Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily Special: Ifeanyi Momah Thought He "Made It" When The Eagles Signed Him, Until ...

Transcript

The DiCecco Daily Special: Ifeanyi Momah Thought He "Made It" When The Eagles Signed Him, Until ... · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome in everyone to another episode of The
0:12
Speaker 1: Checko Daily. But it's a special edition of The check
0:15
Speaker 1: O Daily. Why because I'm joined by former Eagles wide
0:18
Speaker 1: receiver Fani MoMA, who's kind enough to join me and Fani,
0:23
Speaker 1: how's it. How's it going man? Thanks for carving out
0:25
Speaker 1: a few minutes.
0:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's my pleasure. Man.
0:27
Speaker 3: Thanks for inviting me all as well. You know as well.
0:30
Speaker 3: I'm doing good on this end.
0:32
Speaker 2: Great to hear.
0:34
Speaker 1: But before we get into your foray into Eagles training
0:37
Speaker 1: camp where you spent two seasons, First, how did you
0:41
Speaker 1: wind up in Philadelphia?
0:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, my story was unique. You know this is in
0:47
Speaker 3: a long time ago as well. But you know, my
0:50
Speaker 3: senior year at Boston College, first game of the season,
0:52
Speaker 3: I tore my a cl against Northwestern unfortunately, and it's
0:55
Speaker 3: really banking on that year to make a noise to
0:58
Speaker 3: get me, you know, at least signed to an NFL team.
1:02
Speaker 3: Years prior to that were decent, but not enough. You know,
1:04
Speaker 3: I really needed that senior year tape, so that didn't
1:07
Speaker 3: come through. You know, I retired, missed my rookie missed
1:10
Speaker 3: that season and missed my rookie year, and after two
1:13
Speaker 3: years await from football is like, man, I still got
1:15
Speaker 3: a niche.
1:16
Speaker 2: I want to see what I can do.
1:18
Speaker 3: So worked out and I did pro day at BC
1:21
Speaker 3: as a vet, you know, as a as a free agent.
1:23
Speaker 2: And that's kind of how I got on the radar.
1:25
Speaker 3: And you know, I was speaking between a few teams,
1:27
Speaker 3: but I landed with the Eagles just because I really,
1:30
Speaker 3: I really liked what Chip Kelly stood for at that time,
1:33
Speaker 3: and you know, he was he was, uh the coach
1:36
Speaker 3: of my receivers coach at Boston College, who coincidentally is
1:41
Speaker 3: right day who's crushing right now with Ohio State.
1:44
Speaker 2: So you know, made a lot of sense at the time.
1:47
Speaker 3: I wanted to go somewhere where I had some familiar
1:48
Speaker 3: ties and you know, team that was interested that made sense,
1:52
Speaker 3: and that's how I kind of ended up in Philly.
1:54
Speaker 1: So you joined the Eagles and you alluded to this
1:56
Speaker 1: at the start of the Chip Kelly era. What were
1:58
Speaker 1: your initial impressions about his offense.
2:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. I play.
2:03
Speaker 3: I started playing football at seven. I love football. I'm
2:06
Speaker 3: six foot seven. Most people say, why do't I play basketball.
2:09
Speaker 3: I've told the brothers and I just fell in love
2:11
Speaker 3: with the game. So, you know, I've been around football
2:13
Speaker 3: for a long time and played in many different offenses, many, many,
2:16
Speaker 3: many different offenses, and I've never seen an offense like
2:18
Speaker 3: that one, and you know, it was intriguing. You know,
2:22
Speaker 3: I felt like it was like kind of like track
2:24
Speaker 3: on turf. You know, you have an offense where you
2:26
Speaker 3: can get some guys who buy into the system, who
2:29
Speaker 3: are athletes, and you know, I think it could be something.
2:32
Speaker 3: That's kind of where my mindset was, is like it's
2:35
Speaker 3: something unique and something I've never seen before, and he's
2:37
Speaker 3: had great success.
2:38
Speaker 2: So I bought it in. Man.
2:39
Speaker 3: I wanted to really you know, utilize my skill setting,
2:43
Speaker 3: you know, buy into the the process and see what
2:45
Speaker 3: can happen. And yeah, I think he had great success
2:49
Speaker 3: when he was there, and not so much great times,
2:51
Speaker 3: but some really good times initially when he was there.
2:55
Speaker 1: So your first summer was in twenty thirteen. Did you
2:57
Speaker 1: have a welcome to the NFL moment?
3:00
Speaker 2: Oh?
3:00
Speaker 3: Man, I was saying, nothing crazy. The one situation I remember, well,
3:07
Speaker 3: you know, I ran up four to three at my
3:09
Speaker 3: pro day and you know, I have some really good numbers. Man,
3:12
Speaker 3: I'm six seven and there's a lot of hype behind me.
3:14
Speaker 3: Right when I signed with the Eagles, I think I
3:16
Speaker 3: had like fifty thousand people follow me on Twitter at
3:18
Speaker 3: that time. It was a lot of people. And you
3:22
Speaker 3: know when I sign, when I got to you know.
3:24
Speaker 2: O T A's and and you.
3:26
Speaker 3: Know, incorporated with the Vets, I was behind Deshun Jackson.
3:30
Speaker 3: I was in the too deep And when we got
3:33
Speaker 3: the training camp, you know, first day training camp by
3:37
Speaker 3: we got to one on ones and we were doing drills,
3:40
Speaker 3: you know, reps that counted right, everybody's watching, they're competing.
3:45
Speaker 2: D jack went and.
3:46
Speaker 3: Then I'm getting ready to go and it really has
3:48
Speaker 3: been jumped in front of me, and I'm like, all
3:50
Speaker 3: right whatever. And then after ab went, I think it
3:54
Speaker 3: was uh my boy, bj bj jumped in front of me.
3:56
Speaker 3: Everybody was just cutting me and me being like, you know,
4:00
Speaker 3: I'm mat him over two years. I ain't even really
4:02
Speaker 3: know what I was doing. I'm kind of nervous. I
4:04
Speaker 3: was kind of was letting it happen, you know, I
4:05
Speaker 3: was letting people cut me. I'll never forget after that practice,
4:09
Speaker 3: Jeremy mcle beause, I said, oh man, you're in the
4:11
Speaker 3: two d don't let people do that to you.
4:13
Speaker 2: Man. You gotta you know, fight with fight for what's yours.
4:15
Speaker 3: So you know, I don't think I really had any
4:18
Speaker 3: moments outside of that where you know, you hear some
4:20
Speaker 3: of these stories like welcome to the footboard. A guy
4:22
Speaker 3: has to pay a crazy bill at dinner, or you know,
4:25
Speaker 3: got to carry a vet's path, or you have to
4:27
Speaker 3: get blown up by somebody. I could definitely talk again
4:30
Speaker 3: up blown up by somebody, But in the initial year
4:33
Speaker 3: that was kind of my like, all right, like I'm
4:34
Speaker 3: a pro, I gotta handle myself like a business. Nobody's
4:38
Speaker 3: on coming, you know, and pushing me except for myself
4:41
Speaker 3: and vouch for myself. So you know, I got to
4:43
Speaker 3: really go out there and get it every day against
4:45
Speaker 3: these grown men who are trying to feed their families
4:48
Speaker 3: and competing the way that they think they should compete.
4:50
Speaker 2: So I got to mess the energy. So that was
4:52
Speaker 2: kind of my moment.
4:53
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the hype and how many followers you
4:56
Speaker 1: got since signing with the Eagles back in twenty third teen.
5:01
Speaker 1: It's pretty become commonplace that when you see big bodied,
5:04
Speaker 1: wide receivers, they tend to draw a lot of intrigue
5:08
Speaker 1: from the outside. What do you remember from that period
5:11
Speaker 1: when that interest was really building.
5:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was a while ago, but one
5:17
Speaker 3: thing really stood out to me. I was at my
5:18
Speaker 3: mom's house. I was helping her clean the house and
5:21
Speaker 3: obviously talking to my agent my brother just about what
5:25
Speaker 3: to do. And when I told my agent I want
5:28
Speaker 3: to go with Philly and the news got out there,
5:31
Speaker 3: you know, I was back in my mom's living room.
5:33
Speaker 3: I look at my phone I had. My phone was
5:34
Speaker 3: just NonStop, just dinging ding ding ding ding, notifications coming
5:37
Speaker 3: through social media going crazy.
5:40
Speaker 2: You know.
5:40
Speaker 3: I remember that thought of like, yeah, like this is
5:43
Speaker 3: pretty cool, you know, like I made it and I
5:47
Speaker 3: was wrong, you know, but that that thought of like
5:49
Speaker 3: all right, like I went from you know, getting my
5:52
Speaker 3: a cl surgery and going to master's classes because you know,
5:57
Speaker 3: I was a fifty year student and drinking football is over,
6:02
Speaker 3: and you know, basically two years later, it's like.
6:05
Speaker 2: You know, it actually happened. You know, this is pretty cool.
6:07
Speaker 3: And and you know, I don't really have people in
6:11
Speaker 3: my family or my network at that time that were
6:14
Speaker 3: you know, former NFL players are current NFL players, So
6:16
Speaker 3: I just didn't know what to do you know, I
6:18
Speaker 3: couldn't pick up the phone and call some of these
6:20
Speaker 3: vets from Boston College, like Matt Ryan or anything. I
6:23
Speaker 3: wasn't getting drafted, you know. So I just went out
6:25
Speaker 3: there and figured it out. But it was just one
6:27
Speaker 3: of those situations where, you know, after so much time off,
6:31
Speaker 3: it felt pretty cool to at least get some recognition.
6:34
Speaker 3: And I knew that there's a lot more work than
6:35
Speaker 3: needed to go in, but I sat back for a
6:37
Speaker 3: little bit and smell of the flowers of that at.
6:39
Speaker 1: That time, because there was so much buzz. Did you
6:42
Speaker 1: at any point feel any additional pressure because of it?
6:46
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, I hear in there.
6:48
Speaker 3: I'll say I'm a very you know, I'm I'm a
6:52
Speaker 3: competitive guy, you know, and I would like to say, like,
6:55
Speaker 3: I don't like to fail, you know. So I had
7:01
Speaker 3: enough pressure that I put on myself. And I'm not
7:04
Speaker 3: big on social media. I've deleted my Twitter and Instagram
7:07
Speaker 3: multiple times and made new ones, and you know, I
7:11
Speaker 3: would say that wasn't bad, you know, the pressure from
7:16
Speaker 3: fans or even the coaches. I just I was very
7:19
Speaker 3: critical and harsh on myself, and I think that was
7:22
Speaker 3: the hard part, was like getting into that mental block,
7:24
Speaker 3: and you know, it's true, Like I think as a rookie,
7:27
Speaker 3: as a young player, a lot of these guys you
7:29
Speaker 3: see it today and you've seen it years and years
7:31
Speaker 3: and years in the past.
7:32
Speaker 2: Like it takes a little while.
7:34
Speaker 3: For rookies and young players to really adjust, and the
7:37
Speaker 3: ones that adjust quickly are it's that's a rare breed.
7:41
Speaker 2: That's a rare situation.
7:42
Speaker 3: So I think for me looking back and reflecting on it,
7:45
Speaker 3: my first year two years, I definitely was very hard
7:47
Speaker 3: on myself.
7:48
Speaker 2: I had a lot to.
7:48
Speaker 3: Learn, and I would say nobody really was putting pressure
7:53
Speaker 3: on more on myself than I was putting on myself.
7:55
Speaker 1: You know, what are some of the challenges that a bigger,
7:59
Speaker 1: bodied wide receiver faces that maybe some wouldn't realize.
8:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, I mean, we all know it's football.
8:06
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's it's there's a lot of people
8:08
Speaker 3: on the field and it's hard to dictate how things
8:11
Speaker 3: go for you when you're playing receiver, tight end, all
8:13
Speaker 3: the different positions where you're not controlling the ball or
8:15
Speaker 3: you're not touching the ball, throwing the ball, and.
8:18
Speaker 2: You know, I would say, like that aspect.
8:22
Speaker 3: Really makes it it makes it unique in the sense
8:26
Speaker 3: of like you can really have a lot of advantages
8:33
Speaker 3: set up for you yourself, but it's hard to exploit.
8:35
Speaker 3: It's hard to utilize it, it's hard to put it
8:37
Speaker 3: on display. But I would say just being a receiver
8:42
Speaker 3: in that specific position, it's very hard to like get
8:45
Speaker 3: in and out of cuts and be fast enough to
8:47
Speaker 3: get separation from a guy who's quicker, you know, more agile,
8:53
Speaker 3: and in a system where you know you'll be on
8:57
Speaker 3: the outside and you know, working with some space, but
9:00
Speaker 3: you got to really learn how to create separation.
9:02
Speaker 2: That was a little hard for me to adjust to.
9:05
Speaker 3: But I think that's one of those things where you know,
9:08
Speaker 3: if you know how to play the game and utilize,
9:13
Speaker 3: you know, the system that you're in, watch film, try
9:16
Speaker 3: to exploit certain things, hopefully have an offensive coordinator who's
9:20
Speaker 3: doing that, which I felt like we did, but you know,
9:23
Speaker 3: I never really got to. I did not make it
9:25
Speaker 3: to regular season to really try to, you know, match
9:28
Speaker 3: up against a team and utilize my size against them.
9:31
Speaker 3: We had big receivers anyways, right Riley Cooper at that time,
9:34
Speaker 3: six four, Jeremy Macklin, Jason Vaughan. You know, I think
9:38
Speaker 3: the smallest guy was was d Jack, So we have
9:41
Speaker 3: big receivers. I think for me, I was just trying
9:43
Speaker 3: to learn from them on how to do the things
9:45
Speaker 3: that really mattered right for that were harder for most
9:47
Speaker 3: tar receivers. Create separation, you know, be kind of a
9:51
Speaker 3: possession guy. But it's easier for us to go and
9:54
Speaker 3: get the ball right, play basketball on turf because we're
9:56
Speaker 3: tall the guys. So just creating separation, I think was
9:58
Speaker 3: the hardest thing is side of the receiver. I think
10:02
Speaker 3: that kind of went handed him with when I did
10:03
Speaker 3: have success in the league and I moved from receiver
10:05
Speaker 3: to ten end and started playing an inside.
10:07
Speaker 1: So now the Eagles have legendary wide receiver Harold Carmichael
10:13
Speaker 1: often around. I believe he was six foot seven, maybe
10:16
Speaker 1: even taller than that. Did you have any conversations with
10:20
Speaker 1: Harold about it.
10:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, many conversations. I'm not sure what Harold's capacity is
10:25
Speaker 3: today as far as his involvement with the Eagles and
10:28
Speaker 3: their practices and being around on the field and stuff.
10:32
Speaker 3: But when I was with the Eagles in twenty thirteen
10:34
Speaker 3: and fourteen, Harold was on the field.
10:36
Speaker 2: You know, he was around, He had gloves, on.
10:38
Speaker 3: He was every day round and being active, and you know,
10:43
Speaker 3: he was a phenomenal player. The guy was incredible, and
10:46
Speaker 3: he was a great resource and very friendly. You know,
10:49
Speaker 3: it really really was rooted for me. I think a
10:53
Speaker 3: lot of the hype around me being sixty seven and
10:55
Speaker 3: being on the Eagles was because of our history with Harold.
10:58
Speaker 2: You know, it's like the next is this in there?
11:00
Speaker 3: Next Harold Carmichael, And I thought that was pretty cool.
11:03
Speaker 3: And getting to meet him and see him and watch
11:05
Speaker 3: his film. You know, really, every every chance that I
11:09
Speaker 3: had to learn more about him, I was more intrigued,
11:11
Speaker 3: more impressed. You know, he was incredible, So he was
11:14
Speaker 3: truly a blessed being able to be with the Eagles
11:16
Speaker 3: at that time and being around Harold to learn from
11:18
Speaker 3: him and get his support.
11:20
Speaker 1: You know, was there ever a moment in those two
11:23
Speaker 1: summers where you felt like, you know, I belong here
11:25
Speaker 1: and I have an opportunity to make this roster?
11:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, off and on, off and on.
11:31
Speaker 3: I definitely went through the ringer of like, yeah, belong
11:33
Speaker 3: I could do this, and then I had the moments
11:35
Speaker 3: where I was like, man, I stink, I don't know
11:37
Speaker 3: if I'm making this team alone. If I'm cut out
11:39
Speaker 3: for the NFL. And I think anybody who's gone through this,
11:43
Speaker 3: the struggle of you know, success and failure in the NFL,
11:47
Speaker 3: which I mean every player I think goes through that,
11:51
Speaker 3: you might question yourself and go through that that stuff.
11:53
Speaker 3: I would say for me, I had some really good practices,
11:57
Speaker 3: you know, to man a drill, scoring touchdowns, things like that,
12:01
Speaker 3: in some good preseason games, making a couple of catches
12:03
Speaker 3: here and there, but the size where I was like, no,
12:07
Speaker 3: I don't think I'm cut out for The situations were like, you.
12:09
Speaker 2: Know, I remember I think it was year one or
12:11
Speaker 2: year two.
12:11
Speaker 3: I don't know if it was thirteen or fourteen against
12:13
Speaker 3: the Eagles, when you know that first drive ended up.
12:16
Speaker 2: I think it was the first player.
12:17
Speaker 3: I caught a little five yard in and took about
12:21
Speaker 3: two steps and got smacked and fumbled the ball.
12:23
Speaker 2: And then you know I had like two catches after that.
12:26
Speaker 3: And then later on in that first quarter, I were
12:28
Speaker 3: in the red scone and I ran the end and
12:30
Speaker 3: I caught the ball, landed and it popped out.
12:32
Speaker 2: You know, just crazy things like that.
12:33
Speaker 3: Whereas like you know, it's you wish it went differently,
12:37
Speaker 3: and I was very sensitive at that time as far
12:40
Speaker 3: as like, when something bad happens, it's hard for me
12:42
Speaker 3: to shake it off. So, h yeah, I had those
12:45
Speaker 3: highs and lows, and you know, I think it's a
12:48
Speaker 3: part of the what makes football great. And you know,
12:50
Speaker 3: what makes those great players great is being able to
12:53
Speaker 3: just forget when a bad play happens.
12:55
Speaker 2: Because it's football. You're playing against the best of the best.
12:56
Speaker 3: Guys are going to mess up all the time, you know,
12:58
Speaker 3: and I think that have the greatest players learn how
13:01
Speaker 3: to adjust quickly and not focus on the last play
13:04
Speaker 3: and move on to the next and you know, try
13:07
Speaker 3: to try to you know, continue to strive for success
13:09
Speaker 3: on the field.
13:10
Speaker 1: So from from a mental perspective, how did you eventually
13:13
Speaker 1: learn how to push past some of those, you know,
13:17
Speaker 1: bouts of adversity when things weren't going your way? Did
13:21
Speaker 1: you lean on anybody? Was it something inherent that allowed
13:24
Speaker 1: you to do that?
13:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitelyan on a few people. I'll just mentioned
13:30
Speaker 3: my family. My brothers are big in my life. They
13:32
Speaker 3: were my big supporters and I was just going to
13:36
Speaker 3: them with everything, you know, and the big the big
13:41
Speaker 3: piece was it really has been. He was a vet
13:44
Speaker 3: to me. I would say he was like my bigger brother.
13:46
Speaker 3: He took me in. He saw when I was having
13:49
Speaker 3: some hard times. He saw that and you know invited
13:51
Speaker 3: me to his house, have dinner with his family and
13:53
Speaker 3: just talk to me. You know, kind of helped me
13:55
Speaker 3: get my mind off football and just kind of reset
13:58
Speaker 3: before going back in the building and stay. And that
14:02
Speaker 3: relationship continued throughout the years. You know, I would train
14:05
Speaker 3: with him in the off seasons and you know, got
14:07
Speaker 3: really really close with him. So he was a big
14:09
Speaker 3: piece of helping me just adjust to the speed of
14:12
Speaker 3: the game, the mentality, what it takes. And I really
14:17
Speaker 3: appreciate him because it was definitely hard times our first
14:20
Speaker 3: year just adjusting and learning and also being around being
14:23
Speaker 3: name players, right Michael Vick was around Nick car Sanchez, Arkley.
14:29
Speaker 3: We had some really good players in that building, and
14:31
Speaker 3: you know, coaches Howie Roseman, you know, the Eagles bring
14:36
Speaker 3: a certain level of stardom, I would say every year,
14:41
Speaker 3: and so when you get the chance to be on
14:42
Speaker 3: that team, being that building, being around these people, you know,
14:45
Speaker 3: it's definitely when those opportunities where you know you kind
14:48
Speaker 3: of kicking yourself, like, man, this is real, you know,
14:50
Speaker 3: I'm here, I'm doing it, and I'm around.
14:51
Speaker 2: Some really really cool people.
14:52
Speaker 1: So how about from a team building standpoint, did you
14:56
Speaker 1: did you remember any rookie talent shows or did you
14:59
Speaker 1: guys go out and do anything to kind of build
15:01
Speaker 1: that chemistry.
15:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, it was unique because I really didn't
15:05
Speaker 2: have a rookie season.
15:06
Speaker 3: You know, I never got hazed and ever got I
15:08
Speaker 3: came in the league and I was considered a vet
15:10
Speaker 3: just because I I didn't I didn't kind of get
15:14
Speaker 3: grouped in with a rookie class. And maybe it was
15:16
Speaker 3: my doing, you know, because I was technically a rookie
15:20
Speaker 3: on paper, but it just had instead of you know,
15:22
Speaker 3: you pull up the roster and they'll say either R
15:24
Speaker 3: or say one year for guys and hasn't played yet.
15:27
Speaker 3: And I was fortunate to have the R and I
15:28
Speaker 3: had the one year, and I was telling the guys,
15:31
Speaker 3: you know, I'm a free agent that just signed.
15:32
Speaker 2: I didn't tell him I was a rookie, so I didn't.
15:35
Speaker 3: Have to participate in any hazing, rookie singing anything like that.
15:38
Speaker 3: But definitely have seen a few different rookie hazing and
15:43
Speaker 3: singing and things like that. I can't really remember when
15:47
Speaker 3: I was in Philly, like you know, who was the
15:50
Speaker 3: funniest or best guy that went up and sang? But
15:55
Speaker 3: I do remember it happening when I was there in Philly,
15:57
Speaker 3: and you know, I think we had like Barkley and
16:01
Speaker 3: ERTs my second year Aphilly that came in and that
16:05
Speaker 3: was the rookey class. But yeah, I can't really remember
16:08
Speaker 3: that stuff too too well, but I know it was happening.
16:10
Speaker 2: I got lucky for sure.
16:12
Speaker 1: How about when it comes to Chip Kelly, He's a
16:14
Speaker 1: pretty interesting character. Do you have a memorable Chip Kelly
16:18
Speaker 1: story that you could share?
16:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, nothing, nothing too interesting and really except that just
16:27
Speaker 3: he really had my back, you know, when things were hard,
16:32
Speaker 3: I mean mistakes or you know, even simple things like
16:36
Speaker 3: he wanted to see certain things from me. He always
16:38
Speaker 3: came to vocalize it. You know, he never really was
16:41
Speaker 3: harsh about it. He just came and talked to me.
16:43
Speaker 3: I'll be maybe warm ups, you know, come over Ham,
16:46
Speaker 3: you know on this specific play. You know, I want
16:48
Speaker 3: to see you, et cetera, et cetera. So I really
16:51
Speaker 3: appreciated how he handled me. I think I became a
16:55
Speaker 3: vet quicker. He didn't baby me, nothing like that. He
16:57
Speaker 3: was just very objective and he was a straight shooter
16:59
Speaker 3: with me, and so I appreciated that and it helped
17:03
Speaker 3: me just realize, like like I said earlier, like I
17:05
Speaker 3: got a bouch from myself and I can't expect any handouts,
17:09
Speaker 3: you know. I wasn't really expecting any, but just kind
17:12
Speaker 3: of having that reinforce from how people were talking to
17:14
Speaker 3: me in that building. I think that came down from
17:17
Speaker 3: Chi Kelly, and I really appreciated that. But he was
17:20
Speaker 3: a cool dude man, really cool guy, great public speaker,
17:23
Speaker 3: you know. I would say he could really get guys
17:25
Speaker 3: to buy into a program in the system.
17:27
Speaker 2: It was unfortunate to see how things ended for him
17:29
Speaker 2: in Philly.
17:30
Speaker 3: I think he could have been a great coach, you know,
17:33
Speaker 3: as a coach and not so much as a as
17:36
Speaker 3: a manager, you know, general manager moving people around. I
17:38
Speaker 3: think he should have stuck to the coaching, But what
17:41
Speaker 3: do I know. Like I think he was, he did
17:43
Speaker 3: a great job early on, and really appreciate him giving
17:46
Speaker 3: me a chance.
17:46
Speaker 2: But I wish I had a cool story. I don't.
17:48
Speaker 2: I do not have any unique or cool stories about you.
17:52
Speaker 1: But after your two summers in Philadelphia, you spent some
17:55
Speaker 1: time with the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. But
17:58
Speaker 1: how do you then lay on your feet with the
18:01
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals.
18:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, unique situation. It was the first year, in the last.
18:08
Speaker 3: Year in twenty fifteen that they twenty fifteen off season
18:12
Speaker 3: they did a veteran combine. I'm not sure if you
18:16
Speaker 3: heard of that, but at twenty fifteen it was a
18:17
Speaker 3: unique time. They invited one hundreds that were free agents,
18:23
Speaker 3: veterans that were free agents excuse me, to come out
18:26
Speaker 3: and work out in Arizona at that the Cardinal facility
18:31
Speaker 3: and the coaches meetings were happening in Arizona that year,
18:34
Speaker 3: I believe. So it kind of worked out well where
18:37
Speaker 3: there were a ton of coaches, a ton of scouts,
18:40
Speaker 3: like a ton.
18:41
Speaker 2: It was really cool.
18:43
Speaker 3: Some really unique players, you know, I think Michael sam
18:46
Speaker 3: and Felix Jones and trying to pick who was there
18:49
Speaker 3: were some big name players you know that were there
18:52
Speaker 3: that worked out and it was It was really good
18:56
Speaker 3: because at that time I was a free agent and
18:58
Speaker 3: I had just got cut by the lines because of
19:01
Speaker 3: an injury that I didn't disclose to them and ended
19:05
Speaker 3: up going down to see doctor Andrews in Florida, and
19:08
Speaker 3: word got back to the lines and they cut me
19:10
Speaker 3: in UH in February, and in March I did the workout,
19:14
Speaker 3: did well enough to have It was Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and
19:18
Speaker 3: Arizona looking to sign me as a tight end. First year,
19:21
Speaker 3: I officially declared I was a tight end, and I
19:24
Speaker 3: went with the Cardinals. You know, gut feeling, and I'm
19:26
Speaker 3: absolutely fun in love with what Pruce arians was standing for.
19:31
Speaker 3: The things he was telling me wasn't selly dream, just
19:33
Speaker 3: telling me how he had a plan. And then the
19:36
Speaker 3: icing on the cake, after my veteran common workout, I
19:39
Speaker 3: had Carson Palmer texting me like, hey, you know I
19:42
Speaker 3: heard great things about you. I had a chance to
19:44
Speaker 3: watch a little bit of your film. I think you'd
19:46
Speaker 3: be a great fit for us. And so I really
19:48
Speaker 3: felt the love that I could come and play and
19:51
Speaker 3: make an impact on the team to help them win.
19:53
Speaker 2: And I went with the Cardinals.
19:54
Speaker 3: And that's kind of how that that journey started where
19:57
Speaker 3: I started to have some real success in the NFL.
20:00
Speaker 1: So they were all looking at you as a tight end.
20:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, all those teams, and like I said, it
20:06
Speaker 3: was the first year I officially declared, you know, hey,
20:08
Speaker 3: I'm not a receiver anymore. Of my tight end and
20:10
Speaker 3: I put some weight on. I got one from two
20:12
Speaker 3: thirty to about two fifty five and two fifty and
20:16
Speaker 3: the heaviest I weighed while I was playing was about
20:17
Speaker 3: two sixty.
20:18
Speaker 1: So and what did that diet and training regimen consist
20:22
Speaker 1: of to get to that way?
20:24
Speaker 2: Oh?
20:24
Speaker 3: Man, it just upped up and heavy loaded the the
20:29
Speaker 3: calorie intake. You know, I thought I would enjoy it.
20:32
Speaker 3: I definitely didn't. You know, there's no worst feeling than
20:36
Speaker 3: you know, force feeding yourself to put weight on. But
20:41
Speaker 3: I would say majority of the time I felt like
20:44
Speaker 3: I was pretty hungry and I was on a good diet.
20:46
Speaker 3: I utilized the Cardinals dietitian. She helped me get set
20:50
Speaker 3: up with a meal plan where I was getting food
20:52
Speaker 3: delivered to my house and of course just tracking my uh,
20:57
Speaker 3: you know, my calorie and taking things of that nature.
20:59
Speaker 3: And you know, slow burn situation not you know, a sprint,
21:02
Speaker 3: not all at once. I was trying to do a
21:04
Speaker 3: slow so yeah, it was tough, but but you know,
21:08
Speaker 3: it worked out, and you know, barring any injuries, I
21:12
Speaker 3: felt like my career in Arizona It was really good,
21:15
Speaker 3: and it could have been could have been something really,
21:17
Speaker 3: really really great, if you know, if I would have
21:20
Speaker 3: stayed healthy.
21:21
Speaker 1: And you got on the field with the Cardinals. But
21:23
Speaker 1: when you look back on your career, you've battled a
21:25
Speaker 1: ton of injuries. Your path was untraditional. How satisfying was
21:29
Speaker 1: it for you and Fani to get on the field
21:31
Speaker 1: and and have, you know, be able to leave your
21:35
Speaker 1: imprints on the game a little bit and and close
21:37
Speaker 1: that chapter.
21:38
Speaker 3: It was cool, It was It was a great feeling,
21:42
Speaker 3: especially just having a chance to play against some teams
21:45
Speaker 3: that I felt like I had a vendetta against. You know,
21:48
Speaker 3: I'm from New York, I'm a long Islander. I grew
21:51
Speaker 3: up a Giants fan. Uh, And so we had a
21:55
Speaker 3: chance to play the Giants, had to do a game
21:56
Speaker 3: against them, and the same one for the forty nine
21:59
Speaker 3: ers that that time might be mistaken, but I think
22:04
Speaker 3: to Kelly went from Philly to the Niners for a
22:07
Speaker 3: little bit. Yeah, yeah, And so the coach day coach
22:12
Speaker 3: day was there as well, and you know, like I said,
22:15
Speaker 3: to Kelly treated me great. No it will towards him
22:18
Speaker 3: at all, you know, but you know, it was a
22:20
Speaker 3: chance to hey, you should have kept me in Philly.
22:22
Speaker 2: And so I had a really good game because.
22:24
Speaker 3: The forty nine ers that first year with the Cardinals
22:27
Speaker 3: as well, forced to fumble up to win the game
22:30
Speaker 3: on kickoff and a couple of catches too.
22:32
Speaker 2: So yeah, I would say that, you know, just that,
22:36
Speaker 2: you know.
22:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, at what point did you realize that either
22:41
Speaker 1: you were done with the game or the game was
22:43
Speaker 1: finished with you.
22:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
22:45
Speaker 3: My third year in Arizona, I think it was Week ten, Thursday,
22:51
Speaker 3: in the football game against Seattle, I ended up getting
22:56
Speaker 3: rolled up on after Adrian Peterson and a defensive tackle
23:00
Speaker 3: landed on my leg. I was blocking and the play
23:04
Speaker 3: happened behind me, so kind of got flung forward and
23:07
Speaker 3: my foot stayed in the ground, and so I broke
23:09
Speaker 3: my leg, dislocated ankle, a bunch of ligaments torn, and
23:14
Speaker 3: you know, had had multiple surgeries. And after about sixteen
23:18
Speaker 3: months after that injury, I just you know, and I
23:21
Speaker 3: sat back and just considered everything that had happened. Right
23:24
Speaker 3: my third year in the NFL's my first year with
23:27
Speaker 3: the Cardinals, and that first year with the Cardinals, I
23:29
Speaker 3: got put on IR the first day of the regular
23:31
Speaker 3: season after I tore me on this GUSS and the
23:33
Speaker 3: second year, I made it six weeks in or.
23:35
Speaker 2: Something like that and broke my hand and had.
23:37
Speaker 3: Two surgeries that off season. And the third year is
23:39
Speaker 3: when I had this significant injury. So, you know, I
23:41
Speaker 3: sat back after you know, all those surgeries and after
23:44
Speaker 3: some time and just thought, like, you know, I could
23:45
Speaker 3: continue down this path and keep pushing and seeing what
23:48
Speaker 3: I can do and also at the same time risk
23:52
Speaker 3: you know, another significant injury. I felt very poorly with
23:55
Speaker 3: my knees, my ankles, everything was kind of just in
23:57
Speaker 3: a bad place. And so with those those thoughts and
24:01
Speaker 3: where I was at, talked to my family, I just
24:03
Speaker 3: decided like, hey, you know, there's a lot more to
24:06
Speaker 3: what I want to do.
24:06
Speaker 2: With my life than just football.
24:08
Speaker 3: I love the game. I really appreciate everything it gave
24:10
Speaker 3: to me. But I think I'm ready to hang the
24:12
Speaker 3: cleats up and just you know, pursue the next step.
24:14
Speaker 3: I got a lot out of football, a lot out
24:16
Speaker 3: of what I was doing with the NFL. Super grateful,
24:20
Speaker 3: and you know, I felt like it helped propel me
24:22
Speaker 3: into you know, life now.
24:24
Speaker 2: I'm what I'm doing now, But of.
24:26
Speaker 3: Course, if I can go, if you know, I think
24:27
Speaker 3: about all the time, maybe I should have kept pushing,
24:29
Speaker 3: and you know, I remember that. What really happened, what
24:33
Speaker 3: pushed me over the edge was I think was month
24:35
Speaker 3: fifteen after my surgery and I got released by the Cardinals.
24:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, Cardinals.
24:39
Speaker 3: And month fifteen after my surgery, I got a call
24:42
Speaker 3: from the Lions and they flew me in.
24:43
Speaker 2: And did a physical and I failed the physical because
24:45
Speaker 2: of my ankle. And that was it. You know.
24:48
Speaker 3: I was like, I have interest, but like I'm feeling physicals.
24:50
Speaker 3: I feel my body like I'm in pain. It's hard
24:53
Speaker 3: for me to, you know, to get down some stairs,
24:56
Speaker 3: you know, just with that the way you know, my
24:58
Speaker 3: moniscus and both money and stuff and my ankle.
25:01
Speaker 2: So I just felt like it goes time to hang it
25:03
Speaker 2: up and move on.
25:04
Speaker 1: So did you already have a next step in mind
25:07
Speaker 1: for the post football career?
25:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I did.
25:10
Speaker 3: I while I was playing, I completed my master's, I
25:12
Speaker 3: got my MBA, and I always wanted to get involved
25:16
Speaker 3: in just play representation in some capacity. I had no
25:19
Speaker 3: idea about the college stuff and il things like that
25:22
Speaker 3: that was coming years down online, but at the time,
25:25
Speaker 3: and I retired in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, I just figured, like,
25:29
Speaker 3: you know, maybe being an agent was interesting, maybe working
25:31
Speaker 3: as a scout, you know, some kind of front office
25:34
Speaker 3: position or something in the world of like working at
25:37
Speaker 3: the NFL or NFLPA offices. And so what I did
25:40
Speaker 3: was I just set up meetings and just networked my
25:42
Speaker 3: behind off to meet a bunch of different people.
25:45
Speaker 2: And this is while I was playing.
25:47
Speaker 3: And then after I retired, my network aught about and
25:53
Speaker 3: after I retired, maybe about two months later, I got
25:55
Speaker 3: an opportunity to go and work at the NFL Players
25:58
Speaker 3: Association and fell Ship program and do that for a
26:02
Speaker 3: little while. And that's kind of that was like the
26:04
Speaker 3: first thing I did and got me set up on
26:07
Speaker 3: my way to work in this space of player representation
26:09
Speaker 3: where I work.
26:10
Speaker 1: Now, well, let's bring your story current. What exactly are
26:15
Speaker 1: you doing currently? Where are you working and.
26:20
Speaker 2: And all that.
26:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, twenty nineteen, that's when I was working
26:24
Speaker 3: with the NFLPA. Like I said, did that for about
26:26
Speaker 3: a year and a half right up until about when
26:30
Speaker 3: COVID hit. And when COVID hit, you know, I figured,
26:34
Speaker 3: you know, I had some great experience in the PA.
26:37
Speaker 3: I really I had the chance to learn about the CBA.
26:40
Speaker 3: The CBA had gone through renewal and really cool opportunity
26:45
Speaker 3: to be around a bunch of lawyers, great people in
26:49
Speaker 3: that building. I wanted to dabble into the player representation
26:53
Speaker 3: space more kind of hands on, in a more hands
26:56
Speaker 3: on aspect, So I went and worked for a company
26:58
Speaker 3: called ruba Con Talent based in New York City.
27:01
Speaker 2: They're a talent marketing agency.
27:03
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if you heard of like Titian University,
27:06
Speaker 3: it's like that. They're that there, George Kittle and Greg
27:09
Speaker 3: Olsen's agent marketing agency.
27:11
Speaker 2: So I worked there for about a year.
27:14
Speaker 3: The year that we started Tiny University, I was there
27:16
Speaker 3: boots on the ground with the three guys that started,
27:18
Speaker 3: Travis Kelcey.
27:20
Speaker 2: Kittle and Olsen.
27:22
Speaker 3: And you know, my my my goal there, my objectives
27:27
Speaker 3: were to focus on this new NIL landscape that was
27:31
Speaker 3: coming because at that time, that's when a lot of
27:34
Speaker 3: the legal space was starting to come into effect and
27:38
Speaker 3: different legal cases were being heard, and you know, the
27:42
Speaker 3: instead of it was under a ton of pressure and
27:44
Speaker 3: you know, things were changing. So with Rubicon, I was
27:48
Speaker 3: tasked with creating the ANIL division there and just recruiting
27:52
Speaker 3: players and learning a ton about hands on marketing for
27:55
Speaker 3: for big time players. Right, I was working with the
27:57
Speaker 3: one percenters in locker rooms and really really cool lucrative
28:01
Speaker 3: deals were happening. So I really appreciated that experience, and
28:05
Speaker 3: you know, I just didn't I knew it wasn't really
28:07
Speaker 3: for me. I wanted to go and work with guys
28:09
Speaker 3: who were more like myself, right, Guys that weren't the
28:11
Speaker 3: first round draft pick or day one draft picks, Guys
28:13
Speaker 3: that really had talent and knew they wanted to be
28:17
Speaker 3: more than just a football player. But we're giving one
28:19
Speaker 3: hundred and ten percent of themselves in football and then
28:22
Speaker 3: something else like that's like my cup and tea. I
28:24
Speaker 3: want to help those guys, like help guys like that
28:26
Speaker 3: make it and also establish themselves in their in their lives,
28:30
Speaker 3: not just in football, but like, hey, let's get a
28:32
Speaker 3: plan here. From the day that you signed us contract,
28:35
Speaker 3: you know where, we already worked up a plan and
28:37
Speaker 3: we know what's going to happen as far as on
28:38
Speaker 3: the field, off the field, and life after football.
28:41
Speaker 2: So I left to.
28:42
Speaker 3: Brookon after a year and a half and joined a
28:44
Speaker 3: company called through Xal Sports Management.
28:46
Speaker 2: It's actually my college roommates agency.
28:50
Speaker 3: He and I both got our MBAs at the same time,
28:52
Speaker 3: and that's where we really bonded and connected, and we
28:55
Speaker 3: stayed in touch the entire time from when I left
28:57
Speaker 3: Boston College up until I joined through XL. He actual
29:00
Speaker 3: helped me when I was in the NFL to get
29:02
Speaker 3: a water deal and get a Nike deal, and that
29:05
Speaker 3: was kind of like another moment where I was like,
29:06
Speaker 3: I want to do the work that he's doing.
29:08
Speaker 2: I want to settle up and partner up with him.
29:09
Speaker 3: So, you know, after the full circle from BC up
29:12
Speaker 3: until I left Rubercan, I joined through Excel and I've
29:16
Speaker 3: been there for about three years now. Just got certified
29:19
Speaker 3: last summer as a AS on the Field NFLP on
29:22
Speaker 3: field agent.
29:23
Speaker 2: So I have.
29:25
Speaker 3: A you know, five clients that I signed and one
29:29
Speaker 3: guy made it got signed with the Jets, Malik Malik
29:33
Speaker 3: McLain out of here Arizona State and sided for his opportunities.
29:39
Speaker 2: So that's what I'm doing in the working world.
29:41
Speaker 3: And I'm also a semester away from graduating from super
29:45
Speaker 3: law school. So you know, keep myself baby, Thank you man,
29:48
Speaker 3: I appreciate that. Keep myself busy and just continuing to
29:52
Speaker 3: chase after goals.
29:53
Speaker 2: Man.
29:53
Speaker 3: You know, I think the mindset from football never really leaves,
29:57
Speaker 3: and I always just feel like, you know, when I
29:58
Speaker 3: wake up, I want to be challenging my self and
30:00
Speaker 3: pushing towards something.
30:02
Speaker 2: And yeah, I feel like I've.
30:03
Speaker 3: Set myself up to just keep doing that, just try
30:06
Speaker 3: to affect change and help out the next generation. As
30:08
Speaker 3: far as the guys who are like myself football players,
30:10
Speaker 3: hungry for football, hungry for other things in life, check
30:13
Speaker 3: those boxes and you know, pay forward and that kind
30:16
Speaker 3: of helps me stay motivated and keep pushing to you know,
30:20
Speaker 3: being better version of myself every day.
30:22
Speaker 4: Hey, Philly fans, game day is stressful enough. Parking, traffic,
30:26
Speaker 4: long lines, We've all been there, But when it comes
30:29
Speaker 4: to your cannabis, Camden Apothecary makes it easy. This is
30:33
Speaker 4: the dispensary for sports fans, just minutes outside of Philly,
30:37
Speaker 4: with plenty of free parking. You'll be in and out fast,
30:40
Speaker 4: no hassle, no waiting, and they don't just care about convenience.
30:44
Speaker 4: Cam Din Apothecary is all about the guest experience. Their
30:48
Speaker 4: staff makes sure you feel taken care of every time
30:52
Speaker 4: you walk in. Plus they carry only the best quality
30:55
Speaker 4: cannabis at the fairest prices, So whether you're stocking up
30:59
Speaker 4: for the tail, the watch party, or celebrating a big win,
31:03
Speaker 4: you know you're getting the good stuff without overpaying. They
31:07
Speaker 4: even show love to the community with specials for fans, students,
31:11
Speaker 4: service members, and healthcare pros can then Apothecary top quality cannabis,
31:17
Speaker 4: great prices, and an experience made for Philly fans twenty
31:20
Speaker 4: one and up.
31:21
Speaker 1: It's a great story, man, And was is your recent
31:25
Speaker 1: enever inspired by your experience as a player? Say that
31:30
Speaker 1: one more time, your recent endeavor, what you're doing now,
31:34
Speaker 1: was that at all influenced by you know, year, year
31:37
Speaker 1: playing career and some of the things you experienced there.
31:39
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, yeah.
31:41
Speaker 3: The the catalyst to law school, well, I want to
31:45
Speaker 3: say catalyst. The catalyst of law school was my time
31:47
Speaker 3: at the NFLPA and working on the CBA. But the
31:50
Speaker 3: first thought I had about going to law school was
31:52
Speaker 3: when I tore my ACL And you know, I played
31:55
Speaker 3: as a true freshman. I played as a as a
31:58
Speaker 3: excuse me, I played a true fresh played his true sophomore,
32:01
Speaker 3: and then redshirted my junior year because of my injury.
32:04
Speaker 3: I sprained my MCL in training camp, missed about seven
32:07
Speaker 3: eight weeks halfway through the season. I could have come
32:10
Speaker 3: back from it. I tried, and I just didn't feel
32:11
Speaker 3: healthy and it felt good, and the coaches wanted to
32:13
Speaker 3: sit me, so I redshired it. And then I tore
32:15
Speaker 3: my ACL red shirt senior year A peeled for a
32:19
Speaker 3: six year, and the INCAA said that I do not
32:21
Speaker 3: qualify because that first injury my red shirt junior year,
32:25
Speaker 3: which would have been my true junior year. That first
32:28
Speaker 3: injury wasn't a season ending injury that I could have
32:30
Speaker 3: came back from it and played another four games. And
32:33
Speaker 3: I didn't have him notice in there saying hey, he's
32:35
Speaker 3: out for the season because of the injury, even though
32:37
Speaker 3: you know, I didn't feel healthy anyway. As long story short,
32:40
Speaker 3: I just didn't like that appeal process. I got tied
32:43
Speaker 3: up in the bylaws. I was reading it highlighting like
32:45
Speaker 3: talking to my family, well there's things as this, and
32:48
Speaker 3: going back to compliance at Boston College, having meetings with them,
32:51
Speaker 3: multiple meetings, and you know, I got super close with
32:53
Speaker 3: the with the head of compliance for Boston College, Carli Ilso,
32:57
Speaker 3: talked to her to this day because of that process,
33:00
Speaker 3: and when I got turned away, I just felt like
33:02
Speaker 3: it was bs and the laws were written poorly, and
33:05
Speaker 3: I wanted to change them.
33:06
Speaker 2: You know, I felt like I wanted to be a
33:07
Speaker 2: politician at that time.
33:09
Speaker 3: And the energy and the experiences that I gained from
33:13
Speaker 3: that situation up until you know, you know, I applied
33:17
Speaker 3: for law school. You know, everything really kind of pointed
33:19
Speaker 3: me in the direction of, like, I do want to
33:21
Speaker 3: be able to understand the legal space. I want to
33:24
Speaker 3: get a stronghold understanding and handling of you know, how
33:27
Speaker 3: lawyers create laws, people that are stakeholders in that space,
33:32
Speaker 3: how they go about creating the things that are binding
33:34
Speaker 3: and controlling on what people, real people can do, whether
33:37
Speaker 3: it's in football or anything. And you know, maybe be
33:41
Speaker 3: able to now after I'm you know, completing law school
33:44
Speaker 3: and bar certify, I can actually go out and affect
33:46
Speaker 3: change in a way that's truly you know, meaningful and
33:49
Speaker 3: very impactful in a deeper way. But college, that six
33:53
Speaker 3: year being denied that that really set me down this
33:56
Speaker 3: path of where I'm at and kind of kind of
33:59
Speaker 3: gained me a little site and a little kickstart into
34:02
Speaker 3: going down and doing what I'm doing now.
34:04
Speaker 1: Well, there's something. There's some things throughout your story that
34:09
Speaker 1: I think everyone can take and apply to their own life.
34:11
Speaker 1: And on top of everything else, whenever there's a six
34:15
Speaker 1: foot six or a six foot seven wide receiver in
34:17
Speaker 1: Eagles camp, they tend to draw comparisons to a finie moment.
34:21
Speaker 1: Just so you know your name is still talked about
34:24
Speaker 1: to this day.
34:25
Speaker 3: Let me tell you, man, I know because I have
34:28
Speaker 3: a Twitter that people are always tagging me. Right around
34:30
Speaker 3: July twenty first, or you know, somewhere in that time,
34:34
Speaker 3: I'm getting a bunch of random at you know, I asked,
34:37
Speaker 3: am I user name like this guy something about, you know,
34:40
Speaker 3: training camp. And I'm always staying close to what the.
34:42
Speaker 2: Eagles are doing. I grew up in New York, but
34:45
Speaker 2: I'm still an Eagles fan.
34:46
Speaker 3: And on top of it, my colleague Nate Richmond, who
34:49
Speaker 3: started through XL, he and I we worked to sign
34:55
Speaker 3: a player out of Tarson State who actually is on
34:57
Speaker 3: the Eagles now, Darris Cooper, wide receiver who's wearing number eighty.
35:01
Speaker 2: That's our that's our client.
35:03
Speaker 3: And so we're always staying close to to the Eagles
35:06
Speaker 3: in the in the system and the situations there but
35:09
Speaker 3: but yeah, man, it's definitely it's a it's pretty cool.
35:12
Speaker 1: And and while you're here, Darius, I've always I've really
35:15
Speaker 1: enjoyed talking and getting to know him a little bit
35:17
Speaker 1: last season, having spoke to him a few times. And
35:20
Speaker 1: what can you share about Darius that the fan base
35:23
Speaker 1: should know?
35:24
Speaker 3: I will say this. You know, the first time that
35:26
Speaker 3: I met Darius, I knew the guy was the real deal.
35:31
Speaker 3: And I'm not talking about the football player. I'm talking
35:33
Speaker 3: about the man. You know, he's a very very serious guy.
35:37
Speaker 3: He takes himself seriously and that mindset that he has
35:41
Speaker 3: about you know, business and carrying himself and handling himself
35:46
Speaker 3: as a as a business and you know, taking care
35:49
Speaker 3: of the things that need to be taken care of.
35:51
Speaker 2: Him and his wife.
35:53
Speaker 3: They're very much so you know, going in the right
35:55
Speaker 3: direction with how they're carrying themselves and pursuing the different
35:59
Speaker 3: goals that they have set out for themselves in their lives.
36:02
Speaker 3: And then the film, you know, watching him play in
36:04
Speaker 3: college is it was unreal. The kid is a baller.
36:07
Speaker 3: I knew he was gonna make it. I knew he
36:08
Speaker 3: was gonna make some noise when he you know, got
36:10
Speaker 3: the helmet and pads on wherever he went, And I
36:14
Speaker 3: think it starts with the man off the fields. You know,
36:16
Speaker 3: he just has the right head on his shoulders and
36:19
Speaker 3: that's a testament to the people that raised him and
36:21
Speaker 3: you know, the work that he put in. So yeah,
36:25
Speaker 3: he's just he's just a kind of guy that you know,
36:28
Speaker 3: you just want to you want to be around, you
36:30
Speaker 3: want to learn from. As he goes down this path
36:33
Speaker 3: of his NFL career becomes a vet, I'm excited to
36:35
Speaker 3: see what he accomplishes, and you know, the different people
36:37
Speaker 3: he impacts, not just on the field as a player,
36:39
Speaker 3: but also in those locker rooms and you know, around
36:42
Speaker 3: the league, because that's the kind of guy he is.
36:43
Speaker 3: You know, he's he's uh, he has that contagious energy,
36:46
Speaker 3: you know, just putting people in a good mood and
36:48
Speaker 3: and and carrying himself the right way.
36:50
Speaker 1: So I started paying attention to him very early on
36:54
Speaker 1: in training camp, and one thing that really struck me
36:56
Speaker 1: was his business like approach. Every day. He was looking
37:00
Speaker 1: at it as almost like every day you have to
37:02
Speaker 1: prove yourself, and he made a play every single day.
37:04
Speaker 1: And it was very apparent about halfway through camp that
37:09
Speaker 1: he belongs and he's going to make this football.
37:11
Speaker 3: Team for sure, for sure, and it was really cool
37:13
Speaker 3: to see him get those opportunities throughout the season as
37:15
Speaker 3: a rookie. You know, like I said, it's hard for
37:17
Speaker 3: anybody who goes into the NFL or any professional sport
37:21
Speaker 3: to make an impact right away and have the right mentality.
37:24
Speaker 3: And I think it takes having, you know, a mindset
37:27
Speaker 3: like Darius has to understand what it takes to make
37:30
Speaker 3: it right. You're going into a locker room as a
37:32
Speaker 3: rookie where you have grown men with wives and kids
37:35
Speaker 3: who are trying to put food in a place for
37:37
Speaker 3: their family, and they've been doing it for a while,
37:39
Speaker 3: so they understand what it takes. And so there's really
37:42
Speaker 3: no chance, especially if you're a guy who might get cut,
37:46
Speaker 3: your fringe player. You know, you have to adapt quickly.
37:49
Speaker 3: You know, nobody's going to feel bad for you if
37:50
Speaker 3: they cut you or if you get hurt. So the
37:53
Speaker 3: mindset is go out there and make a play every day.
37:55
Speaker 3: You know, give the coaches a reason to keep you around,
37:58
Speaker 3: Give the coaches a reason to believe in you so
38:01
Speaker 3: they can put you on the field. And Darius has
38:02
Speaker 3: done that and I'm so excited for him to see
38:04
Speaker 3: what he's gonna do with his career.
38:06
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, this was a fun conversation. Again, thank you
38:09
Speaker 1: so much for being generous with your time. I know
38:11
Speaker 1: you have a lot going on as well, but that
38:13
Speaker 1: was fun. Yeah, a pleasure to be on, Andrew, Thanks
38:17
Speaker 1: for inviting me. Yeah, and anytime we want to talk, man,
38:21
Speaker 1: just just reach out. Always excited to talk about football
38:24
Speaker 1: and especially the Eagles. Absolutely well, that's gonna do it
38:28
Speaker 1: for this episode of The check O Daly for a
38:30
Speaker 1: Finnie moment. I'm Andrew Ducheco and I'll catch you all
38:33
Speaker 1: on the next one.