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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: team year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Aenius Williams.

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the NFL a Legends Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: a Nius Williams, Pro Bowl linebacker and NFL Walter Payton

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Speaker 1: Man of the Year Award winner Thomas Davis. So, after

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Speaker 1: making you finally recover, then you make the Pro Bowl? Yes,

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Speaker 1: what was that like? So for me as a player,

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Speaker 1: you know, you kind of feel like you have years

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Speaker 1: where Okay, I'm gonna make it this year and it

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Speaker 1: never happened. You know, it never happened. You know, but

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Speaker 1: even before the Pro Bowl. You know, the most amazing

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Speaker 1: thing that that for me as a player, that that

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Speaker 1: happened before that was winning the Walter Payton Man of

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Speaker 1: the Year War. You know, that happened before I ever

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Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowl and um, to that point, that

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Speaker 1: was the and even after making a Pro Bowl, you know,

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Speaker 1: that was the the greatest thing that I've ever received,

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Speaker 1: you know, as a Walter polar because when you you

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Speaker 1: look at what their their the war represents, you know

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Speaker 1: the body of work that you do as a player

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Speaker 1: on the field along with the work that you do

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Speaker 1: on the field, I mean off the field. I mean

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Speaker 1: it absolutely meant the world to me for us to

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Speaker 1: be able to be recognized for the work that we

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Speaker 1: that we were doing in the community. But UM, understanding

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Speaker 1: and getting to know Um Walter's family and get to

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Speaker 1: know his legacy and the work that he was doing

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Speaker 1: off the field. Man, it definitely, UM was a huge honor. UM.

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Speaker 1: Just knowing the lies and that we've changed over the

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Speaker 1: years and seeing the growth that the kids and the

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Speaker 1: and the families that we worked with, UM definitely has

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Speaker 1: has meant the world to us. But to be able

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Speaker 1: to go from from those I want to I want

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Speaker 1: to stay here for a sing with the Walter Payton

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Speaker 1: man of your war you mentioned earlier. So going through

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Speaker 1: what you went through, your adversity, having in your life

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Speaker 1: this clarity, do you think you would have been just

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Speaker 1: as passionate about the work and the community off the

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Speaker 1: field prior to adversity you have been through. We were

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Speaker 1: always passionate about doing the work that we were that

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Speaker 1: we were doing in the community, you know, simply because

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Speaker 1: of my upbringing, because of the way you know, I

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Speaker 1: watched my mom struggle to raise me and my sister.

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Speaker 1: But I think, you know, during that time, God provided

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Speaker 1: more time for us to be able to do the work.

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Speaker 1: Got you. You know, it's harder to do all of

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Speaker 1: the things that we wanted to do when you're actively

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Speaker 1: playing and you have all of these obligations from a

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Speaker 1: football standpoint, And you know, life really slowed down at

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Speaker 1: that point, and I was able to really dive in

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Speaker 1: and just pour back into those families and those kids

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Speaker 1: that we were working with. So it was it was

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Speaker 1: a great time, and we made the best of a

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Speaker 1: really trying time. I said, how, how did you have

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Speaker 1: the clarity to know what areas of the community, because

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Speaker 1: as a player, you can go into a lot of

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Speaker 1: direction in terms of the community outreaching the thing, the

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Speaker 1: word that you're doing. How did you decide, Okay, this

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Speaker 1: is the just the area I want to focus on.

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Speaker 1: You know, I decided simply based on you know, how

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Speaker 1: I grew up. You know, I grew up one of

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Speaker 1: those kids and um, you know, on government assistant. Just

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Speaker 1: like I said, watching my mom struggle, knowing that there

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Speaker 1: are a ton of mothers in in single parent house

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Speaker 1: holes that are struggling the same way that my mom did,

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Speaker 1: and knowing that there are kids that you know, go

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Speaker 1: to school without school supplies, you know, not because they

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Speaker 1: just want to go to school and and and not

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Speaker 1: have the things that they need, but simply because their

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Speaker 1: their mom can't provide for them. You know, there are

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Speaker 1: kids that go to school, you know, with clothes that

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Speaker 1: are that are not up to part with some of

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Speaker 1: the other kids. There are kids that wake up on

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Speaker 1: Christmas morning and don't have Christmas gifts. You know that

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Speaker 1: there are kids that go to go to sleep at

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Speaker 1: night with an empty belly. You know, we we understand

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Speaker 1: and know what their feeling is like. So I don't

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Speaker 1: I want to make sure that as long as I'm

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Speaker 1: in this space and as long as I can provide

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Speaker 1: and help provide for it as many people, as many

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Speaker 1: kids as I possibly can, I want to do that.

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Speaker 1: And I've always been passionate about doing that. That's why

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Speaker 1: I started my foundation at an early age. You know.

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Speaker 1: The two thousand and eight was when we really started

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Speaker 1: our foundation and we started doing a ton of work

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Speaker 1: in the community, and over the years it just continued

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Speaker 1: to grow. We continue to dive into um more and more,

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Speaker 1: I found a great group of board members that were

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Speaker 1: on board to help me out. Um, nobody gets paid

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Speaker 1: a single dime within our organization. My wife is the

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Speaker 1: executive director, So every single dime that we're able to

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Speaker 1: bring in goes directly back to the families. And you

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Speaker 1: know that it just makes everything so much more easier

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Speaker 1: to be able to have like minded people around us

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Speaker 1: that want to see these kids excel. They want to

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Speaker 1: see these families lives changed, and um, they're all for

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Speaker 1: giving and doing whatever they can to make sure that

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Speaker 1: that happens. Now thirty six thirty six years though new team, team,

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Speaker 1: totally different coasts. Yes, la charges tell us about this experience.

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Speaker 1: This experience has has been very humbling. You know, you

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Speaker 1: get so comfortable, um, being in the situation, you know,

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Speaker 1: being in Carolina for fourteen consecutive years, never playing for

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Speaker 1: another team, never imagining I would ever play for another team.

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Speaker 1: You know, for me, it was all about you know,

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Speaker 1: starting and finishing my career in Carolina. But when the

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Speaker 1: when the time came for the decision to be made,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't ready to be done with the game. I

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Speaker 1: didn't feel like you know, I didn't feel like I

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Speaker 1: didn't have anything left to offer the game. Um, I

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Speaker 1: still have a passionate desire that to continue to play.

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Speaker 1: And once Carolina made the decision that they wanted to

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Speaker 1: go in a different duration, you know, I kind of

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Speaker 1: left my name out the figure out if there were

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Speaker 1: any teams willing to give me a shot, and I

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Speaker 1: have had a few teams interested in the charl just

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Speaker 1: were a team that I felt like, we're a couple

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Speaker 1: of players away from winning it all. So when when

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Speaker 1: the charges came about, it was a no brainer for me.

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Speaker 1: I didn't really think about, you know, how far away

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Speaker 1: it was, or how big of a transition that it

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Speaker 1: was gonna be for my family and my kids. It

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Speaker 1: was this is where I needed to be. And then

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Speaker 1: you and I talked early and you said, but this's

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Speaker 1: being so far from the family. You brought the whole family, Yes, everybody's.

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Speaker 1: Everybody's was that important? And why would you recommend that

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Speaker 1: to other current players? I think it was important for

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Speaker 1: me because you know, my kids were older kids, and um,

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Speaker 1: they had never been away from that, you know, and

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Speaker 1: I didn't want them to be in a situation where

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Speaker 1: they had to live without me being around, or they

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Speaker 1: had to go to school and come home and Dad

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Speaker 1: not be home. You know, that be a thousand miles

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Speaker 1: or way, you know, living on the on the West Coast,

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Speaker 1: living in a different time zone. So now I get

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Speaker 1: out of work and it's time for them to go

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Speaker 1: to bed. So I wanted to make sure that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't change up that family dynamic. M keeping my

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Speaker 1: kids close to me, and I just felt like for

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Speaker 1: their maturation and for you know, my sanity. You know,

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Speaker 1: it was important for me to keep my family dynamic together.

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Speaker 1: We're recording this and November two, en your fourteen years

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Speaker 1: and I'm sorry, fifteen years. Can't slap me up. People

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Speaker 1: do that to me as well. How much longer are

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Speaker 1: you gonna do this? You know, I still I'm still

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Speaker 1: super passionate about this game. You know. I love being

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Speaker 1: able to go in the locker room weekend and week out. Um.

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Speaker 1: I love preparing for the games on Sundays and competing

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Speaker 1: of my teammates. And you know, right now, my body

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Speaker 1: feels good and I feel like I'm year to year

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Speaker 1: and you're playing you're playing well. I feel like I'm

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Speaker 1: playing pretty well right now. You know, it takes some

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Speaker 1: time getting adjusted to a to a different style of defense.

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Speaker 1: You know, I will say that it took me a

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Speaker 1: little time to get adjusted to UM this cover three

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Speaker 1: scheme that that Gus has us in and not really

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Speaker 1: being able to play downhill as a linebacker. UM was

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Speaker 1: a huge transition for me. You know, I'm I have

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Speaker 1: we cook responsibilities as an outside linebacker in this defense,

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Speaker 1: and you know, quite frankly, it's a pop pop mentality

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Speaker 1: instead of a read and react downhill. But you know,

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Speaker 1: as the weeks have gone on, man, I've I've gotten

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Speaker 1: really comfortable playing in this style of defense. And for

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Speaker 1: me as a player, I just I just want to

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Speaker 1: play this game until the passion is not burning inside

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Speaker 1: of me anymore. You and I talked about something earlier.

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Speaker 1: You've had unique challenge of what we call old school

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Speaker 1: when you came in. Yes, sir, now we got new school,

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Speaker 1: and you've had the unique experience of seeing the transition. Yes,

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Speaker 1: talk about that, you know, the transition you know, from

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Speaker 1: when I first came into the league, UM to where

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Speaker 1: we are now with the new c b A I

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Speaker 1: think has allowed guys to play a lot longer. You're

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Speaker 1: gonna see guys playing this game a lot longer than

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Speaker 1: than um some of the guys in the past played

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Speaker 1: and healthier when they absolutely healthier because the league is

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Speaker 1: transitioning into it a much healthier league, you know, taking

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Speaker 1: the helmet out of the game, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: important with all of the new information that we received

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Speaker 1: about concussions and UM, all of that stuff that that

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Speaker 1: really goes into a player being healthy, you know, having

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Speaker 1: extra days off you know during training account not going

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Speaker 1: two or days like we used to in the past

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Speaker 1: when I first came into the league, So why would

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Speaker 1: you ever hang him up exactly? And you know, that's

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Speaker 1: that's one of those things like as long as your

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Speaker 1: body can still perform at an optimal level. I think

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Speaker 1: when you look at these young kids that are coming

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Speaker 1: into the league now, though the league is definitely getting bigger, faster,

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Speaker 1: stronger man, so they are bigger. All these kids are

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Speaker 1: definitely bigger, faster, and stronger man. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's always been my gauge though, you know,

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Speaker 1: I kind of I kind of see how I stack

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Speaker 1: up versus some of the younger guys. How I'm able

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Speaker 1: to run, how I'm able to react, and how I'm

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Speaker 1: able to to really cover some of the offensive guys

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Speaker 1: that come into this league. And as long as I

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Speaker 1: still can do that, I want to still be a

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Speaker 1: part of it. So as a legend, have you have

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Speaker 1: you thought about what would you do as a legend?

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Speaker 1: Because I hear somebody at the league officer that got

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Speaker 1: a position for you. Man, Listen, I keep my options open,

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Speaker 1: you know, for me once that day comes, you know,

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Speaker 1: I really just hope that there are a ton of

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Speaker 1: opportunities that I can decide on one I'm done playing

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Speaker 1: this game. You know, that's that's the ultimate goal, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a player, to be wanted once you're done with

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Speaker 1: this game. If you if you set yourself up and

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Speaker 1: you've done things the right way throughout your career, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna have opportunities. And it's all about being wanted for

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Speaker 1: me as a player. Final question, what's have been like

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Speaker 1: being a leader in the locker room? When you talk

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Speaker 1: about these young guys. What is it like being a

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Speaker 1: leader today? You know, for me, I I fully embraced

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Speaker 1: the role of leadership. You know, I came into the

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Speaker 1: league and I was fortunate enough to be on a

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Speaker 1: team that had a ton of veteran players. You know,

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Speaker 1: I had a ton of guys that showed me the way. Um.

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Speaker 1: I had Mike Rutger, I had Mike Minner, I had

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Speaker 1: Julius pepper As, I had Steve Smith, Jake DeLong, and

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Speaker 1: I had a number of guys that really showed me

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Speaker 1: how to do things the right way, you know, not

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Speaker 1: to mention John Casey, who was a Georgia guy that

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Speaker 1: that really poured into my life to make sure that

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Speaker 1: I knew how to do things the right way, when

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Speaker 1: to do it, and why I was doing it. I

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Speaker 1: think I would be remissed if I didn't show these

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Speaker 1: young guys the same thing that was poured into me.

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Speaker 1: So I fully embraced the leadership role. Um. But it's

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Speaker 1: a little different because look how many leaders you mentioned

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Speaker 1: in your locker room when you can versus you don't have.

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Speaker 1: You got many older guys eat. So that's what I

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Speaker 1: was asking, how much of them is it even more?

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Speaker 1: Do you feel even more pressure to be to be

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Speaker 1: a leader with so many young guys. I don't look

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Speaker 1: at it. I don't look at it as being pressured.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, I fully embrace it because I think

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Speaker 1: that I would be missing the mark if I didn't

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Speaker 1: pour into these guys life. If I didn't if I

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Speaker 1: didn't tell them, if I didn't show them, if I

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Speaker 1: didn't help them the way that I was helping when

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Speaker 1: I came into the league, I'm doing them a disservice.

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Speaker 1: If I didn't tell them about the importance of on

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Speaker 1: things the right way off the field, If I didn't

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Speaker 1: tell them about the importance of saving your money, that

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Speaker 1: this that it doesn't last forever, especially living in California

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Speaker 1: with paying the taxes that they have to pay right now.

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Speaker 1: Like like, I just feel like being in these locker

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Speaker 1: room settings are are important time for the for growth

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Speaker 1: for these younger guys. And it's important for you know,

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Speaker 1: not only for you to lead from a vocal standpoint,

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Speaker 1: but by doing it also by EXEMPLI for guys to

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Speaker 1: be able to see the things that you're doing, whether

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Speaker 1: it's something that's small as always running to the ball,

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Speaker 1: are always running off the field, Like just showing guys

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Speaker 1: those things that you know that people take for granted.

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Speaker 1: It's small things, but it ultimately teaches discipline and ultimately

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Speaker 1: ultimately teaches guys the importance of doing the small things

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Speaker 1: that ultimately can turn into two big things that could

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Speaker 1: lead to winning games a losing game. Thomas has been

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Speaker 1: great podcast. Appreciate it and finish up strong. Continue to

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Speaker 1: be that leader. You guys have had so many injuries, sir,

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Speaker 1: but it's been great watching you and you can carrying

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Speaker 1: a torch that a lot of what we call old schoolers,

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Speaker 1: yeah love because you get a chance to influence the

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Speaker 1: new schoolers. And this podcast has been excellent. Thanks, thank

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Speaker 1: you guys for listening, and the best is yet to

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Speaker 1: come slowly. I definitely appreciate it. Thank you. It's been awesome. Man.

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Speaker 1: This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback

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Speaker 1: or request the topic for discussion, email us at NFL

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Speaker 1: Legends at nfl dot com.