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O-Zone Podcast: Chris Thompson · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: Oh, Welcome to the Ozone Podcast, presented by by Star
0:12
Speaker 1: Credit Union, featuring Jaguars senior writer John Osher and executive
0:16
Speaker 1: producer Dave de Candis. This week, we have a player
0:20
Speaker 1: that I'm not sure that many Jaguars fans know that well.
0:23
Speaker 1: With COVID and with the social distancing everything being video conference,
0:27
Speaker 1: hasn't been that out there in the media. But he's
0:30
Speaker 1: a guy that I think fans are going to enjoy.
0:33
Speaker 1: He's a very interesting guy. He's got a long NFL career.
0:36
Speaker 1: I love talking to veterans because I love finding out
0:39
Speaker 1: what makes them tick and how a guy last in
0:42
Speaker 1: this very difficult to last leave. The guest today on
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Speaker 1: the Ozone Podcast is Jaguar's veteran running back Chris Thompson.
0:50
Speaker 1: And Chris, the first thing I gotta ask you, way
0:53
Speaker 1: back when I was a younger soul, I covered a
0:56
Speaker 1: Madison County High school football game against Lake City Columbia
0:59
Speaker 1: back in that they were playing that game and just
1:02
Speaker 1: for the old oaken bucket, right. Yeah, that was either
1:06
Speaker 1: my sophomore year or maybe eighth grade. I believe it
1:12
Speaker 1: was eighth grade, though I remember I remember that game.
1:15
Speaker 1: It was a great game, but UM, I'm not I'm
1:18
Speaker 1: not sure. Okay, I got you. Yeah, so the old
1:22
Speaker 1: man's memory. I'm playing the old man. But I remember
1:27
Speaker 1: how things were, right, Oh yeah, now I remember. I
1:30
Speaker 1: remember that game. We always remember when we had to
1:33
Speaker 1: play Lake City because it was always always a good
1:36
Speaker 1: game for us. I understand it's been about ten years
1:39
Speaker 1: since you were in that era, so we'll go back
1:41
Speaker 1: and yeah, we'll get back with the Jaguars. Obviously a
1:45
Speaker 1: crazy year. I know that you probably asked about this
1:48
Speaker 1: a lot, but you know, you've played in the league
1:51
Speaker 1: for a while, but this has got to be off
1:53
Speaker 1: the charts in terms of stuff that you've had to
1:55
Speaker 1: deal with. Be it's your transition being COVID, being all this,
2:00
Speaker 1: What has it been like? First of all, Um, it's
2:04
Speaker 1: just been tough, um and pretty aggravating too at the
2:10
Speaker 1: same time, just uh, with all this COVID stuff going on,
2:13
Speaker 1: and UM, I think just other stuff that's been going
2:18
Speaker 1: on in the world too. UM. I feel like it
2:20
Speaker 1: affects It affects all of us, especially me as a player. UM,
2:25
Speaker 1: just seeing everything else that's going on on top of
2:28
Speaker 1: COVID and being away from football, not getting a true offseason, Um,
2:33
Speaker 1: I was in Virginia. I had a baby. Um, literally
2:37
Speaker 1: that the day after our last game. UM, so I
2:41
Speaker 1: was spending a lot of time with her, just trying
2:43
Speaker 1: to get workouts saying. At the same time she had
2:46
Speaker 1: a couple of surgery so we had to deal with that, um,
2:51
Speaker 1: and then signing with Jacksonville, having to find a trainer here. Uh,
2:57
Speaker 1: it was it was a lot. It was a lot
2:59
Speaker 1: going on, and um, you know, it's it's I think
3:04
Speaker 1: like for every team, for all the guys. I know, UM,
3:06
Speaker 1: some of course, like our bodies enjoy having a break,
3:10
Speaker 1: being away from you know, not having to do O
3:13
Speaker 1: T A S and things like that and just kind
3:15
Speaker 1: of being on our own schedule. But I think it's
3:18
Speaker 1: it's super important for you know, teams like what we
3:22
Speaker 1: have here being I think the youngest team in the league. Um.
3:28
Speaker 1: Just camaraderie. That's one thing that's that's super important. I
3:31
Speaker 1: think guys. You know, uh, you guys spend a lot
3:34
Speaker 1: of time with each other, get to know each other,
3:36
Speaker 1: get to you know, get a feel for everybody who
3:39
Speaker 1: they are, why they are, why they act the way
3:41
Speaker 1: they do. You know, all those things I think are
3:43
Speaker 1: are super important and teams having success, and especially for
3:48
Speaker 1: a young team. Um, you know, everybody just kind of
3:51
Speaker 1: got here because we had a lot of uh rookies
3:54
Speaker 1: and stuff came in and that actually made the team
3:56
Speaker 1: as well. And UM, you know, we just a we
4:00
Speaker 1: gotta report the training camp in in two two and
4:03
Speaker 1: a half, three weeks, y'all gotta be ready to play
4:05
Speaker 1: your first game. And UM, you know that's that's real tough.
4:09
Speaker 1: I think as a as a young team and as
4:11
Speaker 1: as young players, and um, you know what we did
4:16
Speaker 1: in training camp, I didn't think we would be in
4:18
Speaker 1: this situation right now. Um. I knew we had a
4:22
Speaker 1: tough schedule. Um, but it's just frustrating being in this position. Um,
4:27
Speaker 1: but you know, we just gotta I gotta find a
4:31
Speaker 1: way to try to change things around this uh this
4:34
Speaker 1: second half of the season and um, you know, try
4:39
Speaker 1: to put ourselves in a good position. Now. I would
4:42
Speaker 1: think even with training camp, with all the distancing, with
4:46
Speaker 1: all the plexiglass everywhere, even camaraderie is probably tough to
4:50
Speaker 1: build during that time, right. I mean, like you can try,
4:52
Speaker 1: but it's different because you're not hanging out at the
4:54
Speaker 1: same table, you're not kind of bs in the locker
4:56
Speaker 1: room the way you normally what am I reading that? Right? Yeah? Yeah,
5:00
Speaker 1: and now you're absolutely right. And then with that going on, um,
5:04
Speaker 1: you know, I had I think maybe one or two
5:06
Speaker 1: other teammates that had uh kids during this time as well.
5:11
Speaker 1: And I know for me, just being nervous of being
5:16
Speaker 1: around anybody, and you know, the worst worst thing happens
5:21
Speaker 1: you possibly you catch it and then you end up
5:23
Speaker 1: getting having your baby get COVID and nobody wants that
5:27
Speaker 1: to you know, happen to their young kids. So you know,
5:30
Speaker 1: for me, I just been kind of staying in my
5:32
Speaker 1: own little little section. When we eat lunch, the tables
5:35
Speaker 1: are far away from each other. So um, you know,
5:39
Speaker 1: you you don't get that. And even when we had
5:43
Speaker 1: our off season, I mean our workouts that we were
5:45
Speaker 1: doing like way before training camp that even got cut
5:48
Speaker 1: short because um, I guess some of it got recorded.
5:52
Speaker 1: The league figured it out and we're like, oh y'all,
5:54
Speaker 1: y'all guys can't do that either. So UM, all of
5:57
Speaker 1: that was tough and a big challenge and UM, yeah,
6:03
Speaker 1: it's just just not not what you want. Um, It's
6:07
Speaker 1: it's no excuse at all. Um, you know for our
6:11
Speaker 1: record to be what it is, we just haven't been
6:13
Speaker 1: good enough. But I think all of those things like
6:16
Speaker 1: a part as well. How tough was the decision to
6:19
Speaker 1: play because you've got a young child and obviously had
6:23
Speaker 1: some issues, you know, but yet you're a professional athlete.
6:26
Speaker 1: This is where you make your money. So I mean,
6:27
Speaker 1: I would think that was a tough decision that you
6:30
Speaker 1: just kind of had to say, I gotta go be
6:32
Speaker 1: a pro and I gotta do this. Yeah, it was,
6:35
Speaker 1: it was. It was tough. We didn't get it figured
6:38
Speaker 1: out really until um, like really towards the end, when
6:42
Speaker 1: it was like one or one or two days away
6:44
Speaker 1: from that deadline of choosing if we want to play
6:47
Speaker 1: or opt out or whatever. And um, I think just
6:51
Speaker 1: in my household, we did a We did a good
6:53
Speaker 1: job of keeping a plan in place of what I
6:56
Speaker 1: was gonna do. Um, you know, daily coming in the house,
7:00
Speaker 1: whether it's um, you know, every morning it's I was
7:03
Speaker 1: drinking hot tea, drink hot tea after practice, you know,
7:06
Speaker 1: just to try to do whatever I can, like peppermint tea,
7:09
Speaker 1: stuff like that, any herbal teas or whatever, to try
7:13
Speaker 1: to clear everything, you know, out of my system, out
7:15
Speaker 1: of my throat all that kind of good stuff and
7:17
Speaker 1: just making sure I wear my mask and stuff all
7:19
Speaker 1: the time, and um, you know, just I think that
7:24
Speaker 1: was the most important thing for us because we we
7:26
Speaker 1: were obviously, uh super nervous about it. But um, you know,
7:32
Speaker 1: once we I started getting more and more information about
7:35
Speaker 1: it as well, and you know how it affects people,
7:38
Speaker 1: how you know, how it can and can't spread and
7:42
Speaker 1: things like that. And and then on top of that,
7:44
Speaker 1: we we we saw what the Jacks were putting in
7:48
Speaker 1: place and everything that they were you know, planning to
7:51
Speaker 1: do to keep us all safe. And and then from there,
7:54
Speaker 1: you know, it was just a matter of me doing
7:56
Speaker 1: doing everything right on my part. And for me, I'm
7:59
Speaker 1: not gonna put my daughter in any kind of harm
8:03
Speaker 1: anyway possible. So I'm gonna do the extra I'm gonna go.
8:07
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do even more than what I should do
8:10
Speaker 1: to uh not bring that stuff home when you grow
8:13
Speaker 1: up dreaming about the NFL, this part is not in
8:15
Speaker 1: the handbook right, not at all. And it's just you know,
8:19
Speaker 1: it's real life, and it's it's a tough thing to
8:21
Speaker 1: deal with, and there's no yeah, there's nobody to tell
8:24
Speaker 1: you how to do it. There's no precedent for kind
8:27
Speaker 1: of go on your own. UM, new team coming down,
8:30
Speaker 1: and I've already asked you about that. Tell me about
8:33
Speaker 1: I know you've talked about this a little bit Jay
8:36
Speaker 1: Gruden as a coach. Uh, what it's like playing under
8:40
Speaker 1: him his offensive system? I know you know what. We're
8:43
Speaker 1: seven weeks in. But what do you like about playing
8:46
Speaker 1: for this man? Um? I like how creative he is.
8:50
Speaker 1: I like his attitude as well, and I think that's
8:52
Speaker 1: the most important part is Um, he he'll get he'll
8:59
Speaker 1: get on us when it's necessary, for sure, but um,
9:04
Speaker 1: you know, just weekend and week out, his attitude stays
9:07
Speaker 1: the same. And when he needs to change things, if
9:09
Speaker 1: he got to draw up some new place, he's able
9:11
Speaker 1: to do it, you know, in a day's time, in
9:14
Speaker 1: a in an hour's time. Like he's uh, super creative
9:18
Speaker 1: and what he wants and likes to do. And he
9:22
Speaker 1: personnel or whatever he has on the field, if guys
9:28
Speaker 1: get hurt and or whatever, he can adjust his whole
9:32
Speaker 1: playbook based on you know, the skill set and the
9:34
Speaker 1: guys that he have. And UM, I think he's a
9:38
Speaker 1: guy A lot of guys can relate to him, and
9:40
Speaker 1: so they love, you know, they love playing for him.
9:43
Speaker 1: When he gets on him. You know, guys listening and
9:45
Speaker 1: he's one of those coaches he's gonna show you everything
9:48
Speaker 1: you did bad. But but then in the end, he's
9:51
Speaker 1: gonna show you everything. He's gonna show you the moments
9:54
Speaker 1: that you have when you've done good things and remind you, Okay,
9:59
Speaker 1: look at these players, look at this game. This is
10:01
Speaker 1: what we did. We can do this on a consistent level.
10:05
Speaker 1: You know, it's not always gonna happen that way because
10:07
Speaker 1: it's football, it's the NFL, but um, we we can be.
10:12
Speaker 1: We can be this. Look at what we look at
10:14
Speaker 1: what we did here. Um, And I think those things
10:19
Speaker 1: are are important. And what I love about him and
10:22
Speaker 1: just um, you know, his his energy he brings every
10:25
Speaker 1: single day. Um, he he brings it and he's gonna
10:29
Speaker 1: make sure everybody around him is in a good mood
10:32
Speaker 1: and ready to go every day. And what excites you
10:36
Speaker 1: about the kid a quarterback? This week? Um, I think
10:40
Speaker 1: the biggest thing I've seen from him is just his arm,
10:44
Speaker 1: his arm strength, his accuracy. Um. And he's just been
10:48
Speaker 1: one of those guys that's been just sitting back and
10:51
Speaker 1: just and learning. And you know, I think really for
10:56
Speaker 1: a young quarterback when you you're put in a situation
11:00
Speaker 1: like this, when he hasn't dressed out at all or
11:02
Speaker 1: anything like that, and then it's like, hey, you're the guy.
11:05
Speaker 1: You gotta get this stuff right this week. And one
11:08
Speaker 1: important thing in my opinion, is being able to to um,
11:14
Speaker 1: receive a receiver a play from the from your O
11:17
Speaker 1: C and then being able to relay it to the guys.
11:20
Speaker 1: And he he's been doing that the last two days,
11:23
Speaker 1: the last two practices with no problem at all. So UM,
11:26
Speaker 1: I have no doubt in my mind that he's gonna
11:29
Speaker 1: be ready. And uh, you know it's it's gonna be
11:32
Speaker 1: a challenge. I uh you know, having a rookie quarterback
11:37
Speaker 1: your first game, you're going up against J. J. Watt
11:40
Speaker 1: and seeing him you know, pacing up and down the
11:43
Speaker 1: uh from sideline the sideline during TV breaks and you
11:47
Speaker 1: know his intimidation stuff that he likes to do. So um,
11:51
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be exciting opportunity for him. But UM,
11:54
Speaker 1: you know, I think he's I think he's ready to
11:56
Speaker 1: handle it. Now. Fortunately or unfortunate for you, this isn't
12:01
Speaker 1: your first rodeo. In terms of playing with a new quarterback,
12:04
Speaker 1: like in Washington, you guys changed some quarterbacks and had
12:06
Speaker 1: some seasons where you play two or three. Is there
12:09
Speaker 1: a key to making this work with a new guy
12:11
Speaker 1: coming in or is this just different or all cases different? Um?
12:17
Speaker 1: I think they're all different. But you know, I think, Um,
12:21
Speaker 1: the biggest thing for any quarterback just make sure the
12:24
Speaker 1: guys around you trust you well. Make sure you build
12:28
Speaker 1: your trust with those guys. I think that's the most
12:32
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing. And you show that every
12:35
Speaker 1: day in practice and with your consistency, and and that's
12:39
Speaker 1: really the key. I mean, I think in twenty I
12:42
Speaker 1: think it was Team I had four or five different
12:46
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that who we played with, and you look on Wikipedia,
12:50
Speaker 1: it's a long list. Each one of them brought something,
12:55
Speaker 1: you know, something different, and UM, you know, I it's
13:00
Speaker 1: really just truly, I think in my mind, it's just
13:03
Speaker 1: a trust factor. And when guys, when you're the skill
13:07
Speaker 1: players around you trust you, there's you know, nothing that
13:11
Speaker 1: they worry about in their mind. As long as it's
13:14
Speaker 1: you know, and the practices everything consistent, that's really the key.
13:18
Speaker 1: Did you see it early in James Robinson, did you
13:21
Speaker 1: know he was gonna be a young We all in
13:27
Speaker 1: the running back room, we all saw it pretty pretty early. Um,
13:32
Speaker 1: just with his vision, um and things, and me and
13:36
Speaker 1: me and James had conversations about it, and I was like, bro,
13:40
Speaker 1: what like what was the issue? Like why didn't you
13:43
Speaker 1: get drafted? You played in the Senior Bowl and everything
13:46
Speaker 1: like what was it? And he was like, man, they
13:50
Speaker 1: people were saying I had bad vision, And I was like,
13:53
Speaker 1: what in the world were they looking at? Because that
13:56
Speaker 1: might be his biggest strength, right, Yes, that's his biggest strength.
13:59
Speaker 1: And I think I said before that I thought he
14:01
Speaker 1: had like some of the better vision out of all
14:04
Speaker 1: the running backs that were here or that we had here.
14:07
Speaker 1: And um, so I'm not surprised at all. Um, he
14:13
Speaker 1: and just his mindset as well, and how he approached
14:17
Speaker 1: every single day. I mean, the success, it doesn't get
14:20
Speaker 1: to him at all. To him every day, it's just
14:23
Speaker 1: you know, it's just another day. He's out there just
14:26
Speaker 1: playing playing football and just you know, just super calm,
14:31
Speaker 1: Like he super calm. Anything happens in the game, you know, fumbles, whatever,
14:37
Speaker 1: he still stays the same. And I I haven't seen
14:40
Speaker 1: that out of many rookies. Um, he doesn't get it
14:43
Speaker 1: get aggravated um that much and just goes out and playing. Um.
14:48
Speaker 1: You know, he's it's showing. It's showing out there. UM.
14:53
Speaker 1: You know, his approach to the game and everything. And
14:55
Speaker 1: he's been having he's been having fun out there, and
14:58
Speaker 1: I think that's the most importan of a thing and
15:00
Speaker 1: just not you know this, this is our job. But
15:04
Speaker 1: you gotta go out there and just realize, hey, I'm
15:06
Speaker 1: playing football, I'm having fun and just just going with it.
15:10
Speaker 1: And that's what he does the long run around the league.
15:13
Speaker 1: The more I appreciate veterans and you know, you're clearly
15:16
Speaker 1: a pro who has figured out how to last in
15:19
Speaker 1: this game. Um, how you know, and it's not easy.
15:24
Speaker 1: How have you done it? What is the key to
15:27
Speaker 1: a long career? I mean a lot of guys staying
15:29
Speaker 1: this three or four years and that's a long time.
15:30
Speaker 1: But you're going on you know double that. Yeah. Um.
15:37
Speaker 1: One of the biggest things is consistency. Um. It's it's
15:43
Speaker 1: consistency and I think it's trusted. And you know, for me,
15:47
Speaker 1: I felt like I was I was doing both. Um
15:50
Speaker 1: early on in my career, just showing Hey, coach, i
15:54
Speaker 1: might be a smaller guy, but I can pass block.
15:56
Speaker 1: I'm not scared to pass block, and I'm and I
15:58
Speaker 1: can do it, and we'll do it on a consistent basis. Um,
16:03
Speaker 1: being a route runner catching passes like, hey, I'm not
16:06
Speaker 1: gonna drop a lot of passes. Um, you can trust
16:09
Speaker 1: me that I'm gonna get open and I'm gonna catch
16:12
Speaker 1: the ball. Um. You know, I think consistency is one
16:16
Speaker 1: of the biggest things. And then UM, I remember just
16:20
Speaker 1: one of my running back coaches in Washington, well, the
16:23
Speaker 1: one I had the longest coach, Jordan's Um. He said,
16:27
Speaker 1: he said to me, just try to he said, be
16:30
Speaker 1: the best version of yourself. And he was like, figure
16:33
Speaker 1: out what it is about you that makes you different
16:36
Speaker 1: than all these other guys and and try to be
16:39
Speaker 1: great at that. And so that's one thing I've taken
16:43
Speaker 1: with me like every single day is just hey, what
16:47
Speaker 1: is it that? What is it about me that I
16:49
Speaker 1: can do well that makes me different from some of
16:52
Speaker 1: these other guys. And I've tried to focus every single
16:56
Speaker 1: week and and every single year on for affecting those
17:01
Speaker 1: skills and what that is about myself because I found
17:04
Speaker 1: myself sometimes just trying to oh I, oh, I want
17:09
Speaker 1: to try to be like this guy. Oh I want
17:11
Speaker 1: to go train with this guy, and oh, try to
17:14
Speaker 1: try to be exactly who you know, be exactly like him,
17:17
Speaker 1: to see what what makes him the way that he is.
17:20
Speaker 1: Maybe I can get there. And that doesn't you know,
17:22
Speaker 1: it doesn't work for everybody. And then when you look
17:24
Speaker 1: around the league, you look at running backs, everybody has
17:27
Speaker 1: a different place style. UM. I like to use Alvin
17:31
Speaker 1: Kamar with a lot of rookies, for example. He is
17:34
Speaker 1: a guy that he doesn't make a lot of moves
17:38
Speaker 1: and for a lot of running backs you think, oh
17:39
Speaker 1: he's shifted, he can do this, he can do that.
17:42
Speaker 1: Alvin Kamara does what he does, and he does it great.
17:44
Speaker 1: He's not a guy that's gonna shake a lot of people.
17:47
Speaker 1: Literally he's gonna run into you. But his balance, his control,
17:51
Speaker 1: all of that is what makes Kamar what he is.
17:53
Speaker 1: He's gonna get open on his routes. Christian McCaffrey, that's
17:56
Speaker 1: a totally different guy, totally different guy. Every Body's not
18:00
Speaker 1: gonna be like that. But you know, try to find
18:03
Speaker 1: what it is about yourself and be the best version
18:05
Speaker 1: of that, and I think for me that's been the
18:08
Speaker 1: most important thing. And um, just being a student of
18:13
Speaker 1: the game, knowing that hey if I if if they
18:17
Speaker 1: put me in critical situations, they know I'm not gonna
18:20
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna choke. I'm not gonna get nervous, which
18:23
Speaker 1: is one reason why I'm a third down back. Um,
18:26
Speaker 1: you know, we get a lot of different looks on defenses.
18:29
Speaker 1: It's you know, third and four and says, hey we're
18:32
Speaker 1: gonna put you on a choice route. You gotta get
18:34
Speaker 1: open type deal. And um, you know, building that trust
18:38
Speaker 1: and um, being consistent on things like that, I think
18:41
Speaker 1: that's what really has has kept me in the league
18:44
Speaker 1: because I've had injuries. I've had a lot of injuries
18:47
Speaker 1: which I really probably shouldn't even be playing still. But um,
18:53
Speaker 1: there's been teams around the league. I've been with coach
18:55
Speaker 1: gruten he knows what I can do. He trusts me.
18:58
Speaker 1: He trust me in those crunch times situations, Hey we
19:01
Speaker 1: gotta go on a two minute drive. I can trust
19:03
Speaker 1: that this guy gonna do every everything right. He's gonna
19:05
Speaker 1: pick up his blitz is if they bring anything crazy,
19:09
Speaker 1: you know, stuff like that that I think is is
19:11
Speaker 1: super important and it helps guys. You know, it helps
19:14
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys, Um, stay in the league.
19:17
Speaker 1: You're gonna coach at some point, I think so. Um,
19:21
Speaker 1: you know, the more I've been playing, the more I
19:23
Speaker 1: feel like I can. I feel like I've learned to
19:28
Speaker 1: from all the running back coaches that I've had on
19:31
Speaker 1: how how to be a coach, how to help these
19:33
Speaker 1: guys and um, and I think it will be something
19:36
Speaker 1: that I would enjoy doing, especially just helping these guys
19:39
Speaker 1: one with life, living the NFL life being you know, um,
19:46
Speaker 1: the ups and downs about it, because I've gone through
19:48
Speaker 1: all of it. I've been cut before, so I know
19:51
Speaker 1: that side. I've been on practice squad, so I know
19:55
Speaker 1: I've I've had it all, you know, and thankfully I'm
19:58
Speaker 1: I'm here now and um on my third contract. It's
20:02
Speaker 1: just the one year deal, but um, I'm on my
20:05
Speaker 1: third guy, don't make it the third. Yeah, after having
20:08
Speaker 1: all the injuries and stuff that I've had, So I
20:10
Speaker 1: feel like I could help guys. So, uh, that may
20:13
Speaker 1: be something I get into once I'm done. Yeah, you
20:16
Speaker 1: sure it sounds like something you can definitely do. Okay, Chris,
20:20
Speaker 1: We're gonna close. It's something we call the ozone five.
20:24
Speaker 1: So it's just five quick questions as quick an answer
20:31
Speaker 1: as you can give. Uh. First question, what was your
20:34
Speaker 1: last binge watch? If with a child you even have
20:38
Speaker 1: time to binge watch? Oh, I watched Bluie Now it's
20:41
Speaker 1: it's a Disney Junior show with my doing all the time.
20:45
Speaker 1: I love it. So that's the binge watch. I got it.
20:48
Speaker 1: No more wire for you, Oh no, not at all.
20:53
Speaker 1: What's the last thing you listen to in your car
20:54
Speaker 1: or on your phone? Last song? Oh, Kendrick Lamar and
20:58
Speaker 1: Busta Rhymes new song I can't remember look over your Shoulder.
21:02
Speaker 1: I think that that's the name of it. Got you.
21:05
Speaker 1: What's your preference rushing TV or passing t D passing
21:10
Speaker 1: just because you're a third down yet yeah, it means
21:12
Speaker 1: more to Yeah. What's the hardest kids you've ever taken? Um?
21:17
Speaker 1: I took a hit in preseason from Shamarco Thomas and
21:21
Speaker 1: Vince Williams, and on that play, I tore my labor
21:25
Speaker 1: as well, and that one hurt. That one hurt big time.
21:31
Speaker 1: You don't forget that. If you if you hadn't played football,
21:36
Speaker 1: what's for ward you play? Who? Man? That's a good one. Um.
21:42
Speaker 1: I think I probably would would have ran track. I did,
21:45
Speaker 1: I did when I was younger. Um, I just kind
21:47
Speaker 1: of gave it up. Or a baseball I started off
21:51
Speaker 1: playing baseball before I did football, so it is a
21:53
Speaker 1: footballer track, I mean baseballer track. How old were you
21:56
Speaker 1: when you got away from baseball? Uh? Ninth grade got
22:00
Speaker 1: you pretty good? You know? Yeah, that was pretty good.
22:04
Speaker 1: I kind of made some of my teammates a little
22:06
Speaker 1: upset with me because I would like sometimes cover center
22:09
Speaker 1: field and left field. I would go but thankfull, yoh
22:14
Speaker 1: with some of my best friends. So we can laugh
22:17
Speaker 1: about it now. But yeah, they played some good baseball
22:20
Speaker 1: in the panandle too. Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's a
22:23
Speaker 1: good brain. I remember that. So, Chris Thompson, I know
22:26
Speaker 1: you've got a lot more to do than this. I
22:27
Speaker 1: appreciate your help today. I really enjoy talking to you,
22:30
Speaker 1: and I hope to talk to you soon down the road.
22:32
Speaker 1: But thank you very much for doing this. Yes, thank you,
22:35
Speaker 1: all right, I'd like to thank Chris Thompson for joining
22:37
Speaker 1: us and did I stay every week? These guys, especially
22:40
Speaker 1: this time of year with the schedule, very unusual for
22:44
Speaker 1: them to give five minutes and sort of try to
22:48
Speaker 1: give thought out answers and not be rushed. Thought Chris Day.
22:53
Speaker 1: I thought Chris was great, especially at the beginning. I
22:56
Speaker 1: appreciated his honesty with how difficult this season has been
23:01
Speaker 1: from a COVID standpoint, and you forget sometimes or I do. Anyway,
23:06
Speaker 1: I'm pretty easy. You know, I'm secluded from a lot
23:08
Speaker 1: of people. I don't have young kids, but Chris and
23:11
Speaker 1: his wife, they just had a baby early in the
23:13
Speaker 1: off season, had a lot to deal with. And I
23:16
Speaker 1: think it's important for people to remember these guys are
23:19
Speaker 1: human beings, and it's, as I joked with him, this
23:23
Speaker 1: is not something that's in the how to NFL guy
23:27
Speaker 1: to be an NFL player, how to deal with this? Yeah,
23:30
Speaker 1: especially like you said, I can relate with having young
23:32
Speaker 1: kids do this whole thing. And you know, me working
23:36
Speaker 1: from home getting on the laptop for a few hours
23:38
Speaker 1: a day is one thing. But him having fir himself
23:41
Speaker 1: for an NFL season, you know, trying to get you know,
23:44
Speaker 1: NFL workouts in when you're still trying to quarantine and
23:47
Speaker 1: be separate and all that kind of stuff, and especially
23:49
Speaker 1: when you're worried about having a young child at the house.
23:52
Speaker 1: I imagine how difficult it wasn't Like you said, I
23:56
Speaker 1: didn't know much about Chris before you talked to him.
23:58
Speaker 1: And and again, very interesting, very insightful, you know. And
24:02
Speaker 1: that's the other thing too, is Uh, I know he's
24:05
Speaker 1: not really a local guy, but Madison County is pretty
24:09
Speaker 1: is close enough, especially if you follow high school sports
24:11
Speaker 1: around it seems like all the teams around here around
24:14
Speaker 1: here play play those teams out in the Tallahassee area,
24:17
Speaker 1: and so it feels he feels like a local guy
24:20
Speaker 1: to me. And and also during the whole time I
24:23
Speaker 1: was listening, I was thinking to myself, when you talk
24:25
Speaker 1: to younger running backs about different styles and different ways
24:28
Speaker 1: you can be successful in the league, I was like,
24:29
Speaker 1: this guy is gonna go in the coaching So I'm
24:31
Speaker 1: glad you asked about about maybe going coaching, UH once
24:36
Speaker 1: his career is done, because to me, he sounds like
24:38
Speaker 1: a guy that's that's ready to do that. Well, there's
24:40
Speaker 1: some guys you can just tell by the way they
24:42
Speaker 1: talk that they have the ability to communicate their ideas
24:48
Speaker 1: UH in such a way to make younger people understand them.
24:52
Speaker 1: And he certainly seems like a guy who not only
24:56
Speaker 1: has a a a wide range of non college he
25:00
Speaker 1: reminds me a little bit and sort of a different level,
25:03
Speaker 1: but a little bit of Keenan in the sense that
25:06
Speaker 1: came in not you know, he was on a practice squad.
25:09
Speaker 1: Keena was on a practice squad. Keen of McCardel, the
25:11
Speaker 1: Jaguars wide receivers coach, had to work his way into
25:15
Speaker 1: the league. He had been in the league probably five
25:17
Speaker 1: years before he hit it big with the Jaguars and
25:19
Speaker 1: started being really productive. Guys who have had to fight
25:23
Speaker 1: their way through it and earn their way into the
25:26
Speaker 1: league and proved themselves to coaches who have been cut
25:29
Speaker 1: who haven't made rosters, those are guys who you know,
25:34
Speaker 1: dug more Own for example, very similar, got cut a
25:37
Speaker 1: couple of times. Still uses that as a reference when
25:40
Speaker 1: he talks two players and when he talks to the
25:42
Speaker 1: media that I just think that helps you coach of
25:47
Speaker 1: its motivation or experience or whatever. Um. I was fascinated
25:52
Speaker 1: and I always am guys who have to earn their
25:58
Speaker 1: way into the league every year, which he sort of does.
26:01
Speaker 1: Chris Thompson in that category. Six seventh year guys, it's
26:06
Speaker 1: hard to make it in the league that long. If
26:08
Speaker 1: you're not on big contracts, each time you know, Dave,
26:11
Speaker 1: you're around it, you know the league is always trying
26:15
Speaker 1: to get you out because they want to be paying
26:18
Speaker 1: younger guys. It's much easier to pay a second year
26:22
Speaker 1: running back than a seventh year running back. So I'm
26:26
Speaker 1: always fascinated by guys who can make in the NFL
26:28
Speaker 1: a long time. It's not as common as people think.
26:31
Speaker 1: And I think I think Chris is in his eighth year,
26:33
Speaker 1: seventh or eighth year, whatever it is. But he alluded
26:35
Speaker 1: to it third contract. It sounds to me like that's
26:38
Speaker 1: a point of pride for him, and it should be
26:40
Speaker 1: because it's. Uh, he is a professional football player. And
26:46
Speaker 1: when I say professional, I put the ampsas on the
26:48
Speaker 1: professional part. You know. I'm sure he's a different guy
26:51
Speaker 1: than he was when he came into the league. And uh,
26:54
Speaker 1: fascinating with him to hear him talk about why he
26:59
Speaker 1: thinks he's been able to make it because he's a
27:01
Speaker 1: guy that had been easy to cut for a long time.
27:03
Speaker 1: He's not a name nobody would notice if he got cut,
27:06
Speaker 1: and he is he's very self aware, Davis, what I thought,
27:09
Speaker 1: he knows his role. He knows how he's been able
27:12
Speaker 1: to make it, and uh yeah, he's a guy. It's
27:15
Speaker 1: easy to see that he'll be successful in whatever he
27:17
Speaker 1: tries to do after football. Yeah, and being self aware
27:19
Speaker 1: is probably why it's lasted so long. And I want
27:22
Speaker 1: to bring up one other point when he said, but
27:24
Speaker 1: he asked about has been binge watched in the Disney
27:27
Speaker 1: Plus show? I thought about it. I go, you know,
27:29
Speaker 1: my last binge watched? Probably this is also a Disney
27:32
Speaker 1: Plus show. A lot of DR stuff is going on
27:34
Speaker 1: in my house, so DR stuff, and I've seen every
27:36
Speaker 1: episode like four times unfortunately for me days, so I
27:39
Speaker 1: can relate on that. When I was in your shoes
27:42
Speaker 1: when my son was three or four, my bene watched
27:45
Speaker 1: was Barney, which sucked quite frankly, Dave. Then we always
27:50
Speaker 1: talked about with the Ozone podcast, not sucking that sucks
27:54
Speaker 1: with that when Barney is our riff and it's the
27:57
Speaker 1: Purple Dinosaur that I can still quote. Unfortunately, we'll close
28:01
Speaker 1: this week's Those Own Podcast. I want thank Daved Candice
28:03
Speaker 1: once again for making this better than it really is.
28:06
Speaker 1: Thanks Joe unfortunate of for making it sound better than
28:08
Speaker 1: it is really Thank Chris Thompsons for joining us and
28:11
Speaker 1: thank him for sharing some things about the realities of
28:15
Speaker 1: the NFL right now for players, that's this week's Those
28:18
Speaker 1: On podcast. We'll see you next week. Well, so