Digital Social Hour - From Setbacks to Success: Zay Jones' Inspiring NFL Journey | Digital Social Hour #15

Episode Date: May 20, 2023

I am excited to announce our latest podcast episode with NFL WR Zay Jones - a rising star in the NFL as a receiver who is coming off a fantastic year. Zay grew up in Austin, Texas, and played for Division I, where he holds the record for the most receptions. In this episode, Zay talks about his rookie year, his struggles, and how he eventually learned to appreciate the challenges and love playing football again. He also emphasizes the importance of persistence and comfort with failure, crucial to success in anything. Zay never followed the usual college application process to get a job in the NFL despite having the confidence and drive to play football professionally. He joined the Jacksonville Jaguars through free agency after a successful tenure with the Raiders. In the podcast, Zay also shares his experience of transitioning from college to the NFL as a person and in business. Approximately 80% of athletes go broke after three years of playing in the NFL, making it challenging for young players to manage their finances well. Zay and Ari touch on the importance of building a personal brand in football based on playing well and enjoying the game. The goal is to be successful, wealthy, and have a great quality of life, not just to be famous. This episode is filled with remarkable stories and insights into the world of professional football. Zay's journey is inspirational, to say the least, and we know you wouldn't want to miss it! So, listen to the episode now and let us know your thoughts. Zay Jones can be found on Instagram at @zay. Shoutout to Chef Jones, Zay's photographer Eric Phan, and his wonderful family and friends who support and care for him. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/digitalsocialhour/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The ingredients are 100% traceable, it's third-party tested for microbes and heavy metals, and recently received the Purity Award from the Clean Label Project. You see, we trace like a mother because, let's be honest, no one cares quite like a mother. But don't just take my word for it. Trace for yourself with 25% off at virtual.com slash podcast. All right, welcome back to the Digital Social Hour. I'm your host, Sean Kelly, along with my co-host Ari Gold. Yo, yo. And our guest today, Zay Jones.

Yo, what's up? How's it going? It's good, man. You just had today is Zay Jones. Yo, what's up? How's it going? It's good, man. You just had a great year, man. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. I love the energy you walked in with. I'm telling you right now. I don't know. You walked in with a chef? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what regiment this man's on. We're gonna have to find out because when he walked in, it was just vibes. Oh, dude, I'm happy, bro. I'm happy. I watch y'all stuff a little bit on Instagram. Oh, yeah. It's cool to be here, so I really appreciate the opportunity.

Yeah, I want to dive into your story, man. So we'll start from high school, college. Sure, yeah. So you went to college. You're the Division I leading receiver ever, right? Where are you from originally? Oh, you did your homework. Yeah, I did. I did. Yeah, you did. So he leads all of college in receptions. Where are you from?

Where are you from? I'm from Austin, Texas. Okay. All right. See, that's why. He built tough. That's why. Texas football.

Yeah, I grew up in Austin, man. Born in Dallas. My pops played in the league for 10 years. So I was around the Texas scene of football. My brother was in it. Top recruit. I was kind of like the run brother was in it, top recruit. I was kind of like the run out of the group, though. I didn't really get offered until my senior year of high school.

I got offered by East Carolina, and I remember getting that offer and going there in my freshman year. I was like, I want to be the best player to ever come through this university. And, yeah, I would be lying to you if i said my freshman year i was like i'm gonna break all these records and do all this stuff but glory to god man i came through that university ncaa record holding all-time receptions for a season and in a career glidden call finalists the goal was to be great come on man like the assignment you know i'm saying like the goal is to be great so i's what you got to do.

So, I mean, that's kind of how it panned out. And then I got drafted to the Bills in 2017. What was it like on draft day? Did you know you were going to get drafted? Yeah. I mean, I was certain I was going to. I mean, there's a certain. You don't break all those records and get left on the bench, bro. Right, right.

But did you know the team, though? No, no, no. I didn't. I actually didn't know the Bills were going to draft me. do you think it was i'm curious los angeles really yeah and what was your number two thought um cardinals so at the time i had worked out for the la ram staff at ecu and they worked me out for an hour so it was like the gm head coach quarterbacks coach wide receivers coach everyone was there to work me out individually for like an hour and 30 minutes well yeah they didn't have a first round pick at the time

um they had a second round pick at number 37 that's what they were slated at and when it came closer to that time when i fell i guess from the first round to the second round uh i was waiting by the phone and i was expecting a call from them and the bills had actually traded up to the second round uh i was waiting by the phone and i was expecting a call from them and the bills had actually traded up to the rams pick at 37 and so i was expecting to go to shout out coach yarbs who's a great coach um wide receiver coach for the rams at the time uh i was expecting to go there and then the bills got a call from rochester new york and they had they were selecting me wow get a jacket motherfucker we're ready how different how different is playing in the nfl versus college

is it a lot harder um i mean at the foundation of it it's the same as far as like you play ball and you got to carry that confidence like no matter where i play ball it's the same but as far as like the ins and outs the business side of it more detail oriented oh my gosh the time you spend to it it's your craft now it's your job now so like every day is is more geared towards how can become a better professional right and and so from that aspect of it of like not going to class and doing all these extracurriculars my time is spent and focused on football alone right i believe that's what makes it the separation and then obviously the talent level because now you're playing as the best of the best right and not a lot of guys make it seven years in the nfl and you just had one of your best years yeah do you see yourself

continuing to just develop your game and be one of the top receivers i would like to i'm um i'm not really looking left or right or who's doing what, but more so focused on my process and my growth has come later in my career. And I cherish that. I think that's really special. It's what made me who I am. And so. Testament to your character, brother. Yeah. You haven't stopped the hustle and the grind goes and that's what's important. Yeah. I'm excited about it, man. It's, and I'm, I'm with a fantastic team, fantastic coaching staff.

And he still said like, listen to how he's talking about it that's that's the difference between playing a sport because you're getting paid paid to play and playing something that you love to play right this smile that he keeps showing and every time you talk like you can't stop i'm telling you right now that's that's someone who loves the game and when you you know get to encounter that and you truly are blessed enough to be special and chosen to do what you do every day and love what you do and get paid to do it i feel that man he's got the he's got the love and appreciation the respect for the game as far as i do i do it wasn't always like that in the beginning i came through my rookie season it was really really hard on talk us through that talk us through

the challenges don't don't know i won't hold back i'll tell you listen you don't have to sugar no i won't i won't be honest with you i won't because listen there are hundreds if not thousands of people that when they hear stories like this you know they try to relate it to their own so you know there's even one or two people that you can tell the story to that are either on the same path or in different journeys but understand that this can help their process you know why not explain to them that the difficulties that you went through and how you overcame it? I believe a true success story is the journey and the process, not the end result. It's not, it's not the accolades that come along with it. Although they are a testament to what you've gone

through. I really believe the process is the most beautiful part. And I didn't truly understand that in the beginning. I wanted things to be done quickly and how I thought I was supposed to to have them I mean coming off of being an NCAA record holder and then when you face challenges and obstacles and setbacks and you tear your labrum seventh week of the season as a rookie and you're going up against the best it's like and you were starting at the time I was starting yes like where's the hope this is not what I thought the NFL was supposed to be and then when I could take a step back and kind of reevaluate um and game plan okay I understand now what it's supposed to look like the outlook of it I understand the longevity of a season and how it's supposed to go is when I really got my bearings and really

could enjoy football again it took it took a while. And now I'm in a space in my life where I'm enjoying playing the game. I love the ins and outs of it again. I love watching film. I love seeing how I can get better. And this is one thing as I've grown that I realized about myself is like, I am comfortable with failing

and getting back up to try again. Sure. You know, I'm no longer- Thank God you have the ability to do that. Some people get knocked down and don't even have the strength to get up. Sure. You know, I'm no longer. Thank God you have the ability to do that. Some people get knocked down and don't even have the strength to get up. I feel like if you want to be successful in anything in your life,

whatever it is, football, whatever the path is, is like if you can be comfortable and not be afraid of failure and you can get back up and go out there again, then I mean, hats off to you. That's the person who really does it.

That's awesome awesome was the NFL always a goal of yours even when you were a little kid it was honestly to be to be honest on it was it was like a way of life for me I always kind of had that confidence that I would be in it um obviously knowing that there's a chance that it wouldn't happen but I remember even being in high school as a young kid um i'll never forget him history teacher mr duarte we had to go him out no for real we had to go to um a lab one day and we had to fill out like college applications in a sense and um we had to sit there and type why we want to go to this school extra extracurriculars that we did and i looked at him i was like um i want to get a scholarship

to play football and i appreciate him for doing this is one of my favorite teachers i don't know if you ever hear this or but he was like okay so teach me what that process is like and i was like well i'm gonna fill out these questionnaires so basically what it is is like you go on the school's websites you put your height your weight 40 time, things that you like, your position. And he was like, okay, instead of doing college applications, I will allow you to do these questionnaires for these universities, but you got to promise me that you're going to be diligent about it. You're going to be thorough, that you're going to write them all out. And I was like, yes, sir, I will. I promise. At the time, I didn't have any offers. And so my mindset was still focused on I'm getting a scholarship to play football that's just who I

was my dad had played in league my older brother had offers from everyone and that was the path that I wanted for myself as well and he allowed me to do that and I held out like 50 to 70 of them from LSU to Baylor to Texas Oklahoma Oklahoma, Oregon, Alabama, you name it. And, yeah, that was just at a young age, and I ended up getting my offer. And, I mean, to be here is purely by the grace of God, man, and hard work and dedication because everything has paid off for myself. So I didn't really go the route of, like, your typical college application and go intern or go get a job my first job was actually in the nfo i want to know what it was like going from the raiders to the jags because when i met you you were on the raiders yeah and you seem really happy there so what happened in

between there okay so i came to the raiders in 2019 yeah 2019 um kind of had to get my feet back under me, play with a great team there. I was really excited for the future there. I did some amazing things with that group under Gruden and Basaccia, for those who know the coaches that were there. And I wanted to be back with the raiders um this past season a new regime had came in under josh mcdaniels and and and that group and i guess i just wasn't really a part of the plans that they had moving forward which is perfectly fine because you get new regimes they want their players um it's a system fit a lot of politics i gotta ask did you ever get a script i know that's that that's a popular question everybody really wants to know no i didn't get a script man i don't know if other guys did i guess

i'm not that high on the payroll in order to get in order to get relaxed relax there's nobody saying all that i'm just asking if you guys no i didn't get a script i didn't get a split blink blink twice oh no man but the transition the transition was cool like that was my first time going through free agency um was it a nerve-wracking process it wasn't nerve-wracking because i knew that i did everything possible in my ability to which i was given in order to prove that i i should be there sure and you knew you're going to go somewhere else it was just a question of where of where you know at that point you're you're you're good enough of this or you're more of an established player that people regardless of if they need you or not you're you can be put somewhere and be a role player instantaneously. So that's kind of the, obviously that that's going to have a, a,

a play in your, you know, your confidence in the role. But sure. I feel like if it was me, I'd, I'd be more, I wouldn't say scared, but I'm intimidated at being traded to a team where I just either don't know anybody or, you know, don't have any vibes or just don't. So Ari, that was, that was my first true impression of the league because I was traded from Buffalo to Oakland. Okay. And I didn't know the dynamic of what I was really walking into.

Yeah, that's like blind. I didn't have any control over it. Right. And I wanted to be in Buffalo, but I was traded to the Raiders. So when I went into the Raidersiders i went to the furthest east coast team literally to the furthest west coast team talk us through the first day transition i'm curious about that they just give you like a lunch pail and like get in the locker room bud no i'll tell you dude i honestly tell you so it was i was actually coming up off off off day um the bills

had just played the tennessee titans in tennessee and i flew back with the team and i was in the locker room and we do all that stuff i flew back with the team, and I was in the locker room, and we did all that stuff. I flew back with the team, and I was at my house, and we were coming up on an off day, actually a bye week, and I was going to plan to go to Toronto for the weekend or for the week. And so I'm packing my bags. I'm getting everything settled. The GM calls me.

He's like, hey, how are you doing? Because I actually didn't play that much in that game. And I texted my agent. I was like, yo, I just want to know what's going on. Like, where are you doing? Because I actually didn't play that much in that game. And I texted my agent. I was like, yo, I just want to know what's going on. Like, where do I fit? Is there something I'm not doing right? Right. And, you know, my agent is super great.

Zeke Sandu, shout out Elite Management. He was like, brother, I got you. Don't worry about it. We're going to talk through these discussions or whatever. The GM calls me, tries to put my mind at ease and was like, hey, you know, a great job we're gonna work things out so i'm like okay cool like they're gonna work it out and so we hang up the phone i'm packing my bags i'm about to get in the car i drive down i'm like because buffalo to toronto is not that far it's like an hour and 30 minutes so i crossed the border i'm actually in toronto i'm about to get to my hotel um i'm about to go to a place called marble in toronto

it's really good uh shout out peter peter um i get a call from my my gm he's like hey zay um i'm with sean mcdermott which is the head coach yeah he's still the head coach fuck and he was like um hey just want to let you know we're going to trade you to the oakland raiders so i'm like what the fuck i've been working it out yeah so i'm like is that working it out so i'm like what's what's really what's going on like my first instinct was what you do is this a joke no i was like is this a joke not in like a demeaning way i just i've never been in that position before i didn't i didn't really know how it happens and so he's like yeah we're gonna trade you to the Oakland Raiders um so I was getting like really really emotional just like a lot of

things going through my head so I'm like I'm like okay explain this I'm like hold on explain this so they start explaining and then they start calming me down and was like hey like we think this is going to be best for your future we think this is what's going to be best for us and they start talking about John Gruden and Mike Mayock who are great people with with the Raiders at the time but I'm like hold on I'm not talking about them like this is this is still my team but here's the catch it wasn't you know because the deal was already done right and so as I'm talking to them I'm in Toronto and they're like, hey, once you turn back around, where are you? You got to get on a flight to fly out to go to to Oakland. And I was like, wait, I'm on my bye week, though, you know, because my mind, I still haven't processed it. No. And so they're like, yeah, four days.

Yeah. They're like, they're excited about you. They can't wait to meet you. And so, God, they're like, can you come back? And I'm like, so I make this hour and 30-minute trek. I mean, I just went. So I had to turn around and go across the border. And I had to go through customs and, like, explain why I'm coming back. You know, I'm like. You had to tell them?

The dude at the customs was like, aren't you Zay Jones? And I'm like, yeah. He's like, you play for the Bills? And I'm like, I don't think so. Not anymore. You were the first person to find out buddy it's not it was really gonna be popping for you tonight bucko no as as I'm driving like my phone is blowing up because they yeah they're like Shefty was it Shefty it wasn't Shefty shout out shout out Adam man Adam Shefter still one of the

flyest in the game bro Adam's cool's cool, man. But I'm thinking – He's got swag. Let me just pause right there. The guy has swag, man. Shut up. I'm actually going to send this to him when he gets it. Please do. Please do.

Tell him I'm a big fan. I'd love to shake his hand. Yeah, of course. That's all. Of course. The guy's got swag. I've only been in the room around him and just seen how he – he knows how to work a room.

No, he doesn't. He knows how to work around, and everybody knows. They pay the respects. It's like watching an OG mob boss mob around. He's smooth like that. All right, I'm going to come back to this story, but I got another story for you. I'm in Super Bowl, and I'm trying to get into one of these parties, and it's like super security. We don't really know who you are, but it's cool, whatever. I'm not not cool like whatever i don't i don't need to try to exude any right power or whatever

like okay if i can't go to this party i'll go to another i go to another one not as cool uh adam scheffner walks up behind me i've never met adam before in my life um really really good dude adam's going in i guess he didn't have his credential pass or whatever his family and he's about to walk in the door the guy stops him like kind of puts his hand out in front of him. And I was like, I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And this is the Super Bowl party. So, you know, Adam has a lot of prestige. He carries a lot of weight, man. Like what he does is is really big. It's really profound across. Yeah. Right. And so I say no to Oprah. So I tell the guy, Oprah, I tell the bouncer, I was like,ouncer i was like hey look listen like listen to me look at me

if you don't want to let me in that's fine if you don't let this man in i promise you you'll lose your job by tomorrow maybe tonight yeah whoa easy and so easy the guy's like okay uh who is this i'm like look let me tell you like this is kingpin when it comes to the nfl as far as just google adam chapter what's wrong with you adam he lets adam go in the party and then adam goes in he thanks me he shakes my hand he's like you know what like i'll never forget what you did and he's really really cool like super cordial like a great guy hits me up the next day and it was like you know if you ever need anything so like i have a lot of respect for for adam it's um i would consider him to be a friend i've been on his podcast as well and i think he does a phenomenal job that's awesome yeah dude i i feel

like there's there are far and few between when it comes to legitimate reporters and people who actually have the scoop and i feel like if i've ever heard something come out and it says chef d reports about chef d and when i see that i'm like it's legit you know you can't he's not about to you know the guy is is too meticulous to make a mistake like that yeah yeah so and you have to appreciate somebody and again it comes back to being great at your craft for sure you don't you don't end up doing this for 10 15 20 years if you're not the fucking best you gotta be the best absolutely all right i gotta ask oh go ahead go ahead okay i was just gonna come back to your point i know i can drag things out but um

so i get that call i fly out uh to oakland so i got that call like 10 p.m i fly out at six so i pack like a little duffel toothbrush whatever i need like kind of smaller things oh you left all your shit dude my whole life was there like oh friends teammates home everything so so you got the whole house yes all right baby here just leave the keys so this is like my introduction to truly like um i guess the side that most people don't i'm not gonna say the where did you hold on hold on where the fuck did you stay did they give you like a i'm so sorry they give you a crib i'm gonna tell you i'm gonna tell you yeah yeah so uh i get on this flight it's like five six hours whatever it is i land they pick me up immediately they take me to they take me to the hospital because they gotta do their checks

they gotta make sure they gotta make sure that like you know the player that they're getting everything is physical it's an order yeah you're physical so i'm in this hospital for about like two and a half hours not their fault it's just the process bro like you can't really rush it they gotta check head to toe what time is it right now so now it's about let's say if i flew it out six that puts that at three and then it's like a six hour flight so i don't know like like maybe like eight oh okay nine so like now i'm like now you're like i'm ready to eat yeah like 9 a.m i'm like 9 a.m west coast time or whatever okay and so i go through all these checks you know ankles knee because it's a separate entity when it comes as far as like their doctors what they've

discovered and what the bills yeah right okay so i'm in there i'm doing all that stuff i'll never forget his name his name is joe great beard nice guy wait so you had the the you had the raiders physical team inside the hospital doing these checks yeah so it's it's like their team oh yeah you have to it's because like if we if we traded for sean and you know we're the we're the lakers yeah we have to know you're telling us one thing but that's bullshit right we have to know right okay you know so i go through like my entire checks with them i do all that stuff and then they take me to the facility so now i go to the facility they're kind of showing me around i'm like oh this is really cool this is nice it's a little different from what i was used to but like this is where you're going to be you know the locker room this

is where you're going to be eating these things like that like okay let's take you upstairs let's meet the coaching staff so i'm like okay cool i go upstairs and meet edgar bennett great wide receivers coach packers legend really cool guy um we start going to the playbook immediately so like he's introducing me it's like formations he's like hey this is what this means this is about 10 a.m right now this is what this means this is what this means and like we get through an hour and a half, maybe like two hours of like install. And he looks at me and he's like, are you okay, man? And I said, Coach Bennett, I haven't eaten since last night. And he was like, man, let's go get you some food. I'm so sorry.

Let's go get you. So I'm like, yeah. Let's get you a bag of peanuts. No, because it wasn't his fault like he he didn't he didn't know like it was just like hey bro i've been to the hospital all morning can i get a mcchicken or something bro like what's up so he takes me downstairs i go eat uh i come back upstairs i'm like you're at the raiders facility yeah i'm at the raiders facility at this point i i come back upstairs i'm ready to like continue learning and then i hear is that zay jones and it was john gruden yeah so john gruden bends the corner he comes in the room

bloodshot eyes like bright red i'm like i'm like hey coach how are you he's like all night waiting for you fired up to meet you man how the hell are you you know so like a lot of energy from him and i was like are you good coach like how you been he's like i'm so excited like he's like i've been watching film since 3 a.m this morning i promise you it's going to be amazing we got a great system here for you learn these plays you're going to meet me out on the grass and we're going to go through some calls so i'm like all right cool so i go through uh my rest of my studies with my receivers coach we hit the grass we go outside now it's our offensive coordinator it's gruden and i think the assistant receivers coach at the time, we start going.

None of the team is there. No, none of the team is there. All right. This is on an off day. So we got side and Gruden starts quizzing me with plays. Bunch, right,

rotate, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. Oh man. Listing plays,

but I'm killing it because I know it. You know, I'm pretty good at retaining information and soaking your plays. I've been around. How many plays do you have to memorize? Dude, these were, I, I, I kid you not like this is maybe 100 plays that we went what yeah i believe that holy crap so we were just see the books that they get there i mean they're fucking textbooks and you got to memorize all of them so some just one play could have a lot of variations of a play okay that would take me another 20-minute conversation, but for the sake of the podcast, just know that A, B, and C can also connect to A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

There's just a lot of moving parts to it, and someone in my position who's been rated as a person who has a lot of versatility playing X, D, F. You have to learn those routes because basically when the quarterback throws, he doesn't know that you're running. He just knows that at that point, there's going to be one person right there, and that's where you've got to be. Yeah, it's concepts. It's basically be where you're supposed to be, and you're supposed to be there, and how you're supposed to get there. You break left instead of break right.

Yeah. Interception. So Gruden was really, really impressed. He was like, basically, bro, if I did 100 plays, I got like a 97. Wow wow he was he was stunned and he was like you're one of the smartest guys i met he's like i don't know why buffalo let you go but like we got a game against uh green bay and lambo this week we want you to play so i'm like okay like three days to learn the playbook i really gotta i really gotta get on my stuff i did not i did not end up playing that week, but I played the following week against Houston. And, like, that transition was so much because I saw the business aspect of it.

I saw, like, personally what you have to do as a human. I say this all the time to guys coming from college. I'm like, they help you transition from college to the NFL as a football player, but you got to have that transition as a person and as business as well football player but you gotta have that transition as a person as business as well right yeah and so there's there's just that gap some guys have it better than others and some guys learn and i feel like you learned it's definitely one of those things where you have to build a um you know a good team around you as well yeah you know and guys like um some of the guys that i know that i've grown up with and it's funny to see the

transition because you know you play football with these guys and pop warner you know since high school and then all of a sudden now they're getting multi-million dollar contracts nobody's really telling them what to do with any of this money except for everybody around them that's coming out with a handout right and at the end of the day it's tough to really decipher who has your best interest for you and you can really you know help yeah a lot of athletes go broke right dude i i think it's like 80 what 80 after whoa i think it's 80 after three years of play or something like that that's crazy bro some some crazy statistic i wow again we have to look it up but sure i do know that is astronomically high especially for the amount of money these people going through but what are the rookie contracts like in the nfl it just depends on where you're drafted okay yeah we'll ask easier

one how about this we'll wrap up on this one in your opinion what has been one of the best ways that you've learned how to progress not just yourself as a person but as a personal brand and how to really i guess block out the we'll say we'll block out the bullshit and kind of focus on like what you said the gameplay you and how to really progress in life yeah it's a really good question um i could attack this from multiple facets i i would say this first and foremost the best way to to brand yourself on the field is to simply play well. And things come to you. There are some guys who I consider to be, they have natural personas of, you know, what media might like and gravitate towards. And they're also great players.

So it goes hand in hand and it helps them. Awesome. So a lot of guys in this league, though, that are phenomenal players, but maybe are not as marketable because of where they're at or because of a situation. Shout out, Marshawn. And so when people ask me, like, who's the best receivers in the league, it's very hard to say, like, who's actually top this and top that because I think across the board, to be even 1,6 1696 which is how many players in the nfl to

be a part of that group in the elite category of receivers you're still elite to have a starting job it's very impressive if you think about it and so marketing yourself is like yeah bro if you can dance and you can do the whole tiktok thing all right cool whatever it's not personally me uh if you're a guy who is well connected you know people and they can put all the whole TikTok thing. All right, cool. It's not personally me. If you're a guy who is well-connected, you know people and they can put your face on something. If you make a spectacular play during the right time

and from the right people, they might come at you with something. Oh, duh. If your agency is just a freaking powerhouse and they are so well-connected, they might move you into it. And so like what I've noticed for myself is I'd rather spend my time

in my craft trying to be as best as i can enjoying what i love to do because i know my window of time is short exactly becoming famous to me is not the most prominent thing i'd be lying if i said that it's not cool like sure yeah people knowing you but that's not that's a great point it's not the goal the goal is not to be famous being famous doesn't pay the fucking bill it's not it's to be successful and be wealthy and have a great life and have a great quality of life yeah quality of life is great i don't i don't hate on people or like if you're popping in the league and your face is everywhere good for you because like hopefully you have great people around you that you trust and helping you manage that so it helps your longevity right progress after football right for me like i simply enjoy playing the game the money is great i'm not

going to be one of those people who is like i don't enjoy getting paid yes i do but i want to win and i want to be like looking back at my career i gave it all i had and this is what i did and you had fucking fun doing it and And I enjoyed it. Had a blast. I mean, I could talk about different guys and stuff, but that's kind of just my perspective on marketing in the game and playing. The best way to market yourself, play well. I love that.

That's great, man. I think that's a great spot to end it on. Zay, tell people where they can find you. What's the best route for people to follow up on what you got going on? Yeah. I mean, it would be my Instagram, at Zay, Z-A it's a fire handle yeah three letters yo no i'm just saying listen if you ever do retire from the league and you need a little paycheck i'm pretty sure sean can help you i appreciate that no we're gonna be talking more we're gonna be talking more but

you know uh my guy eric uh eric fawn actually is here with me he's outside i'm wearing his hoodie right now uh e fawn nine i believe is his hand i like he does a lot of really cool stuff shout out chef jones uh my chef is here somewhere chef everybody can you hear me yeah yeah he's back there them joneses i love chef you walk in with the whole team i'm telling you the guy's got an entourage like Floyd. Dude, let me tell you something. I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this.

The best thing I could have did for myself was to find genuine people who I love and care about and put them around me. And we all try to build together. That's beautiful. And if, like, God forbid, whatever, i go go broke with these people at least i know i have people that have my back and love me instead of giving my money to someone who who generally just doesn't care for me so yeah i got my brother shout out levi shout out caleb my parents love them my three sisters my team of people here and uh shout out the jags man we're gonna do big things i'm excited for the most humble guys i think we've had on the show man today i appreciate the time sean tell

them where they can find you sean mike kelly and i'm ari golds guys thanks again for joining us enjoy peace