Speaker 1: It's hard, like we have to prepare ourselves. Like we
Speaker 1: get together, we say, hey, we're gonna we need to
Speaker 1: pray before we head into this. How much this episode
Speaker 1: because it hurts our heart. It hurts our heart watching
Speaker 1: what Michael Michael did to those four kids, But the
Speaker 1: episode all the other is so good. My name is
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup and I'm five foot four and one hundred
Speaker 1: and nineteen pounds.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, if you're listening to me right now, you
Speaker 2: already know where you are. You are off the beat
Speaker 2: with your host. Yours truly, Brian Baumgartner. My guest today
Speaker 2: none other than the La Rams wide receiver Cooper Cup. Cooper,
Speaker 2: a true underdog story, was not even recruited to a
Speaker 2: Division one college out of high school, but his accomplishments
Speaker 2: now are numerous. After being a two sport athlete in
Speaker 2: football and basketball in high school, he went to Eastern
Speaker 2: Washington University. He was the first freshman wide receiver to
Speaker 2: be named to a first team All Americans since Randy
Speaker 2: Moss in the nineties, and he is still currently the
Speaker 2: NCAA Division One leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
Speaker 2: That's all before he became pro now. Since joining the
Speaker 2: Rams after being drafted in the third round of twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: he has played his way to two Super Bowls, won
Speaker 2: one ring, and was even named the Super Bowl MVP
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty because well, yeah, he's a very valuable player,
Speaker 2: the most valuable, some would say, I'm going to talk
Speaker 2: to him about growing up in a legacy football family,
Speaker 2: making his own way in the league, and now starting
Speaker 2: his own coffee company. What's that you say, coffee? Well,
Speaker 2: let's find out here. He is the man with the
Speaker 2: beard Cooper cup.
Speaker 3: Bubble and squeak. I love it, bubble and squeak.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 3: Bubble and squeak.
Speaker 1: I cook it every mole, lift over from the ninety before.
Speaker 3: Well, well, well, how's it going.
Speaker 1: It's great? Oh yeah, I expecting you to hit me
Speaker 1: with Uh that's three wells.
Speaker 3: That's three wells. I didn't do six.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: Where are you right now?
Speaker 1: I'm home. I'm home. We just had a little bit
Speaker 1: of tough time getting home. Yeah, at home in La.
Speaker 2: Well, first off, thank you for joining me. I'm I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of yours. You know you remind because
Speaker 2: because you remind me of me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I get that. I've heard that a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the way that you run, route, your speed,
Speaker 2: your agility, the way you cut. I really it reminds
Speaker 2: me of me. So I appreciate your game very much,
Speaker 2: very much. How's a golf game?
Speaker 1: You know, the golf game. The golf game is a
Speaker 1: work in progress. Yeah, it's like anything else. It's a
Speaker 1: I haven't played since we've had kids. You know, I've
Speaker 1: got a six year old to three year old and
Speaker 1: a one year old or soon to be six year old.
Speaker 1: And since we've got kids, golfing, I just don't get
Speaker 1: out as much. But right, you know, it's a fun game.
Speaker 3: Just know this. I there. I could take you there. Okay,
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know about a lot of other places, but
Speaker 2: there I got you.
Speaker 1: You know, I was. I was with you in Tahoe
Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: I think it was the COVID year, right, Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1: I was there. I honestly I saw you sitting on
Speaker 1: the patio eating. I'm like, oh, I've got to go
Speaker 1: say hi. I just couldn't get myself to get up
Speaker 1: and get up and go do it.
Speaker 3: I wasn't worth you standing up for us. What you're
Speaker 3: saying right now.
Speaker 1: No, I was like, I just want to interrupt his lunch.
Speaker 1: Oh how did you play that? Did you? How did
Speaker 1: you play it? Tahoe?
Speaker 3: That year was my best year ever, So maybe your
Speaker 3: presence helped me.
Speaker 1: Well, yes, yeah, who knows, I could have thrown you
Speaker 1: off your game.
Speaker 3: I was top third that year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and yeah, and I you know, I looked
Speaker 2: it up because I remembered you being there and and
Speaker 2: yeah I beat you.
Speaker 3: So that's really all that matters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great, and I anticipate that. I also played
Speaker 1: my best golf there. So did you Yeah?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I usually don't.
Speaker 1: This is my thought. Well, because I you that year,
Speaker 1: there was no one, no fans, no one was around.
Speaker 3: Correct thing.
Speaker 1: Going into that year. When I first got the invite,
Speaker 1: I told my wife, I'm like, if I'm on the
Speaker 1: tea box and I pulled my driver out, I could
Speaker 1: kill somebody. I hit the ball hard. Like my issue
Speaker 1: isn't contact, Like I can make good contact, it's just
Speaker 1: directionally things. I have great control over where things going.
Speaker 1: But I mean I totally am like there's there's a chance,
Speaker 1: like if I put my driver out. It was on
Speaker 1: these part five I've got clear this like for lawyers
Speaker 1: and tear things out because there's there could be some problems.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we're uh, we're we are uh less than
Speaker 2: a week away.
Speaker 3: To this year. Are you are you going to grace
Speaker 3: us with your presence this year? No?
Speaker 1: No, I couldn't do it. We had my son's birthdays,
Speaker 1: uh July third, and so we're gonna we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a little lake trip. That would be our summer break.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 2: Well, and I know I know you're about to start
Speaker 2: back to work, and uh, we will we will talk
Speaker 2: about that. But your story, I'm telling you, man, it is.
Speaker 2: It is one interesting and two inspiring. It really is.
Speaker 2: So I want to go back. This is actually crazy.
Speaker 2: Only five families have had three generations of of of
Speaker 2: folks selected in in the NFL draft. You one of
Speaker 2: those families. Your grandfather Jake and your father Craig both
Speaker 2: drafted played in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Uh. You grew up in what is it?
Speaker 1: Yakima, Yakima, Washington.
Speaker 2: Yakima nailed it, nailed it, I you know, famously it
Speaker 2: is the Palm Springs of Washington. I'm told that that's
Speaker 2: what that's what the sign said as Anyway, I'm guessing
Speaker 2: now you you.
Speaker 3: Live in l A. Have you been to Palm Springs.
Speaker 1: I've actually not even been to Palm I mean, I
Speaker 1: was just thinking, you don't have to go to the Palms.
Speaker 1: I've got the Palm Springs of Washington my entire life.
Speaker 1: I just like the Palm Springs will just be let down.
Speaker 2: Well, I was gonna ask you if you thought they
Speaker 2: were the same. I'm guessing they're.
Speaker 1: Not, because it's so much better.
Speaker 2: But you're well, I hey, listen, but I have never
Speaker 2: I have never been to Yakima. Uh so I can't
Speaker 2: say which is better. I'm just guessing that they're that
Speaker 2: they're different.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: Look, you need to make a trip up to up
Speaker 1: to Ya, up to this great state of Washington. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all through there if you like, if you like beer,
Speaker 1: if you like wine, there's some great great beer and wine,
Speaker 1: really good restaurants. I'll give you all the good restaurant recommendations. Okay,
Speaker 1: Hamburgers people there will point you a certain direction. But
Speaker 1: I've got the inside scoop on where you were?
Speaker 3: You got the inside scoop? Now, is this near a
Speaker 3: little place called the Homish.
Speaker 1: Well Snow Homish is like over on the past. Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you do in?
Speaker 2: I have some family in Snowholmish, And really what I
Speaker 2: love most about Snowhomish is saying Snowhomish. I really I
Speaker 2: really like the name of Snowhomish. I what was it
Speaker 2: like growing up there? So you love it there in Washington?
Speaker 1: I have no complaints about growing up there. I mean
Speaker 1: that was home. You know, It's it's so many of
Speaker 1: the people there invested a lot in me growing up,
Speaker 1: and some of the coaches and just the friends I
Speaker 1: had there. So I've got you know, I obviously I
Speaker 1: I know that place. I know Yakima, I know the
Speaker 1: people there. I'm not sure that you know where what's
Speaker 1: right for me and my family and where we're going
Speaker 1: to be. I'm not sure, but but yeah, certainly have
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for for having grown up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Are you do you enjoy Los Angeles? I do.
Speaker 1: I do enjoy a lot of Angels. We're on the suburbs,
Speaker 1: like you know, we're in We're in in the valley
Speaker 1: basically where practice facility and everything that.
Speaker 3: So I'm not like, what's your address?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, uh, I just want too busy. I like
Speaker 1: Seattle growing up, Seattle was too busy for me. I
Speaker 1: just don't like things get too too much. So it's
Speaker 1: nice out here.
Speaker 2: What was football, given that your grandfather played, that your
Speaker 2: father played, Was football a big part of your childhood?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was, I mean it was. It was
Speaker 1: never something that was pushed though. I mean, actually, my
Speaker 1: you know, my grandpa will talk about his days playing
Speaker 1: in the league and we ask him questions about it
Speaker 1: all the time, and my dad didn't talk about it
Speaker 1: as much, you know, so they did a pretty good
Speaker 1: job of just being you know, dad and grandpa growing up.
Speaker 1: But it was something that you know, I think anytime
Speaker 1: as kids, as you know, as a faller now, when
Speaker 1: you have shared passions with your kids, I think there's
Speaker 1: just like doing those things where you both have a
Speaker 1: passion for it. I think those things are just there's
Speaker 1: more lesser, there's more meaning behind those those interactions and
Speaker 1: those experiences when you're sharing them with your with your kids.
Speaker 1: And so I think that was something that I grabbed onto.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed playing football. It's also something that I
Speaker 1: know when I'm out throwing the ball with my dad,
Speaker 1: I know, like we're both really enjoying doing this, and
Speaker 1: so I do think that kind of just helped, you know,
Speaker 1: push things along.
Speaker 2: Because you had that shared experience that was something that
Speaker 2: attracted you to it. Did you think as a child,
Speaker 2: this is what I want to do?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Actually when I was, I mean I can remember remember
Speaker 1: vividly at nine years old, being like this is this
Speaker 1: is it? My first time stepping on the field to
Speaker 1: play football? And I had actually asked my dad. I
Speaker 1: just saw my saw my future Pop Warner team practicing
Speaker 1: out in the right field of my son of my
Speaker 1: little brother's, you know, coach pitch game, and I went
Speaker 1: out there and started watching, and it was like, da,
Speaker 1: I want to play. I didn't even know there was
Speaker 1: football going on, but like, why am I not playing?
Speaker 1: And then you know, within the first practice, like man,
Speaker 1: this is this is it? This is what I want
Speaker 1: to do. It was very clear from there, you know,
Speaker 1: what my goals were and what I wanted to pursue.
Speaker 3: Freshman year of high school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you well, I mean, I guess you're you know,
Speaker 2: you're basically the same size now. You were five to
Speaker 2: four one nineteen pounds. It's weird that you haven't grown
Speaker 2: since then. Your football team, your high school Davis High
Speaker 2: School had only had two winning seasons in the last
Speaker 2: in the previous forty years.
Speaker 1: That's funny.
Speaker 2: Before before, before you got there, did you think like
Speaker 2: still when you started fresh like this is what you
Speaker 2: wanted to do, and you were going to take this
Speaker 2: team to the next level that had never won and
Speaker 2: that you were going to you were going to continue
Speaker 2: to play football this There was nothing that was stopping
Speaker 2: you that. As a five foot four one nineteen freshman
Speaker 2: in high school.
Speaker 1: No, I figured they had done left losing in the
Speaker 1: last forty years, that the tables had to turn at
Speaker 1: some point and we were just going to hit it big. No,
Speaker 1: we just had a good group of gods. We had
Speaker 1: a good group of like friends that were all going
Speaker 1: to the school. We kind of all decided together, like
Speaker 1: let's just go there and turn things around. Let's just
Speaker 1: try to be a part of the change. And so
Speaker 1: it was a big group over two years of classes
Speaker 1: that went to the school and tried to change things up.
Speaker 1: And you know, we our best year, we were you know,
Speaker 1: six and four. I think we went to went to
Speaker 1: the playoffs one of those years and then got trounced,
Speaker 1: absolutely trounced, but well we did. I mean it was
Speaker 1: that friend group though did end up in our senior
Speaker 1: year we won state in basketball. We were you know,
Speaker 1: it was a really fun, you know group to be
Speaker 1: able to go through things with. And yeah, it was good.
Speaker 1: I mean actually that last year we had to play.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's legal. I'm sure if people
Speaker 1: would back. I think we played three football games in
Speaker 1: a matter of like five days or something. It was
Speaker 1: like a Saturday, we played a Saturday game in Oregon.
Speaker 1: We played a tiebreaker game on like Monday or Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and then we played a playoff game on Thursday. So
Speaker 1: by Thursday game, Thursday game, we was like it was done.
Speaker 3: That's why you lost. This doesn't seem.
Speaker 1: Right, that is that is why actually should we audit?
Speaker 3: Should we go back and audit this.
Speaker 1: I think what we do is we bring people back
Speaker 1: and we replayed the game.
Speaker 3: I get what you're doing now.
Speaker 2: Now I see what you're doing being relatively small when
Speaker 2: you started high school.
Speaker 3: Do you think that that helps you in any way?
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 1: I've looked back on it now as such an incredible blessing.
Speaker 1: There's so many guys that come in to you know,
Speaker 1: whoever's pop warm or eighth seventh, eighth, ninth grade, and
Speaker 1: they're just bigger, faster, stronger than everyone just because that's
Speaker 1: just how their bodies developed. No one's started working out yet,
Speaker 1: no one's done anything, but that's just how their body
Speaker 1: has developed. Those guys, I feel like they've like that's
Speaker 1: all they know. Is like all I know is success
Speaker 1: and winning and being faster and stronger than everyone else.
Speaker 1: And me, I was the exact opposite. If I want
Speaker 1: to get on the field, if I want to do anything,
Speaker 1: I had to be technically and tactically so much better
Speaker 1: than the guy across from you, because I was so
Speaker 1: much slower, so much smaller, so much weaker. And you know,
Speaker 1: you said relatively small, which I was just small, Like
Speaker 1: there wasn't no relative about how small it was. But
Speaker 1: but eventually I was able to work and do all
Speaker 1: this stuff, and I was able to you know, teach myself.
Speaker 1: You know, this is how this is what you can win, stilly,
Speaker 1: This is what takes to win when the when you're
Speaker 1: at a disadvantaged situation like I'm this this DB's covered me,
Speaker 1: But I know how to win because I know how
Speaker 1: to work leverage better than he does, and then eventually
Speaker 1: put in the time. You build these habits of building
Speaker 1: up your body and studying the game, and eventually the
Speaker 1: body does come and you are bigger and stronger and faster.
Speaker 1: But those habits have continued on, and so I was
Speaker 1: able to at an early age, I was forced into
Speaker 1: developing the habits that would set me up for what
Speaker 1: I'm doing now. And a lot of those guys, it
Speaker 1: was it was a lot harder for them to set
Speaker 1: up those habits because they had no you know, they
Speaker 1: had no motivation to do it. R I had that
Speaker 1: intrinsic motivation. I had to do that.
Speaker 3: Did you. It's fascinating to me. Did you?
Speaker 2: Was that a conscious thought even at that age, like
Speaker 2: that you had to work harder that you that you
Speaker 2: had to figure out how to beat these people that
Speaker 2: were bigger, faster, stronger, whatever.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a conversation I had with my dad
Speaker 1: Actually on my way to basketball seventh grade, I wore
Speaker 1: the little silicon bracelets everyone was wearing back in the day,
Speaker 1: and I just had once set hard on it and
Speaker 1: my dad was like, you know, you wear this every day,
Speaker 1: but I want you to know, like, if you want
Speaker 1: to do the things that you say you want to do,
Speaker 1: you have to work harder than every single person you're
Speaker 1: on the field with, you're on the court with it
Speaker 1: just what it's going to be. At this point, I
Speaker 1: was already getting passed up by everyone, and you said,
Speaker 1: this is what you want. It's going to take heart
Speaker 1: and it's going to take a willingness to outwork every
Speaker 1: single person you see if you want to pursue this thing.
Speaker 1: And I just decided on the way in the car
Speaker 1: on that with Grats, just decided, I'm just not gonna
Speaker 1: get worked. I'm gonna find a way to do it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna believe that I can accomplish these things and
Speaker 1: if I work hard enough, eventually those things will come
Speaker 1: in alignment. And you know, still my freshman year, I was,
Speaker 1: like you said, hunder nineteen pounds. I had ankle weights
Speaker 1: on under my jeans, so it was really one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifteen pounds. I had two pound ankle weights my genes.
Speaker 1: But I believe. I remember telling my coaches like I'm
Speaker 1: going to play running back at USC. Retchi Bush was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite guys to watch, like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play Wow running back at USC and no one's
Speaker 1: gonna tell me different. And you know, as like as
Speaker 1: high school progressed, you know, obviously that became less and
Speaker 1: less realistic, but the dream of still like, man, Okay,
Speaker 1: now I'm not playing running back, I'm playing receiver, But like,
Speaker 1: I still want to achieve these and I still want
Speaker 1: to go to USC. I still want to play in
Speaker 1: the Pac twelve and eventually playing in the NFL. Like
Speaker 1: those things, those beliefs and those never changed.
Speaker 3: That's incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do want to talk a minute again, because
Speaker 2: you've talked about your diminished size. You played basketball, and
Speaker 2: you said that humbly. However, in basketball senior year for
Speaker 2: a state championship twenty three and two record. Fascinating story
Speaker 2: that I heard was in in the playoffs, you played
Speaker 2: against a guy by the name of Zach Levine, widely
Speaker 2: considered to be the top high school recruit. Now I'm
Speaker 2: told you held him to four points in the first
Speaker 2: half and you guys just stomped him. All right, So
Speaker 2: what did that?
Speaker 3: Was that? Again? Was that a mindset for you about
Speaker 3: working leverage even on the basketball court.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I was saying, you know, for basketball, I
Speaker 1: was kind of the the defensive specialists. Okay, let's call
Speaker 1: it that, which usually just means that you're not very
Speaker 1: good offensively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that you can't shoot as well as me. Okay,
Speaker 2: I've found something else I can do better than news.
Speaker 2: I can shoot the.
Speaker 1: I was My shot was always a problem because I
Speaker 1: would I would lift all the way through basketball season
Speaker 1: and coming out of football. I just when it just
Speaker 1: was bad, it would just become a whole disa. It
Speaker 1: was a disaster. It's like pulling a lawn chair kind
Speaker 1: of situation. We're all back here and stuff. I just
Speaker 1: didn't have I'm good now, So if we want to go,
Speaker 1: if we want to sling up, okay, you know, gentleman's
Speaker 1: handshake on it, all for it. But but yeah, so
Speaker 1: that game we were going up being Zach Lavine in
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals of state, and you know, he's averaging thirty
Speaker 1: something points a game, like we had. We we won state.
Speaker 1: We dunked zero times that entire year. We had a
Speaker 1: now single person dunked the basketball the entire year we
Speaker 1: won state. We our tallest guy was like six to two,
Speaker 1: and we just ran the floor, full court press, run
Speaker 1: the floor and going to that game like okay, I
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna match up with Zach, and I just figured,
Speaker 1: you know, he shot the ball. He was you know,
Speaker 1: he was pulling up from so far beyond on the
Speaker 1: three point line, and you go out there and garden
Speaker 1: and then you drive and just jump over everyone. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I'm just gonna stand out there and
Speaker 1: not let him shoot, make him drive, and we're just
Speaker 1: gonna make him great help side defense. And I had
Speaker 1: I did have some the guys did really good job
Speaker 1: helping out. So I can't take all the credit that
Speaker 1: I just made sure he wasn't shooting threes. And then
Speaker 1: what I think I hel him to seven?
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know, for I remember it being seven before before.
Speaker 3: We got pulled. Wow, can you dunk? Now?
Speaker 1: You know I haven't tried in in a while. It's
Speaker 1: just not worth it. I don't think I try. When
Speaker 1: am I proven to anyone?
Speaker 3: Yeah? All right? Can you me?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: No, I can't not even gonna.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pretend because if if somebody, if somebody asks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 2: Don't you have no, no, there's no donkey, So we
Speaker 2: can we can we can play, we can play horse
Speaker 2: but no dunking.
Speaker 3: No, yeah, we can do that up done, lay up.
Speaker 3: Of course you finish high school. You had no scholarship
Speaker 3: offers at that point, is that right? So are you
Speaker 3: thinking when at that point you would you had said
Speaker 3: what your goals were, that when you left the football
Speaker 3: field your last game of high school, that you were
Speaker 3: that you were done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was that was definitely the toughest time was,
Speaker 1: you know, stepping off the field after just like we
Speaker 1: discussed getting trounce in the playoffs right by like forty
Speaker 1: points and like, okay, well now I've got nothing on
Speaker 1: the table, no guarantees of you know, playing anywhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that's tough, But there's still I mean, I think
Speaker 1: there's still this belief like, hey, we're going to find
Speaker 1: a way to do it. You know, I was a
Speaker 1: decent student in school and felt like I could get
Speaker 1: you know, I was I would be able to get
Speaker 1: opportunities to go get into school and walk off. You
Speaker 1: need to do that, Okay, but that that's that senior year.
Speaker 1: I mean, I had Yale was the first school that
Speaker 1: showed any interest.
Speaker 3: Okay, I had.
Speaker 1: I was talking to their coach, coach Preston over and
Speaker 1: over a weekly like, man, this seems like this is
Speaker 1: going somewhere. First game, his dad, coach Preston's dad happened
Speaker 1: to be at the game for whatever reason up in Eastmont,
Speaker 1: w Nashi, and I've had you one hundred yards rushing,
Speaker 1: one hundred yards receiving through a touchdown, Like he had
Speaker 1: a great game, like all around, just was a really
Speaker 1: solid game. And I thought, for sure, like he's gonna
Speaker 1: hear about this game. His dad's here, like he's gonna
Speaker 1: hear about this, and I'll get an opportunity from Yale.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like, you know, not not quite
Speaker 1: solidified yet. And sure enough, he gives me a call
Speaker 1: and say, hey, let's talk. Give me a call. It
Speaker 1: lunch like Monday, after the game. So I get out,
Speaker 1: I got my notepad out. I'm like, I'm gonna write
Speaker 1: down all the details of what's going on here. I'm pumped.
Speaker 1: And I get this call and he's like, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just not uh we we think we're gonna go
Speaker 1: a different direction with our wide receiver recruitment. We think
Speaker 1: we want to get like a smaller, quicker slot receiver.
Speaker 1: So I just want to let you know just we
Speaker 1: were moving on basically. And that's how like my senior season,
Speaker 1: like I just played the best game of my life
Speaker 1: and lost the only interest I had from Wow, you know,
Speaker 1: the only university of showing me any interest. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was tough. But I I said, you know, if
Speaker 1: you have come out of this car like you're gonna
Speaker 1: find a way to play. But not having anything solidified
Speaker 1: that that was tough.
Speaker 2: When did when did bo Baldwin offer you a scholarship
Speaker 2: at Eastern Washington?
Speaker 1: It was it was probably middle of December. We're in there,
Speaker 1: it was you know, it was it was a little
Speaker 1: ways away, so you know, we end in November. It
Speaker 1: was a few weeks. I don't stay. Actually ended up
Speaker 1: being the first ones to come in. Eastern Washington said hey,
Speaker 1: we're in order, we'll give you a half. I don't
Speaker 1: State came in said we'll give you a full. Then
Speaker 1: Eastern called back and said we'll give you a full.
Speaker 1: And those were my two offers and that ended up
Speaker 1: happening December, you know, December, early January.
Speaker 3: Why did you decide to red shirt your first year?
Speaker 1: Well, when I got there, I had there were three
Speaker 1: you know, all American receivers that were ahead of me,
Speaker 1: and so you know I didn't. I took the approach like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to compare myself anyone. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: try to be the best me that I can be,
Speaker 1: and whatever ends up happening, I'm gonna be okay with it.
Speaker 1: At the end of that, you know, fall camp Merceerier
Speaker 1: coach kind of asked me what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: They kind of left it in my hands a little
Speaker 1: bit of what whether I wanted to or not. And
Speaker 1: one of the All American receivers I was there, who
Speaker 1: ended up becoming my coach for the last two years
Speaker 1: while off my time at Eastern Washington was just like, hey,
Speaker 1: I just think you it's best for you to red
Speaker 1: shirt because you know his Mondy's like, I'm not coming
Speaker 1: off the field. Brand Coffin's not coming out the field.
Speaker 1: Greg Hurt's not coming off the field. Ashton Clark was
Speaker 1: the other receiver who ended up being you know, my
Speaker 1: running mate my first year playing, and it's I mean,
Speaker 1: we had to have so many guys, it just makes
Speaker 1: sense to take this year and and learn, and so
Speaker 1: so I did. But it was it was so valuable
Speaker 1: it was. It was some of the best stuff I did.
Speaker 1: I mean that that year, the growth that I had,
Speaker 1: you know, physically mentally, it was a very valuable thing.
Speaker 2: Your first college football game, you play in Corvallis, Oregon
Speaker 2: against Oregon State. Some might call it the Cooper Cup
Speaker 2: college football coming out party. You crushed it. One hundred
Speaker 2: and nineteen yards, two touchdowns. You guys beat Oregon State.
Speaker 2: How was that after sitting that year and working so
Speaker 2: hard to have that kind of game and to shock
Speaker 2: the world, if you will, and actually beat a ranked
Speaker 2: team at a very difficult place to play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was.
Speaker 1: That was really cool. I think, you know, I remember
Speaker 1: walking out into you know, into the stadium and just wondering,
Speaker 1: like thing myself, like, man, that first I knew what
Speaker 1: the flate first play was gonna be. It was coming
Speaker 1: to me. I'll hit her out into the boundary, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know if I'm going to
Speaker 1: run off the ball, like I might just freeze, Like
Speaker 1: please don't freeze, Please don't like please just ling you out.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was. I was so nervous going into
Speaker 1: that game. And then once you start playing, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: once you run out the field for the first time.
Speaker 1: Every everything else just goes away, all the butterflies, everything
Speaker 1: is like, no, this is just the same game I've
Speaker 1: been playing my entire life, and you just go out
Speaker 1: there and do what you've taught yourself to do over
Speaker 1: and over and over again, and you're you know, the
Speaker 1: you know, subconscious takes over and you're just playing ball.
Speaker 1: So that was really fun, though I actually started tramping it.
Speaker 1: I didn't even play the second half of that game
Speaker 1: because it was so hot and so wow. It was brutal,
Speaker 1: So I have the entire second half. The team doctor
Speaker 1: was trying to get an IV in my arm. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm sitting up there in our locker room, blood
Speaker 1: streaming down both my arms because we can't get the
Speaker 1: you can't get the IV set.
Speaker 3: Oh my god. It was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a disaster, but it was a it
Speaker 1: was It was a pretty cool experience though, just being
Speaker 1: able to have some success there. And obviously Vernon Adams quarterback,
Speaker 1: had an unbelievable game, end up end up beating my
Speaker 1: feature teammates Sean Manyon and Bran Cooks down there in Corbellis.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not only an unbelievable game, an unbelievable season for
Speaker 2: you guys. Eight to Zerine Conference eleven and three. You
Speaker 2: win the Big Sky Title, you personally unanimous first team
Speaker 2: All Big Sky Freshmen of the Year. You set FCS
Speaker 2: records for receptions, yards, touchdowns. You win the Jerry Rice Award. Basically,
Speaker 2: you crush it. I crushed tacos and uh yeah, the
Speaker 2: first freshman wide receiver to be named an All Americans
Speaker 2: since Randy Moss. I mean, as a you, no one
Speaker 2: offered you a scholarship. Yeah, and you you know you're
Speaker 2: still five to four and one nineteen if I have
Speaker 2: that right at that time. I mean, this must be
Speaker 2: so gratifying to you as a kid who I assume
Speaker 2: have been told one way or the other, at least passively,
Speaker 2: know that this is not something that you're gonna do.
Speaker 2: And you finish that freshman year and realize not only
Speaker 2: can you compete in conference at Eastern Washington, but make
Speaker 2: an impact and a name for yourself throughout all of
Speaker 2: college football. Eventually, junior year, you win the Walter Payton Award.
Speaker 2: Like this has got to be incredible for you. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: I think the it's really hard for me to look
Speaker 1: back on things, especially in the present moment you finish
Speaker 1: the season and try to reflect on what the season was.
Speaker 1: I typically lean towards this mindset of being like, you know,
Speaker 1: that was, like what happened. There's so many things that
Speaker 1: have to go right, especially a receiver. There's so much
Speaker 1: that has to happen before you even get a chance
Speaker 1: to have the ball thrown your way. And even then
Speaker 1: you have to have done your job well enough to
Speaker 1: be open to be in a position to make a play.
Speaker 1: And I think I everything they make the play. The
Speaker 1: mindset I've taken every year is, you know, there's so
Speaker 1: much luck inball, like you got lucky. You have to
Speaker 1: work harder to make sure that you can do this again,
Speaker 1: that you like put yourself in, like give yourself a
Speaker 1: better opportunity, because if if I can win every single time,
Speaker 1: then when all the other stuff comes together, and the
Speaker 1: guys block up front, quarterback takes a good drop, makes
Speaker 1: a good read, the running back picks up his you know,
Speaker 1: his protection. If I'm open every single time, then we've
Speaker 1: got a chance. And you know, I've given myself a
Speaker 1: chance to go and make a play. And so that's
Speaker 1: been my mindset all the way through. It makes it
Speaker 1: hard to ever feel like, uh, you look back and like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I have done so much or have accomplished
Speaker 1: so much. Account just feels like a there's more you
Speaker 1: can do, There's more you can there's a there's better
Speaker 1: out there as a player, you know, and that it
Speaker 1: helps me keep that keep that perspective and keeps me
Speaker 1: from becoming complacent. And you know, I just don't love
Speaker 1: the I don't love being stagnant at all. Like the
Speaker 1: stagnancy thing, like guys get so comfortable with what they've
Speaker 1: done that they feel like that's enough, and that's never
Speaker 1: going to be my thing. And you touched on all
Speaker 1: the doubters and people that want to tell you one
Speaker 1: thing or another of like you've alluded to my entire life,
Speaker 1: it's been my goals were too high all the way through.
Speaker 1: I remember I got to Eastern. Within within like two
Speaker 1: weeks of being at Eastern, I heard that a coach
Speaker 1: had shared that I was never going to play a
Speaker 1: down for Eastern Washington. And you know that was as
Speaker 1: as I had just arrived, getting ready to you know,
Speaker 1: go into that first year, and so even you know,
Speaker 1: all this stuff that it's just you know, tune all
Speaker 1: that stuff out and say this is I know what
Speaker 1: I've done, I know who I am, and I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go out there and be the best version of
Speaker 1: me over and over and over again. And that's gonna
Speaker 1: be good enough. I know that the work that I've done,
Speaker 1: things that I've done, that's gonna be good enough. And
Speaker 1: anything that's out, anything else is outside of my control.
Speaker 2: You ended up not playing running back for the Trojans,
Speaker 2: but it sounds like everything else eventually worked itself out
Speaker 2: as you had dreamed early on when you're there at
Speaker 2: Eastern Washington, Like, at what point do you realize you
Speaker 2: have a you have a real shot to not just
Speaker 2: play but play impactfully in the NFL? Like, right, did
Speaker 2: you never like this is gonna happen from day one
Speaker 2: moment one? Or there must have been some time when
Speaker 2: you realized, oh wow, Like yes, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's there's there are probably two moments.
Speaker 1: There's like the dream, like I didn't dream about getting
Speaker 1: to the NFL, you know, Okay, for the moment that
Speaker 1: it was like I'm doing this. The dream wasn't I'm
Speaker 1: going to play in the NFL. The dream was like
Speaker 1: making the plays in the NFL. It was like doing
Speaker 1: the thing, like really doing the things as a kid,
Speaker 1: like you don't you don't dream about just getting to
Speaker 1: the NBA. You dream about, you know, hitting the game
Speaker 1: winning shot in the you know, the finals, right, and
Speaker 1: so that's kind of like as a kid, like, no,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm going to do. Then there. I think
Speaker 1: there's a moment of when you are in the NFL
Speaker 1: of like the confirmation of like I can play at
Speaker 1: this level and the belief in yourself that you can
Speaker 1: play and do what you want to do. And I
Speaker 1: think that happens early and that's like you get out
Speaker 1: there and it's like, now I know who I am.
Speaker 1: I don't know any of these guys that I'm on
Speaker 1: the field with at this point, but I know who
Speaker 1: I am. And within the first practice like, okay, no,
Speaker 1: this is the same. This is the same game that
Speaker 1: I've been playing my entire life. It's the same game
Speaker 1: I was playing in college, same while I was playing
Speaker 1: all the way back down to Pop Warner. The guys
Speaker 1: are just a little bit bigger, a little faster, little stronger,
Speaker 1: and I'm still five four one nine. Team.
Speaker 2: Well, you had some pretty good folks there with you
Speaker 2: when you got to the Rams. Sean McVeigh as a
Speaker 2: new head coach. Jared golf is in his second year there.
Speaker 2: You've got Aaron and Donald. Tell me a little bit
Speaker 2: about your friendship with with Jared Goff. You guys, we
Speaker 2: were close, right, roommates early on in your career.
Speaker 3: Is that right? Yes?
Speaker 1: Because so when we got I trained down Orange County
Speaker 1: and we got when I got drafted, we were in
Speaker 1: Orange County. So then I got drafted, I just drove
Speaker 1: through La up to you know, a thousand Oaks, and
Speaker 1: Jared was nice enough to less basically crash at his
Speaker 1: house my wife and I until we figured out what
Speaker 1: we were going to do in terms of getting you know,
Speaker 1: renting a house or staying at the team hotel, which
Speaker 1: is what we end up doing for a while. But
Speaker 1: you know, he was nice opened his home up to us,
Speaker 1: and he was my first intro into you know, the offense,
Speaker 1: into all the stuff around here in terms of just like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is just the area, showing me around. So really
Speaker 1: thankful for him and his you know, welcoming, welcoming me
Speaker 1: and my family with open arms, and and we were
Speaker 1: able to grow together, you know, because we were both there.
Speaker 1: That year was Shawn's first year, so everyone's learning the
Speaker 1: offense at the same time. We're all figuring it out
Speaker 1: and and that was a fun thing to be able
Speaker 1: to have that whole crew be like, man, we get
Speaker 1: to we're building this all together and learning it all together.
Speaker 1: That was think a pretty valuable thing for a receiver
Speaker 1: and a quarterback.
Speaker 3: Still close.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we still talk. We still talk. He's obviously in
Speaker 1: Detroit and he's back and forth all over the place,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we still talk and actually owe him a
Speaker 1: dinner here, So I got.
Speaker 3: I think after his new contract, he is you a dinner.
Speaker 1: Now. I'm so happy for him. I'm think about think
Speaker 1: about what he I mean people, people counted him out.
Speaker 1: People and like you, yes, but i mean, really it's
Speaker 1: hard to do in the NFL when you get when
Speaker 1: you're counted out like that. For him to go and
Speaker 1: do what he did in Detroit and earn another contract
Speaker 1: or have, you know, be be so consistent what he
Speaker 1: is and who he is, and show his preper to
Speaker 1: the point that this organization wants to invest in him
Speaker 1: again and say, you know, we're we believe that you're
Speaker 1: the guy and that's such a cool thing, and so
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he seems like a good guy, seems like a
Speaker 2: good guy.
Speaker 1: He's a messy eater. I couldn't eat with him at
Speaker 1: lunch because he's he's a messy eater. I'm sure his
Speaker 1: I'm sure his fiance. He's gotten that figured out by now,
Speaker 1: Like I almost, dude, I can't eat you got you
Speaker 1: got eating chicken wings and it's like a Caesar salad
Speaker 1: and you've got Seasar dressing on your forehead. I can't
Speaker 1: eat anymore.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty one, your season we do. We call it historic,
Speaker 2: First Team All Pro, Pro Bowl, NFL Offensive Player of
Speaker 2: the Year. You lead the NFL in receptions, yards, touchdowns.
Speaker 2: It's Stafford's first year. Your buddy is gone, but it
Speaker 2: sounds like you got a new campadre there that, at
Speaker 2: least within the offense, elevates you and allows you to
Speaker 2: get those kind of numbers.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I know Matt, first off, he's an idiot. Okay, let's
Speaker 2: just get that clear right now. Yeah, and I'm better
Speaker 2: at golf than he is too. Regardless of what anybody,
Speaker 2: including him says, what was that like for you? I mean,
Speaker 2: getting that those kind of numbers. Now, I know you
Speaker 2: expect that of yourself and this is what you've been
Speaker 2: doing all of the work for. But everyone thinks that, right,
Speaker 2: I mean to get that within that offense. Was there
Speaker 2: something specifically that he was doing within the offense that
Speaker 2: allowed that kind of change to happen?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. You know, there's probably a lot of
Speaker 1: more elegant ways to put this, you know, but it
Speaker 1: was kind of like, you know, it's life when Peanut
Speaker 1: Butter met Jelly. You know, it was just like Peb
Speaker 1: and Jay. Yeah, it's like Pambe's and Jim. It was
Speaker 1: honestly like it was like this is going to be good,
Speaker 1: you know, the way we're seeing things, the timing.
Speaker 3: The way that you saw it right away.
Speaker 1: Oh, right away. It was like this is going to
Speaker 1: be really good just in terms of the Yeah, like
Speaker 1: I said, the way we see the game. I don't
Speaker 1: know what you want to put the chemistry is what
Speaker 1: people say whatever that wherever the chemistry is. Uh, we
Speaker 1: just we had it and it's been it's been fun
Speaker 1: kind of growing in that, you know, because he he
Speaker 1: came in and he had obviously played such good football
Speaker 1: and played so much. He you know, he's had so
Speaker 1: many different offensive coordinators, like he could he can show
Speaker 1: you what any team that like he's calling other teams
Speaker 1: plays out for him because he's had so many offenses
Speaker 1: that he's run and knows all the verbiage of all
Speaker 1: this different stuff. And it's like having that knowledge come
Speaker 1: into our offense now and watching him kind of be
Speaker 1: able to run with the things that we're doing, and
Speaker 1: you know he's his his saying, I'm I'm making sure
Speaker 1: that we're putting up. We got a new facility going in.
Speaker 1: Right behind in the QB room, right behind Matthew's head
Speaker 1: on the wall is gonna be do something sweet because
Speaker 1: that's his Like his mo was like, you know I
Speaker 1: could have made that throw. I want to do something
Speaker 1: sweet and move this guy and no look at and
Speaker 1: hit this you know, running out the back door. And
Speaker 1: you know that to me is the difference between most
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and what Matthew does is you know, his ability
Speaker 1: to dictate things and then he wants to hit you
Speaker 1: on the exact right spot where we can you know,
Speaker 1: we're maximizing plays and now we're not just catching getting tackled.
Speaker 1: It's catch and run opportunities and then it's a it's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to play with a guy like that.
Speaker 2: So Sean McVay is well many have called an offensive
Speaker 2: genius in terms of his scheme or whatever. But do
Speaker 2: you think when Matthew came in with his specific set
Speaker 2: of skills and experience in the league as you just referenced,
Speaker 2: that that was able to take it up to another level?
Speaker 2: Or do you think that Matthew was just the right
Speaker 2: quarterback within mcveigh's system.
Speaker 1: I think Matthew, the way that Matthew processes things, I
Speaker 1: think it challenged Sean to be able to push the
Speaker 1: limits and push the boundaries of what's you know, what's
Speaker 1: realistic and what can this? What can you challenge and
Speaker 1: stretch the quarterback position to do? And you know, historically,
Speaker 1: I think the you know, the Shanahan tree, which is
Speaker 1: where McMahon McVeigh have came through, are pretty hard on
Speaker 1: quarterbacks already. You know, what Matthew showed what he could
Speaker 1: do and his abilitiar process and all the throws that
Speaker 1: he's able to make and move people has opened up
Speaker 1: Sean's mind as so many other things that you know
Speaker 1: are possible, and his ability to innovate and tinker with things,
Speaker 1: and then it's just you know, being able to be
Speaker 1: free to say, hey, that was a mistake, let's not
Speaker 1: do that, and then also being able to collaborate with
Speaker 1: each other and be like you know, as a quarterback
Speaker 1: communicating to a coach, a coach can communicating to the quarterback.
Speaker 1: When when those things, when communications go in both ways,
Speaker 1: it makes for some pretty special outcomes, pretty special plays.
Speaker 2: I know you were just on my well friend of
Speaker 2: the podcast here Julian Edelman's show. You talked about the
Speaker 2: NFC Championship game against the Hated by me and I'm
Speaker 2: sure you forty nine ers the Games with Names podcasts.
Speaker 2: You broke it down your performance there eleven catches, one
Speaker 2: forty two and two touchdowns leading into Super Bowl fifty
Speaker 2: six where you have another monster game and you win
Speaker 2: Super Bowl MVP. This is the culmination for you, right
Speaker 2: of all of that work, of all of that time,
Speaker 2: and you know, being I didn't look up how many
Speaker 2: wide receivers have won Super Bowl MVP, but I know
Speaker 2: not a lot, because you know, somebody does have to
Speaker 2: get you the ball. You have to be in position,
Speaker 2: and as you talked about before, everybody has to do
Speaker 2: their job, and you have to continue you your job
Speaker 2: to get in a position to then eventually make the play.
Speaker 2: You certainly made a ton of those. I'm sure that
Speaker 2: felt great. I don't have to ask you that question.
Speaker 2: But after achieving that, specifically through that playoff run, that season,
Speaker 2: the season you had the win, what motivates you now
Speaker 2: to keep working hard?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, I think that same thing I kind of
Speaker 1: touched on before. I mean, those moments of getting to
Speaker 1: that point of like winning a super Bowl, right like
Speaker 1: the pinnacle of what we talked about as little kids.
Speaker 1: You dream of winning that game, You dream of that
Speaker 1: moment and being able to achieve that thing, and then
Speaker 1: you're asking, you know what, what once you've done that,
Speaker 1: what comes after that? And to me, I think, having
Speaker 1: experienced that, those moments, while those like memories are incredible
Speaker 1: and I'll always cherish the memories and like what it
Speaker 1: was like after that celebrating with all the guys with
Speaker 1: my family, that those feelings are so fleeting, They're so fleeting,
Speaker 1: and to chase after that would be such an empty
Speaker 1: and hollow thing. To chase after these small like glimpses
Speaker 1: of these small moments of feelings like, you know, the
Speaker 1: next day, I'm giving my kids a bath, you know,
Speaker 1: at you know, seven point thirty, trying to get these
Speaker 1: guys to like calm down and go to sleep, you know,
Speaker 1: so they don't know any difference, Like that's just what
Speaker 1: we're doing. And it's like it's back to life, you know,
Speaker 1: back to your your I'm dad, you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a husband and so you know, for me, I look
Speaker 1: back on those moments and be like, it wasn't those
Speaker 1: moments that I want again. It's that problem. It's that
Speaker 1: whole season, that whole like the work that was put
Speaker 1: in and the amount of collaboration, the highs the lows,
Speaker 1: like the amount of times we're in the office and
Speaker 1: you know, times are rough, and it's like, man, we
Speaker 1: can meet each other here and fix some problems and
Speaker 1: enjoy each other's company and you know, being able to
Speaker 1: walk alongside guys and that whole thing out. It's like, man,
Speaker 1: this whole package of memories of like moments of relationships.
Speaker 1: That is what I'm like, Man, this is why I
Speaker 1: love to do this. I get to be I get
Speaker 1: to be impacted and impact so many people throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the season, and I love that I get
Speaker 1: to I look back on that. I want that instead
Speaker 1: of these tiny moments, these fleeting moments, no matter high,
Speaker 1: how high or how low they were, I want those moments.
Speaker 1: And you know, you get to the I don't like
Speaker 1: to use the analogy of the mountaintop. You get to
Speaker 1: the mountaintop, you look out, guess what, there's another mountaintop.
Speaker 1: If you didn't enjoy the climb up to that thing,
Speaker 1: you enjoy toiling, you know, with with your guys to
Speaker 1: get to the top of that thing, you know, then
Speaker 1: you're not gonna want to go after that next mountain.
Speaker 1: But if you enjoyed that climb, if you enjoyed the
Speaker 1: relationships that were built and all the things that came
Speaker 1: from that that you know, process of getting there, you
Speaker 1: see that mountain top and you're excited because that's like, man,
Speaker 1: we get to do this again. We get to go
Speaker 1: to another one. And you know, I kind of that's
Speaker 1: that's how I kind of take, you know, my approach
Speaker 1: into every one of these seasons.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, of course, you want to win every year,
Speaker 2: but here here's the general reality. And I know that statistically,
Speaker 2: I know I'm right It's really hard to go back
Speaker 2: to back in a way because the NFL is cyclical,
Speaker 2: and the reality is is that once you have gotten
Speaker 2: to that mountaintop, you have you know, thirty other teams
Speaker 2: that are trying to that are they're literally scheming against.
Speaker 3: What you're doing.
Speaker 2: But with the coaches, with the preparation, with the specific players,
Speaker 2: it feels like you can make another run. Now, Matthew
Speaker 2: had some injuries, You had some injury issues last year,
Speaker 2: and it feels to.
Speaker 3: Me like we're cycling back.
Speaker 2: It feels like you got another exciting young player, Puka
Speaker 2: Nakua that you know. Unfortunately, you guys just weren't on
Speaker 2: the field at the same time a lot of the time.
Speaker 2: But I I I see some big things for you guys,
Speaker 2: and I know Big Matt wants to make another run,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got we've got the we've got the pieces.
Speaker 1: And that's the fun thing about this point of the
Speaker 1: season is, you know, everyone's the excitement for everyone is
Speaker 1: like man, this we've got something here and we get
Speaker 1: to now get into camp and like, man, what could
Speaker 1: this season be? But it is exciting and and you know,
Speaker 1: there's so much that comes into the involved the season
Speaker 1: that was staying healthy is obviously a huge part of it,
Speaker 1: just as collectively as a team we talking about twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two coming off of twenty one, we couldn't really
Speaker 1: even hold OTAs because we had so many guys on
Speaker 1: our roster after that long season that just weren't healthy
Speaker 1: enough to be able to do a full OTAs. You
Speaker 1: guys were just beat up heading into that season, and uh,
Speaker 1: and then it obviously trickles in and like guys start
Speaker 1: going down. You know, we had I can't remember what
Speaker 1: it was, something your fifteen different offensive line variations. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was just like it was it was. It was nuts,
Speaker 1: But I do I'm I'm man. We've got such a
Speaker 1: good group of guys, young guys and guys with experience,
Speaker 1: and everyone's really hungry and excited to get after the
Speaker 1: things here.
Speaker 3: I hear you're a pretty big fan of the Office.
Speaker 1: I am a very big fan of the Office.
Speaker 3: Really, do you think you're the I mean, it's too
Speaker 3: bad we're not still shooting. You know. I've been known
Speaker 3: to get people on the show who I.
Speaker 1: Didn't know that you were the one that that was
Speaker 1: pulling those strings.
Speaker 3: I got one of your competitors on and he'll admit it,
Speaker 3: so I can say it's been told before.
Speaker 1: You got Aaron on.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So if I had known, if I had known,
Speaker 2: you know, well, I mean I guess when we were shooting,
Speaker 2: wasn't really gonna happen. Maybe we'll go back, Maybe we'll
Speaker 2: go back for another episode or something, and I can
Speaker 2: get you on if you go.
Speaker 1: If you guys go back and you don't at least ask,
Speaker 1: I might never talk to you again.
Speaker 3: Ask you to be on the show, or to come
Speaker 3: visit and say hi.
Speaker 1: Asked to be like if you have to run it
Speaker 1: by the producers and be like, hey, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say I'm the biggest fan, because I know that
Speaker 1: there's some crazy people out there that are bigger fans.
Speaker 1: But you know.
Speaker 2: Crazy crazy meaning good, crazy meaning good to yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1: And crazy meaning bad there. But I will say this,
Speaker 1: just like RAMS fans exactly. There's there's the good ones
Speaker 1: and the bad ones. Okay, them all the same. But
Speaker 1: we've watched it, my wife, and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: exact it. We've watched it from beginning to end at
Speaker 1: least seven times, so I've got pretty good that's just
Speaker 1: my wife and I so I sleeping. Like you know,
Speaker 1: we met in twenty twelve. There's time before that that.
Speaker 3: We were rolling favorite episode.
Speaker 1: So you know this is this is this might be
Speaker 1: this is a hot take. What's the what's the what's
Speaker 1: everyone's least favorite episode?
Speaker 2: I hope you say something because I got a story
Speaker 2: for it. What what I would say that Scott's Tots.
Speaker 1: Is everyone's least favorite episode? If you go back, it
Speaker 1: is so funny, Like every moment that.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you said this. I'm I'm shouting out.
Speaker 2: I don't do you know this. I just got something
Speaker 2: in the mail breaking news right now. I have not
Speaker 2: met him. He's gonna come. I've been told he's gonna
Speaker 2: come on the podcast. Here Donovan Mitchell, have you seen this?
Speaker 2: He has shoes Don's Tots. I just got them here.
Speaker 2: I would show them to you before we're done here,
Speaker 2: I'll go and get them. I'll I just took him
Speaker 2: out of the box yesterday. He's got sweatshirts.
Speaker 1: So yours is Scott's totsy. It's hard, like we have
Speaker 1: to prepare ourselves. Like we get together, we say hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we need to pray before we head into this.
Speaker 1: Watch this episode because it hurts our heart. It hurts
Speaker 1: our heart watching what Michael Michael did to those poor kids.
Speaker 1: But the episode all the other is so good. It's
Speaker 1: so good, but it is I wasn't doing that one.
Speaker 1: I go product recall because the opening for you know,
Speaker 1: product recalls is electric And that's the Bears beats Battle
Speaker 1: Star Galactica opening.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you would get this. It is always attributed to
Speaker 3: Dwight Shrut, but Dwight never.
Speaker 2: Says beats Battlestar Galactica.
Speaker 1: Because his identity was stolen.
Speaker 3: Because identity was stolen.
Speaker 1: Identity.
Speaker 2: That's so, that's that's your that's your favorite opening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's my favorite opening, I'd say, But Scott's thoughts
Speaker 1: is like, and what should be my favorite opening?
Speaker 3: That's fine, that's fine. Everybody has choices. Everybody gets to
Speaker 3: make choices. I mean, it's no, it's a great one.
Speaker 1: Chilly one is awesome. The Chili one is so good.
Speaker 3: It felt like you were No, I'm not that felt
Speaker 3: like I'm gonna be honest.
Speaker 1: With you, patronizing you either on this. It's it's legitimately
Speaker 1: so I sent you, We sent you some coffee beans.
Speaker 2: Yes, we're about to discuss the coffee Dodo coffee you've
Speaker 2: just started.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1: Did you Okay on a few from the box yet,
Speaker 1: But there's a note I.
Speaker 3: Don't have it yet.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, Well you can don't spoil a surprise,
Speaker 2: or you can, because otherwise it won't for you.
Speaker 1: You know, you know a little reference to the to
Speaker 1: the to the beans in there you go. I was
Speaker 1: gonna go like I didn't want to. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to overdo the office references since you since you brought
Speaker 1: it up and started with a well well, well well.
Speaker 2: I was told you were you were a big fan
Speaker 2: fan of the show, so I got I'm gonna this
Speaker 2: is either going to impress the world and your wife
Speaker 2: or not. You know I I when people tell me
Speaker 2: they're big fans of the show, when people pull the
Speaker 2: trivia card. I have one one question and one question only.
Speaker 3: Are you ready?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: Are you ready for it? You're going to fail, I
Speaker 3: can tell you already.
Speaker 1: I want to answer this question right so badly. Do
Speaker 1: you know what the question is about? I don't want
Speaker 1: to let you down here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the only question I ever asked, I heard
Speaker 2: it one time. You ready for one million fictional shoot bucks?
Speaker 3: Yes? What is Gabe Lewis's middle name?
Speaker 1: Oh, gave Lewis's middle name? I have no idea what
Speaker 1: gave Lewis's middle name is Gabe? What is it?
Speaker 3: He says it? Gabriel Susan Lewis Susanna.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Me.
Speaker 2: No, I would have never known that. It's just the
Speaker 2: question I ask, so now I know it. I would
Speaker 2: never have known that.
Speaker 1: I'm so upset that I couldn't get that one for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's all right. Many many have failed. The other question.
Speaker 3: The only other question that I ask people is occasionally
Speaker 3: people will come up to me with a particular T
Speaker 3: shirt on.
Speaker 1: Yes, the the.
Speaker 3: Fun Run T shirt? Oh yeah, Meredith Palmer.
Speaker 2: Yes, And so I ask them to their face do
Speaker 2: you usually wear clothes that you don't know?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: They say, and they're confused, and then I block them
Speaker 2: and I say, what does your shirts say? That's a
Speaker 2: zero percent?
Speaker 3: That is no what has gotten?
Speaker 2: And I couldn't do that right now either, By the way,
Speaker 2: Meredith Palmer memorial Michael Scott's.
Speaker 3: Yeah Anyway, Fun Run for the Cure, Fun Run for
Speaker 3: the cure.
Speaker 2: I think it ends with that. Uh you mentioned it,
Speaker 2: I'll mention it now, Dodo Coffee. Where did this come from?
Speaker 1: This has been something that we've talk about in our
Speaker 1: family to do for a while, and the opportunity came
Speaker 1: up to just send.
Speaker 3: It and we did.
Speaker 1: And then as we started building up, it was going
Speaker 1: to be just like, hey, let's just do a little
Speaker 1: coffee shop to hey, let's roast her own coffee. Oh
Speaker 1: and then once we start roasting our dude, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna figure out. He's a biology background. He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just figure out this roasting thing. First roast
Speaker 1: he does comes in grades at ninety two out of
Speaker 1: one hundred on the Q grade, which is a phenomenally
Speaker 1: graded coffee.
Speaker 3: I don't know what a Q grade is, but ninety
Speaker 3: two sounds good good.
Speaker 1: Ninety two is very good. Okay, So like, shoot, we've
Speaker 1: got something really good here. You know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you knew this. So if you little coffee shop
Speaker 1: that roaster own coffee. Most coffee shops that are giving
Speaker 1: you the coffee that right the breist is giving you
Speaker 1: the coffee. They're giving you their lowest graded stuff their cheapest,
Speaker 1: say because he's they're gonna sell their best stuff. It's
Speaker 1: it costs them more to give you the good stuff,
Speaker 1: because the latte costs six dollars whether they use the
Speaker 1: really good beans or their bad beans, right, but their
Speaker 1: good beans are gonna cost some more.
Speaker 2: Wait, so you're selling that. You're saying, they they sell
Speaker 2: beans in the bag that are that are good, but
Speaker 2: they give me.
Speaker 1: It will give you the lower tier of their coffee.
Speaker 3: Why would they make lower tier?
Speaker 1: This is standard practice? Well, just because you know, not
Speaker 1: everyone like they make a wide range. Like, hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna sell this coffee that's you know, wherever twenty five dollars,
Speaker 1: we're gonna sell this one is twenty, this one's be fifteen.
Speaker 1: They're giving you the fifteen dollars.
Speaker 3: Is it more expensive to make higher.
Speaker 1: It's it's usually sourcing, like it costs more green beans.
Speaker 1: But at Dodo Coffee co. You come to our brick
Speaker 1: and mortar, you're getting the best stuff. We're not giving
Speaker 1: you anything less than our Dodo Blend, which is the highest,
Speaker 1: greatest stuff that we have. And you know, so that's
Speaker 1: a little bit different. We want to be like high quality.
Speaker 1: You want to give you guys, people come to our shops.
Speaker 1: You want to be a great experience. So Dodo Coffee
Speaker 1: co brick and mortars in northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 3: And then why why in I saw that? Why why
Speaker 3: in Arkansas?
Speaker 1: That's where my wife's family all live.
Speaker 3: Got it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's that's where they're at. So that's the
Speaker 1: where the brick and mortar is. There'll be more coming.
Speaker 1: We're gonna strategically place them. You know, a few really
Speaker 1: cool spots around the country.
Speaker 3: Like in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1: Maybe where are you, where you're at, what's your address?
Speaker 2: I'll give it to you later. That's incread. I love
Speaker 2: that story. Yeah, and so you're committed to doing it different. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we're doing We're doing different. And then we're gonna you know,
Speaker 2: we got a website coming coming up here that just launched.
Speaker 2: Got some good coffee coming out. We got some stuff
Speaker 2: from Hawaii.
Speaker 1: We've got some stuff from the Dodo Blyn which is
Speaker 1: a Columbia Brazil combination of mix. We got some single
Speaker 1: origins from Mexico, from Guatemala, a single origin decaf from Columbia.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you guys should really check it out.
Speaker 3: That's it. So do you have where where is your
Speaker 3: espresso beans? From?
Speaker 1: The espresso beans are the Columbia and Brazil mix. That's
Speaker 1: the Dodo blend, which is which are leaned towards an espresso.
Speaker 1: If you like doing espresso, that's the ones that that
Speaker 1: would get. They also do great. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: great drip as well, but the Guatemala is specifically made
Speaker 1: for a drip. And some cold brew. We've got some
Speaker 1: good cold brew stuff. We have good, we have some options.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I'm literally drinking a coffee right now
Speaker 2: from my favorite I like to buy. You know what
Speaker 2: you this is what you need to sign me. You
Speaker 2: send me from your brick and mortar, because I promise
Speaker 2: I actually semi collect this. I like the I like
Speaker 2: the is espresso. So when I go to a place,
Speaker 2: I really like this one is. Uh.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I'm suddenly giving them an ad
Speaker 3: Cobrick in New York City is my favorite place in
Speaker 3: New York City.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I buy up, I buy up what do you call it?
Speaker 2: A glass to have it home? Yeah, and I and
Speaker 2: I collect them at home and it makes me feel
Speaker 2: like I'm there. Like the mugs, Yeah, a mug or
Speaker 2: a glass star. Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean you
Speaker 2: don't have to. I'm just saying I would appreciate. I
Speaker 2: don't know when the next time I'm going to be
Speaker 2: in Northwest Arkansas is, but when you put one down
Speaker 2: the block from me, boom roasted roasted nice?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Dodo Coffee spelled d O d Ocoffee dot co. Or
Speaker 2: you can check them out at d O d O
Speaker 2: Coffee Co. On Instagram and the TikTok Are you making
Speaker 2: TikTok videos?
Speaker 3: I'm a new TikTok star. I don't know if you've heard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did not know. I'm not. I don't. I'm
Speaker 1: not a big TikTok person.
Speaker 2: So, uh do you know when I became a big
Speaker 2: TikTok person? When I became a TikTok star like ten
Speaker 2: days ago. So that's that's why it started.
Speaker 1: For me through what was your breakthrough a video?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't, I don't. I don't underst stand it.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I have a new cookbook that just
Speaker 2: came out. Ooh, maybe we can make some stuff at
Speaker 2: at your brick and mortar there. I posted a video
Speaker 2: of myself making ribs and suddenly I seventeen million people
Speaker 2: watched it. Don't have any idea, don't.
Speaker 1: Know through it. So is it all laid out in
Speaker 1: the TikTok video.
Speaker 3: It's all laid out in the TikTok video.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go washing on therapy. Can you
Speaker 1: just tell me about it? What's your what's your.
Speaker 3: Tell you about the video? Like, describe the video.
Speaker 1: And what's your secret? What's like the there's good ribs,
Speaker 1: and there's something that you do that takes us to
Speaker 1: the next level?
Speaker 3: What do you want to Honestly, do you want to
Speaker 3: know what it is? I mean, I can.
Speaker 2: I can talk about my genius and I am a
Speaker 2: genius on the on the smoker there. But the biggest,
Speaker 2: biggest piece of advice, it's not about ribs. It's not
Speaker 2: about the sauce. It's about the meat. By high quality
Speaker 2: meat always for everything, especially for ribs, because really, you
Speaker 2: go to a you go to a chain restaurant, what
Speaker 2: are you getting? You're getting leather with a ton of sauce.
Speaker 2: And then when you're when you leave, what do you say.
Speaker 2: You don't say, oh my gosh, that meat was so
Speaker 2: tender and juicy and delicious. You say, oh, I love
Speaker 2: that sauce. Yeah, I'm with you, right, No, that makes
Speaker 2: a ton of sense. I'm I'm a big barbecue guy.
Speaker 2: Barbecue is like my favorite. Oh so, if there's a
Speaker 2: pole pork sandwich on the menu at any restaurant ever, breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 2: or dinner, I'm ordering a pole pork sandwich, and then
Speaker 2: I'm ordering whatever I was gonna get, and I'm eating
Speaker 2: that pullpork sandwich.
Speaker 1: It doesn't count. Doesn't count for.
Speaker 3: My meal cole slaw on it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that's all right, half tabpoles.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm gonna send you.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna send you one of my cookbooks because, by
Speaker 2: the way, it's a barbecue cookbook. I mean this, this relate.
Speaker 2: I'm drinking coffee, we're talking barbecue. This is the start
Speaker 2: of a beautiful relationship. When when are you inviting me
Speaker 2: to a game?
Speaker 1: Whenever you want to come? What game? What game you
Speaker 1: want to come to? You let me know a game
Speaker 1: you want them to and we'll make it happen. You
Speaker 1: set up with my family.
Speaker 3: I don't like I don't like bothering you guys. I
Speaker 3: don't like bothering you.
Speaker 1: I would I was gonna say, let me know so
Speaker 1: I can minimize how much family because I don't want
Speaker 1: I said, we're an office family. I don't want you
Speaker 1: to get costed the well, we'll get a nice sweep
Speaker 1: for you, and you know it'll be it'll be a
Speaker 1: nice spot. You want to come to a game, you
Speaker 1: let me know.
Speaker 2: All right, I would love to do it. Uh you
Speaker 2: you're watch this, ladies and gentlemen. Your office is probably
Speaker 2: the nicest office in the NFL, for sure, Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 2: It's a great place, great place to watch a game,
Speaker 2: very very lucky lucky man there. Uh congratulations, Oh you
Speaker 2: have you have you have the Packers coming to town
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 3: You don't have to go out into the cold.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 3: I heard McVeigh was complaining last year about that.
Speaker 1: Look, I don't know what Matt Lafleur did make us
Speaker 1: go to Bay multiple years. We were in Green Bay
Speaker 1: for it's like four or five years in a row.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: And for whatever reason, it was like the same week
Speaker 2: and I was always there. Oh did you see me
Speaker 2: sing roll out the barrel?
Speaker 3: There?
Speaker 2: No, I didn't one of your Uh yeah you were districted,
Speaker 2: you were actually working. I think it was two years
Speaker 2: it wasn't last year. You were there last year too.
Speaker 2: I wasn't there last year, it was two years ago.
Speaker 2: Gotcha roll out the barrel. Good luck on the season,
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and good luck with Dodo Coffee.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to get the beans here. I promise
Speaker 2: you there and here here's here's the other thing you've
Speaker 2: taught me. When I show up at my favorite coffee
Speaker 2: shop here before well, my favorite coffee shop now before
Speaker 2: Dodo opens up a place around the corner. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: this is what I'm gonna do tomorrow. I promise you this.
Speaker 2: I'm going to show up and I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 2: order my latte and I'm gonna make them open up
Speaker 2: a pack kids of their bagged beans and see what
Speaker 2: happens good.
Speaker 1: Stuff, and say, hey, don't give me, don't give me
Speaker 1: that stuff on the bottom shelf. I want the top shelves.
Speaker 2: I want to talk. I want the top shelf stuff. Well,
Speaker 2: you know me, I'm always top shelf. H Cooper. We're
Speaker 2: gonna do it. We're gonna shoot some hoops, we're gonna
Speaker 2: play some golf. We're gonna drink some coffee and make
Speaker 2: some barbecue. And then check out a game. Have a great,
Speaker 2: great season this year. All right, I know you're back
Speaker 2: to work now, very very soon. Good luck this year
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Man. All right, thanks.
Speaker 2: Cooper, so fun talking to you. Thank you for everything.
Speaker 2: Good luck this year. I expect the Rams to have
Speaker 2: a very successful season. And thank you very much for
Speaker 2: the coffee delivery. That's right, I just had a shot
Speaker 2: of espresso.
Speaker 3: Listeners. The coffee's good. It's very good. I do recommend
Speaker 3: you try it.
Speaker 2: Stay awake, stay alert, stay out of trouble, and until
Speaker 2: next time, everybody, have a great week. Off the Beat
Speaker 2: is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
Speaker 2: our executive producer lingg Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia.
Speaker 2: Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris and Emily Carr.
Speaker 2: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern
Speaker 2: is Ali Amir Sahim. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,
Speaker 2: performed by the one and Only Creed Brag