Games with Names - The Rob Ninkovich Episode

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Rob Ninkovich is in studio!  The 2x Super Bowl Champion and former Patriots defensive standout is with us in the Boston studio to talk dynasty days, bust balls, and ultimately find out just what kind of Dude he is using our patented system of questions. Ninko also picked a Dude he wanted to talk about: the great Troy Aikman. It all culminates in The Chillest Dude of the Week presented by Coors Light where we find out what kind of Dude Rob Ninkovich is. Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On the Black Effect Podcast Network, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you go to find your podcast. I do like his interviews, by the way. The first overall pick, right? If you could describe yourself in one word, how would you? Nasty. My job is to protect the quarterback. I love getting down and

nasty in the trenches. I'm just out there pass it and trying to protect my quarterback. Like that gets me going, right? You love offensive lineman. All right, wait up. How many times have you been practicing that? No, I just made it up just real quick. It's like you and the Bill Belichick impersonation. How many times are you in the mirror, just, um, I mean, we sat next to him for 12 years and watched him pick his nose. He did. Yeah. I get, I get, I get, I can tell you his habits from everything. Yeah, I know. Isn't that,

it's attractive, isn't it? You didn't sit next to Campbell for 12 years. I just listened to him and then you practiced a couple of times. No, once you just, it's all about watching yourself once doing. No, never did that. Yes, you did. I don't think I did. Yes, you did. No, Jules. I think I'm just pretty good at improv. This is a friendly episode. I don't need to be throwing haymakers at each other. Welcome to Dudes on Dudes. I'm Julian Edelman. I'm Rob Gronkowski. And this is the show where your favorite dudes get to talk about their favorite dudes.

And today we're joined by one of our favorite pals of all time, Rob Ninkovic. Hey, thank you for having me guys. I'm happy to be here. What are we talking about today? Ninko visiting coach Bill Belichick at Chapel Hill. The challenge is probably gonna be trying to get the most out of a less talented roster.

Chapel Nink, one of my favorite dudes of all time. Just a tough, tough quarterback. Now an ace in the broadcast. Our takes for the Patriots upcoming season and their off season. It doesn't mean you're going to gel as a team when you bring in that many free agents. I think they're nine, 10, one team. And then we wrap it up by finding out what kind of dude Ninko is in this week's Chillest Dude of the Week, presented by our favorite beer, Coors Light.

Got to stick around to the end. Dudes on Dudes is a production of iHeartRadio. What is this? Who is this Ninkovic that we're encountering right now? This isn't the real Ninkovic. 2025, bro. I'm loving this Ninkovic that we're encountering right now? This isn't the real Ninkovic. 2025 bro. I'm loving this Ninkovic so far man. He always has like a new gimmick, a new scheme.

He's a new Nico every single time I see him. I don't know why. It's been like two months and this is the most calm and cool and collective I've ever seen him. It's the most calm. And I love it. He's trying to talk and we just keep interrupting him. You always interrupt us.

You're fucking interrupting me again. We're talking over here. We're talking over here. It's starting most calm. And I love it. He's trying to talk and we just keep interrupting him. Like he would interrupt us. He's gonna interrupt me again. We're talking over here. Hey Niko, we're talking over here. It's starting to bring memories up. This is bringing the memories of how it was in the locker room. Niko tried to talk, no one let him talk. Well, we should probably introduce him first

before we start introducing him. Well, today we are joined by another good friend. Great friend. And another really great teammate. A good fellow. Well today we are joined by another good friend great friend and another Really great teammate a good fellow. That's why I bust your ball so much social media. Hey, we'll get to that if I like you Introducing you right now introducing you relax. He's lost their balls. Don't worry, but let us praise you. He's a two-time Super Bowl winning champion. Yeah, because we made such great catches. Yeah, probably. Actually, he did have some great sacks as well.

Made some sacks, set some edges. He's getting frustrated over there. We're taking on the credit. I'm relaxed right now. Very zen. All right. Well, you said two time Super Bowl champ. Member of the Patriots All Dynasty team.

He's a Purdue Bo a maker. Yeah. He's always, you know, do you know what a boiler maker is? It's something legend. He's a legend from Purdue. Rob Ninkovic. Welcome to. Thank you. Welcome to the show. Thank you guys. We're so excited to have you happy to be on the dudes on dudes on dudes, you know, just double fisting it all the time. You too. Well, we wanted another dude on a dude.

That's right. Yeah. Let's do it. Dude on dudes. We can do this show. We could do this show from P town and take it on the road. What is P town? Provincetown.

And what's up with the Provincetown? That's a great place. You guys go have fun there. I love Cape Cod. I love Cape Cod too. Yeah. Great beaches. Beautiful spot.

Yep. I'm sure there's great art in Provincetown. Yeah, great beaches. Great beach spots. Yep. I'm sharks. There's great art in Providence. There is. There is great white shark. Yeah, you'd be a good meal for a great white shark. I would say you'd be a white seal. A big white. Wow. That's right. So what's going on these days? Yeah. What are you doing these days? Yeah, I right now I'm coaching my kids. So Everett's in his nine year old. We're in the championship game Sunday. So we're playing that in what football.

Okay. Yep. So flag football, flag football, how will I, how will the Olympics? Nine. So we got a VIAs going to be 12. So we got 11, nine and five. Geez. So we got two flag football players right now.

So I have to, I have to pay basically Wyatt to go pull flags. He wasn't doing anything. He's just standing there. I was getting so frustrated. My wife is yelling at me. You can't yell at him. I say, sure as hell I can. I'm going to yell at him.

So I said, Hey, Wyatt, every flag you pull, I'm going to get you a card. So we got a couple grunt cards. We got a couple Julian cards. Cause after I said that he was just, he turned it on and he was pulling flags left and right. So he's my tough, he's the one that I really got to stay on. Uh, it's real frustrating as a parent when your kids are playing sports, right? Cause you want them to do great, right? But their personality,

like Wyatt, he just doesn't give a shit. So he's just like, yeah, I don't want to do this. Like, okay. He reminds me of myself as a kid. I like, I like why he's a tank. So we'll see how he goes. I don't know. He might be, you know, Everett. He either is going to be like a dancer or a good athlete. So we'll see. We'll figure it out. Hey, whatever, whatever they want to do, you're supposed to support them. Here's a question I'm going to ask you. He was our first guest on the dudes on dudes podcast. And thank you so much for being the second guest. Yeah. Thank you for having me. You're making it easy for us.

You know, you relate to us like no other as well. And I love your enthusiasm and your energy you're bringing to the table. But I asked Matthew Slater, because I'm the only one here without kids. Slater has kids. Julian has a kid. You got a couple kids you were just talking about.

What is it like to be a father? And what am I missing out on? I want you to convince me that I should be making kids tonight. Camille, we're making a kid tonight. You've practiced and you're trained at the process of creating a kid. You just got to leave it in. And that might happen.

Technique. For me, it's all about technique. Nothing to do with being a dad. Nickovic's trying to be funny. You have to leave it in. You're be funny. You have to leave it in. You have to leave it in. You have to leave it in. That's a really funny one. So I think, you know, for me,

You've got to stay in the game to win three Super Bowls. It's like the same thing. You've got to stay in. So, you know, imagine burning it. You burn it from both ends. Eventually you're going to have nothing left. I feel like at the end of my career, I didn't really necessarily want to play your kids. Yeah, I know because of my kids, I didn't want to play football. Oh, okay.

Oh, that's some good advice right there. It's all risk and reward, right? So if someone was to say here, Julian I'll give you five bucks to go in a car and let's see if you hit 300 miles an hour, the fastest car on like NASA, let's say Indy car. We just had the Indy five. I was just there. You're just there. Right. Did you drink any milk? Is that whole milk? By the way? It's 2%. No, no, no. It's kind of people milk. And are you like, holy grown? Are you wait your, wait, your lactose? No. Hell. Okay. This is an American guy. Is gluten free. Are you a gluten guy? I ain't

good. You love pizza. You're a pizza guy. I hate pizza. You like burgers. I like burgers. You like buns. I'm a glue guy. Literally. Love buns. You do. I like big buns.

So I think at the end of my career, I played 11 years. You guys played a little bit longer. What'd you play total? 12. 12. 11. You played 11? Yes.

All right. So I can ask you this. If you would have played 11 or 12, right? Would there have been a difference in how you're living right now? Probably. You think so? Maybe it was there's a few more M's. Yeah a few more M's but at the end of the day a few more M's. It was a bigger contract in the back of my career. Yeah but there's a lot bigger. How many headshots you take? We would probably be in the penthouse right now instead of just on the third floor. You take any headshots that last year? They don't even hit anymore So the few Ms, they don't even hit. Okay. We throw on those. That was 15 years ago. I know, but they all catch up to you.

So for me these helmets are fricking sick. We didn't play with those. I could have kept playing. I would have kept playing. We played with the helmets that they're banned now. You can't even put them on. Yeah. You're one. No, the last helmet I wore, you can't even wear anymore. Yeah. That's you. That sounds like a you problem. I was wearing a vice. I mean, that's Tom. That's Tom. His helmet, he can't wear. He couldn't, Tom had that old school helmet. I remember.

How big his helmet was because he's got such a large head. It was like elongated, like a bus, you know, because he has that like 2X helmet that he wore and it was that old school Rydell. Remember the old school Rydell? He couldn't even wear it. At the end of his career, he was grandfathered into wearing his. Just like the single button guys.

Yeah, you know, remember that? Aaron Rodgers is still grandfathered into it. Yeah, he's a meme now because of that one. All right, let's get into the hard hitting questions. We didn't get anything for our kids. Come on. Let's go, Pat's over under 11 wins this year. Under why under 11 wins? I know you're a big Patriots fan. They just had four wins. Yeah,

but let's be realistic. New coach, new players. Okay. She hit in the draft, got the tackle, got wide receivers, got the defensive stats. Why under 11? Wait a minute. I'm just saying like, let's be realistic. You think you're gonna have 12 wins? 12 wins. 12 is a lot. They're going to be a 12 win team after being a four win team. That's tough. I'm just asking. It is tough. I mean, look at the Washington. So I took the under command. No, commanders. Yeah. Commanders. Yeah, they did it. You just said, so my thought is how about nine over under nine. All right. That's more. I'm a nine. I think they're nine, 10, when team nine, 10, 11 is a lot. I'm going over on nine and I'm going under on 11. Okay. You're right. That's realistic. That is.

So do you think that you can win instantly with overpaying in free agency? That's a great point because look at the, they just spent 355 million. Let's talk about the dream team, Philadelphia Eagles. Remember 2013, coach Balachek always put them up on the board. There was so much talk about them. They were talking all, we're the greatest team. We got so many free agencies come in and then they went, went five and 11 that year, six and 10. And they brought in that many free agencies. It doesn't mean you're going to gel as a team when you bring in that many free agencies. Exactly.

But, but they're veteran free agencies. Vrabel's a guy that kind of, you know, feel like you can gel them together. He's a guy that, you know, he's, he's the glue guy, right? And he's one of them dudes. You see him in the, what's it forged in Foxpro now? And they got the over forged. We're like building this thing up. Like every team has like our new facility. We're going to build it from the ground up with steel and iron. And we're going to good. Yeah, it's great. It's great marketing. So my thought is if you protect the quarterback, which is number one in the NFL, right? I don't think you could ever

overpay for offense alignment. No, but they didn't. So like you said, they overpaid for a bunch of free agents. How much did they pay for Dix? They didn't get any free agencies on the offensive line though. They got Moses. 34, he's been around, you know, last year was kind of riddled with injuries. Where did they get him from? He was with the commanders. Okay. Yes. So actually he was, I played against him with the commanders and then he went to the,

he was with the Jets. He was banged up last year. He was banged up. But they drafted, they drafted the kid. They drafted, and I would say that all his interviews, Campbell, not Compton. I was thinking about what was his name, Campbell, not Compton. I'm thinking of Compton. I was just on Bustin' With The Boys. Bustin' With The Boys.

Did he make that tackle, by the way, or did he miss it? Well, I was on the sidelines and he kind of just pushed me out. It was like a gimme. It was a gimme tackle. But what was bad on his part is it was just a normal flat route. And I got 12 yards on the flat route. He didn't do his job in the coverage game. Yeah.

No. And then it was a gimme tackle. So it's a tough, I mean you on the sideline, I was rolling though. I was fast back then. Yeah, you were pretty fast. Um, so I think you look at, I do like his interviews, by the way, the first overall pick, right? If you could describe yourself in one word, how would you nasty? My job is to protect the quarterback. I love getting down and nasty in the trenches I'm I'm just out there past setting trying to protect my quarterback like that gets me going right you love Supplyman all right wait up how many times have you been practicing that I just made it up just real quick

It's like you and the bill Belichick impersonation so many times you're in the mirror just I mean come on next I sat in front of him for 12 years and watched him pick his nose. He did yeah. I could tell you his habits from everything. Yeah I know isn't that it's attractive isn't it? You didn't sit next to Campbell for 12 years. No I just listened to him. And then you practiced a couple times. No once. You just practiced once. It's all about watching. You watching yourself once doing. No, never did that. I don't think I did. Yes, you did. No, Jules. I think I'm just pretty good at improv. This is a friendly episode. I need to be throwing haymakers at each other.

Jeez. I'm going to have to jiff you. All right. Well, talking about Bill, we got Nico here and looking at that hat. What was it like visiting Bill at Chapel Hill? I had Chapel Bill. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, it was great. We had a good time. Did you hit the bars? Did Paige let you go out? visiting bill at chapel hill. I had chapel bill. That was great. I was. Yeah, it was great. We had a good time. Did you hit the bars?

The page, the page, let you go out. No, I didn't do anything like that. Even, even being that far away. I tracked my phone, made sure I was in the hotel. Okay. But anyway, it's, you know, for me, I felt, you know, look, you put her shirt like this on, you wear a hat like this, get something, maybe get walk around, you know, calm,

have Tommy Bahama baby. What are you trying to say? You walk around, calm, have, and what? Maybe just pick up a younger chick or walk around you know come have Tommy Bahama baby walk around come have and what maybe just pick up a younger chick or something you know I'm kidding I'm kidding everyone's so serious these days I'm a married man oh freaking page I love you she's the best but I would go after you if I saw that ring so how was that was great so so this is my this is my thought I was surprised that he took that job. I think we were all a little shocked and surprised.

I think the challenge is probably going to be trying to get the most out of a less talented roster. The worst NFL team in the NFL is more talented. Let's just face it. Like you could have the shittiest NFL football team and you have a roster full of studs. So I think it's might be a little bit more difficult to get the most out of some of these kids that let's face it, maybe one, two, maybe three or NFL

caliber players. Like you look at NFL teams, how many NFL guys played on your Arizona team? Three or four or four. How many from Kent State? Three. Three. So like every college team probably has three, four max NFL caliber players. And some have one, some have none. Some have none, especially, you know, if you're Alabama, you're going to have maybe eight to 10. Got a lot of money at Chapel Hill. Yeah, but you're going to have to bring in some talent. And I know that like the big 10, some of these big schools, they have to cut down on their roster because there's no walk-ons anymore.

So they did away with the walk-on. So if you're from Carolina, you're Chapel Hill. Yeah, they pick up. It's trying to pick those guys up through free agency. So, you know, it was interesting because there's definitely, you know, you talk to some of these kids, you're like, how old are you? Like, oh, I'm 18. Like, shit, you're 18 years old. OK, it's pretty wild. Honestly, you know, I was I was a young

I didn't redshirt. So I was young. I was 18 when I was in junior college and when I got drafted at 21. So my rookie season, I was 22 years old. You know, a lot of these kids, they're, you know, red shirt, gray shirt, transfer year, COVID year. You know, you got some kids that are 24 and you got other kids that are 18. So you have a wide discrepancy there of age. That's a good word, discrepancy.

I'm learning, this guy's smart. Yeah, Purdue guy, you know, 3.2 GPA, not bad. Oh, Slate only had a 3.1 at UCLA. I know. 3.2, this guy. I'm pretty smart. Super whiz. They with they say produce like Ivy League of Public Schools All right next question. Um Play with shot you played with Sean Payton. Well, I didn't play with That's like, you know, somebody said like somebody stole Bill Belichick Super Bowl jersey

It's like yeah, he didn't wear a jersey like bills never worn. This isn't baseball We're like which is weird. Don't you think the managers wearing like a full uniform is odd well that's baseball it's baseball I know imagine like bill the manager used to play those early uniform 1890s hilarious I know I know that's that's the history I thought you were a tradition guy but getting back to you back to it for Sean Sean yeah serious dude when you were there in New Orleans 2006. Well, kind of how was it?

How was coach Payton different than coach Belichick? My whole professional career, I was with the Parcells. I was in a Parcells tree. So who Sean under Parcells. So the mentality there is very tough. He's not an easy guy, but he's very smart. He's great offense guy. You know, he's not, there's a clip. Actually we were playing the Cowboys in Jackson state.

Cause my first training training camp was at Millseps college in Jackson, Mississippi. Terrible. But we were playing the Cowboys and I had in like late, I didn't hear the whistle. and I had in like late, I didn't hear the whistle. So I kind of tackled the guy after the whistle. They gave me a 15-yard penalty. I came off the field.

There's a clip of him like screaming at me. Do you think you're worth 15 yards? And I wanted to say, yeah, but I was like, no, no. And he's screaming at me. But he kind of is that coach that's going to call you out. He's going to make you know when you're screwing up, right? He's a tough, he's tough, right? So when I went to Miami, they had Cam Cameron

on the terrible one and 15 season. They were awful in 2007. Like the worst team I've ever seen in a professional sport, right? And Tony Spirano came in and then Parcells was the president in 08. Sparano. Sparano.

Yep, Sparano. So when I was in the weight room, I was working out and Parcells walks in and he puts his hand on my shoulder. He goes, hey, you're that Ninkovic kid, right? And I was like, yeah. He's like, you remind me of a guy I drafted in New England, Teddy Bruski.

He's like, you should be an inside linebacker. So instantly I'm like, shit, I'm not going to be a pass rusher. Cause he thought I was too short. Like he was six, two. He liked those big elephant guys, you know, the guys long arm, you know, he went McGinnis, um, big, big dudes that outside, linebacker. So had a great camp was outside linebacker. I make the team. I'm on my way home after Wednesday practice. They call me back in the office.

I'm like, fuck, they're gonna cut me. So I go into Parcell's office. He's like, hey, how old are you? I'm like, oh, I'm 24. He's like, you're young. I'm gonna offer you a contract right now. You shake my hand. It's a deal.

If you walk out, the no deal, you're cut. So he's like, I'm gonna pay you your full salary. I think it was like 450 grand to learn inside linebacker on practice squad. And through 12 weeks, you can't leave. If you leave, you're breaking the deal and that's not a good thing to do. Don't break the deal.

So I was like, all right, screw it. I shook his hand. They move in inside linebacker. Had no freaking idea how to play inside linebacker. Hated it, terrible. Off the ball, you got to wait, you got to tempo stuff. It was the worst thing in the world. So I waited 12 weeks.

They moved me up. We were playing the Raiders at home. Ran down on two kickoffs. Had one tackle, another was a touchback. Jeff Ireland at the time was the GM, brought me in the office. And he was like, hey, we were thinking you'd be more of a Larry Izzo spark on special teams, so we're going to release you. So he was like, Hey, you know, we were thinking you'd be like more of a Larry Izzo spark on special teams. So we're going to release you. So I was like, all right. Well, first of all, I'm six, two, two 60 and I'm the pass rusher. Larry is those five eight, 200 pounds.

So there's a number one reason that I'm not ever going to be there is though. So the second they cut me, I already knew I was gone. Cause I had three teams claim me. Like they asked like, Hey, do you want to come here? And it was like Buffalo, Cincinnati in new England. And I was like, no, I got to stay here. Cause I did that pack with Parcells. Um, so the second that they cut me, the saints claim me and I didn't even give them a chance, cause you can give a team a chance to bring you up or keep you up, I just left. So the next day they were like, Hey, where's Ninkovic?

And they're like, Oh, he left. So I just said, screw up. I just left. So the next day they're like, Hey, where's Ninkovic? And they're like, Oh, he left. So I just said, screw it. I'm out. So when you left, they were going to planning to bring you back up since you got claimed. And if you they brought you back up, I didn't even give him an option. You just don't even like I just left. You can give a team an option. They can you can say, really, I'm going to get mad. They can match. Really? Yeah. Okay. I didn't know that. So I was fed up with it. And I

was just like, they weren't gonna give me a chance anyway, because then how did the New Orleans pin up New Orleans? That sucked too. So New Orleans that year in particular. I was trying to get You know if you are active on a roster you get a credit season. So that year I was only active for one game So when they brought me to New Orleans, they had two players, Will Smith, rest in peace and Charles Grant. They both tested positive for star caps. It was a dietary supplement. It had like a feds run it. So they, they popped, they claim me and I was like, all right, well maybe I'll get, you know, some film or be on a roster and get some time. And, uh,

the judge overruled it and they pushed it to the next season. So when I got there, I was a 54 man exempt. Wow. Yeah. 54. So I got my credit season. So if you look at my 2008 season, I only played one game, but I got a credit season. And then Sean, um, after in 2009 in the off season, he's like the only way that you make this team is as a long snapper.

So they moved me to long snapper, which I thought was complete bullshit. And then they brought in Jason Kyle and training camp. And I almost flipped over Sean Payton's desk on him cause I wanted to kill him when he cut me. I was like, you didn't know you're gonna bring in a veteran snapper like two weeks ago, bullshit. So then I left and I got

Wasted on Bourbon Street Wasted I was hungover and I was on the second hole Golfing with a friend of mine and I got the call from New England the rest is history So that's that story. When did you meet Paige? Because I know you met I met in Orleans I met her in She was at nursing school at LSU and I was at a bar and I just saw a little hot chick and I was, you know, walked up to her and she couldn't resist.

Was this when you were on The Saints? Yeah, I was on The Saints. Oh wow. So you're still under the Bill Parcells tree. That's right. Parcells. And then I went to... Because Paige has you under control. Paige has me on the real tight whip.

Yup. And in my neck or sometimes from that. But anyway, the leash is short. How did it feel to lose to Gronk every day in one of ones? You know, in the run game and pass game. Well, let's be honest. Let's be honest Gronk, run game. What, what, what happened?

The run game. Yeah, what about it? You didn't beat me in the run game. What do you mean? You didn't about me in the run game? What do you mean? You didn't, you didn't walk me in the run game. You never made the tackle. You might have put my ass and punished me. Well, good thing we didn't play against each other because I didn't have to tackle my own teammates. Just tag off. Passing Gabe. Yeah, I couldn't cover grunk, but it makes me

feel better because he's a hall of fame player and when you can't cover a guy that's going into the hall of fame, you don't feel so bad. You know, if he was a, you know, just a Jag, just another guy, and he sucked, then I'd probably wouldn't have played as long as I did. So it was a good feeling knowing that that guy panned out to be a really good player. His rookie season, I was like, dude, I suck. Like maybe I need to not play in the NFL anymore, but he happened to be the grunk. Yeah. Thank you, Niko. That was very sweet of you. But for real, one-on-one, Nico is one of the hardest

defenders to block. It's probably because of your leverage. What are you? Six, three? Yeah. Six, three, two, 65. I'm six, six. I'm long at two, six, six, two, six, two, five. Nico's one of the guys that I can't get leverage on. He's like a bowling ball. You're kind of like a James, James Harrison a little bit. You guys have the leverage on me. So I'm never going to be able to move you. I moved plenty of guys in my career, but I could never push back. Niko not even in a strong majority of the time. Actually, I was getting pushed back and then like a foot or two, and I would have to find a way to cut them off. So he wouldn't make the tackle. I was trying to figure out those type of techniques because I

couldn't move. This guy is an absolute animal. He's like kind of part of the ground. Early in our careers, we would do a lot of one-on-ones. We would do the half line stuff. We would do all those things that they don't do anymore. Um, actually said this the other day, if the rules were in place when I came into the league, the way that they are right now, I don't think I make an NFL roster.

I don't think the OTAs, I don't think the non-padded practices are beneficial to guys that need pads. It wouldn't develop you. It wouldn't develop me. So, you know, there's guys that look great in the shells. You know, they're big NFL players. They're jacked, they're ripped, they got the V. you know, unlike me. That's kind of like, you know, Plumberish, maybe no offense to any plumbers out there, but you guys aren't

Jacked. Well, Jack, he's popular. You know that for a fact. You're a tasty Well, it's you know, it's marbled, you know, that's ice cream you go wagyu wagyu I'm a wagyu. I'm a wagyu. I'm a wagyu. That's right. A5. I'm a Tomahawk. I'm a Tomahawk.

Right off the ship. I'm a Tomahawk. But Tomahawk. Tomahawk. I just think that the guys that are in full pads, you separate the men from the boys in pads. And you don't do, they don't do one-on-ones. They don't do half line. They don't do nine on seven. They don't do half line. They don't do nine on seven.

They don't do the things that really made you better show if a guy can make a play on the field. Like really for me, all those drills in practice are what turned a lot of guys' heads like, Oh shit, like that dude's pretty good. Oh, one on ones. That guy's pretty good. And then you get in the game and you do it. So I feel for those guys, especially the borderline guys that need to prove themselves, guys pretty good and then you get in the game and you do it. So I feel for those guys, especially the borderline guys that need to prove themselves that need special teams that need to run down on kickoff. And when I was a rookie, like I was the white linebacker, like you have

to run down and hit a wedge. You have to run down and take the middle guy out. You got to run down and just kamikaze yourself and you got to do what you got to do. Right? Like at the end of the day, you're trying to like make it. So you got to, it's me, it's him or me. I'm going to take them out. Like that's the name of the game. Nico did a lot of that. You had this journey. You were in Miami. You played inside linebacker. You got caught. You wanted to New Orleans. You played long snapper. You got cut again. When was that time in your NFL career where you knew you belonged and you were

going to be a special player at the outside linebacker position? I knew I was, I knew I could do it in oh six when I was a rookie, you know? So when I got drafted I was, they only kept three D ends. So I was in the rotation, but then I blew my knee out in the superdome opening game against Atlanta. So when they had the Katrina, the storm, the dome, the whole thing, open the dome back up was, uh, September 25th, uh, Monday night football and I was running a run down on kickoff. It was deep kick right after, uh, they had a run, a reverse.

And I was actually going in on defense on that next series and we were playing Vic. So it was like, okay, like it's Vic, I want to get Vic, but it was a deep kick right. And the returner caught the ball like a yard from the pylon and I was the R three. So I'm like, Oh, I'm going to go make the play. So I just started to try and go make the play and the wedge hit me when I was planted, trying to go back to the, to make the tackle. And it just, my knee just pop out, pop out like three big pops.

I remember it bang ASO MCL PCO meniscus and then I was right there Sean Payton. I was on the ground like and he's like, are you out? Are you hurt? Are you injured? I'm like, I'm fucking done. Like I knew I was done. So then after the game, you know, you have like denial like I didn't tear my ACL. I like tried to walk on it. And I like, Yeah, no, no, no, it wasn't bad. It flamingoed. I stepped in, it went backwards. I was like, oh, okay, maybe I need to fix.

Hyper extension. Yeah. I remember looking at Jim Whalen. I just said, is it there? Oh, it's gone. And he's like, we need to get extra. I go, fuck you, Jimmy. God damn it.

It's not. Cause if he says, because they do the test, they know right away. They know the radio right away. I mean, if they say we got to get an x-ray, that means you're done. I got weird. I mean, I have like super loose knees anyway.

So like when they did the. I know. There was like five times in a game where Nikovic would come up, I tore my MCL. Well, I tore it. Fucking Wailoo would be looking at him like, Wailoo, you're fine, Nikko. I tore my.

I can't. I can't. I told my I tore my MCL six times just from getting rolled up on because at least you got a record when you're on the when you're on the line and Andy Oliver throwing shots. Jules. Yeah. So in shots, shots, he's had a few shots in his day. Oh, throwing shots back at you. This guy over here. Yeah. What about what all these chirps on our social like are you know, it's it's I just love it I think it's hilarious. I mean, you know the dudes on dudes a space

Yeah Start my look and then you get on Gronk about being on bowtie. You must think he looks good. Yeah. Yeah. Botox look good, by the way. You guys are. Why were you saying that? Because you're saying I mean, I know you guys are close friends with a lot of guys that make, you know, what do you look like? We have. Who are we close friends with that has Botox? What are you trying to say? What are you trying to say?

Feel me. I'm all natural. You look good. No, you look good. Come feel me. I look at that wrinkle. No, if I had Botox, that wrinkle, you know what they call this? A response. You guys are responding to it and I love it. And if I didn't like it, I wouldn't put it out there, but like, but we don't respond to you on the internet.

Yeah, sure. You do. We don't even have to respond. Oh, you don't respond. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh, I don't believe that for a second, but you get a lot of laughs.

People are laughing, but like literally your balls are on his back right now, which is kind of weird. No, all right. But it's dude on dude, that's cool. You gotta use your groin. Oh, you gotta squeeze it. Do you have something against? No, like friendship.

No, dude, I'm here. Bromance is, you got a thing against a bromance? Is something wrong with you? He was just, hey, speaking of meat. He's just jealous. That's why he's here as the three way now. Are you sponsored by any like butchers or anything? Butchers? Yeah. Why? Because meat. Dudes on dudes. You know like sponsored by certain butcher. How long? I just came up with that instantly. We should have a

butchership sponsorship. This guy came in with the clipboard of chirps. No that's all stuff. He came in with the fucking clipboard. That chirp is going to I appreciate that. I know, I know, but like. You want wagyu beef, go hit up wagyu. Say hey. Wagyu is a type of beef. I know, hit up whoever makes it. Just say hey, it's dudes on dudes, we like meat. We'll be right back after this quick break.

Just like great shoes, great books take you places. Through unforgettable love stories and into conversations with characters you'll never forget. I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robay, and this is Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, the new podcasts from Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts. Every week I sit down with your favorite book lovers, authors, celebrities, book talkers, and more to explore the stories that shape us on the page and off.

I've been reading every Reese's Book Club pick, deep diving book talk theories, and obsessing over book to screen casts for years. And now I get to talk to the people making the magic. So if you've ever fallen in love with a fictional character or cried at the last chapter or passed a book to a friend saying, you have to read this.

This podcast is for you. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the You Versus You podcast. I'm Lex Berero, and every week we sit down with some of the biggest names in entertainment to talk about the real stuff. The struggles, the doubts, and the breakthroughs that made them who they are. We go deep, flowing childhood trauma, family, overcoming loss,

and the moments that shaped their journey. These honest conversations are meant to take the cape off our heroes, with the hope that their humanity inspires you to become a better you and therefore set you free to live the life of your dreams. Here's a sneak peek. I'm trained to go compete. I'm trained to be like go harder. But sometimes that mentality stops you from stopping

and smelling the flowers in your own garden. Is it wrong to want more? We migrated, our family migrated here. I'm like second generation. Who's not going to have a trauma coming from a foreign country and you arrive in the United States and you don't speak English? Listen to You Versus You generation. Listen to You vs. You as part of Michael Tudel Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband. It's a cold case.

I've never found her, and it haunts me to this day. The murderer is still out there. Every week on Hell and Gone Murder Line, I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody's daughter. She was still somebody's sister. There's so many questions that we've never gotten any kind of interest for. If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think everything that might've dropped in 95 has been labeled the golden years of hip hop. It's Black Music Month and we need the talk is tapping in. I'm Naila Simone breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices and digging into the culture that shaped the soundtrack of our lives.

My favorite line on there was, my son and my daughter gonna be proud when they hear my old tapes. Now I'm curious, do they like rap along now? Yeah, cause I bring him on tour with me and he's getting older now too. So his friends are starting to understand what that type of music is.

And they're starting to be like, yo, your dad's like really the goat. Like he's a legend. So his friends are starting to understand what that type of music is and they're starting to be like, yo your dad's like really the GOAT, like he's a legend. So he gets it. What does it mean to leave behind a music legacy for your family? It means a lot to me just having a good catalog and just being able to make people feel good. Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out is that our music changes people's lives for the better. So the fact that my kids get to benefit off of that, I'm really happy or my family in general. Let's talk about the music that moves us to hear this and more on how music and culture collide. Listen to, we need to talk from the black effect podcast network on the iHeart radio app,

Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I've got one more question though. All right. Come on. All right. This guy's great with leverage in the run game. How many sacks in your career? Ah, I don't know, like 46 or something. 46 sacks. I missed a ton of sacks. 46 sacks. That's a lot of them out, right?

Like 51 in the playoffs. Yeah, 51 total in the playoffs. 51 total. Total. They don't count any of that. So a guy with 51 sacks in his career, why did you not make more money? Well, at the end of the day-

Why did you not have the leverage in the contract talks? Well, because I think- A guy with 51 sacks- Here, this is what I'm gonna tell you. Big money. This is my- What's your theory? What's your theory?

I wanna hear it. This is just advice. We're always talking about it. This is what I'm asking. This is advice to you. That's a lot of sacks. You guys just won't let me speak. This is advice. This is just advice. We're always talking about. This is what I'm asking. This is advice to you. That's a lot of sacks. A lot of sacks. You guys just won't let me speak.

This is advice. Money shouldn't be your goal, but financial freedom should be your goal. So whatever number you have, or what you have, what I have, it's all different. So like if you want to keep up with the Joneses and you want to have the Bentley and you want to have the nice house and the car,

you're going to have to keep working. You're going to have to make more money. You're going to have to get all that. You're going to have to, but if my're gonna have to make more money. You're gonna have to get all that. You're gonna have to. But if my number's a certain number and I'm happy with it and it gives me the financial freedom and you're smart and you're not an idiot with it, then you're fine. So your contract, why didn't you make more?

Why didn't you make more? You know? That's a good point. We all should have. Wasn't your first contract less than Hernandez's contract? Less guaranteed. Less guaranteed. I was financially free though when I signed it.

So, and then you also have as a free agent, like when you're a free agent you have to, so if you're a first round pick, so any first round pick, your second round pick, you're not gonna make a contract that's less than your second round contract because it doesn't make sense. If you're a free agent and your signing bonus is five grand, mine was like 130 something thousand. If they dangle half a million in front of you for a two year deal with like four million bucks, you're like, fuck, four million bucks.

Okay, that's two million after taxes. All right, my goal is 10 to 12 when I'm done. When you hit that number and you're like, okay, conservatively, if I make seven to 10% on that money and I don't touch the nut, like it's just gonna roll over. Seven to 10%, who's your financial guy? Seven to 10, conservatively. Because if you try to go for 12 to 15,

the downside risk is a lot harder. So like, if you were heavily invested, you're shooting for 15 to 20% at your young age. That's a financial advisor. And COVID hit, then you would have been down 30%. Right? So you want to stay conservative in your investments. Wow.

Thank you for that financial literacy report. For every $10 million, you could pull 20,000 a month and that's not your full nut. So you could pull 40, right? So if you have 20 million in the bank, you could live off of 40,000 a month. Could you live off of 40,000 a month? So it depends on your lifestyle. It depends on your lifestyle. If you live in LA and you got a big house

and you got to pay taxes on it, cause they just passed something on, oh, I think the governor of California just passed like a 16% increase on your property taxes. So that should be fun. 16%? 16%. So what's that mean?

16% of what it is or they're putting it to 16%? No, they're putting, adding 16 to what you're paying right now. So you're paying 1.1% of your purchase price, so 16% of that, so it's gonna be 1.16? It's just gonna be a lot if you live in California. Niko, I like the heat that you're bringing to the table. I love the heat.

And you know what? You're surprising me right now, man. And I really like it, man. You're always bringing that intriguing factor to whatever you're doing. And that's why we love you, man. You brought it to the locker room. You have to have these deep conversations.

I was thinking of doing my own thing just called depth and just getting deep on life and getting deep on what are we here for? You're not scared. We're not scared either. We're here for you to get deep into the dude that you're bringing to. And that's what we're going to do.

Yes. Let's go. Nico's going to be here for six hours talking to us about how to make 8% on his portfolio. Hey, you make 8% you're good. Let's probably tax free too. Somehow tax free. Yeah.

We've got a percent depends on how you're talking. Yeah. You know exactly on who to audit. I would audit that guy. You got to write Rob. Let's get the AI synopsis of who Rob Ninkovic picked for. So Nico, this is how it works. Now we have a guest. Usually Julian and I break down two guys, two guys or three guys. We usually break down and talk about them for 10 minutes. But since you're the guests, we're just gonna do one guy that we're gonna break down. You have the one guy.

That you brought. This one guy. Okay, yeah. And before we get started, I read an AI summary about the guy, just to give a little glimpse of who we're gonna talk about. Don't say who it is yet.

I'm not, I'm not. Here we go. All right. And the reason why I read it is because Julian's reading, there we go. Can't read. There we go. I remember. And I was, I knew Niko was probably gonna say that,

so I just wanted to get ahead of the game. Yeah, can't read in front of people. Yeah. I can't read. Can't. He can read a playbook. Standing at six foot four inches and weighing 220 pounds, this Hall of Fame quarterback was selected first overall

in the 1989 draft, the year that I was born, and went on to lead his team to three Super Bowl championships. He earned six Pro Bowl selections and was the MVP of Super Bowl 27, cementing his status as a clutch performer in big moments. Raised in California and Oklahoma, he starred at UCLA. In high school, he was an all state football player and also a standout shortstop.

Since retiring, he's been a fixture in the broadcast booth and even launched his own beer in 2022. Let's get on. Troy Aikman. And Niko. I love Troy Aikman. Why did you pick Troy Aikman for the dude that you wanna get all over on? So I picked Troy Aikman for the dude that you want to get all over on?

So I picked Troy Aikman because number one when you're a kid you're influenced by The best teams and the winners, right? So when I was a kid I grew up in Chicago the suburbs of Chicago the Bears sucked, right? They had Cade Mcdowell and they were just terrible. Oh, remember? Yeah, you see LA again So for me the Cowboys were the team. So I had like the bedspread and I had the Cowboys like in the bedroom, like all the, you know, I had the border around my room,

the Cowboys had Emmett Smith on the wall, Troy Aikman. Ervin? Michael Ervin. So, you know, for me, I just- What about Jimmy Johnson? Jimmy Johnson? Yeah, I mean, I didn't have a poster of him, but he had great hair.

Still does. Great hair. Still does. Looking fly. So, and he was just like, Troy Aikman is just a tough, tough quarterback. Like he was a guy that would just take a big lick and just keep going.

Right? Just gritty. And you know, I had a chance to talk to him a couple of times that beer company that he's got, me, I do believe, like he sent me a whole, like, beer and stuff. I was so pumped. I'm like, Triedman sent me a beer. It's so cool.

What type of beer is it? It's a light beer, cause if you've seen it- How does it separate from other beers? Well, his beer is a light lager. It's very light because he's got light lager hair. He's a health conscious guy. Like if you watch his social media stuff, he's jacked for, you know, how old is he?

He's old, 58. 58. Like he looks great. He looks great. He does. And you know, how old he is 58, 58. He looks great. He looks great. And you know, if unfortunately he had to leave the game a little early because of the head stuff that he was taking, he's taking some good shots. Sounds great. He does a great job on television. And, uh, you know, I think he's one hell of a dude. You ever meet him? I've never met him in person. You never met Troy. Maybe one day,

maybe one day I take that back. We, you to him? Actually, I take that back. I take that back. You know how you do the pregame stuff? Yeah. I met him at one of those. And I was like starstruck. Where at? I think we were in Cincinnati. I think we played in Cincinnati.

That was the game that, remember, we had that monsoon? It was literally like. 13. Yes. We were coming back. It was the last drive. And then we couldn't.

It just started out of nowhere. We had a fumble. We created a fumble right there. I think dev. Yeah, create a fumble. We got the ball back We couldn't and we couldn't we couldn't throw it couldn't throw the ball. Like literally it was we got craziest rain We had the craziest rainstorm right when we got the ball. Yeah, I think Vani Holliday had a strip sack on Tom I was hurt now if you ever met if you ever met him, what would your first question be to him? Probably just, you know, how did you stay so successful for so many years when you guys were the team? And like, we were the team, but that's like the team.

And that was in the 90s too. And they were back to back Super Bowl champions. So I think it was 92, 93. And then that was the team that beat up, they killed Buffalo. And I don't know if you've seen the documentary, the four falls of Buffalo. It's kind of depressing. Very sad. Sad. From Buffalo. I know. Yeah, remember. But I was so young. I don't remember any of that. Like I don't remember any of that. My last game. My last game was Atlanta. Which is good. Do you ever think about the other side, like those guys, how terrible that must feel for them? For Atlanta?

Yeah. Yeah, any time I see one of the guys, they always fucking. Because Matt Ryan, any time he does anything, they ask him about that. And it's like, at a point, I would just be like, shut the fuck up. I know, he had like a hell of a career. He made so much money. ask him about that. And it's like, at a point, I would just be like, shut the fuck up, asking these stupid questions. He had like a hell of a career.

He made so much money. I mean, through for so many touchdowns and all people bring up to him is, hey, like what happened in that game versus the Patriots and the Super Bowl? That sucks. When I watch those documentaries, like the four falls of Buffalo,

and I see like some of the guys and now they're older. And I don't know if you've seen some older NFL players, but it's pretty depressing. You know, it's like, holy shit. Like I, I wish they would have won a Superbowl for those guys. Right now. I'm happy that we were able to make that happen and win that football game, but I kind of sometimes have, you know, a little bit of empathy for those guys that didn't

win a Superbowl definitely because you lost a Superbowl as well. Yes. So we know what it feels like to lose a Superbowl. It's probably one of the worst feelings that you can feel. The worst. And you almost would rather, now I say this, and I don't know if you feel the same, I almost rather not play that game, rather just like lose the FC Championship game and then say, oh, shit, next year we'll get back there. Because when you get to the Super Bowl and we had it,

and not only was it a shitty loss, it was in Indianapolis. That was the worst. and we had it and not only was it a shitty loss, it was in Indianapolis. That was the worst. It was like who thought like, oh let's have a nice Indianapolis Super Bowl. It's gonna be freezing and there's only one cool steakhouse and there's really nothing to do here.

St. Elmo's. It's actually a great host city I heard though, like for like conventions and shit, for like the viewer and the fan if it wasn't freezing. That's soft. They have hotels, I've heard it's a really good like hosting city. Almost as bad as Minnesota. That was freezing. That was 11 under.

Yeah, it was 11 degrees under. So whoever makes those like that decision, let's let's stay. Yeah, you got to build the stadium up. It was a newer stadium. I mean, this will come on. I was just an indie, you know, like you said, they need some warm weather there. It's all right. You know, they do a decent job hosting that many people.

I was at the Indy 500. So there was over 400,000 people in the city and they had enough hotels, enough restaurants and all that. But it's kind of run down a little bit. And talking about that Super Bowl game as well. That's why I got so hammered after the game is I didn't want to remember anything that happened. I don't remember anything. Exactly. I don't remember it either.

They put a safety video out on like a good chip and the NFL put it out and they showed the clip that I actually got concussed. So I'm coming off the tackle. And literally like the second I get off the tackles shoulder, Brandon Jacobs is running to the flat and flippers me on my chin. I stop and I drop in coverage, but I'm not supposed to be in coverage at all. And I get off of it and Matt, he's like, Hey, uh, what happened on that play? I'm like, what play?

I don't remember. Like I got hit. He's like, yeah, you got it. I said, dude, I was, I don't remember anything. So I don't even remember playing that game. So you know how crazy dangerous this game was or is. And especially for a guy like Troy Aikman, who took a lot of hits. What does he do better that makes everyone else, what does he do better than anyone else? What is his great thing?

That makes Sam elite. Probably his consistency. Cause if you watch, if you watch like just what he does now, it's how he prepares for television, and then how he takes care of his body. So literally to get in shape or to be fit, it's just discipline and consistency. So like for him to be so good for so long,

and then transition into the booth and be so good for so long, he has to be consistent, and he has to be able to do that over and over and over again. And I think that's why he was so successful in his professional career. And then when he went to television, he's been even probably more successful, right? He stuck around for so long and he's still doing it at such a high level. It comes back to probably what he was so good at when he was a professional football player.

You know, I really liked that answer. And to all you young bucks out there, it's all about consistency. It's not about doing it once, having a one handed catch, you know, that they are running so fast and blowing by the safeties and having a touchdown. But if you can't do it the next day, well, then you're not going to make the team. You're not going to make the cut. And what's so interesting is that we asked Slater, what made Brandon Schooler so great as a special teamer to make him an all pro last year.

He said the same thing because Matthew Slater coached him. He said it's his consistency. He brought it every single day to practice and then it transferred into a game. And now we just talked to you and we asked, hey, what makes Troy Aikman so great? And you said it's his consistency. Just how he prepares, how he went out there to be great on a daily basis. So if you want to be great, it has to be at a consistent rate every single day. It's not like, Hey, I'm going to be good today. I'm going to try hard today and I'm going to take off tomorrow. No, you have to be great every day and you have to bring your A game every day.

Just like Troy Aikman, like Niko saying. That's right. Makes a lot of sense. There's a beast. And talking about Troy, if you have a chance, if you were playing back in his era, what do you think would have been like the second would have been awesome? I don't love that. You know, you watch 90s tape, 2000s, the game has definitely

evolved. It's changed. It's a lot different. Now I'm not going to be that old guy and it's like, Oh, these young kids today couldn't play back in the day. But I would say the receivers nowadays, the tight ends, the quarterbacks, like, and I think Tom's even talked about this. You back in the nineties and early two thousands, like you had a responsibility to take care of your receiver. Like, Hey, I'm not just going to throw this lead, this lead a receiver on a slant. And there's a guy sitting right there. It could take them out of the game. You can take them out for a week. Take them out.

Take them out. Right. So, you know, when I watch those guys back in the 90s and the 2000s, I think that it was probably the hardest and most physical, the football, like the game, the sport has ever been, because the rules weren't adjusted. And it was the apex of where they had more athleticism and they started training in the off season and shit.

So you had speed, you had strength, and you had subpar equipment. So like those guys were still wearing like the cork bike helmets that they were wearing in the eighties, in the seventies, they were wearing that shit all the way their whole career. But they were faster and bigger. All hits were legal too. The crack back was legal. There are guys.

You can blind size someone. You can just tee off. And someone going up the scene. There are guys. I've seen it. I've seen someone, I think Howie Long gouged someone's eyeball out. The cornerbacks just absolutely got derailed too.

There are guys that are in the Hall of Fame that couldn't play in today's game. They just couldn't play because of the way the physicality of how they hit people like a John Lynch, like John Lynch right now couldn't just decapitate people over the middle. That was his game. That was his game. Ronnie lot. Ronnie lot. It doesn't fit in this era. So for me, it's like those guys, like I have all the respect in the world for like that era of football because not only they weren't making the crazy money, they were building the game up to where it is right now. And like now the guys are getting paid crazy money.

And we were talking about crazy money too compared to the guys before us though. That's how it goes. It's so it's the evolution of the game. I mean, like a baseball player, like they're probably like, oh my God, you see what those guys are making $700 million and they're going to make that when they're 50, 60 years old. Like the old tiny contract, he's going to make $30 million when he's 55 is nuts because they defer everything down the road. So he can be in Texas when he did. So it doesn't get taxed on it. Exactly. Back to who's the favorite quarterback that you've ever sacked since we're talking about sack and Troy Aikman. What about you in your career? Who was yours?

Brett Favre? Tom in practice? I can't officially call it a sack for Brett Favre because he intentionally grounded the ball so that takes away your sack, which sucks. You had Brett Favre? Yeah, yeah. I'd say probably Mannings.

I got the Manning brother. I got both of them, so that's good. Grounded sack, yeah. So they don't consider it a sack. I probably say Peyton and Eli, those are two good ones because Peyton, when I was at Purdue, I went to the Monday and I was a Thursday night opener at the RCA dome and they were playing the Steelers and I went there as a scene, I went there my senior year at Purdue and they were playing after the game. He went to this bar and the agent that was trying to recruit me, like took me to the same bar. And I remember looking at like,

that's Peyton Manning, right? And then fast forward like 12 years. And I'm like sack fumbling them and stuff. It's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. Smaring, giving them business. And what's the moment that stands out the most to you in Troy Aikman's career? Probably, you know, the, from the transition, because a lot of guys, when you're, there's only three ways to leave the game. So it's your way, their way or injured. So when you leave injured, mentally, it's kind of hard to just really take that, right? Like it's hard to accept the fact that you are being pushed out of the game that you love. And when you're playing football,

like that's your everything, like you love it, right? You wouldn't, that's all you know because you've been doing it your whole life. So I think probably the most impressive thing is his transition from leaving the game, not on his terms, and then going into the booth and being really good at it. So yeah, not on his terms, and then going into the booth and being really good at it. So yeah, his career is great,

but I think the television aspect of it, because what he does is not easy, right? Like the game is a flow and you gotta be on it. And yeah, he's with Joe Buck and that guy's, he's got the voice and he's like right on it, but to come in and to come out and be good and have chemistry, it takes time. And he's worked at it, obviously. It's called six Super Bowls in 20 years at Fox.

Yeah. And he's been at ESPN since 2022. Yep. Yep. Good old ESPN. That's your spot. Lubs. What kind of dude is Troy Aikman?

Is he a stud and athleticism freak? He's had the pedigree his whole life. The football IQs there, he's well rounded. Is he a freak? Unparalleled physical ability. One of one instinct. You see him. You're like, that's not human. Is he a dog?

Relentless, motivated're like, that's not human. Is he a dog, relentless, motivated, physically, mentally tough? Is he a whiz, intellect, innovative, clutch? Or is he a dude's dude? A positive attitude or negative attitude in the locker room that makes a guy relatable and great for the locker room. This one's tough. And don't you worry, Nico, we're going to ask you a series of questions later in this episode to figure out what type of dude

you are. So get ready. So think a little bit about this one. Okay, so this is tough because you can't just say like, oh, he's a freak or he's like, it's tough because to be a quarterback, you have to have a lot of intellect. You got to be very smart. So he's definitely got a little whiz to him. He's a stud because he's number one overall pick. He's definitely a stud. He's the hallfamer.

He's a stud. No doubt. He looks like a stud. His face looks like a stud. Like he's got that. He's got a stud voice. He's got the just. He's everything about him.

So I'm going to go, I'm going combo on this. Okay. I'm going to say stud. There's no such thing as a combo. There's no combos in this. Fuck. It'm going to say stud. There's no such thing as a combo. There's no combos in this. Fuck. It's one. All right. He's a stud. The one category that dominates the most.

I was going to explain though, and he sells beer, right? He's got his own beer. So that's kind of like a dude's dude. So I'll stay with stud. I'm saying he's a stud. He's a fucking stud. He has a little bit of attributes in him as a dude, dude as well. But mostly he's a stud. Yeah, but he is a stud. He went to UCLA, the California kid became the fucking

America's team's quarterback, won three Super Bowl. Like he's a stud. Now an ace in the broadcasting booth has his own beer that you've been drinking a lot of. We can tell. I'm actually leaning me now, Rob. So now let's get on the chillest dude of the week presented by Coors Light. Give me a beer. Yeah. Get him a beer. No doubt about that. Are they cold? Last episode, Slater, he's a good boy. He doesn't drink beer. So I double fisted for him, but Niko,

thank you for joining us. So let's get into the chillest dude of the week brought to you by our favorite beer, Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit coreslight.com slash dudes. Celebrate responsibly. And Niko, thank you for being here today and hanging out with us dudes. You're a good dude. Oh, that's nice.

Oh, hey. Well, I heard that crack. Cheers. Cheers. It's cold as the Rockies. Cold as the Rockies. Niko, as the Chillest Dude of the Week, do you like our cooler? It's very cool. It's got speakers Rockies. Cold as the Rockies. Ninko is the chillest dude of the week. Do you like our cooler?

It's very cool. It's got speakers on it. It does? Yeah. All right, that should be a gift for me. And the chillest dude of the week is the one and only Rob Ninkovic. And we're going to ask our pal, our teammate Rob

a patented system of questions to see what kind of dude he was in the locker room. I kind of already have a feeling what type of dude he is, but you know, it might get changed up a little bit after these questions. This is going to be so fun asking these questions. He's so calm though today. He's usually a spaz all He's spazzy. All over the place. Like not knowing what to do. Like what happened over the last like. He's so calm. Like the camera's on. He's really calm. Let's start out with the hard one. Alright come on. And you've been having great answers to all the questions. Like it's the ayahuasca. Mind-blowing. Ayahuasca. See there we go. It's the micro dosing of shroom. Micro dosing.

There you go. You know alright let's start out with something easy. Let's go. What kind of was up. It's the micro dosing of shroom. Micro dosing, oh my. There you go. You know, all right, let's start out with something easy. Let's go. What kind of dude do you think you are? I think I'm, you know, just your average dude. Down to earth. Out of the five categories. Or down to earth. We already knew your average.

I'm down to earth. Average dude. Average. I'm just your average dude. Average. I'm just your average dude. This place is down to earth. I'm gonna drink a beer. I'm gonna drink a beer with kind of down to earth guys.

It was kind of like a dudes dude then. Nah, we don't know. What you're saying, no confidence and I don't know. I don't know. You said no confidence. I'm not a stud. I'm not a stud. Not a stud.

You wouldn't, you wouldn't be the horse. I mean, if it was Campbell's soup, you might be a stud. The chunky. Yeah, the chunky. That's right. Did you ever do a Campbell's soup commercial? Nah. I mean, if it was Campbell's soup, you might be a stud. The chunky. Yeah, the chunky. Did you ever do a Campbell's soup commercial? Nah. I'm surprised. Chunky enough.

It was all offensive linemen in. No, they had the Watts on there. They're not chunky. Yeah, no, they're not. They're jacked. Well, they were selling jack Campbell's soup. All right, next question. Did you wear flip flops in the shower?

No. Oh, okay. Never a flip flop guy. Oh, no. You weren't scared of like. No. Oh, OK. Never a flip flop guy. Oh, no. That's it. Like, no. It's when you never had any of that. Never had your feet.

Well, think about it. If everyone's wearing flip flops and I'm not, then I'm good. But the guy's a freak. What about the dirty grimy doesn't get sick sweat in the sweat? Gusting bacteria that comes off your body that's in on the ground from practice. I don't know. I mean, we all we asked the question to everyone.

Nervous system doesn't get sick. I've accidentally ingested your spit bottle. So I've had worse things happen. Rob, he does not wear. No, no, he doesn't. I do not. Who's the most famous person in your phone? Donnie Wahlberg.

Donnie Wahlberg. I did text Donnie right now. He's starting a new, uh, I think it's like a detective show in Boston. I need to be like an extra. It's like somebody roughs up or something. Donnie Wahlberg. I love Donnie. I mean, your impersonations earlier in the show, I put you on alert to be an actor. Yeah.

You should be an actor. You would be good at an actor. I would have a hard time memorizing lines. I think. I don't know. I don't think so, man. Depends. You gotta do like the, you know, word association. Well, thinking of talking about, can you memorize lines? What was your college GPA? 3.2. Oh, 3.2. Oh, yeah. You already talked about that. Smarter than we thought. You know, at Purdue, they really made you feel stupid. If you didn't get this, they would give you a little SA on your jersey. They wouldn't put your name on your jersey,

but they'd put a student athlete symbol on your jersey if you had over a three O. So I was trying to get that because I didn't want to look stupid. So he had the SA patch. SA patch on the, right on the V. It was right here. Student athlete.

Yep, that's it. There's no more such things as student athletes. Yeah, they're just trying to get the bag. But you were, you're a good example to these kids. It was right here. Student athlete. Yep, that's it. There's no more such things as student athletes. Yeah. Oh, they're just trying to get the bag. But you, you were. Give me the bag. You're a good example to these kids. Thank you.

Yes. What was the song on your high school highlight tape? Welcome to the jungle. Jungle. Guns and Roses. You're a fun and game. Guns and Roses. So does that mean you like bush?

I love a big bush. Yeah, a lot of's in the jungle. Guns and roses. I knew it. All right. How many college offers did you get? A lot of Mac schools. So the Mac.

Oh, sorry. I had this shitty school Kent State offer me. Really? Are you just? No, I didn't. I'm't. Plot some chops. I'm just kidding.

He wouldn't go there because James Harrison was there during that time. It was a real good afternoon, Harrison. They would have never played. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

I told you, he's coming out there. That's a good imitation right there of Julian. James Harrison. I like him, he's a good dude. Seems like a great guy. How many college offers did you get? Probably one, two, like three college offers. All you need is one.

You need to have a free Mac. All you need is one. Next question. What was your first car? My first car was a 1987 yellow Mustang convertible with a four cylinder and a messed up muffler. So it was like, it was a thousand bucks. Convertible. Yes. Wow. What do you drive now? It's just a F three 50, four diesel diesel. Total opposite of his first car. Big diesel, big diesel guy. Yep. Yep. Yep.

He is diesel though. These are a truck. Yep. Big truck. What was your first endorsement deal? Probably just the Nike deal. Nike. And you come in. Like five grand. It was great. He's a Nike guy.

Did you use all the money? I did. Actually, because I knew I was going to get cut. Yeah, of course. I got a good tax guy. CPA is on it. I knew I was going to get cut, so I got a set of golf clubs. They were like two grand.

I got all the Tiger Woods stuff now They don't make golf stuff anymore Nike, but I thought you still have those clubs still do still has them added an inch Right now to those clubs by the way, I wish you could add an inch. Don't you Rob still has Nike a couple inches I wish yeah, you have a kid by them. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It doesn't reach Exactly. It doesn't reach. We got questions. Doesn't reach. I know. I'm screwed. I'm ready.

We got a lot of questions all over the board. I might have to do that like IFP or whatever. What's that called? The pump? The penis pump thing? I don't know. Swedish penis pump? Oh, by Austin Palace. IPF or whatever in order to have a kid.

I don't know. Do I make you a Randy? Do I? Oh, that's in vitro. You don't need that. Well, it's not long enough. That has nothing, you could have a micro and if you have a sperm count,

you'll make as many kids as you want. All right. Okay, well since you're a doctor. This guy has so much knowledge. Dr. Nanko. What's the square root of 144? 12. Oh, quick.

He said it quick. He's so much smarter than he looks. He did it quick. Describe your locker smarter than he looks. Just pretty smart. Peru guy. Did it quick. Describe your locker. Uh, messy. Oh, messy guy. So do you know that most athletes, because men in general, they don't develop their frontal lobe, uh, they develop that in your 32 years old, right? So when you're a football player and everything is like, is scheduled out and planned out,

you don't actually ever develop that skill. So the majority of football players, because of the scheduling and all the things that are done for you, have a hard time with organizing, scheduling, doing all that stuff. That's why Julian has an assistant. Front to low. Wow, all that just to say that at the end.

And then on top of that, on top of that, you're hitting the front of your head, so you're like destroying and you're not developing that. Well, what about me? That's why he has an assistant now. Have you ever been in Rob's garage? It's not organized. Okay. So frontal lobe because of locker.

Men in general don't develop that until later in life. We'll be right back after this quick break. Just like great shoes, great books take you places through unforgettable love stories and into conversations with characters you'll never forget. I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robay and this is Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, the new podcast from Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts. Every week I sit down with your favorite book lovers, authors, celebrities, book talkers, and more to explore the stories that shape us, on the page and off.

I've been reading every Reese's Book Club pick, deep diving book talk theories, and obsessing over book to screen casts for years. And now, I get to talk to the people making the magic. So if you've ever fallen in love with a fictional character, or cried at the last chapter, or passed a book to a friend saying, you have to read this, this podcast is for you. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the You Versus You podcast. I'm Lex Burrow, and every week we sit down with some of the biggest names in entertainment

to talk about the real stuff, the struggles, the doubts, and the breakthroughs that made them who they are. We go deep, flowing childhood trauma, family, overcoming loss, and the moments that shaped their journey. These honest conversations are meant to take the cape off our heroes, with the hope that their humanity inspires you to become a better you and therefore set you free to live the life of your dreams. Here's a sneak peek. I'm trained to go compete. I'm trained to be like go harder. But sometimes that mentality stops you from stopping

and smelling the flowers in your own garden. Is it wrong to want more? We migrated, our family migrated here. I'm like second generation. Who's not going to have a trauma coming from a foreign country and you come to the United States and you don't speak English? Listen to You vs. You as part of Michael Tudel Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband at the cold case. I've never found her and it haunts me to this day. The murderer is still out there. Every week on Hell and Gone Murder Line,

I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody's daughter. She was still somebody's sister.

There's so many questions that we've never gotten any kind of answers for. If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think everything that might have dropped in 95 has been labeled the golden years of hip hop. It's Black Music Month and we need the talk is tapping in. I'm Nailah Simone breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices and digging into the culture that shaped the soundtrack of our lives.

My favorite line on there was, my son and my daughter gonna be proud when they hear my old tapes. Now I'm curious, do they like rap along now? Yeah, because I bring him on tour with me and he's getting older now too. So his friends are starting to understand what that type of music is and they're starting to be like, yo, your dad's like really the GOAT. Like he's a legend. So he gets it. What does it mean to leave behind a music legacy for your family?

It means a lot to me. Just having a good catalog and just being able to make people feel good. Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out, is that our music changes people's lives for the better. So the fact that my kids get to benefit off of that, I'm really happy, or my family in general. Let's talk about the music that moves us. To hear this and more on how music and culture collide, listen to We Need to Talk

from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, this guy's got all the answers. So if you weren't a pro athlete, then what would you do for work? Mr. All I'd probably be an iron worker. Iron. Oh, iron. Oh, that brain.

I don't know. There's a guy. He's probably just saying that because you like Lego. So you like erector. Wow. Poppa Niko's an iron worker. You got me in there. You don't got the grid of Papaninco.

Yeah. Iron worker. He carries the name. Tough guy. My dad in Disney will like ask people if they're tough. So imagine if you're walking, imagine you're walking in Disney, right? And a guy is in a cutoff and he's got pipes, right?

So he's jacked up and a seven year old man just looks at him and says, tough guy, huh? And the guy goes, what? I had no, no, don't worry about that. I don't know why he does that. Well, this is great. This is leading to the next question. Okay. After, after that, don't do that. You're going to get summarizing of your dad. And a fight breaks out at practice or at Disneyland with your dad or wherever it is. What do you do? Who's in it? Like your teammate? Yeah. Yeah. Like a fight at practice. You just try to practice. So if your dad starts brawling at Disneyland, what are you going to do?

Offensive line, defensive line, getting a fight. Yeah. What do you do? You help out, you grab, if somebody's involved in a certain way. Are you stopping the fight or are you jumping in the fight to fight? Depends on the type of fight. Like there's, there's different levels of fighting. It's like the grab. It involves you. It involves me. What did I do to Cannon when I got in a fight with Cannon?

Your really good friend is, is in the middle of the brawl and the guy he's fighting says F you to you as well. Are you jumping in? Of course you're ripping their heads off. Okay. Remember me and Cannon got in a fight in practice. What happened? I flipped his ass on his head and his belly was out and his legs were kicking. Don't remember that, but you said describe.

Well, Bill came up to me afterwards. I don't remember that either. Well, you got in that. He's just, he would fight in that one, but he's more. How about Windell, me and Windell in OTAs, he like grabbed my beard. Cause you had a long beard at one point if you get This area of your beard pulled it hurts bad So he grabbed my shirt and he had my beard in there

So I was like and I punched him and like right in his right here in the because you don't want to you don't Want to hurt your hand so you kind of like palm strike it right and then we started fighting Bill was like You two just go and we started running. Bill was like, you two, just go. And we started running. I remember that. And I did. Did you have to hold hands or something? No.

I was like, I'm not going to let a fat offensive lineman beat me on my sprint or on the field. So I took off. And he was trying to, I could tell, he was trying to like beat me. So I was booking it, right? So we get back in like record time. And Bill's like, just keep going.

And I was like, shit. No, I just had to keep going. So then second lap around, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, two minute, Rob, you're in. I was like, oh God, I was dying. And then we had to do two minutes. He got you. Just put a side note on when a fight breaks out, he's DTF. A DTF guy.

I'm definitely- Describe the fight guy. He's not just a run- Describe the fight. No, you got to feel the fight. He's hadTF. A DTF guy. Describe the fight guy. He's not just a run. Describe the fight. No, you got to feel the fight. I just want to... You got to describe though. It's like a wrestling match.

Don't worry. This is between us. This is... Paige has said that before. It's between us. Niko. He loves describing the fights he gets in. Yes, I love.

DTF. We should get Paige on here. She'll describe a lot. Next question. Yeah. What's the most you've ever benched? It's probably 455. 455, big, big, big, big guy.

Strong guy, strong. 455, it's on the wall. They probably took that down. It might be a dog. Wait, was that a record on the wall? Yeah, it was on the linebackers. Yeah, record on the wall. Record on the wall.

Oh, record breaking. Record. PRs record on the wall. Record on the wall. Oh, record breaking. Record. PRs. Yep, yep, yep. PR guy. He looks like a paper asshole. He's better on paper. Yeah, he is.

Oh, he's right there. He's right there. He shouldn't say that. The next question. Have you ever been fined? Yes. Oh, and how much? And what was the reason?

15,000. Yes. A million. What's going on the reason? 15,000. Yes. A million. What's going on? 15. 15,000 was... 15K. I pushed Fitzpatrick and he flopped like a little punk

and I got the flag, so that was 15 grand. No, it was just the Fitzpatrick that went to Harvard? Yes. Okay, can I just make sure? Yes, the real Ivy League. Real Ivy League. Pushed him and he did like the old man, you know, like an old man gets pushed

They do like the blue and they fall back and like wave their arms. I got a flop. Yeah, you know smart So flag that was my only That was the only flag I ever had I had two flags in my career off sides once and that that was it All right. We didn't ask that question. But here we asked this one What's your fastest 40 time? Probably four eight. Four eight. Four eight guys.

Yeah, four seven max. I was thinking more like four nine. I was thinking a four nine guy too. Four nine, I had this problem with time, I'd get real stiff. I like to, anything that's time, I get really stiff. What's your 20 then? What was your 20?

I don't know, one something. I was real fast on the 10. All right, all right, we'll give him four eight. Four eight point eight. What was it 20? I don't know one something that was real fast on the 48 469 Hey with my what's my garage code I didn't know this I mean I hear I read all his I didn't realize he's this in person as well Hey, wait till I get this episode. I'm going to chirp the shit out of him.

OK, let's go. He's going to chirp himself. That's how much he loves to chirp. I mean, he chirps. How about I pull up? Whoa, can we? Yeah, stop. We're asking the question, buddy.

Jesus Christ. We're trying to figure out what kind of guy you are. All right, figure it out. When was the last time you cried? This is really important. This is real. Last time I cried, the new Stitch movie. I took my kids.

Lilo and Stitch. Yeah, it was sad. And that's good one. The Stitch was dead and then they resuscitated. I was fully banking. I was fully banking on a Remember the Titans marathon on TBS that he watched. That doesn't get me. It's something that if anything does like a kid losing something and then they get emotional,

it just brings me back to like he's a good guy Yeah, what he has a heart. What star recruit were you in high school? Three and a half three and a half. There's no such thing. I say three and a half It was three, but I like to put a half on it. Oh, so it's it was a three-star I'd like to say I was closer to four. So it's a three three He claims three three and a half three point five abracadabra three. Well, it's it's also could, but he claims three and a half. 3.5. Fabricate. 3.5. It's also, could be comedic.

3.5. Or in Rob's terms, 3-6-9. That was pretty funny. He's comedic. Yeah, he is. He's comedic. He should be an actor. He should.

These are his impersonations. Impressions are... As long as the prompter's up here, you guys would be... I don't see no prompter. I'm looking at you. You're looking at a sheet in front of you. Yeah Yeah, oh my gosh, all right, what's a first date look like for you first date spent a while All right So I'm gonna tell you the first thing you need to do on any girl that you want to be with you got to go

To an Italian spot and you got to get spaghetti something that's messy girl that you want to be with, you got to go to an Italian spot and you got to get spaghetti, something that's messy. Because if you're with somebody that doesn't want to get down on it, it's not for you. Like you got to have a good pasta dish, a good pasta dish. And if she eats it like, I don't like this, it's too messy. That's not for me. You got to have something that's just like Paige, for example, from New Orleans. So like one of the first things that she took me to was like a crawfish boil, which is disgusting. Like I'm's from New Orleans, right? So like one of the first things that she took me to was like a crawfish boil, which is disgusting. Like I'm not from New Orleans, but she was getting after them crawdads like crazies.

I was thinking to myself, not bad. Well, do you consider yourself a crawdaddy? So I'm a, or are you a raw daddy? I don't know. I got three kids and then maybe, nevermind. Yeah, I shouldn't get into it. So first date is Italian restaurant. Italian restaurant. And like talks on that.

What's that? Do you talk on that date or just eating and evaluating? It's all about conversations, Jules. It's about having deep conversations. Deep conversations, depth. Remember depth? A specific? It's about depth.

A specific Italian restaurant? Uh, I mean. Or is it just any Italian? Just any Italian. Any Italian. Because there's so many Italian spots. Like, you know. Alfredo?

I don't like Alfredo. I don't know Alfredo. He's a red sauce guy. Well, wouldn't Paige like the Alfredo? Uh, white sauce? She likes the light, like, you know, how does she like that? What's the chicken with the lemon?

With the piccata? Piccata. Oh, man, that's kind of... You are kind of like Picasso. I'm kind of. He is. All right. Are you like...

We're learning a lot about this guy. we're learning a lot about this guy. We're learning a lot about that guy. I thought I knew him. You know, I have to pass a lot of them. What about this one? What's the last book you read? Last book I read, Thinner, on the air. I was flying back with the family.

Thinner. Thinner is a Stephen King novel, and it's about a man who hits a gypsy, right? And he's a fat guy, he's a lawyer, and he's kind of well-to-do guy in the town. He's driving and he's getting, you know, head from his wife and he hits her in the car, right? And she dies. Well, the gypsy's father, who is like 112,

and the guy's like, how is he 112? Comes out of the courtroom, he gets no jail sentence, nothing. He touches him and says dinner, right? And then he starts to lose weight and he's like, wow, I feel pretty good. I'm losing weight. And he keeps losing weight, keeps losing weight. He put a spell on him and he's like literally rail thin. He's going to die. Like he's going to everybody that was associated with it, the judge, uh, the lawyer that helped him get out of it. They all died. Right? One of them got like a, like leprosy or like lizard or something

and he goes and he finds the gypsies because they're just wandering, right? Wow. So, he gets the spell taken off of him. One follow up, one follow up. Listen, he has to feed somebody a pie that the spell is put into. So he takes the pie and he's going to feed it to his wife

because he doesn't like his wife, right? Because he thinks she's cheating on him with the neighbor, but the wife eats it and the daughter. Sorry, I spoiled it for everybody. All right. So I got a follow-up. Look at Kronk right now. I'm amused. Yeah. Wow. I'm amused. One final question to see what type of dude you are, Niko and then Julian's gonna ask the follow-up. Okay, let's go. Are you ready? Let's see what he's got. How Do you prepare your steak? Medium

Medium I'll say medium. How do you eat your steak? Depends on the situation if it's at my house if I'm grilling I'll just cut a piece. I'll pull it off with the hands. It's fine. If you're in a nice setting, a restaurant, a business, whatever, whatever, you got to use the utensils. So he's a describe the fight, describe the situation. Everything is situational. Situational awareness, Jules. So Bill's still in your head. Jules so Bill's still in your head. I have a situation in everyone's head. So we got we got our questions. Let us let us talk for a second. Talking over talking over. I think he's he's average.

Definitely. Let's just say he thinks he knows everyone. The dog. So he thinks he knows everything. He might not really tries to act serious when there's cameras on. Yeah, he's not like this. He's not like this when the camera's on. Somebody go light way over there.

He's messy though. Dude. Hello, guys. Kind of a hater. That definitely is. Oh, I have one more question. Whoa, dude, the button came off. If you had a sleeve of tattoos,

do you think you would have got paid more? I don't put tattoos on my body because- I'm just saying, hypothetically speaking, if you had a sleeve of tattoos, is that sleeve black? I'm just saying, if you had tattoos of a sleeve, Any style of tattoos. Would you?

No, I wouldn't do it. You wouldn't have got paid more? No, would you have gotten paid more? I don't think so. I don't think so. If you had a sleeve. I think if I had a sleeve, I would have been cut and then not brought back.

Because I look like when I got injured and then I was a long snapper. How many long snappers have sleeves? Not many. On three, what is he? One, two, three, dudes. Dudes. Dudes.

I'm definitely a dude. Mm-hmm. He's a dude's dude because usually the dude's dude has a positive attitude. I'm very positive. You gotta think outside the box. You just don't know what he's gonna bring to the table. You don't know what he's gonna bring to the table

and he's a great person to have in the locker room for everyone to gang up on and make fun of together. I don't know, but so you're a bully. So you're claiming bully. When you do that, it make fun of together. I don't know, but so you're a bully. And then you're claiming bully. When you do that, it brings the team together. That's what Rob was a lot of the time. So I was bullied by you. I don't know if you're a bully,

but you were the end of the joke. No, that's not the word. You were the end of the joke most of the time. Is 2025 a cool thing for bullies or a bad thing for bullies? Most of the time. You brought the locker room together. That's what we're trying to say.

You should be proud of it. You should be very proud. I think that if you are bullied by your friends, that means that they really like you. And if you're not, that means they don't like you. So he's a dude of positive way of being bullied. You got to flip that. And that's what he is.

He's a dude. He was negative in ways, but it always turned out to be. It's like 8 Mile, bro. Got to flip the script. And he is 8 Mile. We really wanted you to be a dog, but like spaghetti on his sweater already. Just wow. This guy has one beer. He's already dropping. No, I mean, I didn't make that. I think that was. And that was the chillest dude of the week. It was chill. Thanks to our favorite beer Coors Light.

To our favorite beer Coors Light delivered straight to your door visit CoorsLight.com slash dudes and celebrate Responsibly do they make these in no alcohol Cheers Cheers Rob any final words for being our second guest? No, thanks for having me I feel blessed to be here. I really do you guys are just you know, so good at what you do you guys are icons in the podcast game. And I can't wait for the next event. Tomorrow is gonna be fun. We're gonna do the pickleball.

Pickleball? We're gonna do pickleball. Charity. It's for the kids, Niko. I did the ping pong event, remember that? That's when I had your dip juice in a fresh Fiji water and I downed it because I was super hot and I just almost threw up instantly.

But like I said, I took it like a champ. The end of a joke most of the time. And that, you know, we love you for that. Thank you. I appreciate that. This guy could set the edge. We always make fun of them. Can I sit like Jules for a second? You can. You can set the edge. Dude, you don't have that hip. No, I got to have this ball out. I don't have balls down the bubble. I put them up. Oh, you put them up. Oh, you talk to them. Yeah, I talk. That's why I could be big. That ass. Yeah.

Those eyes. It's a big thigh there. Those calves. The calves are big. I got can't just big bones here. They have so much muscle on. Thanks for bullying. Here's some more. Yeah. Are you calling me fat now in 20? No, no, no, no.

We're calling you. No, no, no. I'm not. I'm trying to. You're calling me fat now in 20. No, no, no. We're calling you. You're thinking two C's. Okay. Oh, like you're so thick that no one could ever get the edge on you. Yeah. Okay. Thanks.

You set the edge swipe, swipe down the hallway. Swipe, swipe, swipe. He pounds out. Do you still swipe, swipe? I get swiped away from page. But do you not every once in a while? Do you swipe, swipe, swipe Paige. But do you not, every once in a while, do you swipe swipe your swipe? Do you swipe swipe Everett once in a while?

Everett's, I need to get Everett dialed in on the swipes. We gotta swipe, we gotta swipe her. Well, this was really fun. It was a good time. And that's been another episode of Dudes on Dudes. So wrap, wrap it up. Thank you to Rob. Unlike Jules. Nikovic for joining us today.

We knew it would be a comedy special. It sure was. And subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, or wherever you listen to your podcast, comment a dude you want us to do and remember rate and review. Suspect. Call in and ask us a question on the Chill line at five six one two zero three five seven eight nine and remember to follow dudes on dudes on dudes on YouTube, Instagram, X, tick tock and Snapchat. We will see you all next week. And once again, Rob Ninkovic, thank you very much for coming in and hanging out and being the awesome man

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