Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 061 - Aaron Rodgers

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

Join us for a discussion with Aaron Rodgers, NFL football quarterback for the New York Jets. He played college football for the California Golden Bears, before being selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, where he spent 18 seasons.  Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow Aaron: https://www.instagram.com/aaronrodgers12  Thank you to our sponsors: Blokes: https://blokes.com/cam use code CAM for 20% off labs Black Rifle: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first Order Ketone IQ: https://hvmn.com/CAM use code CAM for 20% Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/  Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Leupold: https://www.leupold.com/ MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro: Outliers & A Passion for Growth  0:08:16 Being Present & Unplugged in Life 0:11:05 Aaron’s Experience at the Darkness Retreat 0:14:54 How Aaron Got Started in Football: “Ego Death” 0:23:22 The Transition from Brett Farve to Aaron Rodgers 0:28:44 Hate to Lose More Than You Loving to Win 0:31:20 Pressure at a Young Age 0:32:41 Earning the Teammates Trust 0:35:54 Doing Things with Intention 0:42:44 Aaron’s Football Throw 0:44:41 Aaron’s Biggest Role Model 0:47:44 Predicting Touchdowns 0:51:30 NFL Receivers 0:56:33 Beating the Best Defensive Guys 01:00:00 Bad Dude’s, “Corn Pop” & the Seahawks 01:03:07 NBA All-Stars & Aaron’s Connection with the Buck’s 01:05:59 Core Memories & Celebrating Others Success 01:13:48 The Vaccine & Aaron Being Labeled as “Dumb” 01:17:06 Pass Call on the Goal Line: Seahawks VS Patriots 01:22:05 Is the Superbowl Hard to Win? 01:26:46 Packers Game VS Patriots & Tom Brady 01:28:40 Why Aaron’s Not the #12 Anymore: Joe Namath 01:33:22 Aaron’s Different Comeback Looks 01:32:42 Aaron’s Goals for 2024 01:34:36 NFL Drafts & Aaron’s Involvement  01:37:47 Connecting with the Players 01:40:27 Outro

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel, gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I'm moving so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. This is a Keep Hammering Collective with Aaron Rogers. I can't believe you're here.

I can't either. I didn't even know you a month ago? No, I know. Crazy. Thank you, Joe Rogan. I know, Joe. Yeah. Yeah, he mentioned, so it was after you were on his podcast, which is a nice little fun startup

podcast. Hopefully he has a lot of success with it. Yeah, I think so. He keeps working hard. I think he's kind of at the criticism part. He's got to get past it. Yeah, and sacrifices. Right. Persistence. Oh, I know. And at some point, it'll be at the success thing. Yeah, so stick with it, Joe, don't give up. But no, he told me that you were, so what were we talking about, was it? Bo hunting or archery or what? I was talking because at his studio he's got that big long kind of hallway with all his stuffed. Oh, the animals. Yeah, on the wall and some targets.

And I said, man, I'd love to get into bo hunting. I feel like you talk about all the time and have some friends who are into it. And I love fly fishing, but I think it would be fun to do some bohunt. He's like, I got the guy. Yeah. So afterwards, he's like, talk to this guy. I'll probably have you on his podcast. I said, all you got to do is go up to Oregon.

I said, easy. I love Oregon. I can't believe it. Yeah, he texted me after that, and he said, he goes, I talked to Aaron Rogers. He's interested about, you know, archery, I told me he's to come see you. And so here you are. Here we are. Crazy.

Springfield, Oregon. I know. I mean, it was so hard for me because, obviously we're big sports fans, right? And, like, I went to breakfast with my buddy the other day at this place we always go down on campus. And I'm like, I go, yeah, dude, you won't believe who's coming on the show. because we've had some cool people, but like for sports fans, NFL rules the world, right? Of course.

And then to be like one of the best quarterbacks ever. So I was like, I said, yeah, Aaron Rogers is coming Sunday. He's like, no way. I mean, just going, you know, nobody could believe it. So it's a huge honor to have you here. I can't, you know. And also, I guess the biggest part before I am not just like the fan boy is just sharing what I do with somebody like you and going to the bow rack, which is where, you know,

Wayne's on the bow rack for 30 years. Yeah, what a legend that guy is. And where I have shot for decades and then to have you there and then, of course, up on Spencer's Butte and then lifting weights here, amazing day. What did you think of it? I mean, out of blast. I think in general, you know, if you've been able to do something at a high level in your vocation, you know how hard it is to get to that point. And I think it gives you a keen interest and affection for mastery in other fields. And so I'm always just fascinated by other people who do things at a high level who have figured out how to master a skill or multiple skills. And just when I, you know, When Joe gave me information and I did a big Instagram search of you and with you, Paige, just was so impressed by the work that you've done, your mastery of this and your willingness to share this with other people and to create a platform to tell great stories. So for me, I just have so much respect because I know what it takes to be great at what I do. and it's the same focus in anything else.

Like we're just talking about down at the, at the, at the range, like when you're great to something, you think, oh, I can just pick this shit up and just be amazing. It takes like, like Ladawell says, it takes like 10,000 hours to master something. Right. And so it just gives you such a keen respect for someone who spent the time to become a master at something. And I think there's something just beautiful about that in life. And we all have that inside us in some way.

I think some people have just, it's untapped, you know, they've been giving up on a dream or got caught in the rat race. But to be able to meet you and to see what you're passionate about, when somebody's passionate about something too is so inspiring. Just, you know, just talking to Joe and listen to his podcast all the time and seeing how much he loves hunting and bow hunting especially. And, you know, listen to him, call an MMA fight, even if you're not a fan, just like the excitement and the fun that him and D.C. have is just like,

it kind of brings you into it. to you. Like, oh man, like to see that passion for something, it just inspires you to like want to learn more about it, I think for me, at least personally. So with bow hunting, to like get to know you now and to see your mastery of it, to feel your passion for it, I've got to, I've got the itch right now. That's, that's awesome. And it's like, I do think that there's, there is a common theme. I mean, I can't compare myself to an NFL great. But that passion or like, what I always say is I like having outliers here because I feel like I can learn from an outlier just to your point about somebody who has they stand out in whatever feel they do for whatever

reason I can learn from somebody like that you know it doesn't really matter what the thing is it's just how they've poured themselves into it and it's it's actually how Joe found me same way he was what he loves watching YouTube still does but he was watching me carry this rock up this mountain yeah and he's like what the fuck is wrong with this guy right I mean he's just carrying this big rock up a mountain. And then he's like, oh, watching me shoot the bow. And so in 2014, he sent this, he tweeted out, said, Hey, Cameron Haynes, you want to come to L.A.

and talk about training and bow hunting. And that was it. You know, and then, but it was that same, what you just kind of alluded to is that passion for whatever, whatever it is. Somebody pours themselves into it. It's hard to ignore. Yeah. And, you know.

Then you want to be involved in that. You're like, man, that looks fun. like the just see how much excitement and joy you get out of doing something and i think all of us are eager to just i mean especially the people that you and i hang out with just learning and growing and and acquiring new skills and rubbing shoulders with people who are masters and whatever they're doing i mean it's just it's fun it's inspiring to be around people who just like have that zest for life and love you know climbing a mountain or you know going out in the woods for four days you know and being and as precise and quiet and careful and cunning as possible to to shoot an animal.

And then to not just shoot an animal, but to eat the meat, to share the meat. It's a hearken back to days of old when there was a communal, you know, hunting was communal. It was a part of sustenance. It was the lifeblood of it. Every part of the animal was used. And I think there's a lot to be said for that. Yeah, no, I agree. And I, you know, I think one thing you would like about it, just, just hearing more of your story and, you know, you did your, your darkness retreat or whatever that was. But when you were just explaining, when you were explaining hunting and like how you were like, you kind of immersed in the mountains, essentially. So to be in tune, that's when you're the best hunter is when you're just part of nature. So we're, we're from the outside, from the comforts of civilization. But when you can. immerse yourself in the mounds and into that,

just the mountain lifestyle, that's when it all starts to click about, okay, I'm a hunter, I'm a predator, this is prey, and you start putting the pieces of the puzzle together and it feels, you know, you mentioned harkening back to days of old, it feels natural. It feels like, oh shit, what have I, this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

This is what my body's designed for, this type of survival, but we're so removed from it. So I think you would really just know knowing more about you now, I think you would like really grow and just appreciate that, I would guess. Yeah, I think so too. And, you know, we talked about my love of fly fishing. And one of the, my favorite things about it is that you're in nature, your phone doesn't

work and you're completely present. And I guess that's what the darkness retreat reminds you, if anything. And there's a lot of things that you can learn in those, those things. And I'm not recommended for everybody, but it is one of those checklist things that, like, finding your new edge on what you can get through because the darkness really test every part of your being. But how often in life are we just present in those moments where the only thing that matters is where I am in that moment

and the connection I have to my surroundings? Because like you said, you become immersed in that environment when you're in the raft, you know, waiting for that special spot to work your line to get in the perfect drift. So you have a chance to hope. of fish, you're completely dialed and present in that exact moment. And I imagine it's like hunting where you are figuring out the best place to be, to call in the animal, to be as quiet and focused as possible.

But you become a part of that. And as we've moved out of the country and into cities, we've lost that connection with nature. And if you've ever read the book about grounding, what's it called? it's it called grounding but it's um it's talking about the connection that the earth has to our body and they make you know grounding sheets uh that i actually sleep on that reorient your body with nature and i think as we moved again out of the city out of the the rural forests and the cabins into cities we've lost our connection with nature and most people can't spend five minutes without

looking at their phone scrolling through social media and catch it over their text and Yeah. I just love being out there immersed in nature and fully present and kind of unplugged. And it's a catch-22 because the more I'm unplugged from, you know, my phone, the more I am plugged in back to myself. Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, you mentioned that.

And I would venture to guess that when you're shooting today at the bow rack and you're focusing on all those things you're supposed to, you probably weren't thinking about anything else other than that. Right. And that's, you mentioned fly fishing, but archery can be the same way. To do, to perform archery at the highest level, you can't be distracted by anything else. You're focused on drawing that bow back, the anchor points, all the things you need to do, then release in a perfect arrow. So it's very, you're very in tune with that moment.

And as you said, that's, it's a fleeting feeling nowadays. It's just to be completely in tune and immersed. And I was, I was curious to, okay, so. just to catch people up to speed. You were in the darkness retreat for three days, right? Yeah, four nights, five days, four nights, three like full days. So parts of five days, four nights. So you go in the first night, eat your dinner, and then orient yourself with a room.

Excuse me, then you shut off the lights, and then it's pure darkness until on the fifth day in the morning. He comes and opens a door and... There's no window. A blindfold. There's no... No crack under the door. There's a little bit of sound. But you're up in the mountains in a tiny little Hobbit house with a bathtub,

with a little yoga mat, with a meditation, a little bean bag, and a toilet in a sink. So, yeah, a lot of time to be alone with your thoughts. I'm thankful for that time, but it's not something that I'm signing up to do again anytime. Well, so what I was curious about is, you know, your life, generally people want to put you in this box of you're a football player which i don't know how you how you look at yourself but anyway i was curious in those four day or five days four nights whatever it was how often were you thinking about football as opposed to just life i mean it was

i start each day with uh meditation and so i'd uh i'd do a long like yoga stretch and then uh i've been practicing Transcendental meditation for a number of years now. So I just went into my mantras. And I would ask, my intention would be to bring to mind at the end of the meditation what I want to focus on my thoughts for that day. So the first two days were not about football. The second two were. So the third day was about, what is life like for me as a retired player?

And I think for so many of us, when we stopped doing one, what we do if we find our entire identity in that job or in that archetype when it's gone so many of us have a hard time figuring out like well who am i without fill in the blank and i think that's when a depression can set in substance abuse can set in lack of hope can set in um so i really wanted to sit with uh all the fears and insecurities i had around who am i if i'm not a football player And so I spent the entire day, which was probably like four in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, thinking about life as a retired player after football. And it really, by the end of the day, I had a beautiful piece about who I was without football.

And I'm really thankful for that. And then the following day, I woke up. I did my yoga, did my meditation. And the intention was, okay. now if I'm going to play what do I want life to look like as a player and so it was good really good clarity around all that I came out of that wanting to play and feeling like I still had more to give and also pretty convinced that was going to be somewhere other than Green Bay now during that time they had also decided corresponding with my darkness retreat you know whether intentional or not

that they were probably ready to move on to. And so, although it was a little bit tenuous at times, the breakup ended up happening over the next six weeks. Yeah, it's, yeah, I mean, so much of your life is kind of under a microscope. I'm curious, you know, I did, as I said, I'm doing research, I did research. Recon, a lot of recon. Yeah, yeah, so I was watching YouTube videos, which is about as deep. research as I get. But it was pretty interesting in learning that, you know, because everybody

sees where you are now and, you know, the superstar and everything. But you came, you were kind of under the film that I watched anyway, you were like undersized in high school and then didn't really get recruited for the Division I programs. I don't think that you, that you wanted. So you ended up walking on or going, playing into community college. Is that right? So how did, I mean, How do you go from that to like one of the best quarterbacks of all time? I think that's how you go is if you embrace the adversity. And as I look back over the last 22 years of my life playing, the greatest moments of growth and learning experiences were associated with an ego death in some way or another.

And that's kind of an interesting term. And it's kind of thrown around from time of time. in like the spiritual community. But it basically just means the idea of who you think you are gets destroyed. And so coming in high school, all I watched, you know, was college football on Saturday,

watching Key Jackson and Dan Fouts calling Pac-10 games. And I'm watching, you know, Pat Summerall, John Madden, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Deuthorff calling, you know,

football games on Sundays. And that's all I dreamt about doing. So when I came to my senior year and nobody wanted me, not even UC Davis down the road. I actually had gotten into U of O. You had a good year, right? I mean, I had, I mean, I threw for, you know, 2400 yards and, you know, a number of touchdowns. And we were a pretty good team.

I was, you know, six, two, one, ninety. I wasn't getting a lot of interest from, from anybody. some wonderful Division III schools across the western United States, including Lewis and Clark, up in Portland. And I had spent some time in Beaverton grown up and loved Oregon the three and a half years

I was here. But I just always thought I was going to be playing on Saturdays. And the best opportunity for me was to go down to BU College, which was just down the road. Their coach, Craig Wigsby, still a dear friend of this day. came over the house and we had a great conversation and I told them, listen, you know, I'd like to play on Saturdays in Division I after a year if I have a good year.

And unlike some, you know, junior college coaches who would want you to play a couple of years, he said, of course. Now, he's probably thinking, hey, take it easy. You know, let's just see if you can be a starter first. Right. But so that the ego death of going from high school to a D1 and being on Saturdays and starting, I think allowed me to deal with adversity that made me a better player, a better person, broke me down, and I had to rebuild myself. And it happened as a backup at Cal.

It happened as a backup in Green Bay for three years. It happened a couple other times during my time in the NFL. And every time I've kind of gone through one of those ego deaths, it's been a period of really intense growth. And I think it happens for all of us. And there might be other words people use for those type of things. But it's any time you face adversity, that kind of questions who you are as a person and what you want to be about and your identity,

it allows you to return back to yourself, to return back to your center and, you know, and take some time thinking about the kind of person you want to be. So I'm thankful for those moments of adversity. Some people struggle with that. I've always, you know, gotten inward and been reflected. and try to come out the other side, a better person. And it's, you know, in turn, maybe a better player, I think.

I mean, that seems like a very healthy way to look at it. Me, I would have a chip on my shoulder and be like... Plenty. I have plenty of those. Oh, you fuckers, don't think... Okay, let's see this. I mean, so do you... Well, just because you have an ego,

that doesn't mean you don't stack up some chips on the shoulder. Yeah, yeah. So you took a personal, right? I went to Illinois's team camp before my senior year, and I was still growing. I would think I was, like, a little over six feet. and 185 pounds. But you had a lot,

did you always have a live arm? Always had a good arm. I was a good baseball pitcher. But I went to their camp because my quarterback coach had two famous coaching uncles, Norv Turner, who coached in the NFL for a long time, and Ron Turner, who at the time was the head coach of the University of Illinois. So we went out to their team camp. I had a nice camp.

I got, I think, MVP of the camp, and they offered another kid who had actually practice. the day before we got there in a seven-on-seven event. So I kind of kept that on my shoulder. And then as the universe and her beautiful sense of humor, my first start in Division I was in Champaign at Illinois in 2003. So this is with Cal? This is with Cal. Yeah.

So I never forgot that. And we played them in like one of those weird Midwest 11 AM games. but I went out and had a nice game. With Ron Turner the coach? He was still a coach. Okay. Good. And how did you do?

Yeah, I think we beat him like 3,1, 24, and I threw a couple touchdowns and almost 300 yards and had a good game. Did you say anything to them? No, of course not. I mean, listen, I don't blame any of those. And I'm actually thankful for all those people. I mean, into my NFL years, I would keep on the wall a couple letters from colleges that we sent film to.

And one of them was Illinois and one of them was Purdue. And again, I don't blame any of those people. If they were watching my film, we didn't know what the hell to do. We were sending out full game films. We'd be playing Las Plumas and I threw the ball 12 times in the game.

Yeah. And expecting these guys to be like, oh, that's our fucking guy. Hey, let's offer this skinny kid who's wearing a knee brace from Pleasant Valley High School in Chico. No, I don't blame any of them. I mean, I'm so thankful, though.

But Michael Jordan, you should tell stories like this all the time where he would if he couldn't have a specific slight or criticism he'd make it up yeah so in my mind i made up these you know these conversations that they would be having like oh look at this kid here oh he's not very good and the fact that they wrote on here like you don't really uh compare well to the other uh players of your position in our in our recruiting class i'm like oh yeah oh yeah so as much as the ego death helps you also have to pair that with I steal this from a coach of mine who said this in the NFL, but he said, you can inspire people, but motivation comes from within.

And I really, really believe that. I think as a leader, it's really important for us to find ways to inspire the people around us. For me, that's my teammates, that's my coaches. That can be the fan base to just get behind us and believe in us. But the best players, the most successful people, are self-motivated. So whatever it takes to motivate, and for me, it's been chips for a long time. I was passed on by 23 teams in the draft. you know, I didn't forget that.

Yeah, I bet. I've given that up that's long since past, but you always got to find ways to stack some chips up to just get that little extra motivation. Yeah, and I mean, I think even Brady's mentioned like he was taking what, sixth round, right? Yeah, he had a hundred ninety-eight picks in front of them. So he had plenty of checks.

Of all those quarterbacks ahead of him, too. So I think you just had, what, won, right? I had one. But, yeah, but, you know, nobody from my drafts. class is still playing and hasn't been for a few years. And obviously I outlasted all those guys. But, but yeah, I mean, you know, it's like, it's like you were talking about with your race in the Boston Marathon where nobody knew that you were racing them.

Oh, yeah. Nobody knew it was me against Lance. But nobody knows that I'm like trying to show some of these people like you made the wrong decision. Right. Because I don't blame any of it. I wouldn't have recruited myself out of high school. Yeah, but that's beside the point.

Right. I'm still going to use his motivation, and I did. So in the NFL, who has been, what's been the biggest chip you've used? I mean, I know that that couldn't have been easy. You know, Farve was a legend, right? They loved him in Green Bay. They did, yeah. So that couldn't have been easy, that transition. And then he was retiring, not retiring.

How hard was that? Well, most people don't know that in 2005, we played Seattle on the last of the year and we were three and 12 and they were on the way of the Super Bowl that year so they rest their guys and we ended up uh getting up on them late in the game by a few scores and and i said hey rook you know like on the last drive go uh go take bread out for a curtain call so i was like cool but i was thinking my back of my mind like damn this could be last time he plays it's like a weird change in the guard so i went out there dapped him up and took a couple knees and then the locker room he kind of gave like a retirement speech it sounded like like i'm done guys it's been a great

run. So it's like, I'm going to be the guy now. Yeah. And then then he, you know, next May, he's like, no, I think I'm going to come back, you know. And then we play the whole 06 season and we play Chicago the end of the year. We're seven and eight. And they're on their way the Super Bowl. It's like a, you know, a carbon copy of the previous year. And I didn't have a curtain call that game, but we win the game in Chicago on, on New Year's Eve and come back in the locker room. And it's the same type of thing. He's kind of given a farewell, like, Like, oh, man, like, it's been great run. I'm like, oh, now it's my turn, you know.

Yeah. And then he comes back again. And then in 2007, we had a good team. We go 13 and 3 and lose an MC championship game in overtime to the Giants. And so I wasn't thinking anything. And I remember I was in. And he was a quarterback still? Yeah.

So I've been on the bench three years now. And he's just coming off a really good year where he's an ABP conversation. We were a really good team. We were, I mean, right on the doorstep. We had a chance to win the game, lost in overtime to the Giants who went on the beat the undefeated Patriots and Super Bowl. And so I was in my bed in San Diego and I woke up at like 8 o'clock and there was like a hundred text messages.

And I'm like, what the hell happened? Like first I was like somebody died. Yeah. And then it's like, no, far retired. And everybody's like, oh, you're the guy. And so I'm like, okay, I'm the guy. And then it goes crazy, you know, the next few months. Like now I'm trying to be the starter.

Now I'm actually the guy. Then Brett's thinking I'm going to come back and then there's a bunch of crazy stuff. So there was a lot of opportunities. for motivation that I drew from comments from a number of people, including our fans. I mean, there was some really bizarre statements, death threats, bodily harm threats to my face, walking back from training camp practices. So I actually had some chips built up against some of my own fans during that 08 off season. But I think any, time you take the field, it's never a bad thing to feel like I got something to prove.

Again, I'd steal this from, I don't know if as Michael or Kobe said it, but the two of my favorite athletes ever, but they said, somebody asked him, like, what's your motivation for playing each night? You know, just like game 40 of an 82 game season. He said, every time on the court, there's somebody there who's never seen me play before. And I want to put on a show for him. I was like, that's fucking cool. Yeah, that's really cool.

That is. So I have that motivation. Like every time I take the field, whether I'm at practice, you know, like last year was fun because the JetSfan has never seen me in person. So, you know, I'm taking the field. And many of these people have never seen me live. Like, I got a chance to entertain. And we're in the entertainment business.

Right. So I've always found ways to motivate myself and, and then also just the, the responsibility of your teammates. is always been a good motivator for me too because I know how they look at me, looked at me, look at me still, the expectations that they have on me.

And I love that. I think for some people, that pressure is hard and you can maybe shrink in those moments, but I've always enjoyed that pressure to perform for your brothers. And I think there's a lot of honor in having pride in your performance.

And I've always really felt like want to go out and not just prove to myself, but prove to my guys and fans and somebody's never watched me play before the kind of player I am. So there's always been fun ways to motivate myself. And then there's been plenty of detractors and critics over the years who've just made motivation a little bit easier. Well, you're in the business for being criticized. I mean, everybody's got an opinion. Every fat fuck sitting on the couch watching you as a professional athlete compete knows what you should have done. You know, I mean?

A lot of arm share quarterbacks. A lot of it. It's like I can't imagine the, I mean, depression. And now you got your own fans. Yeah. You got your fantasy football owners. Right. And you got people betting on the game.

So now you have extra people. You just be like your own fans. Yeah. Love you when you win and can't, yeah, I'm running out of town. And when you lose now it's like, yeah, you fucked up for the fantasy owners or you lost me money because I bet on you. I'm like, I don't give a shit. Yeah.

I'm just trying to play for my team and my sick. here. So what I would guess is that all that pressure from all those different places couldn't compare to the pressure you put on yourself. For sure. That's going to be it's and I think every great athlete has that quality and it goes back to the pride and performance. You hate to lose more than you love to win right can be a big motivator and it is for me and you just you hate that feeling of disappointing yourself first. teammates, fan base, more than even love to win. And winning is fucking awesome.

I mean, it's incredible. Yeah. But it's embracing that. I think there's so much that goes into playing the quarterback outside of just the throwing and the plays and checks and everything. But the most important thing is who are you in those big moments? And who are you when the lights are brightest and games on the line? and you either shrink in the moment or you rise to the occasion.

So were you always like that guy, like in high school? Did you love that pressure? I always wanted a ball on my hand. So, and, you know, kids, unfortunately these days are specializing in one sport, I think, way too early, and way too often. But I played soccer, baseball, basketball growing up, football, not until eighth grade, but in all those sports, I wanted to be in on the action. So I was point guard in basketball.

I loved to pitch in baseball. I wanted to be a goalie or forward in soccer because I wanted the ball in my hands or on my feet in the most important moments. And I trusted myself to make the right play in those moments to help us win. And part of it is my favorite athletes were those people. Yeah. I wasn't watching the Mark Eatons of the world and the Sean Bradley's, even though I love the obscure white 80s and 90s, you know, super ogreish basketball players. But my favorite players were Michael Jordan. and Joe Montana and Steve Young.

Yeah. It was the guys in Brett Forf. Ballers. And Barry Sanders. You know, guys who had the ball on their hands in crunch time and wanted it. Yeah. And live for those moments and rose to the occasion those moments. And either you have that or you don't.

Yeah. I mean, you can't, if that's not who you are, it's never going to work. And I don't know. I mean, so I was curious. So you went to Cal, you earn their starting job pretty quick, right? Yeah, I was a backup for four games. And so how does the trust of teammates start? Because everything I've seen is that your teammates love you.

So why? Well, you know, they won't care about what you say until they know how much you care. And so you got to first invest in the relationships. And that's a lot of little different things, but it's finding ways to connect with each player. And you know, there's something special about having an initial. inside joke with somebody or a nickname with somebody where the one person calls you something and still to this day a former teammate in mine at Butte who calls me rookie it's happened multiple times in the in the last 20 year 19 years of a player

where I'm like out by the buses after a game and I hear rookie and I know exactly who it is is my boy Sean who I play with at Butte and I tell that story to say that there's something special about that personal connection you can have with people and it's finding ways to connect. And there's little things you can do. Remember in birthdays, remember in wives' names, kids' names, something where you show them that you're invested in their life.

And then in turn, they return that trust and love and affection and they'll listen to you and they follow you. And as a leader, that's what you need. You need your guys to be all pulling the same direction. So how do you do that? You've got to invest in the relationships. And I just always tried to focus on that. Now, it's a delicate dance when you're not the starter

because you're not trying to step on the starter shoes, but you're trying to make sure you're putting yourself in position for when your time does come, those guys know what you're all about. So for me, when I was a backup in Green Bay, my whole life was a scout team. So I inspired the hell out of those guys. I said, let's go out and dominate our first team defense every day. Let's over celebrate.

Why? Why? Because let's get them to play harder. If they play harder, then we're going to get a really intense practice. and just watch when we start making plays, you're going to get elevated. I'm not. I'm going to be the backup.

I'm behind the Iron Man. He ain't coming out. Yeah. But you're going to get elevated. You're going to be on the roster. You're going to be playing games. So how do I inspire these guys to just give a little bit more? Would you tell them that?

Oh, for sure. It wasn't just an unspoke. No, no, no. That was like, hey, let's get after these boys. Let's celebrate the hell out of this. And just watch what happens. Like, yeah, we're working on the scout team now. We're running Detroit's offense.

But in a couple weeks, you're going to be running our offense on the field in crunch time. when the game's on the line. And even this last year, you know, as rough as a year as it was, the last three weeks I practiced with our guys and I ran the scout team. Really? And I fucking love the scout team. I mean, it can be so fun because... Did you beat the wands?

Oh, we got after them pretty good. But I just said, give me just a little bit extra. Yeah. Give me a little time. Let's light them up. Hey, give me a little extra on this route. Hey, run this thing like a little certain way. Because when you make it fun, it just raises all the level.

And the best athletes, you know, people always say kind of the same thing about them, right? They raise the level of their teammates to their level. And how do you do that? You set a standard. And I'm always trying to tell my guys this, when we take the field, everything that we do, when we're at the facility, it's intentional. Every conversation is intentional. Where we sit at lunch is intentional.

Our note taking is intentional. We go on the field, every rep is intentional. It's not to be a robot or a hard. or anything. It's just like, if we're here, let's get the most out of it. And when you set that standard, everybody's got to either raise their level to meet it or they fall off. And it creates a real easy line drawn in the sand on who's going to be all in and who's not quite there yet. Right. And that's what you want to find out. Who's going to jump on the boat with you? Yeah. You know, who's going to storm the beaches together with you? Who's going to be left behind? Right.

You know, who can you count on when this shit gets crazy. Yeah. I like that that where everything things intentional and I'm not trying to compare my redneck life to yours, but like people, I'll shoot through the window of my truck just for focus, you know, and they'll be like, oh, that's stupid. Why are you doing that? But it's intentional because when you're hunting, you have to be able to eliminate all distractions and focus on the target, right? So I always, I've said this the other day in a post that everything I do is intentional to make me a better bow hunter, whether it's running the mountain or lifting weights or shooting my bow. So when you say that it's intentional that really with me that resonates and then also you said something about um

you know talked about jordan and in you put the pressure on yourself it's not the outside pressure and i felt that too because i have sponsors this and that again i'm not trying to compare myself but no pressure from outside is ever going to trump the pressure i put on myself to win you know and compete in the mountains or or whatever so it's i when you say those words i totally get that and that to is the definition of mental toughness. Like people throw out these terms all the time. What is mental toughness? It's that no expectation outside of your own reality

can ever match the expectation you put on yourself. And just to go back to what you just said, somebody who is at an elite level as an archer, right, should be able to stand unobstructed like you did today. Like I say, over and over, right, at however many yards we were away, and just pepper the bullseye. But who can do it when you, you adjust the parameters a little bit.

And that's what I do in every drill. You know, I'm always like, listen, if you're in the NFL, you should be able to take a drop back, take a nice little hitch and throw a ball on time. But can you do it running full speed to the right? Can you do it with a hard offset? Can you do it with a big hitch?

Can you do it with a soft hitch? So why are we out there in drills operating a perfect environment? Yeah, yeah. Because when we're at the top of our game, we should be able to do this. But how do you get better? You put yourself in real-life situation.

For you, it's like a real-life hunt, like where I got a tight window and I got to wait to the perfect moment to fucking, for me, it's like I'm in a stressful environment where I'm moving offsetting hard. A guy is running at me or I'm on the run. Can I make the accurate throw? Because that's going to, I'm sure just like you, for me, the most important thing I said that's on our hike today is recall. So can I lock in that rep that I took where I ran full speed to my right and threw a ball

to a guy on the sideline and made sure I aimed about a yard and a half inside because the ball tails for a righty to the right in order to put it on the proper spot so I can catch on the sidelines so I can catch a catch for you it's okay I've been in this environment before I've shot through the truck you know with maybe a light wind on my right

and I'm trying to adjust for everything and there might be some noises and people yelling on me and distractions a car driving by can I still at the bullseye it's then when I get in the moment can I recall what that felt like to have distractions to have a little bit of wind

to have something going on and still be able to make that perfect shot for me can I be able to move have a guy chasing me full speed, be able to run, and remember what it felt like to just have that ball come off perfect. And so when you're doing that, is that just instinct? Because you're not thinking about the wind and this and that.

Is it a feel? It's a feel, but you have to lock that away. Right, right. So you make that, it's the idea of muscle memory, like another one of these interesting terms that people are still around, but muscle memory is being able to attach a feeling with a rep. So I attach that feeling. What it felt like in my body,

for my twist, for my coil, for the release point, to be able to throw the ball perfect. And after 20 reps, can I lock this thing away to where if I ever need to bring that up in the moment where I'm outside the pocket, can I do that? There was a throw I made in 2016 playoffs. We're playing Dallas at Dallas, third and 20, with like 13 seconds left.

And we call the play that actually came up in a bullshit session on a Saturday walkthrough where we dash the protection left, lineman leaks out, and is my personal protector. And I'm running at about 80% to my left and trying to throw a ball 40 yards down the field to a mark. And people are like,

how the hell did you make that throw? I said, I made it in practice. I made it in practice multiple times. We practice a play very similar. And I remember my body what it felt like to be moving hard to my left and to be able to put the ball exactly where I want it. And so you lock in that,

rep with that memory and the recall is being to just tap into that in a split second and to just feel that ball off your hand go exactly way you want it i don't i've never heard anything explain like in football explained like that do you think that that's a lot or an art that many people don't master or don't get or i mean i think more times than not especially i'll just say in drill work people are so much more concerned about how it looks than how it feels. And how it feels is way more important. Because like I said, if you can't drop back and throw a back accurately off a hitch, you're not going to last long in the league.

But can you do it with a tight hitch with a guy running past you, with an offset, with a second hitch? If you train yourself in the most difficult environment, then the easy stuff becomes even easier. And the hard stuff is also easier. That's not, I mean, this is why I like having this conversation, because I can relay a lot of what you say into my world. So when I hear you say that,

I have a saying that's a train, hard, hunt easy, where my training is going to be much more hard than even the hardest hunt. So I'm training at the highest level. I hunt easy, meaning that this is nothing compared to, you know, 100 mile run or 200 mile run. This is hunting. So I can focus on that. So that's what I,

That's what I took from what you just said, where when it's perfect, yeah, whatever, you should be able to do that. That's your job. But how do you perform when it's, everything's against you? And one thing, you know, I noticed in watching the film of you, and I'm sure you've heard this before, I would guess. But what I see when you throw the ball is it's like it looks like the ball is, I mean, very available to catch. I mean, it's not, it's not just hard. It's just like delivered into the receiver's light catching your ball. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. I mean, is that? There's two types of throws. There's a heavy throw and a light throw. And that has nothing to a speed. So the more rotation you get, the easier it is to catch. So guys always said about this going back to high school that the ball kind of gets on them. It doesn't look like it's coming that fast.

So a harder ball that's not spank. a lot. You can see the laces the whole time. So you actually, it gets on you quicker, but it's harder to catch because it hits your hands a little stiffer. But the more of rotation, you get the tighter spiral, the easier it is to actually catch. So I've always had a really good flick. And some of it, a lot of it is just natural. I've always been able to throw it really well. I think some of it's my pitching. I've always had a really good arm. But I've also, I think another trade is I've always been super curious. about guys who do things better than me

and just watching. And I was fortunate, I got to watch the first battle Hall of Famer. And so every single day for three years, I watched this guy and studied a hell out of him. And said, what is he doing that I can't do yet? That I want to add to my game.

And any little thing, I just was like, let me work on that, on the side. Let me work on this on the side. Let me work on this in a drill. And you're just adding tools to your tool belt. And when you put all that stuff together with already a good arm, and really good swing on it and the ability to throw the ball outside the pocket and accurately on the run,

then you can have a lot of sustained success in the league. Who's been like, who have you tried to model your game after? Well, Fav, for sure. I mean, you, you know. Because he was known as like the gunslinger, right? I mean, did he throw, it seemed like a lot more interceptions than you throw? Yeah, I mean, I've only had a few years of double-digit interceptions in my career. but he definitely took more chances, I would say.

But you have to take chances because you had 40-some TDs in a year. I mean, you can't not take chances and have them in. It's all calculated. Everything is calculated. So a lot of it is pre-snap calculations. What is my best match-up? And then, you know, you have to in tenths of a second be able to adjust the level of throw, whether it's level one, two, or three, throw, one.

and it's kind of aligned two as Lamware and three is, you know, with plenty of air. And then adjust based on matchup, on separation, on different things, and be able to look. And it just all goes back to practice and remembering reps and remembering what it feels like and kind of stornos away. So in the moment, you're like, I've made this throw before. I got to throw a back shoulder ball to Jordi in a low spot on tight coverage where they're even in the red zone in order for him to make this play. or I got to throw this ball high, like in 17. We're playing Dallas.

And I throw a semi-back-shoulder ball of the Devante, but I realized the way the defender was playing, the only ball that I could slip in on the back shoulder was a ball above the shoulders. So in the moment, as I hold the safety, you know, down the middle and then turn to Devante, I know this ball's got to be about eight feet off the ground and in a semi-back shoulder to be completed.

So to be able to, like, feel what that feels like, to get it up in that spot with the right velocity and the right the right placement, it just goes back to stuff you've worked on in practice. And being able to draw back on those experiences where you're not operating in a perfect environment with no defenders. You know, it's like, no, give me some out there.

Just a shadow so I can feel what it feels like to throw right the back of his head on the back shoulder. And again, I think that's where you grow is where you put yourself in the most adverse situations. And to go to finish, to circle back to the point when coaches and or players are way more concerned about what it looks like than how it feels it's really hard to grow because you're just going to be hoping for perfect passes and practice instead of like oh you miss that one perfect that's exactly what you want right because now

you've got a feeling oh shoot I was a little on my front foot on that one I was you know my hitch was a little too much or I got to have more weight on the back or I got to put it little bit more air on this ball when it's 25 yards outside the numbers like those are the ones that you know like working with young quarterbacks I'm like that's the best rep possible I just remember that one so when it comes up next time you can make the right throw yeah uh so I was thinking about this too um when you have the matchup you want so so see you read the defense and you got your number one guy you see who's against him are you looking off and and you know you're going there But like tell me about a time when you like you knew for a fact it's going to be a touchdown in it and what happened.

Oh, there's been a lot of them. I think the hardest throws are ones that you stare down though. So even when you know I got this guy, it's going to be a good one. This is a matchup we want. I just, you got to just fight it to not just look at a little bit long. I'm just so much better if I react to something and then make the throw. Again, that played to Devante was one of them. The previous play, we're playing 2017 against them.

They scored late. We're down by three. And I had this run to get us down in field goal range on third down. So we're inside the 15. And the first down, we were in three by one, DeVante's backside. And we ran one of our three-man concepts to the right. And he was on a fade on the backside. And I threw like a five-foot high back shoulder to DeVante, and it got kind of broken up.

And come back to the huddle. And it's two minutes, so I'm calling it. I'm thinking, man, and he looks at me and goes, he just kind of gave me a nod. And I put this in his words, but to me that meant, come back to me, just throw a little better this time. Yeah. And I was like, well, yeah, I will. Just watch this.

So I called the exact same play. And they ran the exact same defense. They ran like a quarter's push on the backside. So all I do is hold the backside safety. And I knew I had to mind it. So you're looking at safety? He's got a rookie on him. And all I said was just don't let that safety get outside the hash.

So I dropped back, I stared at him with a kind of closed shoulders, and all I was thinking was eight feet, eight feet. Just get this one at eight feet, it's going to be a touchdown. And I threw it at about eight feet and kind of a medium back shoulder. It wasn't like a stopping one. It was kind of like a transition back shoulder. And I felt good. I felt really good.

But we used to run this play with Jordy Nelson over the years, whereas hard play action to the left, half roll to the right, and he run this weave post. We called it a fish route. Fish stood for far hash. So did it look like a lazy route? Yeah, but he was the best at it. I mean, he could set it up.

So he pushed it up vertical with his speed. He broke to the corner. And then he was breaking to catch the ball on the backside hash at like 55 yards. And you're rolling that same way? I'm rolling. I'm half, action to the left, half rolled back to the right. And kind of like crow hop into a lot of times. I see.

Yeah. And one of my all-time favorites was we were playing on Christmas. Michigan, Chicago. And it was at this point we'd hit a bunch of these. When we called the play maybe once every other game or so or once every three or four games. And when I'd call it, the line got excited. They were like, oh, touchdown right here.

And that kind of put a little extra pressure. Like, I don't fuck this up here. But this one in particular, it was like a cold night. And the ball gets a little fat and a little bit slick. And I was like, man, that's going to be a touchdown. I know it. They're going to play. they're going to play too high.

I'm going to come up off the fake, peak backside. And sure enough, I came up, a hard fake came up off. It looked backside. The safety went with the post corner on the backside. And I co-hopped into it. And I was just like, oh, man, don't screw this up. And I just threw a friggin dime to Jordi. And, you know, it was one of the best those in my career,

just because it was like 15 degrees. The ball gets tough to throw. And I hit him just right in stride. And it was just like, that was awesome. Did you guys win? Yeah, of course. We almost beat the Bears. I lost to them like a couple times.

What do you do? I mean, how often our receivers come? Every receiver thinks are open every time, right? Yeah. How often does that, I mean, are you dealing with that? We had some good, you know, we had some great guys over the years. You know, I think the receiver position can get a bad rap for being a diva from time of time, but we had some great guys.

The thing I always asked was, like, just don't show me up. Mm-hmm. Like how so? well like be demonstrative or put your arms out to the side or make some motion looking up put your hand up or jump up and down and you see some of some guys around the league and and listen i've i've you know made some body language of some guys over the years and apologize for it but for the most part there's always a good understanding like listen i'm trying to get you the football you know but i'm also going through my progressions and you might be open sometimes and not get the football

but doesn't mean i'm not watching that film back and locking away every one of those reps so the next time we have a certain a play where I've seen you run a great route on this. I'm going to come back to you. And it happened. At 2014, we played in Seattle to start the season. And we put Devante Adams on the right side and Jordan on the left side all game. And Devante was going against Richard Sherman, who was at the time the best corner in the league. And he ran, and he was a rookie, and he ran some

incredible routes. But I basically threw Jordy the whole game. Because you're going away from Sherman? Going from Sherman. It was amazing. And Jordy was, you know, on their number two corner. And Jordy was one of the top of the league. and I watched the game back and I texted to you I said hey I saw that what you did out there

and that was impressive and I promise you it's games like this and reps like this that are going to go a long way in our future and sure enough he had three really incredible

games including a playoff game as Dallas that year as a rookie that was incredible and over the years became the best receiver in the league and it was moments like that where you just how do I find a way

to connect with these guys when they're pissed because they're watching the film too going oh man I ran this great pool right you didn't throw me the ball i ran a great slight right you didn't throw me you know what are you doing like me do you not like me do you not like me you just you find ways to encourage those guys to just stay with me just stay with and even when when tay was the best

receiving league and the entire game plan of defense was to take him out of the game i'd always tell him for the game i'd say i love you bro stay with me because they're going to try and take you away but at some point i promise you at some point in this game they're going to go one-on-one and when they do I'm coming to you. And how soon can you notice that? Do you notice that with emotion? Or when they're, how do you notice it?

Well, I mean, some wouldn't even, you know, wouldn't even try and hide it. They put a corner on them and they put a safety over the top. We played Baltimore in 2019. And 2019 and 2020. We played them in 2012. Someone in 2020.

Play them in 2020. COVID, a couple guys were out. And everywhere he went, there was two guys. We motion them across and three guys, this is DeVante, three guys went with him. But I said, I said, don't worry, bro. I'm still going to come to you. At some point they got to play one eye and when they do, I'm coming to you.

And he still ended up having a really nice game. But, yeah, sometimes they don't even try and disguise it. It's just like best player, taking him away. Like Bill Belichick, we played him in 14. They started the whole game out and they put their second best corner on Jordy with safety help the entire time. They put their best corner, Dorel Revis, on Randall Cobb the entire time, because Randall was a proble that year. And they put their third corner on Logan Ryan on Devante Adams.

And so... That's a good matchup for Adams. Even though he was a rookie, it was. And Devante went off that game. It was one of his first games that really, really played well. And then Bill adjusted. Then he said, all right, well, this young kid's killing us. Let's put our big corner, Brandon Browner on Devante.

Let's put our best corner, Derrell on Jordy, and... and let's put our third corner on Randall, give him help in the slot. And when they did that, I went to Jority. So, yeah, it's just about getting a good pre-snap read and then trying to find the, it's all percentages. Where's my best matchup? Where's the highest percentage of completion?

And which guy gets open the most and try and give him, you know, at least the first look? How come do you think in that Seahawks game, they didn't put Sherman on Jordy, that first one? That's a great question. They never flip-flop. So in all the film we watched, some teams over the years would do what we call star coverage. So their best corner is going to flip sides.

So Patrick Peterson did it forever when he was in Arizona. So he would wait kind of, we'd be in a huddle, they'd be in the huddle, and he would be in the middle. Like a lot of times, even on corners, and we got two great ones in New York in Soss and D.J. They'll play their sides. So Soss will be on the offense's right, D.J. be on the offensive left. And they're just kind of, they stay where they're at. But Pat would hang in the middle.

And whatever side you would go to, he'd go to him. So some teams would do that. But we knew Seattle, they played their one high coverage. Sharm was going to be on our right. And Byron was going to be on our left. I see. Yeah. Then how often it's you as a quarterback, you know who they're number one?

How often do you want to go at him? How often do you want to beat their best defensive guy? Yeah, of course you want to beat him. I mean, I wanted to, you know, we played Seattle in 15, and Jordy tore his ACL in preseason in Pittsburgh. So we ended up going again James Jones after you got cut from the Giants. And Devante had hurt his ankle, so he was kind of banged up most of the year. But James, so James kind of our number one.

And I told James in the locker room before the game, like I like to do, like an hour before the game, I said, listen. some point when we get across the 40, they're going to jump off sides. And I'm going to come up in the pocket and look left and throw no look to you. And what I want you to do, if they jump, and you're on my right side. How did you know they were going to jump off sides? It's just, you're just kind of new. Yeah. They had a couple guys that were jumpy. We're at home. My cadence has always been a weapon. So I told JJ, I said, listen, I'm going to step up in the pocket and look left to hold Earl Thomas, because we're all covered more ground than anybody.

And he was incredible free safety. I want you to run a... What were they called? The Legion of Boom. Yes. I'm like, I want you to run a weave post. So go vertical, push it out, and then run a post. I'm going to get up in a pocket and look left

and throw no look to you down the middle. Only when they jump and only when you're on the right side. So this is why I love about smart players. Like Mike McCarthy used to always say, the smartest players are the best players. So I tell JJ this an hour before kickoff. Yeah. We're in the...

I don't care of the first or second quarter. quarter but but I can feel they're a little jumpy we're on like the plus 30 so on the 30 airline going in and they jump off sides uh I step in the pocket look left throw no look to JJ for a touchdown on shirm no way so I just knew like there's certain plays I'm like I want to get shirm back yeah because shirm is a hell of a player right so we set this thing up it happened and j j's on my right it happened just as we said it but there's certain you watch the film and every corner corner has maybe one or two routes that you feel, even if it's the best in the league, like I think we can get this on them.

Like when Josh Norman was one of the top corners in the league, he loved playing outside leverage. And on top. Is that Carolina or where? But he was in Washington at the time. And he played so much outside of levitt. I said, listen, anytime we got a slant, I'm going to come to your side if Josh is on you. Because Josh is so good at jumping, stop routes, out routes, staying on top on go

routes. The only one we can really get on him is a slant route. So I want to make sure he respects that. So I was told whether it was Jordy or Devante or JJ over there, listen, you got a slant on Josh. I'm coming to you. So every corner has certain routes where you feel like a little better about throwing their way. Now some guys are so locked down. Even sauce with us. Like sauce is so good. Sometimes you just get lucky to like fit one in because he's if he's not holding this guy, he's locked up and the guy's not going anywhere. Al Harris and Charles Woodson were like that, where there's only a couple routes that I felt like, I think I can get Al on a double move maybe in practice. And Charles has got to be like a back shoulder transition ball. Otherwise he's going to pick me off. So it's just

like you got to be really, really calculated. How often, because it seems like Seattle, they were very vocal back then. How often were they talking shit? Oh, they're great shit talkers. Yeah. Fantastic. And then would you like on that no look? Did you ever say anything back? No, you know, I think you got to pick your spots. I love Sherm, though. I mean, and we're buddies now when I see him. He's got a great podcast. Yeah.

He's, you know, probably it's hard to think of a guy who was better. Like I said, Charles Woodson is the best player I played with. You know, Sherm's kind of after Charles and he was kind of the guy for a long time, probably the best corner I played against. But, yeah, Earl, it's a big shit talker. their D-line, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, big shit talkers, KJ. Wright. You know, they had, it was some bad dudes. I mean, they were good players.

They were good shit talkers. You know who else was a bad dude? Who did. Tanner, who did Biden fight? Corn Pop. Corn Pop. Do you ever hear that story? No.

Corn Pop was a bad dude. Biden said that. Oh, yeah. He's going to fight him behind the gym. Corn Pop. Anyway, when you said bad dude, I thought of Biden. Weekend at Bernie's. Yeah.

Hey, but you know who was one of my favorite Seahawks? I don't know. This isn't really the topic, but Cam Chancellor. I love Cam. Cam was quiet, though. Was he? Cam was a silent assassin. He was one of those guys like Julius Pepper.

He was like Julius was one of the baddest dudes I've ever played with. I mean, just absolute ball. Like you hated going against him. Yeah. Like when we played up in 2008, he was on Carolina. And he had a couple of personal fouls against me. Like I was running to the sidelines on the red zone like about the 10 yard line out about the yard from the sideline.

I'm like, this guy's going to give up. I kind of kind of gave up a little early. Maybe, maybe not stepped on the sidelines and he fucking whacked me. Lit you up. And got a big penalty. Yeah. And then we're playing against him in Chicago. And he hit me high and bloody my lip.

And I'm like, he's just one dude. You didn't want to piss off. We played him one time. And the first play of the game was we're going to motion down and run a crack toss to his side. And I'm like, why the hell we're going to be going to. make the biggest, meanest, baddest dude on the field mad and play one. Like, he doesn't say anything. So he got a receiver coming to block him?

We had like a tight end and he was going to come down and crack the shit out of him. I'm like, that's stupid. Why are we making the meanest guy out here potentially? Yeah. But the baddest dude on the field mad. And Cam was the same way. Like, Cam didn't say a whole lot. He just let us play to the talking.

But if you pissed him off, like, that's bad, dude. You don't want to get hit by that guy. But the rules are different. Like, you know, you could still hit guys over the middle back then. And Cam was, especially in that defense, the way that Earl played, the deep safety, the way the corners played together and the backers, their drops all work together with Bobby in the middle, KJ in the middle, and that pass rush. You know, Cam, Cam let some dudes up. Yeah. He would have been a, he's a generational type player.

Like, if he'd been playing, he would have been the Jack Tatum, like, back in the 50s, the 60s, 70s. Like, he would have been the crazy's head under, like, the Steve Atwater, the Ronnie Lott. I mean, that's the type of player that Cam was. Yeah. I also like that the guy who got redskins and he got killed, got shot. Sean Taylor. Yeah, he was. Sean was incredible.

One of my favorite, probably my favorite Sean Taylor. He picked me off one time in 2010, but my favorite Sean Taylor clip was from the Pro Bowl. I think Brian Mormon was a punter for the Pills. He runs a fake punt and Sean just laid him out. Back when actually people played hard in the Pro Bowl, best type of player, Sean was he was 100% all the time. It reminds me of Pete Ryan. Rose and the all-star game coming in bowling over the catcher. Yeah.

I love that. I mean, hey, are we trying to win or what are we doing? Yeah, it's tough to watch. Like the NBA All-Star game recently is like, terrible. It was just like, what are even terrible? I hate,

at least back in the day, like when Kobe and Michael and those guys played, it might be fuck around for three-quarters, but fourth quarter it was on. Yeah. And that's what I... People deed up. Yeah.

And now it's like $200 to $1.90. Yeah, it's a lay-up drill. Yeah. I can't stay with it. I think guys shooting half court threes. I'm like, what are you doing? Dave, you know, made a couple of them. I don't mind that because he's a Milwaukee buck.

Yeah. So are you big bucks fan? Well, I'm a super tiny, tiny minority owner of the bucks. I'm a giant fan of the bucks and Janice and Middleton and getting, you know, hated to see Drew Holliday go because he was a part of our championship team. Yeah. But Damien Littleer just been more of the top players in league for a long time.

And him and Janice seemed to be figuring things out now with Doc Rivers taken over. Are they winning now? Yeah, they're struggling. I think they're 40 and 21, and they've been playing better defense. Okay. The defense wasn't great the first kind of half of the season, but they've been playing a little bit better defense.

And the honest, I mean, the other night he had like 45 points on like some crazy shooting like 16 of 20 or, you know, he's just, he's so dominant in the pain. He's averaging like some crazy amount of points in the pain every single game. And then he gets the free throw line now. He's making his free throws. And he also figured out his jump shot. Now he's making some threes every now and then. So as long as we got him, we got a chance.

And now we got Dame Lillard, we got a guy who can score in the fourth quarter when the game on the line. He can break down his guy. He can shoot from literally anywhere. We saw in the All-Star game, made two half-court threes. I know. But, yes, I feel good about our team. I don't watch as much NBA. Like, I grew up in the 90s watching MJ and the Lakers.

And I was a big Kings fan in Northern California, you know, in the turn of the Milan. where Weber and Bibby and Vladi and those guys were playing really good. Yeah, we were just talking about how good they were back in the day. I mean, the Kings were, they're freaking good. The Robert Orrishat still haunts all Kings fans. Yeah, I'm sure. Up to one, you know, that three to win it to change that series was tough. Big shot, Bob.

Yeah. You do have a good story. I just saw it on, I guess, on Club Shay-Shay, but, or Marsha. Lynch was talking about I think he was a freshman and he he talked about how you saved saved his butt I think but like you did something behind the back handoff what what happened that because we're big marshon fans too I love marshawn one of one of an all-time favorite teammates I only got him one year and it was kind of a muted year he was the backup he wasn't even starter but he was he was still marshawn and could you tell he was like oh from the start I mean he used to always challenge me

in throwing competition he could throw a ball 60 yards he's still like he was still like he was still like he was Really? You know, he never lets the truth get away of a good story, as told by this story. But he still always says, oh, you should out throw your practice and stuff. He had a hell of an arm. I mean, he's an incredible athlete and incredible career. But we ran 24 power at Cal and he ran 25. And so I opened up to 24 and he was on the other side and I kind of gave my left-handed behind the back handoff. And I think as you have to do from time to time to show your teammates,

you'll back them up. I think I probably stuck out for them and said, you know, maybe I called it wrong or something. And you never know what, you know, just in life and general, there's throwaway conversations or throwaway memories that you might have doing something, saying something to somebody. And it's happened to us as well that I'm sure little things that were said to me when I was young player or acts of kindness that went so far that I,

that are core memories for me. Yeah, you'll never forget. people there might be a throwaway they might not even remember it but um it's those little moments that they can stick with somebody to let them know like yeah i got your back he might i mean he might has got his ass chewed for a couple different things and then that was going to be like the big one but because you saved the day and said oh maybe i called the wrong player or whatever pivoted wrong you saved that i mean so that's maybe that's why it stands out for him yeah what you thought maybe was a throw away you didn't know and to me that is a throwaway like even though it was behind the back

handoff like I was like whatever it's a funny play you know Marshaun went the wrong way and you know yeah but but that's what's cool about about our sport and life in general is that you just never know an act of kind random act of kindness or just doing something for somebody and not expecting to return can change a person's life perspective view of you whatever it might be and that's just a little tiny story but there's so many else one was for me growing up in my career where somebody took the time or did something nice for me or stayed extra you know I had an incredible um Dear friend of mine, to this day, Danny Mehan, and Danny was like my big brother in high school. And he would spend so many days after school thrown with me.

I was a freshman, he was a junior, I was a sophomore, he was a senior, he was two years old and me. And those moments meant the world to me to have somebody like care about me, believe in me, take time, didn't have to, like, help me get better. And to him, they might have, he might never even remember those things or, you know, think about them ever. but to me those are like core memories of like man somebody believed in me somebody cared about me enough to like take some time with me and and help me get better and there's there's a hundred

moments like that from high school from junior college from Cal and throughout my my long career in the league where where guys have done something that they probably don't ever remember that just really stuck with me could be things that coaches have said to me Jeff Tetford said a number of things to me over the years at Cal my two years that were like super impactful and meaningful to me I sat in his office one day after a rough practice and he said you need to take a breath he said you're going to have a great career here and a long career in the NFL and it just like totally calm my nerves and I was like damn this guy really believes yeah yeah and there's such a beauty in that where to him he might not ever even remember that conversation that's probably nothing to him he's just like trying to like

make sure his sophomore quarterback could get through the day you know who's dealing with you know the insecurities and emotions of being a first time d1 athlete I'm But for me, that meant the world to me. And so I try and keep that on my mind that every little conversation, every walk from the locker room to the team meeting room, you might say something to a guy that's going to change your life for the better. It matters. Because it happened to me.

And that's how I tried to approach my time with Jordan Love is I remember what it was like to be a backup behind a legend and to wait. And like, how can I give him an experience that he can look back on and go, man, I'm thankful for this and for this and for this and for this. and I'm thankful because now we have a great relationship so I could text them throughout the year and encourage them and tell them, hey, great job. I love watching your play and seeing them have success.

It's hard, I think, for some people in life to be able to cheer for other people. Just look at social media. Nobody wants to like, they want to just come down on you and smash you and pile on. Yeah. But there's a good piece when you can cheer on other people, whether it's friends in your life,

loved ones, family members, love, you know, spouses, teammates, you know, like cheering for those guys. And that's what being a good teammate is about. Is like, can you, if you're on the sidelines and a guy in your position group is out there making plays, are you in the dumps? Right. Or are you cheering that guy on the first one on the field, jumping on them, handshake with them super pumped up. Like that's what I love watching from the sideline this last year was really getting to see like, what are these guys all about?

Like when they're standing the sidelines and you're a tight end and Conklin's out there making big plays. Are you pumped up? Are you like, fuck, I wish that was me? When Garrett's out there making plays on the sidelines, you're like, man, I should be out there. Yeah. I'm getting screwed right now. You're like, that's my boy, gee, out there making plays.

Right. You know, it's a mindset. Yeah. I think there's something really beautiful about that to be able to like celebrate other people's success. It's a probably a tough dance in between because I would think like. Well, there's the ego. The ego is going to, I could do that. You mentioned that.

I'm getting fucked right now. I could do that. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I could see like in some ways, and I don't know because I don't talk to him, but I could see Brady leaving New England, wanted to, won a Super Bowl and hoping New England failed because then people are like, see, you should have appreciated me. I think a lot of guys have that, even without saying it, because they want, they just want to feel appreciated.

So it's hard. I mean, those situations are hard. You know, if somebody, if a team goes another way or whatever, I think it's super healthy to be able to like celebrate other people winning even at your same position or even to be supportive of Jordan Love it's like that's not easy. No, it's not.

That's not easy because you are the man in Green Bay for a long time. But what is, I always tell these guys, what is this game really about if you get one thing out of it? It's the relationships. Because the stats and the stupid memories that I have, unfortunately I can't get rid of those,

but the stats and the wins and the losses at some point 20 years from now, who's going to really give a shit about that? Right. But when you want to call up a buddy to see how he's doing or you need some help or your buddy needs some help, like it's those relationships that are going to last a lot longer than your health, then your memories, than the joy of, you know, the wins and losses. Like in the end, that's just trivial.

We play a sport. It's beautiful. It's giving me a great platform, giving me more money I could ever deal with, an opportunity to speak and fame and notoriety and a lot of great things to come from that. a lot of weird things come from that. But in the end, it's giving me the best friends in my life. You know, coaches, players, you know, every day, it seems like I'll talk to somebody that I played with

or currently playing with. And it's just like those are my core friendships for the most part that I'm going to have with me the rest of my life, thankfully. You know, it's crazy to me because I, you know, I'm pretty dowled in on social media and I see all the, you know, bullshit things people say. But what's crazy to me after sitting here

and spending the day with you and talking to you, people will say because of your stance on vaccine or COVID or whatever else that they'll say you're not smart. And it's like or you know what a bro science or whatever is. And I was like you I mean you are fucking you remember every play from your whole career, every situation plus all these other, you know, multi-layered thought processes as you have about dealing with people. It's like couldn't be more smart for somebody, you know, when I'm talking to somebody, I'm like, this guy is like super intelligent. And because of some thoughts on vaccine or trusting your own immune system, all of a sudden you're labeled as dumb.

It's insane. Yeah, there's a lot of things you can attack me for that might seem, you know, vaguely reasonable. But the intelligence thing, I think, was really an interesting thought because, you know, I was always a good student. I got a good SAT score. I'm curious. I read a lot of books. You know, people don't like it, but I do a lot of research on my own.

If I don't know about something, I want to learn about it. If I don't know about archery, I'm going to go, like, watch your page. I'm going to go study things. I'm going to go look at, you know, different things about archery. What type of bows do people like? What's the best bow? What's the strategy for it? What's the technique for it?

Yeah. And it's the way I approach everything in life. If I don't know about something, I want to learn about it. I'm curious. I want to keep learning and growing. That's why I love to read and love it. love to research things and love to be up on what's going on. And if I don't know about something, I want to learn about it. And that's what my status, my thoughts on the Vax was. Yeah.

But, but, you know, when you start talking about UFOs like I have and then you take a stance that's labeled as anti-Vax, you know, instead of, unfortunately in culture today, instead of attacking or debating, which is a better way of doing it, the content of what I'm saying, they attack the character instead because when you debate or even attack the content, especially we've seen more recently, there's not a lot you can say that's going to hold up against what I've been saying since the beginning. Yeah, I mean, it's a lazy take. It's a surface level take.

It's just like, come on. But that's the playbook. That's the playbook of cancel culture. It's silence, sensor, and a name call. You know, and it's the same stuff that there, unfortunately, there's certain terms that are used now on social media in a society that can, can try and shut somebody up. You know, you're anti-Vax, you're conspiracy theorist, you're flat earth, you're anti-Semitic, you're a bigot, you're a far right wing, whatever it might be. And that's just kind of the playbook that they use. Just diluting the message.

Yeah, instead of going, let's see what he's saying and let's attack the content of it. screen yeah it's uh yeah i mean i'm just i'm just struck by um you're just a deep thinking human it's like what i don't know because i've read some of the comments and i'm just like oh my god could these guys couldn't be more wrong but um so i was back to football because i was curious about this too is being a quarterback and being in the high pressure games and winning super bowls and all that tell me your thoughts on the past call of the Seahawks on the goal line with the Patriots. I loved it because I wasn't the Seahawks man at the time. I hated it for Marshang because I love Marshang.

I know because we're talking about Marshang and I just think about that play and going, I've never seen a play where Marshang couldn't get a yard. People forget what happened on that drive. There was a ridiculous lucky catch that curse made it. That curse made it bounced up and landed. Yeah. get them down into that. Right. I remember that. And we had just lost in the absolute worst way two weeks before to Seattle. Oh, did you? Okay. Yeah. We gave up a fake philgo for a touchdown.

We gave up a two-win conversion. We gave up a 16-0 lead. We gave up an on-side kick. All in one game. Yeah. Everything went wrong. Oh, man. They jumped off sides, didn't call it. I threw a pick to Sherman. A lot of crazy things have. We got down the goal line twice on the one-yard line. and kick two field goals instead of going for it. What was the score of the game? Well, we lost an overtime, 28, 22. All those fuck-ups and that tight of a game still? We're up 16-0 and we rushed like seven guys from a side

and we used to always do this and they ran a fake field goal and threw a touchdown to get to 16-7. And we were still up trying to put the game away. And we punted and they got the ball back and drove down and scored. And then all we do is get the on-side kick. one of our up guys instead of blocking like he was supposed to lend jordie nelson just get the onside kick yeah he tried to get it and fumbled it and they picked it up and went down and scored and then people forget we actually went down and scored a field goal to tie the game to send it to

overtime lost the coin toss they went down and scored touchdown and we lost so i was not rooting for seattle so i did not that's a painful loss yeah i didn't hate to see that at all but Yeah. Not a good play call. No. A lot of people think that because of Marshawn's personality and the fact that he has always been kind of anti-authority, which I love.

Yeah. Of course. You know, he used to like stay out at halftime sometimes and there's stories about, you know, some of stuff he didn't. He wouldn't talk to the media. We'd talk to media. Yeah. That maybe they didn't want Marshaun to be the MVP of that game

had he ran that ball in. Maybe they wanted to. quarterback to be MVP and so that's why they threw it in the one yard line what's interesting is and people don't ever bring this up either is we played two weeks before against seattle and we ran the exact same play and um devante was at the point and it was either jordy or randall was at the was off the ball and at devante just blocks his guy or runs interference it's a walk-in touchdown right so we had run the play two weeks before okay so I don't know if Bill had showed them that clip that we had ran against them because it was flip now.

Now was the Seattle offense, but they tried to run the same play. And, you know, Malcolm obviously made the interception and won the game, but I didn't hate to see that. Man, I mean, yeah, I've heard the conspiracy theories about, you know, Russell was the star of the team type thing or like the Golden Child. Well, Marshaun was the star of the team, but they wanted to kind of maybe. They wanted Russell to be it. I guess. I mean, I was always a bigger Marciaan fan than Russell.

Everybody loves Marshall. I don't know. I've never heard anybody say they don't love him. Yeah. He's the best. Yeah, but anyway, that was. You know why? Because he's authentic.

He is himself all the time. He came in an interview with, he was with Amazon doing so because he's still loosely involved with the NFL in a lot of different ways, which he should be because he's super marketable. He's hilarious and he's like the best. dude ever. And he came with Amazon do an interview in Lambo. And I swear, it was like the first 30 minutes, I don't know if he knew we were on camera. And he was swearing and saying a bunch of crazy

shit. I think we're filming it. I can't even any of this right now. But that's just who he is. He's such an awesome dude. He's always been the same. He's extremely authentic. And I think that's what guys resonate with when it comes to Marshaun is that you just know what you're going to get all the time. Yeah. And I will, I will admit, I've always been a Brady fan, so I love that the Patriots won that game. So it wasn't like I wanted any of them to score. Yeah, I loved Tom, too.

I was definitely pulling for New England. When they won that, do you love Tom, really? I do love Tom. Okay. But yeah, we were jumping up and down because the Patriots are going to win, but crazy, crazy games. Just hand the ball off three times.

I know. He's going to get in. Well, how, so how hard is it to win the Super Bowl? Obviously really hard, because I'm back in a long time. We've lost You got one Which

So should you feel satisfied With the one Or should you want more? I feel satisfied with the one Because there's so many great quarterbacks That never won one Right Dam Marino

It was the biggest one Jim Kelly went to four And never won one I know I know I've been in hunting camp With him before So I'm glad I got the one

But when you win one You think We're gonna be back Every single year It's gonna be normal Because that was 20 There's 2010 And then people forget

We won our last Two of 2010 We beat the Giants at home, and then we beat the Bears, and then we won four playoff games, wildcard, divisional, NFC championship, and Super Bowl. And then we won our next 13 to start 2011. We won 19 straight games. Oh, my God. He went 19 straight games. You're like, we're going to win every single game.

You know, you think twice about it. And not just that. Oh, we're going to win the Super Bowl, too. We're the best team in the league. I think so, yeah. Yeah. It's got to be. Yeah.

Obviously, the Dolphins won. 17 to one year, I think. And then Patriots won 18 to start. But that felt amazing. I mean, you just knew we're going to win the game. Yeah.

And we lost in Kansas City in week 15 that year. And then we won our last two and then had a buy, then one divisional game. So you just think, no, we lost a division game. We lost the Giants that year.

Our first playoff game. And then we went to an FD championship in 14. It went to an FD championship in 16 and 20 and 21 and lost all four of those, three of those on the road and the one against Tom and the Bucks at home. So yeah, you just think you're going to win it every single year when you're on a role like that. So it's hard. It's so hard to get there. You got to play your best ball in the most important moments.

And every little mistake, especially in those big games, is amplified. I felt like, you know, the 11, we were a great team, great offense, but we weren't the most well-rounded team. In 14, that was our best team, and we lost to Seattle in Seattle when all that crazy stuff happened. We had beaten New England in the regular season that year and felt that, you know, if we'd gone the Super Bowl, we would have won. 16, we had to win our last six in the regular season, and then the wildcard individual. and played Atlanta in the NFC championship. We weren't the better team. The better team doesn't always win.

But they were a better team, and they beat us. And then in 20, we went to San Fran. The NFI championship, we were a really good team. They were two, and they beat the hell out of us. They were probably a little better. At 21, we felt like we're the best team, and we lost at home to Tampa. So best team doesn't always win, unfortunately, for us.

It's really hard to get back there. I mean, obviously, Mahomes and Chiefs have been on a run. And Tommy won seven. Doesn't look that hard for those guys. But for the rest of us, it's, you know, it's a beauty of our sport. It takes a lot of guys to make it happen. And if you don't have your best game, you don't win in the playoffs. Well, okay, two things.

So in 2014, I think you said, losing to Seattle with all that shit that went wrong. How much is that coaching and how much is that? I mean, when you have a 16-0-0 lead, you kind of feel pretty good, right? Especially there. And we picked off rust five times that game. Five? I mean, I don't know. If you looked at those stats, you'd think there's no way...

No chance. Seattle should have won. So what... Well, it's both, honestly. Everybody has blamed to go around. Right. The fact that we rushed the exact same the entire year on field goals, instead of just letting him kick a field goal.

And if it was like a 40-yarder, maybe he may be. makes it they got a good kicker he makes it 16 to 3 they're still down yeah you know two touchdowns right and they haven't moved the ball at all really against us all game yeah compared to like now it's 16 7 now the crowd's into it and the crowd in seattle the loudest place to play i mean it's like like other than otson and maybe kansas city is the loudest environment in the entire NFL like the old metrodome was really loud but nothing's louder in seattle you can't hear shit you know so let them back in the game and then obviously you know whether or not it was coaching on the on the on the on side kick or just instincts it kicked in for that guy to try and make

it like who knows I mean as players we always feel like we probably should have and could have done more right but yeah it's a game we should have won yeah um and then so tell me about so you versus brady that that I mean that's a superstar matchup how'd that game go um a lot of crazy stuff happened that game um we were I know I watched it I can't remember but you were remember every play from your whole life. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of opportunities to win for sure. Did you play all right? I played pretty good.

I threw a pick right at the end of the first half. There was probably holding on the play. I was throwing the Lizard down the middle on the seam route. And I think it was Murphy Bunning was playing the slot. And there's, you know, still shots and replays that I'm holding, Alan. And he made a nice pick on the play. But they threw a touchdown with no time on the clock. Oh.

So it was 1410. And obviously, one score game. and then he threw a touchdown literally in the last play of the first half to go up to one and 10. Then they come out and... Got the ball? We fumbled.

Oh. And now they're up 28, 10. Then we kicked it in and we started playing really good. We picked Tom off a couple times. It was 31, 23. We went on a drive late in the game. And we're on the eight-yard line. And on third down,

kind of got a rush to move it on the pocket. Maybe could have ran. I don't think I'm a lot. I could have made it because I had a couple guys chasing me, but threw it away. And fourth and a name, kicked field goal with 2.10 left on the clock to make it 31, 26. I never got the ball back. Oh, they ran it out. Yeah.

How did Tom play in that one? You just hit a couple interceptions? He had a couple picks, yeah. But their defense was so good. Yeah. And obviously Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Scottie Miller got the touchdown. It was a good player. but yeah they did they you know they did enough to win that game we were just a little bit off yeah wow

i yeah um so are you not 12 because of joe nameth it's retired joe wheelie nameth yep they wouldn't bring it out for you joe actually offered it up really yeah which i give him a ton of uh respect for that, but with all that respect, to me, 12 in New York is Joe Namath. Yeah. I just, you know, I feel like

I'm a historian. Like, I love the history, history in general, but I love the history of the NFL. And I grew up watching old VHS tapes of Super Bowl highlights. And so I knew about Joe Namath and the guarantee, which kind of was guarantee, kind of wasn't. Like, what are you going to say? Like, oh, we're going to get her ass whooped.

Like, no, we're going to win. I guarantee it, you know? And again, that's how stories can take a life of their own. I think it's beautiful that he was just like, of course we're going to win. And then they went out and they won 16-7. But Joe is an icon. And Joe's number 12 for the jet.

So I wore in college. I actually wore 12 in high school. And then when I got to Butte, I wore four in honor of Brett, because I was a big Brett fan. Really? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah.

And then I went to Cal and wanted to go back to 12, but 12 was retired. there's a man named Joe Roth who had passed away from cancer shortly after playing at Cal and they retired his number so I went to eight and then when I got to Green Bay the kicker was wearing eight and he offered to sell it to me for like some five figure some and I was like no I'm just going to go back to 12 so we're 12 like I did in high school and then you know all due respect to Joe I just didn't want to take that number out of retire. But didn't Joe had on a fur coat, didn't he? Oh, yeah, he's a legend.

What about, do you ever break out a fur coat? You know, I had some plans for sure. But when you only play four plays in the season, there's not a whole lot of shit. You can get accomplice. But you did show up. Didn't you look like Nicholas Cage? That was my last year in Green Bay. Oh, okay.

Yeah. You know, I started doing like some. Having fun. One year they didn't think I was going to come back, that I was going to do some sort of holdout. This was before the 21 season. And I got back to Green Bay and I was like, what am I going to wear the first day? And I'm good buddies with Brian Baumgartner who was Kevin from the office. And he had, I had a shirt that had his face on it.

And so I'm like, I'm going to wear a shirt. Give a little shout out to Brian. And I wore these like viper sunglasses. And people kind of enjoyed it. So I'm like, okay, I got a, how do I top this? I'm a big con air fan. I'm a big Nick Cage fan in general. So I was like, what Nick Cage movie can I do?

I got long hair. Yeah. Conair, of course. Yeah. So, yeah, I was like, I'm going to do this. And our, you know, in Green Bay, Evan, our photographer did an awesome job over the years, capturing little moments in him and his staff. Like I had done on video and obviously that went, that went some places. That was pretty funny.

Yeah, that was fun. Now it's a big thing. Everybody, you know, the first day with training camp is like a big deal. Like we got a big black dude. who looks just like Debo from Friday. Oh, yeah. Always like I think he did the Debo look again, Michael Clemens again this year.

He's awesome, just a great dude, like big, you know, huge dude, big deep voice, but he's like, you know, 24 years old, but he leans into an old Debo thing. So it's, yeah, it's a big deal. Like guys have, you know, done helicopter landings, you know, crazy cars, different outfits and stuff. But it's a little steamy in Jersey in the summertime.

Yeah. I don't think I'm being doing any fur coats until it gets a little darker. Plus, you know, it'd be faux fur, right? Because, you know, you don't want to get to cancel it too much. There's already enough things to cancel me about. Yeah, no, I understand. And New York is like, you know, that's a tough market, too. I mean, that's what I always hear is New York's tough.

But they seem like they like you. I mean, I guess what's your goals for this season? I mean, the Achilles is feeling good. Yeah, I need to be healthy. Like, the goal is always to play every game. and you know the most important ability you can have is availability so being able to be out there with my guys is important that's why I trained so hard I mean that was was so disheartening and heartbreaking about last year was was the work that I put in at 39 to put myself in a position

to be able to play the whole season I mean I grinded I came back you know as as fit as I've been in a long time and and hired a chef who helped me you know with my diet and and constant body work and stuff just to like be able to get through the the season and then the you know fucking play four plays was was really really tough especially with all the excitement around us with hard knocks and new team and and we're playing on 9-11 you know it was just a beautiful beautiful night before that so you know i got to i got to stay healthy um uh beat back father time a few more years um but i like our chances you know i like our guys i like our coaching staff We just got to put it all together.

We got a fan base that's super, super hungry and desperate for wins. I think we got the right guys. We got a good group of really talented young guys. We have the rookies of the year from a couple years ago, and Garrett Wilson, then Soss Gardner, top corner and top receiver. We got a couple of guys behind, and we're also incredible rookies. And coming off great second years, Jermaine Johnson had a big year for us as defensive end. And Breece Hall are starting running back, who had a phenomenal year.

catching the ball had like 600 yards receiving i think and had a ton of yards rushing for us and he's a game breaker so we got to shore up the offensive line a little bit to add a couple guys there maybe get another receiver but um i like our chances and and uh you know i feel like if i'm out there we always got a chance yeah how often like you know the drafts coming up do they ever check in like on your thoughts on players i don't know i don't know how the NFL works like if it's different at every team But the Jets have made a real concerned effort to involve me in conversations. I got a real relationship with the GM, Joe Douglas, him and I talk all the time.

And a lot of stuff is just sending pictures of cigars or smoking or whatever it might be. He loves fishing. So he'll send me pictures of him in the fishy cot and stuff. And I'll send him what my view is looking at the sunset and Balibu and trying to make him jealous when it's raining or snowing out. Jersey but yeah but yeah they do a good job of you know get my opinion on stuff but in the end you know they got the job to do I got a job to do and and there's is you know making personnel moves and decisions and mine is leading and playing and get myself ready to

ready to go but yeah you know it'll be interesting off season a lot stuff happens here coming up you have free agency coming up here in the next week or so and then you got six weeks and you You get the draft and you have off-season workouts. The chemistry starts to come together. Teams starts to come together. And then a nice little break in the summer. And then the end of July, it's on. Yeah, so when you look at the team, I would, you know, if they check in or get your thoughts or whatever.

But I could see you leaning more towards offensive needs than defensive needs. Or are you like, do you have the perspective like, okay, we're best for the team, we need a lockdown corner? Or are you always thinking about how do we score points? Listen, special teams have hurt, you know, hurt some of the teams I've been on over the years. So we have last year an incredible kicker and punter, both older guys, which I love. But Thomas Morsted was our punter. He had a phenomenal season. He's in his late 30s, but takes care of himself incredibly well.

And, you know, it was just a weapon for us, you know, with hang time, with inside the 20 punts, inside the 10 puns. I mean, they were like game-changing plays. We had multiple inside the five in multiple games. and then Greg Zorloin our kicker had a phenomenal year. I think you only missed two kicks all year. He's just a weapon and he can hit it from anywhere. I mean, he hit it from 60.

Every kick is a touchback for us. Those are weapons. So I'd like to see those guys back for sure. Defense, I think we're in pretty good shape. You know, we got a lot of really good young talent. We just re-signed Quinn and Williams. His brother Quincy Williams is coming off of all pro season. Finally, a backer who's had an amazing year

playing next to C.J. Mosley, who's not just a great leader for us, but a great player. DJ Reed is our other starting corner. He had a great season. Michael Carter's our nickel. He had a phenomenal year. You know, our D-line is deep. We had like six guys deep.

Got a decision to make on Bryce Hoff, who was a pass rusher had 10 sacks for us and a nice season. Is his contract up or what? His contract's up. But we just signed Quinn in. We got a couple of guys. You know, we've got to make decisions on inside. But we're stacked on defense.

We just need to shore up the offensive line a little bit and maybe out of receiver. Like I said, you got to get to know the guys, you know, what makes them tick, what they're into, you know, who they're dating, what are the kids' names. Yeah. What kind of music they'd like to do what they like to do when they go home, you know, and some of these kids are, you know, it's like playing role playing games and video games and stuff. It's a little different. The locker when I grew up in it was like there was, you weren't on your phone, you know, like. During breaks, we're playing dominoes, playing spades, playing Booray, playing backgammon, playing cribbing, playing sheep's head.

You know, we're always doing something, card games or board games. And it's a little different now. So you've got to find new ways to connect. Right. It doesn't mean, you're, you know, is, yeah, I'm 40. And we're going to have 22-year-olds on the team. Who gives a shit? Like, I got to find a way to connect with all these guys.

Yeah. Because at the end of the day, I need them, you know, rowing in the same direction. We all got to be moving in the same direction. direction. It seems like knowing details and knowing people is only an advantage. It is. When I was a rookie, we were playing the Baltimore Ravens on a Monday night game and we were bad and we were down 41 to three. Wow. And they said, hey kid, get ready. You're going in. I'm like, I hope somebody blocks for me. And I went in late in the third quarter and the third quarter ends and so we're switch ends. We're like on the 25 air lines. So we're walking the other side of the field. And I'm going to,

their defense was two of my favorite players for when I was growing up, Dion Sanders and Dale Carter. Now, Dale Carter was a lockdown corner for the Chiefs. And the only reason I knew about Dale Carter was because when Montana got traded from the Niners, I became a Chiefs fan as well because I pulled for Joe. So I knew obviously a big fan of Marcus Allen and JJ Burden and Kimballanders and Dale Carter because Dale was an awesome lockdown corner. So I'm out there on the field and Dale Carter's out there and Dion Sanders. And Dion, you know, for a while I was hated because he was on Atlanta.

Yeah. And Atlanta back then was in the Niners Division. But then Deion came over to the Niners, doing the Super Bowl. Yeah. So we were all Deon fans. And I walked from the 25 to the 25 with Dion Sanders. Oh, nice. And I'm just thinking, this is so cool.

And I probably said that. I'm like, you know, some 21-year-old pimple face kid. You know, like, hey, this is really cool out here. I mean, I know we're down 41 to 3, but like. I'm on the field with you. You're a legend, you know, like it was a really cool moment, like a welcome thing. And it felt like I'm on a field with Dionne fucking Sanders.

Yeah, that's a big deal. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, prime time. Who doesn't love prime time? Yeah. Put on a show for sure. Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know, Aaron, this has been an amazing day.

Thank you so much for coming to Oregon. Thank you for everything. I mean, this jersey? Look at this jersey. Like I said, it was made for me to, wear. I didn't actually wear in a game, so I can't say it's officially game worn, but it's made exactly for me. I need his bow. But Aaron, here's your bow, and you shot it so well today. It's an honor to give it to. It's an honor to share my life, part of my life with you and bow hunting, and

let's get out there and hunt. Yeah, I'd like to say, first, thanks to Joe. Joe has been a great friend during COVID to me, and you obviously know it for a long time. He's an incredible guy. He's given a platform and a voice to so many inspirational people, yourself included. So big thanks to Joe for making this connection happen. Thanks to you and your family for the elk chili for the entire day today. It's been great. But you got a friend now and you're welcome in Jersey anytime and hopefully we'll be able to get out and use this thing pretty soon. Yeah, let's do it. Well, thank you. You're a true outlier, one of the best in the game. Thank you, Aaron. I actually learned a lot, not only about football, just about as you as a person.

Thank you. I'm honored. Thanks. Appreciate it. All right. Keep hammering.