Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Washington's
Speaker 1: all time sack leader. Ryan Carrigan retired with the organization
Speaker 1: after signing a one day contract. I sat down with
Speaker 1: the Washington Legend to discuss his career and what the
Speaker 1: franchise means to him. Ryan, congratulations, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Were you expecting that welcome coming in here? No, I
Speaker 1: had no idea. I was completely caught off guard. I hadn't.
Speaker 1: I I was shocked, like I was to see everybody
Speaker 1: standing there. To see all the d line dudes that
Speaker 1: have played with a couple of years back standing there
Speaker 1: and everybody there, it meant a lot to me. He
Speaker 1: didn't have words I did. I was like, I just
Speaker 1: I kind of thought I'd come in here and just
Speaker 1: kind of do it and then kind of leave. I
Speaker 1: thought I thought they'd be watching film, and then you
Speaker 1: know they're there. They were. That That meant a lot.
Speaker 1: That was really really cool thing. There's so much respect
Speaker 1: for your career, love and season, and even to this day,
Speaker 1: if I asked some guys like, what is it that
Speaker 1: really has made an impact on their crowd? Don't mention you,
Speaker 1: but you set that example on how to be able
Speaker 1: to have the sustainability that success. And that's and that
Speaker 1: means I mean that that means a lot to me.
Speaker 1: That means that I did a good job of not
Speaker 1: just you know, taking care of myself, but showing, you know,
Speaker 1: guys that you know, there's there's a there's a way
Speaker 1: to do this that can you know, help you, help
Speaker 1: you prolong your career, help you stay around a while.
Speaker 1: And I'm to know that I was able to imparse
Speaker 1: some good stuff on guys. Is a is a cool thing. Okay,
Speaker 1: So what went into the decision why today? Why now? Um?
Speaker 1: Because to be honest, if I'm being quite frank, this
Speaker 1: that I did not intend to play this season even
Speaker 1: going into last season. I kind of knew that I
Speaker 1: kind of got to help report last last spring where
Speaker 1: to where I knew that, you know, this was gonna
Speaker 1: be my that twenty one was gonna be my last season.
Speaker 1: So I knew it was gonna you know, I knew
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be playing the twenty two season one
Speaker 1: way or another. Um, but I kind of wasn't quite
Speaker 1: ready to you know, announce you know, right after the
Speaker 1: season and whatnot. And um, so I wanted to wait
Speaker 1: till now, and it all felt like a good time
Speaker 1: and um, you know, so I'm happy to be moving on.
Speaker 1: Do you know what to do with yourself right now? Then?
Speaker 1: Not waking up early, not coming to practice. No, I'm
Speaker 1: still waking up early, but it's it's to chase after
Speaker 1: my girls. I mean, my girls keep me busy. They
Speaker 1: keep me my wife busy. But now I'm I'm definitely
Speaker 1: planning to find some work. I'm not a I'm not
Speaker 1: one that will want to sit it, you know, sit
Speaker 1: around at home. I'm gonna definitely find find a way
Speaker 1: to you know, be productive. I'm gonna challenge you a
Speaker 1: little bit on your career here, Okay, here we are
Speaker 1: on July twenty nine, twenty twenty known forever it's going
Speaker 1: to be is the day that you officially retire as
Speaker 1: a member of the Burgundy and Gold. Um, when you
Speaker 1: give a few dates and you tell me what comes true?
Speaker 1: Mind when I mentioned them too? Okay, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: April twenty eighth, twenty eleven, I think I drafted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: started with the easy, easy one and eight paperbab Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was an easy one, Roger Goodell says. With the
Speaker 1: sixteenth pick. Yeah, they select, they select me, and it
Speaker 1: was it was unbelievable. That was You watched his draft
Speaker 1: growing up. You never really think it's going to be you,
Speaker 1: and then it's you, and it's like, holy cow, I'm here,
Speaker 1: and it was. It was amazing. How about September eleventh,
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, that was my first game. You
Speaker 1: got to pick six in the third quarter and we
Speaker 1: beat the Giants, got a nice division win. You know
Speaker 1: how many yards you ran it forward for that touchdown?
Speaker 1: It was It was a long one. It was super long,
Speaker 1: like nine yards. I was saying, no, no, okay. I was.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, this is your day. I'll
Speaker 1: let you okay, it's okay. I mean, a great way
Speaker 1: to start FedEx Field against the Giants. How About one
Speaker 1: week later September eighteen, played the Cardinals and I got
Speaker 1: my first stack Kevin Cobb, yeah, quarterback. Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 1: That was Yeah, that was a good day. We started out.
Speaker 1: That was won. Our second game in a row. Started
Speaker 1: out too, I know that year. And then let's see
Speaker 1: here December twelfth, two thousand and twelve. December twelve, twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: m It's week seventeen. Oh sorry, yeah, Week seventeen, Okay,
Speaker 1: we beat the Cowboys to win the East. That was
Speaker 1: an awesome one Sunday night football, beat them on on
Speaker 1: the big stage to go to the playoffs. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was your first division title and playoff birth. How about
Speaker 1: September fourteenth, twenty fourteen, Uh, I know, was that the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville game? Yeah? Four four stacks against Jacksonville. That was
Speaker 1: a that was the day you dream of to say that.
Speaker 1: And then September thirteenth, twenty twenty franchise stack record. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm kind of impressed the recall a little
Speaker 1: bit about two Yeah, well I have one more here,
Speaker 1: although I probably could add a few more after this.
Speaker 1: How about March sixth, twenty nineteen. Oh, the best day
Speaker 1: for my firstborn was born. Never forget that. Oh what
Speaker 1: a moment. All those the pick six, the stacks, all
Speaker 1: that works. Cool, but nothing like that. And here you
Speaker 1: are now going with three beautiful girls, by the way,
Speaker 1: a beautiful family. Congratulations on that. But if we look
Speaker 1: back over your career, I mean, there are so many
Speaker 1: record that you have as the franchise all times sack
Speaker 1: leer with ninety five and a half the number of
Speaker 1: games you played consecutively one hundred and thirty nine. From that,
Speaker 1: is there something over your career that maybe stands out
Speaker 1: to you as more meaningful or important than another. I
Speaker 1: mean from a statistical standpoint, not in particular. I definitely
Speaker 1: took pride in sacks and forced fumbles because I felt like,
Speaker 1: as a pass rusher, that's that's like your objective, that's
Speaker 1: your touchdown. That's a running back or quarterback getting a
Speaker 1: touchdown is getting a sack in a forced fumble. So
Speaker 1: I definitely took pride in that. But I definitely being
Speaker 1: able to being available, being available to play, and you know,
Speaker 1: no matter the situation, no matter you know, whatever week
Speaker 1: it was, if we were in playoff contention, if we're out,
Speaker 1: you know, I took a lot of pride in that that.
Speaker 1: You know, I was the same guy when things were
Speaker 1: going good, well the same guy when things were going bad,
Speaker 1: and I always always tried to make sure that that
Speaker 1: was the case. That's the part of one. I talked
Speaker 1: to different guys. And let's say that you set that
Speaker 1: example on how to take care of your body to
Speaker 1: make sure you are available out there for those moments.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite memory though, of playing at
Speaker 1: FedEx Field or for the Burgundy and Gold. You mentioned
Speaker 1: one of them when we beat the Cowboys to win
Speaker 1: the NFC East in twenty twelve. Um, I would you
Speaker 1: mentioned another pick six in my first game that was incredible.
Speaker 1: I never scored in college, so to score in my
Speaker 1: first pro game was like, oh man, this is this
Speaker 1: is cool. And then I think another another big one
Speaker 1: was against Dallas in eighteen when it got a sack fumble,
Speaker 1: Preston Smith picks it up for a touchdown, and you know,
Speaker 1: we secure a big win against Dallas and that gave
Speaker 1: us like a two game lead in the division. And
Speaker 1: I just remember it like FedEx Field was so loud
Speaker 1: that day, and in that moment, it was just it
Speaker 1: was it felt it felt so cool to you know,
Speaker 1: have made the play to get the crowd like that.
Speaker 1: It was. It was an awesome moment. You understand this
Speaker 1: fan base and just how passionate they are, how how
Speaker 1: much they long for those wins and those celebrations. But
Speaker 1: you have one of the most iconic celebrations at this
Speaker 1: fan base loves Um the heartbreak Kid. What does it
Speaker 1: mean that that still resonates with fans today too. I
Speaker 1: just I think it's it shows I think that you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of relatable, Like you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a wrestling it's a wrestler move, and I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people think, you know, wrestling is kind of
Speaker 1: funny and whatnot. So it was I think it just
Speaker 1: showed some relatability. And I because I mean, and I
Speaker 1: just I love that people whenever I'd come out the
Speaker 1: training can't practice or whatnot, see fans, you know, doing
Speaker 1: it off the side, and it just I'm still surprised
Speaker 1: at how much it caught on. Like I remember talking
Speaker 1: a little confident about it and him telling me to
Speaker 1: do it, and I did it, and I never knew
Speaker 1: it would catch on like that, but I'm glad it did.
Speaker 1: It still does fans love it. Um. You know, they
Speaker 1: have a lot of love for you. But what would
Speaker 1: you say, UM, as you leave this game eleven years,
Speaker 1: what is there something you might miss more than another? Um?
Speaker 1: Definitely just the environment, Like you can't you can't get
Speaker 1: a football environment, like a locker room environment unless you're
Speaker 1: in a football environment. And it's that's one of the
Speaker 1: things I've grown to appreciate over the past couple of
Speaker 1: seasons is just how special that is. Like, you get
Speaker 1: to go to work with your friends work, you get
Speaker 1: to go to work with your friends and and and
Speaker 1: get to get to hang out, you get to play football,
Speaker 1: you get to you're in the grind. You're you're in
Speaker 1: this grind together. You you learn so much about different
Speaker 1: people from different walks of life. It's this. There's nothing
Speaker 1: like an NFL locker room, there's nothing like an NFL building.
Speaker 1: It's just and so that's what I'm gonna miss. I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll miss playing. I'll miss you know, getting sacking quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and all that. That's that was fun for sure. But
Speaker 1: the day to day with guys, the day to day
Speaker 1: with developing relationships, you know, with not only teammates and coaches,
Speaker 1: but you know, the support staff. You know, the chefs
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, the guys in the weight room, it's everybody,
Speaker 1: the equipment, everybody. And I think that's definitely what I'm
Speaker 1: going to miss the most is because that those relationships
Speaker 1: are special. You said, you're not one to just sit
Speaker 1: around and be idle, so they do. We know what
Speaker 1: those next steps are yet not exactly but I'd know
Speaker 1: what I'd want to do, and I want to stay
Speaker 1: in football coaching, I think is the route that I
Speaker 1: want to get into. Uh, I can't think. It kind
Speaker 1: of speaks to the wanting to be in the football environment.
Speaker 1: I just I love that, I love being around the
Speaker 1: guys and I've you know, I know I have a
Speaker 1: lot of wisdom I can pass on to guys and
Speaker 1: hopefully help some younger guys become the become the players
Speaker 1: that they want to be. And um, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I want to stay in football. I love love
Speaker 1: the game too much. This game loves you, the Burgundy
Speaker 1: and goal loves you. You know. We're now voting on
Speaker 1: the next ten to go. We have the eighty greatest
Speaker 1: for now voting in the next ten for the ninety grades.
Speaker 1: What would it mean for fans to make sure that
Speaker 1: you're cemented in that list of one of the greatest
Speaker 1: Ever'd be a tremendous honor. It's this is a very
Speaker 1: historical franchise. I mean to be around as long as
Speaker 1: it's been. To think of all the players that have
Speaker 1: come through, the volume of players and also the quality
Speaker 1: of players that have come through here. If I'm you know,
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be one of those and that's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a hell of an honor and that's not something I,
Speaker 1: you know, take for granted. Congratulations, Ryan, thank you, Yeah,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here. Good to have you back
Speaker 1: in the building and forever of the Burgundy and Goal.
Speaker 1: Absolutely thank you for all your news and analysis. Be
Speaker 1: sure to tune in two Command Center week nights at
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