Club Shay Shay - Warren Sapp

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

On episode 16 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon welcomes in Super Bowl champion, 7-time Pro Bowler, & Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp.Shannon & Warren dive right in to the current state of the NFL, with Sapp’s prediction that the hometown Bucs will come out victorious against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. Warren also delves into his own career in Tampa Bay, where he won Super Bowl XXXVII against the Raiders. All aspects of Sapp’s career are covered, including his transition from tight end to defense at the University of Miami, where he played with Ray Lewis and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Sapp reveals his Mount Rushmore of players from “the U,” and walks Shannon through the process that led him to become the No. 12 overall pick in the 1995 draft.Shannon & Warren go in-depth on Sapp’s NFL career, discussing the Tampa-2 defense, winning Defensive Player of the Year, and playing for Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden. Warren also talks about his controversial block and confrontation with Mike Sherman of the Packers in the 2002 season. And we hear about Sapp’s post-playing career as a brutally honest analyst, as well as his passion for fishing.#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right.

The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space. Every week, we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the fantasy footballers only now it's from the dynasty perspective join me and the rest of the crew every wednesday for a new episode listen to the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts hello welcome to another edition of club shea shea i am your host Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor. The guy that's coming by for a drink and conversation today

is a Super Bowl champ. He's a national champ. He was a unanimous All-American. He's in Heisman Trophy Finals in 1994, a seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time first-team All-Pro, NFL Defensive Player of the Year, an NFL All-Decade Player of the Year, of the 90s and the 2000s,

Bucks Ring ring of honor, retired number 99, Hall of Famer, first ballot, one of the few defensive tackles that can say I went in on the first ballot, my dog, Warren South. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, man. Jesus, boy. Boy, you got the ball.

Did I leave on the back? No, I'm just asking. You got the bow. I like the way this sounds. On the all-Florida team, one of the top 33 players in Florida. Stop. Stop. hustle paid the price wanna slice got the roll of dice that's why all my life i've been grinding all my life all my life been grinding all my life sacrifice hustle paid the price wanna slice

got the rolling dice that's why all my life i've been grinding all my life fab how you doing bro i am excellent brother right now this is the first march madness that we didn't have where you have your own team and it's a buy in advance survive in advance so that's what i'm doing right now so i know you're a big fisherman tell about the last time you've been fishing anything you caught worth mentioning brother i went on my birthday which was december the 19th okay escape i escaped down to cost Costa Rica, which is flat calm. I can take you out there because you'll love it. It's flat calm.

If you want to go on the front. Yeah, because I can't be doing all that rocking. No, no, ain't no rocking. Flat calm. I mean, I take the old lady with me, flat calm. Okay. 100-pound tuna, 55 inches, dog. What?

Yes. And we cut him up. Right there on the boat. the boat oh yeah you got to eat it on the boat come on you got to freeze him up real good for about a good 45 hour and then buddy go slicing that thing put that wasabi and that soy sauce in there oh my god boy don't get no fresher than that though when the last time you caught any trophy fish yeah because i know you're a big trophy fisherman. You know what? I got in the water with a nice 120-pound sail and went swimming with him. And other than that, I don't take them out of the water.

And I don't keep them unless I'm eating them. If I hook it, I'm cooking it. If I'm not, then I'm releasing them because it's there for somebody else. So you hadn't had anything you had to back the boat down to in a minute? No, no. The sail we back down because that's just how you do it. I ain't had no mauling on the line in a minute, boy. I want one too, dog. Dog, dog. You know how it is

when that thing go to screaming and the cap look at you and they go to rail and everything, dog, and you on the end of that thing and you say, let's get wet. There's nothing better than that, dog. I don't, Sap, I don't think people that's never been deep sea fishing, I don't think they understand

how tedious, how tired, because you have to understand that fish knows something is trying to get him up out of that water. So he's fighting for his life and he's like, okay, well, I got him now. He's tired. And then all of a sudden he hit it. Hey, that's when he break you right there. That's when I ask for the coolest light and I tell him, sudden he hit it. Hey, hey, that's when he break you right there.

That's when I ask for the coolest light and I tell him, pull it right here. Pull it right in my mouth, dog, because I'm going to keep reeling. I'm not letting him off this hook. I'm going to keep that line tight and he got to come to the hook. Come see me. We're going to start.

This is what we're going to do. We're going to start forward and we're going to work our way back to the early years. Who's your 2020s? Who you got going to the Super Bowl? The NFC representative, AFC representative, and who wins

when it's all said and done in your hometown and your backyard of Tampa? The first time in NFL history, 101 years, we gonna have a home team playing in their home stadium. And it's my Tampa Bay Buccaneers

versus them Kansas City Chiefs. That's where I'm going. I'm right, dog. We are in sync right now. Tom Brady can hit AB on that post route now. It ain't off no more. And we are, boy, you're going to need 40 to beat us. You're going to need 40.

You like the way your defense playing? I ain't about my defense right now. The new NFL ain't about no defense. Defense don't win no championships. Defense gives you a chance. No, no, listen to me now. The new NFL ain't about no defense. Defense don't win no championships. Defense gives you a chance. No, no. Listen to me now. Defense gives you a chance and your offense and your $100 million

quarterback has to win it for you. We keep track of fourth quarter comebacks. I don't know how many fourth quarter games saving game in the second call summers I got. I don't know nothing about that. They don't keep track of that. But they keep track of Tom Brady's fourth quarters. All I want to know, I'm trying

to figure out how I get to a man that's a two-time All-Decade player, NFL Defensive Player of the Year. And this man gonna tell me he ain't talking about no defense. He's talking about offense. Offense, dog. What game you been watching for the last 12 years since we been sitting around

this thing, dog? They built the autobah down the middle of the field. Ain't no more John Lynch. Hit him under the chin. Uh-uh. They run across the middle of the field waving their hand, dog. They don't know if it's man zone. They just know that they can catch it

and they're not going to get hit. And you can't punish the quarterback. That's why you see all these, that's why you see all these video game numbers. The quarterback, no, I'm protected. I can only hit him right here, Sal. I can only hit him in the lettering of his uniform. And you can't land on him.

That was the pillow, dog. That was the reason why you brought the quarterback for me. That was my pillow. They, dog, is wide open right now. How much credit, how much influence of having Tom Brady in that Tampa Bay locker room has been, you know, when you look at the success that they've had this year, 11-5, their first time in the playoffs in almost two decades,

how much credit does Tom Brady deserve? All of it. All of it. I mean, when Tom's not, when Tom throwed a couple pick sixes early in the year and looked like he had a little glimpses of Jameis Winston and the 43-year-old quarterback wasn't going to be able to do what he done,

it was all on Tom. That defense hadn't changed. They were talking about how much stopping the run they do. I'm like, we don't run the ball in this league no more. This is a 50-pass league. And if you can't rush the passer or assault the quarterback, you're in trouble. And a lot of defenses

are in trouble every week in this league. When you look at the quarterback position now, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, what quarterback do you like? If you like, you know what, if I'm on a team,

I want him. Patrick Mahomes for me. I mean, I love what Aaron Rodgers does, and we always talk about he like that and all of this, but this boy is doing some stuff that we've never seen in this game. He's special. Dog, I was watching the Tampa Bay game, because you know me, I like to get

in the film, and I like to look up their butts, because that's the way we were taught to look at the game. Right, right. So that 75-yard pass, he threw the three. He was looking at Kelsey and the other boy and peeked over and saw it and just launched it. No look. Man, you don't do that 75 yards like that, dog, man.

That boy is sick with it. He's special with it. So let me ask you a question. wouldn't i wouldn't i wouldn't lose championships with and rogers either though i'm just gonna say that or russell wilson or deshaun watson who's doing a houdini act in houston with nobody around right do you believe the numbers that we're seeing and all i'm talking about for the quarterback position do you think that's a direct reflection of how they've handcuffed the defense and their inability to punish the receiver the quarterback or anybody you can't hit a stone

we are playing a wide open seven on seven game and you know you watch aaron donald saw the quarterback and have four sacks and they still score 54 points in that ball game i'm thinking to myself there's no quarterback that would be alive after the third sack. Because if I, if I sacked him three times, that'd be, I hit him six or seven times. Right.

He is, oh, he is, he's woozing right now. He's spinning, room spinning, like he's drunk. Now, you,

you grew up in a small town called Plymouth, Florida. Ooh. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing. You know what? I was raised by five black women.

My grandma, my mom, my aunt, and my two sisters. Okay. You know what that was. That's a lot of hard, tough love. You don't get no break like that. Not around black women in the South. You know that, boy. Exactly.

More orders, and more more orders more duties more chores and you know they kept me on the straight and narrow and when i found football i mean my older brothers are 12 9 and 7 years older than me i'm the baby of six okay so when i got to finally play with somebody my own age it was like taking candy from a baby i was like is that all you got? I mean, is that the only move you got? I mean, like you and your brother. Right.

Dog, I never wanted my backyard. Dog, when I was watching your speech, dog, I was crying with you, dog, because I felt you. I never wanted my old backyard, dog. My brother tortured me. I mean, all three of them. It wasn't no let you, oh, we won't let him win. No. What? My brother tortured me. I mean, all three of them. It wasn't no let you. Oh, we won't let him win.

We let him win. What? And you better not cry because they won't play with you for about a month, dog. It's over. And they tortured you. But it kept you coming back because you wanted to win so bad. You just want to have one. I just want to win one game.

Just one. Just one. No, no. I just want to be in the game where I got a shot doing this, sucker, because then I'm going to have to talk about all the good plays I had, and then he's going to hit me with, did you win? And, you know, you got to just go and bat out to him. I'll get you this time, but I'm going to come back tomorrow. So growing up, what was your favorite sport to play as a kid?

Football. Football was that, I mean, come on, man. If you were anything like me growing up in the 70s, you're a little older than me, but it was the Cowboys, Steelers. If you were out West, it was the Raiders. And if you were in South Florida, you were mesmerized by this mythical team that nobody else saw play. I ain't never seen the Dolphins play.

I ain't seen no 17, though. So I was a Cowboys fan, but I always thought I needed a star on my helmet. Tony Dorsett, Tony Hill, Drew Pierce, you know, Robert Newhouse, the line that move, you know, that'd be, come on, man. I mean, that's why I look at kids nowadays, and they don't know the history of the game. Like, how could you not? This is the richest, deepest game that will last you two lifetimes.

How could you not immerse yourself in it but the thing is nasap back then guys stayed basically until 12 years they retired and maybe they went one year somewhere else robert newhouse those guys stayed there property property of yeah it wasn't no after three years four years guys moving on so you you you got an opportunity. It was, you got an opportunity to know the guys and to know the teams. It's not like that anymore. Yeah, but with the internet, why not? I mean, because, I mean, you can't keep up with the NBA.

They shuffle them and change them like underwear. But the NFL, we hold them for at least four years. And then we're going to franchise you if you're that kind of player. So trust me, they don't just let them out the door now. They hold on to their property every now and then around here. So, you played linebacker, tight end, plays kicker, punter

in high school at 230. You got a high school record for sacks, tackle for losses, and the longest field goal. Hold on. How you field goal kicking at 230? Stop, stop, stop. Okay, what I mean? I was the emergency kicker.

Oh, you were emergency? I was the emergency kicker. My kicker, Steve Barnhart, went to Michigan State on scholarship as a field goal kicker. But he couldn't punt to save his life. So I was the punter. So you was the punter? Yeah, I was the punter.

I never left the field. Never left the field. So I'm just trying to figure out, at 230, how y'all got a 230-pound – you're supposed to play offensive line, defensive line. No. Hold on. How you the biggest dude on the line? Are you playing tight end?

Stop. I'm not the biggest dude on the line. LaBomba and all my boys, Rich and Close, you crazy. I had some big old monsters, dog. I played 6A football. This ain't that eight-man football. This ain't Terrell Owens you talking to. Oh, okay. No, no, no. We played

big boy football. Big boy football. We 8'8 now. We were 5'8 when I was in high school. It done gone our way up to 8'8 now, dog. It's big boy football. Trust me. You played baseball. No. You been on Wikipedia. Tell your producer, stop that. I ain't played no baseball.

You ain't play no baseball. Basketball. 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. You play basketball. Yes. And you had 1,000 points in your career. 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds. So, okay, let me guess.

You are power forward, and your game was like Charles Barkley. Well, that's how am I supposed to be? I mean, the round mound, the rebound. I mean, what else would you want to be, baby? With a nice smile and dunk that thing. I mean, dog, Barkley, my God. You would dunk it back in? Boy, I'm going to send it to you. I got an old dunk my homeboy dug up an old tape for me.

Yeah, baby. I won a dunk contest my rookie year in college so we can win some money. You know, you had to pull out your skills, baby. Come on. I was 280 doing that. Yeah. I got the job at my mama house. Let me ask you this. Now, it says that you played against a former MLB star, Johnny Damon, and you tackled him and you knocked him out. Other way around. He was the safety. I was the tight end.

Oh, you ran him over. Done. And Jason Veritech. Got both of them. Got both of them, Shea Shea. Got both of them, baby. You don't bring no baseball player out here to this football field. We stump on that, baby.

So, in other words, you wasn't looking to run past anybody. You were looking to run over people. You were trying to. No, no, no, no. It was certain ones. You know, like, you know, like the baseball all American Jason Veritech. Oh, twice. I got him. First time I shook him. First time I shook him and then ran him over. Second time. I just, I just said he ain't got enough to stop it. So I just went over here. Just flat. Your boy, your boy,

Johnny Damon had the angle on me, and I saw him late, and I lifted up the thigh, and ooh, he was gone. He said that every time I see him too, dog, hey, man, you knocked me out in the high school. I said, dog, I didn't even know it was you, dog. I really did. I really did. You chose the University of Miami.

I want to know why did you choose Miami and who were your top three teams that you were going to, that you were thinking about going to before you chose Miami? I only took four visits. You only took four? I went to Michigan State to go see Snow, and I wanted to see Steve Smith play basketball because that was real basketball.

You know that old freaky move he had? I wanted to see him do that thing because I was real basketball. You know that old freaky move he had. I wanted to see him do that thing. Boy, Steve Smith was my guy. And Bobby Williams, who's down in Alabama with Nick Saban right now, was recruiting me. My mother loved this man. I mean, this dude, he almost got me to go to Michigan State. And then it was the three Florida schools.

And I couldn't go to Florida because my mother bagged me out of the football office what happened uh I was feeling the commitment because this was fun and good and Kirkpatrick had just caught 66 balls at tight end I was gone Murray took me back to his office Shane Matthews walks in the meeting room and says who you got in the room, coach? He say, I got your guy from Apocca. Shane Matthews say, Sapp in here? I'm like, Shane Matthews know my name? What? What's on?

What do I sign, dog? I catch this rock. I do that. I do that seven right, baby. You know that. You know those seven rounds, Shannon? Right. Put that thing right there.

That's the tightest thing around, that seven, baby. Yeah. That's it. Let me push him and go to the corner, baby. Right. And I'll send a sign. And Spurrier said said there's one more person i need for you to meet he went down the hall to get the tight end coach god bless his soul john reese only time i met john reese i saw him in tampa one other time he came out of his office he looked down the hall and he

said hi man and my mama said no and walked me bagged me out of the football offices my visit was over right then shannon we go home got in the car i tried to turn the music on she slapped my hand i had to look out the window for 90 minutes until we got back to okay i never asked her florida state you did you be the florida state? Bobby Bounton wouldn't come to my house. Bobby Bounton told me he'd meet my mother at Phyllis Wheatley Elementary where she worked. I'm like, I live in the country, dog. I don't live nowhere.

You know, because in 1991, they were doing a lot of drive-by shootings. Right. And Bobby, I guess Bobby didn't feel safe in the country. But, you know, if you're a country boy, you talk about Pasagula, Mississippi, and that boy mama over there, you know the old Bobby Bounce show

when he do it on Sunday morning. You know, that beat, brother, is about literal, dog. Sammy Smith had went there from my high school, so if my girl was going to go to FAMU the next year, I wanted to go to Florida State. But Danny Badmouth is too tight-end. He told me Warren Hart was a fat F, and Lonnie Johnson couldn't catch a cold butt naked in alaska he was

soaking wet so i said i said to myself i say when i'm a when i'm not the hot new freshman and i'm a junior what is he gonna say about me to get the next guy to come to the school right i really i really didn't like that at all okay now you now i'm like now it's down to my so now it's down to miami and michigan state i gotta no no michigan state's out it's down to Miami and Michigan State. No, no, Michigan State's out. It's too damn cold. I tracked in that snow. I tracked in that snow, brother.

Oh, my God. I thought to myself, I can't do this for four, five months. Oh, my God. I'm a Florida boy. My people so trapped. So I go to Miami. You go to Miami. Dennis Erickson calls me and say he want to come visit me.

I said, well, I live 28 miles from Orlando International Airport. All you got to do is get on 441 and just head north. It's going to get jet black dark when you pass Apopka. And then all of a sudden you're going to see some flashing lights say, girls, girls, girls. There's a little topless go-go joint for the truck drivers as they get ready to go on up the road. I live right behind that there, you know, about 200 yards. Right.

Coach, he said, I'm getting in the car with Greg Smith. I ain't believe him. I'm at the basketball, I'm at the high school basketball gym watching my girl Keisha Brown play. You know, you could call a pay phone back in the day. Yes. Yeah, pay phone ring. The janitor squeezed and said, yeah oh hold on it's my

mama on the phone he come yelling yeah he's sad i'm like what your mama on the phone i'm like what i run down to the phone i pick up the phone my mom say this man sitting on my couch drinking my tea where's you at i'm like oh shit hang up the phone my homeboy, we live like four miles from the high school. We race to the house, jump out. Man, I come in the living room. Coach, he's sitting in my chair with a big cup of tea. Man, talking to my mom, him and Coach Smith in there. I go to University of Miami.

My mom falling in love with Anna Price. It's over. Over. You go to the U to play tight end. Yeah. What happened and then why did they move you to? Hey, me and my homeboys, I don't know what it was, whether it was the private stock, the barbecue or what.

But from June the 10th to August the 6th, I gained 46 pounds. What? No, I go from 225 to 270. Let's just say 270. That's a nice round number. 270. No. I stand on this scale.

270. I'm like, what the hell the fifth grader that I ate? You know what I'm saying? What the hell's going on? So they put me out there, and they told me go run a 40. So I got to run a 40. I don't even know what this is. You know, I come down the line.

They, nah, don't worry about it. Go back over there. I'm like, what was that? They were like, you just ran for your scholarship. I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, what do you mean? I mean, what hard just dropped? They're like, man, we didn't recruit no 275 guy.

We recruited 225, 230 at the most. I'm like, hey, but you lucky you can still run. I'm like, hey, I'm good then. Let's go on with this process then. Okay. So you gained 70 pounds and they moved. So how did they tell you, Warren, we want you to move to the other side of the football

and not play linebacker, play D-line? Oh, no. I was going with the intent purpose to go take Jesse Armstead's linebacker play D-line? Oh, no. I was going with the intent purpose to go take Jesse Armstead's linebacker position because Miami really didn't throw to the tight end, so I was just going to go play linebacker. So I done gained, I still up at 270. They put me on

a 3,000 calorie a day diet. I gained 30 more pounds. I'm 300 now. This week three of the season. We beat Arkansas 99 yard touchdown comeback. I'm 300 now. This week three of the season, you know, we done beat Arkansas 99 yard touchdown comeback. So Bob Carmelo walks up to me, God bless his soul,

and says, young man, I've seen Cortez and Russell and another beat tackle. He say, and you're better than all three of them. I said, what? I said, man, you lost your mind, man. I'm going to go over here and play tight end. I'm going to lose me some weight. I'm going to catch me a couple of balls.

Ed Ogeron comes. Then the national champ, Coach LSU. Listen, big fella. I done seen Russell Jerome and all of them. I'm telling you, I got the film in the closet over there. I'm telling you, country boy, you'd be better than all of them. So they convinced me to go run with them for, you know, a couple weeks. Just run with them.

They don't put me in no run drill, Shannon. They only allow me to rush the pass. They only got me in pass rush drill. Right. No first team or second team guy will go against me. They only give me the bottom of the barrel. Right. So you know I'm whooping them.

Right. I got sneaky long arms. So you know I'm whooping them. Right. I got sneaky long arms and you know, I'm pretty athletic. Right. Man, I was thinking this is like playing tight end. I just got to move them one way, go the other way. Yeah, I just got to move them. You know, if I move them hips, I can get where I want to go. Man, all of a sudden

I got a taste in my mouth and off I went though. Did you know the history of the UD lineman? Because as you mentioned, Jerome Brown, Jay Boogie, they got Tez. Tez came out with me, which was second pick in the draft. Russell Maryland, but they had Danny Stubbs. Jim Burt, Jim Burt. Yeah.

The original three, four nose, Ruben Carter. Yeah, they're on the wall in the Gritter's Room. When you walk in here, that's the story that Dwayne Johnson tells all the time. When I walked in the room, because Ogeron told me, go in the room, just sit down and wait for everybody to pick their seat. And then you pick a seat in the Gritter's Room, because these are cherry spots. They don't let anybody in the Gritter's. So I'm sitting in the first chair. Dwayne Johnson comes through the room and asks me, what are you doing here?

And I looked at him. I said, I'm here in the first chair. Dwayne Johnson coming through the room and asked me, what are you doing here? And I looked at him. I said, I'm here for your job. You know me. I got to have some comeback. I mean, I ain't just here. I'm here for your job, son. So then there's a freshman that comes in, Ray Lewis. What was your first impression

when you met Ray and did you know he was going to be what he became? Okay. You know you don't pay no attention to no freshman when they come in.

And especially the last one that got a scholarship. Ray, that was the last one. Ray Otey, he was the last scholarship they gave out that year.

We playing and we trying to, you know, go up in the season because, you know, we fighting for I said, Ray, that was the last one. Ray will tell you that he was the last scholarship they gave out that year. We playing and we trying to, you know, go up in the season because, you know, we fighting for a national championship. Right. All of a sudden, my middle linebacker gets hurt. We got to go to Colorado. Go play the Buffs in Colorado. On the road. I ain't got no middle linebacker.

All of a sudden, 17-year-old Ray Lewis walking here, still got sand souls in the back of his head, Shannon. I ain't lying to you, brother. Still wet behind the ear. Stands in front of this huddle and tries to call the defense and go, you can't. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I said, son, if you're going to stand in front of this thing,

you're going to stand like a man. You're going to talk like a man. You're going to play like a man. Did you hear me? He looked at me and said, I got you, big dog. Change two. Ready, score. I said, that's what it sounds like. 20 tackles and an interception later,

he was on his way to becoming that monster that we know, dog. Is it safe to say the starting middle linebacker never got a job back? Never. Wally Pipped him, dog. We never heard from base again. Did you recruit Ray? No, no. We never heard from Bass again. Did you recruit Ray? No, no. I'm telling you the hot recruit that year was

Jamie German. Me and Rohan Molly drove all the way over to Fort Myers. The wide receiver though, right? Yeah, the wide receiver. That was the hot recruit that year in 93. It was Jamie German. It was Deferred, Jamie German, something like that. Oh, Deferred was in 92 and then Jamie German,

and Ray was in that class, but he was the last one. He really wasn't no highly retired guy. He just grew into the monster that we know because he worked so damn hard at it. That's what was his thing. He worked at it. Dwayne Johnson, and I don't know if people know this, the Dwayne Johnson we're talking about

is the Dwayne Johnson you think we're talking about, The Rock. He said, Warren Sapp is the reason that I'm in acting. Stop that. What type of player was he? On a scale of one to 10, he was a six. And I was an eight in college, you know what I'm saying?

Right. So he's two steps down. I mean, he just, he was an adequate player, but he wasn't going to make that play for you, you know what I'm saying? Right. So he's two steps down. I mean, he just, he's an adequate player, but he wasn't going to make that play for you. You know what I'm saying? You know, he wasn't going to dominate a game, wasn't going to take it over, but he'd be good enough for you to, you know,

not lose the game for you. Right. I put it in that term. So that wasn't like to be on a field, you know, you know, I played, I went to a small college and I'm the dominant guy. And so I know every day I'm the best player out there, but you go out there and then you see all these other five-star recruits and you see all these other guys that's going to be future first round picks. Some of them going to be hall of famers. What is practice like? Oh my God.

Cause you know, back then practice and practice was we thugged up. We put people on the ground. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. We hit. We hit. They got to call us off. You crazy? No taking them to the ground. We got a good thug, but don't take them to the ground. You crazy.

Dog, in college, it was a dog-eat-dog world on Green Tree practice field. We'd go out there, man, and just obliterate each other. I mean, just, oh, Rohan, Molly, Ray, they loved to hit. And then CJ Richardson was in the back, my, Rohan, Molly, Ray, they love to hit. And then C.J. Richardson was in the back, my safety. No, you would get lit up. Because you know what, Sam? And I tell people,

it wasn't a thought about, well, I don't need to, like, hurt him because we got a game to play. Nah, bro, it is what it is. Hey, we playing this game, dog. You better protect yourself. That's why it was called

Bang 8. As soon as you hit able to bang, get big because you're going to get hit regardless if you catch it or not. When you were in college and you're playing with Dwayne Johnson, did you know he would turn out to be what he became?

Did he have that kind of personality? Did he have that kind of charisma? Listen, he did, but he kept it hidden. He's the type of guy that you'd let your sister date i mean real good guy real charismatic but the thing about him was we always used to say it to him like do it this football thing don't work out you're gonna go wrestling he'd be like you damn right and i mean rocky johnson was his daddy and the flying snooker brothers was his uncles so it was in his blood he just took all those sayings that

was ed ogeron that candy ass and shoving it sideways oh my god that's what ed ogeron used to talk to us if we had a bad practice or a bad game that's how he used to talk to us just like that so when i first saw it because brooks is the rational fan right looks like you gotta see this out i'm like what what man you took over the tv, got Tony Dungy to make me late to the room. I was going to watch something else on the TV tonight, man. No, no, you got to watch this. So, you know, you got to wait the whole hour until you get to the main event. Right.

So I didn't do it a whole 40 minutes of wrestling at 29 years old. I want to kill Brooks at this point, right? Come on, man. I could have been watching. You talking about Derrick Brooks. Derrick Brooks, number 55 in your program, number 942 in your heart when it's wrestling time because he's going to watch it.

And all of a sudden, the smoke, the lights, everything sets off, and oh, my God. My mouth hit the floor, dog. My mouth hit the floor. I was watching my teammate, and he was no longer the guy that was behind me he was up front and center the stage was his and he was giving it to me i i fell in love with i said you know what dog we can watch the rock on thursday nights in here now you know

what i'm saying i just won't watch the other 40 minutes of it i'll just watch the 10 minutes of him oh he's on, it's about to be over. So I can deal with that. Of all the great players, I want to get you on this one. Who's on your Mount Rushmore of UM players?

Yeah! Yeah! You got Mike, you got Ray Lewis, you got Airy, you got J Boogie, no, no. You got Ray Lewis. You got Airy. You got Jay Boogie. You got Tess. You got Tess DeBirdie.

Here's one right here, Jim Otto. Jim Otto, okay. Yeah, Jim Otto. And then I'm going with Jerome Brown. Okay, Boogie. Representing the defensive line. I'm going to go Michael Irvin because you can't have a you without the playmaker. And then I'm going to bring it to the new school.

I'm going to put Sean Taylor up there because nobody is going to argue with the great Sean Taylor sitting on the Mount Rushmore. That's my four right there. I'm going O-line, D-line, wide receiver, and DB. Because you guys had them. I mean, you think about you didn't mention Benny Blaze, Highsmith. Nope.

Come on, Adrian James, number 336, going into the Hall of Fame with us. Andre Johnson, who was about to crush every Rose Bowl record in the history of the world. They had to call him off them boys out there in 2001. I mean, we got some dogs now. We got some dogs. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast,

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Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Canes team of 01.

I believe that is the greatest team in college football history. When you look at who they had on their roster, you look at the guys that went in the draft in the first round, and you look at what they became in the NFL. Now, if I give you the 95 Cornhuskers, the 04 Trojans, 88 Notre Dame, 2000 Oklahoma, where would you rank that 2001 Canes team?

Number one, I mean, number one, I just can't see a weakness in that football team. I mean, it took a referee throwing the latest flag we've ever seen in a national championship game to take that trophy away from us. But, you know, Ohio State played a good game. But boy, that was an immense amount of talent on the football field. You talk about Brian McKinney, Shockey, McGahee, Portis, all of them in the back. I mean, I think the back in the backfield got what 16 16 11 and 10 they got 34 almost 40,000 yards in the nfl it's crazy dog and you think about sean taylor was on that team ed reed and trail roll that jonathan vilma was the middle backer vilma uh uh they had Vince Wolfe up. Yep.

Calais Campbell. Jimmy Gray. That team was loaded. I don't think people realize how good that team was. Because you're running back with Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, and Clinton Portis. Clinton Portis. And you do realize in 2020, and Frank Gore is still in the NFL.

The third all-time lead in Russia, 16,000 yards. There's only two other men can say that in their life. Jesus. On two repaired ACL knees. And one of them happened in high school. Yeah. Sap, you go to the combine. Oh.

What's your process? You're like, okay, I did this. I'm a unanimous All-American. I won the Lombardi. I'm the baddest defensive player here. Okay. Talk about the interview process, the testing. What's going on?

Nothing. I was just there. I effed up. You know what I mean? With Sean Salam, God bless his soul. That's a good buddy of mine. And, you know, we had went through the whole little banquet of, you know, all-American team. He was the offensive player of the year.

I was the defensive player of the year, all up to the Heisman, you know, off to camp, all these things. And my brother won the Heisman that night, and he pulled out a little joint. And me and him hit it together, and I put it down. I said, that's it, dog. I got to go to the combine. 23 nanograms, Shannon, and the cutoff was 20. And that's my life story in a nutshell right there.

One silly night, one bad mistake. It wasn't about the interviews, because what were you going to say to me? I tell you, look at the tape. I had 12 games, and pick the game you want to watch. I tell you, look at the tape. I had 12 games and pick the game you want to watch. At 6'2", 312 pounds, you ran a 4.69. Did you think going into the combine that you were going to be the number one pick in the draft?

Two, Jacksonville. I didn't want to go to Carolina. Wasn't nothing about me, Carolina. Ain't a number of prisons and pig farms in North Carolina. That's what I heard. And colleges, a bunch of colleges. I give them that. But Carolina wasn't the spot for me. I wanted to go to Jacksonville.

I'd be in the state of Florida, have a chance to play in front of my home state, my home. Mom gets to drive up, drive back. You know, that whole thing. You know, you want to be home. You know it's country, boy. You like being home. Right.

When you look at it, Kajana Carter ends up going first overall to the Bengals, Steve McNair third to Houston, and then there's a run on defensive linemen. Kevin Carter, Mike Mimoula, Derek Alexander. You're sitting

at home, and so what's going through your mind? No, I'm at the draft. I'm in the draft. Oh, you'm at the draft. I'm in the draft. Oh, you're at the room. I was the first Aaron Rodgers, buddy, two hours and 45 minutes, baby. They did your boy wrong up in there. Double take like this here.

I looked up and, you know, when Kevin Carter went six after Kerry Collins went fifth, I looked at the list. I said, okay, but Jonathan Carter had 1,800 yards. Buscelli was a big bad boy over at USC.

Adam McNair ran and threw the ball all over the world. So I can't complain with that there. Four was Michael Westbrook. That was the mistake by the Washington football team. We won't call them what they was at the time.

You know what I'm saying? We're going to be politically correct. You know what I'm saying? We're going to stop it right there. And I was just looking at the list. So I leaned over to my mama when we got to Mr. Brady and the Jets screaming, we won't stop. Because that was when the building was about to come loose right then. You know, Jet fans wanted to kill somebody.

They're like, what? We got a chance to get seven. We take a guy who caught how many touchdowns? I don't know how many touchdowns? I don't know how many he had, but it wasn't very many. Right. So I leaned over to my mother. I said, ma, they can take all the receivers, tight ends,

and whatever they want. But if they take one defensive tackle, we going to give up and we walking out of here. That's the line I drew, Shannon. OK. You can take all the D.E.s, linebackers, whatever you think your need is, go take it. But if you

take Ellis Johnson, I'm walking up out of here because that's a disrespect and I ain't going to stand for that. They take Mike Mamoula with the seventh pick, Philly. He was the first workout warrior at the combine that blew everybody away, ran 4-3-5, jumped, lifted, all that stuff.

Yeah, rod jump, 10-8, all this. Yeah, all that. Yeah. Put the tape on. So it's going out. Obviously, you said almost three hours you're sitting there. Tampa is on the clock. Oh, man.

Listen, Rosenhaus got a call. He tell me, yeah, I think it's Tampa. I'm like, you know, at. Listen, Rosenhaus got a call. He tell me, yeah, I think it's Tampa. I'm like, you know, at this point, I'm done. I'm like, Tampa? And Tampa's terrible at that. Y'all got 11 straight double-digit lost seasons, and y'all questioning whether to take the best player.

It ain't even on the board. And the whole damn draft that's left right now. You kidding me? You couldn't trade away three picks right now for me, boy. And one was Denny Green was sitting right there and told the people the night before, the only person worried to move up in this draft, the draft is Warren Safford. He took Derrick Alexander.

I took that one personally. God bless your soul, Denny. I won't talk bad about you today. So I told him, so I get on the phone Sam White's like uh we thinking about taking I was like you get this phone I'm like you just get this phone man I don't care anymore I don't care anymore right now you know I want out of here right now I wasn't even planning on going to the draft I was gonna be at home a country boy in the backyard with the barbecue they done gave me the whole top floor of the Marriott Marquis,

laid me out. I got a broom with a hot tub and everything in it. I ain't never had nothing like that. Looking out over New York, they did me bad, though. You get drafted by the Bucs. You go into town for 12, like you mentioned, they had at least a decade of double-digit losing seasons. I like the creamsicle uniform because you got it.

It had the creamsicle. They didn't have the new one. The cream circle was real nice. I made a deal. I traded Harden Nicholson when you had the Pro Bowl. I got with them cream circle helmets. I'll get you a 9-9. I'll get you a jersey. I need that. That's what I need. I'll get you a jersey. I got you.

What was the first thing Warren Sapp bought with some of that NFL money? My mama house and my mama Mercedes Benz 320 S-Class. I remember taking my mama to the Mercedes Benz place, dog, because I was going to get her to drive her new car over to the house. Right. You know, because my mama had never had a new car in her life.

You know, my mama got a funny saying, well, I ain't never had a car ain't nobody else fought it in. So, you know, we had to get that secondhand car. You got to do what you got to do. And that Impala that laid down in the back that you had to let the seat up and get in the back and nobody wanted to sit in the back.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm talking about. And that LTD, that long, tough, and dangerous. No, I went and got, I went to the Mercedes-Benz dealership with my mama. They had a line up. I said, mama, pick the color you want. What? What'd you tell? Mama, pick the color you want and the car you want.

And then you got to go test drive. Me and my homeboy sitting in the back. You know, the Benz was big back then, y'all. You know, the big old five. My homeboy was about 5'7". He back there swinging his feet sitting in the back, you know the Benz was big back then, dog. You know the big old 5. My homeboy was 5'7". He back there swinging his feet up in the air. He said, man, it's like sitting on the city bus. Then I knew I had to buy it.

I said, we buy this thing, dog. Then we go drive around to the house. So I got my mom in a brand new car. I said, drive over here to this address. Okay. She driving over there. We're over on Parker Violet Road. That's over there in a good part of town. Windermere, Atlanta City amongst the lakes. Told my mom up on a $400,000 crib upstairs, a little spot, hideaway where I can get, I can come in the garage and go up there. She won't even know I'm in there. Four other bedrooms

over that big master pool on the back end, covered in. Walk up to the door. And I had the lady standing there. And the lady standing there, she said, you want to come inside and look? I'm going to say, no, I don't want to look inside. I grabbed the keys from the lady. I said, mama, you ain't got to go look inside. This one is yours. She said, what? I said, that was yours.

You go there, do what you want with that. She went in there and went to crying. And you know how it is, dog. It's just one of the moments that you just live for. And that was my day. You mentioned rest his soul, Sam White drafted you, but Tony Dungy comes in. Tell me the impact that Tony had not only on Tampa, but on you.

I was at the Super Bowl with John Randall and Derek Thomas, God bless his soul. We're doing a line of challenge down in New Orleans. And everybody came up to me and was like, oh, you got the man. You got the man. I'm like, oh, Tony Dungey, man. And, you know, I'm a young player. I don't know who Tony Dungey was in Kansas City with Neal Smith

and Derek Thomas doing all that. You know, I went to Minnesota and him and Monty, you know, rixing this two thing together. I don't know that. I'm a young player just trying to get my feet wet, trying to, you know, not fall out the league in three years. You know what I'm saying? Right.

So they telling me all this good stuff about Tony. So I got to go home. I got to go see this man. And he a brother. So, you know, I ain't never had no black coach in my life. You know, never. So I shoot back to Tampa. I walk see this man. And he a brother. So, you know, I ain't never had no black coach in my life. You know, never. So I shoot back to Tampa. I walk in this thing.

I'm plowing through the building. He meets me. I guess somebody told him I was somewhere coming in the building. He say, I'm looking for you. I'm looking for you. I had to come to my office. So we went around to his office. I sat in the coach's office.

First time I ever sat in the coach's office looking at another brother. I'm like, boy, this damn shit feels feels good i can't wait to tell my mama you know you know you know what kind of man he is you know right no he looks at me he said i want you to do the same thing you did at miami i said whoa whoa whoa coach do you know what that entails he said what does that entail i said that's trample the run on my way to the quarterback. He said, I like the way that sounds. And we never had another discussion about one shot play, dog. He turned me loose. You do realize, I think the thing is,

is that he envisioned you like the Steelers used Joe Green. They're going to put him at the under tackle, and they say, go hunt. Dog, he told me and Brooks this this after you know he got us both together he said you're joe you are joe green and you are jack ham joe green had 10 straight pro bowls four world championships and two defensive players of the year that's what you're chasing and then he read off jack ham to brooks me and brooks looked at each other and said look like we got some work to do.

I said, but it's going to be fun, Brooks. Hey, man, let's see what we got. If he's going to let us play and have the freedom that he says he's going to let me go, I'll play this man in a day or twice or something. You start, they play your cover, you know, you got a defense named after, they call it Tampa 2.

And then you become an all- pro for four straight years. You make the playoffs. You win defensive player of the year. Why, what were some of the reasons you feel you weren't able to get over the hump with Coach Dungy? I thought Coach was a little too nice. And the thing about Indianapolis,

it gave him Peyton Manning so Peyton Manning would drive the offense and then he could come over and do what he did to us turn us into a fine-tuned defense that understands the nuances in the situational football and the timeouts and all the little you know all the little things that little pebble in your shoe that'll drive you crazy in a football game he could teach that to him that but he really didn't demand what he demanded from this defense, from our offense. He actually just three yards and punt the ball and don't turn it over. That ain't what we needed.

We needed some drive. You needed somebody to hold him accountable. Hold on, Coach. You hold him accountable. Hey, take it in text, too. Dog, Tony used to walk in the room and tell Marinelli, I expect nine sacks this week. And I'd walk in there on Tuesday,

Marinelli have your head down and be like, what's up, coach? Man, I look at the tag. Man, I'm coming here. I'm going to try not to get diabetes eating all this cake this week. You know what I'm saying? I got some people I can take to the house.

Coach expects nine sacks. I'm like, man. I said, wait, wait. If I get three, where the hell are the other sticks coming from? This before Simeon. You know what I'm like, nine? I said, wait, wait. If I get three, where the hell the other six coming from? This before Simeon, you know what I'm saying? That's how Simeon did. Shit, where the hell the other six gonna come from? Come on, man. He didn't say

nine, did he? Yeah, one. He said nine. Sap, you're in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. D. Brooks is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lynch is up. So is Rondé. What was it like playing with those guys? Ooh. A pleasure, a privilege, and an absolute pleasure.

I mean, I mean, just the work that they put in. Rondé, you know, me and Rondé have a little thing. He'd be ready to jump the route in the first half, first quarter. I said, Rondae, do not. Boy, if you jump this route and they double me, there's nobody over the top. And he'd look at me and go, yeah, you're right. I said, dog, we can't have it right now, baby.

You got to give me time enough to figure out where this slide is going, and I'll let you know when I can let you go. He was like that little banshee. You had to hold him back because, boy, he was going to go jump and bite that ball and go get his hands on it, boy. And Lynch, Lynch would not accept not hitting a man in his face. You know, like, you know, put your face mask on. None of this go low hits you in the knee.

Uh-uh. No. It's right square in your mouth. And poof. Lynch would have hits you in the knee. Uh-uh. No. It'll hit you right square in your mouth. And poof. Lynch would have been out of the league. They'd have took all Lynch money. They'd have banned him. You can't hit nobody like that.

They'd have banned him. They'd have banned him. That's why when you a dinosaur like that, can they put him in the museum with us? You know, all of us, we can't play our game like we used to play no more, man. You can't slap me. You don't do that old hat slap. You used our game like we used to play no more, man. You can't slap me. You don't do that

old hat slap that you used to do at the top of your route and push out. You can't do that no more. They throwing flags. 1999, you do the

Defensive Player of the Year. But I believe you think you had a better year a couple of years later. Was that your best, that was your best season? Do you believe your Defensive Player of the Year was your best season? Do you believe your defensive player of the year

was your best defensive season? No, 2000 was. 2000. My wife was pregnant with my son. And I had winning that thing, and the off-season sharing. And I had work. I mean, I was having me a boy.

I'm going to name him once after second, baby. I'm going to call him Deuce. I had it all mapped out. And I was over there. I was at the house eating ice cream. I had it all mapped out. And I was over there. I was at the house eating ice cream and sour cream and onion and pickles. You know, pregnant lady. You know, pregnant lady late night after night. I'm thinking, I done worked out all day long.

I can do all this. I'm going back tomorrow. Dog, I stood on that scale week one. I was 326 pounds. I looked around. I was like, damn, where's the fifth, the sixth grade that I ate? There's somebody bigger this time. But Tony Dungy didn't say a word to me that Friday.

I'm like, man, he's going to come back here and get on this weight thing, man. Didn't say a word. I left up out there that Friday, came back Saturday. We flying up to Foxborough. Flying up that thing. Flew up there. He didn't say a word. Sunday morning, we got the 1 o'clock there. He didn't say a word. Sunday morning, we got the 1 o'clock game.

He didn't say a word. Dog, I'll go out here and Belichick got Max Lane out here with a big Q-tip on his right hand. I said, well, shove that in your ear as I go kill your quarterback today. I think I missed Drew Bledsoe six times that day, but I got him like one and a half. So we fly back to Tampa, have a good time. We 1-0, sitting in the back of the Monday stretch.

I look up, there's no Brad Culpepper beside me, so I'm back here by myself. They just drafted McFarland. So I'm back here by myself, sitting back here. I ain't got nobody to talk to on a Monday. I feel good when I look around and here he come. I said, oh, God, we're going to have this conversation on Monday after a win? He walked up to me.

He walked up to me and said, 326, huh? I said, Coach, you watch me come in here every day and work my butt off. I was not going back to 1998 when I wasn't effective. You know what I'm saying? I said, but it wouldn't come off, Coach. I don't know what it did. He said, if you play like you play Sunday, we don't need to talk about your weight.

Dog, by week eight, I had 10 and a half sacks, dog. And that was, you know, that was the year Ray won defensive player of the year. We went back to back. Yeah, back to back to back to back. I think he won another one. Yeah, we went back to back, Yeah. Back to back to back to back. I think he won another one. Yeah, we went back to back. 99-2000.

Back to back. Yeah. And then that's the year he came to my stadium and won him a championship with my old quarterback. Yeah, that was a very memorable year for me. Yeah. You also did something that very few defensive tackles get an opportunity to do. You caught a couple of touchdown passes.

Now, I remember the one against Atlanta. And you... You should have seen the dance in practice, dog. That was a real G version of what I was doing in practice. You just know this. You know I was cutting up in practice. So when they call, okay, you're running in practice. I mean, you know, you practice a lot of things.

But sometimes, Sam, they practice, and you don't call them in the game. And I'm like, well, hold on. Why don't y'all call that in the game? They're working in practice calling it in the game. John Gruden says to me on Wednesday, I'm going to grow to a legend. I said, what? I'm going to throw you

the football this week. We practice Wednesday, Thursday. By the time Friday roll around, Brooks and them ain't even playing defense when I go on offense. They just preventing me from doing this dance, though. That's how bad is the guy. That's how bad is that guy.

I mean, we practice it two, three times a day. You know, short yardage, they put me in there and do it. Then goal line, we do it. So I'm scoring this thing because, you know, this little young boy, he don't really know what I'm doing. I'm faking. I'm an old tight end. You know, I'm faking like I'm blocking him good.

You know, give him a good punch. He push back, I throw an old tight end. You know, I'm faking like I'm blocking him good. You know, give him a good punch. He push back. I throw him on the ground. You know, I'm going for this bag. They don't know about the old tight end days. So I done scored four times. So Friday roll around. No way.

I told John. I said, don't even call it today. He's like, what? I got to practice my play. I'm like, listen, they're not going to let me score. Man, Brooks and Lynch are over there guarding me, dog. I'm like, listen, they're not going to let me score. Man, Brooks and Lynch are over there guarding me, dog. I'm like, dog, are y'all not playing the defense that we play around here just so I can't score? You ain't doing that dance no more.

That's what started it. That's what started it. You won't do that dance in Atlanta the whole flight, the whole Saturday flight. You know they were 56 minutes from Tampa to Atlanta. The whole flight. What you going to do today? What tampa to atlanta the whole flight is you gonna do today is you gonna do today i'm like god i'm like john do not call this play he's like i want to see the dance oh it was it was across the board that he's gonna call it and i gotta do the dance so it was already set so jesus go back a little bit they relieved coach

dungey of his duty they going to bring a new coach in. Did you have a conversation with Coach Dungy after they let him go? No, I had a conversation with Tony Dungy before they let him go. That was the scary part because we were leaving Philadelphia after getting beat 31-10 or 31-9.

I think that was the two scores we went back to back. And he was the last one to get on the bus. And that's never Tony. Tony's always ahead of us. Then Tony's there. Brooks is beside him. And I'm behind him.

I get on the bus. And he ain't there. And I look at Brooks. And Brooks like, I don't know. So I sit down. So we get a little worried, you know, that they finna fire him in Philly at the vet after the game. Long story short, he gets on the bus and he says,

we're safe, we're good. I just talked to the owners. We're good. Nothing's going to happen. Man, we get back in. I think it was that Monday they fired him. Tuesday, I went to see Rich McKay. I said, dog, you got to get me out of here. I said to see Rich McKay.

I said, dog, you got to get me out of here. I said, because this ain't, this ain't. No, no, no, big dog, big dog, big dog. Calm down, calm down, calm down. We're going to get a coach. We're going to get, we're going to, I said, I said, one other time I came in your office and I asked you to get me out of here. And that was when Sam Weiss, after my rookie year,

he told me it would be a better situation. So I'm going to see who you hire and what we're going to do before I ask you to trade me again. So back to that, I mean, man, they cut our chest out. They cut the heart out of our chest. I mean, that man had taught us how to be pros, how to be dads, how to be fathers,

how to be men. And he didn't deserve that. They bring in John Gruden. They have a give a Kings ransom to first round is eight million dollars which i had never heard of somebody trading for a coach but that's not there you know and you know he asked for me too oh did he yeah and then the glazier said we'll give you the money the draft picks everything but one we'll give you everything you asked for but one what

what a concept dog that's why I love the Glazier family to the day I die now, dog. I was their first pick and they wouldn't trade me with Al Davis, one of the king's wrestlers, dog. It was like, we'll trade you everything but Al Jack. You finally get an opportunity because you know how you're going to be defined. If you want to be

one of these premier tackles, if you go down in history and be legendary, you got to win the chip. you got to win the chip. You got to win the chip. So you make it, you go on the road, you beat Philly in Philly for the championship game. Rondé Barber jumped that stick route, which I'll call a yogi. He went to the, he housed it.

You get to the Super Bowl. What is your thought process going into the game? Did you think, man, we got our work cut out for us? Are you like, we're going to beat the brakes off them? We were just going to go one play at a time because that was always our model. One play at a time. Never know what's going to happen. Cole ahead, behind, no matter what the score.

We're going to play this thing for 60 minutes and then we're going to look up and see what happens. It was just because we were the last team to go straight from a championship to a Super Bowl. There was no bye week. We had no time to think. And then we were living off East Coast time on the West Coast, so we woke up Tuesday morning, Shannon, at 4.30 in the morning,

suck our head out the door. Me, Rondé, Brooks, Lynch, Sean Quarles, Simeon Rice, Dwight Smith, we had a meeting at 6 o'clock in the morning. We went to go turn on the film because we were just sitting there twiddling our thumbs in the middle because we were up. Dog, Dwight Smith looked at that tape and said, I'm going to pick that pass off. That sluggo scene when Rich was just standing there and throw it back on that hitch. Twice he took it to the house, dog. It was set in stone.

It wasn't one of those we're going to have an easy night. We just had to go put in the work that we needed to put in because you know how it is in a football game. If that big Moe get to swing on you, it all hell could break loose. You're exactly right. So the 0-2 Bucks defense, we got the 76 Steelers, 85 Bears, 2,000 Ravens, 13 Seahawks, 15 Broncos.

Ravens, 13 Seahawks, 15 Broncos. Ravens? You like that 2,000 Ravens, D? No. Y'all weren't scoring touchdown. And that little fluke player, and that little fluke pass you called and took off for 90-something yards, that's the wildest play ever in playoff history, dog. I'm like, what the hell?

I mean, it's worth that. Dog, I used to tell like, what the hell? I mean, it's worth that, dog. I used to tell Ray, we invented buck ball, but y'all went and perfected that thing, dog, and did it with my old quarterback, too, dog. Y'all even taught Dilfer how not to throw the pick six. I couldn't believe it. At that point in time, you know,

all we had to do was not turn the ball over. That's it. The likelihood of you driving about 70, 80 yards against that defense, it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to happen. Do you think somebody will ever break the Ravens scoring? They gave up 165 points in 16 games.

Do you think so? You don't think that? Nope. They done built the Autobahn in the middle. I'm sitting here talking about Tom Brady. He's going to lead 40 to beat him. That was defensive tackle. You crazy?

We got a whole new league we enjoying right now, baby. This thing wide open. So let's bet the over and let's ride on out. Things did not end the way you would have liked it to in Tampa. Why did you leave Tampa? And then why did you go to the Raiders? They made a decision that Anthony McFarlane would be able to do my job I mean you know how this is it's a business decision I mean right John Gruden told me when I got on the phone when I you know woke up that morning it was free agency

Marvin Lewis made an offer to Drew Rosenhouse two minutes before free agency opened they had a Florida State workout somewhere Marvin Lewis is on the phone. I'm like, well, go give me $20 million for four years, and I'm retiring after that because I don't want to play. I want to do four years, and I'm retiring. I had already mapped out my retirement after I was leaving Tampa. John Gruden, I got on the phone. Gruden told me, give me an hour. Mike Brown said, give him an offer for me to accept his offer.

So I waited 56 minutes, called Rosenhaus back. I said, take Mike Brown's offer. I jumped in my car, went down to one book place. I cleaned out my locker. It was over in Tampa that fast. Are you disappointed that they didn't make a better attempt to keep you your cornerstone player? No, no.

I'm like a bad cold. When I done ran my course, let me go. It wasn't nothing. You know, we had won a championship together. My name was going to be on the wall. And, you know, what I did in Tampa was sketch. And they had them put a statue of me up in the one book place. I was happy.

I was happy. So it's a choice between the Bengals and the Raiders. All of a sudden, Al Davis got on the phone and said, and I woke up, I mean, I went down to Miami. I was at the Heat game and the person at the house called me 6 o'clock in the morning

and said, Al Davis is on the phone. He said he's not hanging up until you're a Raider. Mike Brown didn't have a chance. Mike Brown said he, you know, didn't against himself and all kinds of other foolishness. That's why the Bengals are the Bengals. Al, rest his soul. He would always ask you to be out there scratching, and

you'd see you run by a special of great players. He would always come and put his hand on your shoulder, so you'll want to be a Raider. Yeah. Yeah. He loved collecting. Loved collecting. He collecting. Loved collecting. He did.

Loved collecting great players. So you played, I think you played two years or three years in Oakland? Four. Four. You let it go. You said, I'm done. And you were coming off a great season. Your last season, you played really, really well.

Well, the year before that, I had 10 sacks too. But, dog, trust me, when you walk in the locker room and they talking about how much money the guy on the TV making and how much this and that and whatever, it wasn't about winning. I won 15 games in four years, and trust me, it was not about winning in Oakland. I won five, four, two, and four games in four years. I didn't lose like that in Tampa, dog.

And I damn sure wasn't going to fly 3,300 miles to go get beat like that. And it ain't no sunny place over there in the Bay Area, baby. And I was living in San Fran. Other than the lazy man, Chapino, on Tuesday afternoon over there, the walk that I ate every Tuesday, nothing else would keep me going back to San Fran. You were also in Oakland when Randy Moss came. Talk to us about that situation.

And why didn't it work out with Randy in Oakland? They ran the hell out of Randy, man. They made this man run so many go routes in practice that it didn't make sense. And then Kerry Collins got there and Kerry didn't want to throw him the ball because he didn't believe that this was open. When Randy did this, he was open.

I said, Kerry, throw the ball. One, he's not open. I'm like, what's going to happen? Either he's going to catch it, they're going to pass in the fence, or the ball is going to hit the ground. They're not picking it off. Throw him the ball. He wouldn't throw it.

He wouldn't throw it. He would not throw it. And then we went to Andrew Waters and Asa Sopo. Oh, no. You know, I had 11 of them 17 quarterbacks they come out from Rich Gannon up to Jamarcus Russell. Oh, boy, it was bad.

It was bad. You retired for 13 seasons. 434 solo tackles, 96 and a half sacks, second high for a defensive tackle behind johnny ramble 19 fourth fumble four interceptions you didn't want to get to a hunt you didn't want to get to a that that that see no what you what did you think i was doing that last year i was looking right at it i had i had 94 and i had i had 94 and then i get two and a half well 93 something like

that so yeah 94 and then i end with 96 and a half. I had 94 sacks. I only needed six, dog. Right. It was only two years of my career I didn't have six sacks. Well, three. My rookie year, my first year in Oakland, and the year I tore my rotator cuff in Oakland.

Three years of my 13 years, I hadn't had six sacks. I was like, ah, I get this at midway. And then you're like, when did you know it was over? Monday night, we go to Seattle this week. 15. That night, Randy Mouse

dropping the ball on Monday Night Football. I mean, drop by four or five of them. You know what I'm talking about. We's up there playing Mike Holmgren. You know Mike Holmgren loves to play that wide open style. Dog, I had my all-white Jordan's own patent leather, his Monday Night Football. I know my mama watching, dog. I'm finna do this Michael Jackson, dog,

with my white patent leather on, dog. I'm finna hee-hee this thing. Dog, I sat Seneca Wallace three times that night. I'm dancing all over the field. I call my, it is my birthday month too, you know, December baby. So I'm driving across the Bay Bridge that Monday morning. I call my mama on speakerphone. I'm like, mama, I know you saw your boy last night cutting up on Monday night football.

My mama said, boy, if I want to watch somebody get killed, I watch long and hard. What? watch law and order. What? My mama said if I want to watch somebody get killed, I will watch law and order. She was worried about you hurting Seneca Wallace? No.

She was talking about Andrew Waters getting sacked nine times, my quarterback. Oh, you were sacked nine times. The boy made, hey, they made my mama turn off Monday Night Football, dog. My mama couldn't even join me up there doing my thing because she was so worried about Andrew Waters. I called him Andrew Dufresne, the toughest screw to ever do a turn in Shawshank, baby. They did, boy.

They put that boy through some things, boy. One time for Dufresne, baby. Put up the stink, the shocker. Arizona State, baby. You retire, and then you get the call, the Hall of Fame. What were your emotions like when you got that call? Because you're going to football heaven. You know what it's like, dog.

You can't control it. You can't stop it. You're trying to figure out what to put on, who to call. You know? The homeboys yelling that shit. I don't know what you had because, you know, I didn't have this knock on the door thing. You didn't have that either.

You had the knock on the door? No, no. See, I didn't have no knock on the door either. So, I mean, I was with my homeboys. You know what I'm saying? We had them with the two sisters and had a crawfish brawl down in New Orleans. You know? I had to take my mind off this thing dog because somebody was gonna get told

some very choice words if they were gonna tell me that you know said that that that that guy you gotta wait a year what what for what for who you know my first game in the nfl was the for who for what game by ricky waters baby yeah you know me i was better as a for who but no i was just so happy and and felt so blessed to be put in that position dog because you know i i've seen chris carl you know i i i held chris carter chris carter was in year six the wayne robinson was in year 30. curly court was in year 27. you know what i'm saying so yeah we have a whole band we got three first battles and then we got 27, 30 years, Bill Parcells, you know, Chris Carter, you know, a whole mix in my class.

So I got a true appreciation when you get to the hall of what it is to be in that VIP room. Well, you know, Sam, you know, hey, you know, you couldn't be without incident. You know, you kept some ish going. Skip it through, skip it through. That's bull. That's bull.

Tony Dungy was there with me for eight years when I was in Tampa. And I ran out that locker room the same way every time. Tony knew I was coming out there. And Tony laid him out there. When I went bouncing through there, I looked at him and he smiled at me. I nodded and he nodded. This was nothing about intimidating anybody. It was just my route to work, dog.

The fastest point between any two, the fastest distance between any two points is a straight line. I used to go from this corner to that corner. And I'm not stopping for nobody. I'm not going to bump into nobody. You know how that thing's supposed to work. What? Let me ask you a question.

What if somebody came skipping through Tampa's? Am I at home or am I away? You are. It doesn't matter. They come skipping through you, Brooks, Liz. They just come skipping through you. I'm in the back. I'm already in the end zone.

I'm already in the back. I mean, somebody else got a hell of that. Don't worry about it. We've been having 60 minutes to worry about this. Don't worry about it. We finna get up close and personal. Don't worry. Don't worry about all that brouhaha. You know what? It's so much brouhaha brought in the foolishness and LeVar Arrington played into

it and Chris Collinsworth bigged it up. It was nothing, man. I'm not finna fight in no football game. I'm finna go assault your quarterback. You have an incident with the Green Bay Packers. You get a pick and you do the crack back on Chad Clifford.

Tell the people at home that don't know, give them the backdrop of the story and what transpired. Listen, it was an interception and he was being lazy because when Brian picked it off, first thing I do is look at the quarterback because that's the guy you want. I mean, I look at

Brett and Brett take off running. He laughed. I'm like, son of a... And I look and I'm on the outside and the rest of them already took off to the sideline. So I look and Clifton was being a little lazy. I'm like, ah. So I take off running to go get it, and my spidey sins go off. So I'm saying, he's in range.

So I peek out, so I turn, and he ain't a fool, you know, because you know the rule. If the old lineman ain't in the screen, they get fined like $1,500. They got to be in the screen on the interception at the time. Right. So I know this because the other O'Lamon have told us. So I peek out the corner of my eye and he's right

there. So I'm an F-16 fighter pilot. I got tone. I give him a nice little oomph. He goes and takes off and it's unfortunate that he hit the ground that hard and he tore his hip up.

Other than that, other than that, damn him. Zapp, you know that man. First of all, Laminate used to fly in the air like that. Hey, ain't my fault. He better keep his feet on the ground or keep his head on a swivel. He's got a responsibility to protect himself too, don't he? He does.

No, you can't do that, though, bro. I got a couple rules. You can't do He does. No, you can't do that though, bro. I got a couple of rules. You can't do that. You can't run through the stress though, bro. You know the reason why they pat you down? They used to take the certain people and rub them down? The silicone. Me and Brad Culpepper go to Indianapolis in 1998.

He tell me, hey, I got some silicone. I'm like, what do you got? What is that? He's like, yo, he put the towel over his head and say, spray me down. I'm like, what do you got? What is that? He's like, yo, he put the towel over his head and said, spray me down. I'm like, what are you talking about? So I go, shh, shh, shh, shh. We go out there. Jay Lewenberg put his hand on Brad the first play.

The next play, he shoot this ball 15 yards sideways. We recover this thing on like the 15-yard line, driving it for a touchdown. We win the game 31-28, dog. Dog, they come looking for Brad, looking for me. I mean, dog, we the reason why they check people for silicone, dog. That was

an old trick back in the day. I don't want to divulge too many secrets, but there's a lot of secrets that go that you and I both know we did that wasn't supposed to be. I didn't want silicone. I was not going to put it on me, dog. I was not putting a foreign substance on me to go play this game, dog. I wasn't.

If you can block me, you can block me. But I don't think you want to tangle with it. Let me ask you a question, Sap. In today's game, it's a lot different than when you and I played. They got this thing called social media. How would you have handled it? And do you believe, because I think, and I tell people all the time, I say it's more difficult to play now given the set of circumstances

that these young athletes have to deal with. We didn't have any of that. No, they have their own personal little cheering section, but it also could turn pretty damn nasty too. Yes. Because, you know, Twitter is a cesspool. You just got to be able to weave through it with your little boat oil and figure out where the clean water at and the clean

conversation cause. Boy, it's a whole nother animal. But it also gives them a chance to really do their branding thing, dog. We could have did something special with that. But none of us would have been married though, I don't think. Nah, nah, nah.

I think the biggest thing is, Sap, is that it gives each individual player his opportunity to show a side of him that they don't... Normally wouldn't. Yeah, you normally see. Yeah, yeah. But I think they take it too far.

They do. Yeah, Antonio Brown took it too far up in Pittsburgh and then Juju Schuster with the... All that TikTok and it all... Hey, dog, how you got these people hyped up about Pittsburgh, and then Juju Schuster with the dog. All that TikTok and all that. Hey, dog, how you got these people hyped up about the game and out on nobody? Why the hell did you put a memo up on the board? You got them over there ready to tie ass up,

and I'm over here thinking we got a duck this week. Because you over here TikTok-ing. What the hell? You used to be in the NFC North. And that division with the Green Bay Packers, you had some historic battles with Brett Favre. What made your battles with Brett so legendary? It was just two country boys that would get 10 of their friends

and come out and play until the sun go down. You know how that is, baby. You know, you keep in school. It's 77-70. We got the ball. Man, it's dark out here. No, dog, you got to give us one more shot. That's how it was, dog.

That's what it really reminded me of because the talking, the back and forth banter, it was about what was in the program, dog. We were talking about what was in the program, how much I weighed and all this other stuff. I mean, it was just silly stuff. Is that what you love most about Brett? Because Brett was a talker. He's like, that was a good shot, Sap.

He threw a touchdown. I got that one. It's your turn. He kept it going. Oh, yeah. And whenever you got somebody like that, it's tit for tat. It's almost like that schoolyard. Let's go.

Let's go tit for tat, buddy. I'm going to be right here waiting on you when you come back in here. So it was just two country boys that just loved the game immensely and just loved to compete, dog. And he was the best. He was the best. Three-time MVP and a world champion right in my own division, and I got him twice a year.

I'm going to get real acquainted with him. What, D. Lineman reminds Warren Sapp of Warren Sapp today? Aaron Rodgers. I mean, Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald. It ain't even funny.

But he does it in a different way. Yes. Yeah, he does it so much more finesse. But, boy, when he gets to that quarterback, boy, he nasty with it

when he gets to that quarterback. He big quick. Oh, boy, I mean, he bang him fast. Boy, get him in there. Sam, let me tell you the first time I saw him. The first time I saw Aaron Donald, I'm looking at him, and I'm like, I don't like Aaron Donald.

But, no, he too little to be Aaron Donald. Ain't no way he going to play D-tackle. That's the size of the dog, Shannon. It's the size of the dog. It's that bite. Sam, so I'm looking at him. I was like, no, nah, he too little.

Man, I watched that joke in the game. Low man wins. Man! The way, I think the thing is, Skip, the thing that he can do that you guys can do, and the really good ones can do, they can bend and they can turn the corner.

See, a lot of people, they got to run that big old arc. But this dude can run that tight. He can get past you and then bend, and he's right there on the quarterback. Definitely around that corner. Like Tupac used to say, baby. Like Bruce Smith used to drag knuckles when he came on that thing. DT, that lead. Von Miller.

That's an art to be able to play with that kind of leverage. And you know this, Sam, more times than not, you're getting double. The center going to hit you, and then he going to lead you for the guard. Ain't no, I got it one on one. They playing ping pong. They playing ping pong with you, dog. And it ain't triple the points for you either. So you get into the business.

You're going to talk about football now. What was it like transitioning? And how difficult was it to make the transition? Because you know, like when you're in the fraternity, to be really good, you would have to be really honest. Dude ain't playing well. Dude ain't good. So I can't just sit here and say he playing well when he not.

And you're going to rub a lot of people wrong, a lot of former players and former, you know, teammates and peers the wrong way. And? You know what I always said, brother? Well, I try to fit in when I obviously stand out. I'm just going to tell you what i always said brother well i try to fit in when i obviously stand out i'm just gonna tell you what the tape said i was one of them dudes who always looked at the tape i want to watch the tape because i watched michael levin i watched marshall i watched him build those relationships the way he called guys every week and they had that conversation i don't want to

hear the lies because you know the tape ain't gonna lie the eye in the sky ain't gonna lie after i watch your tape i going to put it out there. And I think I was one of those guys that was too honest for the youth because I put a tape together one time for J.J. Watt, and I showed him. I said, you don't want to put tape out like this, dog. And I didn't get a reply back after that, so I left it alone. I said, I guess I just got to do my job,

and they accept it or they don't accept it. But I ain't got to be friends with you this year. Well, see, that's how I am. I don't do a whole lot of calls. Now, if in the offseason you want to ask me about the critique or what's something that you need to do, but I'm not going to really call you during the season because I know you're going to lie.

I don't need it. I don't need it. I know what I'm looking for. You make it seem like I've always been in the media. You forget I play now. These eyes don't lie. When I'm looking at the eye of the sky, I know exactly what's going on, dog.

Come on, stop playing. What's been the most rewarding part of playing in the National Football League and what's been the most rewarding part of your post-career? The most rewarding part is the ability to take care of my family and the people like yourself your brother and all the great people i've met in the game because there's so many people around the

game that you get to meet and the doors that it opened up for you you don't have a little country boy that was raised on a dirt road that is named after him you know i'm saying just just the whole experience and my post just the freedom dog to be able to go where i want to go go put my fishing pole in a rod you know go in a holder sit around go if i want to go sit if i want to sit that's freedom dog because when you pull like we was you got handed down your jeans you got handed down your car everything you had with somebody else's. So right now, I go eat what I want to eat.

I go where I want to go and I get there how I want to get there, baby. It's nothing like that. Sap, we got to do a fishing trip. We're going to take all, you know, we're going to do the most fish. We're going to do the biggest fish. What you want? You want the lake or you want to go out there with a mahi and a tuna whatever you make it easy on

yourself no no no i mean i make it easy on you because not everybody likes to get out where you can't see the land well see first of all i already know you can't beat me fishing in like a pond or river setting that's not what you do i'm gonna come'm going to come to your backyard. I know you like to get out there in that water. Stop. Go far out there. Stop. I'm going to take you to the Bear Monday pond. There's 8,000.

You ever caught a Bear Monday? There's only two places you catch them, in Australia or St. Cloud, Orlando, where I'm from. I'm going to take you there, and we're going to go there. So are we going for the biggest, or are we going for the most? No, no. Most. The most.

It's like football. We want the most. OK. Well, done deal. You want the most catches, don't you? You want the most touchdowns. You want the most yards. I want the most s most. The most. It's like football. We want the most. Okay, well, done deal. You want the most catches, don't you? You want the most touchdowns. You want the most yards. I want the most sacks.

Say less. I don't want everybody to know this thing. It will be posted. Oh, it will be live. I'm on streaming. We're going to find a place for the people to stream. We got Instagram. Okay.

As long as we ain't got no music playing that somebody's going to report, it'll go on. Okay. Well, let's do the thing. Bro, you know I appreciate you coming on with me. We talk all the time anyway, so I figured I might as well get you on the podcast because we talk every...

I mean, we talk too much. Both of us talk too much. And I got this for you. We're going to do this after Super Bowl week because it ain't but 60 miles from Tampa to Orlando. Okay. Well, we get it done then. Yeah. And then we're going to go out there and we're going to fish for a marlin or tuna. Yeah.

We can do the big grouper if you want to do the big grouper. No, I don't want that because you can't keep it, man. I don't want that goliath. I don't want that. I'll die. So we only going to catch fish that we can eat. Yeah, boy. Ain't you a country boy? Yeah, yeah. But I ain't really trying to clean. Somebody else gonna do

all the cleaning? You know, boy, this country club fishing, boy. You just stop that. Ain't no scales, none of that. No, no guts, none of that. No, no, none of that. I just do the eat, baby. I told you. Country club fishing. Country club fishing.

I appreciate you coming on today, man. Anytime, brother. Thank you for having me. Holla, bro. All my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice.

Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I've been grinding all my life. All my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price.

Want a slice. Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

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