Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / Let's Talk with Carl Lee - Aaron Dobson: A Father-Son NFL Draft Discussion

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Let's Talk with Carl Lee - Aaron Dobson: A Father-Son NFL Draft Discussion · WCHS Network Podcasts

0:01
Yeah, you gotta work. You gotta work. Cry sign is mine gotta
0:13
show everybody is my sign here, you gotta work. Cry sin another mind
0:19
whom talk to dog day line, don't tell you gotta work. Let the
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conversation begin. This is Let's Talk with your host, Carl Lee. Hello,
0:30
ladies and gentlemen, This is Carl Lee with Let's Talk. And we
0:33
have what I think is going to be a great show today. We're gonna
0:40
capitalize on the draft and talk a little bit about it and speak to someone
0:47
who has has been through it and just kind of talk about the draft and
0:52
the experience pretty much as a whole. So I have my co host here,
0:58
Hollis Lewis, He's a hell in the studio today. And I have
1:03
Marshall University former, a former Marshall University player, and and I'm gonna I
1:14
want to say. I want to say this because I'm not sure if he's
1:18
made the greatest catches at Marshall that maybe I've seen. I that's just me
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being just my own opinion there, just just for the sake of saying that
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second round, fifty ninth pick for the New England Patriots, Aaron Dobson he's
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our guy today and Dad is here with us. Bobby Dobson good friend of
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mine. And how are you guys doing today? I'm good man, blessed,
1:49
glad you're having me on man, excited to talk about this stuff today.
1:52
I'm definitely glad to be a call. Okay, So Bobby, I'm
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going to start with you because I don't know, we got to start with
1:59
your first draft experience. Oh, we gotta start there. Can you actually
2:04
went to the draft? Okay? So what we talked about last week when
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you was at home by yourself waiting on the call. Okay, so well
2:12
and yeah, and we were talking about that kind of prior to the show.
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I would have never, never, in my lifetime would I had thought
2:22
about going to the draft, Like it's something that you sit at home,
2:27
you know, sit back, spend three four hours watching it and excited every
2:32
time your team picked somebody. I would have never thought to go actually be
2:38
there. So the Vikings had invited me to do one of their picks that
2:44
would have been a second or third pick in the draft. So I got
2:50
an opportunity to go. And it was seven hundred thousand people at the draft,
2:57
seven hundred seven hundred thousand people showed up at the draft. Was this
3:04
in the statem No, like this was like in this This is like in
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the street like and the first day we got in on Wednesday. So on
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Thursday, like, you know, there's somebuddies, you know, and the
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good thing about it is you're gonna you're gonna find some players that you know
3:24
that's in your ear. So, uh, Andre Risen was there, Darryl
3:30
Green was there, so you know, but me and my son, I
3:32
took my son with me, Dominique, and we were we were walking the
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first day, we were walking down the street, man, and it was
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like it got to a point we went maybe three blocks and it got to
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a point where cars were not the dominant people on this on the road,
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like it ended up being people. Like people just started walking and you people
3:53
started parking cars. And man, we we got maybe a block maybe a
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block block and a half away from the from the main area where everybody was
4:02
standing. And I was like, no, man, we we get,
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we get, it's too it's it was just too many people. And then
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they didn't have a lot of streets blocked off, so they were blocking off
4:14
streets for pedestrians. They were blocking off streets for cars. By the next
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day, everything was set up. But of course we didn't have to worry
4:23
about it because we were we were actually there. But when you look out
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like cause, I got a chance to go meet some Viking fans that you
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know, everybody's in their gear and they all kind of sit together, So
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I got an opportunity to walk down and talk to those guys. And I'm
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telling you, man, it is it is unbelievable to see that many people
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just just in one place. Crazy. It's just football crazy. It's like
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I mean, and they're going crazy. Every time you know your team,
4:54
their team is picked, they're going crazy. Like it was just it was
4:58
just crazy to me. But my experience was I would go again now,
5:03
you know. I mean, I would absolutely go again because it's and not
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even so much just simply to watch the draft, but be in the experience.
5:14
And if not, if nothing else you ought to go, you gotta
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go to one, you know, because like I said, back in my
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day, I'm sitting on the couch waiting on the call, you know.
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And and now the reality of it is you can actually be there, you
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know, and see it. And I'm telling you man, it's it's it's
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a great thing. So if you're listening, I guarantee you it's worth a
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trip to go there. It's a production now, yeah, that's exactly what
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it is. Yeah. They want to make everything the best they can make
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it, you know. And I really wasn't disappointed like some people were like,
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oh, man, that's bad that you didn't get a chance to announce
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the pick. I was like, no, it didn't. It didn't really
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bother what were you going to say I had? I mean, I don't
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really have no idea. I would have said what was on the paper and
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that would have did it, you know. So that's that. That's my
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experience. So so which leads me into the experience of of your son knowing
6:21
that you know, he's getting drafted, or at least everybody's saying that he's
6:25
getting drafted. What is that like leading up to it and then sitting there
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and hearing his name being called or or or get that phone call. First
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of all, it is a surreal just you you you think of it as
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a kid, of you being in that seat, and then when you get
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to be a father, you start thinking about you know, after he gets
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to marshall. We're kind of like, well, he got me, he
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might have a shot. And then after his junior year, you know,
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people saying, yeah, he really got a shot. So as the season
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went on, you just kind of, you know, hoping he don't get
7:08
hurt, right, all that kind of stuff. But the draft process,
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he went on different trips and I guess talk to different teams, but we
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had no idea who liked him, who didn't like him. We had no
7:21
idea. We pretty we were pretty sure he wasn't gonna get drafted in the
7:25
first round because they those guys pretty much know they're going in the first round.
7:28
So we were we said, okay, I think you were at the
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I think at recovery. Matter of fact, we went up to recovery on
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the first day of the draft. I'm just talking around and stuff. So
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the second night we had some people's family over. You came over, you
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know, some people's house. But we had no idea if it was gonna
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be second, third, fourth, fifth, sixthth, We had no idea.
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We just enjoyed it. Every time it's you know, they get they're
7:50
on the phone all the time anyway, so anytime his phone, the whole
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room just stops. You're like, no, this ain't this ain't it?
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So, uh, what the funny part is, We're all watching TV downstairs
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at lights off, he gets a call from from against Coast Belichick and the
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whole time we were taking videos on cell phones. We never turned the light
8:13
on in the house. It's dark down We go back and looking everything is
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just black. Everybody was sown down. We weren't even thinking about it and
8:20
just waiting for it to go. You know, he knew before the TV
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of course, right right, but it was just like, man, this
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is this is this is something and and and to me when you think of
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like Belichick, like, I mean that's it. I mean that that's that's
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a that's a huge deal. That was. That was that was one of
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the things, like you and I wasn't a big Patriot fan, so but
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still you got to give them their due. They were they were, They
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were that franchise that that that did it. Yeah, with Brady being there
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Coast Belichick and we're like, man, you're gonna be catching balls from the
8:56
goat, and you know, it was it was definitely a experience for me.
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I can't imagine what he thought. So what was what was your experience
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like and just like going through that process leading up to training, the work
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and now you on that day and about to get this call. What was
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that for you? Yeah, I mean the whole experience was just kind of
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like my dad said, it was so real. I mean, just obviously
9:22
going through my college career, obviously I got I got better pretty much every
9:26
year, you know what I mean. So I think it was kind of
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probably midway through my junior year will really start clicking for me as far as
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me having a shot to go do it, and I want to jump in
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real quick just to ask this, I have to assume that that's what you
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wanted though, Like you know, your whole goal in playing football, your
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whole life in football was trying to get that one. That was I mean
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from the time I stepped onto the field that had four years old before I
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count even play with my brother was out there playing. That was probably that
9:58
was the goal. I mean, was like and obviously I'll know I hoped
10:01
too, you know what I mean. So it was either NBA player or
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NFL player, you know what I mean. It was probably not specific back
10:09
then which one it was going to be, but it was one of the
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two because because you had a decision coming out of high school, because it
10:15
was like you could have played basketball or football. Yeah yeah, so what
10:18
lay the football? What? It was just the love or you know,
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it's crazy for real, for when I think about it, I try to
10:24
think about it now like I was making a business decision, which maybe maybe
10:26
so subconsciously, but really Marshall was the biggest offer I had in either sport,
10:31
you know what I mean, football or basketball. So I think it
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was more on the lines of when I really dig down to the root of
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it, it was my biggest offer. I felt like I could play at
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the highest level. I feel like I went to a lot of camps my
10:45
senior year in high school and showed that I could play with whoever and tell
10:50
her when you got the offer though, Oh yeah, no, so I
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didn't get the I didn't get the Marshall offer until after we want to Stay
10:54
championship my senior year, so still coming out of my keball super like,
11:00
Yeah, so I didn't get that offer till middle of December. That did
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you have the chip on your shoulder? Because of absolutely absolutely, I mean
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I felt like obviously I felt I mean, I was the best hooper in
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this stay at the time. I mean I got that app later, but
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I got and you've got the award yeah for the best basketball player. Yeah
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absolutely, And I was fourteen to know that. Yeah, football, you
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know what I mean? And runner up in football, you know what I
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mean. So yeah, huge chip on my shoulder, Yeah absolutely, because
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I felt like I could play it wherever, you know what I mean.
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But I feel like I was super under recruiter. So yeah, I mean
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going into college, I had an extremely huge chip on my shoulder. And
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see I think I think those those moments and like, that's good if you
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can channel it the right way. You know, sometimes people get them chips
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and they go right channel. It's just crazy because I tell and I know
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this is kind of going off top of but I tell kids now now that
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I'm in coaching and I'm recruiting now, and you get to talking to some
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kids that's recruit recruitment going is slow right now. And I'm like, well,
12:01
you got ten offers, Like what you mean is slow, you know
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what I'm saying. So I'm like, and you are You're not even a
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senior yet, You're going into your senior year, you know, what I
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mean. So I'm like just telling them, boys, man, just if
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you feel like it's slow and you don't got the recruitment that you want,
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just use it as fuel. Like, don't use it to let it throw
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you off your pivot and you comparing your your recruitment to anybody else's or whatever.
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That ain't the way to go. Just channel it, channel into motivation
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and fuel and let that take you to where you want to be at.
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Because at the end of the day, wherever you are, if you if
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you that you're gonna be that. I like that. I like that.
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But isn't it Isn't it hard now at coaching, especially at the college level,
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especially at say like a school like Marshall, who now are going to
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get guys going to the pro and had a couple of you had a couple
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three two and you've got those guys. Can you can you explain to them
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what's coming? Is it even? I mean, can they hear you?
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Or are they? You know what? I talk about the league a lot
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on my guys, and it's crazy. I tell myself that I'm gonna stop
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because not that I'm into coaching. Everybody say they want that, Like everybody
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say they want to get to that point, but you got a lot of
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talkers and not really a lot of walkers, you know what I mean.
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And I understood that quick when I got first got back in the coach and
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it was like, everybody say they want it, but you'll see the guys
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that's that's picking up the game that you're giving them and putting it into like
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action, you know what I mean. But that ain't everybody not gonna get
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it, you know what I'm saying. So I want everybody to get it
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right. So I'm giving everybody the game, but you see, it's like
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it's only a certain few of them that it really clicked to, you know
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what I mean. So it might click to the guy that don't even got
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all the physical attributes that you wanted to play. It's gonna be it might
13:54
be one of them that get it, but you already so far behind the
13:58
eight ball you probably you know what I mean. And then you might have
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guys that have the ability to do it that get it right. But then
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it's a whole bunch of in between where it's like, bro, you got
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everything that you that you need to do it, it's just mentally you ain't
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you ain't tapped into it, you know what I mean. So it's tough.
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It is tough. It is tough. It's tough because I feel like
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you you're given the game for them to understand it and really dumb it down
14:24
to them so they can get it. But that's why it's only the one
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percent to get there. So let me ask you, like going back to
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your high school and having this in your mind, like I want to get
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drafted, I want to play in the I want to play professionals sports,
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whether it's basketball, football, What was your training, what was the work
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ethic? What was that like growing up? I think I think a big,
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a big part of me was I was always crazy competitive, like I'll
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talk about a lot the ultimately competitor, like I hated to lose, Like
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was a sore lose or hated to lose anything like I know, you know
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what I mean. I think I think back to when I was like really
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younger. You know what I'm saying. I used to Obviously I got an
15:09
older brother, you know what I'm saying. I got an older cousin.
15:11
You know what I'm saying. Obviously, my mom plays for, my dad
15:13
plays for. So coming up when I'm always playing against what we out there
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playing. We got to hoop in my my driveway. We out there playing
15:20
against them where I am. I'm young, and yeah, they did not
15:24
let me win. Man. Yeah, they're not showing no mercy to anybody.
15:28
So like I was like, the I couldn't beat my brother for the
15:31
longest, couldn't beat my mom, you know what I'm saying, It couldn't
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be my I'm like, so it was just and they never took it easy
15:35
on me. So I think that's where I got my competitive spirit from.
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And then really like credit to my dad sitting right here, because he,
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I mean obviously he pushed me, you know what I'm saying, Like,
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yeah, like I gave push back some time, but he pushed me to
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be to have to work at it really, you know what I mean,
15:50
He really pushed me to And I kind of see him do it, like
15:52
as far as him working like twelve hours and then being around for me and
15:58
taking me to go practice, coach me and do you know what I'm saying.
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So I kind of seen the ground from him. So it was like,
16:03
all right, let me just try to follow suit. And this avenue
16:07
in my lane, which is football at the time, basketball at the time,
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you know what I mean. So I think it was just that man.
16:11
Obviously, like getting game from car Lee back in the day too.
16:15
Like I was, I used to do some of his his running workouts and
16:18
stuff like in high school, you know, some of some of the things
16:22
that he used to do, like training in the league and stuff like I
16:25
was doing or attempting to do it back in high school, right. And
16:29
I used to have some days, used to have some of my some of
16:30
my friends come out there with me and do it. But most days it
16:33
was it was me me out there really just running, you know what I'm
16:37
saying. And really, so I tell guys all the time too, man,
16:40
it's it's it's it's a lonely route to get to that. I was
16:44
about to say that that was my next It's a lonely roll to any if
16:48
you want to get successful, it's athletics, professional whatever, it is a
16:52
b and that's what you got to be prepared. Yeah, you got it.
16:53
I mean, you're gonna be the only one in there, like you
16:56
know what I mean. Of course, like I said, my dad was
16:59
there so like up a lot, you know what I mean. But yeah,
17:02
a lot of time. This is gonna be you you VERSU you in
17:03
there, you know what I mean? Competing? Yeah, getting better?
17:07
Now Yeah, well you know what I want to ask you, because like
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I know how my dad was, Like, like I knew he didn't have
17:17
to motivate me to go train, but I also knew that if I didn't
17:21
go, what are you doing? You know, like that motivation? Like
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I know, like you know, because I'm I got to be out running
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and I'm back and he's by that time, he's sitting at the table,
17:34
kitchen table. He break was getting ready to go to work. He knows
17:37
if I, if I ain't up and out and and back, something wrong.
17:42
And so he was hard. He was He was a strong motivator to
17:48
me to make sure that I continue to put that work. He wasn't.
17:55
I don't. I don't want to say he was hard on me, but
17:56
I knew, I knew what he would expecting. Tell me, tell me,
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tell me first of all, you tell me what do you think what
18:06
pressure do you think you put on him? And then I'm curious about where
18:08
he thinks he felt it. From how he felt about it. Some of
18:12
the pressure was probably unjust I would be honest. If I had to go
18:18
back again, I would probably It's hard to say that because he then to
18:23
rethink it. I think I would be a little bit more balanced. We
18:30
we we we gave him the opportunity. Okay, if you want to play
18:34
sports, we're gonna be good at sports. Okay, you got practice your
18:40
homework. Those two things. Don't worry about the grass. I got that.
18:44
Don't worry about this. I got that because I know when I'm we're
18:47
getting ready to do so I don't want that excuse, you know. But
18:52
if I had to do it over again, I would probably be a little
18:55
bit more balanced. So when he's finished that, he's he still has those
19:02
what I want to say, those values or whatever. These things still need
19:04
to get done, you know. And also doing this too just because I
19:10
went to work. The grass bombill get cut just cause I worked twelve hours
19:12
a day, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, But with him,
19:15
I was kind of, I'll shelter you from this, but we're gonna get
19:18
this work in. But but can you be balanced though? Yeah, I
19:26
don't know if you. I don't think I could. If I were to
19:29
go back and said, okay, I want to change my dad. I
19:32
don't. I don't think I would think he can. I think, you
19:34
know, and my dad was the dad who he ain't say nothing about the
19:38
interception, right, He ain't saying nothing about how many tackles I got.
19:41
He ain't saying anything about the awards. He want to know about that particular
19:45
play I missed the tackle on and I'm like, but Dad, I'm doing
19:49
this. He ain't interested in that because he knows I'm thinking Sunday. So
19:53
his idea is, you don't have any room to miss a tackle. You
19:59
don't have any room not to work out. And if I were to go
20:03
back and I would look at would I could I have done it without that
20:08
kind of oversight. I think I have to have that oversight. Even though
20:15
I was committed to working out, I didn't need anybody to help me working
20:18
out. I would do it. So I'm curious if you would even would
20:25
you? Would you want it any different? Or could you even have handled
20:27
it even a little bit? Nah? I mean no, I think I
20:30
think I I think it worked. It was exactly what I needed, you
20:34
know what I mean? Like, I always like love the game and love
20:37
to play, but I think just getting that extra post or having that extra
20:42
sense of motivation to like go do extra. Obviously, I think it worked,
20:47
it paid off, you know what I mean. So, like I
20:48
think about it, like me and me and my dad had the coach player
20:52
relationship for the longest, you know what I'm saying, because he coached me
20:56
and everything, he coached me harder probably than anybody ever coached you know what
20:57
I'm saying. Like it was it was that. So it just it just
21:02
instilled that in me, like early, to just be a hard worker and
21:06
just always be a competitor. And like to me, I think that was
21:10
the biggest edge I always had in sports, was like I hated to lose
21:12
and I always wanted to compete, and it didn't matter what it was,
21:17
you know what I mean, Like what, I was ready to compete like
21:18
at all times. So I think that for me matter we had to spit
21:23
and spit in content, I'm with it, you know what I mean.
21:26
So I think when it came down to just the competition level all the time,
21:32
every day that you're out there, every rep, I was with that,
21:36
where some guys they fold when it's like back to back back. Even
21:41
if I lost it's like, all right, Cord, that didn't like phase
21:45
me to the point where some guys lose and they like they tank out,
21:48
they folk, you know what I mean, where I'm right back on it,
21:51
like all right, I know I'm I'm gonna lose. Right, you're
21:52
good too, but yeah, no, I'm with it. I'm right back
21:56
at it like it ain't about to stop. So I think, to me,
21:57
when I think back on it, like that was the probably the best
22:00
quality I have was just I was just an ultra competitor. So so you
22:04
get the car kind of going back to the draft, you get the call,
22:07
you go into New England. Everybody's excited, like what's your next step?
22:12
Like, what's the next thing that happened after that? So yeah,
22:17
I got what I got drafted. That was it Friday. I guess Friday,
22:21
right, Yes, I drafted that Friday. I went to the spring
22:25
game the next day. We got a spring game down that Martin the next
22:26
day. So I went there the next day and then I think that very
22:30
the very next weekend, I was gone, so like it was like four
22:33
days later I was gone for rookie minicamp. It happened. How was that?
22:37
How was rookie minicamp. I had a tough rookie minicamp. Man,
22:41
I had a super tough rookie minicamp because, like I told you all right,
22:44
coming two and a half weeks before the combine, tore my hamstring,
22:48
right, So we have pro day at the end of March, right,
22:52
so this spring game, so the end of April, sorry, end of
22:56
April. So really my my pro day was almost like my first full workout
23:04
back off my hamstring, Like it was crazy that I even got back,
23:07
right. So when I went into rookie mini camp, I wasn't in like
23:12
the best of shape, you know what I mean. I wasn't in football
23:17
shape. I was in testing shape, low key, like you know what
23:18
I mean, sorrys testing for my forty. I was in that type of
23:22
shape, but I wasn't in enduring endurance shape. So I had tough.
23:26
I had a tough rookie mini camp, like super tough. And then going
23:30
up to New England, like it was I didn't notice at the time,
23:34
right because this is all I know is New England. This is this is
23:37
the league to me, right, But from what everybody else is saying is
23:41
like, yo, New England kind of run the ship different, Like the
23:45
way they practice is different, the way they do everything is different. Right,
23:48
So we out there obviously we two spot and we got two different fields
23:53
going, and like obviously it's rookie unicamp. It's all rookies, right,
23:57
So I had a tough camp because I wasn't in the shape that I needed
24:00
to be in. So I feel like I struggled for real doing rookie minicamp.
24:03
It was a lot, you know what I mean? It was?
24:07
Yeah, I think I had a tough rookie minic Was it just the physical
24:11
or was like the middle kind of catching onto their system everything? Well,
24:15
mentally I always been cool, but when you physically not right and ready,
24:18
you can't think the better part, can't even it's not even a determining factor
24:22
because I was out there just I couldn't think because yeah, okay, yeah,
24:26
you know what I'm saying. So you're just trying to survive. I'm
24:29
trying to survive. Yeah, So it was it was a tough, tough
24:32
rookie minicamp. Like it was tough and made me super nervous going into like
24:34
O t as. I'm like, all right, I'm I'm a little far
24:38
behind from where I need to be if this is like what I'm walking into.
24:44
So it was it was a little nerve wracking for me. And and
24:48
because you were drafted in the second round. Yeah, we're going to ladies,
24:52
We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back. Follow us
24:55
on Facebook at Let's Talk Curly, visit w c HS network dot com Let's
25:00
Talk for more. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Carl Lee at Let's Talk
25:06
at pro message dot com, Dell Cooper at d Cooper at wv radio dot
25:11
com, or call free zero four three four two eight one three one ask
25:15
Carl a question or comment on current our previous episode. To visit Let's Talk
25:18
Carl Lee on Facebook, Like rate and subscribe from your podcast service to help
25:26
more people find Let's Talk with Carl Lee. Now back to the we're back
25:30
and again we have Aaron Dobson, Bobby Dobson and the co host and the
25:37
co host is is He's having He's got a lot of questions and I'm excited
25:41
to start. Don't be sorry, No, don't be sorry, because I
25:45
think we don't really get to dive deep into like somebody's draft, and that's
25:51
process and strap, and I think for kids who are somebody's listen, who's
25:53
interesting it you done dropped about ten gyms on them already. So so what
25:59
I'm what I was going to ask is that you were drafting the second round,
26:02
you were the fifty ninth overall picture, This is amazing, But is
26:04
that guaranteed that you make the team or is it are you still fighting for
26:08
roster position at that point? Going into Okay, I will say I would
26:14
say, now that I know what I know, I was safe, you
26:18
know what I'm saying. I would say being the second round pick, I
26:21
was probably saying in New England, Oh yeah, I couldn't overWe right,
26:26
But pretty much I feel like if you probably Day one, Day two or
26:29
not, if you first second round, you probably safe more times than not.
26:33
Yeah, but pretty much anything after that, you know what I mean,
26:37
you can probably throw third round in there. Two you're probably safe.
26:40
But four through seven, I mean, and I was accepted, you know
26:45
what I mean? So trust me, I wasn't. I wasn't comfortable speak.
26:51
Yeah, it was four through seven like it, but because of that
26:56
rookie camp experience, you walked there like he was a fourth throying to Oh
27:00
yeah. I never looked at it like I still was walking in with a
27:03
chip on my shoulder, no, no doubt, Like you know what I'm
27:04
saying, because I was still I was upset that I went fifty nine.
27:08
Okay, you know what I'm saying, Like I would not that I was
27:11
upset, but it was because what five six or shit was going ahead of
27:15
me. Tevon Newson which I understood right, Tavon Nelson was Teavon Nelson.
27:22
We had d Hop, you had Corda Patterson, you had Robert Woods,
27:27
and Justin Hunter went before me. So I was like I trained with d
27:33
Hop, I trained with Justin Hunter and seeing Cordell Patterson up close, so
27:38
obviously I'm stacking myself up against them, you know what I mean. Like
27:41
the whole time were working out like training the IMG, and uh, I
27:45
didn't really see what they had on me, you know what I mean to
27:48
be honest, like just like and them, my dogs don't get a twisted
27:51
Like I still talked to just one Hunter dep to this day. But uh,
27:55
what I would say the Hop probably had on me was his hands,
27:56
d Hop. I mean he had gorilla hands size like three x four x
28:00
gloves crazy. Yeah, crazy, So like that's what I feel like the
28:03
probably had on me, if anything. And then j Hunt Ja Hunt was
28:07
crazy athletic, you know what I'm saying. Slender Bill basketball used to play
28:11
who you know what I mean? I had a basketball background, but super
28:12
athletic. But when I'm stacking myself up against them, I ain't see I
28:18
ain't see it, like I ain't see like all right now, I feel
28:19
like I'm better than them, you know what I mean, I feel like
28:22
I'm better. That's how I felt. You did the receiver? Did the
28:25
receiver size start to change in that in in your particular window as far as
28:33
bigger, because you know, Rice and those guys, they weren't they weren't
28:40
really they weren't much bigger than me, you know, and you you got
28:45
three feet off the top of me. So was that a new Was that
28:48
a was that a new thing coming in that bigger dB, that bigger corner?
28:55
I mean, because to me, there's I would have seen you as
28:57
a safety all day long. Yeah, you'd have been a safety at BET.
29:03
I think I think, I think man as time is going, I
29:07
think I think God like now, I think the game is a little bit
29:10
more athletic than when I was playing. Like, I think we're getting more
29:12
athletic as time goals, you know what I mean. I think I don't
29:15
know what better. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. But athletically athletically,
29:19
I think I think it's different, you know what I mean. I
29:21
think it is different now athletically, Yeah. I don't think it's skill set
29:23
wise. Maybe they wasn't as savvy as us mentally, but skill uh,
29:30
athletically, I think if they freaks now. So I think it just kind
29:33
of starts changing, like and I think some guys are like, it's like
29:36
I was a hooper, right, I was. I was a hooper,
29:37
you know what I mean. And I think guys are starting to get a
29:41
little bit more hip to everybody's gonna be a six four hooper six three,
29:47
you want to be the one, you know what I mean. So I
29:48
think but I think, like I said, like just one hundred in my
29:52
draft, he was six three, six four player, hoop could move like
29:55
a little guy. He had good feet. I think that translates like,
29:57
but I don't know, man, I think I think it might have been
30:00
getting new. We're just seeing bigger receivers that can move and because I think
30:06
for me, like I was six thirty six four, but I could play
30:10
big or small, like I could go, I can I can get in
30:11
the slot and be twitchy and do those type of routes. But I could
30:15
also play big and go stretch the field and play six to four. So
30:18
I think that was like obviously, I think whenever you find a receiver that
30:22
can do that at that size, just I mean it's it's a no brainer,
30:26
like you gotta and I think I think and and and Bobby. You
30:30
you probably had watched it even before when he was young talking about it,
30:34
you could almost predict the guy that's gonna be in the slot. He's gonna
30:38
be a little quick guy, you know what I'm saying. Like it was
30:41
really, I mean it was, I mean, you you were dictated,
30:45
you were you were said. I mean it was said that he's that he's
30:51
that position because he looks like that slot. I think that I think that
30:56
now with the skill sets of the athletes, that that day is gone.
31:00
Like you can't like look at a guy now and say, oh, he's
31:03
got to be no because he can do his athleticism is a whole is a
31:07
whole nother thing. Plus in the game of particularly in your area, was
31:11
a lot more physical. I don't know if it's is physically you can't do.
31:15
Yeah, you can't do the things that you used to do when y'all
31:18
particularly receivers coming across the middle. So those bigger guys they don't have to
31:22
carry so much weight. They can go, they can slim down, they
31:25
can afford to be a little bit quicker, like you said, twitch here,
31:27
and different things of that nature. And I'm and my problem with that
31:33
is that's coming from a DV. Yeah, my problem with that is it's
31:37
like, you know, you gotta have the safety, right, there's definitely
31:42
some you know, safety is an issue, but you can't let a receiver
31:48
just come down. You can't let him come in the middle and and and
31:52
yeah, you ain't gonna touch it and you and and what they're doing now
31:56
is touching. Like to me, I'm like trying to man, I'm trying
31:59
to come out your back. You know, I'm trying to go straight through
32:01
your chance to come out your back and like look at you, are you
32:05
okay? You gonna get upright? I mean, that's that part of the
32:08
game to me is gone, gone yes, And it's tough to watch sometimes,
32:14
yeah, And I think and for me it is. It is hard.
32:16
It's hard to watch. Has it in your view of it and your
32:21
view dad? Have they has it changed to a point that you can't And
32:25
I know you coach it, so you've got to watch it from a coaching
32:29
but you can't get on there and turn turn the television on into an NFL
32:32
game and watch it and say, you know, I'm liking it, and
32:36
Dan, I'm curious about what you think. Do you like? Is it
32:38
important for you to catch a game now? And it's definitely different from me
32:43
now. It's definitely different because even when I first came in in twenty thirteen,
32:46
you know what I mean, we still had I mean, we still
32:49
have Ryan Clark back there, Camp Chancellor, we had Troyla guys out there
32:52
that we're still hitting, you know what I'm saying. So like, so
32:57
to me, yeah, the game has changed a lot. I don't really
32:59
like where is going, you know what I'm saying. Like I feel like,
33:01
I mean, we know what we signing up for. I get that
33:02
we wanted we got to keep the game safer. I mean I do get
33:06
that, but I mean we know we out there doing man, we know
33:08
what we signed up for. So I mean, I don't necessarily agree with
33:13
it or like it, but so it is tough to watch the time because
33:15
I'm like, man, this is back years ago, this would have been
33:19
nasty, you know what I mean. But I mean, I guess it's
33:21
the game now. It is what it is going forward. You can't you
33:23
can't. You can't on the defensive side, Like Carl said, if you
33:30
can't take away something for the offense, guy, how you gonna how you're
33:32
gonna guard him? Like I knew if he got inside release to me,
33:37
my safety gonna take care of that. He gonna take care of that.
33:38
So he's gonna be looking. But now he like I said, them guys,
33:43
it'll be rough. It'll be rough trying to guard something you you reaching
33:45
for that past now that you wouldn't think about getting that. I mean,
33:52
and as a quarterback, you know, I definitely appreciate all of the rules,
33:55
but you wouldn't say but but but I was, even from a quarterback
34:01
standpoint, it's it's it's difficult just to watch because not to say, like
34:07
back in our day or this ain't the football. I grew up in.
34:08
But this ain't football. If you you see what I'm saying, This isn't
34:12
like that. This isn't the game. The game is dictated on. You
34:15
know, there is a healthy level of fear when you're on that field because
34:21
you know, like you said, you can't do certain things. If I
34:22
lead that receiver in the middle too much and he gets his clock clean,
34:28
I got to hear that, you know what I'm saying. So it's a
34:30
quarterback, I gotta be tight. You know, we gotta run our routs
34:31
tight. Everything's got to be a little bit more tights. I didn't play
34:37
at the highest level, but we all know its fans when somebody makes a
34:39
good play, and we know the dirty plays too. Yeah, that's why
34:43
give me some of them. You're like, that's just a clean good fool
34:46
the flag and they throwing the guy at the game and we know that,
34:52
what are you supposed to do? Yeah? What are you supposed to do?
34:55
It's just it's is an offensive game. Now, this is what it
34:58
is. It's a fact is to make money. Obviously, keep the keep
35:02
the fans and gays and score points. And it's like the NBA. I
35:07
don't remember I don't remember the exactly the exact number, but literally the first
35:15
part of the draft were all offense. Guy before that was like the first
35:21
thirteen pick. It's crazy that like that can it doesn't make I don't think
35:27
I've ever seen that before because and and and to try to make it make
35:30
sense to you if you if you don't understand how that shouldn't happen. Somebody
35:37
in that let's just say it was twelve, Okay, so somebody in those
35:40
twelve picks needs a dB. Absolutely, somebody needs a D. Somebody needs
35:45
a line back. I mean, you can't tell me that you don't,
35:52
but but who are the best players available as opposed to I just you know
35:57
I'm picking a quarterback when I'm the Falcons because I'm going to make the case.
36:00
Now you know where you go in the in the draft now isn't necessarily
36:06
skill set as much as it is the needs. So so hold, I
36:14
don't think its needs. I don't know if it's always need because like we
36:15
look at the Falcons pick was that I don't know if they needed that Ryan
36:20
Pinnix. I don't know if they needed that quarterback. Did they need him?
36:22
I mean, they just paid a quarterback one hundred million dollars. I
36:24
think they. I think they're thinking there. I wasn't really mad at Atlanta
36:28
for doing that because I think they're trying to secure somebody for the future.
36:30
Like I know, they just signed Kirk to a ton of million dollar deal
36:32
whatever, but Kirk Kirk, Kirk gang gonn play the four. Kirker probably
36:37
played to let Michael Pennix learn from him, and I think I'm not sure.
36:44
I'm not sure he'll make one. To see, I'm not I'm not
36:49
sure he's gonna make I'm not sure he's gonna make the first one. But
36:52
that that saves him from, you know, a rookie starting three, four
36:58
or five games in because again you got an Achilles and come on, I
37:04
get his stats, but he ain't a winner to me, like he I
37:07
just don't see him as a winner, So he ain't gonna What he can
37:10
do is he can nurture a backup quarterback into that role. But I don't
37:19
think. I don't you know, but I don't. But that's a lot
37:21
of money to spend on the same position, and then what happens is are
37:27
we be able to afford other positions around that The question. The question is
37:30
are you do you need those other positions? See that's what did you need
37:35
that you need that left tackle, you need that you need that right in
37:37
now you you might you might be willing to you you might be close enough.
37:43
And again I think this is the I think this is an interesting dive
37:45
into the draft. These coaches, these these all these people that are part
37:52
of this draft team, they know they're gonna they're gonna gamble on Okay,
37:58
we're gonna keep we only gonna have these two guys at the d n You
38:01
know, we know we could use another one. We know there's a great
38:05
one in but we we gotta get We gotta get somebody at the QBACH spot.
38:09
The QB spot at the end of the day, it's a must.
38:13
But it's such a gamble because a lot of it they was they broke down
38:16
the stats and I wish I had it with me, but a lot of
38:19
these first round, second even second round qbs they just do not work.
38:22
I think it's like at a thirty percent clip. So it's to the point
38:24
it's like a am I just going to go fishing for the QB or am
38:29
I going to try to structure and build a team. I know this is
38:32
probably way on the subject, but it's every organization really in it to win
38:36
a championship. And I don't know if I can say that. I like
38:42
to think so, y'all. As a fan, I want to think so.
38:45
As a player, I like to think so. But you look at
38:49
some of the picks and stuff. It's more about revenue. It's more about
38:52
I know, TV market charity. It's more about you know what I'm saying.
38:55
I know Mike Glynn, who was our general manager, who I've said
38:59
his name a thousand times on the show. He's passed away. He wasn't
39:05
he wasn't trying to He wasn't worried about how much money. Like he the
39:07
money he was trying to pay you was the minimum. And if you didn't
39:12
like it, he tell you go go go drive a bus. Drive a
39:16
bus. I mean, you know, you're a grown man and you sitting
39:20
across from somebody you negotiating with and he telling you, like, well,
39:23
if you don't like it, go drive a bus, you know, and
39:27
and like like how do you look? How do you look at him?
39:30
Yeah, he ain't trying to me. So he's saving he's saving money.
39:36
He's saving money for the program for him, and and and because at that
39:42
time, you ain't have no free agency, you couldn't go nowhere. So
39:47
so basically all you could do was go drive a bus. And speaking of
39:52
that, uh and when again, so you you you go through rookie camp,
39:57
you go through ot as, you obviously make the team. Now you
40:00
now all those years of work now we ain't get into your pocket. I
40:02
don't want to get to go. But all those years of work, now
40:07
you're seeing them checks come in. How how was mentally? How was that?
40:13
How did you deal with that? You know? It's crazy? Like
40:16
uh at first? Like so I never obviously when I first started playing,
40:22
obviously the goal was to get to the league and to the NBA or whatever,
40:25
right, But it ain't like the money never like fueled me like that.
40:30
And this never was like the motivation of it. You know what I'm
40:32
saying. It was really because like I just enjoyed. I really enjoyed it.
40:36
I really enjoyed playing. Like I said, I was a crazy competitor.
40:38
So I remember when I was first getting in the league, Man,
40:40
I wasn't even really Yeah when I seen the brand, Yeah it was it
40:45
was It was definitely a crazy feeling, man. But it was like,
40:49
but it's not until after you see it. Yeah, until after I seen
40:52
you know what I'm saying. Once I seen like coming. At first,
40:54
I was getting to direct the positive way, so I wasn't really checking the
40:59
checks like that, you know what I mean. And then remember when I
41:00
first checked the checks and I say taxes for the first time, I'm like
41:07
this, it was like, so it was it was crazy, man,
41:13
Like, it was crazy. Just after after a little while looking into the
41:15
account and saying, all right, I'm getting fifty sixty thousand every two weeks,
41:20
you know what, I'm every week and a half. So it was
41:22
I mean, it was different, man, like this. I mean I
41:23
was like nobody in my family seeing that, seeing anything like that. So
41:28
it was it was different. It was different. Yeah, it was,
41:30
yeah, man. But that's I mean, that's you know, that's the
41:34
rewards of it all. And that's just I always find that interesting. Again,
41:37
not to get in your pocket, but just to you know, you're
41:40
seeing that money come in, but you're also remembering all four years old getting
41:45
swatted by dad, all the work we need to get to that. Yeah.
41:49
Yeah, no, it was I mean, I definitely just I just
41:52
kept my head down. Man. It's just really like I'll be listened to
41:54
Kobe still when he talked like well past interviews and he was just talking about
42:00
just I was just working without like any results attached, you know what I'm
42:05
saying, So like just really just just keep grinding, you know what I'm
42:07
saying, don't really worry about the result to it, you know what I
42:12
mean, Like the result going is gonna happen organically, but you just gotta
42:17
getting the trenches really and just just keep working, you know what I mean.
42:22
When when when was the first moment that you said you you looked at
42:29
everybody and you said, Okay, I can do this. Uh it was
42:36
uh when it really it was crazy. It was my rookie year, and
42:39
uh I had I had a really really solid camp, Like after I settled
42:45
down to OTAs and kind of got my feet wet and kind of you know
42:47
what I mean, learn to training camp helps you a little bit, right,
42:52
Right, So then once I start getting in the training camp, like
42:55
it slowed down to me so much from ot As to training camp, like
43:00
just the game of it, right, And it always been just like a
43:02
like when it came to learning to playbook, like that was never a problem
43:06
for me or anything. Right, So even going into New England's playbook,
43:07
it was definitely the probably the toughest offense I've learned, but I learned obviously
43:13
I picked it up, you know what I mean. And obviously the game
43:15
starts slowing down. So it probably wasn't until though, midway through my rookie
43:20
year, probably right before I broke my foot. It was just the Stealers
43:22
game, right, So I came over a week before or two weeks before,
43:25
I think I scored versus Miami, had a decent, solid game there.
43:29
We played the Saints. I had another decent game, and I'm saying
43:32
decent games like five or seventy, like four for sixty five, right,
43:36
so four for sixty in the touchdown, right, And then I had the
43:38
Steelers and five for one thirty two touchdowns, you know what I mean.
43:44
I kind of just boom exploded onto the scene or whatever. And I just
43:46
remember after that game, I was like, oh, yeah, like it's
43:51
it's that time, you know what I mean, because I was feeling super
43:52
confident. It was the game was getting slow. And then I mean two
43:59
games later I was out from so it was kind of tough. But it
44:01
was around that that point in my rookie year where it's started getting extremely slow,
44:07
I start getting a crazy amount of confidence and I was like, okay,
44:10
like I can I can do this, like you know what I mean,
44:13
Like I'm supposed to be here. And it's interesting because I think the
44:19
relevance of what of your statement there, I think I think kids may may
44:24
miss it when you when you start talking about knowing like that, like learning
44:30
the playbook, learning that piece, when that's not an issue. Now.
44:37
The rest of it is all the physical piece, and you're either ready for
44:40
the physical pieces or you're not. I mean, so it's not like you
44:45
know you you're either gonna be able to get out there with these dudes and
44:49
play football at this level where you can't and it and it'll be clear where
44:54
it happens at is just that dude who is unsure a out what the coverage
45:00
is, unsure about the round right now, he's slower and he ain't comfortable
45:07
yet of what he's doing because he don't have because he don't have the middle
45:14
piece right there, Yes, because I'm telling you, as jewel right there,
45:20
I don't know saying you have all the physical skill, you can't.
45:23
You want to understand it nothing, you play stuff, you say the game
45:28
minutally, that's gonna slow. You can pay Yeah, like that you can
45:34
do that on a lower level, right because you can catch up. Because
45:37
you can catch up, you may ultimately learn, but I can for sure.
45:42
I'm not even sure if you can do it now, even in college.
45:44
But but on Sunday, oh yeah, right, you you ain't gonna
45:50
make the team because they gonna know that you don't know, and and and
45:54
like I don't even remember like even sweating the playbook and now the playbooks is
46:00
you know, but they' not your regular They double triple. They double triple
46:05
your high score or college playbook. Right, yeah, they changed week.
46:10
And so when somebody is all of a sudden telling you, Okay, this
46:13
week we're gonna do this, then next week we're gonna do this instead of
46:16
that, right yeah, And so you got to be able to get that
46:21
process and process it and say okay, I can I can make that move.
46:27
No, that's that's what I mean. Now, That's how I tell
46:30
my guys all the time. My receivers now is like I tell them boys,
46:34
obviously learn every receiver position, right. So some of these guys still
46:37
just want to learn they position right. So we got x Z, y
46:40
A. Those are receiver positions, right. But so you got some slot
46:43
guys. You got some guys that just playing outside, right, but they
46:45
only want to learn it by they position. I'm like, I'm like,
46:50
how can you see the how can you see the game from the bigger picture
46:52
if you don't know what everybody else doing, you know what I mean.
46:54
So it's like and just like Carl said, like the more you know,
46:58
obviously, it's really it comes down to understanding this schematics. It comes down
47:01
to really understanding the xs and o's and what you're trying to do. Like,
47:05
if you understand that, then it's gonna it's gonna make you more successful
47:08
because you know as far as the receiver, you know exactly where to be,
47:12
when to be there, how to get there the most efficient knowing if
47:14
I'm the first reader of the progression or no, I'm the last reader of
47:16
the progression. If I'm the first reader, I need to win right now
47:19
because I don't got time to play. I'm the last reader of progression,
47:22
I might I might be able to put a little bit of sauce on my
47:24
route because he's not getting to me to a last So I ask my guys
47:28
all the time, like what's the when's the best time to be open as
47:30
a receiver, and they all give me answers. I'm like, when the
47:32
quarterback is ready to throw you the ball? You know what I'm saying.
47:35
So, but that's gonna that's gonna be different by play whether you are.
47:38
But for you to understand that, you got to know the whole play.
47:43
You gotta know what every receiver position is doing. You got to know or
47:45
where's the quarterback starting first? You know what I'm saying by this coverage.
47:49
But if you can't, if you can't think like that, you're gonna be
47:52
out there still worrying about right before you say hut, or what route I
47:53
got? Okay, boom, I'm just not getting what route I have here
47:57
about to say hut. I don't know what the coverage is doing on or
47:59
where my safety is on the who's spending who not? Who blitzing in my
48:01
hot Like you got a whole bunch of stuff going through your's and that's that's
48:07
a lot of stuff that you just have to, like you're thinking about this
48:12
the seconds and and and to to the flip side of that, to the
48:17
flip side of that. Okay, so offense comes out. I'm the corner
48:23
they call a cover three. Who who's got the curl route? Who's gonna
48:28
help me on the crew? I need to know who that person is,
48:32
who's gonna be underneath the out I know I got the deep ball by myself.
48:37
Who's gonna get me help me on the post? Like? What?
48:38
What? What? I gotta know where everybody's at. And you can't.
48:45
You can't like wait till the team lines up and look at it and say,
48:50
okay, let me look and see who's got it, you know.
48:54
So, so getting getting back to your career, like obviously your career and
49:00
you excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong, your career is probably cut
49:04
short because of injuries. Mark, Yeah, I mean, how was that?
49:07
Because I mean, obviously, you know I watched you play. It
49:09
was prompt. It was like you're playing with Brady and you out there shining,
49:14
You're doing your thing, and it just kind of went up and down
49:16
because of the injuries. Yeah, No, it was, it was.
49:19
It was tough. It was tough, man like, like I was kind
49:21
of just going through my rookie year for y'all a little bit like I really
49:24
was. I feel like I was about to really explode onto the scene man.
49:27
And then bro ended up breaking my foot week ten, week eleven of
49:31
my rookie year and it kind of just threw me obviously for the rest of
49:35
the year. I mean that that's a whole nother story within it. So
49:38
but anyway, I didn't have I didn't end up having surgery until after the
49:40
season basically, so I was kind of still out there hobbling on the foot
49:45
the last six games of the season. So you were playing, I was
49:50
playing. See that's see, that's that's that football mentality. Like you you
49:55
you can't because here's the thing. That shot though, Yeah, yeah,
50:00
you gotta get that. You gotta get that shot you know before the practice,
50:05
before the game that you out Yeah, I'm talking about it for you,
50:12
and and you know I'm out there. I'm out there trying to play
50:15
bump and run and I got two pins in my rest that the hand that
50:19
I got to use that I can't feel no pain, you know what I'm
50:22
saying. I ain't no way I can. I'm on jam you and if
50:25
I ain't got something going on to keep me from being like, you know,
50:30
you don't have And again I got my I got my starting job because
50:36
the dude decided he didn't want to take he didn't want to take the shot
50:38
in his ankle, so he decides he ain't gonna you know, he just
50:42
ain't gonna play the game. And it's against Detroit. I get in,
50:45
get the game, win an interception, b the rest is history, you
50:47
know. I mean it's that it's that game that then of a margin that
50:53
all of a sudden you in, er you out, and it's hard not
50:58
to go out there and play. So I'm thinking as soon as they put
51:00
that cast on, I had a full cast during the week half cast for
51:06
the game because I ain't. I ain't. I'm not sitting down because I
51:09
know somebody behind me. So and we don't got to get too far into
51:16
what happened was like really so they didn't necessarily tell me my foot was broken.
51:22
They told me I had a midfoot spray, all right, So I
51:23
was getting X rays. They were showing that I had a mid foot spray,
51:27
and yeah, I was in the boot and all that for three months,
51:32
right, But they necessarily didn't tell me my foot was broken. They
51:37
didn't get me a CT skin until we playing the AC championship game. We
51:40
lost, obviously, you know what I'm saying. And they take me the
51:44
next day, they take me down to Boston see a foot doctor. They
51:45
tell me it was broke, right, And the doctor was like, well,
51:49
I can tell it's been broken for a while because you can tell it's
51:51
trying to start healing on his own. So that was just the first injury,
51:54
and then it was just like little nag and stuff here and there.
51:58
Bro So it was like after that, then the next year had a hamstring
52:00
towards the end of the season. How long were you on the ham string?
52:05
How long were you out that had well, so I got that was
52:08
probably a week twelve when I hit the hamstring of that year and that was
52:12
when the rest of the year, so I was out. I was done.
52:14
Yeah, because people don't like, you know, not the hamstrings tough
52:16
because I have one too, man, And and I missed all I missed
52:22
practically all the camp. Yeah, no, it's tough, and and you
52:24
know, you know people, you know, they talk about the hamstring and
52:27
you come back. You ain't torn your hamstring? No, no, you
52:30
you don strained it or something. But if you tear it, but you
52:34
ain't, but you ain't getting back in the in the week. Nah,
52:37
absolutely not because you don't have no explosion. You have nothing like you don't
52:40
have nothing. So it was tough. But to answer your question though,
52:45
just it was. It was tough man, just going through the injuries,
52:50
like a couple other situations that I was in, it kind of threw me
52:52
off, Like my mental was thrown off a little bit, you know what
52:54
I mean. I was super thrown off and obviously was still trying to stay
52:59
strong in it, but mentally I wasn't. I wasn't good, Like I
53:02
wasn't in the right space at all. So it was the injuries and literally
53:09
me not being in a because I I won't get you out of your space
53:14
of of being that it was a little bit of it was a little bit.
53:17
It was a little bit of both. Yes, that was a major
53:20
reason, right because obviously it's you being hindered. You're not being able out
53:24
there to do what you love to do, right, So that's tough,
53:27
right, and then not being able to like I had a hard time with
53:32
the So obviously, you know, social media was getting popping right when I
53:37
got into the NFL. So the social media game changed everything. So I'm
53:42
coming from and not to make this an excuse because it's not. But so
53:45
obviously I'm in Marshall, we ain't got we got fans, but we ain't
53:50
got Yeah, just crazy just o d fans like that, right, Like,
53:55
So that was a crazy switch up to me going from Marshall to one
54:00
of the biggest sports markets in the world. As far as going to Boston
54:04
night and day, like you know what I mean. I remember the day
54:06
after I got drafted, I couldn't even get on social media or Instagram like
54:08
or Twitter, like. I literally could not get on it because it was
54:13
just frozen. It was that many people just all of a sudden just boom,
54:15
right, which was which was crazy because most of it was good,
54:19
right, but then when things start going a little left or whatever, right,
54:23
I'm feeling now I'm feeling like I'm feeling tribe. I'm feel like I
54:27
need to respond to everybody, right, like, you know what I mean,
54:29
I'm getting on that type of time with people, right. So I
54:31
think it was just that as far as kind of me being New England skapegoat.
54:36
When I was there a little bit and going through some injuries, it
54:38
threw me off. It threw me off my mental man, So like whenever
54:42
I left there, I was trying to bounce back, but it was tough,
54:45
you know what I mean. So at the end of the day,
54:47
I ended up walking away from the game really mentally because I had chances to
54:52
go. But I could have went back and played, like you know what
54:54
I mean. It's not like I left the league and then it didn't have
54:58
any calls like I had calls that I just was like, I'm good.
55:00
I gotta get my mental together, yeah, I mean I'm sorry. Well
55:05
yeah, because I'm curious Bobby, like you see these injuries coming, you
55:12
know how you you know, his his his potential, but knowing too that
55:17
if he ain't out on the field, there's a there's a problem happening.
55:22
You know, how were you and what were you thinking about those injuries and
55:28
how how were you trying to manage do that? That's that's one of those
55:30
things, like I said, since I could probably count on my hand probably
55:37
one or two fingers the injuries that he had that were I would say significant
55:44
injuries from the time he was four or five years old playing sports, football,
55:46
basketball, track. It wasn't any very you know, maybe a spraining
55:52
day or something like that. It is it seemed like once he gets to
55:54
the biggest stage, that's when all the injuries hit and he's like, what
55:59
what is this? What do we do? Do we do something that what
56:04
you know, the stars ain't a lining for us or whatever. So that
56:07
it was tough. It was tough because you see him, You're like,
56:08
I know, I know he can do this stuff, and you've seen him
56:13
have success. But you know, at that level, ninety percent ain't good
56:19
enough. You got one or two guys that ninety percent is good enough.
56:23
But most of the time that guy right behind you is just just right behind
56:28
he waiting for you to go down, and he just steps in. And
56:30
like I said, sometimes you know you don't get a spot back, so
56:34
and I would say, you know, we won't have much time. But
56:36
just to validate your point when we talk about social media, I was a
56:39
freshman politician in the state legislative this year, and when you get online and
56:44
you feel like you're working and doing everything and then you're just getting blasted.
56:47
I mean, it does weigh told. People don't people may not, people
56:52
may discount it, but it does weigh on you. It's like, dang
56:54
many they going crazy on me. It's harder to you know, people say,
57:00
don't get on and don't read it, don't respond. That's hard to
57:02
say, cause that's our life. Now that's your outside with my Facebook page,
57:09
now let's talk. I had to get it, you know, and
57:13
I have a carl Leland. Also, I don't know if I've seen like
57:19
I knew people would say things about me, but once I got on social
57:23
media, like it was like it was like, especially coming out of the
57:28
high school coaching thing, yeah you got it right, you know. I
57:34
was like I was like, oh, I thought we was cool. You
57:37
know what I'm saying. People just saying like whatever they want to say.
57:42
And what's crazy to me is that freedom that you feel to say that you
57:49
don't necessarily even know the backdrop of ninety of it. All you know is
57:54
this happened. That's that one he got hurt, they didn't, and that's
58:00
all that you know. That's the one percent that you know, and you're
58:04
gonna judge it all. That's that's what that's what. It was a lot
58:07
of it that was up there. Because even it was times where literally I
58:10
was up there, I was a healthy scratch. So most of the games
58:13
I really didn't plany New England was literally a healthy scratch. Like if you
58:15
don't know that, I literally just wasn't playing. So it was a lot
58:17
of other stuff going on behind the scenes that was kind of like what's going
58:22
on, right. I don't know if y'all remember when an article came out
58:24
saying I was getting into all my coaches because that's why I wasn't playing.
58:27
I don't know if y'all remember that, Like, so I I don't remember
58:30
that. Yeah, yeah, you go look at right now on Google right
58:31
now. It's still out there. Just it just got beat by Kansas City
58:35
one year and got smashed. Smashed was forty two to fourteen, and they
58:39
benched time and put Jimmy Garoppolo in, so it was just Jimmy's rookie year
58:43
and myself. I remember that. Yeah, we got smashed in Kansas City
58:46
and I just didn't They just didn't take me on the trip. Coach.
58:50
I'm sitting you ain't doing the trip. I'm not on the trip. I'm
58:52
at home watching that game in the base listen. So so I'm kind of
58:57
confused, like all right, like what's going on? You know what I
58:59
mean? I got no answers or whatever. So we get beat whatever,
59:02
we come back right on all the news stations on the ticker on ESPN's the
59:07
Bill Belichick, Tom Brady errors over like they killing the Patriots, like New
59:10
England sucks, like killing us. And then literally the next day, man,
59:15
it just the story switched to me like I'm not playing because I'm getting
59:17
into it with my coaches and this, that and the other. I'm like,
59:21
I don't even know where this is coming from. This came out of
59:23
left field, like right, So it was a lot of stuff that was
59:27
going on behind the scenes that kind of threw me. So I was like,
59:30
I just had a lot of trust issues up there. I didn't really
59:31
know what was going on. I ain't know really who had my back,
59:34
you know what I'm saying. I ain't know where the story came from.
59:37
And there was no free agency or any of that. It was still that
59:39
there was no free agency at that time, like you couldn't like you couldn't
59:45
just go to another team. Nah. Nah, at one point in time
59:47
up there, I wanted to get traded. I'm telling my agents and them
59:50
to get me traded, you know what I mean. And Bill won trade
59:53
me. And it's crazy, becau y'all know Bill will cut whoever, would
59:55
never trade anybody whatever. Right, So it's like, you know, I'm
1:00:00
taking all this seat because I'm not playing right, or you need to study
1:00:02
your playbook more, you need to do this. I'm like, look,
1:00:06
if y'all know I know every single position up here, right, That's why
1:00:08
I'm so flexible. They could put me wherever they want you on the field.
1:00:10
It ain't. It ain't that I don't know the playbook. It ain't.
1:00:13
It ain't no reason that y'all think it is. I don't even know
1:00:15
the reason. I'm just kind of going through it, you know what I
1:00:16
mean. So, but it was it was weird, man. It was.
1:00:21
We asked some it was weird. It was weird. Man. I
1:00:22
went through some situations where I just didn't know what was going on. Right.
1:00:25
Situations like that were I'm getting into all my coaches, right, They
1:00:29
all they all had my back and said, like, don't worry about it.
1:00:30
I don't know where the story is coming from. But I'm like,
1:00:34
then where is it coming from? You know what I mean? Like this
1:00:37
professional reporter ain't just going listen to Joe Schmoe at the gas station and write
1:00:43
this story, right. You know what I'm saying. Somebody told you that,
1:00:45
and somebody that she trusted told her that, you know what I mean,
1:00:49
told the woman that. So now it was it was it was different,
1:00:52
it was it was I just you know, I had a very unique
1:00:55
situation in the league. Let me just say that, you know what I
1:00:58
mean. But and now you are coach at Marshall Culture Receivers and then you
1:01:02
want to take this to the you want to be like a head coach and
1:01:06
I don't, man, I don't know if I want to be a head
1:01:07
coach. Man, I see, I see the responsibility of a head coach.
1:01:10
I don't know if I want that and that, Like I said,
1:01:13
I'm still green when it come to the like just being in it, you
1:01:15
know what I mean. But like my goal right now is obviously, like
1:01:17
I want to get the best receiver coach in the country, you know what
1:01:21
I mean. So that's what the plan is right now obviously, as I
1:01:23
feel like I'm in the game of coaching. I'll get to the point where
1:01:29
I probably want to call it, yeah, call it, you know what
1:01:30
I mean, and really really get into it. But right now I'm just
1:01:32
I'm just I am where my feet are, you know what I'm saying.
1:01:36
So I really am I'm trying to I'm trying to learn a lot because as
1:01:40
much as I do know about receivers and really giving game to receivers, I
1:01:45
understand like it's a lot more to me to learn as far as being a
1:01:50
real solidified coach schematic wise x's and os and really really scheming coming to coaching.
1:01:57
So I know it's still a lot to learn. So I'm up for
1:02:00
and I'm just trying to dive into it more and and keep getting better at
1:02:04
it. And as we close up, one of the one of the interesting
1:02:07
things about what you're just saying there is is that, you know, I
1:02:12
think for a player, you know, I think it is a little bit
1:02:15
more of a challenge to and to become a coach because it's a different You
1:02:21
approach it different, I think than some guys who you know are just good,
1:02:25
good, great whatever coaches. It's a it's a little bit different I
1:02:29
think players players go at it a little bit different. I think so.
1:02:35
I appreciate both of you and a great show, and ladies and gentlemen,
1:02:39
we'll be back with you next Queen. The opinions expressed on this program do
1:02:44
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