
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: in twenty twelve, kind of thirteen fourteen, I did the
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: broadcasting stuff and then quarterback and yeah, being room man,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: it's my it's on my business card. But uh but yeah,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and then fifteen started coaching and I had done and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: did a training camp internship. Got a chance to be
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: around Kyle Shanahan in twenty fourteen was awesome. Um, so
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I was. I made sure I made sure I stayed
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: around it and and and really watched a bunch of tape,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: tried to that That's really where I liked doing the
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: draft stuff is on the grass stuff was fun. But
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: I got to spend you know, time with Marcus Murio
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to Jameis Winston, you know, Johnny Manziel coming out that year. Um,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: just doing ball in a in a quarterback almost like
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: a quarterback meeting room, watching tape and UM, you know,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: just trying to teach and and and learn myself. You
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: know how to always say learning the why, Why are
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you making these decisions? Why are you doing this? And
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: when you ask that question, it is amazing the types
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of things you'll hear people say, because it's never ever
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: what you think. I'm telling you. The why matters. Yea,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: and most I've just learned if you coach it and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: you believe it, and you give these players the why
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: they're so art and they're so committed to being great
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: at what they do. I mean, you guys are two
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: great examples of it. You guys. Were you mentioned Ron
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Rivera already? I'm sure you guys could say coach after
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: coach that when you close your eyes, you think back
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to that dB meeting when they told you why you're
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: going to play this trap coverage a certain way, or
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: why you had to you know, punch at the ball
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the way you did. I'm sure that was natural in
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of ways, but somebody took somebody told you
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: why to you know why and how to do it
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: at some point, and then you took it because you're
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: a great player and make your own When I tell
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson, this is how I want you to run
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: this route because this and this reason and this is
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: why it's important, and then he goes and makes it
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: his own at a world class level, That to me
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: is coaching in our league. Coaching is not waving your
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: finger at somebody telling them rules and this is why
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you can't do things, and this is why my way
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: is the only way. No, it's as truly a collaboration
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: with world class athletes and guys that just want to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: be pointing in the right direction. Tell them where to go,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: and I promise you they're going to do everything they
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: can to go get it done. Now, you may have
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: just answered this question like literally with that answer that
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: you just gave. That was beautiful, because a lot of
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: people don't understand that the understanding that what coaches see
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: that really lights them up or gives them joy. And
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: you kind of just said that what gives you joy
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: when you see these things and your special athletes. But
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: what I want to know though, is that so many
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: people talk about how smart you are, your IQ, your game,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: prep all the things that you do before the game
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: that leads up to this game. And so could you
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: give us an example of something that. Man, this was
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: something that I had dialed in and it showed up
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: in the game and it was beautiful, Like, just give
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: us that aha moment at any point in time last
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: year that you saw that kind of comes to mind.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I see it in your eyes. Well only because I
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: was just thinking about it off of that previous kind
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of talking about justin Jefferson, And there was an example.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: You know, We're playing the Patriots on a short week
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Thursday night, Thanksgiving, and you know people had started for
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the really for the first time in his career, doubling them.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, you guys played against right it was hey
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: cover one, double eighteen wherever he is. So we're playing
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: the Patriots, I know the background of that defensive philosophy
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and the coach Belichick. I could literally envision him standing
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: up in front of the team saying, we may lose
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: the game. A couple of ways but I can tell
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: you how it's not gonna happen. We're not gonna let
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: eighteen beat us. So I vividly remember telling Justin in
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a in a past install, Hey, they're gonna double team you,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna come if we put you
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: in the slot. I think it's gonna come from the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: nickel outside leverage and the safety being inside leverage from depth.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I call it at east west double. You know, doesn't
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: always have to be side by side. But I told Justin,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I said, if you can just vertically beat the nickel
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and then put your foot in the ground and vertically
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: you kind of treat it as a two part process.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: You're just running an inside fade, but beat the nickel
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: with your release, get up on the toes of the safety,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and then stick him. I promise you double team or not,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you're gonna catch. You're gonna go get this ball. And
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I got Cousins looking at me like it's gonna be
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: double and you want him just run a fade to
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: go ball, And I was like, yes, I know, you
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: guys think I'm crazy. But and then it and then
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I kind of saw how they were playing early on
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: in the court in the first court and I went
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: over and I told him, I said, I'm calling this play.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Don't think I'm crazy. You're gonna it's gonna hit. It's
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: gonna hit. And it literally like like it was almost
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: like it fell into place in the in that that
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: exact moment and it hit, and uh, you know, I'm
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm over there. Justin comes running off and
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: it was like five plays later in the drive and
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: he comes running off and I'm like, I told you
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: about that. I told you we were gonna beat that
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: double and he's like, what are you talking? Are you
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: talking about that play five? I'm like, oh, what wasn't
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: as big deal to you as it was, but this was.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, but that was one of those moments and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I was just thinking about it before you didn't ask
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a question. But stuff like that is when it kind
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of I think you get it. He buys you some
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: credibility right with the guys, and and shoot, they'll tell
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: you for every one time like that, there's right three
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: times where I say some crazy stuff that that doesn't
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: end up panning out, or maybe the exact opposite thing happens.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: But you get those wins, you'll you'll take them every
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: time you can get them, and coming from a safety
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: that is literally the worst route to get and try
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and stop in the double because it's the splitter right
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: down the middle. Oh yeah, you got everything inside and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: inside corners the nickels you need to outside. And next
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm sitting waiting on him to stop, and
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: he just runs slapped by everybody. And it's like the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: one that nobody ever talks about. But it's the one,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the easiest double team beating. Yeah, I love it. No,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: it's awesome. Thirteen and four rookie season. Right, you tied
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: with two other coaches in their rookie season going thirteen
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and four? Do you know who those rookie coaches are?
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Off the top of your head, you give you one clue.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: One is coaching now, one is still coaching now? Is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: it Matt? He's one? Yeah, I knew Matt. And then
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: the other one's gotta be so this other coach is
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: still coaching but in college. That's the only clare I'll
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: give you. Really was he? Goofy? You got the ass
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: on yo sheet? Why are you looking at me like that?
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: I'm playing it up for the camera. Okay, we gotta
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: be Jim Harball, right, Oh yeah, yeah, because I was
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: thinking Sam fran wash was at that time. Because I
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: know there's there there was some other the r PR
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: guys that had given me a list at one point
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: this year. Um, and I remember seeing a lot of
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the folks that had done it. You know, they also
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: had something else in common. They had pretty good quarterbacks,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: just like I got it too in Kirk. I know
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Steve Young might have been somebody's quarterback at one point
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: or you know. But but as far as those guys,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, and then I think, uh, you know, Jim
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: had Alex Smith, Who's I got to coach in Washington,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: somebody that I absolutely love, love love Alex Smith so
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: big time. So having the privilege and honor to shadow Sean, Yeah,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: being in all those meetings and him kind of mentoring
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: you along the way and trying to prepare you to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: become a head coach. Was there was there one thing
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: that happened this past season that you weren't prepared for
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: or didn't expect or just kind of shocked you. That's
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: a good question. That is a good question. Um. I
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: would probably say there were some real personal moments or
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: some players wad a player lose his dad in training camp.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: We had to coach lose his dad in training camp.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: There was just some moments throughout the year, either with
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: players having you know, having their their girlfriends or wives
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: have babies, and you know that just these young players
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: just those were the things that, yeah, because you get
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: so wrapped up in just our game and sometimes it
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: can feel like the most important thing in the world,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: nothing else matters, and then there's like a real life
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: moment that happened and you're just nothing. You're just nothing
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: more than a support system. You're just you know, hey,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: football doesn't matter, you know, come talk to me about
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: you know, open up and talk to me like like
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: you would a brother or uncle or a father or whatever.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Because some of these guys, if you're not going to
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: do that for him, who will. Yeah, And I just
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: found like those moments kind of you hate to say
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: that you needed some of those moments to truly grasp
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the importance of your role outside of just winning and losing,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: but those would probably be I mean, some of the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: football things that came up learning moments for me, but
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: those were those are the moments I can remember vividly
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: how I felt, you know, both during and then after,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and then the response from the player or coach. You
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: know where there's nobody else. You're the head coach. You
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: know they're looking for guidance and support and are you
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: willing to give it to him in those in those
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: critical moments, Kevin, do you think being a former player
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: has given you an advantage for being a coach in
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: some like you know what it's like like dealing with
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: the same example you're talking about, Like you've been in
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: that locker room where your guy's hurting. Yeah, and you
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: don't just look at us like I'm just focused on
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: XS and OS. I think it's two things. I think yes.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: For a standpoint of that of knowing the I just
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: remember as a player, there were some days where nobody
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: asked me how I was doing, you know, nobody cared
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: how I was point. So there's never a moment where
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: if I'm walking by a player down our beautiful hallways,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: in our buildings, brand new building that we have, whatever
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: it is, I'm never gonna not look you in the
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: eye and say how you doing, man? Yeah, And you
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: may not always tell me any coach, it's actually funny
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: ask I'm not doing well, you may not, but I'm
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: going to ask you enough that if I ask you
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: a ten times and one time I feel like that
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: was different than the other nine times, probably not going
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to be the last time you hear me ask about you.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: So it's like, I think that's important. And then the
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: other thing is I do I do believe very very
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: strongly in the sports performance and can we run an
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: organization from a standpoint of I believe players are inherently
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: if you get the right kind of guys. I believe
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: they're tough. Yeah, I believe they're smart. I believe they
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: care about doing what it takes to win. But can
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: we have a team that when that three and a
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: half hour window happens on Sunday, our players are fresher
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: than the other side. Can we put together a schedule
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: where we're tactically mentally prepared to play a game. But
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: we got a little bit more life in us, We
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: got a little bit more juice in us because of
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: how we do things both in training, camp, game week
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: walk throughs, how we travel, you know, where we put
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the players on the plane when we travel, Like all
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: that stuff matters, like what we feed them, what we
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: you know, if we're gonna cut any corners. It's not
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: going to be something that the players will feel like,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I promise you that. And we're lucky. We're lucky to
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: have the support we do from our owners and our
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: organization and the great people that are around our players.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: And I think they felt it. So now it's you know,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: I think that's important that we not only continue to
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: be one of the you know, one of the best
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: in the league, yet let's go try to be the best.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: And I believe you guys were voted a number one
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: of the first time they had this the NFLPA thing,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: which it's great for me to talk about. For the players,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I was appla, I was going up. That should be
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the fact that that was the first time this stat
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: or this uh and for all those that don't know,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: they had a ranking that said the best player experience
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: between each organization ranked upon like food, facility, trainers, the
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: whole nine and the whole gambit of what it really
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: intentils he's across the board. It was it was that's
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: in presive on y'all, and that's where it made me
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: overlook the cold. But honestly think though, like it's easy
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: for me to sit up here and try to take
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: the credit. But think about like you guys can probably
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: I could say right now, you know who's your favorite
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: equipment guy? Yeah, and Tammember, who was your you know
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: you had a trainer that you always went to, thanks, Yeah,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I mean you had your strength coach that got you rusty.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: I mean like, so, the fact is it kind of
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: came together in a really cool way where I just
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: wanted to empower those people. But this is the first time.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: That's why I told d and some of those guys
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: with the NFLP, I said, I love the fact that
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: you did it. I'm sure some organizations don't, but I
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: just like the fact that, shoot, I'm giving game balls out.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm having game balls made for our training
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: staff and our you know, people that coordinate our travel logistics,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: and you know, they it's a lot, it's a lot
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: of work that they don't get credit. Nobody would ever
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: know for people to get credit. And I've had former
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: players that have gotten into that side of the business
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: that are now coaching, and they said it was a
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: little bit tougher for them. Like non player coaches sometimes
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: look at players coaches, it's like former player coaches that
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: these guys come in they think they know this right.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: They it's a little bit tougher for the former players
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: to all of a sudden kind of get the same
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: credit early as the guys that were not, just because
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: maybe it's a different grind. I don't know. Maybe you
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: could speak on that a little bit if you didn't
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: seem like you've had to go through that as much,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: but you do understand it. Yeah, I think I tell
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: people a lot of times like that, maybe say, hey,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: you were never a quality control coach. I would challenge
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: them to go see me years three, four and five
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: with the New York Jets, drawing cards, running the scout team,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: you know, breaking down tape for Sanchez, like writing up
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: the third down. Like I was doing a lot of
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: the jobs that I now ask a assistant quarterback coach
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: to do. I was doing those things while I was playing. Why,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Because I learned very early on, maybe in New England
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: or when I got to New York with Rex, you
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: got to do something to provide value. Yeah, it's really
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: hard to provide value as a third quarterback. It was
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: so hard that they eventually got rid of it altogether.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: With that emergency there. Maybe it's coming back. We're gonna
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: talk about that this week. But but I say that,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: you know, I feel like that's one thing. But really,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: in its purest form, a good co is a leader,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: a teacher, and a motivator. And if you've got if
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: you feel like there's something positive, which I'm sure both
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: of you guys probably do from your playing career that
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: can help you be a better leader, teacher, and motivator,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: by all means you're gonna be a really good coach.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have to work really hard at him because
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: to do it the right way, it takes a lot
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: of time and sacrifice to do it the right way,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, the only thing
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: that matters is if you're a position coach, is your
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: position group prepared as best as they possibly can be
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: to go do their jobs? And are you? I coached
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Josh McCown who was older than me. I coached him
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: my first year coaching, and at the end of the year,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: I said, Josh, how did you think I did? He's like,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: you made me a better player. I think you did
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: a great job. And to this very day, I'm still
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: really close with him, and I'll he just got into coach.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Just got in there and I tried to hire him
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: a year ago and I love him to death. But
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: he's gonna be a great coach because he literally could
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: sit there and say, you made me a better player.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Regardless of what you're you know, how many game balls
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: you got at home or how many years you've been
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: doing it. You have one role. How well can you
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: you know, execute that role for somebody else? First, that's
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: what coaching is. If you're a servant mindset to being
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: a coach and you have a background of being able
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: to absorb some information. In the end, you still got to,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: you know, provide the path to guys having success on
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: the grass. But there's a whole lot that goes into it.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Can you teach? Can you lead? Can you motivate? And
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: you're gonna be just fine. I like that. Teach to lead, motivate.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I love it, Kevin. Last question before we get you
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: out of here. This is a question we asked everybody
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: that comes on our podcast. Yes, who is on your
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: personal Mount rushmore? Someone that that? And I know this
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: is really glass poured into you. You've already mentioned twelve people. Yeah,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: you got to pick four. There's only four spots on
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: this mountain. Well, I think this is life, not just sports.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Not Yeah, no, I think you know, my grandfather, uh,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: for sure would be on there. My dad would be
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: on there. Tell me why your grandfather my grandfather because
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: he just you know, was an unbelievable leader of just
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: human beings and was a great and just had such
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: a didn't come from a whole lot and just kind
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: of built an incredible life for himself. And then I
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: got really close with him. My grandma passed away when
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: I was in college, and he actually would drive around
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: the country to my games and an RV and be
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: at the games. And then I actually trained for the
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: draft out here in Arizona. This is where he lives
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: and literally spent I lived with him, spent time, So
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: we just became really close. But he's always, uh you know,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: just been somebody that I've looked up to. My dad
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: was the same way. My dad was in the FBI
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: for twenty five years, worked his absolute tail off. Talk
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: about personal sacrifice for your family. And so those those
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: two for sure, and they get their own their own
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: wing of of Mount Rushmore, I guess, but know Sean
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: McVay would be on there, just because of his direct
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: impact on me for sure. And then shoot man one more,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: I would probably say I would probably say Bill Belichick
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: just because just I watched. I don't know if anybody
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: loves football as much as he does. And just his
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: impact on a team and just so many different human beings.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think I could be a head coach in
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: this league without having been a player for him, If
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: that makes any sense. That is an ultimate compliment. Yeah,
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I get it. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: his mannerisms, the everything, just and his ability, like everybody
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: has this perception to him and it's real. But then
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: there's also the time walking down the hallway where he
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: pulls you aside and says, hey, no, this is what
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: you're doing well, this is what you could do better,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: and this is how you should do it. Go go
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: do those things, and and just his care of every
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: single player on his roster, how you can help the
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: team win, Put the team first. You know, all the
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: things that makes up day, what it means to play
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: for him. The man doesn't miss anything. He sees everything.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: He's at all, he sees and has respect for you know,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: just some of the things he even this year, it
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: kind of cemented that this year text messages I received
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: from him after a big win we beat Buffalo or
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: we come back from thirty three down against the Colts
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: and win, like he was always just acknowledging those things
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: as accomplishments. That's cool because people have that perception of
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: because he's just so. He has that stoic look of
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: just seriousness all the time. But you big taty bear
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: deep down the side. That's cool. That's real cool. Yeah,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: for sure, you're man. You might be a coach now. Man.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Appreciate that. We both would be really good coaches. If
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: you ever want to get into it, man, you know
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: where to find me. We'll do well in that top
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: two facility up in Minnesota. Right, that's right, Kevin Man,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you, man, appreciate it. Yeah, appreciate you. Yes, thank you.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Right there, you just heard Kevin O'Connell, head coach of
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings, really giving him some insight on his
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: whole career path from playing to all of a sudden
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: now being the man over one of the best seasons
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: for a first year coach. Really, I don't really like him,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: but I like him now though, Like, how can you
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: not like him? And the success that he's had. Like
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: I'm madd he's in the NFC North, but I'm don't
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: hate me for saying this Bears fans, but I'm kind
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: of wanting him to succeed a little bit because after
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: that that little interview we had, like I like the guy,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: it seems like you're still struggling to say you even
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: like him, Like I am. I don't want to get crucified,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: but I like what he's doing in Minnesota. You know
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But here's here's a here's a counter
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: move of that. I love what Bears Jim Ryan Poles
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: has done this offseason and to hear more about what
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: he's doing now and how he got his role check
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: him out in this interview. We got a special guest,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: this next guy. He's a part of the Bears organization.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: He spent thirteen years with the Kansas City Chiefs in
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: various roles and now he is currently the Chicago Bears.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: GM Please welcome to the podcast, mister Ryan Poles. Welcome,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Brother, Thanks for blessing us with
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: your presence. Now, you have been extremely busy this offseason
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: and just the guy one being a former player on
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: the team, and just all the bugs around Chicago and
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: just around the league. Everybody is loving what you and
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the rest of the organization are doing with the pick,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: trading it, getting rid of it and getting more draft picks,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: all the signings and like the city is on fire
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: right now. DJ Moore aspect, I got to hear it.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: How do you pour that up? Because that was how do? Yeah?
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: So how do how does how does a GM negotiation
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: for another GM? How does like that negotiation go? Yeah,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: it's just it's conversation like we're having right here. Um. Obviously,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: you do your homework of what teams you know are
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: looking to move up, and you start looking at the roster.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: You look at you know, the picks now and in
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: the future, and you start brainstone. You put together different
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: sequences that make sense. You know for the Chicago Bears.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: You just have to find out if it's it makes
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: sense for them, right. So you go back and forth
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and have those conversations that go over a couple of
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: weeks and there are some non negotiables that you say, well,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: I need to have this in the package, okay, and
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: um and Dj, was that for us? Okay? We wanted
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: to add more playmakers to this roster. We want to
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: player that can really help Justin be successful. And um,
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: so that's kind and we stuck with and we went
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: hard on that and it worked out. I got to
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: know this because all right, going through like player contracts,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: you know, trade trade deals, I always think it's like
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: some kind of sliding slick to the game, right because
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: everybody's talking about Lamar Jackson needing the agent to do
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: his deal, Like do you teams ever lead out with
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: their best deal? Like what's the negotiation process? Or do
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I give you the C deal then wait on your
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: B deal? Then already I'll give you. Then we work
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: our way up to the A and then we get
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: then get it all done. Yeah. Really, for any negotiation
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: that I've been a part of, even from my time
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: in Kansas City to now, you know, both sides start
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: to their most favorable you know set okay, okay, and
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: then you work in from there. Okay. So that's kind
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: of how it goes. So nobody just shows their hand earlier,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: like Okay, this is exactly what I want. Let's just know.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: So you must be good at like getting cars, right,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you can trying to go when you're trying
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: to go get a car or buy a house, It's like, look, man,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: I'm a gem of a billion dollar corporation. I know
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: I can get the best thing. Yeah, Like that's that's
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: that's awesome. So you spent thirteen years with various titles
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: and roles in Kansas City. Yeah, being there for thirteen years, Like,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: how did that prepare you to be the GM of
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Chicago Bears a day? Like did you shadow people? Did
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: you do internships? Did you shadow the gym or the
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: assistant gem? Like how did you How did you get
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: into that role versus what most players do. They just
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: kind of get into coaching and then they might make
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: that transition into being a gem. Yeah, you almost have
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: to take one more step back. After I got cut
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: from Chicago, you know, I was trying to figure out
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: what I wanted to do. Almost took a marketing job,
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: and then I got a call from a friend at
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Boston College and said, Hey, you want to come down
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: to be a GA. So I said, yeah, absolutely, you
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: know because at that point that's all you know is football,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: and you love it. You're passionate about it. So you
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: jump in the recruiting part of it, which to me
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: was by far the best thing I could have ever done.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: So you're a recruiter at Boston, Yeah, okay, yeah, and
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: what you learn is all the things in the office
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: that you don't know when you're playing. So there's an
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: example and I laugh about all the time. A recruiting coordinator.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: It's like, all right, we gotta put these packets together.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: So this is before the machines stapled the paper for you,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: So you had a staple them all. I'm just coming
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: in from from getting cut and I'm knocking them out,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: just getting it done as fast as I can. Stable staple, staple, staple.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Put them all on my guy's desk, go work out.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: I come back and they're taped all over the office
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: with a red circle around the staple and said, WTF.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, what did I do wrong? So I'm
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: looking at it, and he was like, the staples should
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: be paralleled at the top on every single one. It's
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: a small job, but be detailed about it. So those
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: little detail things from stapling to you know, run and
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: get coffee, watching tape, using the computer, like all of
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: those little things you start to kind of sharpen that
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: blade early to know what office like is office of
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: life is all about. And then getting to Kansas City
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: and really just starting at the bottom as a scouting assistant.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: And again it's it's hard work. You know, no one
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: really talks to you. You're grinding out take for people.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: No one's saying thank you. You know, it's it's tough.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: But through that you get a rhythm of the league
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: like there used to be. Now it's like electronic boards.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Back then it was like magnets. Yeah, so you would
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: have to do And then on the board you do
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the whole roster. Everyone's roster in the entire league, so
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: thirty one other teams, and through the season you start
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: moving the tags around and then there's an ir bucket
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: at the bottom. You see there's three or four teams
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: that get the injury bug every single year because you're
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: moving all these tags down. How do they replace those players?
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: They're going there's trades, they're going to the emergency board.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: So you get the flow of the league doing all
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: these jobs that a hard work and no one's you know,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: patting me on the back floor, but you get a
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: feel for what you're doing. And then through that just
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: getting time in college scouting going out on the road
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: to pro scouting, getting a feel for the locker room.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: So those things kind of morph and just allow allowing
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: me to create, like all these little buckets so that
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: when it's time to go, there were for me, there
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: were very few blind spots, right. So that's been my path.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: I've been blessed too with the different jobs I've had
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: to do, different types of gems that I worked for
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: that allowed me to do what I'm doing. Ryan, that's
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: I love that story. And you drew a great picture
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: for those that don't know. He's talking about the tags.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: And so each player where like blue is mean you
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: like top five, Yeah, red is mean like you're a
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: top tier pro Bowl player. Green is your adequate starter. Ye.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: Then you had gray you're like a sub guy or whatever,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: special teams whatever. I was a blue guy. You probably
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: were blue blue guy too. I was probably a red.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Now you're blue. I'm gonna give it to you. You're
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: blue gray here. It's just it's hilarious though to see,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: like because your path in your journey, because I wanted
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: to know, how do you go from being a former
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: player to all the sudden be an office in the
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: office side and being a GM where you're the biggest
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: guy in the office area, because most office guys are
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: not big, they're not former players like you they have.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: These guys don't even have experience in football on the
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: field wise. And to be in that moment to all
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, I see how comfortable are because you've
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: done it all and so doing that and having that experience,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: maybe you could just tell us, you know, how you were.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: So were you uncomfortable at first? Were you not confident?
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: And playing football? Does it actually help you at all? Yeah?
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: So there's I'll break that down on the two things.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: Being uncomfortable absolutely, because there's parts. I mean, you're writing reports,
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: thousands of reports, and my first GM that I worked for,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: Scott Pioli, getting a meeting, reading my report, my heads
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: down and not really projecting. And after I get done
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: with report, takes a little break and said, hey, can
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: I talk to my office. I'm like, I'm about to
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: get in trouble. So he goes, Listen, he goes, I
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: swear to you said this. He's like, someday you're gonna
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: be a gym. He say, there's something about you, he goes,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: But when you read your report, even if you have
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: to stand up, stand up, project and talk with confidence
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: so people believe in what you're talking about and what
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: the report says. So just those little things are huge,
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: but they're uncomfortable at first because you can talk ball right,
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: but can you write a report and do it the
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: right way? I'm either talking about grammar or all the
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: like the little things that you can get away from. Yes.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: And then in terms of having the background, this is like,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: this is real, especially in today's game. And I got
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: a couple of guys from Ian Cunningham was on my staff.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: He played Jeff King's one of our directors of player personnel.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: He played six seven years at the tight end. The
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: coolest thing is they always bring you back to just
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: remembering what the locker room feels when you make certain moves. Yeah,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: they're always because even I'll get away from it because
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: it'll be more transactional. And one of my guys that
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: hold up, like, if we bring this guy into the
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: building into locker room, how does that make everybody else feel? Yeah,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: if you take this guy out, what is that going
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: to do to your culture? How are we going to
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: replace that? We don't think enough people realize that, you know,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: not even it's all about the locker room. Is this guy,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: we man, he's got a lot of personality. Is that
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: gonna make this guy feel uncomfortable? Is he gonna be
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: a cancer to the team. Like, I don't think fans
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: really get that because oh, you should just go get
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: this player. He's like they think of it like it's
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: not it's not fantasy football people. I mean, we made
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: some trades early and we made sure just from our conversations.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Matt and I went and grabbed all the leaders and
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: had a conversation said, this is why we're doing what
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: we're doing. It's uncomfortable, but we want to let you
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: know how that is. I don't think people will talk
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: about like dj DJ is moving out of one house
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: into another in Carolina. He gets traded, that's your life
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: just got shaken up, right, and you got a kid,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: you got another kid on the way, you got you know,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: your girl. Like, there's a lot that goes into it.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: So from an organization, we got to be there for
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: him and they communicate properly and help him in that transition.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: So having that, at least being in the locker room,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: I didn't play the level you guys did but you
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: got to have that feel of how all of these
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: things affect your locker room, and to me, it goes
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: a long ways and the guys appreciate that. So so
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: being the gem now and you kind of got your
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: feet underneath you and you're you're moving things along. Um
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: As a player, we all have that welcome to the
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: NFL moment, like the first hit you took or something
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: like that that kind of really shook you as a gem.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: What was your welcome to the NFL moment? I am
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: a gem? Holy you know what that just happened? Like
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: something like you didn't see, like something that just like
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: took took the wind out of you. Yeah. I've talked
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: about this openly, so no secret book. The first fridgen
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: s I I had was a failed physical and I
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: had this, I mean, it's got It was good money.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: It was a player that was going to help us
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: in our culture, can affect, you know, our defense. And
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: to sit in a car and have that conversation wanted
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: to get ripped by his agent, but also to sit
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: in a car and explain to him why I had
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: to do it. I had to do that crushed me
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: because I know that guy celebrated with his family. I
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: know he flew up ready to go wheady to do
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: his press conference, and I gotta that's part of this
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: thing that's harder as a gym two is you can
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: feel the locker room, but there is a business side
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: of this thing where you gotta do right by the business.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't right and I had to I had
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: to make that call, and that that hurt me like
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: that was that was a tough and that was one
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: of the first big things I did when I walked
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: in the door. Yeah, so that was my welcome to
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: the league moment as a generalman. Now, Ryan, I gotta
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: know this because I've seen you the last couple of
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: days with your family. So clearly your family man, your son,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: your daughter or your wife. You guys are all hanging
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: out all the time. Do they take a lot of pride?
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: How often do you see them celebrate when you make
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: this big trade to pull off the one that you
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: did that everybody's talking about trading the way trading back down.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: Do you guys like celebrated at the house if you're
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: doing like chess, pops, like what's going on? Champagne, Like
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: what's going on? I told you score the win and
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: touchdown game, like everybody's excited for you. How is that?
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: Could you wrap my head around that as the gem?
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Because now I got my suit and tie one, like,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: they still celebrate the same, so I gotta So my
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: wife was a former athlete, so it's on to the
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: next thing. So there's we celebrate. I mean we're half
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: you get a feel for it. But it's like, you
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: gotta go back to work, like this is move on
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: to the next. I'm about your wife, man, keep you real.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah good, but yeah, she's you know, suld remind me
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: of this free agency. We gotta win games, like that's
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: what it's about. So it's true. So does your son
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: play football? He does? And how cool is it for
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: your son to see you? Like my dad is the
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: gym and I know he's right there in the corner,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: but like, is it is it kind of cool? It's like, yo,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: my dad is the gem of the Bears. Yeah you
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, how how cool is that
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: experience for for your son to see you in the
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: position that you're in right now? Yeah? I love it. Um,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: you know, I think the biggest thing for me though,
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: is just like the work ethic, the time that you
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: gotta put in. You know, he knows there's shoot, four
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: times five times of the week. You know, I'm getting
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: home and he's already sleeping. M So he gets how
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: much time and effort that goes into this. But also
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: he knows, you know, the rewards that come with doing
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: a good job and cool thing about him and he's
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: he's been on the Super Bowl parade. He knows what
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to go for. Yeah, and he knows what
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: it means to our family. So what advice would you
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: give to a player that has been released recently retired? Ye?
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: What advice would you give to that player who wants
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: to go in the route that you went as far
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: as not wanting to be a coach, but yo, I
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: want to be a GM one day. I want to
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: run a team like my former GM. Like what it
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: tells me? Yeah, what advice do you give? Yeah? So
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: I would say there's two routes to really dip a
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: toe in and see if it's for you. M to me,
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: it's an internship with one of the teams or to
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: be a yeah at the college level, those two things
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: for me and what I've seen to do for folks
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: that have come through both in Kansas City and our facility.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: Now you get an idea of what it's all about
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: the time that it takes, what the lifestyles like, because
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: you don't really know. To you you can at least
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: dip your toe on a little bit. So that's my
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: recommendation is to do that and get started and see
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: if you like it or not. But tell me this,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: because I know we gotta let you go your mount
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: rushmore of influence in your life. Yeah, who would those
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: four be? Yeah, so I got to start out with
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: my dad for sure. My dad. Yeah. To me, I've
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: just been fortunate. I feel like I was raised the
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: right way, you know, the work ethic, how I prioritize
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: things in my life. Those are big and that's kind
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: of my foundation. So it kind of starts there. But
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: then in the game, you know, it's really the gems
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: and the head coaches that I worked for. You know,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: Scott Pioli came in really talking me about the plan
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: and how to do things the right way. Um, John
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Dorsey allowed me to really get an eye as an evaluator,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: like how to evaluate, how to build a roster, how
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: to draft, and then Brett Veach who's in Kansas City.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: You know his style to always anticipating, like your your
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: brain's always got to be two steps ahead of everybody
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: else so that you can Yeah, so you can get
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: the pieces that you need. And then I would say
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: Andy Reid would be on there too. Um, that's a
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: guy who does it the right way, has a great
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: relationship with players, and it's that fine line being able
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: to push your guys but also show love and respect
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: to him so they're willing to do whatever you know
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: for him. So I've always admired how he moves and
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: how he operates and how he leads in The leadership
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: piece is probably the one that sticks out too. It's
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: like we went through some rocky things. There was losing streaks,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: there was winning streaks. Um, this dude is just stable
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: like he does not like so you will be walking
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: down the hallway after three game losing strick. You look
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: at Andy, see what he's doing, same thing, just trying
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: to find solutions and I'm talking about problems and the
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: way he moves to the organization and leaves is incredible.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, Hey, appreciate you stopping by coming through
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: being a guests on the show. Good Luck, good luck man.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: I'm rooting for you guys, and of course I always
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: rough Chicago, but especially now getting to know you and
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: you see in your family, I know what you're about.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: Good luck man, do your thing. I'm so proud of you.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it me too. Let's go. Let's go, wanting, Yes,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: let's go. I can't tell you how excited I am
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: about the Chicago Bears and what Ryan Poles is doing.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: The buzz around town is he's making all the right moves.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: So yeah, man, I'm really looking forward to the two
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: thousand and twenty three season of Chicago Bears. Yeah. I
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: totally understand why you're excited, but also understand and see
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: why other people might not be as excited taking advantage taking,
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: for instance, Green Bay Packers or these Minnesota Vikings, anybody
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: that has to play the Bears might not be as excited,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: just because you understand all the great things that Ryan
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: Pols is doing there, the way he's trying to build
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: this team from the ground up. And also I really
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: appreciate all the experiences that he shared with us personally
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: about his journey from going back to college at DC
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: to all of a sudden, being at the lowest levels
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: of Kansas City, moving up to moving up the food
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: chain the way that he did. You truly understand why
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: this man is successful and why he is a budding
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: superstar in the category of GM in the NFL. Right,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: but more importantly, what we appreciate are you, the listeners.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in to listening to myself and
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: Roman Harper, to the NFL players Second Acts podcasts. Keep listening.