The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Backup QB Stories Part 3: Trent Dilfer | Dual Threat With Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: April 12, 2019

In Part 3 of a four-part series, Russillo talks to Super Bowl champ Trent Dilfer about his rocky NFL start on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his Super Bowl win with and subsequent exit from the Baltimore Ravens, backing up Matt Hasselbeck in Seattle, his short stint in Cleveland, mentoring Alex Smith in San Francisco, and being called up for one last ride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up? Welcome to part three of our Backup QB stories from Dual Threat and The Ringer. I'm your host, Ryan Russillo, and the final two are going to be great. Today, we have Trent Dilfer, Super Bowl winner. And I'll admit, before he became a guy I'd like to call a friend, he was the life raft of arguments for people that would look at their team and say, our team doesn't have a great quarterback, but we can still win a Super Bowl. Look what the Ravens did with Trent Dilfer. Well, Dilfer, I think, has a better career than some people realize.

He actually finished over.500, which isn't all on him. And his playoff record's incredible because of that great Ravens team. And it was the greatest single defense I've ever seen, at least for one season. And yes, you can put the 85 Bears in there, but I just, I was nine. So I didn't really,

it didn't really sink in with me as much. Actually, it was 10. Wait a minute. Little error there. We don't have to edit that one out, Kyle, because this is going to be such a good deal here from Dilfer. His struggles as the hotshot QB, his struggles with coaches, his struggles with himself, personal tragedy,

the animosity that he had to get over, becoming best friends with a guy he's competing with. This is an incredible story. I knew Dilfer would be a great storyteller and he was terrific. Here's Trent Dilfer. Just excited to call this guy a friend, and I'm really lucky actually throughout this entire Backup Quarterbacks series that we've run through here that I have a personal relationship with most, but I'm very close to Trent Dilfer, and I feel like I need to apologize for introducing you as part of our Backup QB stories because you started a heck of a lot more than some of the other guys that we've talked to, But let's go back to that time. You're at Fresno.

You're a big kid. You beat USC in the bowl game. Your 1993 stats are incredible. You go sixth overall in 1994. Did you think deep down, like, I'm the man and I'm about to light this league on fire? Oh, beyond that. I mean, I'm so full of myself, so narcissistic at the time.

As I say, a legend in my own mind. You know, at the time, what we had done at Fresno and the amount of dudes I played with, I mean, you know, we had a bunch of dudes go and play in the NFL, wide receiver, running back. It just was easy, you know? So I figured,. I mean, you know, we had a bunch of dudes go and play in the NFL wide receiver running back. It just was easy, you know? So I figured, well, if football is easy, then why wouldn't it be easy at the next level?

And then I think the biggest thing that happens is people start speaking nonsense in your life. You don't surround yourself enough truth tellers. And I had people that I surround myself with that were just telling me how great I was going to be and just telling me, you know, the sky's the limit. You're going to be one of the best ever. And I had no reason not to believe them, right? Because I felt that way about myself and they were telling me those things and I was immature, very immature. But I had that ability, you know, to be the poser. I could fake maturity. I could fake sophistication.

I could fake kind of the politician. But deep down, I was just an insecure kid that was out over his skis. But at the same time, thought there's nothing I couldn't do from a physical standpoint. And I laugh every year when we hear these combine numbers, how great these numbers are. And I mean, I already trained for the combine numbers and how great these numbers are and I mean I only trained for the combine was 240 pounds and ran 4'6 something and you know I could squat

whatever he asked me to squat I could bench whatever he asked me to bench I could throw a football wherever he asked as far as he wanted me to throw it and back then it was just more the dude he looks the part as much as anybody's ever looked at why won't it be great and then you weren't great and dude, he looks the part as much as anybody's ever looked at. Why won't he be great?

And then you weren't great. That's an understatement. That's why I love you. That's the understatement of your series, I bet. Yeah, so that might be the highlight. If this wins any awards, that'll be the transition because it wasn't taped. It was just listening and knowing you. But despite the description of yourself, you're also one of the most honest people with yourself, the most self-deprecating.

And so you come in and you start just a couple games for Sam Weiss, and then you start the full season your second year. The splits were four touchdowns and 18 picks. It wasn't great. And then year three, you're on Dungy. The numbers are better, but it's still a pick fest. Where are you right now at this point in your head after three years in and two different coaches going, what the hell happened? Well, one, it would never work now. I mean, you would never get that long of a leash. The closest I saw to me leash-wise was Bortles.

along the leash the closest i saw to me leash wise was portals um rookie year wasn't that bad rookie year there was hope you know i mean i was learning sam was really good about how to get me in game um competed well learned a lot and second when they traded craig erickson and gave me the keys of the card here two was the oh crap moment because I couldn't pose anymore and I was the only one that knew that Craig had really been that mentor to me and been the one that steered me through some of the trouble waters of year one and now I didn't have him he's off in Indianapolis and and I'm here in Tampa and I'm playing the part so outwardly it looks like I'm the dude and inwardly I'm like oh this this is all bad we weren't very good I knew that I had better talent in Fresno um every year I played there than we did in Tampa we were brutally

we were brutally slow I was just tough and I wasn very good. And I was and I say this all the time. I think I was the single worst football player in the NFL my second year. And those stats aren't like oh, you know, it really wasn't that bad. I mean, it should have been worse if that's even comprehensible.

And then Tony comes in in year three and it was just that setting we're going to be patient we're playing the long game we value you not just as a prospect you know your potential because I still had oodles of talent like there still wasn't things like there's nothing I couldn't do on the football field physically and mentally I was really good inside. So film cut-ups, boards, nummerization, I was excellent there. It was that transition into the white line that messed me up.

But Tony was like, we're going to work through this. We'll play the long game. We're going to build it around the run and defense. And it gave me kind of that third-year growth opportunity. And I really did play pretty darn good at the end of my third year which gave everybody a lot of hope going into my fourth year and I was maturing and I think that's the biggest thing

was Tony and that staff from Edwards doesn't get enough credit how you know people that Tony surrounded himself and Tony will tell you this, are as impactful as Tony Dungey. He's in the Hall of Fame because of Herm Edwards and Clyde Christensen and Monty Kiffin and Rod Marinelli and Lovie Smith. You know what I mean?

I mean, those guys were amazing. So the culture of our program really changed under Tony, and it was that, I guess just like that exhale, that calmness that kind of poured out over all of us, which really kicked off the ability to have, at the time, what was an epic season for all of us in 97, my fourth year. Despite the three challenging years, that fourth year was Trent Dilfer's only Pro Bowl.

But going into 1998, he was still hearing the criticism, but he was sick of it. The recurrent criticism of Dilfer is that his mechanics are poor. He throws off the wrong foot, and he cannot throw the long ball with accuracy. That is something Trent does not accept.

Well, you have to go back in time. And a lot of people don't realize, when I came out of college, I was one of the most mechanically sound quarterbacks that ever played the position in college. And then many pro scouts and coaches said that about me. And then I took giant steps backwards my first few years, mechanically.

I got into some very sloppy habits and things that really affected my accuracy, affected my consistency. And last year, if you remember, that was one of the biggest things I worked on was I'm getting back to the fundamentals. Did you feel like you were back? Did you feel like, hey, you know what? This career is going to roll. Had you bought all the way back in, not just from the people that were looking at you in the huddle, but had you bought back into yourself? Yeah, I felt authentic. There's a theme for my life, it's authenticity.

And that was the first year of learning what the authentic Trent was. Who am I really? Not what have I been told I am, not what have I tried to pretend to be, not any of this other junk that we all deal with. And if you don't think you're dealing with it, you're lying to yourself because we all deal with it. And at some point in your life, as you mature, you start to recognize there's an authentic you. And,

and I started to begin to understand that. And, and that's why I was able to be an impactful leader. That's why I was able to get back to being a great competitor. I still wasn't a great football player, but I got to be a great competitor. We were able to overcome a lot

of adversity. We were able to not flinch in big moments. We were able to take the worst franchise in football and take it to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. We had, I think, seven- and take it to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. We had, I think, seven-plus guys go to the Pro Bowl. We became a tribe. You know, more than a team, we became a tribe.

You know, it was really that. And I could go on, and I don't want to eat up all our time, but to me, if I just had to give a theme, it would be I found or I began to find my authentic self. And then that just healed so many wounds, personal wounds and wounds I had created with my teammates and my coaching staff and the organization and the city. I mean, the city hated me. Sam Weiss and I got pelted by the doctor was leaving games in year two. Year three, I was booed out of an Outback Steakhouse with my wife. Wait a minute.

You got booed out of it? You showed up to get a steak with your wife in Tampa and they booed you? I've never told this story to you. I thought I said on the last pod. Yeah, we walked in. I think it was Green Day, I think. The details might be a little off. It's late in the season. Maybe the last game of

season for either Bears or Packers. I throw four picks. We go to the Outback on the way home on Bill Mabry. My wife and I put my name into the hostess stand. They announce us and the majority of the restaurant stands up and do this. And my wife and I

go right into the very middle of the restaurant. Can you put us in the middle, please, so everybody can see us? There has to be a new rule. There was some, and when Tampa fans listen to this, they'll be like, yeah, I was one of them. And I don't blame them, honestly. The year four really healed a lot of that stuff. And Tony taught us, and Tony's staff,

and I'm not trying to take praise away from Tony, but it's really, and again, please have him on at some point asking this question. It was the strength of his tribe, Monty and Herm and Lovey, all those guys. And I'm leaving other ones out, but just their calming influence on us and their maturity and their wisdom speaking into us every single day about being a pro about handling our

business the right way about representing our city our franchise ourselves our name all those things uh really started taking a taking effect so you end up going 8-8 in that year after the playoff run where you beat Detroit, and then you lose your job to Sean King. And at first it's because of injury, and I went back and looked at some of the stuff, and it didn't matter if the numbers were similar. Just at that point, it was new.

And even though you'd kind of redeemed yourself a bit did it feel like there's not really much i can do here after seven years in tampa it feels like the end especially now that i've lost my job yeah 98 the most disappointing year because we got the lane for a lot of stuff that wasn't our fault and 98 you know if you ask Warwick Dunn, Mike Allstott, Jacquez Green, Riddell Anthony, Dave Moore, Paul Gruber,

you know, you go down the list of us, we felt really disrespected. We felt like, wait a second, we're the fall guy when we just gave up a two-minute touchdown, or we're the fall guy when we just gave up 300 yards rushing, or we're the fall guy. That were able to 300 yards rushing or we're the fog that's when that defense first offense stuff crept in because the defense was always defended and we

were always the fall guy uh so 98 has some bitterness we all talk about it this is no secret um which really led to a 99 where now i think internally they started moving on now you know it's also doing massive amount of money at the time, at the end of 99. So all these discussions going on right now about, hey, you pick up the player's option, right? It was that version of it back there. I had a clause in my contract.

They had to buy back a couple more years for a massive number. And I think the economics of it was that, well, we'd be much more off as a franchise if we went with a chief quarterback instead of, I think it would have made me one of the highest paid players in football if they would have bought back that thing in 99. 99, I played my tail off. 99, let's go watch the film. Like, anybody wants to go talk about 99 um seahawks game chiefs game

you even go even go down the list after i got benched for some stuff that wasn't you know necessarily in my opinion justified um those last five games where i broke my collarbone we did things offensively we hadn't done the shack shackles came off. We were more aggressive. Guys were making plays. We weren't playing in a cocoon. But once I broke my collarbone, the decision's easy at that point. Guy's got a broken collarbone. He's already

a full-riding figure in Tampa. It's been six years, and he's going to be one of the highest-paid players in football. Frankly, I don't necessarily disagree with their decision from an economic standpoint. And that's kind of the story of 99 that never really gets told because I didn't want to be the one. I had matured enough at that point where I wasn't going to tell the real story.

It was like, hey, okay, cool. But no, you were never going to win. I hate to interject here. You were never going to win because if you look up those defenses statistically, just me as the fan, we're almost the same age and I'm sitting at home watching these playoff games and I was guilty of it too. I couldn't break down film. I wish I could break down film better than the remedial level I'm at now. But when it's that defense, they're, I think, fifth in points against 99. It's third in points against. So nobody's ever going to want to hear about any of the minutia of why it's actually not always on you. And I'm not saying it's right or fair, but it's just what it is. Exactly.

And that's why at the time, and even now it's not even an issue anymore, but that's why I've grown enough as a person to know there's no winnings. That it's sad because I love these guys. I love the city and my wife loves the city. We've had at the time by this point, 99, we'd have, I should know my kid's age. We had three kids. We've just built, you know, our dream home on the water and done all these things. And it was, it was a saddening time, built our dream home on the water and done all these things.

It was a saddening time, but when I was mature enough to totally get it, that's why there was no bitterness. And that's why I went into the next part of the story maybe as competitively and emotionally sharp as I've ever been in my life up until the last 75 days. So that leads us to the one season in Baltimore. After six years with the Tampa Bay Bucs, it was one stop in Baltimore, an unforgettable stop, but one Dilfer himself knew was going to go his way.

There's nothing more dramatic for a team to deal with than the change of the quarterback position. And it just had to happen. I'm not going to promise anything spectacular, except that I'll prepare as hard as anybody in this league will prepare, and I'll play as hard as anybody in this league will play. I never doubted that I would be the quarterback for that football team. I was 100% sure that at some point I would be the quarterback.

We're counting on you, Trent. We're counting on you, buddy. The season that everybody talks about. The season that before I knew you, and everyone would talk about a football team and say, well, hey, if Dilfer won a Super Bowl, my team can win a Super Bowl too. And you show up and we know that you weren't really screwing around as we just heard. You felt like it was going to be your job. What was that dynamic like? Now you're on to your second team.

You're still young. Tony Banks is supposed to be the starter, but you didn't seem to think that that was the plan at all for you. No. And that's always a hard story to tell because I really like Tony. I respect Tony. And he played pretty darn good for a period of time. The guy that I knew, because now I'm six years in, I'm a wily vet.

I'm not just a vet, I'm a wily vet based on the experience, based on the pelts on the wall competitively, not statistically competitively. Well-respected amongst the community of the NFL, and I just knew football. At this point, it was kind the, I just knew I knew more football than most people. And I get to this team and I'm like, are you kidding me? I just came from one of the best defenses statistically I've ever seen. And this defense I just showed up to is

amazing. Like it, I don't want to do the comparison thing, but I knew within a week that this was a monster. And now I knew at this point in my career, how do you win when one side of the ball is a monster? How do you win the locker room? How do you win relationships? How do you win just the whole thing? And I'm like, it's just a matter of time before I'm running the show. And it had nothing to do with Tony. It's just because I knew that I knew how to win. I knew how to compete. I knew how to lead. I knew how to be the teammate that is needed

when you have one of the unique sides of the ball of all time. And this is, by the way, if you interview Ray or Robert Nett or Rod Wood, they're going to say the same story, which is we knew we were only going to get better. We knew we had dudes that had a level of competitive temperament, toughness, resolve, football IQ that was going to be special at some point. We had a chemistry to us that was second to none. So all these things start adding up. And when you've been doing this a while and you start to see things from 30,000 feet

and you're always caught up in the minutia of life, it was very obvious that this was something that was going to be special. It was just a matter of time before it all gelled. And then we go on this five-game stretch where we don't score a touchdown. Tony plays four of them. I played the last one. And now it's kind of like, okay, now is the time where the great leaders,

the great competitors, the guys with true, true grit, not book grit, not podcast grit, real grit, guys that know how to survive in a bunker and that's what we had and we all raised up and said this is ours we own this our coaches don't own this our ownership doesn't own this our city doesn't know we own this how are we gonna fix it and we fixed it that run is really worth bringing up because I remember that year, you know, just watching football and it was different then because you still didn't get to see everybody

even though the ticket did exist, I believe then. And you just mentioned it, five games without a touchdown and you still, you still won two of them. 12 points, 15, and then you had three games in a row

where it was three points, six points, and then six points where you started in that game and that 9-6 loss against the Steelers. And here are the upcoming, the eventual Super Bowl champions at five and four. But then you never lose another game. And you beat up on Cincy. I looked at all these numbers. You roll through the playoffs. We know the story. We know that they won the Super Bowl. But two things. I want you to listen to what is actually described during this highlight

on the Stokely touchdown. Billick compliments Stokely. The announcers rip Dilfer for his run in Tampa. And then Billick again complimenting the call. Now, to be fair, it might have been a great call against what they saw and that's what they were talking about, but somehow Dilfer is ignored in all three cuts.

Brandon! Brandon! Brandon! Brandon! Brandon! Whoa! And what a pass. Stouffer threw right down the middle. I'm throwing one here in Tampa Bay ever. Like that, that pass was gorgeous. Nice call. Nice call. Yeah!

You win a Super Bowl, and if you ever imagined winning a Super Bowl as a kid, I'm sure you probably imagined your role being different. But was it this odd pull? And I'm asking, so I'm guessing, so just correct me. But were there parts of it where you felt like, hey, can I just enjoy and appreciate this more than it seems like the public almost wants to punish me for being this Super Bowl winning quarterback because of this defense. In the moment, as just an NFL fan, it felt like this weird dynamic where it was like the public didn't really want you to feel as embraced as we have with other quarterbacks that have won the Super Bowl.

but you're asking the wrong person because i intuitively i guess and circumstantially never heard any of it well that's good in a rental home i was living in a rental home in owens mills with my wife and four kids you know swimming underwater and competing my butt off and have an injury um the entire year, which I ended up having to have gruesome-type treatments for. That's called osteitis pubis, if anybody wants to look it up, where they had to inject 12-inch needles into my groin sockets and take my junk up against my stomach. So you can imagine the pain that that was.

That was the treatment. So I'm playing the whole year with this i can't even get out of a chair that sounds so terrible by the way oh my god oh dude i can tell that this is a podcast we can tell the story um i can't throw a plant in practice on certain days because i'm in so much pain um you know i just life circle i was so locked in you know everybody says win the moment i was desperate to win the moment. I mean, I lived every day of that second half of that season where I was just trying to win truly the moment. I was trying to get through the next rep. I was trying to get through the next five minutes of a meeting. I was trying to figure out the next

blitz we're going to face. I can, I so vividly remember the desperation of trying to pick myself up emotionally every single day to give my teammates everything I had. And that's why I think there's that deep respect for my investment in that team that year, because they all saw it. I mean, they saw warming up, how I couldn't bring my knees up to my hips. They saw how I couldn't do certain things yet come Sunday, it's full go and I'm going to do everything I can to help us win a game.

There's just a lot of bad stories never get told. I never heard the out stories because my point of all that was I didn't watch TV. I watched La Crosse to fall asleep. I was also an insomniac and I would lay on this couch downstairs in this rental house because I drove my wife nuts trying to toss and turn going to bed every night. And I'd sit there and what do you do in Maryland at one o'clock in the morning? You watch lacrosse because it's on 24 seven. So I would sit there and watch lacrosse. So I fell asleep, wake up, rinse and

repeat. I never watched SportsCenter. I never watched any other news channel. I never read a publication. It wasn't until after I'd gone to Disneyland winning the Super Bowl, I heard that one of my best friends, Steve Young, had said that I had set back football 50 years. So I didn't know what was going on except survival. Maybe that was a better word than desperate. I was in true survival mode. And then you're in survival mode for your career. They don't bring you back. They go with Elvis Gerbach. I know there was bitterness with Brian Billick, the head coach at the time.

I know you've since remedied that, going back and looking at this stuff. But in that moment, I don't know if he spoke to you personally. What did he say to you? What did he say to your agent? Hey, you won a Super Bowl, but we're going to go in another direction. They didn't handle it well. And I've called Oz and Brian out on this. And they would be wrong if they disputed this.

They didn't handle it. This is probably not their finest moment. They had Matt Cavanaugh, my quarterback coach, offense coordinator, and Theo Friend call me on my way to the ESPYs. I'm going to represent our team at the SBs. And I get a call in the airport that I'm number three on their three agent list. Cause I was never cut as a free agent.

I signed a one year deal when I came there. So I was a free agent and I kind of sensed after Disneyland, that there was a narrative going on that wasn't good on my behalf. But, you know, at that point in my life, father of four, I've been through a lot of fires. I'm just like, it is what it is. You know, I'm going to make the most of whatever happens. And then Matt Cavanaugh calls me. I'm sitting there.

I'll never forget where I was in there. I can just sit in the chair in the turmoil I was at, where my wife was at, what bag I had my bag packed in, my carry-on. And hearing Matt Cavanaugh tell me, you're not going to believe this, and I don't agree with it, but this is a decision that Brian and I did make, that you're number three. Brad Johnson's one, all the scorebacks two, and you're number three. And I went, I was fine with the bad thing, to be honest with you.

I always respected Brad, respected the kind of football player he was, but to be behind a guy that I thought, and he knows never to come up to me in a public place to be behind a guy that just doesn't play the game with the grit and the toughness and the leadership that I think the position needs

and demands that was a true kick in the nut. So wait a minute, you're still that weird with Elvis Gerbach that it might go down if you guys ran into each other? Well, that was Hardback's year number one, if people remember. And he went on camera and said, well, now this team will actually get a real quarterback. And I happened to be watching.

How mad were you? and I happen to be watching. How mad were you? I've let 99% of the stuff that happened in my career go. That's the 1% I like. All right, we'll try to book him as a guest if we ever get you on again. More from Trent in a second, but first, are you looking for a high-protein snack that is low in carbs?

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Plus, they're sugar-free, gluten-free, and shelf-stable. It's the perfect grab-and-go snack for your laptop bag, your gym bag, or whenever you want something satisfying. I gotta tell you right now, every time I show up to tape a pod, guess who's eating Just the Cheese snacks? It's Kyle. He's over there. Well, there you go. Hop on Amazon or justthecheese.com and use the promo code DUAL10OFF. Got that? That's dual 10 off and get 10% off. That's promo code dual 10 off for just 10% off. Okay. So I, this was a lot of fun going through it. Cause I'm reading, I read a New York times article from 2001 where it was May 15th. You hadn't signed with anybody. Um, and it was really crazy too. I don't, do you remember this? I think it was the active Jacksonville Jaguars GM

who started shitting on you in the, like he put his name on it, but it was like one current GM and it was Mike. I can't remember the last name, McGonaghy or something, or he just started kind of like dumping on you as a little bit of a player. I was like, holy shit, like the real GM is sitting here ripping on an actual guy who's a free agent.

And then you finally get to what, Seattle in August? So that went on forever. And look, I'm not sitting here doing the retrospective of you were this great QB and you were overlooked, but that still felt so weird that it went on that long. What was that like? Two of the most affirming moments of my career happened in that span. Dick Vermeule brought me in, a trip to Kansas City, and he had just told me how good he thought I was

and how much value I had as a player and just really did the fatherly thing for me. And then getting to Mike Holmgren, Mike Marks also called during that time to come back up, Kurt, at the time, I believe, and then Mike Holmgren called. And it wasn't, you know, a management person. It was Mike Holmgren.

And he goes, I'll never forget your pro day. This is one of the finest pro days I've ever seen. He goes, I've watched every part of your career and you've never truly been unlocked and been able to play the position the way it's deserved to play.

You've never been taught true, true artistic offense. And I want to be the guy that does that for you because I think you're special. And I hadn't heard I was special in quite a long time, right? And I showed, and he told me the deal, they had just traded for Hasselbeck

and he thought he was the incumbent, saw a lot of potential in him and learned from Favre and all these different things. But he said, you just trust me. He said, you trust me and I'll get the most out of you. And it was the beginning of my renaissance as a football player slash football mind. Like that's where when I get up and talk on TV or the radio about something that most people can't comprehend in a football context or quarterback context, the genesis of all this learning was learning not just through Mike Holmgren, but Bill Walsh

through Mike Holmgren, and Steve Young through Mike Holmgren, and Joe Montana through Mike Holmgren, and Brett Favre through Mike Holmgren, and then studying on my own and really taking a massively deep dive into not just football but the essence of how the position should be played at every level, not just on the field but off. So I found a quote because you and Matt Hasselbeck didn't get along

very well in the beginning and I found a bunch of quotes actually so I'm sure this is all going to jog your memory here. I don't know how long the feud lasted, but we'll get to that. But in the beginning, Matt admits that he didn't like how much you threw around your faith and that he admitted that he was sort of some punk from Boston and he thought that you might have been phony. But here's the thing is, as somebody that's associated with Massachusetts and living in Boston myself, I mean, I don't feel as like a real Boston guy, although I think that's kind

of what might've, we think everybody's fake. So that wasn't specific to you. And then the quote that you said about Matt, I think after the fact, but did you say this to his face? Here's the quote. I told Matt the truth. Dilfer said, I told him you're not very good. You think you are, you're pretty, you throw a nice ball. You know know a lot of Brett Favre regurgitated information, but you're not very good. He hated that. Well, I mean, this is the beginning of kind of my truth-teller

phase in my life where I was just kind of done with BS. I was done with politics. I was done with, you know, just why does it take so long to get to the root of something? And I asked for my life. I surround myself with people in my life that told me the truth. I didn't want to be, I didn't want perfume poured on me anymore.

And I had a deep, deep love for Matt and Sarah. Because I saw a young me. And leading up to that, he also knew this. I said, Matt, my job is to prevent you from making all the mistakes I made. And you're just young enough and dumb enough that you're on your track to making all the mistakes I made. And you don't have to learn from others' mistakes. You can learn by that.

I mean, you can learn from others' mistakes. You don't have to make it yourself. And that's when that comment came in. Let me tell you the truth of where you're at. And let me be the one that helps you not make these same mistakes and actually be good and actually be authentic and actually be a dude and play for dozens of years in this league and, and you know,

be everything you should be. And that's really that. And that's really... So that's 2000. The relationship wasn't great, but I think he began to trust me by the end of the year. Then they want to cut him. I played great in 2000, the four games I start. The whole team wants me.

University of Washington Stadium would chant, Bill, her, Bill, her. And I would go up to Matt on the sidelines and go, hey, man, I'm sorry that I was waving the towel around when they were chanting my name. Just to bust his chops, you know, loosen up the vibe a little bit, because he was struggling.

And then that offseason, they gave me the big contract that is incentive-based, and he's kind of cast out, but he had a massive growth period in his life. And we get, we began a great connection. We became great friends.

He was a great backup. Our wives became great friends. They're dear, dear friends to this day. Matt and I are dear friends, but 2001 was really neat because it was, it was this, I don't know how to, I don't have the words to explain it, but we both had to learn a ton about life, a ton about ourselves, a ton about relationships.

And really both served each other and the relationship deep and greatly because he had to learn to be a servant leader to me early on when he was hurt, bitter, angry, and broken. And then I tear my Achilles, and I'm out, and I just lose $12 million the day I tore my Achilles because my contract's on incentive base. I'm about to make a ton of money, and boom, I tear my Achilles. I rupture my Achilles. Now he comes in, and I'm rehabbing from an Achilles and trying to serve him. So it was a crazy, crazy year. Yeah, and you would also hurt your MCL in the preseason, and then you have the Achilles.

Because I don't think maybe Seahawks fans remember it, but I doubt many, even hardcore NFL fans, because this is just stuff to keep track of, that you were going to beat out Matt. It was going to be your job again later on in the four years you were there. I don't know that we can ever tell the story, Trent, without, you know, one of the biggest challenges I think anybody could ever face.

And that also is part of the connection with you and Matt. And I just, I always, I've thought about how I want to ask this question and I know I'm going to screw it up, but losing your son in 2003 and still coming back to play football. And I'm sure the moments where you go, what's the point of any of this? But then Matt being there for you. And I was just reading these stories where he would bring over Sega 94, which I absolutely love that you guys are still playing 94 Sega in 2002 and 2003. which I absolutely love that you guys are still playing 94 Sega in 2002 and 2003 and just staying up all night where you're still kind of competing for this job. You're going through this thing. And it really felt like that was the moment where the competition stopped

and you just were there for each other in completely different ways. I think you asked the question beautifully. I mean, because you answered part of it too. The competition stopped because you think about relationship and that nothing to do with football I was 268 pounds I was in massive depression on the month couple months removed from losing our second child, our son Trevin

who was five and a half at the time we're holding on by a thread as a family, I mean we're literally surviving to make sure the three girls aren't devastated the rest of their life. I'm drinking a bottle of wine at night just to numb myself to go to bed. My teammates come down to the memorial service. People had reached out. I had awesome people around me.

Couldn't have more support, but was still massively depressed. And fat as heck. And football was in my mind. And he calls me one night and just says, you know, everybody's going to say that you need us, but we need you. Now here he is. Now he's the dude again. I mean, I'm not going to be able to play.

There's really no competition. I'm, I'm not going to be able to play. There's really no complication. I'm coming off a ruptured Achilles. I didn't fully rehab. To this day, I have half a calf. I'm 268 pounds. I haven't touched a weight, a football, anything. And here he's saying, this team can't survive without you. And you need

to get your ass up here. Now imagine the courage that's up right um and the connection that we had to have for him to be able to do that and uh it resonated with me and i went to my wife and i said i think he's right um i need it they need me we can't we're not going to survive right now um unless we do this. And to her credit, like most any good thing that's happened in my life, she should get the credit for it. She let me go.

Now I'm a handful of months removed from the most devastating thing in America so far. I'm in a dorm room by myself trying, you know, spending my days kind of on an elliptical, a bike, just trying to lose weight. Everybody's tiptoeing around me. They don't know what to say. We didn't have the same services now that NFL players do now

as sports psychologists and mental health experts, so I'm trying to figure out depression on my own. And I'm crying myself to sleep, and Matt hears it, because he's in their dorm room next door and it's a college dorm with thin sheetrock walls. And knock, knock, knock, knock.

And here he comes. And he's got Sega Genesis 94. Let's plug it in and play. And he would stay up with me all night and never quench. Now, here's the guy that's getting ready to have his really coming out party. And his team, he played good at the end of the year before. You know, it's all good. His teammates have bought back into him.

They've seen our relationships. They know, like, this is a good thing. And he just served me. To this day, I tell people all the time that Matt can kick me off, I can kick him off, but I jump in front of a gun tomorrow without flinching because of what he did for me and my family. And I can't believe I'm crying. I usually cry when I get to this part.

But, you know, I always say he thinks I exaggerate all these things. And he'll go on record saying Trent's exaggerating. He's a great storyteller. I'm not exaggerating. He's saying a lot. Because I don't know if we would have survived. I don't know if I was in a place where I could have done it any longer without that. And I think that's what shapes so much of who I am now.

That's why I'm so big in the connection. That's why I'm so big in authenticity. That's why I'm so big in a truth telling. That's why I'm so big into my faith. That's why I'm so big into things that are way, way, way treetop type stuff that really matters in life because I experienced it in the most raw level in that period of my life. That was really well said. And it's a story that I would encourage a lot of people to read more about too. And knowing, getting to know you after the fact

and knowing all these things and how genuine they are. It's the reason why I've always liked you as much as I have. There's one or two more questions that I do want to ask, and I'd like to make it a little lighter, and that is, as much fun as going home to San Francisco was, and I know how important Alex Smith is to you and even the arguments you and I have had important Alex Smith is to you. And even the arguments you and I've had about Alex Smith was Cleveland and even bigger fucking disaster

than we knew from the outside. Oh man. I actually, my wife, this is like the one thing we argue about all the time to this day. I thought it was great. I thought it was, I had worked so hard in Oh four to get back to being a good athlete again. And I was playing good quarterback. Now I'm a scout team quarterback in the NFL, which you don't really know how good you are. I've lost, you know, there's a lot of rust on me. There's a lot of baggage, a lot of scar tissue. But, man, I'm dealing in practice.

And I'm athletic again. And I'm fit. I'm strong. I've discovered, you know, like Pilates and core strength and movement patterns and have this, like, epiphany on how the body's supposed to move and and if i mean i am feeling mike homer looks me one day in practice you throw a football as well as any person i've ever seen throw a football i mean that's mike homer been telling me that i mean it is just perfect and i'm like i should maybe try to be a starter again.

Right? But think about the narrative around me. Think of the baggage and the scar tissue in the NFL circles around me. Like, we just told the story in, what, the last 40 minutes? Yeah. And, I mean, but there's so much more to it. And here comes Phil Savage, who knew me as a competitor, knew me as a player, knew me as a leader,

knew influence I had in Baltimore. And now he's the GM at Cleveland. And he's like, I need you to be the term I made up. He didn't use this term, but the sacrificial lamb, like you gotta be the guy that comes in and changing the culture. Cause you are a culture changer and you're playing really good. I've talked to be the guy that comes in and changes the culture because you are a culture changer.

And you're playing really good. I've talked to people that watch you in practice, and you've played a couple games that you're in Mets and banged up, and you've played really well. Like, come be that guy. And I couldn't have been more excited. I like climbing big mountains. Like, I love huge challenges. I love people saying I can't.

I love, you know, being the underdog and all that good stuff. And I'm like, I was made for that. And I went there, and you talked to Romeo Cornell and John Lott, the strength coach, and Phil Savage. We crushed that offseason. We did start to change the culture. We played pretty darn good at times before I got hurt. And then I,

you know, just one more injury. You know, I've had a broken collarbone. I've had obstetrics, I've had fractured back. I've had 11 separated shoulders, and now I tear my patella tendon. And I try to, it's like a half-porn. I try to play on it. I try to play on it

and boom, it's gone. half corn. I try to play on it. I try to play on it. Then boom, it's down. And, you know, not anybody knows, you know, tendon issues. It's like my Achilles tendon. It's a very tendon. You kind of tell it. There ain't nothing you can do. And I'm sitting there going, oh, my gosh, it's weak. Whatever, eight, nine, ten, I can't remember.

I've invested everything in this. I thought this is where I was supposed to go. I still can help change culture, but I'm done. I'm done as a player. But somehow, I still have good connections with that group, and I value that here.

Now, my wife writes off the training, like you said, but I actually, I was juiced by that offseason and that training camp. And I really believe if Romu Quinnell hires a different offensive coordinator, he could have turned it around. Like, that thing was brought down by one bad hire. But Romu was doing the right thing.

And that thing looked way different than the narrative around Cleveland has been up until last year. And, again, a long-winded way of saying that I actually don't look at it as a train wreck. Getting to San Francisco was simply a go home to where I grew up. My roots now have been deep West Coast roots because I learned the secrets behind the veil from Mike Holmgren. Steve Young had always been a nice mentor in my life i wanted to be around him i wanted to be around that community

ronnie lott and dwight clark and that group of guys that i grew up admiring that had become friends uh john brody was a mentor of mine i want to take his number out of retirement to honor him to get him in the hall of fame It became more about other stuff than playing. I never thought I'd play another snap in the NFL. I never thought Alex was going to get hurt in my last year and end up getting me killed because he got hurt. But that was really just, I just wanted to get home and end well. Well, you play that season in 2007 at 35, and that's your last season.

So the final question that I want to ask you is, I don't want 35-year-old Trent Dilfer's advice. I want today's 47-year-old Trent Dilfer's advice. Could that Trent have given any advice to the 22-year-old rookie that would have made you a different player and would have changed the path of your career? Oh, man. Wow, I usually don't get stumped on questions, Ryan. Yeah.

Yeah, I think so, because there's a way of giving advice. You don't tell people you connect with people. And that's the biggest flaw in the NFL. It's the biggest flaw in coaching right now. You got a lot of people who want to tell you what you do right or wrong. Very few.

They're willing to connect with you. I think at that stage of my life, I would have known to connect with 22 year old Trent before I told him what to do or what not to do. And I'm living it right now. Like I got the flashy ring and I'm the head coach and a little community in Nashville and blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. And I can probably tell these people to do whatever I want. And they would line up and do it for a short period of time. That's the last thing I'm doing. I'm trying to connect with every person I make. I mean, every person I meet, I'm trying to find deep connections in life.

Because once you connect with people and you understand their side of life, now you have empathy. Now you have grace and mercy. And now they know you're authentic. Whatever comes out later is, you're just trying to help them do their journey better. And I think at that age, if somebody connected with me authentically like that,

I really would have received it. I believe that. And I couldn't be happier for you at Lipscomb and this whole story and how it's gone down and I can't wait to see you guys come play this fall in Nashville I can't wait to have you man it's awesome the community's awesome the kids are awesome I've never been more overwhelmed but more alive in my life so I think all my life story has kind of led to this moment and and uh it's just been really cool.

Life's journey is cool, as we know, and I'm in a really cool season of it right now. Thanks as always, Trent. Talk to you soon. What did I tell you? I told you Trent Dilfer is going to be awesome. You know who else is going to be awesome? Josh McCown.

I'm going to tease that one for you in a second, but just to remind you that if you're looking for a high-protein snack that's low in carbs and isn't the usual boring beef jerky or nuts, check out Just the Cheese. One pack has two bars that are kind of like crunchy granola bars, except they're made of 100% cheese. Plus, they contain 8 grams of protein, less than 1 gram of carbs, and they're sugar-free and gluten-free. So you're working out, like, hey, do you want a snack? Do you want a shake?

No. No, thanks. Just the Cheese. Hop onto Amazon or justthecheese.com and use the promo code DUEL10OFF for 10% off. I love Kyle on these because he's such a great audience for a podcast of one. Makes me feel

great. I wouldn't say McMahon because I think your laughs are more genuine. So I appreciate it. I promise you. Yeah. Coming up, part four, Josh McCown with incredible Raiders QB room stories. Think about this QB room. Lane Kiffin, head coach, Josh McCown with incredible Raiders QB room stories. Think about this QB room. Lane Kiffin, head coach, Josh McCown, and also Dante Culpepper,

and a rookie, Jamarcus Russell, and Andrew Walter, and Ronald Curry, technically, if you remember him from UNC. So we'll do it again. I hope you enjoyed this one. Please subscribe to the Dual Threat podcast from The Ringer, an all-Ringer podcast gearing you up for Game of Thrones. And, of course, once a week with me and Bill Simmons. And we just taped a massive NBA playoff preview one.

And we're going to be doing another one in just a couple days looking at the first weekend playoff games. So I always hope you enjoy the content. Hit me up at Ryan A. Rosillo. If you have any questions about him, I'm not going to promise him to read all his stuff because it just depends on my mood. Thanks again. you