Latest / NFL explained. / Tracy Perlman: The Godmother of NFL Players

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Tracy Perlman: The Godmother of NFL Players · NFL explained.

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I'm Peanut Tillman and this is my uncle Roman Harper
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and this is the NFL Player Second Acts podcast. I
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: know I look younger and I'm actually older. He's actually younger,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: but he looks older. We do this banter all the time.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I just and he has never won any great Gray
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is Gray is in right now, Gray is in. And uh,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: it's just if you're older. You know what we should do.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We should just ask all of our listeners and viewers
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to make sure you tell a friend, to tell a friend,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: to tell a friend, to make sure you continue to
• 0:35
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• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a follow. Anywhere you listen to your podcast, whether it's
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Apple podcasts or iHeartRadio podcasts, please look out for us.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Give us a review, click like, Tell a friend, Yeah,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: listen to what Pino's saying except for the old part.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: And speaking of friends, this this next guest. She's an
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: amazing woman. She's actually the first female we've had on
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: this podcast. She has tremendous value in the league. She's
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: one of the senior vice presidents, one of the only
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: women that hold that title. She's the godmother to all
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: players that have played that are retired, that are Hall
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of Famers. She's the one who's responsible for this podcast. Y'all.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Please check out our good friend Tracy Peerlman. So you
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: are the first ever female guest on the podcast.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I'm honored.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: So how do you feel about that?
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I'm honored. I'm so honored to be talking to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: two of you. And you're not fighting.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: No, we're not. We're not. You're like the godmother to
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: all NFL players. I agree. Nobody knows that either. Yeah,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: nobody knows. Everyone knows you when you have a problem
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: or when a player has a problem. When I'm frustrated
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: with something, I just text you, like, what about these calls?
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: What is the commissioner doing? What is Vince doing? Can
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you can you tell Troy uh To?
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Does Troy Vincent remember he played defense? Is exactly?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: What the text say her all the time?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: He does.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: But it's not just me though, It's like seven hundred
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: other players will text you like how awesome does that
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: feel for you to know that, like all these these
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: grown men trust you and they they take your advice
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: or they want to listen to you, or you're connected
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to them in some kind of way, like you have
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: put shoe stamp on the NFL with players.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: It's important to me that they know, and I don't
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: care if anybody else knows. It's important to me that
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: you know you can call me for anything. Nobody else
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: needs to know that. And that's exactly why I'm here
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: and the reason I moved to football. When Troy asked me,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: was I wanted to impact players' lives. I don't care
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: about the rest of it because you didn't.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You didn't know that about Tracy, did you?
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: No?
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I did so. I think he's just now starting to
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: see it, like, damn, she know everybody. Everybody knowing Tracy.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I didn't know she was such a mover and a
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: shaker either. You know, I keep received I'd received her email.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I'd been told to email her multiple times throughout my
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: career when this had popped up, or you know, post career, Okay,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: you need some help with this situation, text this person,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: and it was always Tracy Peerlman. I didn't know Tracy
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Peerlman personally until I've moved on. In the last year
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: and a half, I've got to know you a lot better,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: and it's been awesome to see It's been awesome to
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: see you do your thing, and you really have impacted
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: so many. I just thought you were on the other
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: end of an email for so long. I didn't really
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: understand your true job and the whole impact of the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: holistically part of everything that you do for the NFL
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: and especially for the players.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I think it's dope in the sense of it's a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: male dominated industry. Yes, and you are, or maybe the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: proper term is you were I think one of the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: first executives yes, in that position. Yes, How how intimidating
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: was that for you to be one of the only females.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I don't think she was intimidated. I want a room
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: full of men. I would love to know. How did
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: how did you initially try for the job and get
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the job?
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Well, I started at the NFL the day after I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: graduated from college. So I had gone through the ranks
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and I had been in multiple departments and a job
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: was open as an SVP. So I you named the level.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: I have been the level coordinator manager, senior manager, director,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: and I was a VP at the time, and it
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: was kind of I was kind of stuck and I
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: was doing all the entertainment stuff. I was working with players.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: We launched the Legends community and there was an SVP
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: job open that I did not interview for. And I'm
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: in my office and I see on my phone Roger
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Goodell calling me. I'm like, this can't be good. And
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: he said, come down to the office. I just want
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: to talk to you for a little while. And he said,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: why didn't you interview for this job? And I said,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: it's not the job that I want. He said, well,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: what job do you want? I said, I want to
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: be in charge for everything for players. There is no
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: one who is handling everything that players need, talking to
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: them community. He said that doesn't exist. I said, I know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: but you asked me, and that's what I want to do.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: And you know, we talked for a little while longer
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: and I went back and I did the job that
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: I was doing. And about a year later, Troy Minton
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: called me and he said, I'm creating job that is
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: all about the players, and I need somebody to run
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: it and it's all player work. But I think it's
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: your job and we're going to create it from the
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: ground up. And he told me I had to get
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: rid of all the cool stuff I was doing, booking
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: the halftime shows, booking Kickoff, doing the movies, and I
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: went back. I thought about it. I talked to my
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: team and I said to Troy, this is what I
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: want and he said, it's yours because I know you
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: care about it. Yeah, and he said, what do you
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: want it to be? I said, I wanted to be
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: a support and service to players, and we'll figure all
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the rest of it out.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: So what year was this, Tracy?
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: It was six years ago, So that's exactly.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: What I fairly knew.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: That's exactly why I asked that question, because I've seen
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a change in the NFL's legends community since these six
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: years that you've had this job. I've been retired now
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: six years, so I've literally seen the efforts change from
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: when I first got out to where now I received
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: so many more emails, so many more opportunities, and all
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: these other things that we're literally trying to change the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: outlook of former players, their outlook and expectations on what
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: it's like to be retired and what the NFL can
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: actually provide for them. And maybe you can speak to
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: us a little bit about what you've tried to help
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: implement or guide us into that third place.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: It's so interesting we had to change the culture in
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: the buildings. We want a player first. Culture. I want
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: to walk into a room and when people say to me,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I want a player, did you xyz? My response is
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: always what's the value to the player? And now, sitting
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: on that side of football with Troy, I can say
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: that when you're on the marketing side, you have a
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: transactional relationship with a player. Hides Tracy, I have money
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: for you to do in appearance. Will you do it? Great?
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: You show up.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: There's really no investment.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: No, And even though we kept trying to create that relationship,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: it was very difficult being on the business side because
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: it's a business. When you're on the football side, it's
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: about it's about you as a person. And we can
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: take that and you've seen the shift in our building.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: Whenever somebody says to me, hey, we need a player,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: and here's what we're going to do for the player
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: is now in the conversation, you know, we we were
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: doing something and they said they had a list of
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: assets and the assets player was number one. And I
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: got up and walked out of the meeting and said,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: when you guys understand that this is not the players
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: are not your asset. The players are the reason we
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: have this initiative. I'll come back and everyone has now
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: shifted their view. And I think you've seen it a lot,
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: oh ycause you've worked with everybody in the building where
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: sponsorship says, well, how can we make this a better
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: opportunity for players? Everybody is now talking that way, and
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: we really had to shift everybody's view. And we did
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: the same thing at the club level. We were talking
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: this morning about building up the PE departments because player
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: engagement is a trusted resource for players. At the club,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you need to have support there. You can have one
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: person for ninety men. That's not fair. So we've just
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: been trying to do one thing at a time, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: I know it hasn't been that beast, but at the
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: same time, I think it's been more impactful.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: I think the thing that I appreciate most about you,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: what a lot of people don't know, is you're like
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the conduit. You are a champion in your own regard,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: but the players value your opinion so much and they
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: text you, they call you, and then you take those
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: texts and opinions and you present them to Troy, to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the commissioner. Because there are several things, but I'll just
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: text you like, hey, you know, maybe we could do
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it like this, or it's just a fault that I
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: was thinking in that moment. And then next thing, you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, we got that done. Like I've
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: done that to you probably maybe four or five times. Yeah,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: and the thing actually got changed, and I was just like,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: oh damn. Like there are people I call you, you said,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: movers and shakers.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's why you can't use the word intimidated with Tracy.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I call you. I call you the key, the key
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to the city. There's there's a key to the city
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: at every job that I've I've had, whether at every level,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: whether it's the team, whether it's uh like the league
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: office or whatever. I think everyone thinks the commissioner does
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: run it. I don't think so. I think there's a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: person like you and they're actually running it. You're the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: key to the city. Like wives Heather, she run the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: house like it's we to face, But there's always a
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: key to the city, someone behind the scenes, like running everything.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I truly think that that person is you and your staff,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: everyone on your staff, Like I love hanging out with y'all,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and I don't do nothing with anybody else. I just
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: hang out with the staff like I feel like I'm
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a part of this is I was going to say,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: that's very true. Only hangs with you guys all the time.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: That's why he knows all of you. I know everybody.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: What are we doing?
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Like?
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: It's cool. So you've had such a huge impact even
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: before this current role that you have right now? What
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: would you say your message to all the players like
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that you've helped today and the players that you have
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and helped moving forward? Like what do you want that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: message to be? What do you want to be known
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: for as TP?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: What?
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Like? What do you want I don't know.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: The person and behind the scenes who helped me get
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: through it. I just want to be the person who
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: helps you on your journey all the way through when
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: you get in, when you're playing, and when you get out.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Who's kind of helped mentor you through year? How long
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: you've been in the NFL almost thirty one years, almost
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: thirty one years, who's been like the one person that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: has helped you get to where you are right now?
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I would say there are two. And the commissioner at
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the time that I started, he wasn't the commissioner, so
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: he was somebody who I emulated. He was my mentor
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: at one point and at that time, like I didn't
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: know he was going to be the commissioner, and I
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: just like that he makes people accountable. You know, when
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: we launched the Legends community, everybody nobody wanted to go
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: in the room to ask him for the money because
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: we needed money. And I went in and I pitched
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: the whole thing and I asked him for it, and
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: he said to me, you're accountable for this. It better work.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: And then he smiled and said, you should ask me
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: for more money. But it made me feel like he
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: was proud. He understood what I was asking for and
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: he challenged me, and I said, you know what, I'm
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: going to make it work, and when I come back
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: in next year, I'm going to ask for double the money.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: So I feel like he's always been a champion for
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: what we do and players don't know he is a
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: champion for players, And whenever we talk about it, if
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I have a player in the office, he's like, oh, Trace,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: spring him down. He wants to have that interpersonal relationship
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: with the guys. And the other one is Troy if
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I didn't move over to Troy, I may not have
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: stayed because I felt like I hit his ceiling and
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I feel like they both kind of pushed me along
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: the way, and every day Troy's like, well, what else
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: are we going to do? So it's still challenging. You know,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: I've been with Troy for six years and we just
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: keep moving forward, which I don't know a ton of
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: people who are in a job for so long who
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: say they have moved forward the whole time.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: So, Tracy, two quick little compliments for you. Number One,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Peanut always brags about how all you do is just
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: get things done, and that's probably one of the greatest
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: things that you've been able to do. And you, guys,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: relationship is that he can mention something or people say
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: things to you and you just somehow another it just
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: starts to happen. And you told me a story the
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: other day when we actually got to go into the room.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I don't even know what you guys call it. It's
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: not a conference room.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: It's way bigger than that.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: General session like the general session room where all these
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: owners meetings happen, which thousands of people inside this room.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: It's auditorium room. And I got to go in there,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: and I was just observing it all because this is
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: my first trip here and just really witnessing it because
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: players don't get to see all this no where. Every
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: thing really starts ground level with all the rules, the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: expectations and everything. And so and you said, what was
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: one of the best experiences you said bringing players here? Yes,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: you let off with players talking about Brandon Marshall coming
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: up here and speaking to the players about the Mike
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Cause My Cleats, Yes, and how it all started here. Yes,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: And I didn't know that. And could you maybe just
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: share a little bit of that story with our listeners,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: because I think it's a great story and only that
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: about Brandon Marshall, what everything he went through, who's a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: former guest on this show, But then also it will
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: also kind of give us an insight of what your
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: power and impact has been as well.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: So My Cause My Cleats was actually created because of
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: a fine that Brandon Marshall dot. So Brandon was wearing
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: lime green cleats during games and he kept getting fined,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: and he came into the office to see us, and
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: in a room full of people who are not used
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: to being told anything like he literally said, I am
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: sick of you telling me what I care about, and
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: I want to be able to show people this is
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: what I care about. Mental health is important to me.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Why can't we do something where players have the platform.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: And he wanted to do EyeBlack and Gloves, and we
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: ended up with the Cleats. It took us eighteen months
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: to get the Cleats thing done, and when we were
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: going to host this meeting, my cause my Cleats had
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: been the most successful program we ever launched with players.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Thirteen hundred players participated in the first year, and they
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: were like, we got to get somebody in here to
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: talk about it, and they wanted me to do it,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: and I was like, we need Brandon Marshall to talk
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: about it. He started this, he needs to tell the story.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: And he talked about number one, how he almost got
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: thrown out of the game, how the commissioner essentially saved
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: his life by threatening him because he was very difficult
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: and he had gotten in a lot of trouble and
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: he just shifted and everything changed and he captured this audience.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: It was unbelievable. He talked for about eight minutes and
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: no one spoke, no one moved in their chair and
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: for owners, head coaches and gms to hear a player
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: perspective on something that could have gone in a very
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: bad direction. But I don't know what it was like
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: to be in the locker room. I don't know what
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: it was like when you hear you're being fines because
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: you're wearing a uniform the wrong way. So whenever you
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: call me, I take what you say to heart because
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: I can do something for you and be your voice
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: when you can't.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's dope.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: It's another thing that Tracy said, that's beautiful because I
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: talked to some of the Panthers or Carolina representatives for
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: the Legends community, and all they do is talk about
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: how great you are, and they look, it's been some knockdown,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: drag out some meetings with a little bit of emotions.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Hasn't always been sunshines and rainbows. But we were moving
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: in the right direction. And one thing you said, Tracy
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: that was beautiful that I had never thought about. It
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: is like, look, we call it the NFL Legends community
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: because you are there legends. If you are even on
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: a roster, it doesn't matter for how long you're a
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: legend in some community because the odds of you making
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: it are so small, and most of us don't think
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: about that because we've been this process. We've been wrapped
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: up where we got to be the best, and if
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: we don't have this hall of fame, we don't have
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: this type of career, or we always feel like we
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: fall short, and that's not true. And we need to
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: be told sometimes from people that we don't know or
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: people that care about us, that hey, you do matter.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: You are a legend. It doesn't matter what you think
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: your NFL career was. You are a legend to somebody
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: and especially to us. So thank you for that as well.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: So communication is it's big right in this business.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And what you kind of alluded to was when Brandon
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: went in that room and he was talking to these
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: executives or this room full of non players. Yes, they
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: weren't used to being told what to do or they
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: just won't be there. They weren't used to being spoken
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to in that manner. Let's just say that with the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: positions that they hold, do you think that communication has
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: gotten better at that level of senior leadership at the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: league office.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, And I say that because now they always say
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: to me, Tracy can we get ten players on the phone.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: So for Pro Bowl we interviewed sixteen players when we
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: changed the Pro Bowls and we had zooms where we
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: said to players, what do you want this to be?
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Do you want to play a tackle game? No? Do
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: you want to play a flag game?
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: What would it be? How can I play? And we
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: got the feedback. You know, we dodgeball is a Pro
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Bowl skill because Joe Thomas told us he wanted to
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: play dodgeball. So I think that now they see when
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: we talk about social justice traits, I need ten players
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: when we do rules changes, Troy says, I need four
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: offensive alignement in this meeting, so when with the cat
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: that catch no catch, there were a ton of wide.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Receivers, so confusing.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: But imagine ten years ago, twenty years we would not
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: have asked a player an opinion, and they'll like, we
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: asked players for opinions on everything, and we got some.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: We got some feedback. Yeah, like some of the feedback
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: is rough, but it's but we need it. We don't know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: you know, we're in the middle of the prospect feedback
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: for combine. You and I were talking about this yesterday,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: like we need to know the things that just are
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: uncomfortable and are not.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Right right, And sometimes the NFL probably never thinks about
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: this because when you play, or when you're in that
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: position as a player, you do come away or walk
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: away with a different understanding or feeling than most. We
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: talked about the combine.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Seek to understand so you can be understood.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful. Another beautiful quote by Charles Peny. Tell me
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: he's always blessing.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Us with more. Yeah, reading his knowledge.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Baby, I love it so Tracy, I don't want to
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: continue to hold you.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I know this was war in the moment.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: This is beautiful and I'm PROMPTU.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I love this.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: So what will be at the end of your dash
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: when it's all said and done, when you leave the NFL.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: In another thirty years?
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what will be at the end of your dash?
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I would love to know.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Maybe I'll ask players to figure it
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: out for me. I don't know. I really don't know,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: but I especially because if you asked me six years
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: ago if this is what I would be doing, I
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: never thought the NFL would let me do this. So
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I'll leave it open.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Are you going to continue to push for more? You
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: will continue to push for more.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Yes, continue to until there is not one story out
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: there that says this NFL player is destitute. That like,
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: until I can change the narrative where what they're talking
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: about is how successful you guys are on the field,
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: off the field post your career. That to me is
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: the important part. Why do I have to see stories
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: about the one negative versus the thirteen thousand positive? That's
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: that's the goal.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: What's been one of the most challenging situations you've dealt
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: with that happened or it ended the right way, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you were like, this is why I do this job.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: This is why I care about these players.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Okay, so are you going to say it.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Without and you can say without naming I'm not chulding.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to name it.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: But I've gotten a lot of training suicide prevention, mental
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: health awareness to the point where like, if I see
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: something on social media, I'll flag it. You know, we've
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: created some interventions because of that. And I had a
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame running back. Stay to me, I'm going
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: to have this guy call you. I want you to
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: talk to him. And we started talking. He was angry.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: I could see he was bitter. Something was going on,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: and it turned into a I don't know why I'm
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: on this earth conversation, and I called in Yaka, who's
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: the clinician. While I was on the phone with this player,
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: and it was going in a direction that I was
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: afraid that I couldn't handle, and in Yaka's texted me,
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: find common ground, find common ground, find common ground. So
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: he played for a team that I happened to know
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: somebody very closely, and I said, hey, this player works
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: for me, that's my guy. But all of a sudden,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: the conversation started turning around, and you know, within thirty minutes,
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: I got him from bitter to I shouldn't be here
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: to can you connect me with him? To how can
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: you help me get into a facility? And I literally
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: for thirty five minutes. I walked out of the office
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: and I was like, I don't even know what just happened.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: And this Hall of Fame running back called me. He's like,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: you just saved that man's life.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: And it's gotta be a great feeling.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, I was like, this is
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: such a responsibility, and you know we are now the
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: whole staff is getting trained, every club is getting trained
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: because if I didn't know what to do, it could
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: have ended really poorly. But that's why I do this.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: That's a big responsibility. That is.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: But we see it and then when we see when
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: the players don't get that help, we see the end
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: result and we're all so sad, and then we just
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, send a couple of tweets and we're like, oh, this, this, this,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: and we know it's that, and we make this excuse
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: because it's not the first time we've seen it. And
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: now I love that you're trying to get in front
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: of it. We want to train more people to get
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: help and get in front of We got to listen.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: We've got to be willing to listen and be ready
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: to be involved when we can.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I think one thing the league has done a really
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: good job of is to push the narrative it's okay
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: not to be okay, Like I've within the last couple
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of years, I've seen that narrative pushed out and it's
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: been Yeah, it's been cool to see.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And you know, the twenty four Legends who work
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: in the Legends community get trained in mental health every
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: single time we get together. And it blows my mind
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: that so many players talk to John Randall because he
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: was so damn scary on the field. I watched film
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: of him playing.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: He talked all the time. It's dope. I love John.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: And then he'll be like Trace, this guy is gonna
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: call you, and all these guys confide in him, and
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: he now has the training to be able to pass
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: them on to the right people. So again the peer
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: to peer, Like you guys are on the ground. You guys,
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: hear it. We just want all of you to know.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Just send people to us. We'll figure it out.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Well, TP, hey, appreciate you being first and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: only woman on the podcast, Like that's dope, that's no.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you. There's nobody better to have on here to
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: represent it whether they it is like you are, there's
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: nobody else.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Appreciate Tracy and you guys didn't argue at all. It's awesome.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: How can you not love this lady. She is awesome.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I've had the privilege of working with Tracy and her
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: team since like twenty twelve, and she is just you know,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: USDA certified. She's a great person, just just her character quality.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: She really does care about the players in this league.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: I think she emphasized that big time it was about
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: the players, and I'm glad that we actually get to
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: use this platform to turn and shine that light back
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: on her, because I know most people do not know
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: who Tracey Pearlman is or what she means to so
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: many people around the NFL and what she does for
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the league and its players. So I really appreciate that
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: and the ability to be able to give her her flowers.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she's great people, and we can't thank her enough
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: for being on this podcast. One she's responsible for the podcast,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: so great person. Thank you guys for listening. It's been
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: an honor, it's been awesome. I'm Peanut, this is my
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: uncle Roman, and this is the NFL Player's Second Act podcast.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Appreciate y'all.