Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect - Kyle Rudolph On The Evolution of NFL Tight Ends, Controversial Calls & Future of College Football

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

The Dudes break down the biggest stories in sports including the exit of Jason Kidd as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, the New York Knicks sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers, MLB Headlines, Johnny Manziel’s MMA fight and which pro athletes the Dudes want to see fight it out. Then, former NFL tight end Kyle Rudolph joins the show to talk about his NFL journey, life after football, his charity work, the current state of college football, and the controversial 2020 NFC Wild Card game between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings. PLUS, he ranks his top 6 current NFL tight ends. See who takes the #1 spot! Go to https://www.shopify.com/ALMOST to get started now! Go to https://shadyrays.com/ and use code ALMOST for 50% off 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. If you’ve got a question, hot take, or your own Almost Athlete moment, head to AlmostAthletes.com or call [phone]. Upload your own fan fails here: https://new.myharbourshare.com/agree/gSttAsmDbo6vYCfm3HBdjh?fbclid=PARlRTSARDo7VleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAafRqYdnXc6xTmfPMNERbnp5yfF-BqLSY3NCu2GQZSehgOTgD69fSBeTqTcAQg_aem_RWLUmW87bcZIif3zTrWKBg Chapters 00:00 Introduction 04:17 Topical Sports 20:24 Kyle Rudolph Intro 01:01:43 Blind Ranking Tight Ends 01:12:36 2-Minute Warning ▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@almostathletes?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Listen anywhere: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/almost-athletes-with-dude-perfect/id1834502483 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/55gaQm31JIbp6td7QtYsPU Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect is (almost) a sports podcast. Co-hosted by Garrett Hilbert and Sparky, with the rest of the Dudes, their wives, and the DP crew popping in throughout the weeksports takes, celebrity guests, athlete interviews, fan voicemails, and the kind of chaos you'd expect from the Dude Perfect family. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Go Big and God Bless Pound it 👊🏻 Noggin 🙇🏻‍♂️ - Dude Perfect Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal. Activia contains over one billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic yogurt brand. Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details. Miles Garrett might be the number one athlete in terms of who would run the gauntlet and go undefeated in an MMA setting. I think it might be basketball at A&M.

He could just literally be sitting there and just dunk it with his elbow. I mean, the guy has a vert. Physically, I wouldn't feel comfortable playing him in like rock favorite scissors. That's how scary that guy is. He might have a... All right, welcome to almost athletes with Dude Perfect. A Wave Original. Follow the show on all social media, almost athletes.

Like and subscribe to us on YouTube. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We're your host. I'm Cody. I'm Spark. Let's do this. Dude. In for Gare.

Do you want to tell the masses? Why you're in for Gare? Yeah, Gare got sick. He's legitimately sick. Let's be honest, all of us have had those days where you just mail it in. You're like, you convince yourself you're sick. It's not one of those. Talking to Gare this morning.

Maybe not this one, but he's definitely done it in the past. Sure. And haven't we all? Yes. And that's where I'm thinking. Originally, it's like Monday. pre-8 a.m. text, this is good. He's getting ahead of it. And then you talk to him and you're like,

no, he sounds like 19th century bronchitis was going on or something, man. See, I didn't hear the voice. That's a good validation of the sickness. My favorite story with Garrett was that he told Ty and Travis he couldn't play golf because he was sick. They get on number nine. They're making the turn and there's Gare with his wife on seven. He was sick of them.

That's good. That's good. Gary to come clean. He goes, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm going to be honest. If we catch him potting with another group, I'm saying. I'm going to be livid. Keep your eyes out. He either was really good actor or that guy is sick.

So, hey, appreciate you joining in here, maybe. Yeah, how was your Memorial Day? Dude, I went to the lake, took my five-year-old son. We hit up the C-dos. Had some hot dogs at home. Landry cut her foot this weekend, so we weren't allowed to all go do stuff. So I was just kind of peeling off and having fun with an individual kid. lake, little pickleball,

little office run, went and got some Andy's ice cream. Oh, great weekend. And dogs too. Gained a lot of weight. That's very American of you. That's how you celebrate a weekend in America. Is that right there?

How did the foot accident happen? So we had a leak in the pool. They're fixing the pool. Some of the plaster that they were tearing up, went into the turf. And so when she was running around barefoot, cut it right down the middle. Tetanus shot or no.

No tetanus needed, but we did get some glue, and she is just milking it, dude. She's taking my office chair that's on Ralee and just treating it like a wheelchair. She's ordering people around. I need a sandwich. I need a water. Give me a book.

It's crazy. She got the handicapped placard yet. No, we should have a car. She doesn't need that, but she's pretty much milking it for all it's worth. That's good. That's good. My Memorial Day weekend was pretty lame, dude. We're so busy around here that I'm taking the time just to like take a breath at home.

And so that's what I did. I did watch a movie. And I don't do many of those. We need to talk about it. How good is National Treasure? What a good movie. You mean. Okay, you finally get back into the movie game and you throw out a Nicholas Cage.

Some of his best work. I tell you what. Who would have thunk there was a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence? You just need the magic water or the link. And I don't want to advise the kids in stealing, you know, important federal documents. That feels dangerous. But Nick Cage, man, put on a clinic. Benjamin Franklin's Glass.

Oh, it's so good. It's so good. It felt right on the way. National Treasure was released. in 2004. So it feels like you have a bit of archive to catch up on. I mean, I did watch it like in social studies back in middle school, but it'd been a long time. I didn't realize

the cinematography aspect of it. So good. I don't know if there's one historical fact in that movie that's actually Have you ever seen the back of the Declaration of Independence? No, but like Liberty Bell has a clue. That's crazy. Squeeze some lemon juice on the back of the Declaration and see what happens because I bet there's a map there.

Coming up on today's app, former NFL All-Pro tied in. Kyle Rudolph stops by. We're going to catch up on all the playoff action party like it's 1999. Knicks headed to the finals. Talk about the shocking weekend in the racing world and a look at Johnny Mansell's MMA debut. But first, this happened right after we recorded

last week, Jones, and we need to talk about it. Jay Kid out as Mavs coach. Yeah, this one feels like the new GM, new president in, made the call. And if you're in the know with the Mavs, it definitely felt like there was a lot of smoke surrounding Jay Kidd and his fingerprints

on the Luca move. I think that's what this is. I think if you're a part of that, you got to get out of here. And it's just a full on reset. Love J. Kid, great guy. Big fan. But yeah, it was, it's just time to start over. Use Coop is your centerpiece and let's build around it, including coach.

Saw somebody on Twitter say, do you need to trade Max Christie? Because he was part of the deal. And that's literally the last person associated with the AD Luca trade. $45 million that J.K.D. will make as part of the buyout. I don't think he's too unhappy. No, it's not Jimbo Fisher numbers, but it is healthy. 45, you can do a lot with 45. Next for the Mavs, I'm seeing a lot of rumblings of this online.

Kyrie trade, like full on restarting it here. He makes a lot of money. It feels like it could be right. Be weary of that come draft night. I could see Kyrie being on the move. And I would understand that for the Maves. It feels like a rebuild. I agree.

It feels like a rebuild. NBA playoffs. The NICS headed to the NBA finals, first time since 1999. Whoa. Do you remember 1999? Much of it? Yeah, I was alive.

I wasn't super dialed into basketball because I was playing it. But no, good for the Knicks. Proud of them. Was that Patrick Ewing's era? Okay. It was 99. Yeah, Pat Ewing was in the house last night.

That was always really cool to see, you know, your alums. I just, I don't want to celebrate them just making the finals in the same way that we discredit LeBron for making bad teams and they get to the finals. And you're like, well, he lost in the finals. So we do need to just everyone calm down. They haven't won a title. They got to go through OKC or the Spurs until they raise the trophy.

I'm not doing a whole lot of accolades. I'm with you. You got to finish the mission. I did make a little diagram, though, just to show how long it's been since the NICS have been in the NBA finals. On the right here, 1999, your top song in 99? Believe by Share, do you recall? I do. Yeah, I have karaoke that once or twice.

You'll love this. The number one movie in 99, Star Wars, F1. That was pretty sick. The price of gas. It's Epp one, but it was movie four, just so you're aware. It's not the reverse order. That's what's out. It's not the first.

It makes no sense. $1.17 per gallon gas and Bill Clinton was in office, 99. Last time the Knicks. Last time they won a title, 1973. That's all that matters. You were around then. You can attest to this. Number one song I never heard.

Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree by Tony Orlando and Don felt AI-gened. Probably all-a-cane. The original Exorcist was the number one movie. We're talking 39 cents a gal. Wow. Take me back to those days and Richard Nixon was in office. Well, it took me back to that day. Oh, my bad. That goes to tell you, it's time for the Knicks.

Did you actually make that? I did. No, you did not. That was your handwriting? That was my handwriting. Okay. Did you like or dislike? I thought it was all caps as a little childish.

Yeah, I'm an all-caps kind of guy. I write in italicize too. I can even write in Braille. believe it or not. No, I can't. But I want to admit, I was just wrong. And that's going to happen in sport. You know, that's why they play the game and not on paper. I was flat out wrong. I said the cabs in six. Did you really? I did. I thought they were riding that mojo. I thought their perimeter offense would help them out there. And no, I mean, the Knicks made no qualms about it. I will say, woulda coulda, shoulda. The 22 point fourth quarter lead in game one for the cabs. They don't blow that. It's a different series.

I don't think they ultimately win, giving what transpired. But yeah, the Knicks. So now it's down to Oklahoma City in San Antonio. And I want to put more salt in the wound, but just so we're all clear that Nico Harrison let Jalen Brunson just walk.

Yeah, it hurts. He could have been the second piece to Luca. Coulda shoulda woulda. I'm moving on. I'm not salty. But that is a bummer. Felt a little salty. Felt a little sodium-fueled enragement there.

I will say this, I don't think Jalen Brunson's getting near enough love as a premier guard in the NBA. He's starting to, I feel like now. But, I mean, the guy was a two-time naysmith player of the year in college. Villanova? Villanova. Yeah. Championship, twice. The writing was there, man.

I feel like he's getting plenty of love. He's all over SportsCenter every morning. Yeah, he is, but not like, is he getting SGA love? Well, he had won a title. Okay. He had one back-to-to-back MVPs. I saw online with. where if he was to win a title with the Knicks,

he goes down as the greatest nick of all time, which I was thinking that's more, that's more or less kind of a bad look on the historical franchise. That is the Knicks. He's a past like Willis Reed, I guess, or a Pat Ewing. Yeah. But Pat never won one. I know.

So you're right. Yeah. It's more about the Knicks, I guess, kind of being so incompetent over the years. I like it. Spurs Thunder, Man, 2-2. This thing has been beautiful. I think the Knicks are definitely going to win the battle of,

like let these two beat each other up right now because they're falling like flies harper banged up fox with the ankle people are falling where do you see that series now too too dude oh man i think my heart really wants alex caruso texas a and m aggie yeah from consolidated there in college station to get a get another title but you know what i think it's wimby the guy is a freak hard to guard deadly from three did you see that half court logo bomb insane it was crazy and why the ball was in the air I'm like, he hit that. I know. And it was just casual.

It was just a little wrist flick. Flick of the wrist. Yeah, that's crazy. He is insane. Where do you stand on the flopping, man? Because the flopping has been the big talk this series. In fact, I'm kind of honestly over it because the broadcast crew is just beating it.

With either beating it like a dead horse, man. It's just, it's, I'm over it. But the Thunder definitely have a way of going about kind of baiting the foul. They do? Yeah. Do you just like that as much as me? It's what, unfortunately, it's what the NBA is today.

And it's, you got to give them the landing. after they shoot a three and the pump fake and you get them to jumps. You just got to be more disciplined on defense and keep those feet down and don't be jumping. Do you dislike though when the offense is like seeking that out? Yes, like the James Hardin just like head up. The rip through, the jump into. It's nasty. It gets stuff to watch there for a while.

And I've been saying for SGA's career longevity, he needs to keep his feet, man. Ask Alan Iverson. That probably took three to five years away from him because he lived on the floor. But what a series I said Oklahoma City and seven. Who did you have in that series? I got Spurs. You got Spurs? Okay, 2-2, who knows what's going to happen.

By the time this air, somebody's going to have that big swing game lead. I want Thunder, I think it's going to be Spurs. And I'm not a Spurs fan. I'm a Dallas Mav diehard and meeting Spurs fans at Texas A&M. Oh my gosh, they're the worst. The absolute worst. It's like Astros' worst and then Spurs fans. The entitlement for such a young franchise is just astounding.

The Duncan era, dude, that was the most boring basketball of all time. Safe to say we're both teaming up with the East here, no matter who gets through. Yeah. We're pure East. Go, Knicks. Please win it. Come on, baby. That's good.

NBA playoffs have been absolutely delicious. Racing World. That's good. Oh, but my. Oh, before racing world. Johnny Mansell, Mammal, Mammie

dominated social media influencer, Bob Minnery in an MMA fight this weekend. It was stopped in the first round. Manzell said he probably won't fight again, but should he? I feel like we shouldn't support people fighting. No. He was not in his prime.

I mean, I don't even know why they took their shirts off. They should have left their shirts on. It was ugly. It was not a pretty fight. Bob argued that he still had some left in the tank. I don't know what was left, but that should not even be allowed. So the corner man just waved the flag?

They called it early. And they should have, just mainly because of what we were looking at. It was like two walruses just neck fighting. Have you ever seen that on Animal Planet? Yeah. It's not a good look. It is a good look if you have that British commentary behind it. Yeah, so that's great.

Yeah, that's always good on Animal Planet. MMA wise who in our office would be the best fit to go do something like that i mean i've been on team tie like get fit spend 40 days getting in the cage grind it out and then take on somebody legit but if you want a comp to what that was i would say jackson graham go at it boxing gloves and just see i mean just random no form kicking scrapping biting biting Some dirty intern plays. I don't think they have a lot of form when it comes to MMA. There needs to be a market for like a good, just debate, intelligent debate.

You bring Johnny and Bob and you just say, okay, give me, you know, talk to me about the conflict overseas in the Middle East. That probably wouldn't do the viewership. No. A good MMA fight would. But I'd watch. Yeah, you know, I feel like that's the better way to go about determining, you know, who's a better person. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Athletes you'd like to see face each other in MMA and who would win. LeBron versus

MJ in their primes. Oh, in their primes. I mean, LeBron's a refrigerator, so I'm fair. Yeah, they really is. That's a really good call. Yeah, measurables-wise, LeBron, you're going to be having a really hard time matching up against him. Wimby versus Chet. I can't think we're kind of seeing that right now. Chet is lanky, but doesn't have a lot of mass. I think Wemby takes him. Wimby has the reach of Jordan in Space Jam on that final shot where he stretched his arm. That's just Wimby 24-7. It's unfair. Miles Garrett, Mason, Rudolph. That's a low blow. No helmet and hand, just hands. That's got to be Miles Garrett, obviously. He looks like a tank with the shirt off. Miles Garrett might be the number one athlete in terms of who would run the gauntlet and go undefeated

in an MMA setting. I think it might be Miles Garrett. Pick up basketball at A&M, he could just literally be sitting there and just dunk it with his elbow. I mean, the guy has avert. I wouldn't feel comfortable. Physically, I wouldn't feel comfortable playing him in like Rock Paper scissors. That's how scary that guy is. He might rock me a little too hard. Artest Wallace. Been Wallace. I feel like we've seen this too. I've ever say run our test and a fan. Yeah, Ron our test just has a couple screws loose, which is the best compliment in terms of an MMA fighter. You need a couple screws loose. Sheffler versus Rory? Jeffler's got the reach. She's also got the active feet. You know,

when he swings, it's kind of violent. Give me Scotty. I'm USA over England. Yeah. That fight's been fought many of times, and I feel like the stars and stripes usually come out on top. To the racing world we go where we had a little emotional passing, dude. Kyle Bush, you're a big race car guy, your dad, you know, put that instilled that in you at a young age. How shocking was that news, man? It was shocking. Age 41, in his prime, just won two races this season. Didn't really know what it would have been from.

Like, I thought maybe it was like a car accident and that here was an illness. Sounded like pneumonia, some complications there. I mean, and brutal. The guy was a, he was like our Connor McGregor. Like he just talked a lot of trash. Remember being at races and people would start booing and he'd be like, I can't hear you. Like he would just welcome it.

Play into it. And he was great for the whole sport. But a great guy, never met him, heard good things. Great family man. We're going to miss him. He had a lot to give to racing, I think, after his career was done. And correct me if I'm wrong. Talk to me.

The most wins across all series, including truck. Yep. He was really good younger. He's a winner. Goes to show you how fickle life can be, man. 41 and good health. All of a sudden pneumonia turns into six. sepsis and yeah super sad man i think every day just don't take it for granted amen amen that was

tough anything else from the sports world that caught your caught your eye um i got something actually let's hear it the rangers man i know we're not talking too much baseball got no hit combined no hit last night tell me if you believe in this comment below if you're like-minded sparky the way i process sport i am protesting tonight i do that with my club sometimes they have been so bad swept in LA get no hit last night on the first night of a homestand, but I'm silent protesting. I'm not watching tonight, and that's hard for me to do. I'll peek at the game test. I'll, peek at the game cast, but I'm not going to watch tonight in hopes that my club feels that missed support from Sparky, and they're like, we've got to turn this around because we've got our

most loyal fan. I'm the guy who watches 162, and I'm willingly going to sit out tonight to make a point. And you might lose the title of most loyal fan if you don't watch. I'll watch. Let's be honest. I was about to say my grandparents, man, they never missed a Ranger game. It might just be three innings, tonight, but I'm in a silent pro this thing and see if I can get the boys going. Those 40 win seasons, they're just sitting there grinding it out. I'm like, Randy and Ralph, what are you doing? Me, Me, Me, Big Dead. What are we doing? It's tough. It's tough world out there.

Dude Perfect Wise just came off of OT50. Check that out on the main channel. Big time. Really like what the production team did on the Dude Perfect Plus side doing the whole cool not cool series from start to finish. That's sick. We need to do that with Crafty and so on and so forth, which I think we are. Also, make sure to check out our brand new book, Operation

trick shot, it just hit number one bestseller on New York Times. Yes, sir. That feels like a big deal. Also, don't forget to listen to the audio book featured recordings by all five of the dudes. And tour. If you haven't bought tour tickets yet, what are you doing? Brand new show, insane celebrity featured guest at every show. You're not going to miss it.

See you on the road this summer. DudePerfect.com slash tour. And I just peaked at all the merchandise that will be selling on tour that you can only get on tour. The hats are legit fire. I cannot wait to rock those suckers. They're awesome. Get a ticket.

See you at the show. Can't wait? So you're saying our best merch run yet? I think so. It's big. Can I get my hands on it? Can I get my little bear applause? We can promo it.

This is one of them. This is the most calm and collected shirt. I thought I'd wear it because it's Memorial Day weekend. I like, yeah, yeah. A flag. Being the fact that it's our 250th birthday for America. The fact that the World Cup is in the U.S. this year. We're going to win a World Cup.

Yeah. I believe. Patriotism should be in an all-time high this year at the Duke Perfect Squad. games tour. Well, thank you for joining me. Dude, this was crazy. Yeah, no gear. A block, no gear.

You filled in well. I don't know. We'll see. Usually a backseat guy, but you passenger princess from the front seat, shock you. And I did read some comments

on overtime. A lot of positives. Here's what I'm going to promise you all. We're going to go cool not cool where we bring the items. Jay Laser was awesome. His items were sick, but you all want to see Corey

fumble around and bumble around whatever item he finds on the internet. We're going to bring it back. You made the toilet buddy type item way too good. man, that's on you for making it so good throughout the years. Well, thanks Jones. Appreciate you.

Thank you. But now, it's time for NFL great. Kyle Rudolph. Let's go! You know what I've been thinking about a lot lately, Garrett? That the Washington Wizards didn't deserve the first pick in the NBA draft. Yes, but that isn't what I was talking about. I was actually talking about my shady rays sunglasses. However, my shady

rays basically the same quality as the $200 sunglasses I used to buy? That's a great question, because they feel every bit as premium as the expensive brands I've owned. But the difference is, I'm not stressing about them. I wear shady rays on the golf course. I wear them on the boat. I wear them at games. And whatever happens happens. Because if I drop them in a water hazard, they replace them. Knocked them off the boat. They also replace them. Get them covered in nacho sauce and accidentally step on them. They replace them as well. That's right. Lost or broken,

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Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. Our guest is widely considered one of the best tight ends to ever play the game. He's a 12-year NFL vet, a two-time pro bowler, and a Pro Bowl MVP, known for memorable playoff moments, including the overtime game winner versus the Saints in the 2020 NFC Wild Guard game, a multiple-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and the founder of the charity All True, which has raised over 18 millie for charity. Give it up for Kyle Rudolph. Wow.

Yeah, baby. Man, usually the quarterbacks have the longer intro, not the tight-ins. Was that 2020 game the controversy game? No, no. You're thinking Rams. This was, correct me if I'm wrong, third and goal from like the five? I mean, it had its own bit of controversy. What good NFL game doesn't though?

Yeah, so we, if you looked at like a three-year stretch for the Saints, and the Saints fans are going to be like, really, we're going to bring that three-year stretch up. So 2018, division around Minneapolis Miracle, Stefan Diggs. So they lose on the last play of the game. 2019, I believe it was the divisional round again. Rams, the blatant pass interference. We all know it was past interference. So then that was 19 playoffs.

And then our wildcard game against them was 2020 playoffs. And that year, because of the Rams game, they implemented pass interference could be reviewed. So that whole year, like I remember we played Green Bay Week 2 and I think it was like Dalvin Cook or maybe it was Diggs caught a touchdown. And then the other one was like running a route completely on the other side of the field. And all scoring plays are reviewed. And I think Diggs caught the touchdown.

And Dalvin just like ran into somebody running his route. And they were like, no, no touchdown. There was pass interference on number 33 for the Vikings. He might as well have been at the concession stand. Like he had absolutely nothing to do with the play. But the controversy, was Saints fans believe that I pushed off when I caught my game-winning touchdown.

Did you? No, and they don't really have a leg to stand on, but because of... It was reviewed. So it was a scoring play, and if you think the NFL and everyone sitting in New York looking, watching that game on TV,

wasn't going to take the opportunity to be like, all right, we can write the wrong from last year. 100%. They lost on a pass interference. Kyle clearly pushed off, let's call it. And they didn't call it. So it's like you don't really have anything to complain about. So I sleep good at night knowing that I didn't push off.

Is that your favorite catch? It's one of them. And I think for me, it was one of my favorite moments because of what ensued after. If you think about that game as a whole, on the road, in the Superdome, incredibly difficult place to play.

the Saints were like knocking on the door of Super Bowls kind of that whole stretch. Like they were loaded and they were poised to go win it that year. Come out of the NFC. A lot of people pick them to come out of the NFC. And so you hear it all the time like outside of our building. Nobody really gave us a chance to go down there and win. And to go down there and play good on offense, play good on defense,

play good on special teams, get the ball first and overtime. Kirk made an unbelievable throw to Adam to get us down inside the 10-yard line. and then to win the game on, you know, third and goal from whatever yard line it was on. Just going in the locker, it was like, awesome. You know, everybody was celebrating. So for me, the catch was my job. That's what I'm supposed to do. When you're one-on-one with a smaller defensive back and they throw a fade, that's my job.

Yeah. I'm supposed to catch it. If I can't do that, I shouldn't be out there. So it was more my favorite moment as opposed to my favorite catch. As a big tight end, I imagine you're. salivating when you know the play call and it's just a little goal line fade against a smaller corner. Does it get any better than that as a tight end when you got a little man lined up next to you and you know, hey, just throw it up, give me a chance?

You know, it was actually awesome because the original play call was a quarterback draw. And so, you know, we had practiced it throughout the course of that week. And if we got what we call like, you know, a perfect look. So it's an empty formation. That means we have five offense alignment. And if they have more than five guys in the box, we can't, like, Kirk's going to die. So we're not going to run a quarterback draw from the four yard line or six yard line, whatever it was. But if we're in empty and they get everyone out of the box and there's only five guys there, now we can run the quarterback draw.

Well, they brought cover zero. So both safeties walked up to the line of scrimmage. It was one on one across the board. And our alert or our check in that was just throw the fade to the big guy. the corner. So pre-snap, I saw it, you know, starting to take shape. I saw the safety's walking. And then at that point, I knew the ball was coming to me. And, you know, I had a split second before the ball was snapped to know the game's over. Like, that's it. Right here, the ball's coming my way. The game's over. We don't have to worry about Drew Brie's getting the ball in overtime and we were able to

execute. I hate to ask. How did that season end? So then we went to San Francisco the next week and got smoked. That was the year they went to the Super Bowl and lost the Chiefs, but they, I mean, it was close at halftime. I think we were down like 13-7 at half. We got the ball coming out to start of the second half. And it was like they had just dudes in their front seven, a bunch of first-round rushers, and they ran the ball. And we just had no answers for their run game. And then they did it the next week against Green Bay and the NFC championship game, just ran the ball all over them and probably should have won that Super Bowl in Miami. That was the lead that they blew in the second half.

Yep. So yeah, that was how that season ended. 12 years in the league, man, that's not just a cup of tea, a dozen years. Obviously, you remember quite a bit from your time. It always stuck with me when we interviewed Tom, just how he could go back to a certain drive, a certain play, which is amazing. Yeah. Obviously, your memory is still there with you.

Father, time hadn't gotten too much of you, but you did tell me, pre-show about the laundry list of surgeries, weighing how much you miss it and how much you're enjoying the post-life. How is, have you been able to balance? Whether you're Tom and you played 23 years old and played till you're 45 or you played 12 years, I retired at 33, or you play three or you play three or four years, there will always be things that you miss about the game. There's nothing better than going out there on Sundays with your boys, you know, competing. Uh, winning. It sounds stupid, but even like losing and then, you know, battling through adversity, like just coming together as a team, those are the things that no matter what your next chapter

in life are or no matter how long you did it, you'll never be able to fill that, that void and that gap that you have as you, you know, for me, I've identified as a football player since I was five years old. Like I started playing in kindergarten. And, So when you don't have that anymore, like that's something that you'll always miss. The other side is all the things that you don't miss. How your body feels throughout the course of the week, getting ready to go play on Sundays again. Yeah, like you said, a laundry list of surgeries. Thankfully for me, all of my surgeries were things that I had fixed and I rehabbed and I feel great.

I'm able to run around and chase my kids. I'm able to get smoked in pickleball like we were talking. talking about before. I hate pickleball. It's like a game for people that aren't nearly as athletic as I am to just absolutely embarrass me. But I get to do it. And it's those things that I feel very fortunate that I was able to get 12 years in and get out and still have good knees and hips and all the things that it takes to live in active life post football. Funny how you never mentioned like training camp is one of the things you miss. Funny enough, I walk outside on a bad Texas summer day and my brain goes to how did I survive two a days in this weather. I'm sure you have the same

sometimes as football season's approaching. You're like, you know what? I'm glad I'm not getting fully patted up today. I'll never forget my first training camp in Tampa. I signed the day before camp started. You know, I was 32. Kind of that took that whole offseason. I was like, I'm going to be in the best shape of my life. I'm going down there. I'm going to show people that I can still play. I showed up for camp and what I thought was the best shape of my life and it got through the first practice fine and then we put the ball down on the minus 25 yard line

it's like all right we're going to do two minute I was five plays in and you would have thought I'd never conditioned once that entire off season because the heat just hit you differently I had 10 years of camp in Minnesota three years in South Bend one in New Jersey like I had never had a Texas or a Florida training camp training camp in Florida that was definitely something I don't miss

just training camp in general is not something that you miss it gets a little tougher well it's just more so like back in the I guess I say back in the day like I'm so old back in the day their training camp was like six weeks two a days every single day those dudes were different animals I say if if football hadn't changed by time I got there I would have played basketball like I couldn't cut what they did back in the day. But for us, you know, you're still, you know, you're up early, you know, meeting starting 7.7.30 and then the last meeting is kind of ending around 9.15 at night.

And you do that for five weeks almost. And it's like you don't miss that. It's just like you, after a certain amount of time, you're just like, you know what? I can only learn the same play and watch the same film over and over and over again. You're like, you're like, you know, like I'm just ready to get to the preseason and start playing against other people and quit headbutting Everson Griffin and you know just the monster defensive ends that we had Daniel Hunter who's down here in Texas as well it's like yeah I'm ready to go block somebody else we can relate that kind of sounded like dude perfect sometimes a meeting at 630 then wanted to wrap it up at 930 we have two days around here it's our pre-tore film schedule that we're in right now so we're

filming two vids for the sake of one right now and it gets pretty crazy the one thing that in my head that kept me up last night when thinking before this interview took place. Surely you're rocking with the red nose reindeer, right? Is that your favorite reindeer? Yeah. Yeah, Rudolph is, you know, obviously, we wouldn't have Christmas. That kept me up last night. Yeah, Christmas would not be what it is without him.

You know, we all know the story how he saved Christmas. He's got a sea on his chest. He's getting calms in the helmet. He's getting the special treatment. 100%. You know, growing up with the last name Rudolph, I'm just lucky that I was always bigger than everyone else. So you would get the occasional

like mocking and making fun of but you know there's worse last names to have in terms of been picked on and made fun of We have one that works for us Who's that? Shatley.

Oh yeah You don't want a last name you don't want a last name of Shatley. Shatley, yeah. You can imagine the nicknames with that one. New employee. Welcome to the team, Shatley. It could be a verb.

I'd rather have Rudeau over Shatley. Yeah. It says just just just For me, I feel like Chris Berman really helped me. I seem to always play well around Christmas and he loved it. So, you know, it's when you score touchdowns around Christmas, I know on Christmas Eve and your last name's Rudolph.

They go. They're going to put a little bit of extra attention than a Jones scoring on Christmas Eve. Fair. Yeah, he ain't scoring near Christmas or whatever holiday you want to bring up. You mentioned South Bend, man. Crowd, Notre Dame, alum. Yeah. What's it going to take for the Irish to get over the hump, man?

They've got to get through the Aggie stage. You know what I mean? Yeah. I was at that game. That was a tough one for us. That to me, and look, I'm the Aggie fan that will, you know, again, admit that I should have definitely been called back. I mean, it was a clear hold.

But it was like a football game's not decided on one play. But again, they definitely should have made them redo that, put them 10 yards back and redo that pass. Yeah, I mean, you could also stop them on fourth and a mile. Yeah. the 10, like whatever it was. Like, so you can always look at one play and make an excuse for losing a game on that one play. You can also look at the drop PAT right before that.

Like, that touchdown doesn't beat you if you make a PAT. So there's a lot of things throughout the course of the game. I think for Notre Dame, this is the most talent we've had in 30 plus years. Yeah. Going back to Coach Holtz in the last national championship team, being right now, the, you know, odds on favorite to win a national championship, having the Heisman trophy frontrunner in terms of odds to win. So it's like that has not been the case in South Bend in a long time.

And I believe it's a testament to Marcus. Yeah, he's a great coach. Just you could not pick a better, I always say like in college football, your head coach kind of has to be a CEO. Nowadays, for sure. In today's world with the landscape of NIL and roster management. 100%. it's not really recruiting anymore.

It's just who's going to go pay the, you know, the player that fits your program. Not necessarily who's going to pay the most. But I think the other thing, too, when you look at Notre Dame's roster under Marcus the last three years, we're not like a lot of these schools, the season ends and you look at the transfer portal

and 30 guys are in it. We might have three or four a year that go get in the transfer portal. And it's because Marcus is probably there telling them, hey look, you know, you're more than welcome to stay. It's probably not going to work out here. Or you have guys last year, it was like a backup quarterback, a DB, and a long snapper who ultimately got a scholarship from another school.

It's like, of course that kid's going to go to the transfer portal. He should. So I think Marcus's ability to, which is unheard of in college football anymore, recruit good players, keep them in South Bend, develop them in South Bend, and then go put two running backs in the NFL. So when you're going to a 16-year-old, 17-year-old high school kid and saying, hey, you know what? You should come to Notre Dame.

We can pay you well. We're not telling you to come here for free. We can pay you well. You get a chance to get, you know, into the, you know, Notre Dame program, get a Notre Dame education, have the Notre Dame network at your disposal when you leave here. But we understand your goal is to go play in the NFL. We're going to put dudes in the NFL as well.

So that's why you should come here. So I think it's a huge reason why we're in the position we're in right now going into this year. Do you think lack of conference is, are you all ever going to get into a conference? I was about to ask the same question, Gary. If you guys are in a conference, I 100% think you're in the playoffs last year. I think that held y'all back. I don't. I would say, or you just win one of your two games.

Yeah, but that, but it's unfair because now you have like the likes of Texas or A&M that could lose that second, maybe even third game and still get in because. of the gauntlet schedule. I'm a believer of we can take care of our own business. And just be like you can lose one game a year and do it. Yep. And that's what you have to do. You don't have the ability of going and winning a conference championship

to be a two-loss team that wins the SEC or a two-loss team that gets in the ACC championship and gets in. I'm also a firm believer in like Notre Dame will never join a conference. It's strictly because of money. Yeah, yeah. And it's like you see all the time, I literally saw something this morning about like, you know,

the double standard of Notre Dame, like they get to use the ACC when they want, but then they can be independent when they want. It's like the ACC benefits a lot from Notre Dame as well. Oh, 100%. We play five ACC schools a year when Notre Dame shows up and plays a road game in an ACC stadium that maybe is 25% full against all the other teams.

Notre Dame shows up to Wake Forest. That stadium's full. Notre Dame shows up to NC State. That stadium's going to be full. It's a good point. When we're playing those teams, teams at home on NBC, everybody's watching. And so to me, it's until they change to where, you know, and it'll never happen,

but you have to win a conference to get into the playoff. It's like they're just expanding the playoff. They're not going to limit the playoffs. Oh, yeah. I think by the time Notre Dame would want to join a conference, the conferences are going to be dissolved and they're going to be, it's going to be a 60 team. Right. You pick your schedule and then it's like we go to a 2014 playoff and we do this thing.

Like I 100% think we're headed that way. String away from the. Yeah, dude. College football is kind of dead what we grew up with. I see it ultimately going to, you know, football and basketball,

breaking away. It becomes almost like the NFL where you have 32 teams, you have 16 in a conference, you have four divisions in the conference, and it's based off where you are. So, you know, you have your traditional Big 10,

northern ACC schools, you have your SEC, ACC, you have your, you know, Southwest. 100%. That's the way I see it. it does not make sense for USC and UCLA and Oregon and Washington to be going to Rutgers. Northwestern.

Makes no sense at all. None. Economically makes no sense. For football, that's fine because they have the revenue, they have the budgets, they get on their plane, they fly across the country, maybe a day early. Right. But for volleyball. For volleyball. Or even like men's soccer to miss an entire, these are supposed to be students.

So the men's soccer team at USC is going to play Rutgers in Penn State. Do you think they're going to class that week? No, there's no chance. Because they have to fly commercial. So you're getting from Southern California. It's across the country. All the way across the country. But yeah, no, I completely agree on college football,

probably men's and women's basketball too, are going to be like their own separate. I agree. And so Notre Dame is supposed to have a pretty decent team. I mean, you lost love and the other running back. But the quarterback's coming back, right? Quarterbacks back. Defense should be really good.

I think that, you know, another thing, you look at that team last year, new defensive coordinator, a few new pieces on defense. Defense doesn't play very well the first two games. But you, again, you know you have to win one of those two games when you look at your last 10. And I even think, you know, they could have blown out everybody their last 10 games. And it's still very hard. It doesn't matter because you go back to, you play. played two good teams and you lost to both of them. So it's just, and I think Marcus has done a great job.

Kind of the whole mantra this offseason has been, you know, leave no doubt. And it's like, you know that you can't lose more than one. And this year, you slip up week one, you got to go all in week two. You got to win it. It's must win. And you look at the schedule this year, they have Miami coming to South Bend in November. You kind of. So it's later on now.

Yeah, it's, it's November 7th. better. It's going to be a better game. I'm excited. It's going to be awesome. I think when you look at the rest of the schedule, it's always so hard. I think right now, if you look at this schedule, there's not a lot of the ACC teams that they play that are ranked outside of Miami. But you never really know. I mean, like, ultimately, you could have a year where you've got teams that are ranked in the top 25, top 15 that go out and win their first four or five games. So it'll be a good year. I'm excited. I feel like also at Notre Dame, like we, you know, Brady Quinn was there right before I got there. Then Jimmy Cawson, Dane Chris was my class, you know, five-star, All-American high school quarterback. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what-if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.cair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. And since then, it's like, like, we've had decent. quarterbacks, but we haven't had, certainly haven't had a Heisman trophy frontrunner at the quarterback position in a long time. So it's like, when you think Notre Dame, you're like,

we should have that guy, like at least once every five years or something like that. Absolutely. So excited for that and for CJ in this year. Safe to say, given the Notre Dame and Football Alliance, Rudy, favorite football movie, has to be right. Last name Rudolph. It's funny because, like, I've got my dad's dad went by Rudy. my dad went by Rudy. More people call me Rudy growing up than Kyle. Also, I feel like if you were born between like 1985 and 95,

there's like a one and four chance your names Kyle. Like there's just a million Kyle's. Amazing. So we literally were just talking about that the other day because like in the 1980s, like everyone was named Jordan. You know? Like everyone,

you know, like having kids. And now it's like you don't hear like, your name's Janet. It's like, oh, you're either like 80 years old or, you know what I mean?

Like there's names. Like certain generations have certain names that they just go all in on. Yeah. So my oldest. So Kyle, that's funny. It's so true because I knew so many Kyle's growing up. Yeah. I feel like every year in school there was like three Kyle's in my class.

It was like one out of every four kids. It's like, oh, you're probably Kyle. So I'm funny. Rudy was always kind of, if you said Kyle, I probably wasn't, you had to be talking to somebody else.

You weren't even listening to Kyle. So if you say Rudy, I'm like, oh, that's me. Like I know. So obviously then recruiting happens and go to Notre Dame. The movie Rudy was one I watched as a kid. And so like that whole,

oh, they call you Rudy because you played at Notre Dame? It's like, no, that's just a coincidence. But yeah, great, great football movie.

Michael. Yeah, Michael. That's funny, you up there. 1990. Most popular name, Michael.

Yeah, I'm a type of guy nickname. Like, I don't get Kevin much. It won't even grab my ear most of the time, unless it's my mom saying it, then I will grab my ear. But does your mom say it like the mom on home alone,

like when you're in trouble? Kevin. attach my middle name to it Kevin Lynn. Yeah. And you know you've got bit back to your point. Now kids named are like Ropostrophe, you know, and so it's crazy. Dude, you're now part of the Big Ten football coverage on NBC Sports. How has that transition

gone from on the field to doing some of that stuff? Like for me, that's my passion. That's what takes up almost all my time, 24-7, 365. But, you know, being able to do you know, my first year out, I did some. At the time, it was the USFL, which was on NBC. and then I've done some, I say I was basically a Big Ten West

because it was the year before the Big Ten got Oregon and Washington. So when you're calling the noon game on Peacock, you're not getting the Titans of the Big Ten necessarily. Yeah, it's a no-name game. So I had a lot of Rutgers, Wisconsin, Purdue, Maryland. No offense to any of those schools. Sure. Sure. I wasn't getting Ohio State, definitely not Michigan. That's on Fox Big Noon every year.

But like, you know, you're not getting those Ohio State, Penn States. The marquee matchups. Didn't get a lot of those. But for me, it was still a ton of fun because, you know, I'd go on campus on Friday. You know, sitting in the meeting rooms, having production meetings, getting to talk to kids. I felt like I was just sitting where they were sitting, you know, five years ago having our production meeting. with NBC back in the day at Notre Dame. And then, you know, a guy I walked down the hallway and it's like, oh, I played against him, you know, 10 years ago,

or you were a teammate of mine in Minnesota, or I played against you in high school and now you're a defense-aligned coach at Wisconsin because Luke Fickles, the head coach, and he came from Cincinnati. So the football world is so small that it, like, gives me the opportunity, although I don't do it full-time.

I'm not on NBC every Saturday. I don't have a game every Saturday. I'd like to say I'm a substitute teacher. Yeah. So it's like in a pinch when they need me, they know I'll always be willing to do it. I might be the best gig. Yeah, you might have. And then I've gotten to do last year, I actually did more radio, NFL radio.

So I did Viking Steelers in Dublin. So my wife and I got to go to Dublin. That was awesome. You had two incredible fan bases like taking over Dublin, but then you also had this like UK NFL fan base that was wild. I mean, there was people everywhere in jerseys. And all of a sudden, you'd hear him talk. And it's like, oh, you're not American.

Like, you know, you're a UK football fan. And so that was awesome. And then I got to do a Thursday night game in Tampa, Bucks, Falcons. That's cool. So, you know, I like to say that if it's cool or convenient, then to me, it's a great way to still, like, scratch that itch, get around, have production meetings, talk to the guys in the NFL. Obviously, there's a ton of carryover.

guys that I played with or coaches that I played under. So it gives me an opportunity to a couple weeks a year, hop in the booth and talk a little ball. Obviously, all true is what takes up all my time. I would never be able to do a full slate of games because of that. I think you're doing it well and it beats pickleball. So we know I'm not going to be out there getting smoked in pickleball. Hey, Cody. What are you doing? at your phone. Dude, I'm just checking out all the new deals on dudeperfect. Store. We've got Steph now in house. She is crushing the game. Hats, shirts, you name it. And we've got a splash zone section with all kinds of great swimwear for the kiddos.

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You have four kids. Yeah. What's their edges? So we have identical girls. Those are our oldest. Our oldest jumped right into the deep end with twins. And then we have a seven-year-old son speaking of names. His name's Henry.

Like you would think he should be 85. just like an old school, you know, good. It was my grandfather's middle name. So it's like a family name. But when we were talking about names, that reminded me, it's like, yeah, Henry's just an old school name, old school, strong name. And then I have a four-year-old son as well.

So we have two and two. Our other three have more unique names, Anderson, Finley, and then Crosby is our youngest. So it's fun. We're two and two. That's awesome. Did that play into, how much did kids play into, hey, let's hang it up? I'd say a small part.

It wasn't because of the family. Right. You know, my wife was incredible and she told me, like, you know, kind of getting to the end of that last year. And the writing was on the wall that probably wouldn't go back to Tampa if I kept playing. And that was just a one year go play with the greatest quarterback that ever played and try to win a ring and didn't quite work out that way. So if I was going to continue playing, we're probably going to go play somewhere else. So for me, that was more the family side. But what my wife Jordan also said was, we're not moving if you don't enjoy it.

And she could tell my year in New York was really difficult. You know, we were not very good. You know, I kind of went. I was in Minnesota for 10 years. And then it's like you go to New York and everything's new. and you're trying to prove yourself again to a whole new organization. And it started by having foot surgery

as soon as I got there. So it was just a really challenging year. And so she's like, look, if you love it still and you want to keep going, we'll move again. The kids are young. We'll be fine. But for me, like I knew combined with the momentum we were getting on the all true side

and the things that I don't love about football outweighing the things that I did love, going back to the list of things we were talking about early, like what you miss, what you don't miss. The things that I don't miss far outweighed the things that I was going to miss.

And so I just, you know, I knew it was time and I had a bunch of veteran guys that I looked up to and, you know, used as mentors throughout my career. And I think the common thread for all those guys that played a long time

was when you know, you know, they all told me that. And I knew. Like, I was trying to, convince myself that like, no, you should go do it. And then I'd be like, no, like, don't convince you. You know, it's over. You're okay. Be done. So 12 years, too. Like that's, like I said earlier, that's, you made a career out of it. It flew by. Um, you know, I tell people the first 10 years, it was like, that was, the blink of an eye. All of a sudden, you know, 10 years in the league,

you're looking, oh man, I'm going, I'll get the 15. Like this year 11 felt like it. It's, you're took 10 years and year 12 felt like it took 10 years. So I was like, yeah, it's probably time to be done. So 12 years in the league and now you're trying to find that competitive itch or that new calling. Obviously, Altru has been that for you and your family. Speak a little bit on kind of the mission of All True and what you got going on there. So launched All True in July of 2021. You know, three other co-founders in the Twin Cities, Jason Zucker, who's still currently playing for the Buffalo Sabres. So Jason and I, did a ton of work together at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.

And we would host things together. I think it got to the point where we almost had five or six events throughout the course of the year, raising money for the children's hospital. And it was awesome because he'd bring his hockey buddies. I'd bring the NFL guys. And we would do a bunch of different things from holiday events to offseason golf tournaments. We even had what we called was a lake bash. All of the money that people would pay to sign up went to the hospital.

hospital. And so I felt like throughout the course of my 10 years in Minnesota, going into 2020, we had thought of every creative way to traditionally raise money for charity. And we found some ways to engage diehard fans that didn't have the means to afford expensive tickets to gala's or buy a foursome in a golf tournament that costs thousands of dollars. Yeah. It's like it's just, it's out of reach for diehard fans who are already being stretched beyond their means to buy their season tickets or, you know, take their family to a game. It's not, it's not cheap to do those things anymore. And then the pandemic happened. And so, you know, we started to brainstorm different ways that we could do things differently.

And Jason had done a campaign. So we both created our own spaces at the Children's Hospital. You guys have HQ here, which we were talking about it before. It's like your adult Chuckie Cheeses. Like 100%. You just have all the coolest stuff in the world. For sure. My wife and I created an end zone.

It's like 23 or 2,800 square feet right off the lobby of the hospital where we feel like we created like the dude perfect HQ for the kids of the hospital. That's awesome. So you've got like a basketball hoop that's seven feet high. You've got a video game simulator where they can throw balls into the screen or kick soccer balls or hit golf balls. Then you've got a kitchen where they can do, you know, different baking things. And this is a children's hospital? This is at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.

So, you know, we ultimately tried to create a space where these kids and their families, I was a sibling of a cancer survivor. So my younger brother had cancer. My family had to figure out, okay, we have a 15-month-old. I can't take him to the hospital. Like, he gets in the way of everything. He, you know, pushing buttons he shouldn't be pushing and unplugging things. He shouldn't be unplugging. So what do we do?

Oftentimes, you know, for me, I'm shipped off to grandma and grandpa's house or aunt and uncle. And so you see it in this world a lot where mom and dad, rightfully so, are dedicating all their time and energy to take care of the sick kid and the one that's in the hospital, that the other siblings are ultimately divided from the family. Or mom and dad are divided because moms in the hospital with brother or sister and then dads with the rest of them when dad's got to work. So we try to create this space where it's a space that the families can be together. And it's stressful for these kids.

Like they have super high anxiety that I'm going to a place where I know. I'm going to get poked and prodded and I'm going to have, you know, needles stuck in my arm that I don't want my arm. Well, now we're hearing like kids are looking forward to going to the hospital because like, we get to go to the end zone. Like, I can't wait to go to the end zone. That's cool. So that was our space. Jason did it completely differently. So his method was during a season that he was playing for the while, he created a give 16 campaign.

His number was 16. Throughout the course of that season, fans would donate an increments of 16. $16, $160. That's cool. Kids, $1.60. And he ended up raising like over a million dollars in all of these smaller increments. So, okay, fans are willing to donate like smaller amounts. And then if we can combine that with the chance to win once in a lifetime experiences,

can we create this completely new pool of dollars that are going to charity that otherwise wouldn't be there? And so we left a coffee shop in Wysetta, Minnesota, where we all met for the first time with, you know, a bunch of scribbles on a napkin. And we took it to, you know, a nonprofit attorney and a sweepstakes attorney. And it's like, okay, here's our idea. How do we do it? And so we launched in July of 2021 after that. We partnered with the 3M Open, the PGA tour.

We ran a three-day sweepstakes where our fans donated to support the 3M Open Foundation. and I think we raised like $3,600 or $3,900 in three days. Not a lot. So you go from there to 18 months later. Through my relationship with the NFL and the Walter Payton Man of the Year, we were able to partner with Nationwide to bring the opportunity to fans for the very first time to directly support the 32 nominees. So in the past, and still to this day, you can like vote for them.

in a social media challenge where the winner, which is basically a Kansas City Chief nominee every time, I think like the last five years, the Chiefs nominees won this social media campaign, and they get an additional $25,000 to their nonprofit that they're supporting. Well, to me, as a three-time loser of the award, I always felt for the 31 guys that don't ultimately win it

because it's like they are winners. They're the best from their team. They're doing great stuff, yeah. And so I serve on a nonprofit board with Commissioner Goodell. I called Commissioner Goodell and I'm like, I know you think the same way. Like we both think all 32 guys are winners. So how do we build something where we can support all 32 guys? Ultimately, there's only going to be one winner and that one winner is going to get a massive grant from nationwide and a bunch of support for their nonprofit.

But there's 31 other guys that are doing great work that could benefit from something like this. So we get it through. We partnered with nationwide in the NFL in 2022 for the Walter Payton Mandir. I think we had 16 of the 32 nominees on our platform offering these once-in-a-lifetime experiences to fans. And we end up raising $300,000 in three weeks. A hundred percent of those donations, the $300,000 went directly to the nominees' causes. And so at that point, all of these things kind of colloquial. So it was like we went from our first campaign raised $3,000 in three days to we raised $300,000 in three weeks.

And at the time, it was just myself, one of the other co-founders, John, and an intern that were like, kind of like trying to do this with full-time jobs on the side. And so it was like, you know what? Back to the original point, it's time for me to make this transition. Like, I want to go all in on this platform and what we can do to serve. others. I get to be around sports, music, and entertainment, raise money for their nonprofits, serve these incredible individuals, and then provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences to fans that, you know, I joke around that like, you know, they're

basically winning the lottery. Like, this is the greatest day of their life. They're donating as little as $10 and then winning a chance to play catch with Dak Prescott, driving away in a dream vehicle that they never would have had the means to a board or this past year for the Super Bowl, we partnered with the NFL and Fandul, American Cancer Society, pregame sideline passes to the Super Bowl. That's cool. They don't just give those out to people. They don't just give those out.

So to me, that's kind of what we are. Like we sit at the intersection of diehard fandom once in a lifetime experiences and then ultimately trying to get a bunch of $10 donations to add up to. we actually just crossed $19 million. That's awesome. Wow, 19 update. And all that supports the other nonprofits that these players are doing.

Correct. And so for us, like we've served, we've served, I believe, over 250 different nonprofits. That's incredible, brother. Super admirable. We're going to have to find a way

to get almost athletes involved with all true. Two-partner here. The dozen years, the multi-pro bowls, the game-winning catches. is does the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominees rank just as high

and how can people find out more about All True? Yeah, I think for me, like the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominees were honestly something I never thought I would ever achieve. To me, that award was like for the upper echelon, like the elite of the elite. And like I just, I never,

I joke around like I think Greg Olson and I are the only two to, come in second multiple times, and not ever win it. And to me, people are like, oh, man, it's got to be like, you were so close. Like, I came in second two years in a row. And it's like, I didn't do what I did to win an award to be the Walt's Payman. Like, once I got that close, it was like, man, I really wanted to win it. Jersey patch would look cool.

Yeah, we got the helmet sticker. The jersey patch would have been cool. But it's like, at the end of the day, you still reflect on why you were nominated for the And that's what really matters. And so for me to be able to provide those types of things to fans that are making a $10 donation, a $25 donation, for me, that's my purpose now. That's my chasing a Super Bowl ring. It's really just, you know, how big can this get? Yeah, it's great.

We just crossed $19 million. But at some point, it's going to be, you know, hopefully $19 million. a year, $19 million a month. It's like, because you think about it, like, what is the scope that this can end? That's the way I think. That's the way I push myself every day. Very ambitious. That's where we want to get to.

Yeah. Keep it up, man. You know, you're incentivizing. You're winning. It's, it's awesome. Before you leave, dude, would love to play a quick game with you. I love games related. Okay, here we go.

We're going to blind rank tight ends. The tight end position has evolved over the last 10 years. So we're going to give you six tight ends, six spots, one being the best. six being the worst. Ready to rock and roll? I love it. Trick of the game is you don't know what tight-ins coming next. First off the bat. Jake Ferguson. Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboy. Solid tight end. I'm going to put Jake at five. I think coming off back-to-back Pro Bowls,

we're doing six, correct? We are. Yes, I'm going to put him at five. Bergey in the five spot. I like that. I feel like he's just scratching the surface. He's also really young. He's young, right. You don't know a lot. Multiple Pro Bowls.

Which do we, do we care about Pro Bowls now? The Pro Bowls are for all of us that have Pro Bowls attached to our name, they don't really mean much anymore. Well, they used to. That's the thing. It's like, but now you get lumped into the new one and you're like, do I say it? Yeah. So I wore pads in both of my Pro Bowls. Dude, that's such a good way to say that.

Yeah, it's like, it wasn't. I remember my first one. That's a funny sidebar, but like my first one, I'm, you know, 23 years old. my second year in the NFL. It was still when it was over in Hawaii. I won the Pro Bowl MVP, which never thought was, again, things that you think would never happen. After the game, the PR crew grabs me like, hey, you're the MVP. I'm like, what do you tell? You got to have the wrong guy. But during the course of that game, the quarterbacks in the NFC were Drew Brees, Eli Manning, and Russell Wilson was a rookie. And so Drew like is looking through his playbook in

pregame and like coming over to me and he's like, hey, dude, when we call this play like, I want you thinking this. And I'm like, wait a minute. Like, this is serious? Like, I thought this was kind of just chill. And so the other tight end that was on the NFC roster was Jason Witten. It was like his 11th Pro Bowl. So he basically kind of just like patting me on the back. And he's like, all right, youngster. They'll get it. Like, go get it. And I'm like 280 pounds and full of chicken wings. Like this is going to be brutal. But Eric drew, I think it was Drew through me like a wheel. Eric Barry. Once again, like, I thought this was the Pro Bowl. I remember catching the ball and getting up.

I was not expecting to get hit that hard in a Pro Bowl. But yeah, so that's my what Pro Bowels used to be like story. Yeah, that's so funny. I remember I mean, yeah, they just meant something back. It meant something. Same thing for NBA. It's not just the NFL that's lost. The only one that I feel like has gotten

better is NHL. The Four Nations was so good. It's like the, that's the one that I was like, dude, they have made their like Pro Bowl or All-Star Weekend thing, like amazing. Yeah, and baseball has stayed fairly consistent. Yeah, but again, it's like, do they care?

Sure. No, sure. The World Baseball Classic was, it's like if they could. That's amazing. Right. World Baseball Classic, Unreal. Yep. All right, Fergie in the five spot. Next name, J.B. gives us George Kittle.

I'm going to put George at two. George in the two spot. I'm going to throw George up there. I think George right now, George is a guy when you talk about the tight end position, he does it all. And I think that is something that there aren't many guys playing the tight end position. that will mix it up with a $45 million edge rusher in the run game.

Sure. And then also go win against a $25 million corner on third down. And like George does that weekend and week out. He's also a really funny Twitter account, which I feel like you got to add. Have you seen the, obviously, the Spider one? Yes. Yeah. So good, dude.

Yeah, George is quite the character, man. George is a character. He's the best. They don't make them like the Big Ten makes them. The Big Ten. Iowa specifically. It's out tight ends, man. Yep. I think Iowa, Notre Dame, Stanford, Miami,

for me, like when you talk about schools that have an argument for your tight ends, it's true. Iowa's got some really good ones. Obviously, to me, I think Miami has like the cream of the crop. It's like they set the standard with just like three of them. And then the rest is kind of like, meh,

good players. And then Iowa's got really, really good. Like Notre Dame, like we have the depth. If you're a starting tight end at Notre Dame from 2005 to now, you played in the NFL, every single one of them. So that's pretty cool. Good stat for Notre Dame tight ends. But yeah, I'll put Georgia too.

George is a stud. George in the two spot. And to your point, the Shanahan offense, you better be able to line up and kick out an end every once in a while. That's good. Next name, we go from Kittle to Brock Bowers. Oh. This episode is brought to you by L'Oreal Group.

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He has potential to be But he already broke like Mike Ditka's rookie record Two years in the NFL, two Pro Bowls I'm going to put him at four Young player But in his first two years in the NFL You know he's the same amount of Pro Bowls that Fergie has And you know broke records as a rookie

So I'm going to put Brock at four Love it after Brock Bowers we have Mark Andrews Oh We're getting tough here now. This is where I got to like think of who's who's coming next. Are these all active tight ends?

Are I going to get? Or they are all active? Current active tight ends. Okay. So I'm not going like, like Gronk's not going to show up on this list. No J-Elova checks. This should be easier then. Okay, perfect.

Yeah, I'll put Mark at three. Mark in the three spot. Yeah, Mark's in a three spot. I think he's the Ravens all-time leader in a bunch of different categories. He's a ton of Pro Bowls, a stud dude. This is a clear, I mean, you got to put this one at six. Have to. Next name, Kyle Pitts.

Yeah, Kyle Pitts could be at six. Not his fault. We can just all blame it on a really skilled tight end playing in an offense that just wants to run the football. So Kyle Pitts at six. So you actually think, like, just from a fantasy perspective here. You know, because everyone's like, dude, taking Kyle Pitts, he's. This is the year.

This is the, and everyone's, I do feel like he had a really good year last year, like, way better than he. He had a really good game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So you just think it's the system. Like if he went to, called the Cowboys, he maybe lives up to that potential because he was supposed to be like. Yeah, I mean, think about, we might have to fact check this, but I do believe he was drafted by the Arthur Smith Balkans.

And then obviously it transitioned over and he was there. two years with Kurt Cousins, but they still, I mean, you've got, you know, Tyler Algear and Bejohn Robinson, and it's a very run heavy. And then, you know, Drake London, there's just a lot of guys that got to get the football. I guess there's, like, maybe a new tight end that I'm not aware of because, like, if you look at like you, you look at Mark Andrews, maybe, but George Kittle, those to me were like the Jason Wittons, the Jay Novichicks. Like, there's a type of like, hey, it's not about me. I'm going to get nitty and gritty if you meet me to. Or like, if you look at Kyle Pitts, he's almost a glorified bigger receiver

and they're just putting them inside. Like does he have that ability to like... So here's the problem with some of these more like hybrid tight ends. Like they're not glorified receivers. They are receivers. And you could put Kyle Pitts' combine numbers up against like a legitimate first round receiver

and it's going to be almost the exact same in like his 40 time and his vertical jump and like all of the attributes that may or may not translate to football. But to me, what takes it a step further is those guys are going to draw matchups like a wide receiver because they can't block anybody. So when you put Jason Witten in the game on first and 10

and there's three wide receivers out there as well, you can't just put a nickel in the game and say, hey, you're going to cover the tight end and we're going to go small because they're going to throw the ball because Jason Witten can kick out the defensive end. we can run the ball right at you or vice versa when you put two tight ends in the game everyone knows like well you're not going to run the ball at that guy so we'll just put a debo and that db is running just as fast can jump just as high so there's something to being

you know no offense to mark and in jason but i'll just basically consider myself like slow and a little more on athletic because like they have to respect you as a run blocker and they're not going to put like I'm going to face a linebacker or a safety. And I'm most likely going to be maybe not faster than that linebacker, but I know where I'm going, he's not a cover guy, his job's not to cover. And then from a safety standpoint, we talked about this in the Saints game. I'm going to be bigger than them, even though they're way faster and way more athletic. So, yes, the skill set is incredible and the height and the weight and the speed and the vertical jump.

All that stuff is great, but it almost handicaps you because, like, well, we know you're not going to run the ball at him. So we'll just put a DB there and that DB is used to covering number one wide receiver. It's like you can cover you too. So to me, some of those, you know, new age, lighter, faster, tight ends, it gets hard from a matchup standpoint when you can't put your hand in the dirt line up next to a tackle and block a defense that makes a lot. That makes a lot of sense.

Number one. There's number one. There's a lot of sense. Number one is Tray McBride. That works out. It works out. in I think a number of ways. Like, you can look at what he's done the last two years.

He is a guy that has put up insane numbers, statistically, like over 100 catches, 10 plus touchdowns. Like, just right now in the NFL, I love that list. Yeah, I think you made out really well. I think, yeah. I think that's pretty good, man. All right, our blind, tight-in rankings are done. Kyle Rudolph, you came up with one, Trey McBride, two, George Kittle, three, Mark Andrews, four, Brock Bowers, five, Jake Ferguson, and six, Kyle Pitts.

You made out pretty well, dude. Putting pressure on you. Where would you fall in that list? There's not enough lines on there below Kyle Pitts to get me out. If I'm getting smoked by old people in pickleball now, I definitely can't go out there. Father time hit you quick, man. Yeah, and I'm, at one point, I was 50 pounds less than I played. I got down to like 218 after I quit playing.

I certainly can't block anybody anymore and I definitely can't run 4-4. So I'm really not good at anything. Maybe if we got in a low red zone, I could still catch that fade for a touchdown. That's about all I got. Yeah. I feel the same way, man.

It's when I get out of bed in the morning now, it's like, then I do something physically. It's like, no. No. No, I didn't. That's our whistle. That's our two-minute warning

where we get to vent, rant on anything. we want. Do you have anything burning on the top of your brain that you want to get off? No. I think... Thought you might attack a pickleball community again there. Yeah, we made that argument for me. I just avoid the game. You know, I'm going to continue just trying to get better at golf, which I'm still trying to figure that as well. Super excited to take on the six-hole put-putt course up there. What's your, what's your handicap? I'm a 12.

Okay, you just get into it? No, I played a little bit in college. We had a nine-hole course. on campus that, you know, in summer school, you work out, you go to one class, and then what do you do the rest of the day? Play golf. Got me from double digits to single digits, and I tell my brothers this. I try to tell my kids this,

like, get a wedge in your hand, and you need to be so comfortable with the wedge and the putter. Like, it doesn't matter about hitting bombing drivers on the range. It doesn't really matter about irons because at the end of the day, we're still like amateurs and we're going to spray them. So it's all about, it's all about recovery.

like how good at saving strokes are you on your short game and I guarantee you'll drop from a 12 to an 8 pretty quickly. Oh yeah. So I know we only have two minutes. So I'll make this really quick. I have a great story about that and it's 100% right. Drive for show, put for dough, like all the sayings that you hear about. So I'm playing in the memorial pro am at Muirfield like 2019. My dad drives up from Cincinnati. He's caddian for me. They give a strict instructions. When you go on the range, the amateurs go as far left as possible. The pros go. to the right. So I go up, I go as far left to possible. My dad is no help in any of these things because he just wants to talk to all the tour guys in their hands. Good on him. So I'm as far left as possible, hitting balls, you know, just banging balls on the range. And at that point, I think I just got below 10. I was like 9.8. So I'm feeling good, pretty good about my game.

Jordan Speath, Michael Greller, they walk up to hit balls. Well, he just goes like straight and puts his bag down. He didn't go right like he was supposed to. And then, Tony Fee now, his coach, Boyd Summerhays, they come on the range. Well, he goes left of Jordan. So now they're getting closer to me when I followed directions. I went to the left. They're not going right like they're supposed to. Well, my dad gravitates towards them, starts having a conversation. They come over to me and my dad's like, you won't believe this. He's like, Boyd Summerhays thought you were a Monday qualifier. He's like, who is that guy over there hitting balls? Like, did he qualify on Monday? My dad's like, no, he's a football player. Like, he sucks.

and he's like, no, like, he's got good action. And so they come, they walk over and Boyd's like, dude, like, I asked your dad, I thought you qualified on Monday. Like, what's your index? And again, I'm fired up about, I just got under 10. You're like, dude, 9-8. Off my chest out. I'm like, yeah, I'm a 9-8.

He's like, your short game must be terrible. And that, to me, it's like when people ask how to describe my golf game, there it is. You can bomb it as far as you want, man. but like my little kid is not very powerful, but he'll beat me and beat 13-year-olds because his short game is so consistent and it's just like, who cares about the show, man? Just go grind with a wedge, man.

Go score. Go score. It's just funny how I get up Greenside. I'm thinking all these things, tempo, and then your son will walk up and just... Yeah. But I also think you wanted to say, my biggest rant every time on the show is referees. I kind of heard you touch on it a little bit.

bit with the review. I don't think you like them either, so. I agree, man. They're just not good. It's not good. Happened in the soccer game this week and again, just inconsistent. Need to be better, refs, no offense. Just got to be better. How about ABS? Are you fans of that? I personally, it, I kind of like it right now because, because like, there's some moments when the, when the catcher gets so, gets so like, he's like, oh, that calls right. And then he's like, he's off. And it's just, it takes one second. Can't argue it. I love it. think it's changed the way pitchers pitched because they are so good that there was a discrepancy.

And it's a system. It's not subjective. And right now when reviews get, when you have that person, you're like, oh, I can make up for that call that my team got screwed last year on. That's where soccer gets it wrong. That's where football gets it wrong. And needs to be a system. A rectangle on a screen. And it's like, no.

It's like check, yes, that that's a penalty or not. Like, we got to get this subjectivity out of it. because we're all fans at heart. And there's a lot of money being placed on these games. That wasn't the case back in the day. There you go. A little subjectivity, a little golf, and a little referee. That's your rant for the day.

Everybody give it up one last time. Kyle Rudolph. Thank you, brother. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I love it. Looks like our time is up. If you like this video, be sure to check out our where. Did NFL players go to college game and click here?

Thanks for tuning in. Pound it. Noggin. See ya. Wave.