Speaker 1: From the King of sports Books. Who comes the King
Speaker 1: Sports Podcast Unleashed presented by bet MGM. You're your host,
Speaker 1: Speedy Mormon and Olivia Arlen Decker. Welcome back to Unleashed
Speaker 1: from the King of Sports Books bet MGM, and today
Speaker 1: is our NFL Draft wrap up and we have an
Speaker 1: amazing guest, l A Charger. Austin Ekeler joins the show.
Speaker 1: But before all of that, Olivia is going to update
Speaker 1: us on what happened at the draft. Olivia, the floor
Speaker 1: is yours. What would you say were the biggest takeaways
Speaker 1: from the first round? Hey, Speedy, Yeah, it was a
Speaker 1: great first round of the draft, especially and how refreshing
Speaker 1: just to see the guys there in their fancy suits
Speaker 1: hugging their families. It was just what we needed, right.
Speaker 1: It was so fun to watch. I think at first
Speaker 1: it was notable that all the first three picks were quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily who we thought. They're also a record
Speaker 1: setting seven offensive players taking off the board first record setting,
Speaker 1: and that includes the highest drafted tight end ever. There
Speaker 1: was a last minute top ten trade that was exciting.
Speaker 1: There were three current NFL quarterbacks reunited with their former
Speaker 1: college teammates, that was in the top ten alone, and
Speaker 1: the Patriots draft a quarterback in the first round for
Speaker 1: the first time in almost thirty years. Something else is
Speaker 1: just a college football fan. I thought was interesting her
Speaker 1: seven players who opted out of the season got picked
Speaker 1: in the first round, so that kind of puts in perspective.
Speaker 1: I was tweeting about this little bit of how NFL
Speaker 1: scouts valued that decision because a lot of people thought
Speaker 1: that would hurt their draft stock. It clearly did not.
Speaker 1: And then conference wise, just for the breakdown, six players
Speaker 1: from Alabama Hima alone were taken in the first round.
Speaker 1: That's insane. The SEC is obviously king again, and no players,
Speaker 1: not a single player from the Big twelve was drafted
Speaker 1: in the first round. That's never happened. So that those
Speaker 1: are your tree tops, But that that was very interesting
Speaker 1: first night of the draft, Olivia, why don't you run
Speaker 1: us through those first seven offensive players that were picked. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just as everyone predicted, Trevor Lawrence went first overall to Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: and then Zack Wilson, the quarterback out of b y U,
Speaker 1: he goes to the New York Jets. I like they
Speaker 1: coined the term Zach Smith Avenue instead of sack Smith Avenue.
Speaker 1: That was kind of funny. And he's hoping to be
Speaker 1: the best quarterback in the franchise since Broadway Joe Namath,
Speaker 1: so a lot of pressure. And then the big surprise
Speaker 1: medi was Trey Lance going third overall to the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty niners. And as the story developed, because there
Speaker 1: were a lot of question marks, we found out later
Speaker 1: that the GM John Lynch and the coach Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: had made the decision but told no one. They didn't
Speaker 1: tell their owner, it didn't tell scouts, coaching staff, no one.
Speaker 1: They wanted to try to get rid of confirmation bias
Speaker 1: of group think, but they knew they were going for
Speaker 1: Trey Lance. So it's a huge secret. It's a great story,
Speaker 1: but it's a really bold pick. I mean, remember they
Speaker 1: gave up two first round picks for the next two
Speaker 1: years to get this third overall pick, and they use
Speaker 1: it on a guy who played in the FCS, only
Speaker 1: really played one season, only has seventeen starts, So major gamble.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be something we're talking about for years
Speaker 1: to come, and probably the biggest storyline from night one.
Speaker 1: And then I mentioned the highest drafted tight end. Ever,
Speaker 1: that's Kyle Pitts from Florida. He went forth overall to Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and pundit say he's a future Hall of Famer. He's
Speaker 1: a freak athlete, and it's really a sigh of relief
Speaker 1: for quarterback Matt Ryan. He gets another weapon and not
Speaker 1: a replacement. So that's another big storyline. And so then
Speaker 1: after all of those offensive players, we finally got our
Speaker 1: first defensive player picked. What can you tell less about him? Yeah,
Speaker 1: all the way to number eight. Again, that was record
Speaker 1: setting seven offensive players taken first. That's cornerback j. C. Horne.
Speaker 1: He goes to the Carolina Panthers. The reason that's significant
Speaker 1: is because they did not go for a quarterback. They
Speaker 1: had both Justin Fields and Mac Jones available, which means
Speaker 1: that they were writing with Sam Donald. Afterwards, they picked
Speaker 1: up his fifth year option. So that's the big storyline
Speaker 1: in Carolina. And then I mentioned earlier there was a
Speaker 1: trade in the top ten. That was the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: They moved up two spots to get the number ten spot.
Speaker 1: That's in a trade at the Cowboys who received a
Speaker 1: third round pick, and they got Heisman winner Davante Smith
Speaker 1: taken at number ten to the Eagles, and he's now
Speaker 1: reunited with his old quarterback at Alabama, Jalen Hurts. He
Speaker 1: is and Olivia. Lastly, here, what can you tell us
Speaker 1: about Justin Fields and Mac Jones? Something happened there? Huh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean last week, Speedy, we were talking about those
Speaker 1: two guys. Everyone thought they were going to be first
Speaker 1: five six players taken. Well, just Fields, the quarterback out
Speaker 1: of Ohio State, fell to number eleven. He's going to
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears. You know, they have a pretty good
Speaker 1: defense in place in Chicago, but they have been desperate
Speaker 1: for a quarterback to save the day. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a Packer fan. I was kind of watching this
Speaker 1: develop because I did not want Chicago to get a
Speaker 1: great player, and I think they did in Justin Field.
Speaker 1: So congratulations to Justin Field. That's exciting. But then fifteenth overall,
Speaker 1: that's when Mac Jones from Alabama was selected. He goes
Speaker 1: to New England. That was the first quarterback the Patriots
Speaker 1: have drafted in the first round. I've mentioned that earlier
Speaker 1: since Drew bloodso Ine that's the year I was born,
Speaker 1: So in my lifetime, the Patriots have not taken a
Speaker 1: quarterback in the first round. It's it's incredible, but it
Speaker 1: speaks so highly of what Bill Belichick thinks of Nick Saban. Overall,
Speaker 1: he's drafted thirteen players coached by Nick Saban. That's most
Speaker 1: in any coaching tandem. You've seen great videos of them together,
Speaker 1: their friends. They say they enjoy talking to no one
Speaker 1: else more than the other. So that's a really cool
Speaker 1: story overall of the two best coaches to ever do it.
Speaker 1: So I love that that's how Mac Jones ends up
Speaker 1: in New England. And then one other quick thing speed
Speaker 1: the Clemson running back Travis Etienne. He went twenty five
Speaker 1: overall to Jacksonville. So he's now reunited with Clemson teammate
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, who obviously went first overall, and they're going
Speaker 1: to play for Urban Meyer and his coaching return. So
Speaker 1: Jacksonville is a great story this year, Olivia. With the
Speaker 1: robust NFL Draft recap now coming up on Unleashed, We've
Speaker 1: got l a Charger Austin Ekeler joining the show. Austin
Speaker 1: Ekeler is a running back for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Speaker 1: He played his college ball at Western Colorado. Ekeler rushed
Speaker 1: for a well over a thousand yards and all four
Speaker 1: of his seasons and even led Division two and all
Speaker 1: purpose yards per game. He then went undrafted and signed
Speaker 1: with the Chargers in where he's been ever sense, becoming
Speaker 1: one of the most recognizable faces on the team and
Speaker 1: signing a four year extension. So the last two weeks
Speaker 1: Austin were very focused on the draft obviously, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of where your story begins, um, from the national perspective,
Speaker 1: by not getting drafted, Can you explain what those couple
Speaker 1: of days were like for you? You know, what your
Speaker 1: agent was saying, what your family was saying, what you
Speaker 1: were feeling. Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me on first
Speaker 1: and foremost glad to be here. But uh, yeah for me,
Speaker 1: you know, I came from a smaller school like my
Speaker 1: school in generals like students, so it's very small, universal wow,
Speaker 1: very small and up in the mountains in a little valley,
Speaker 1: a little mountain town that's based off of tourism, right,
Speaker 1: that's how that town makes elevens money. But it was
Speaker 1: not like a big sports town. So as far as
Speaker 1: having scouts up there my practices, like my senior year,
Speaker 1: it was like a big deal. Was like, oh, like,
Speaker 1: who are these people like we have some outside was
Speaker 1: coming up. So it was just from that's the dynamic
Speaker 1: that was going into I definitely had some interest because
Speaker 1: I did have scouts out there a lot of my practices,
Speaker 1: but then just going into the draft, you know, my
Speaker 1: agent would just tell him, like, look like you came
Speaker 1: to us a school where you don't really have the
Speaker 1: competition level, Like you know, no one's ever come out
Speaker 1: of the Western that's going to the NFL besides one person,
Speaker 1: and so it's like, probably not gonna get drafted just
Speaker 1: because teams feel like they can pick you up and
Speaker 1: they feel like teams would just let you slide. And
Speaker 1: like if you're on the same level as someone else
Speaker 1: on the draft board and they went to like L
Speaker 1: s U or bigger school, they're gonna take that person
Speaker 1: because they have more eyes. And so I wasn't expected
Speaker 1: to get drafted. So about half of through the last
Speaker 1: round of the draft, the Chargers called me, Uh, well,
Speaker 1: they called my agent and like, hey, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: him if if he doesn't get picked up in these
Speaker 1: last few rounds, will take him as undrafted free agent
Speaker 1: if he wants to sign with us. And that was
Speaker 1: one of the top choices that I had and going
Speaker 1: into the draft, so it was perfect. And now are
Speaker 1: you watching the draft day by day like as it goes,
Speaker 1: or were you kind of like, man, let me just
Speaker 1: not even watch, just to manage your own expectations. So
Speaker 1: I mean I watched the first round just to see
Speaker 1: a few like picks go by, and then the second
Speaker 1: day of like and it went. In the third day,
Speaker 1: I was actually in the gym just listening to it
Speaker 1: in my ear, waiting for those last, those final rounds
Speaker 1: to come by. And then finally when the seventh round
Speaker 1: came by, I had like a little little get together
Speaker 1: just in case, you know, something crazy happened, and I
Speaker 1: got drafted. But it still was a special moment getting
Speaker 1: signed right after the draft. So in my head, I'm
Speaker 1: picturing that like a movie scene, Like you're in the gym,
Speaker 1: you hear each name, every name that's going and how
Speaker 1: that has to be such a theme, and then when
Speaker 1: you finally get the call you're going to the Chargers.
Speaker 1: Does being undrafted set of tones that set some kind
Speaker 1: of separation between you and other guys as far as
Speaker 1: politically and like in the audience was yes, But in
Speaker 1: my head it was like, no, like, I need an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I guess what I was looking for. I was looking
Speaker 1: for an opportunity. I literally dropped out of the last
Speaker 1: semester of college just to train and just to focus
Speaker 1: on the opportunity. I was all in on what I had.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is the most important thing that
Speaker 1: I want to do right now in my life, and
Speaker 1: so I dropped everything just to focus on the train.
Speaker 1: I had great numbers, and you know, I did well
Speaker 1: in college, so I felt like, Okay, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: an opportunity somewhere. And so when that opportunity finally came,
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, it's it's a good time for me. Now.
Speaker 1: Well that opportunity came on your first NFL carry, you
Speaker 1: score a touchdown. What was your approach to rookie here? Right?
Speaker 1: So my rookie year, I came in a sixth stream
Speaker 1: into camp and so I mean, you know anything about football,
Speaker 1: there's not too many six stringers that make the team
Speaker 1: so right, And so the thing was, I never moved
Speaker 1: up on the depth chart either during training camp. I
Speaker 1: was six stream throughout the entire time, and so you know,
Speaker 1: I was getting like a few players here and there,
Speaker 1: and most of my players came on scout team special teams,
Speaker 1: and that's where I made my most impact on the
Speaker 1: teams on special teams, going down and making tackles on
Speaker 1: on punt and you know, that was that was my role.
Speaker 1: That was my job at the time. So I took
Speaker 1: it super serious. Right, that's just keeping me in the league.
Speaker 1: And then you know, slowly started to just get my
Speaker 1: way into an offensive role. For my my first regular
Speaker 1: season carry was like the third game against the Eagles
Speaker 1: for a thirty four year touchdown. People like, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: this guy can play, you know, but yeah, like my
Speaker 1: rookie year, Like I think one of my most favorite
Speaker 1: stats is that I led the NFL and tackles on point.
Speaker 1: That was because that's what I was doing. That was
Speaker 1: like my job, Like I'm going down and making tackles
Speaker 1: on specialty. You know, I was really good at it too, right,
Speaker 1: And so even to still today, that's like my favorite.
Speaker 1: Like I almost had a thousand receiving yard season, but
Speaker 1: I still love my piezstat the six out. To me,
Speaker 1: that's just how I got into the league, right, just
Speaker 1: show that I can do more than just play one position.
Speaker 1: I can do it all. Yeah, that's dope. Now, if
Speaker 1: it was me in your shoes, right, and the very
Speaker 1: first carry I rushed for thirty five yards or thirty
Speaker 1: four yards and score touchdown. I'm thinking that every time
Speaker 1: I touched the ball, I'm going to score. Did you
Speaker 1: have that mentality? Now? Like, yo, I might score every
Speaker 1: time I touched to the football. Not quite, not quite.
Speaker 1: I've got a few passes before then, like three or four,
Speaker 1: and so I understood the speed of the game. And
Speaker 1: then finally got my first carry and just you know,
Speaker 1: how to sell a block, he made a guy missed
Speaker 1: and scored. And so I mean, my average is pretty
Speaker 1: good right there. Should probably never touched the ball a game.
Speaker 1: Just kept my thirty four yard average. But to know
Speaker 1: I it was gonna be a little bit harder than that.
Speaker 1: But my mentality, yeah, my mentality, every time we get
Speaker 1: the balls, la, let's go make something happen. Well. Sticking
Speaker 1: with the topic of the draft this year, one of
Speaker 1: the big surprises was Trey Lance out of North Dakota
Speaker 1: State going third overall to San Francisco. Your teammates with
Speaker 1: his college teammate East and Stick. Have you ever had
Speaker 1: conversations with Eastern about Trey Lance and what he can
Speaker 1: be in the NFL. No, actually, I mean I don't
Speaker 1: even follow college football at all, so I can't put
Speaker 1: any input on that. Yeah, I know, because I came
Speaker 1: from a really small Division two schools, so I like
Speaker 1: follow my school and that's about it. Like, I don't
Speaker 1: know any of these big conferences that are always talked about, right,
Speaker 1: No one talks about the ARMAC. I don't even know
Speaker 1: if it stands for. It's a Rocky Mountain Athletic conference
Speaker 1: that's Ride Clay. So that's what I follow. To be here,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that the college football is my sport.
Speaker 1: That's what I cover. And I actually got to cover
Speaker 1: tray Lands at North Dakota State and I had a
Speaker 1: couple of their games. But I think that's the same
Speaker 1: mentality from where they're coming from. Now they're a powerhouse
Speaker 1: in their conference and where they're coming from. But I mean,
Speaker 1: there's got to be this thing amongst D two D
Speaker 1: three players in the NFL where you kind of like
Speaker 1: keep track of each other, right I do, because there's
Speaker 1: people from from the ARMAC. You know, Ryan Jensen and
Speaker 1: I just won the Super Bowl, you know, he's a
Speaker 1: center for you know, the Buccaneers, right, Like, yeah, Like
Speaker 1: we played against each other in college. And Danny Woodhead
Speaker 1: he's you know, he was a guy that I looked
Speaker 1: at to coming from the same conference, played for like
Speaker 1: nine years. He played for the Chargers for most of
Speaker 1: his career. So like, just guys like that, Like I
Speaker 1: just stay in touch with these guys. Now, Listen, after
Speaker 1: being you know, in the league for a couple of years, now,
Speaker 1: you were the first undrafted running back with five plus
Speaker 1: receiving scores in the first two years of your career.
Speaker 1: When you see and hear stats like that, knowing from
Speaker 1: where you came right knowing your journey, does it feel
Speaker 1: surreal at all? I don't think. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think it's just been part
Speaker 1: of the journey, part of just the process that I've
Speaker 1: been going through because I've been trying so hard and
Speaker 1: putting this at the top of my priority list, and
Speaker 1: it feels like I'm just going down the line. I'm
Speaker 1: taking advantage of every opportune that's been front of me
Speaker 1: as far as the NFL, and I continue just to
Speaker 1: just to really focus on this. So it's kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm expecting myself to have some type of progress here.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think it was the real most
Speaker 1: thing in the first year because I was like the year,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, let me see how this is gonna go.
Speaker 1: Uh do I fit in here? Like I'm physically able
Speaker 1: and capable to be a leader. You would just be
Speaker 1: on the team. And as I've just kind of learned
Speaker 1: the business now, it's like, okay, like, yeah, I can
Speaker 1: see myself having a lot of success here as long
Speaker 1: as I stay with it and stay healthy. And that's
Speaker 1: kind of just been how it is. Like I don't
Speaker 1: take it for granted. I always remember where I came from,
Speaker 1: always remember I came from that. I continue to keep working,
Speaker 1: but I'm expecting results from myself, so it doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like it's like, oh, like surprising if if something good happens,
Speaker 1: Like I'm working towards this. A lot of people are
Speaker 1: expecting a lot of your whole team this year. You know,
Speaker 1: new stadium, new head coach, training, offensive rookie of the year.
Speaker 1: What are you all doing on the field, maybe just
Speaker 1: offensively that makes you a real threat in the a
Speaker 1: f C. Last year you know, we had some ups
Speaker 1: and down on this crazy year, just young her in
Speaker 1: his first year. You know, I think, what's gonna make
Speaker 1: us a threat? You know, we have to be an
Speaker 1: explosive offense just in general just to be able to
Speaker 1: compete with the Chiefs. And you know the rumors of
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers trying to end up in the Bronco whatever
Speaker 1: he's trying to do, I'm talking about, it was gonna
Speaker 1: regardless we got We got Pat Mahomes in our division,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna have some firepower. Um. You know, that's
Speaker 1: what our our coaches are trying to do, right trying
Speaker 1: to put us in the best positions. We have a
Speaker 1: lot of playmakers on the team, and it's like, how
Speaker 1: can I get these guys in the best position to
Speaker 1: make play? And so that's what every NFL team is
Speaker 1: trying to do every single year. But you know, we
Speaker 1: have to find a new chemistry that really works for us.
Speaker 1: That's why we get new coaches. That's why coaches move around,
Speaker 1: and that's because everyone is trying to find, Okay, who's
Speaker 1: got the right scheme for my team? How can we
Speaker 1: get the chemistry build up? And so I can't tell
Speaker 1: you what it's gonna be because we got to find
Speaker 1: out by playing. But um, I know I can tell
Speaker 1: you this. We're all looking forward to another opportunity to
Speaker 1: pete Now. I heard when Brandon's Daley got the job
Speaker 1: when he was announced back in January, that he called
Speaker 1: you to talk about anything but football. Like, what did
Speaker 1: he say when he picked up the phone and you answered, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was. I was actually surprised, like I usually don't
Speaker 1: answer random calls, but it was like just some number, right,
Speaker 1: you know who? This was like hello, oh shoot, what's up? Coach.
Speaker 1: At the time, I was like, I knew we hired
Speaker 1: a coach. Prefer guy was like, was it this co Yeah?
Speaker 1: I didn't really like it was more like okay, okay now.
Speaker 1: And then he started talking to me as I'll get
Speaker 1: this is the sun new head coach. And then we
Speaker 1: started talking about relationships, talking about his mentality, just talking
Speaker 1: about just how he wants to go forward and just
Speaker 1: you know, get to know us. And I thought that
Speaker 1: was really special because you know, especially in times like today,
Speaker 1: we don't have a lot of one on one time
Speaker 1: with each other in the same building. Want zooms a
Speaker 1: lot of time. It's really important for me to get
Speaker 1: to know you as a person so I can get
Speaker 1: behind what you believe in, because if I don't know,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, oh, we're gonna do this, do that,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't think in as much. But if I
Speaker 1: know you personally and it's like I care about you
Speaker 1: as a person too because I like what you believe
Speaker 1: in a know what you're about, then you know I
Speaker 1: could play and I can really get behind what you're saying,
Speaker 1: and I can believe put that to the rest of
Speaker 1: the team, to the younger guys too. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: love I love the way he's coming implement himself definitely
Speaker 1: as a competitor wants to see a self compete at
Speaker 1: the same time, and I love that too. Now, Austin,
Speaker 1: I know that you are in the streamer world, but
Speaker 1: also and most maybe most pressing, you are doing some
Speaker 1: things with n f t s would seem to be
Speaker 1: all of the buzz right now. What can you tell
Speaker 1: us about these thirty n f t s And if
Speaker 1: you had to explain it in one line to my grandmother,
Speaker 1: what is an n f T UM. Yeah, like you said,
Speaker 1: I'm in the stream world, so someone I'm big in
Speaker 1: the digital space. Right Now, I love content, and I
Speaker 1: feel like n f T is a new one like
Speaker 1: form of content. But that's like more static. Right. So
Speaker 1: if I was explaining it to someone who had no
Speaker 1: idea what the heck in NFC was, which is a
Speaker 1: non fungible token, it's what the acronym stands for. But
Speaker 1: then you're like still like okay, well that to that mean? Right,
Speaker 1: So basically, like imagine a painting on the wall. Again,
Speaker 1: this is more in one sentence. Basically, it's a digital artwork.
Speaker 1: So instead of it on the wall, it's on your computer,
Speaker 1: it's on your virtual reality room. It's it's digital. So
Speaker 1: it's like you can put it on the USB draft
Speaker 1: you know, you can put your painting on the wall
Speaker 1: in a box, so you can't can't put your digital
Speaker 1: artwork in a box. You can put in like a
Speaker 1: box of the US. So I see it as a
Speaker 1: digital artwork, right. People can take a picture of I
Speaker 1: can take a picture of the zoom call and make
Speaker 1: it a picture on the wall, right, or I can
Speaker 1: also make it digitally, which would be the n f T. Right,
Speaker 1: And so there is there's a place where it started.
Speaker 1: It can't be it can't be like replicated. The exact
Speaker 1: one can be technically replicated, but there is only one
Speaker 1: original and you can prove it through the blockchain. And
Speaker 1: uh so that's how I would explain. Maybe still confusing,
Speaker 1: but just digital artwork. Still confusing, but I understand it
Speaker 1: a little more digital artwork, got it? Digital artwork. Now
Speaker 1: you're doing thirty of them, right, yeah? Yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously my numbers thirty, So we're dropping thirty. N f
Speaker 1: t s have a decided we need to get like
Speaker 1: a little promo for it before we drop them. But
Speaker 1: they're gonna be three different types, um seven of them,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think seven or nine of them
Speaker 1: are going to be like one tight gold gold goal
Speaker 1: and then there's gonna be a platinum person of one
Speaker 1: of them too. So it's just it's just our work.
Speaker 1: It's just our work, and it's like stuff that incorporates
Speaker 1: my life. Right, So there's some working out, there's some
Speaker 1: football stuff, and it's just a fun way for me
Speaker 1: to to give new content to my community. Okay, Also,
Speaker 1: and I mean this with all respect, but do you
Speaker 1: have like a little nerd side to you? I absolutely
Speaker 1: have a nerds side to me. I'm always I'm in streaming,
Speaker 1: I'm in gaming, like I love to like to learn
Speaker 1: about like stocks stuff like that. Like I'm always. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know. I don't even know if
Speaker 1: the definition of nerd is anymore because I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, are like just people that just like look
Speaker 1: to learn about things and do a lot of digital stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, that's like the new wave, right, So I
Speaker 1: feel like we all have to have a little like
Speaker 1: nerds side to us, right. For sure, everyone has a
Speaker 1: nerd side. It's really refreshing though, when you see an
Speaker 1: athlete with one and just to show more dimensions of
Speaker 1: who you are. Do you feel like at this point
Speaker 1: in your career, because you're coming into your own on
Speaker 1: the field. I mentioned the contract extension, you started every
Speaker 1: game you played last year. You're a very established player
Speaker 1: in this league. Do you feel like now you're trying
Speaker 1: to kind of incorporate other sides of your personality in
Speaker 1: your hobbies. I think it's imperative for NFL players to
Speaker 1: do that, right, because here's the thing. If you come
Speaker 1: into the NFL and you're not superstar in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and you don't like if you're a superstar. Your brand
Speaker 1: is created naturally through your play and just through people
Speaker 1: getting visually like seeing you and like the media stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But if you're like a guy like me
Speaker 1: coming in like I, no one know who who I was.
Speaker 1: And so it was my job, in my opinion, to
Speaker 1: go out and show people who I am besides a
Speaker 1: football player, because if you're not a superstar in your
Speaker 1: football peer ends, guess what, Like if you didn't build
Speaker 1: a brand, then people forget about you. Like just think
Speaker 1: about all the players that retire every that no one
Speaker 1: even knows, right, And so it happens every year, right,
Speaker 1: happens all the time, and it's going to continue to happen.
Speaker 1: But it's like, let me capture as a player. It's
Speaker 1: my job to capture as much of this platform and
Speaker 1: try to take them with me and try to get
Speaker 1: them to care about me for a different reasons besides football.
Speaker 1: So that's why I do all the streams, That's why
Speaker 1: it provides so much content, you know. That's why I'm
Speaker 1: doing these big, big events with Migrantor and Gaming Group
Speaker 1: Company UM just to try to create awareness and let
Speaker 1: people come in and actually just like show who they
Speaker 1: are besides the football player right at the same time,
Speaker 1: it just allows me to like run a big event
Speaker 1: and be in front of people, and so like it
Speaker 1: benefits me to just to build this platform. And that's
Speaker 1: something that we're seeing, you know, in in many sports,
Speaker 1: like just athletes kind of just leaning into who they
Speaker 1: really are in their personal brands. We had Chad Ocho
Speaker 1: Sinko Johnson on and he was telling us how big
Speaker 1: into gaming he is. There was a little bonding moment
Speaker 1: between Olivia and Chad's a lady because Olivia is upset
Speaker 1: with how much time her guy spends on the game
Speaker 1: war Zone specifically, if you had to estimate how much
Speaker 1: time you're spending when comes to gaming streaming, what what
Speaker 1: what would that number be in the off season? Off
Speaker 1: season numbers in the off season. Okay, because it's it's
Speaker 1: very it's been it's been different because I'm super busy
Speaker 1: right now trying to get them up GGG and stuff
Speaker 1: off the ground. So I probably stream three days a
Speaker 1: week for like two hours. That's Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so
Speaker 1: I'll do that, but I also play a probace some
Speaker 1: video games in between there for like an hour like
Speaker 1: every day. So let's committing like six let's let's say seven,
Speaker 1: so like thirteen hours a week I was dedicated to
Speaker 1: just like content creation or like gaming for personal like
Speaker 1: just reference Olivia. How does that stack up to Sam's numbers. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at my husband playing war Zone right now
Speaker 1: behind the glass door. And and here's here's where I
Speaker 1: am okay with this is because he does it with
Speaker 1: his you know, his brother, all of his friends all this.
Speaker 1: So it's like if I were to meet some of
Speaker 1: my girlfriends for a drink, you know, it's it's like
Speaker 1: almost the same thing. It's so social to them. That's
Speaker 1: where I've waived the white flag. I'm like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: get it. But I think women and wives and girlfriends
Speaker 1: around the country and world have the same plight, so
Speaker 1: I get it. I don't know. It's just like I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know if it's just like our
Speaker 1: competitive nature as and men. Yeah, and we just loves
Speaker 1: like be on for new games and yelling at each
Speaker 1: other and having a good time socially. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's what it is or what it is, Like
Speaker 1: I think that's what it is for me, right, It's
Speaker 1: like for me to compete or like adventure and like
Speaker 1: some other like world. No way for reality for sure.
Speaker 1: Now that's cool. Well, we were talking actually before we
Speaker 1: started recording about Philip Rivers. You obviously played with them
Speaker 1: with the Chargers, such a long tenured, obviously player in
Speaker 1: the league's you go from that to justin Herbert. What's
Speaker 1: it like in that huddle on game day going from
Speaker 1: such a vet to a rookie who's ultimately going to
Speaker 1: win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Yeah, the biggest difference
Speaker 1: was just kind of you know, how we were treating
Speaker 1: how to like the vocals a huddle when he was
Speaker 1: running the Hoddle was like he knows everything. People are
Speaker 1: asking him questions, but I got this, I got right.
Speaker 1: And now with Herbert in here, especially when I first
Speaker 1: started the first game, we were just making sure like
Speaker 1: now we've all been playing together for a while. We
Speaker 1: had a lot of skilled veterans in there, and so
Speaker 1: we all knew the scheme like back for him and
Speaker 1: can run the same stuff for a long time. So
Speaker 1: we was like okay, like like there'd be times where
Speaker 1: where we messed up the play call, but then when
Speaker 1: we like correct him like us this, and so we
Speaker 1: were just like giving him confidence in us, like, hey,
Speaker 1: we know we're doing out here. We got your bad
Speaker 1: So that's like you know, three safety. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: as he continued to go through the season, you know,
Speaker 1: he started to you know, game more just experience and
Speaker 1: more knowledge of the game. And I actually saw that
Speaker 1: when I injured myself and then finally came back wide
Speaker 1: injured myself. I yeah, I injured, came back. You know,
Speaker 1: I just saw his growth as far as how he
Speaker 1: was calling plays and how he was actually like changing
Speaker 1: the protections, and it was pretty cool to see. He's
Speaker 1: a really smart guy and he's just you know, I
Speaker 1: love to be around just because he's just like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm about football and about the boys. Let's all go
Speaker 1: out here and have a good time when to a
Speaker 1: football game and so. And he's super competitive as well.
Speaker 1: I guess see get angry a few times. So I
Speaker 1: like that, Like I'm bad at the thay Man, It's
Speaker 1: okay to get angry, like you know, you didn't want
Speaker 1: that to happen. So I like seeing his his competitive
Speaker 1: side coming out too. Yeah. I like that. Do you
Speaker 1: have a good story that kind of gives us a
Speaker 1: glimpse of what He's like, I wish I had more
Speaker 1: time with him. Um, Like I said, I only played
Speaker 1: you know, like half the season. But I just remember
Speaker 1: I seeing his confidence build when it comes from told
Speaker 1: him like that what the play was, and apparently told
Speaker 1: him again because he yells, he looks inside and that
Speaker 1: goes I know, and I was like, yeah, Like at
Speaker 1: the beginning to the end of the year, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have said that, but now I'm like, Okay, now he's
Speaker 1: getting some confidence out here. Like he's getting it, you understand.
Speaker 1: And so I'd love to see that after the firing
Speaker 1: of Let's go. That's good. Well, Austin, whether it's on
Speaker 1: the real grid Iron or in your grid Iron gaming group,
Speaker 1: what can people expect from you coming up in the
Speaker 1: near future. Yeah, you know from the real grid Iron,
Speaker 1: you know, on the field, you know, my goal is
Speaker 1: always to build off for what I did last year,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I'm trying to. I love what
Speaker 1: I did last year as far as stay on the field,
Speaker 1: stay healthy. And I was putting up some numbers, I
Speaker 1: was being efficient, I was killed it. I was so
Speaker 1: excited about the season and then you know, had had
Speaker 1: some adversity come. But you know how to overcome. That's
Speaker 1: the life of an athlete, and so trying to stay
Speaker 1: on the field this entire season and then off the
Speaker 1: field and great and gaming group. For those of you
Speaker 1: that don't know, extream on twitch from Austin. On Twitch,
Speaker 1: I'll talk about a lot of mental health, talk about
Speaker 1: physical health, and talk about social life and motivations. I
Speaker 1: think it's very important for all of us to to
Speaker 1: hear you know, certain things, and I just talk about
Speaker 1: kind of my experience and sometimes it applies to people,
Speaker 1: sometimes it doesn't. But come check us out. We do
Speaker 1: bigger events. Our next big event will be around the
Speaker 1: Indie five hundred, just like we have a bunch of
Speaker 1: different athletes and gridter and gaming groups. We have Connor
Speaker 1: Daily he's an Indy car driver and that's like our
Speaker 1: next big event. It's gonna be coming up. It's no date,
Speaker 1: just you know, just follow us on Instagram or following
Speaker 1: me on Instagram to find the updates and stay connected. Awesome, Well, Austin,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for pulling up roll. We appreciate
Speaker 1: you and all the best. Thank you do you guys.
Speaker 1: M alright, guys, we are wrapping things up with this
Speaker 1: week's Lions luck our guy and maybe now officially our
Speaker 1: honorary co host Peter Andrew is back in the building now.
Speaker 1: Peter woke us through what we've got when it comes
Speaker 1: to this week's picks. Not that much exciting stuff going on.
Speaker 1: So what were some of those prop bits that we
Speaker 1: had spoken about last week? How did they pan out? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So the one, the one big one that hit, and
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of surprises last week, the
Speaker 1: one big one I was proud of was uh, I
Speaker 1: had mentioned six A C C players and seven big
Speaker 1: ten guys to be draft in the first We just
Speaker 1: hit that. Six a CC players, seven big ten players. Nice.
Speaker 1: So if you took that, you cashed in at plus
Speaker 1: three fifty, which was a nice, uh nice chunk of change.
Speaker 1: I think some of the ones I missed on Mac
Speaker 1: Jones I said to the Niners couldn't have been more
Speaker 1: wrong there. I should have known that he was going
Speaker 1: to the Paths. Trey lanceopous to go to the Niners
Speaker 1: at three. And then what I had thought was all
Speaker 1: four first picks would have been quarterbacks. I thought for
Speaker 1: sure Atlanta would have knocked out of that fourth spot
Speaker 1: and someone would have traded up like the Bears like
Speaker 1: the Pats. Looks like they both got their guy a
Speaker 1: little later. So that didn't hit either. So I'm happy
Speaker 1: to say that one hit and it was a plus
Speaker 1: three fifty, but a couple other ones didn't. And then
Speaker 1: my my favorite one that'speedy you loved was Mr Irrelevant
Speaker 1: to be a kicker, happer, punter. It was a linebacker,
Speaker 1: so we missed on that, but that one that payout
Speaker 1: was huge, right, it was huge plus twelve hundred. So
Speaker 1: I'm hoping this guy converts to a kicker or a
Speaker 1: long snipe and went down the line and then we're
Speaker 1: getting our money back a retroactive win. I love that now,
Speaker 1: Peter explained to us as hosts, but also just all
Speaker 1: of our listeners, because I don't know this when you're
Speaker 1: watching the draft or any other event that we talked about.
Speaker 1: How do you watch it from the side of the house. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. So I'm I've got like the Angel and
Speaker 1: Devil on my shoulders. Basically because forty Niners fan Pete
Speaker 1: is rooting for tray Land. It's rotten for a quarterback.
Speaker 1: But then I know about all the liability that we
Speaker 1: have on the back end and who we need to hit.
Speaker 1: So I have to eventually pick a pick aside and
Speaker 1: say do I want to see us lose X amount
Speaker 1: of money or do I want what I want as
Speaker 1: a fan. So it's really tough. Yeah, I think in
Speaker 1: the sense of the Niners getting tray Lance, it worked
Speaker 1: in our favor. The money was big on mac Jones
Speaker 1: and on fields, so it ends up being the perfect scenario.
Speaker 1: But there's plenty of times where it's not. So it's
Speaker 1: it's really difficult more for the trading guys. Me as
Speaker 1: the marketing guy can kind of get away with a
Speaker 1: little bit, but it's difficult. Absolutely. And this weekend, as
Speaker 1: Speedy mentioned, there's not a whole lot going on in
Speaker 1: the world of sports, but there is in golf the
Speaker 1: Wells Fargo Championship that's in Charlotte. What is a smart
Speaker 1: bet to place this weekend? Yeah, so quiet week as
Speaker 1: we make our way to ny HN NBA Player offs.
Speaker 1: But Wells Fargo has a great a great group this week.
Speaker 1: I think you have some value picks and got some favorites.
Speaker 1: Rory justin Thomas. They both love this course. Rory's won
Speaker 1: there a couple of times. I think JT one in seventeen,
Speaker 1: so j T at plus a thousand I think is
Speaker 1: a good bet, and then Rory's plus eighteen hundred, so
Speaker 1: both should play well. I know Rory has been struggling
Speaker 1: a bit, but like I said, he loves his course,
Speaker 1: so I think he'll do good out in Charlotte, and
Speaker 1: then we get some value picks. I'm a little biased
Speaker 1: because Max Home was a bet MGM guy, so I
Speaker 1: have to always do it from my guy there. He's
Speaker 1: plus four thousand. He actually is the defending champion, so
Speaker 1: he plays well for at the Wells Fargo as well.
Speaker 1: And then you have Kegan Bradley, who hapens to be
Speaker 1: a former St. John's guy. Another guy who had really
Speaker 1: good performance this week at the Vallas Bar. I think
Speaker 1: human second or third. He's plus five thousand. So both
Speaker 1: those guys, you know, the mid level kind of guys.
Speaker 1: I think they both have a decent opportunity to show.
Speaker 1: And then my last guy is a long shot a
Speaker 1: hundred twenty five to one Aaron Wise. He was actually
Speaker 1: the runner up to Jason Day back in I think
Speaker 1: he only lost by two or three strokes. So if
Speaker 1: you're willing to put ten Bucks on one shot why not?
Speaker 1: Why not be Eroni was Yeah, I like that one
Speaker 1: a lot, Peter. You know, I I always have my
Speaker 1: notebook open when you are giving us some stuff in
Speaker 1: the hopes that maybe I'll hit it big. But just
Speaker 1: being that this was a slow week, what do you
Speaker 1: got coming up for us over the course of the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks. What are some big sporting events
Speaker 1: that we can be looking to bet on or maybe
Speaker 1: some big bets that are coming down the pipeline. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's it's gonna be really interesting to see once
Speaker 1: the NBA and NHL seasons wrap up. Obviously we're still
Speaker 1: finalizing who's in playing tournment for NBA is can be huge.
Speaker 1: You got a team like the Lakers that are sitting
Speaker 1: in seven that might be playing in that playing game,
Speaker 1: so a lot of things can happen in shake up
Speaker 1: during that. So of course the two big sports we
Speaker 1: should be focused on is that. But then we're getting
Speaker 1: into some big things. You know, We're getting into the
Speaker 1: PGA Championship, We're getting into the French Open, so the
Speaker 1: second major of the year for tennis. And then what
Speaker 1: it's really exciting I think is the Euros in June.
Speaker 1: A lot of people, especially during COVID, haven't seen a
Speaker 1: lot of guys like Ronaldo, teams like Portugal Spain. You know,
Speaker 1: deals were supposed happen last year and they unfortunately got canceled.
Speaker 1: So I think you get to get some events like that.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really exciting summer, and then it kicks
Speaker 1: us right into the rest of baseball, into NFL. So
Speaker 1: so there's a lot to look forward to, but certainly
Speaker 1: NHL NBA are at the forefront of it. Well, we
Speaker 1: look forward to talking about all that excitement coming up
Speaker 1: with you for the next couple of weeks. Peter, thanks
Speaker 1: again for your insight. Yeah, thanks so much, guys, talk
Speaker 1: next week. Alright, guys, that's a rap from us here
Speaker 1: on Unleashed. Make sure to check out all of the
Speaker 1: action from bit MGM. You can follow them everywhere on
Speaker 1: social media at bit MGM. As always, we only ask
Speaker 1: one favor of you all. Please leave a review of
Speaker 1: the show on Apple Podcasts and follow us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Until next week, guys, piece