Speaker 1: Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutched Sports
Speaker 1: Group and I Heart Radio. Y'all trip. Rice Hall is
Speaker 1: still on the board. That's comical. Yeahrceusice Rice House on board,
Speaker 1: This is absurd. Welcome back to Drafted. Last episode. Bryce
Speaker 1: Hall was selected in the fifth round at pick number
Speaker 1: one eight overall, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that
Speaker 1: the Jets yea well ready. That makes six of our
Speaker 1: eight players drafted in the first five rounds. Only cornerback
Speaker 1: is saying, Bassie an offensive lineman. Tremaine Anchorum are still
Speaker 1: out there waiting for an NFL team to give them
Speaker 1: their shot. Man, It's just tough seeing like a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys that you know you're better than get taken
Speaker 1: in front of you. His lack of size five n
Speaker 1: likely contributed to his slide down the board. Lack of
Speaker 1: size interesting. And now with the seventh and final round underway,
Speaker 1: Tremaine and is saying, have stopped recording. We promised an honest,
Speaker 1: real look at the experience and emotion these players go through,
Speaker 1: and here's the authentic truth. Facing all seven rounds without
Speaker 1: being drafted is brutal. There's too much heartache for these
Speaker 1: two players to record, at least until something surprising happens
Speaker 1: late in round seven. Hey, guys, traumatic clipsing right now,
Speaker 1: I am your newest l a Ram. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm here with my beautiful mother and we are excited
Speaker 1: to be a part of the Ram family. With only
Speaker 1: six players remaining in the draft, the Los Angeles Rams
Speaker 1: take Tremaine at pick number two hundred and fifty. Here
Speaker 1: are his new Rams coaches on their new offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is Tremaine's a shorter player, but big and long,
Speaker 1: got those long arms. Played right tackle at Clemson. But
Speaker 1: we planned the move him inside. You do both guards
Speaker 1: and the eating place centers. Athletic guy down the line,
Speaker 1: quicknesses there, his link is there. He has some he
Speaker 1: has some hands to him. He gets home. The guy's
Speaker 1: not gonna mauld anybody. He can sit back in pass pro. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Germaine will be a good addition for us, not only
Speaker 1: with death, but with the potential to become a starter
Speaker 1: um in this offense. Because the thing about him is
Speaker 1: he played at a very successful college in Clemson, like
Speaker 1: a champion man. So we do Clemson, brother, so we do.
Speaker 1: He understands how to win he's a very determined player. Um.
Speaker 1: And the only reason you'd say you might have been,
Speaker 1: you know, scouting wise in the in the later rounds
Speaker 1: is because he's six too. And if he was six five,
Speaker 1: I bet you would have got drafted way earlier. This
Speaker 1: is a real man. He's a prose pro. When you
Speaker 1: talk to this guy, you feel like you don't feel
Speaker 1: like you're talking to a guy who just graduated from Clemson,
Speaker 1: and feel like you're talking to guys have been in
Speaker 1: NFL about eight years Russian Corner's career. Here's a Mario Rogers. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I do feel like he was a steel that like. Um,
Speaker 1: I did not anticipate him being there at that pick.
Speaker 1: I thought he would have been gone. I'm glad he
Speaker 1: was there for us because we have a vision for him.
Speaker 1: I do see a kind of an opportunity to play.
Speaker 1: I until the coach like, hey, I'm open to take
Speaker 1: any spots across train. I take crowd and being a
Speaker 1: versatile offensive lineman, and and I'll come in ready to
Speaker 1: take any spot that's available. Tremaine's moment finally arrived later
Speaker 1: than he had hoped, but he has a new home
Speaker 1: and a great opportunity to contribute to a team that's
Speaker 1: only two seasons removed from the Super Bowl. After Tremaine
Speaker 1: gets selected, five more picks fly by, and with the
Speaker 1: final pick in the draft, known as Mr. Irrelevant, every year,
Speaker 1: the New York Giants select Tay Crowder, a linebacker from
Speaker 1: the University of Georgia. The two thousand twenty NFL Draft
Speaker 1: is now complete. Two hundred and fifty six players were
Speaker 1: chosen over three days, but throughout no one ever called
Speaker 1: it saying about his name. Late that night, I went
Speaker 1: upstairs and I said, how are you. He raised his head,
Speaker 1: he said, Mom, I'm fine, It'll be okay. So it
Speaker 1: was heartbreaking for me, particularly seeing my son in that mood.
Speaker 1: Columbus is a very small community. Everybody knew it was
Speaker 1: one of the it was just the only one going
Speaker 1: into the draft. And I said to him, look, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what everybody thinks of you. It's about you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna bounce back. You're not a criminal. You didn't still,
Speaker 1: you have been focused. You've represented your family and the
Speaker 1: community well up until this moment. And I know you
Speaker 1: have bigger times, bigger days ahead of you. Keep your
Speaker 1: head together. You still have the opportunity. Look at the
Speaker 1: people out there who went not even can't see that
Speaker 1: for on undrafted agency, you know, free agent. Look at
Speaker 1: them and counting your blessings. Here's the saying the morning after,
Speaker 1: it's a long three days. Um. You know, I throughout
Speaker 1: this whole process, you know a lot of guys, You
Speaker 1: meet a lot of people. And the first couple of
Speaker 1: days was the first obviously, first, second, and third rounds,
Speaker 1: and you know a lot of guys that I trained with,
Speaker 1: you know, they were getting their names called, and you
Speaker 1: know I was really excited and happy and for him.
Speaker 1: Uh that's kind of how the first two days went,
Speaker 1: just supporting people that I trained with, and then day
Speaker 1: three came around. I thought that was gonna be my
Speaker 1: big day. Uh. It was a really long day, started
Speaker 1: twelve twelve pm. And then sitting by sitting through the
Speaker 1: draft that I went undrafted obviously, so just hearing name
Speaker 1: after name get called rounds four through seven, two hundred
Speaker 1: or around two hundred picks, two hundred names get called. Um.
Speaker 1: I started off with excitement, my amilies around waiting for
Speaker 1: me to get that call come in hopefully at the
Speaker 1: same time as you see more of your friends. A
Speaker 1: couple of my teammates got picked in it was a
Speaker 1: roller coaster of emotions, if I can say just I'm
Speaker 1: excited for my friends, but at the same time, I
Speaker 1: was still waiting for my name to get called. And
Speaker 1: then honestly, around round later, round six, round seven, that's
Speaker 1: the one it started to turn. You have that excitement
Speaker 1: that it turns into worry and like, man, am I
Speaker 1: not gonna get drafted and we're not gonna get picked?
Speaker 1: It was it was really hard. I'm not gonna lie um.
Speaker 1: So it was a lot of sadness, their disappointment. You know,
Speaker 1: my family was still around me. I felt like I
Speaker 1: let them down. Uh, tears were shed, you know, not,
Speaker 1: That's just how it was. Despite the heartbreak, saying had
Speaker 1: a promising development after the final pick was announced. As
Speaker 1: soon as the draft was over, the last got the
Speaker 1: last person got picked. I was forced with the decision
Speaker 1: to make um. Denver actually called me at the end
Speaker 1: of round seven and um, and it was like they
Speaker 1: had opportunity for me. Um. They wanted me there because
Speaker 1: John Tell had called me, and the Bengals called as well.
Speaker 1: There were a couple other teams that our you know,
Speaker 1: wanting me to sign as a U d F. A
Speaker 1: U d f A stands for undrafted free agent. About
Speaker 1: fifteen of these undrafted players signed with each team for
Speaker 1: training camp, practice squads and hopefully to make the active
Speaker 1: roster for the season. I was still in that moment
Speaker 1: of you know, sadness and disappointment. Uh but I had
Speaker 1: quickly had to flip that around and make a decision
Speaker 1: for my future. Uh. So I was on the phone
Speaker 1: with my agent, Bilbo, and we were just working through
Speaker 1: They're just discapplinement me not getting selected, but also at
Speaker 1: the same time, we had to make a decision, and
Speaker 1: so I ended up going with Denver just so he
Speaker 1: felt comfortable with He saw opportunity there for me, and
Speaker 1: then decided to learn from CROs Fangio coach Don Tell.
Speaker 1: There good defensive minds there, and I see a role
Speaker 1: that could fit in there. I think it a great
Speaker 1: place for me to start to, like I said, learn
Speaker 1: and just get ready for that next step and you know,
Speaker 1: my life and working as an NFL athlete. Later in
Speaker 1: the day, he's aforementioned agent to marry his Bilbo calls
Speaker 1: to check in again. The first thing I want to
Speaker 1: tell you man, is that you know you got an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I know exactly how you feel because I was a
Speaker 1: guy who came in this process when a third fourth
Speaker 1: frown grade and I when I drafted it, I know
Speaker 1: exactly what you said. Don't ever hang your head down
Speaker 1: to use your intelligence. Learned that playbook. You're gonna make
Speaker 1: the roster. I have no doubt about it. Everybody wants
Speaker 1: to hear that name called. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, when you're in there and you're able to
Speaker 1: go in and field off or something, and the ways
Speaker 1: NFL teams are now, they look at it like, I'm
Speaker 1: good football players, and obviously you're the cheaper option. And
Speaker 1: if they look at you and they look at the
Speaker 1: third fourth frown pick and they're like, Okay, the thing
Speaker 1: is better than this guy, and they're gonna keep you
Speaker 1: because it's a lot cheaper to keep you. You have
Speaker 1: an opportunity with the player performance escalators. All of the
Speaker 1: bonus is the stuff that come along with being a
Speaker 1: lower around or undrafted guy. You're going to improve yourself.
Speaker 1: You're gonna make that money back. You've handled this process
Speaker 1: from the from the Senior Bowl to the combines and
Speaker 1: now You've controlled everything you can. I said, back to
Speaker 1: look at some of those pigful tulsa and stuff. I'm like,
Speaker 1: these guys are not even on a draft board. You know.
Speaker 1: People fall in love with size, They fall in love
Speaker 1: with the things that they think because the guy had
Speaker 1: linked or he ran a four three or four four,
Speaker 1: that doesn't equal good football player. So you're a great
Speaker 1: football player, you know that. Just take that work ethic,
Speaker 1: do everything you've always done and now proved everybody in
Speaker 1: the league wrong. I mean, obviously I'm still a little disappointed,
Speaker 1: but you know, like I said, our Tony, so do
Speaker 1: my best, you know, to look forward, don't do what
Speaker 1: I gotta do. And I'm gonna tell you this, You're
Speaker 1: gonna be at an advantage because you're intelligent, work your
Speaker 1: ass off, and just don't let this draft define you.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, he's saying, get it out of your
Speaker 1: mind right now, not let it define you. Because when
Speaker 1: you step on the shild, it's gonna stay nassy. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna stay nassy or drafted free agent or middlevin Lord,
Speaker 1: first round pick and nothing. He's gonna say nassy. Whatever
Speaker 1: number you select, and you gotta go out there and
Speaker 1: balling and whenever number shows up on that film, it's productive.
Speaker 1: That's the guy he's gonna keep. So go do what
Speaker 1: you do. Man, put all your faith in God, you know,
Speaker 1: trust that he has you here for a reason. He
Speaker 1: gave you that talent for a reason. And believe that
Speaker 1: he is the one that opened the doors that no
Speaker 1: man can open. And he, oh, he puts opportunities in
Speaker 1: front of you to no bankings will give him all
Speaker 1: the glory you ask for an opportunity here, It is
Speaker 1: not wrong with it. Man, your bronco, you know, and
Speaker 1: you go out there and make him make a name
Speaker 1: for yourself like you always have no doubt it's saying.
Speaker 1: Gets another call from his friend, Cameron Blenn, a former
Speaker 1: weak for a safety who went undrafted last year and
Speaker 1: signed with the San Francisco forty Niners. Scared, Broy, I
Speaker 1: want to yeah, right, tough man, Yeah, because on God,
Speaker 1: you know, I am that draft felt like I was
Speaker 1: drafted two years in a row, the whole similar hours.
Speaker 1: But just okay, it is what it is. But you
Speaker 1: got opportunity. Uh it ain't not a little better. Meaning really,
Speaker 1: there's not no difference between being drafted unless it was
Speaker 1: like first two, three round, you're not a different So
Speaker 1: either way when you get there, efference so and no teams. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's probably what san France because that's exactly what I
Speaker 1: told you. But he was like san France, like you
Speaker 1: talked to everybody with them, and I hope they wasn't
Speaker 1: trying to do something day hit me free agency. They didn't.
Speaker 1: Can you stuff like that? Bro? Who Well, hey you
Speaker 1: I'm going Denver. You're gonna work Denver, Denver? What they
Speaker 1: what they signed you? Uh? So I haven't got the
Speaker 1: contract yet, but twenty k the sign of bonus signs
Speaker 1: or the sign of bonus, it's twenty k. So the
Speaker 1: base is what you know, the basis Like, I ain't
Speaker 1: got it yet the contract yet. Oh yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's power in that's that's that's signed for my My
Speaker 1: sign ups only five K and I signed the basis
Speaker 1: five so you feel so what you had? What you had? Uh?
Speaker 1: What you had? So the base contract was like this,
Speaker 1: So honestly I don't I can't remember it, like, but
Speaker 1: I just know my sign up bus was five K,
Speaker 1: and like I can't really remember that everything in the contract,
Speaker 1: but I just know my sign of bonuses on the
Speaker 1: five K. The average undrafted free agent signing bonus is
Speaker 1: five thousand. Say got four times that amount, and his
Speaker 1: deal is for the new rookie minimum six hundred and
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars this season if he makes the fifty
Speaker 1: three man roster. So did your agent like tell you
Speaker 1: who was interested? Yeah? It was Denver, Baltimore, and Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: And what was the sign about the other two? Since
Speaker 1: he was twelve k uh and uh, I wasn't really
Speaker 1: interested in Baltimore like that because they that was too
Speaker 1: damn day. Yeah, that was too damn deep. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tough man ship. So hell bro, I never right, bro,
Speaker 1: that That's what I'm saying. Bro, the whole world watching
Speaker 1: and then got the fucking male Kuiper's best available. Hold
Speaker 1: the hole, damn world, see my face not get picked.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, bro. It's still like you still got the
Speaker 1: hype to you, bro, Like like I said, but you
Speaker 1: know who you are, so going to show that. And
Speaker 1: like I said, like the whole money thing, Bro, that's
Speaker 1: like the investment in you. So the more money they gave,
Speaker 1: the more likely ard to stick around. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: think two in the too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bro, I
Speaker 1: really got to a point where I ain't never it
Speaker 1: was driving corner I don't even know exist before when
Speaker 1: did two lane have a good quarner? Who knows? Bro?
Speaker 1: It was It was so many Bro, I was like,
Speaker 1: it's tragic, same thing at the last year to thank you, Bro,
Speaker 1: and it's just nice. Their call ends abruptly, leaving a
Speaker 1: saying alone with his thoughts. Here he is again the
Speaker 1: next afternoon, So now I'm here, Uh kind of the
Speaker 1: smoke is cleared, and you know I had to deal
Speaker 1: with disappointed for the next couple of days. The next
Speaker 1: still weren't weren't the best. I had a lot of
Speaker 1: people congratulating me, uh, which it was just great. You know,
Speaker 1: I had the support of all my friends and family
Speaker 1: and you know people around me. They were following me,
Speaker 1: which is great. But you know, I still had that
Speaker 1: disappointment of you know, not getting drafted when I had
Speaker 1: expectations of it being one of the best days of
Speaker 1: my life. Um so, you know, and outside people don't
Speaker 1: really didn't really understand that completely. You know, the draft
Speaker 1: and working so hard for so long, you know, you
Speaker 1: have those expectations and those are what I had, it
Speaker 1: didn't happen for me, so you know, it took a
Speaker 1: little bit to get over it. But um, I've always
Speaker 1: been kind of the the underdog or you know, the
Speaker 1: smaller guy, or the guy at a small school, or
Speaker 1: you know, I've always had to work through something, and
Speaker 1: this is just another obstacle. Uh, there's another something, another
Speaker 1: hurdle that I had to had to get over. Obviously
Speaker 1: one of the biggest ones I faced yet. But it's
Speaker 1: just added motivation for me. I'm always gonna hold it.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget that feeling, uh, you know, of going undrafted.
Speaker 1: I think it's something that will stick with me for
Speaker 1: the rest of my career. I'm always going to have it,
Speaker 1: and I think it's always gonna be a motivation factor
Speaker 1: for me. It's always gonna drive me to continue to
Speaker 1: prove myself because that's what I have to do. At
Speaker 1: the end of the day, no matter if I was
Speaker 1: drafted or not, I still had to co improve myself
Speaker 1: and going undrafted is just another motivating factor for me.
Speaker 1: So I'm definitely gonna hold onto it for a long time.
Speaker 1: I'm going to use it to to motivate myself and
Speaker 1: and everything I do. Looking forward now to working towards
Speaker 1: being a part of the Broncos and making a name
Speaker 1: for myself in the NFL. So I now went on Broncos.
Speaker 1: I read about their history. They're one of the teams
Speaker 1: that I have a history of going with undraft free agent.
Speaker 1: That was a little bit reassuring. I had to look
Speaker 1: at his position specific and then it broke my heart
Speaker 1: when somebody posted something that undrafted three agents are not
Speaker 1: part of the team, and I said, forget about all
Speaker 1: those people. Okay, go with a positive mind. You know,
Speaker 1: carry everything you've learned to that team, and I guarantee
Speaker 1: you that's another platform for you to prove that you're
Speaker 1: a football player. It wasn't the money that was to
Speaker 1: drive for him to want to play football, because during
Speaker 1: his low moment, I told him, hey, you got a
Speaker 1: degree to live a life and you know will always
Speaker 1: be here to support you that. I just want you
Speaker 1: to be happy, you know, I just wanted my son
Speaker 1: to fulfill his life dream. We'll be right back, all right.
Speaker 1: It is the day after the draft, April. I am
Speaker 1: in my car driving. The draft is over, the dust
Speaker 1: is settled, and a new chapter is beginning for all
Speaker 1: eight of these athletes and like is saying, Tremaine struggles
Speaker 1: to process how he fell round after round. Over the weekend,
Speaker 1: I am going to go see some friends and some
Speaker 1: family social distance. Of course I haven't get to see it,
Speaker 1: and you know they deserve to see me with supporting ship.
Speaker 1: That's the music. So you're looking at the newest member
Speaker 1: of the ill saying this ram who how does the
Speaker 1: guy don't know if I was getting picked or not?
Speaker 1: Watching that the grounds go by, watching people you knew
Speaker 1: that you were better than get picked before you even
Speaker 1: get opportunities, deals and all that stuff. It's kind of
Speaker 1: demoralized a little bit, you know, just kind of invalidate.
Speaker 1: It's all good work that you've put in to say that, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know these guys are read and you know because
Speaker 1: they worked harder than they were better it is because
Speaker 1: somebody liked them. One But then towards the end of
Speaker 1: the seventh round, I started getting calls from head coaches, Hey,
Speaker 1: we really really want you. You're one of our top
Speaker 1: priority free agents. Um. The whole time I was like,
Speaker 1: damn if they wanted yeah, just drafted me. But you know,
Speaker 1: that's side the point. All the cultures are so surprised
Speaker 1: and shocked out was still on board. Someone was looking
Speaker 1: at roster, looking at positions to go through, and that
Speaker 1: calls hey, Tremaine said, this is Tremaine. We're ready to
Speaker 1: be around and I think there's another speech about undraft
Speaker 1: free and I was like, yeah, I'd love to. He
Speaker 1: cut me out great, uh Coachy bays and call you
Speaker 1: and we're gonna I was like, okay, it's like we're
Speaker 1: just gonna talk next steps after this and I was like, what,
Speaker 1: I'll answer that, so show me very called answered it.
Speaker 1: He said, hey, man, we're actually shocked as hell that
Speaker 1: you're still available. We'd love to have you. Are you excited?
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, I'm excited. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a big opportunity to play in the NFL. And it
Speaker 1: was like, you're excited to be a RAM. It was
Speaker 1: like yeah, And I looked at the TV and walking
Speaker 1: back into the room, I was in my room by
Speaker 1: myself and there goes my name on the board in
Speaker 1: the room. Was pretty lifeless for a while, but then
Speaker 1: seeing my name on the board and seeing the joy
Speaker 1: that stepbrother, step mom, my dad had it was nice,
Speaker 1: especially because the long drought and not being picked, and
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, this is amazing. My stepmom started screaming,
Speaker 1: so I really couldn't hear Coach McVey, but he told
Speaker 1: me that he was from the Cobb County area and
Speaker 1: then he went to schools around Wheeler and he was
Speaker 1: a kind of player I'm getting caliber, the pedigree that
Speaker 1: you know, we do it Clemson. So it was it
Speaker 1: was really great talking to him. It was a really
Speaker 1: great moment, and not a day passes and remained still
Speaker 1: works to find clarity about what happened. Yeah. Man, time
Speaker 1: is twelve o'clock on the dot. I'm in my drop toop.
Speaker 1: It's April, uh cool, days after the draft. I'm on
Speaker 1: the way to go work out with my old trainer,
Speaker 1: UM coach Michael Butler. Just you can ask for a
Speaker 1: long time. It's training to likes Justine, those Bradley Schub,
Speaker 1: brand Inchub. I mean, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 1: But no, man, it's just a weird feeling. Somebody just
Speaker 1: sent me a text like, yeah, I found how much
Speaker 1: you're making Like why have you really never been in
Speaker 1: an important thing to me? But people kind of have
Speaker 1: been making it out to be like the measure of
Speaker 1: your work or the measure of a man. And I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm really disturbed about that because yeah, there's just
Speaker 1: people that may have been born more physical gifts, but
Speaker 1: they ain't been ain't been working like I had. And
Speaker 1: I know that because I see these people every day.
Speaker 1: But no, it's like, you know, my father can say
Speaker 1: that I don't consider this weekend of failure at all,
Speaker 1: but his eyes and people around me, I was supposed
Speaker 1: to go higher. I guess this this weekend was a failure.
Speaker 1: I didn't even have a celebration really, it was just,
Speaker 1: you know, I was sitting in knocker rules and silent
Speaker 1: and step Mom was excited. But it's really about it.
Speaker 1: But I don't know. It wouldn't be the first time
Speaker 1: I failed, and I felt a lot, But I guess
Speaker 1: that's that's that's what makes me mean, is that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wasn't high school kid coming in. Oh he's gonna start.
Speaker 1: I was, what the hell is this kid going here?
Speaker 1: And I was skinny to und guy, like you know,
Speaker 1: it was my challenges but it was rough, man. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know that was like I was there for that.
Speaker 1: I was like, ah, we weren't there for for for
Speaker 1: the feeling man, I weren't there for the days I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do it anymore. We weren't there for
Speaker 1: the hours of work for the inch progress. You know,
Speaker 1: it's some of that ship can be demoializing. It's like
Speaker 1: pushing up big as heavy ass rock, right, you put
Speaker 1: all your effort into it. But joining a Yeah, I
Speaker 1: could be looked at it savro s, But me, I
Speaker 1: moved you. I'm not where I used to be. I'm
Speaker 1: an inch further where I used to be, and that,
Speaker 1: you know, I crave guy for that. It's tough to admit.
Speaker 1: But after starting two years at Clemson, winning two national championships,
Speaker 1: being named first team All a CEC, and reaching the
Speaker 1: peak of college success, the draft was a humbling experience.
Speaker 1: All I could think about was find a way to
Speaker 1: make it happy no matter where I was. If I
Speaker 1: was planted, it's undrafted free agent, so be it. Kick ass.
Speaker 1: I was a draft to the first round, so be it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kick ass. But honestly, it just kind of hurts.
Speaker 1: She ain't guys taken before me that I knew I
Speaker 1: was better there, But you know, I guess that's part
Speaker 1: of that. Shouldn't land? Is this how much can we take?
Speaker 1: You can still keep going. We do survive resilience, you know,
Speaker 1: but now even better, I get a chance to prove it.
Speaker 1: And I'm excited as ever to be an i Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Ram, and I'm thankful for all the people that
Speaker 1: made that decision possible. It's a long that we're gonna
Speaker 1: take it on back. Brian took my music classic and
Speaker 1: I'm in the Los Angeles Ram an NFL player, WHOA.
Speaker 1: This is what tremade Ankram does, taking the experience and
Speaker 1: using it to improve, to become more resilient, to refine
Speaker 1: his technique. It's how he plays the game of football
Speaker 1: and how he approaches his whole life. It's why scouts
Speaker 1: and coaches called him a professional. And those skills are
Speaker 1: needed because while the players deal with the media, newfound fame,
Speaker 1: and their emotions from the draft, they also start working
Speaker 1: remotely with their new teams almost immediately. Here's the saying again.
Speaker 1: Since I'm with the Broncos, he started sending me. They
Speaker 1: sent me a iPad in playbooks, So I'm starting to
Speaker 1: get into that a little bit. So just learning and
Speaker 1: in connecting with new coaches and teammates. That's kind of
Speaker 1: been added into my schedule. So working out in training still,
Speaker 1: but I have the added uh responsibility of football now
Speaker 1: more football, just connecting with my teammates, starting to learn
Speaker 1: the playbook and different things like that. We're gonna do
Speaker 1: a zoom cloud the entire rookie class right now. We're
Speaker 1: looking at sixteen. It's a total sixteen of us. Are
Speaker 1: you gonna be free later today? Okay? This is one
Speaker 1: of the Denver Broncos player development coaches speaking with the saying,
Speaker 1: do you have any questions because sns please call me,
Speaker 1: reach out to me. Uh tell your parents are ready
Speaker 1: forgive me. But I treat all you guys, the players,
Speaker 1: gonna tell you. I treat all y'all like my kids.
Speaker 1: Man Um. I care about you because you're you're somebody's sons,
Speaker 1: somebody's nephew, somebody's grandson, you're a brother. Football is what
Speaker 1: you do. It's not who you are, and so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna treat it this such. So forgive me. Now, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna fly a little uh, and it's only because I
Speaker 1: love you, and so that's why. Then football is what
Speaker 1: you do. It is not who you are. Man Um.
Speaker 1: From a young age when you start playing the game
Speaker 1: of football and you start taking it. Series. We kind
Speaker 1: of married, if you would, you know, we dated, We
Speaker 1: take her to prom take her homecoming, We do all that,
Speaker 1: but she's never faithful to us because you know, every
Speaker 1: year that you played, man, she's always bringing in new members.
Speaker 1: Just like just like within the NFL, Man, every year
Speaker 1: is gonna be a draft. So every year she she know,
Speaker 1: it's trying to find somebody bigger, faster, stronger, and some
Speaker 1: guys lose like that identity. Man, they become they allow
Speaker 1: football to become who they are. And so that's why
Speaker 1: I try to do is keep you guys to understand
Speaker 1: who you are, who your parents raised you to be. Obviously, Man,
Speaker 1: your parents have done an awesome job with you and
Speaker 1: your siblings man, doing what it is that they do.
Speaker 1: Tell your family and everybody out said, congratulations again. Man.
Speaker 1: One thing I told my nephew a few years ago,
Speaker 1: and I always tell the rookies you're gonna find him
Speaker 1: first of all too that I don't care. It ain't
Speaker 1: about how you got here. It's about being here and
Speaker 1: doing your faith. So you know what I'm saying, It
Speaker 1: has no berry. The only difference is first round and
Speaker 1: secon round of the dude's got money stacked up into it.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, man, it's all
Speaker 1: about here, making the best of your opportunity and bawling out.
Speaker 1: And I give you a few examples. James Harrison, I
Speaker 1: hadn't even Pittsburgh. I do got cut four times, were
Speaker 1: really free? Uh free from Pittsburgh, and I think once
Speaker 1: from Baltimore and look at his career, and I can
Speaker 1: name other guys. It's like that, So it don't matter
Speaker 1: how you get here. And actually I kind of always
Speaker 1: gravitate to my non drafted guys because me personally, when
Speaker 1: I'm was trafted fifth round, I still looked at myself
Speaker 1: as a free agent because it just comes with it,
Speaker 1: because I know the dynamics of what it looks like.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you feel like, man, I hain't got a chance.
Speaker 1: Hey man, it's on. You can put your hand in
Speaker 1: the power of me. Plays. Man, go do your things.
Speaker 1: And one thing I'll say is what you start getting
Speaker 1: your mindset to do. Now, did you play special teese?
Speaker 1: In college? Okay, good, that's gonna be the greatest thing. Man.
Speaker 1: Start looking at gunning work man. Dudes to play the gunners.
Speaker 1: Some dudes that play device. Um, a lot of guys
Speaker 1: don't understand that unless you were first, the second, third round. Man,
Speaker 1: that's where you're gonna make it. Niches on special teams first.
Speaker 1: Just to be honest with you, you know, and you
Speaker 1: got a problem opportunity to make it happen, bro, some opportunity.
Speaker 1: I actually played DV myself and play corner, so I
Speaker 1: look forward to work with you. So, uh did you,
Speaker 1: blessed man? Let me know what you need. I'm serious, man,
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's one through three and morning,
Speaker 1: call me. If your folks have questions about this, text me,
Speaker 1: call me. Try to answer it as best as possible,
Speaker 1: so I appreciate it. All right, my man, be blessing.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you soon. Take care, okay, bye bye.
Speaker 1: That was Denver Broncos. I wasn't what I was expecting,
Speaker 1: but you know, less you get the it's Tony with
Speaker 1: the Broncos man. Um, It's like I said, wasn't all
Speaker 1: I expect. It was upset a little bit, cried a
Speaker 1: little bit, to be honest, but you know it was
Speaker 1: a quick turn around, even with a contract in hand
Speaker 1: and his new career with his new team right in
Speaker 1: front of him. The pain from falling throughout the draft
Speaker 1: is still acute. I had to get my focus right.
Speaker 1: I had to give my mind right because now I
Speaker 1: got like I said to working umber stops, I just
Speaker 1: gotta go and keep doing what I've been doing my
Speaker 1: whole career and get right back until it. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be a Timper Bronco. It's crazy to
Speaker 1: think about I'm actually in the NFL. No, I'm excited, man,
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. All eight of the players we've
Speaker 1: been hearing from talk to their new teams, began their
Speaker 1: new training programs and study their new playbooks. Only Bryce
Speaker 1: Hall has another life altering moment planned. Are you nervous?
Speaker 1: I'm excited? Um. One of the reasons she has no
Speaker 1: I no I. When was the first moment you knew
Speaker 1: that she was the one. When she came to my
Speaker 1: hospital bed when I had broken my ankle. That's when
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, it's the one. It was like
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock at night. Everybody else went home and it
Speaker 1: was just me and her chatting up on me. She
Speaker 1: want to keep it. Bryce asks Nzel to go for
Speaker 1: a jog with their closest friends planted along the route,
Speaker 1: cell phones out thank you right here that this is
Speaker 1: this is the message that I wrote on the May five,
Speaker 1: two thousand, at right before I decided to go on
Speaker 1: my one year and so I was, it's a young price,
Speaker 1: and I'm reading that to you. I had said it
Speaker 1: apart for a this day right here, Yeah, I said,
Speaker 1: I have decided to be scaring to the story I wanted.
Speaker 1: When I was listening, I've heard something that spoke to
Speaker 1: my life, and I realized that it was true and
Speaker 1: that was what God wants for me. I had decided,
Speaker 1: despite my past, I want to learn to honor God
Speaker 1: with my body. That's difficult that it is going to be,
Speaker 1: and that's strange and loan and quiet it may become.
Speaker 1: I wanted to honor God with my sexuality. And from
Speaker 1: this state forward, I am preparing for you. I have
Speaker 1: saved and reserved myself my affection of my love for you.
Speaker 1: I am waiting for listening forward for you. And as
Speaker 1: I learned honor God by before I say I do,
Speaker 1: I am ready for honor God with my body. Once
Speaker 1: I do so, I feel I want to be the
Speaker 1: person that I am looking forward to and from this
Speaker 1: stage for I have to pre pet your parentsreason Opender's
Speaker 1: amazing fee you you know I love you and uh,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be here without you. Man. Yes, yes, she said. Yes,
Speaker 1: y'all know that that yeah, on his first big win
Speaker 1: as a New York Jet. This past week has been
Speaker 1: by far the biggest week of my life. Not only um,
Speaker 1: did I get drafted and my dreams came true. Um,
Speaker 1: also I'm taking on this next season with my best friend,
Speaker 1: the girl that you know I have been preparing for
Speaker 1: that I pray for the one who's um gonna be
Speaker 1: my writer died through this whole thing. So basically after
Speaker 1: the draft, King came home and I started plotting and
Speaker 1: scheming on when I was gonna propose to my girlfriend
Speaker 1: now fiance, and so how it happened is one of
Speaker 1: her best friends. So we're back at the place where
Speaker 1: we both went to school, at the University of Virginia.
Speaker 1: That's where my where I'm staying, that's where she's saying,
Speaker 1: and one of her best friends helped me do it.
Speaker 1: So when of her best friends, I called her up
Speaker 1: and I was like, Hey, how do you think we
Speaker 1: should you know, go about doing this. So we're just
Speaker 1: kind of scheming up, thinking of ideas, and so we decided,
Speaker 1: you know, as we were kind of taking a jog
Speaker 1: and taking a walk, We're like, Okay, I think this
Speaker 1: would be a good place to propose to her. The
Speaker 1: next day I told my boys that I was doing it.
Speaker 1: We have there's a couple of my teammates are still here,
Speaker 1: so they were here that there with me, and so
Speaker 1: I went. I set up where they called flower pedals
Speaker 1: rose petals, so like set up a couple of rose
Speaker 1: petals from to her to follow the path to me.
Speaker 1: And then I had a note that I had so
Speaker 1: this is this is crazy. I two years ago. So
Speaker 1: we got baptized together on May six, two eighteen. But
Speaker 1: the year before that, I wrote and I typed up
Speaker 1: a note because I decided to go on this year
Speaker 1: thing where I was just gonna, you know, start focusing
Speaker 1: on me and prepare myself. Um this phrase called it
Speaker 1: to become the person that I was looking for was
Speaker 1: looking for, And at this time me and her we
Speaker 1: were just acquaintances, like we weren't like really friends at all.
Speaker 1: But I had wrote this letter preparing for my future
Speaker 1: spouse that I was like just gonna, I was gonna
Speaker 1: take a year off a dating, a year off of
Speaker 1: like just pursuing girls on that type time, and just
Speaker 1: really focus on myself, focus on what you know, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, interested in doing, you know, my purpose pursuing
Speaker 1: all that stuff. I typed up that letter and on
Speaker 1: May Fiveen and I like gauged, I like crafted it
Speaker 1: towards who my future spouse was going to be. So
Speaker 1: I read that letter to her when she when I
Speaker 1: before I proposed to her, and then I ended up
Speaker 1: proposing to her on that day. So it's been super
Speaker 1: exciting and I think also it's even though it kind
Speaker 1: of sounds like a fairytale ending, um, there was so
Speaker 1: much preparation and work that it took and just going
Speaker 1: through a lot of hurts and pains and trials that
Speaker 1: got me to this point not only from my football career,
Speaker 1: but also to the point of my relationship that I'm at.
Speaker 1: And um, I don't want to lead people on that
Speaker 1: it is this something that's just kind of magically happens,
Speaker 1: but it takes you preparing yourself and setting yourself apart
Speaker 1: to be prepared to live out your dreams and in
Speaker 1: doing the necessary sacrifices, but also um, becoming the person
Speaker 1: who you're looking for is looking for in the the relationship,
Speaker 1: and UM, I'm thankful that God was at the center
Speaker 1: of it. What Bryce talks about months of preparation and
Speaker 1: sacrifice and never ending sequence of workouts, pro days, the combine,
Speaker 1: and the draft. That's what led these players here to
Speaker 1: the beginning of their new lives as professionals. And this
Speaker 1: next chapter will be determined by much more than what
Speaker 1: round they were drafted in or what team they played for.
Speaker 1: Football is one of those sports I'd say sports in general,
Speaker 1: but football especially. I feel like the guys that work
Speaker 1: the hardest usually, you know, are the ones that get rewarded.
Speaker 1: Clutch sports agent Kelton Crenshaw. I mean, just to wear
Speaker 1: and tear on the body alone is one thing. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, I think what kind of
Speaker 1: gets you know, lost in all of this is the
Speaker 1: mental toughness, sharpness awareness. I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've had the opportunity to ever look at a playbook
Speaker 1: or just try to understand these guys assignments. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have to be a very surreeable person to play
Speaker 1: football in general. I mean, some guys just are blessed.
Speaker 1: I can playoff instinct and they go out and do
Speaker 1: their thing. They just have a great feel for the game.
Speaker 1: But most of these dudes, you have to be super
Speaker 1: smart to even understand the intricacies of where you need
Speaker 1: to be picking up coverages and just understanding coverages. It's
Speaker 1: a lot that goes into it on the mental side
Speaker 1: from a cerebral standpoint, and I think that people just downplay.
Speaker 1: You know, you got the whole dumb jock myth floating around,
Speaker 1: and I think football gets even even harder wrap just
Speaker 1: because the sheer size and you know, the physical specimens
Speaker 1: that these guys are. You just it's just easy to
Speaker 1: assume that they're not as sharp mentally as they are.
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's the exact opposite, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And I think it's one thing that's it's downplayed, and
Speaker 1: it's it's it's not talked about enough. How how challenging
Speaker 1: it is from a mental standpoint to study and understand
Speaker 1: the game of football. You know what I mean, If
Speaker 1: you know, it's just you can't really finesse your way
Speaker 1: into the NFL. You can work your way into the NFL,
Speaker 1: which is unlike I would say baseball and basketball, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you can't really if you're with
Speaker 1: with a few exceptions, if you're not tall enough in
Speaker 1: the you know, the NBA, or if your your your
Speaker 1: hand eye coordination isn't great, you're not going to play baseballs.
Speaker 1: But I feel like with football is unique in that
Speaker 1: you could kind of grind your way to a spot
Speaker 1: on a roster. Obviously, guys that are elite, you know,
Speaker 1: super high level. There's a tremendous amount of talent evolved,
Speaker 1: but that just as a generalization. Football players understand the
Speaker 1: work aspect. They have a more intimate understanding with the
Speaker 1: hard work involved with getting to the next level. Of
Speaker 1: my opinion, talent and luck play apart, but more than
Speaker 1: other sports, football is about hard work and persevering. A
Speaker 1: fact is saying Bassie has already wrestled with. The biggest
Speaker 1: thing I've learned from this whole experience is is learning
Speaker 1: to bounce back from disappointments and using disappointments as you're
Speaker 1: driving factor for the rest of your life. Because as
Speaker 1: much as it's aimed like the worst day of my life,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of other horrible things going on in the
Speaker 1: world that I don't experience and don't see. So I
Speaker 1: just learned to be grateful for the position I'm in
Speaker 1: and it's not the end of the world. I'm blessed
Speaker 1: and I just have to keep moving forward. My brother
Speaker 1: didn't really understand what was going on, but you know,
Speaker 1: just looking at him back earlier when I said it
Speaker 1: kind of put things in perspective for me. You know,
Speaker 1: I still have a loving family around me. My brother
Speaker 1: has autism, and he deals with things every day that
Speaker 1: I could never imagine going through his head and just
Speaker 1: seeing him that kind of put everything in perspective for me.
Speaker 1: You know, I still have an opportunity to play football
Speaker 1: and play sports and you know, live my daily life
Speaker 1: how I want to that that he doesn't get. So
Speaker 1: just looking at him kind of, like I said, put
Speaker 1: things in perspective for me that I still have so
Speaker 1: much live for I still and playing for him. I
Speaker 1: still have opportunities to help him, and he's kind of
Speaker 1: helped me get my mind right and continue to focus
Speaker 1: on the things I want to do with my career
Speaker 1: in regards to helping him and helping my family. Success
Speaker 1: of these eight rookies will ultimately be determined by traits
Speaker 1: formed long before they arrived in the NFL. Their futures
Speaker 1: will depend on the makeup that comes from being that
Speaker 1: teased middle school kid who couldn't afford his book, or
Speaker 1: the young lineman pushed too hard by his father, the
Speaker 1: kid who has to care for his brother before and
Speaker 1: after practice, the one without a mom or a dad
Speaker 1: around to help pick them up when they get knocked down.
Speaker 1: It's those moments that turn these athletes into the players
Speaker 1: we see walking across the stage and ultimately onto the
Speaker 1: field on Sundays. On the next episode of Drafted with
Speaker 1: our eight players now on NFL rosters, will take a
Speaker 1: look at their new stage and the role sports are
Speaker 1: playing in the social movement across America. When you have
Speaker 1: a guy that was as talented as he is and
Speaker 1: he stood up for something and our our neil for
Speaker 1: something and end up not being employed anymore, you know,
Speaker 1: it puts fear in these guys. Like that bad dream
Speaker 1: that you keep having. It's just you keep having that
Speaker 1: same nightmare. The George Floyd videos one of the most
Speaker 1: disturbing things that I've ever seen personally. That was like
Speaker 1: a bucket of cold water in the space to realize
Speaker 1: that you know things have changed, but they haven't changed
Speaker 1: that much. Drafted as a production of tree Fork Media,
Speaker 1: Clutched Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The executive producers
Speaker 1: are Kelly Garner, Lisa Amberman, Eric's a Lot Shawan to
Speaker 1: Tone l Ky and me Keegan Michael Key. The series
Speaker 1: is produced and written by Eric Winer. Jerry Brahm is
Speaker 1: our coordinating producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer.
Speaker 1: Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson. Additional production help from
Speaker 1: Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hailey Mandelberg. For transcripts of
Speaker 1: the show and more information on Drafted, go to tree
Speaker 1: Fort dot fm, and for more podcasts for my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.