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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, four

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Speaker 1: teen year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Anius Williams.

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I am

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Speaker 1: a Nius Williams. Today we have a special guest, the

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Speaker 1: remarkable La Charles Bentley. Not only is he an NFL legend,

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Speaker 1: a pro bowler, and an Ohio State graduate I'm sorry

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Speaker 1: the Ohio State, but he is also an inventor, a mentor,

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Speaker 1: and a man who is influencing how the game of

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Speaker 1: football will be played moving forward. Welcome La Charles. Thank you,

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Speaker 1: Mr Williams. I appreciate it. Okayvill call you Mr Williams

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Speaker 1: that I appreciate it. Thank you. I want to start

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Speaker 1: with your playing career in a kind of center. You

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Speaker 1: were and and I just I was at some function

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Speaker 1: where someone said that the the smartest players play on

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Speaker 1: the officsive line. Of course, so you being a center,

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Speaker 1: can you first address uh that myth? Please? First off?

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Speaker 1: Is that a myth? I feel that it's absolutely true,

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Speaker 1: But you know, I think football players get a bad

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Speaker 1: stigment people thinking we're all boxes of rocks at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day. But with offensive lineman, I think

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Speaker 1: that we have a unique skill set and the demands

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Speaker 1: of the game requires a bit of intellect as much

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Speaker 1: as some physical capabilities as well. But when you have

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Speaker 1: to combine all of that to become a high level performer,

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Speaker 1: it gets a bit challenging. So generally, you know your

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Speaker 1: best offensive linemen are going to be great critical thinkers.

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Speaker 1: Why is the center It seemed to be so important,

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Speaker 1: particularly to a young quarterback. The center is going to

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Speaker 1: be that lynch pin to the left side and the

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Speaker 1: right side and also to the quarterback in many instances,

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Speaker 1: because what you're gonna have to do is the game

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Speaker 1: is changing. You know, nowadays, most centers may not have

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Speaker 1: to identify the coverages and identify what's happening with the

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Speaker 1: linebackers and spot that because many quarterbacks are doing it.

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Speaker 1: But when you have a center that's capable of that,

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Speaker 1: I think it gives your offense a unique dynamic because

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Speaker 1: it takes another layer off the quarterback's shoulders. I think

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Speaker 1: allows your quarterback to be a better player, and thus

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Speaker 1: your receivers are better. And obviously your left guard, right guard,

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Speaker 1: right tackle, left tackle are better players too. So your

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Speaker 1: rookie year, what what was it like your rookie year?

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Speaker 1: You think back, My rookie year played guard and I

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Speaker 1: was so blessed to be able to play next to

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Speaker 1: a guy by the name of Jerry. And Jerry at

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Speaker 1: that time was about in his fourteenth season. So I

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Speaker 1: literally did not have to do anything. I had to

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Speaker 1: just show up the meetings and do exactly what Jerry did.

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Speaker 1: He gave me the bluepoint, he gave me the recipe.

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Speaker 1: He told me, he said, look, just follow what I do.

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Speaker 1: So Jerry was an unbelievable leader, and what I learned

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Speaker 1: from him was how the number one be a professional

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Speaker 1: and then number two higher understanding of the game, and

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Speaker 1: I believe, most importantly the importance of preparation. So now

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Speaker 1: I get in that right guard and I come up

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Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage and my first first football

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Speaker 1: games against Warren Sapp. You know, I had posters in

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Speaker 1: my room of Warren Sapp and so here I am, yeah,

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Speaker 1: beyond this. So going back to that snap count, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I don't remember the snap count at that point in time,

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Speaker 1: because I remember vividly getting down into my stats and

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Speaker 1: look at the Jerry said, what's it on again? Uh,

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Speaker 1: because I was just so nervous and the anxiety levels

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Speaker 1: were through the roof. But at that point, to see

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Speaker 1: Warren side, to see Derek Brooks, to see John Lynch,

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Speaker 1: to see Simea Rice, my head is about to explode

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Speaker 1: because all these guys were athletes, men that I wanted

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Speaker 1: to beat them one day, and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: John Lynch is eight yards away from me. What this

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Speaker 1: is crazy? And next thing you know, the ball was

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Speaker 1: snapped and Warren to the middle of the game, first player.

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Speaker 1: Next thing I know, the ball is snapped and Warren

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Speaker 1: jumped across and choked the hell out of me. And

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Speaker 1: after that it was like, Okay, there's football, let's go.

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Speaker 1: And so I was able to, as I said, get

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Speaker 1: going into my career quickly because of someone like Jerry

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Speaker 1: and Wally Williams was another one, uh that really took

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Speaker 1: me under his wing and taught me what it was

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Speaker 1: to be a pro. I think that's been one of

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Speaker 1: my true blessings. And one of the gifts that gifts

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Speaker 1: I've had isn't necessarily the skill sets that our mayor

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Speaker 1: may not have, is that I've always had the right

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Speaker 1: people in my life at the right time. But now,

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Speaker 1: going from football, how have you allow that same principle

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Speaker 1: in your life? As a you've gotten the right, I

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Speaker 1: think you have the number one identify what it is

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Speaker 1: you want to do and where you want to go,

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Speaker 1: and then secondarily, uh, make sure that you put yourself

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Speaker 1: in those environments where you can then be exposed to

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Speaker 1: those types of people. Whereas I believe many former players,

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Speaker 1: we have these ideas on what we want to do

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Speaker 1: and maybe even where we want to go, but there's

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Speaker 1: that that vulnerability aspect that we can't quite get over.

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Speaker 1: So as a rookie coming in I identified earlier on

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Speaker 1: the Jerry Fantino can help me, Wally Williams can help me.

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Speaker 1: There were players in the locker room that could not

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Speaker 1: help me, and I could allow myself to associate with

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Speaker 1: those people. But in life it's being vulnerable all over again.

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Speaker 1: And it's hard for us to be vulnerable when we've

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Speaker 1: come from the highest level. We were one of thirty

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Speaker 1: two in the world at your respective job, but then

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Speaker 1: when we leave the game, we're just Charles Bentley the

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Speaker 1: former football player. Okay, you don't play anymore, Well, I

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Speaker 1: kind of you Okay, let me kind of get over

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Speaker 1: this hurdle, and you understand that. That's what you mean

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Speaker 1: the vulnerability, the vulnerability and being allowing yourself to get

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Speaker 1: comfortable with just being you. I think that's the skill

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Speaker 1: set that I wish many former players would tap into,

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Speaker 1: because we all have it, We've all done it. It's

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Speaker 1: just not being able to take it and then apply

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Speaker 1: it as a transferable skill set to life. So really

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Speaker 1: it's only like some of the similar things that relates

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Speaker 1: to Well, one you got a chance you played for

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Speaker 1: my beloved Saints, that's the one, of course, and then

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Speaker 1: you get a chance to go home to Cleveland play

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Speaker 1: for the Browns. You sustain an injury. Right now, tell

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Speaker 1: us about that experience. That moment was the most pivotal

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Speaker 1: moment of my life. And at that instance it was

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Speaker 1: the worst thing that ever happened to me, But now

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Speaker 1: looking back on it, it was the best thing that

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Speaker 1: ever happened to me. Why I learned. I learned so

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Speaker 1: much about myself, I learned so much about life. I

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Speaker 1: began to really discover who I was as a person.

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Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't put on this earth to be

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Speaker 1: a football player. But you couldn't tell me that flve

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Speaker 1: years ago, fifteen years ago. You can tell me that

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Speaker 1: in college. You can't tell me that in high school. Uh,

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Speaker 1: my destiny was to be a football player. I believe

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Speaker 1: I was put on this earth to be the best

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Speaker 1: center of the best guard to ever walk the face

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Speaker 1: of the earth. I believe that my destiny was to

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Speaker 1: walk across the stage in Canton and put on a

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Speaker 1: gold backet and tell the world that look at me,

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Speaker 1: I'm the best. That's what I believed that my destiny was.

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Speaker 1: And it was wrong, it was foul. It was messed

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Speaker 1: up to have believed that at some point in time.

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Speaker 1: That's where my head was at. But that's what I

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Speaker 1: created in my mind to become the player that I was.

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Speaker 1: But by becoming the player that I became, I didn't

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Speaker 1: create the person that I wanted to become. So when

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Speaker 1: that player on that play on that day fell to

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Speaker 1: the ground with my kneecap sitting mid thigh, that player

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Speaker 1: was gone. So now I had to figure out, who

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Speaker 1: the hell are you? Asked a person. And then obviously

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Speaker 1: I knew it. I knew it. This is two thousand

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Speaker 1: and six. I was going to year five, year five

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Speaker 1: of my career and year five, year five, I just

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Speaker 1: signed at that point in time, biggest free agent deal

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Speaker 1: for a center and been a Pro Bowl as a guard.

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Speaker 1: I've been a Pro Bowl as a center and Sports

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Speaker 1: Illustrated Rookie of the Year blah blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 1: But when I fell down that day, I had a

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Speaker 1: very strong inkling that that was it. And I went

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Speaker 1: through that recovery process and I tacked the hell out

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Speaker 1: of it and things were going really really well. I

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Speaker 1: was about three months so I had a schedule. Then

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Speaker 1: staff affection said, sand I get to rehab that morning

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Speaker 1: and my knee was really swollen and had a bit

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Speaker 1: of a fever and it was around October or something,

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Speaker 1: and maybe coming out with a colde no. So I

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Speaker 1: end up getting rushed to the hospital, had emergency surgery

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Speaker 1: uh that afternoon, that evening, and prior to the surgery,

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Speaker 1: I remember this vividly. Had some doctors walking to the

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Speaker 1: room and say, this is a life and limb threatening

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Speaker 1: situation and we're just not sure how this is gonna

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Speaker 1: play out. So I had two our Either I was

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Speaker 1: gonna wake up an amputee. I wasn't gonna wake up

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Speaker 1: at all. And so at that moment, at six years old,

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Speaker 1: who's in the room. It's myself, my mother, and there

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Speaker 1: were ten doctors in the room. And at that moment,

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Speaker 1: I remember asking everyone to leave the room because I

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Speaker 1: had to make a choice. Uh what was I going

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Speaker 1: to do? Wake up? Being an apputee and the last

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Speaker 1: time I checked, can't play football in one leg and

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Speaker 1: not at least be very good at it. So at

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Speaker 1: that moment, it came down to two things. Amputee or

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Speaker 1: maybe I wasn't gonna wake up and I'll never forget

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Speaker 1: the decision that I made. And I had literally ten

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Speaker 1: minutes because they had to have the surgerty right away.

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Speaker 1: In ten minutes, the doctors came back in, the nurses

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Speaker 1: started wheelling me down, and at that moment, I said

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Speaker 1: to myself, you know what, out of whether or not

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Speaker 1: live through this, I don't want to do it. I

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Speaker 1: was a father, I had two boys at the time,

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Speaker 1: and it didn't matter because I was so gung ho

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Speaker 1: about my career. So I get down to the room

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Speaker 1: for the surgery and I just I will never forget it,

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Speaker 1: just how I felt at that moment. It's a it's

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Speaker 1: embarrassing to agree because for so many men, you know,

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Speaker 1: we especially big strong football players, we proud ourselves on toughness,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I get through anything and blah blah

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Speaker 1: blah blah. But at that moment, I had lost it.

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Speaker 1: I was done all because I couldn't play a damn

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Speaker 1: game and I wasn't okay with that. And I think

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Speaker 1: many players and phone players can assess to this, attest

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Speaker 1: to this. We love being in control. We love being

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Speaker 1: in control, and it's also a part of why today.

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Speaker 1: But I still why embarrassing because I said I quit.

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Speaker 1: That was a you already quit on. I quit. I

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Speaker 1: was cashed out. And looking back on that moment, I

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Speaker 1: was so young, so naive, so uh stupid to think

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Speaker 1: that that was what was important, that was what really mattered,

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Speaker 1: That was gonna create my identity of who I was

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Speaker 1: as a person. No, it's now my five boys, it's

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Speaker 1: what they've become. It's what I am as a father,

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Speaker 1: it's what I am as a husband. Those things are

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Speaker 1: I now understand it's what matters. But at that moment,

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Speaker 1: none of it mattered. I just remember waking up after

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Speaker 1: the surgery, this old, older white woman standing over top

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Speaker 1: of me with like this little you know, the nurse's

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Speaker 1: hat on, and I wake up and the first thing

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Speaker 1: I said, oh, am, I in heaven and she says, no,

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Speaker 1: you're here at the Cleveland. I said, okay, I said, well, uh,

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Speaker 1: you looked to see if I have both let eggs.

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Speaker 1: So she looks down and oh, you got both legs.

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Speaker 1: I said. The next thing I know, I was back out.

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Speaker 1: So at that After the surgery and some more complications

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Speaker 1: and three other surgeries after that, I went through two years,

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Speaker 1: of self discovery that I had to go through about

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Speaker 1: a physical, mental, spiritual, emotional healing. Uh. They had to

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Speaker 1: take place, but purely by the grace of God, I

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Speaker 1: was able to do it. My entire life changed. And

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Speaker 1: that's why I said that day was the best day

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Speaker 1: happened to me. And at that moment, you couldn't tell

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Speaker 1: me that. Uh. And that's a book. I wrote a

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Speaker 1: book about it. I wrote a book about it. That's

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Speaker 1: a movie, Well, yeah, it could be a movie too.

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Speaker 1: I left that idea. I get Denzel to play me

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Speaker 1: as a transition to you have this old line academy.

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Speaker 1: So you you're you're teaching obviously the things that you learned,

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Speaker 1: it's one taught you. But how has that experience impact

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Speaker 1: impacted how you run your academy and talking with these

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Speaker 1: young people. It it's everything. My experience um the physical side.

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Speaker 1: Number one, it helped build the principles of what the

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Speaker 1: training is built on. As a former athlete that played

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Speaker 1: what it was that made us who we were as athletes.

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Speaker 1: So what happened with me was I was stripped of

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Speaker 1: those tools. Can't play, couldn't run, uh, could hardly walk.

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Speaker 1: But I had a desire to try to play again.

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Speaker 1: So I had to go through this process of learning

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Speaker 1: how to walk again, understanding the muscular system, understanding of

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Speaker 1: the biomo mechanics to the body, understanding my nutrition better,

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Speaker 1: understanding my sleep patterns, better, understanding overall what it was

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Speaker 1: it made me who I was as a player. I

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Speaker 1: learned so much through that time period because I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be able to figure out how can I rebuild myself.

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Speaker 1: So while I was not playing the game and trying

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Speaker 1: to heal my body and heal my mind, I was

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Speaker 1: also feeding myself. I would take seminars, go to seminars,

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Speaker 1: I would travel to Germany and go to bio mechanics

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Speaker 1: clinics over there, whatever it might be, all because I

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Speaker 1: wanted to learn how to play this game again and

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Speaker 1: move my body better. I learned how to then understand

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Speaker 1: and see proper movement patterns and behaviors, and how to

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Speaker 1: queue it, how to teach it, how to systematically program

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Speaker 1: it into an athlete. I then began to now understand

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Speaker 1: that I can teach this, and if I can teach movement,

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Speaker 1: I can teach offensive line play. It just so happens

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Speaker 1: to be that I do with offensive line athletes. But

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Speaker 1: it's the same thing with running backs. It's the same

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Speaker 1: thing with defensive lineman. It's the exact same thing with cornerbacks.

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Speaker 1: So with all that said, those at that time is

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Speaker 1: where the principles of the training was built. But my

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Speaker 1: emotional and spiritual growth. Look, I tell athletes all the time,

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Speaker 1: I don't care how high you jump. I don't care

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Speaker 1: how much faster we can make you. I don't care

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Speaker 1: how much leaner uh you can get. If you don't

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Speaker 1: understand that this game is just a segment of your life.

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Speaker 1: The only thing I'm doing is giving you a stick

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Speaker 1: of dynamite is gonna blow up in your face later.

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Speaker 1: So let's now really break this thing down and prioritize.

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Speaker 1: What are we trying to accomplish? What is that you want?

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Speaker 1: Where do you want to go? I can help you

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Speaker 1: get from point A to point B relative to your performance,

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Speaker 1: But what are you gonna do with it? What's gonna happen?

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Speaker 1: How are you going to respond when you do get

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Speaker 1: your first Pro Bowl? Great? Are you not a better person?

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Speaker 1: Are you not fulfilled? How are you going to respond

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Speaker 1: when you do get twenty million dollars guaranteed? Are you

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Speaker 1: not happier? Are you not more fulfilled? No? So the

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Speaker 1: biggest element that we focus on is self development, teaching

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Speaker 1: the athletes about self first. So when you do become

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Speaker 1: quote unquote successful as an athlete, you're truly prepared to

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Speaker 1: happen it and you work with office alignment primarily, That's

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Speaker 1: all I work with because that's what I like. How

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Speaker 1: are you working with the NFL to impact how the

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Speaker 1: game is played at the highest level now? Because what

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Speaker 1: we're doing now with the way to play is focusing

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Speaker 1: on the movement aspect of it, how to prepare athletes

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Speaker 1: for the demands and the rigors of the game. As

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Speaker 1: I mentioned, when you start talking about movement and understanding

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Speaker 1: posture and understanding angles, and that all goes back into

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Speaker 1: achieving the goals that the NFL wants to cheap. So

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Speaker 1: I believe that as the Way to Play continues to evolve,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be all about developing curriculums that's going

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Speaker 1: to help coaches and players become better. Not just from hey,

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Speaker 1: here's how to block this defender better, but more so

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Speaker 1: this we want in the game. We're looking for posture,

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Speaker 1: We're looking for proper movement, We're looking for better coaching cues,

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Speaker 1: better coaching language, because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: the athletes are gonna play. The athletes are going to

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Speaker 1: have to be put in a position where their skills

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Speaker 1: can show up. And our job as coaches and teachers

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Speaker 1: and with the Way to Play is to begin to

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Speaker 1: equip the athletes and the coaches with the proper know

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Speaker 1: how to then go out and play football. And my

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Speaker 1: role is to continue to figure out more effective developmental

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Speaker 1: processes and language. They can then do that for athletes

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Speaker 1: across the board. It sounds like when you're saying, teach

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Speaker 1: how to communicate to that athlete, it sounds like those

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Speaker 1: would be things that that would help a parent correct

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Speaker 1: and it's maybe a better parent and that That's what

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Speaker 1: I love about what we're able to do is because

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm not old enough to be someone. Now,

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Speaker 1: some of the players, you could be a father to him,

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Speaker 1: but most of them you're You're like a big brother.

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Speaker 1: And how we go about developing them relative to how

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Speaker 1: you speak to the athlete to elicit the behaviors that

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Speaker 1: you want on and off the field. Example, for example,

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Speaker 1: here we go, let's just talk about on the field first.

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Speaker 1: So instead of me saying, hey, Johnny, we're going to

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Speaker 1: step towards this defender. Stepping is a passive movement. It's

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Speaker 1: also a front side movement, meaning if I have someone

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Speaker 1: on my right shoulder, if I step towards them, that

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Speaker 1: means I'm not going to take my right leg and

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Speaker 1: physically move it towards that person. When you look at

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Speaker 1: it from bomb Accaue this perspective, it doesn't allow me

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Speaker 1: to create leverage. If I'm trying to move that person,

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Speaker 1: I can't create leverage because I'm now in a lunge

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Speaker 1: type position. One hip is an extension, one hip is inflection.

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Speaker 1: So when I'm talking about taking going pressure and I

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Speaker 1: step towards this defender and that defender now drives at me,

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Speaker 1: I'm at obio mechanical disadvantage which puts me in a

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Speaker 1: position and in a place where I not have to

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Speaker 1: work harder and or sacrifice my technique to then get

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Speaker 1: out of that respective position. Versus changing the language is

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Speaker 1: saying this, Johnny, I want you to drive through this defender.

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Speaker 1: The drive now says I have to push off of

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Speaker 1: my left leg. As I push off of my left leg,

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Speaker 1: my hips are now underneath me. I can being I

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Speaker 1: can apply force more effectively, more efficiently. That's more power,

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Speaker 1: and I'm more aptive than be able to maintain proper

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Speaker 1: posture because I'm creating a more mechanical advantage for you

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Speaker 1: based on your movement and how I'm speaking to the athlete.

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Speaker 1: We're not trying to tell coaches this is what you

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Speaker 1: need to teach. We don't want to do that. The

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Speaker 1: game is evolving, and I know there are many people

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Speaker 1: that don't like that word, but everything involves. You know,

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Speaker 1: if I were playing today I'm sorry. I just don't

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Speaker 1: want Deacon Jones head slapping me. I just don't want

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Speaker 1: to do that. I wouldn't want to deal with that.

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Speaker 1: There are many players today that are playing do not

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Speaker 1: want to line up against Dickon Jones. But that's where

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Speaker 1: the game was at then, and then the game evolved

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Speaker 1: from that. Then the game evolved more towards you can't

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Speaker 1: horse Kyler tackle and players adjusted, coaches adjusted, and it's okay.

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Speaker 1: We have to get over the growing pains, and we

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Speaker 1: will get over the growing pains, just like anything else

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Speaker 1: with this game. And why this game is so resilient

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Speaker 1: is because the game will always take care of itself.

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Speaker 1: We can gripe, we can moan. It's okay, we can

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Speaker 1: go kicking and screaming. That's fine, but we're going and

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Speaker 1: you might as well get on board with it now

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Speaker 1: and understand that it's not about someone pushing an agenda.

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Speaker 1: Everyone is on board with this because everyone cares about

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Speaker 1: making the game better and I am proud to be

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Speaker 1: a part of that. I'll be in a small role,

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Speaker 1: but I definitely uh feel good about where the game

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Speaker 1: is going. And it's better if we always get on

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Speaker 1: the same train. And start moving in that same direction.

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Speaker 1: The Charles Man. This has been great. I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing your story with the

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Speaker 1: Legends and with the community, and we look forward to

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Speaker 1: what's coming next. The best is yet to come. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: thank you. This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To

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Speaker 1: provide feedback or request the topic for discussion, email us

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Speaker 1: at NFL Legends at NFL dot com. Chast