Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to another edition of Club Shasha. I am
Speaker 1: your host, Shannon Sharp, also the proprietor of Club Shasha.
Speaker 1: The guy that's coming by today for drink and conversation,
Speaker 1: is one of the most swagging alicious guys in all
Speaker 1: the NFL. He's definitely the most swaggon alicious tight end.
Speaker 1: He's a Super Bowl champ, six time Pro Bowl, two
Speaker 1: time first Team All Pro, and he has five consecutive
Speaker 1: one thousand yard receiving seasons. The Great Travis Kelt all
Speaker 1: my life, the grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle beg pricing,
Speaker 1: one slice, got the bron dice swath all my life.
Speaker 1: I've been grinding all my life, all my life, the
Speaker 1: running all my life, sacrifice, hustle beg prices, one a slice,
Speaker 1: got the dice to swap all my life. I've been
Speaker 1: running in all my life. Nephew, what's going on? Uh?
Speaker 1: What's going on? Shannon? Man, it's a it's a pleasure.
Speaker 1: I told you right before, A man, it's a pleasure
Speaker 1: to be on here. Man. You were You're one of
Speaker 1: the goats that that laid out this platform of success
Speaker 1: for a young tight end like myself to come through
Speaker 1: on and I appreciate deeply for it. Man, Man, I
Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming on. I know it was kind
Speaker 1: of last minute. We kind of threw this thing together.
Speaker 1: I reached out to you and ask you could you
Speaker 1: do it? You say, brouh, no problem. Let me get
Speaker 1: back to you within a day. Here we are doing
Speaker 1: this interview. First of all, I want to congratulate you.
Speaker 1: Congratulate you on a great regular season. At the start
Speaker 1: of your season, tell me what are your thought process?
Speaker 1: What are your goals? How do you go about laying
Speaker 1: out this is what I want to accomplish in a
Speaker 1: given season. Well, I think the biggest thing about setting
Speaker 1: goals is you have to review. You have to you
Speaker 1: have to study yourself. You have to figure out how
Speaker 1: do I get better, how to where at what points
Speaker 1: of my game can I have more success to help
Speaker 1: the team out. And the biggest thing for me was
Speaker 1: I had I had way too many drops. I had
Speaker 1: way too many routes that I did not get open
Speaker 1: on which I had a feel that I could have
Speaker 1: gotten open on it. So that's helping our path, that's
Speaker 1: helping out the offense move the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: In terms of first downs. I wanted to do more
Speaker 1: more in terms of that, and then touchdowns. I wanted
Speaker 1: to put more touchdowns up. I thought anything in single
Speaker 1: digits just isn't enough. I'm not doing enough for my team.
Speaker 1: So individually, you said, you set you know, goals for yourself, Uh, statistically,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, I mean, winning
Speaker 1: every single game was It was the biggest thing on
Speaker 1: my mind. I felt like our team was good enough offensively,
Speaker 1: defensively and special teams wise to go out there and
Speaker 1: uh and win every single game. And so far, we're
Speaker 1: very close to that. But we're we're working for the
Speaker 1: number one goal, which is to get another Super Bowl. Man.
Speaker 1: When when when I hear you talking, you say about drops.
Speaker 1: And I've always looked at guys, guys that catch a
Speaker 1: lot of passes, done a great run after the catch,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have drops because they're always looking to make
Speaker 1: that big play. And you consider yourself not only just
Speaker 1: a typical tight end, you are a big play. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna need a hundred yards. I need touchdowns to get
Speaker 1: down the fielding. Sometimes you have to take you off
Speaker 1: the ball. You're like, okay, I got this. In turn
Speaker 1: and try to locate that defender as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's all focused.
Speaker 1: And then what comes with that is understanding and being
Speaker 1: aware of the things around you. So knowing what coverage
Speaker 1: it is, knowing where your head is coming from, increases
Speaker 1: when you get the ball to be able to split
Speaker 1: the fenders and get north. Little stuff like that. It's
Speaker 1: being more aware so you can focus on the football,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh and and put in the work
Speaker 1: with the quarterbacks to make sure that you guys are
Speaker 1: on the same pages in terms of what they like
Speaker 1: to see or where they like to see. You feel
Speaker 1: the voids depending on what the defense is presenting. So
Speaker 1: it's just making sure you're on It's a team game,
Speaker 1: right Stop trying to either help pull the fenders to
Speaker 1: help guys get open or at the same time be
Speaker 1: able to get the ball north as fast as possible.
Speaker 1: But I think having having drops it in themselves or
Speaker 1: any excuse of all, it is just lack of focus.
Speaker 1: And over the course of my career, I've really tried
Speaker 1: to hone in on on staying focused throughout the course
Speaker 1: of the game and not letting the game become too
Speaker 1: much trap them been several tight ends to have a
Speaker 1: hundred kids seasons, have a hundred catch in a season.
Speaker 1: You're the only tight end that's ever done it twice.
Speaker 1: And to do it coming off of Super Bowl, when
Speaker 1: a lot of times people have what they call a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl hangover. How were you able to stay focused
Speaker 1: and like, Okay, yes I want a super Bowl, Yes
Speaker 1: my team want a super Bowl. But I can come
Speaker 1: back and I can be better, even better than last year,
Speaker 1: and help this team repeat. I would like to think
Speaker 1: of it as what are you trying to be? Are
Speaker 1: you always chasing greatness? You know? And when and when
Speaker 1: this greatness stop? It never stops. So as long as
Speaker 1: I'm putting on these pads, I'm finding a way to
Speaker 1: get better and better every single year. With that being said,
Speaker 1: I'm in an extremely fortunate situation. I'm sure you turn
Speaker 1: on the film and you watch the film and you,
Speaker 1: you know, might have wished you had the opportunities that
Speaker 1: I was getting. I mean, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I'm getting the ball thrown to me like I am
Speaker 1: a wide receiver, and I understand tight ends don't get
Speaker 1: that across the league. And it took a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of guys before my time, yourself, Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: The list goes on. I mean the list goes on.
Speaker 1: But it took guys like that to gain the trust,
Speaker 1: for coaches to be able to implement a guy like
Speaker 1: me in their game plan and be able to get
Speaker 1: me the ball as much as possible. Like that, I'm
Speaker 1: very fortunate to be able to have coach read And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, one five is back there
Speaker 1: slicing up the defense anyway you can and taking an
Speaker 1: advantage of matchup. So NonStop, just trying to make sure
Speaker 1: that I'm there for my teammates and always chasing greatness.
Speaker 1: Travel When I look at your stats, like I said,
Speaker 1: you have five consecutive one thousand yard receiving seasons, over
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred yards receiving season and given year two years
Speaker 1: in what you call for a hundred receptions. When I
Speaker 1: first got into the league, that was reserved for the elite,
Speaker 1: elite wide receivers. The Jerry Rice is my brother, Chris Carters.
Speaker 1: There are very few receivers that could put up those
Speaker 1: numbers that you're putting up as a tight end. Do
Speaker 1: you understand what you're doing and how special it actually
Speaker 1: is I'm not gonna lie, honestly, I'm just appreciative of
Speaker 1: the opportunity and I just go to work every single
Speaker 1: day thank for for the opportunity that I have to
Speaker 1: play this position in this offense and get this much
Speaker 1: trust from the coaches, from the from the offensive personnel
Speaker 1: to be able to you know, have that success for
Speaker 1: the team. And I see that. I'm not blind. I
Speaker 1: see what's going on across the NFL and what history
Speaker 1: has told us, and the tight end position has been
Speaker 1: very It's been put in a bubble for a long
Speaker 1: long time, and I feel like, uh, it is such
Speaker 1: a mismatch all over the field if used correctly and
Speaker 1: if and if the tight end has enough pride to
Speaker 1: take his ownership in his craft, that is, knowing the
Speaker 1: entire offense, having the responsibility of doing that, make it
Speaker 1: sure your on time and prompt for your other teammates.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely thankful that I get this opportunity every single
Speaker 1: day to put up these numbers. Man, when I look
Speaker 1: at the evolution of the tight end position, the guys
Speaker 1: are getting bigger. Dude. I played basically my whole career
Speaker 1: at about two twenty five, two twenty eight you guys play,
Speaker 1: you are out there, said two twenty. I was that
Speaker 1: most of my career. I played between two two twenty
Speaker 1: five and two twenty eight. When they first moved me
Speaker 1: to tight end, I weighed two twelve. They were ragged on.
Speaker 1: I had to get in, I had to get in
Speaker 1: the weight room, start pumping, spied. But when I look
Speaker 1: at the evolution of the tight end, the guys have
Speaker 1: gotten more angular six five six six, two forty five
Speaker 1: to two sixty five as a p and you guys
Speaker 1: are not really the receivers you got like basketball player.
Speaker 1: You guys are like a power forward or a small forward.
Speaker 1: Talk about what your ability at being six five and
Speaker 1: a half two fifty five. I'll say this, I was
Speaker 1: always I was always tall and lanky, and then when
Speaker 1: I got to when I got to college, I really
Speaker 1: put on the way okay, and it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was definitely party way. It wasn't it was. It
Speaker 1: was a whole lot of kega. It wasn't a weight
Speaker 1: room weight. It wasn't that way room weight. It was
Speaker 1: one of those you got the body taking a picture
Speaker 1: of the body in the weight room, and you can
Speaker 1: tell I ain't been in the way room too much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so moving the tight end obviously, you find out
Speaker 1: real soon that you got to get in the weight room.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to protect the shoulders. You
Speaker 1: have to be able to get the leg strength to
Speaker 1: be able to drive block somebody, not just once, but
Speaker 1: when it's played fifteen down on the goal line. You
Speaker 1: have to be able to train yourself to be able
Speaker 1: to do stuff mentally and go beyond. And that's why
Speaker 1: I really found a love for this game because growing
Speaker 1: up and you can see it in the way I played,
Speaker 1: basketball is my favorite sport. You could throw in hockey
Speaker 1: and stuff like that when I was a kid. But
Speaker 1: one when I really started taking sports seriously in high school,
Speaker 1: basketball too over everything. And I I was one of
Speaker 1: those like you just said, that's small forward, power forward.
Speaker 1: If I had a bigger guy, I'd take him out
Speaker 1: of the wing. If I had a smaller guy, I'd
Speaker 1: take him down into the post. And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: I did onto the football field. If I had a
Speaker 1: smaller guy, I've been fortunate enough to coach Reid is
Speaker 1: kind of giving me and placed me into these opportunities.
Speaker 1: If I got a smaller guy who kind of played
Speaker 1: more of a big body kind of rolling. If I
Speaker 1: got a bigger guy, use my speed and my agility
Speaker 1: and my wiggle to to be able to maneuver around him.
Speaker 1: And when you see my routesh, it's almost like I
Speaker 1: got a basketball in my hand, and my handles were suspect.
Speaker 1: That's why. That's why I'm on the football and we suspect.
Speaker 1: But I always had the ability to make plays see
Speaker 1: the floor, and I think that that helped out tremendously.
Speaker 1: Being in the quarterback room my first couple of years
Speaker 1: of college helped out tremendously. Understanding what the quarterback was thinking,
Speaker 1: so I could be on the same page as him,
Speaker 1: timing when the ball needs to be out, in terms
Speaker 1: of leverages, what guys are doing defensively, in terms of
Speaker 1: how they're playing their leverage, and really just seeing the
Speaker 1: field instead of just being in this lane of running
Speaker 1: a paper route, you know. And from there, I've just
Speaker 1: been able to have success with him and just keep
Speaker 1: going up and up. I always tell guys coming into
Speaker 1: the coming into the league, or young guys playing tight end,
Speaker 1: be an artist. Yeah, there's they're they're on on paper.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a certain route, you're gonna have a slant,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a corner route. Being an artist though,
Speaker 1: the quarterback creativity creativity, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: be an artist out there and paint that picture for
Speaker 1: the quarterback as long as you're on time and where
Speaker 1: you need to be you how you go about that
Speaker 1: is on the and that's where you really, uh, your
Speaker 1: athleticism take shape, and that's your identity. And and man,
Speaker 1: I can't I can't tell you how much that's helped
Speaker 1: me out in terms of being being a tight end,
Speaker 1: because there's times, well I'll leave a game and a
Speaker 1: guy I'll come up with me and say, listen, man,
Speaker 1: the whole game, I didn't know which way you were going, right,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to manipulate
Speaker 1: your mind that I'm doing something else all the time,
Speaker 1: so it keeps the defense at a reactionary position. You played,
Speaker 1: you say, for the better part of your career growing
Speaker 1: up you were a college quarterback. And but for you
Speaker 1: to transition to tight end, now, I did play one year.
Speaker 1: I played tight end one year of high school, played
Speaker 1: tight end one year of college. So it was really
Speaker 1: a natural transition for me to go from a big
Speaker 1: wide receiver down to the tight end position, but for
Speaker 1: your mindset to be a quarterback quarterback and the number
Speaker 1: glamor position. You got your little jersey tug. Then you
Speaker 1: got your little towel. You know you created, you know
Speaker 1: you look at all good everybody to change your mindset
Speaker 1: to know, I gotta get grinding. I got TAM's on now.
Speaker 1: Ain't no more nice sneaks on out here. I got
Speaker 1: to get grinding because I might have to block thirty
Speaker 1: times a game. But also I got to have the
Speaker 1: ballot the ballet to be able to catch ten fifteen malls.
Speaker 1: If I need to tell me about the transition that
Speaker 1: you had to go through, well it's it's definitely a
Speaker 1: different mindset and the and the reason, the biggest reason
Speaker 1: why I think I made the transition so comfortably is
Speaker 1: because I owned it. I didn't. I didn't go to
Speaker 1: that position. I see a lot of guys transition to
Speaker 1: that position and think to themselves, I'm still really a
Speaker 1: wide exactly exactly, so they see I'm moving to tight
Speaker 1: end because they think I can't run routes. No, your
Speaker 1: body type is just that much more student for this position. Right,
Speaker 1: But this isn't that much more shooting for this position,
Speaker 1: and guys, guys don't just attack me personally. I knew
Speaker 1: I wasn't a quarterback. I wasn't the guy who was gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, on the suit and tie and keep a
Speaker 1: clean cut. I was the I was the rebel. Right,
Speaker 1: So then it is what it is. I've learned a
Speaker 1: lot through being that guy in and I've become a
Speaker 1: lot more mature throughout my career and throughout my life
Speaker 1: because I've understood that that I was that guy. But
Speaker 1: transitioning into the tight end room. I grew up playing hockey,
Speaker 1: I grew up playing lacrosse, all these physical sports. I
Speaker 1: was a little brother, so I was getting beat up
Speaker 1: on by guys that were two years older than me.
Speaker 1: And everything that I did, I had that that ability
Speaker 1: to be able to get knocked down and feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with all I can get back up and still and
Speaker 1: still do my job. And when you transition, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have You're gonna have failure. You're gonna have that failure
Speaker 1: to just you don't know what you don't know, right,
Speaker 1: you know that you know going into a block in
Speaker 1: terms of the half placement. I didn't had no idea
Speaker 1: what heading hands and driving your feet and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: getting on the track I did. I didn't understand any
Speaker 1: of this transitioning into this when when I'm being taught this,
Speaker 1: it's all starting to make sense. Right as I got
Speaker 1: in the weight room, I was able to stay on
Speaker 1: my blocks, be able to have success with them, the
Speaker 1: fundamentals that I was being taught and and it just
Speaker 1: skyrocketed from there. But the transition into tight end transition
Speaker 1: into anything in life, you have to be aware that
Speaker 1: you're gonna hit that versus right, he's gonna set in
Speaker 1: because it's it's the battle of the unknown. You just
Speaker 1: don't know that you don't know these things, and you
Speaker 1: have to go through something to be able to figure
Speaker 1: them out. And honestly, I fell in love with that.
Speaker 1: I fell in love with the grind. I fell in
Speaker 1: love with the ability to persevere through, you know, screwing
Speaker 1: up something at one point in time and then coming
Speaker 1: back to the next play and having success knowing that
Speaker 1: you know, this is what happened last time, this is
Speaker 1: what I have to do this time. It sounds like
Speaker 1: to me, your attitude played a huge part and you
Speaker 1: being able to transition as smooth and as effortless lee
Speaker 1: as you did. Because I remember when Dan Reeves they
Speaker 1: asked me to transition from a big wide receiver to
Speaker 1: tight end. The only thing I ask him, am I
Speaker 1: gonna get an opportunity to play? Because at that time
Speaker 1: I was barely playing like five or six nats on offense.
Speaker 1: I was mainly a special teams player. But the hardest
Speaker 1: part was not being able to be to see success instantly.
Speaker 1: Guys were just throwing me around, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: get off blocks. I'm like, man, all this space, you
Speaker 1: try to, they shove you down into the offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: you run into the defensive lineman. So it's like, man,
Speaker 1: am I ever gonna be good at this? And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you just keep working, You get better
Speaker 1: and better, You get better and better, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you're like, how I could be a
Speaker 1: wide received by that catching ten passes twenty pass a year. Well,
Speaker 1: I could be a tight end that here eight ball
Speaker 1: the year. Yeah, I think I like this with a
Speaker 1: little better. What you did was you found success in
Speaker 1: the routine that you were having. So whether the routine
Speaker 1: was practice, every single day, or getting in the weight
Speaker 1: room being able to you know, lift weights and get
Speaker 1: stronger so you can take on these d linemen, earth,
Speaker 1: these linebackers. And and that's the biggest thing is is
Speaker 1: finding and trusting that routine a success. I was coming in,
Speaker 1: I was going to practice once I moved to the
Speaker 1: tight end. I was going to practice ten minutes early,
Speaker 1: just to get my head and hands on somebody, just
Speaker 1: just to get that that feeling of drive, blocking, rolling
Speaker 1: the hips and lifting somebody. Yep, those little things over
Speaker 1: the course of time become so routine that it just
Speaker 1: it's natural on the field. And when you have your
Speaker 1: fundamental so natural that you don't have to think about,
Speaker 1: that's when you can really really take advantagementally of what's
Speaker 1: going on out there on the field. And as you know,
Speaker 1: this game is mental. Really, it really is an understanding
Speaker 1: down in the distance area of the field. And that's
Speaker 1: what I tellgether, Like, guy, how do you get beat inside?
Speaker 1: You know it's thirty one, you know it's fourth and one.
Speaker 1: You know he's gonna try and cross your face. Don't
Speaker 1: let him, Indian, don't let him cross your face. Listen
Speaker 1: that you know we're out here to manipulate man my
Speaker 1: life getting tricks. Every tight end you go back through
Speaker 1: through eras, all the tight ends had another guy that
Speaker 1: was very comfortable to them. We go back to the
Speaker 1: you know, sixties, you got Mac and Dicka. You come
Speaker 1: to the seventies and eighties, you got Killing Winslow and
Speaker 1: Ozzy Newsome. Myself, Ben coached Gonzo, and then it was
Speaker 1: Gonzo Winton and Antonio Gates. Then it was Gronk and
Speaker 1: you and Kittle. You and Kittle have a very interesting relationship.
Speaker 1: You broke the record and then he comes let later
Speaker 1: today he rebrakes it. Now you take it back. You
Speaker 1: guys have been going back and forth, back and forth.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about your relationship with Kidd Man. He's
Speaker 1: he's unbelievable man, unbelievable guy on the field, off the field.
Speaker 1: Can't say enough good things about him. Uh, and then
Speaker 1: especially what he can do with the football in his hands.
Speaker 1: I think that. I mean, obviously, his blocking is second
Speaker 1: to nobody that I've played a position. But on top
Speaker 1: of on top of that, when he gets the ball,
Speaker 1: man he turns into like the Tasmanian devil man. He
Speaker 1: just it's like he's a maniac and uncontrolled maniac and
Speaker 1: uh and it's just it's awesome to see see him
Speaker 1: grow throughout the league, knowing that he was a fifth
Speaker 1: round pick, the guy that really had to work for
Speaker 1: his way, uh to and gaining the trust of his
Speaker 1: coaches and his team. And yeah, I just think that
Speaker 1: as as a tight end kind of union that we
Speaker 1: have man showing love to to fellow tight ends and
Speaker 1: being being excited for their success. Man, it only helps
Speaker 1: out guys in the other positions around the league. And
Speaker 1: right now five is doing the same. France is setting
Speaker 1: up These are these up and coming guys that don't
Speaker 1: even know that that he's laying out the groundwork for them.
Speaker 1: And we just keep raising the bar, you know, you
Speaker 1: just keep raising the bar. You see what a guy
Speaker 1: across from you is doing in it. And it's it's
Speaker 1: a competitive world. You know. I'm not I'm I'm somebody
Speaker 1: who won't see me getting anything conflicting outside of football.
Speaker 1: But once it comes to being competitive, man, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: compete my tail off and I'm gonna be in your
Speaker 1: grill the whole game. You talk about your relationships. You
Speaker 1: got Patrick Mahomes who has a ninety nine rating in Madden.
Speaker 1: You have a ninety nine rating in Madden you're the
Speaker 1: only You're the only team to have two guys on
Speaker 1: one team with nine and nine rating, and Tyree has
Speaker 1: a ninety eight rating. He talks about your relationship, he
Speaker 1: should have been ninety nine before the year started. Many
Speaker 1: his most unstoppable player in the National Football League. If
Speaker 1: you don't have two guys on him on every past
Speaker 1: CONDI it's liable to be a touchdown. And I'm not
Speaker 1: just I'm talking about one of those daggers that you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, the sixty yard and seven yard
Speaker 1: bombs that just take the wind out of here. And
Speaker 1: what he can do all I mean, the most dynamic
Speaker 1: football player I've ever seen. Talking about track speed. There's
Speaker 1: been plenty of guys that have ran four twos in
Speaker 1: the National Football League, but this guy, what he can
Speaker 1: do with the ball in his hands outside of just
Speaker 1: his speed, be able to hit somebody with a hesitation
Speaker 1: and hit the sideline, being able to route up a
Speaker 1: cornerback who has to They have to have to take
Speaker 1: off the top of the deeva, they have to play
Speaker 1: deep for him to be able to understand how teams
Speaker 1: are playing him and mentally still get open and still
Speaker 1: have the success he's doing. Man, I don't think that
Speaker 1: guy gets enough credit. Man, he should have been ninety
Speaker 1: nine and four is off when I watch him. I
Speaker 1: look at a guy that came in mainly as a
Speaker 1: return specialist, and he relied solely on speed. He didn't
Speaker 1: understand how to set guys up. He didn't understand how
Speaker 1: run routs, and one thing led to another. Now I
Speaker 1: watch a guy that can run the route tree, that
Speaker 1: can set you up, that can put you in a situation.
Speaker 1: Oh you think a friend to run deep? Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: stopping right here. Throw it to him, and now I
Speaker 1: face you up. I've never seen a guy accelerate like him.
Speaker 1: And I've been around some guys that run four three
Speaker 1: runs a sub for three, But I've never seen a
Speaker 1: guy accelerate. I'm talking about from from a dad dad
Speaker 1: steel position to he's one hundred miles an hour. I've
Speaker 1: never seen anything like it. Man, I'm telling you, it
Speaker 1: makes you and and it never gets old. I'll tell you,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. It blows my mind every single
Speaker 1: time I see it happen. The last time I happened
Speaker 1: was in Miami. He gave a corner, he got a
Speaker 1: little jet sweep because you know, get him on the
Speaker 1: primmet right. Yes, so he got a jet sweep, split
Speaker 1: split two defenders and then had a one guy had
Speaker 1: an angle on him, and I'll tell you he smoked
Speaker 1: that angle within half a second and the guy had
Speaker 1: no chance and then just went up the sideline for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. It amazes you every single time time and
Speaker 1: his development into the being, you know, the best wide
Speaker 1: receiver in the National Football League every single game, The
Speaker 1: accountability he puts on himself. It's really creating his own
Speaker 1: new route tree because of how fast he is. Most
Speaker 1: of his routes are twenty yards downfield. When I tell you,
Speaker 1: if I if I get twenty yards down field, that
Speaker 1: ball better be out. Now. They get along to get
Speaker 1: to get into twenty yards. Pat doesn't have that much time. Tyreek, Tyreek.
Speaker 1: He just takes He takes four or five moves twenty
Speaker 1: yards downfield. Now, I mean, you just can't cover that.
Speaker 1: And the stress he puts on the defense. A second,
Speaker 1: another talk about your quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. You were there
Speaker 1: when he arrived. They trade up to get him with
Speaker 1: the tenth pick in the draft. They told they they
Speaker 1: moved heaven and Earth. What were you thinking on draft
Speaker 1: night when Andy moves up seventeen spots to take Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: What was going through your mind when you see him there?
Speaker 1: You're like, Okay, when did you and when did you know?
Speaker 1: Like this kid's special? I would say I was. I
Speaker 1: was just reading Tyreek Hill said he can't let the
Speaker 1: cat out of the bag and said, oh, we all
Speaker 1: thought he was trash. I'm when I tell you that
Speaker 1: he that never went across my mind that he was trashed.
Speaker 1: Tyre was just messing with him. But you could tell
Speaker 1: the moment he walked in the room, how personable he was,
Speaker 1: how his energy, you know, how excited he was to
Speaker 1: just be in the building. You could tell right then
Speaker 1: and there that guy was special. I didn't know necessarily
Speaker 1: how great of an army had. You know, everyone talks
Speaker 1: about how far he could throw in a Texas Tech
Speaker 1: and this and that. But seeing him develop from just
Speaker 1: a gun slinger, I mean his first year, his first
Speaker 1: true year in the league, which was which was his
Speaker 1: second year, his first true year in the league. Seeing
Speaker 1: him develop from just a natural gun slinger to being
Speaker 1: able to create a routine of successful that watching film.
Speaker 1: He watches film before before he was even in the league.
Speaker 1: He's watching film of certain teams and certain defenses. And
Speaker 1: he's got these notebooks that just get packed with what
Speaker 1: looks like chicken scratch. But it's like it's like decipher
Speaker 1: and a code to him, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: It's all it's all his letter and all his wording,
Speaker 1: but it all makes sense to him. Right. It was
Speaker 1: this weekend, week out and just keeps getting better and
Speaker 1: better and better and better. To be able to sit
Speaker 1: behind Alex, I think that helped him out a lot.
Speaker 1: But I also think that he was going to have
Speaker 1: success no matter where he went. Man. The guy's determination,
Speaker 1: his ability to just feel comfortable out there and uh
Speaker 1: and be able to sling the rock however he feels
Speaker 1: it is necessary. Man, It's it's been a pleasure to
Speaker 1: work with him and see him growing to the best
Speaker 1: player in the National Football League. Well, I knew it
Speaker 1: was special when you when they when you guys rested
Speaker 1: Alex in week seventeen and you went to Denver and
Speaker 1: it was cold and he threw for like three He's
Speaker 1: been like three touchdown. I say, this dude can play.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like no, no, this dude, this dude can play.
Speaker 1: And it was it was like you can know, you
Speaker 1: get those those Texas tech gun slingers. Man, they only
Speaker 1: know how to throw it in a hundred degree heat,
Speaker 1: right and it was ice cold, you know, yes, in
Speaker 1: late December early January. I mean I'm talking about ten
Speaker 1: degrees was as hot as it got and it was
Speaker 1: it was it was ice on the field. So for
Speaker 1: him to go out there and still be able to
Speaker 1: sling it the way he did, man, with the confidence
Speaker 1: that he had, it was definitely special. But there were
Speaker 1: there were there were throws throughout the year that I
Speaker 1: saw on scout team and the stuff that he was doing.
Speaker 1: W I was like, listen, man, this guy's this guy's
Speaker 1: got it. I don't know. I don't know how this
Speaker 1: offense is gonna change when he takes when he takes
Speaker 1: the lead, or when he when he takes over the huddle.
Speaker 1: But he's got it, man. Andy doesn't. And I've known
Speaker 1: that Andy was my brother's offensive coordinated when he was
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. Yeah, and so he's very imaginative and
Speaker 1: he's gonna get his playmakers the football. He you mentioned
Speaker 1: something about how he tries to go about and tries
Speaker 1: to find a mismatch and when he finds that he's
Speaker 1: gonna take advantage of you. You go back to Tampa. Well,
Speaker 1: they were gonna single to Tyree and he's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make you double Tyreek. And then you look
Speaker 1: at the next two weeks you have back to back.
Speaker 1: I think, if I'm not mistaken, eight cases, one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty two hundred and thirty six yards. So going
Speaker 1: to the mind of Andy, what is it? What is
Speaker 1: it like playing for Andy? First off, it's an absolute blast. Man.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about a personable guy, the ultimate
Speaker 1: leader exactly. You know how how how many different personalities
Speaker 1: you have in an NFL locker room? Man, Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: so many different different people from different walks of life.
Speaker 1: You have to be able to relate to all of
Speaker 1: these types of people as as a as a grown
Speaker 1: man in the NFL, you have to be able to
Speaker 1: expect as a head coach in the NFL, you have
Speaker 1: to be able to relate to all these grown men. Right.
Speaker 1: That's what coach Reid does is he does an unbelievable
Speaker 1: job of of fueling guys would trust that this process
Speaker 1: works with on top of that, being able to have
Speaker 1: the discipline to be able to talk to a guy
Speaker 1: as a man and tell him you need to work
Speaker 1: a little harder, you need to do this, you need
Speaker 1: to do that. Get that respect out of somebody. And
Speaker 1: Coach Reid doesn't like nobody else. Man. He tells everybody,
Speaker 1: let a personality show, but no, we're going to go
Speaker 1: to work and h And ever since I got into
Speaker 1: the league, man, I've just been like a fly on
Speaker 1: the wall every every single thing that he's taught in
Speaker 1: the offensive room, I've listened to, whether it's to the
Speaker 1: running backs, to the quarterback, to the offensive line, and
Speaker 1: to the wide receivers or to other tight ends. I've
Speaker 1: listened to every single thing that he has to say.
Speaker 1: And his overall knowledge of the game is second to none, man.
Speaker 1: And I've learned just so much just by listening to
Speaker 1: him talk to everybody that I've literally given him no
Speaker 1: reason to put me anywhere on the field. And with that,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you get everybody with that kind of
Speaker 1: mentality and you it just makes it that much harder
Speaker 1: on the defense. Zero indicators for the defense to be
Speaker 1: able to say that that I'm running a certain router,
Speaker 1: that somebody else is running a certain round. It just
Speaker 1: opens everything up. I'm watching him call plays and he'll
Speaker 1: try anything anywhere you try to throw a pass. He's
Speaker 1: letting save me walking through a pass. Uh. Your your
Speaker 1: your completion percentage is not very good. Our skill set,
Speaker 1: our skill positions on the offense, I think we got
Speaker 1: like three or four picks as as an offense and
Speaker 1: as a skill pause. I don't know you'll be seeing
Speaker 1: us pass the ball anytime. I'm been waiting on Tyreek
Speaker 1: now to make it complete, to let Tyreek throw one,
Speaker 1: and then then then it'll be done. With the wide
Speaker 1: receivers and tied in throwing passes, you already know. We
Speaker 1: only got one more opportunity until it's everything's boxed. But
Speaker 1: that's coach read that's his personality. Man. He likes to
Speaker 1: have fun and let guys. He likes the offense to
Speaker 1: be be a whole lot of fun for everybody. And
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna give guys opportunities that they typically
Speaker 1: wouldn't have otherwise. What's Patrick Mahomes like in situations? Because
Speaker 1: you look at the last several weeks, you guys have
Speaker 1: needed to go down and get scores in order to
Speaker 1: win the game. What's this the meanor like normally and
Speaker 1: what's this demeanor like in situations where you need a
Speaker 1: field goal or you need to touch down in order
Speaker 1: to win this game. You can see it on his face. Man,
Speaker 1: he just locks into another degree. And it's not that
Speaker 1: he wasn't locked in before. He just the confidence that
Speaker 1: he has. And I really think it all pays tricky
Speaker 1: to how much how much film he watches and how
Speaker 1: much he dissects the defense before going into a game,
Speaker 1: because in the crucial moments, the moments where we needed
Speaker 1: the most, the moments where you need to focus the
Speaker 1: most and understand what's going on with the defense the most,
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes is always ready. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: the ball is always where it needs to be and
Speaker 1: we always move the chains. And you can't say enough
Speaker 1: about that because because situational football, I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty. That's one of the fourth quarter, four
Speaker 1: minutes left in the game, down to score, maybe down
Speaker 1: two scores. What are we doing? What kind of motor
Speaker 1: we in? We need a leader to be confident in
Speaker 1: what we're doing and how we're going about our business.
Speaker 1: And one five, I mean second and none. He's always
Speaker 1: right on time, always on point in terms of throwing
Speaker 1: the ball, in terms of what we're doing, in terms
Speaker 1: of blitch pick up. He just has everything, everything figured out, man,
Speaker 1: And I think it all pays tribute to how much
Speaker 1: he works and how much mental acuity. He really asks.
Speaker 1: When I look at you, guys that you mentioned formade
Speaker 1: the offense, I formadd offense. When I was in Denver
Speaker 1: in the West Coast system, it was two tight ends,
Speaker 1: two backs on a wide receiver. You guys basically staying
Speaker 1: you're saying you stay in your same formation, three wives,
Speaker 1: eleven person basically eleven personnel. And I'm like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: And you look at Tampa on third down, He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not running this football. I'm throwing it. You look
Speaker 1: at a couple of last week. I'm not running this football.
Speaker 1: I'm throwing it. The confidence that Andy has in him,
Speaker 1: because even I've seen a lot of great quarterbacks when
Speaker 1: the situation like that is thirty one, they're handing the
Speaker 1: football off, they're running the football. But Andy has the
Speaker 1: utmost confidence in that young man to make plays, to
Speaker 1: absolutely make a play, no matter what if the first
Speaker 1: readers and there. Now let's get freaky time. We're out
Speaker 1: the we're out the pocket. We're doing we're doing whatever
Speaker 1: we got to do this first tund That's what Pat Hawsley,
Speaker 1: he calls it. It's time to get free because when
Speaker 1: packets out of the pocket, that's one of our biggest players. Happened,
Speaker 1: his ability to see the entire field, understand where to
Speaker 1: throw the ball. And I mean you can't you can't
Speaker 1: not get excited for those moments. But it goes back
Speaker 1: to what we were saying about, you know, having as
Speaker 1: a quarterback, having the ability mentally to to you know,
Speaker 1: under pressure, be able to know what to do, and
Speaker 1: you have that moxy. Aaron Rodgers another guy just swagged
Speaker 1: us out there walking around, got the swagger, got the
Speaker 1: got the confidence, and that just loses out of both
Speaker 1: of them. And you know, and as a player, you
Speaker 1: just know that guy is gonna be ready. So so
Speaker 1: having having trusted that guy is gonna be ready, I
Speaker 1: can go out here and just be myself. I don't
Speaker 1: have to do anything above or beyond my capability because
Speaker 1: that guy is special right there, and he's going to
Speaker 1: make the play happen. You mentioned about how the play
Speaker 1: getting off script, that's what we call it. Get off script,
Speaker 1: you call the play is not there? Now? Can you
Speaker 1: get off script and go make a play on your own?
Speaker 1: What makes him unique? There have been a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that can get outside of the pocket and maybe
Speaker 1: if they're rolling right, they can make a play going
Speaker 1: to their right, or maybe they can make a play
Speaker 1: of their legs, But there have been very few guys
Speaker 1: that when getting off script, can still throw the ball
Speaker 1: fifty yards over your head rolling left or rolling right.
Speaker 1: I think I think a lot of it honestly goes
Speaker 1: back to his day's playing middle infield or playing playing
Speaker 1: baseball to be able to open the hips, have the
Speaker 1: arm strength no matter where your heads or your shoulders
Speaker 1: are are, whatever direction they're in, Because the biggest plays
Speaker 1: you see in make or when he's rolling out right
Speaker 1: and he throws it all the way across the field,
Speaker 1: or you're rolling out left, it throws it all the
Speaker 1: way across the field. The big who knows the don't
Speaker 1: throw it over the middle of late, you know, the
Speaker 1: all the no nos. As a quarterback, he's throwing all
Speaker 1: those in the trash. He's like, we can make that throw.
Speaker 1: That throws it's makable for us. And as a player,
Speaker 1: you just get excited off of that. Man. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it is to have the
Speaker 1: faith in the trust in your ability as a quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I mean Pat he works those throws all day
Speaker 1: every day in practice. You'll see him make those throws
Speaker 1: three or four times a week. And as a player,
Speaker 1: you just know that he's going to be able to
Speaker 1: make that play in the game, or he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to make that throw in the game. You just
Speaker 1: gotta be ready for it. Can't let a surprise you.
Speaker 1: You grew up in Ohio with an older brother, Jason.
Speaker 1: When you guys were growing up, did it ever, did
Speaker 1: you guys ever talk about playing in the NFL? What
Speaker 1: were your dreams, what were your aspirations of growing up
Speaker 1: as two young boys? And man, when I tell you,
Speaker 1: I had a very very fortunate upbringing to be able
Speaker 1: to have my brother two years older than me kind
Speaker 1: of walk the walk the steps before I was able to,
Speaker 1: you know, jump into it and see how he conducted
Speaker 1: himself and see how much success he had tried to
Speaker 1: one up him. It created a competitive aspect in the household.
Speaker 1: And it was never just oh, we're gonna go to
Speaker 1: the NFL or oh we're gonna go to the MLB,
Speaker 1: excuse me. It was always just whatever sport we wanted
Speaker 1: to play that day. So I was a very big
Speaker 1: I remember when I was real young, playing hockey and basketball,
Speaker 1: both winter sports. I would go from hockey practice straight
Speaker 1: to basketball practice, or go from a hockey game straight
Speaker 1: to basketball game. And it just and I told you,
Speaker 1: I played lacrosse and football, basketball, baseball, soccer, I mean,
Speaker 1: you name it. Both of us played at all. And
Speaker 1: I think what that did was it gave us great
Speaker 1: understanding of leverage. A game is great understandings at angles
Speaker 1: and uh, and it just got us competing in so
Speaker 1: many different ways. So mentally it was every game became
Speaker 1: a chess game. But to have that guy kind of
Speaker 1: go through this football life before me and for him
Speaker 1: to have success within it gave me all the confidence
Speaker 1: I needed to know that I belong and uh and
Speaker 1: I owe a lot of my a lot of my
Speaker 1: success to that guy. You know what, It's funny that
Speaker 1: you say that because my brother came before me. He's
Speaker 1: three years older than I am, and I remember when
Speaker 1: he went to college. I'm like, well, hell he went
Speaker 1: to college, I could go to college. And when he
Speaker 1: got to the NFL, I'm like, well, hell I could
Speaker 1: beat him in the backyard. I shouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: go to the NFL too. That that was my thinking.
Speaker 1: It never dawned on me like, uh, the NFL is
Speaker 1: really tough to get to and a lot of guys
Speaker 1: don't make it. I'm like, well, hell he there. He
Speaker 1: lived in the same house with me. What makes him
Speaker 1: so he ate the same food that I ate? We
Speaker 1: were just leave pretty much at the same time. So
Speaker 1: I think it, Oh, yeah, I'm definitely going to the NFL.
Speaker 1: If that was that your thought process, also, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: the one thing it was for me, It was why
Speaker 1: wasn't I having the type of success that he's having? Right?
Speaker 1: And that didn't come around to college because I had
Speaker 1: I had probably a little bit more success. I actually
Speaker 1: had college offers to play basketball, to play football. My
Speaker 1: brother was a walk on at the University of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: When he went to University of Cincinnati, I asked him,
Speaker 1: my life, why would you go there out of all
Speaker 1: the places and and for him it was the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and everything aligned for him. And I just followed
Speaker 1: my footsteps, gave my parents one way to go. And
Speaker 1: I didn't have success in college. I just thought I
Speaker 1: everything was fun for me. I was I was. I
Speaker 1: was fun guy. I was. Let's go out here and
Speaker 1: enjoy our time out here in practice, have a few laughs,
Speaker 1: make a few jokes. Where my brother he was like
Speaker 1: the switch turned on. Everything just turned into business for him,
Speaker 1: and and it was and it was a strategical business
Speaker 1: approach even in the college level. And I didn't really
Speaker 1: pick up on that until I moved to the tight
Speaker 1: end position and I really got in his brain on
Speaker 1: how he was thinking. Right. What that did was it
Speaker 1: was almost like, well, now we're playing chess, and that
Speaker 1: was a game that we played growing up almost every
Speaker 1: single day at the dinner table, you know, just just
Speaker 1: throw the chessboard out there and let's go. Let's let's compete, right,
Speaker 1: And it was just I mean to understand that, to
Speaker 1: see it in person, to know that he's having success,
Speaker 1: and that's my that's blood, that's I know, our athleticism,
Speaker 1: you know, mirrors each other. Yes, I know, I can
Speaker 1: have success. I just have to channel my mind differently
Speaker 1: to be able to have the success that he's having
Speaker 1: or the success that I want. Did how how how
Speaker 1: old were you when you outgrew him? I was probably
Speaker 1: a sophomore in high school. I might have been a freshman.
Speaker 1: I might have just I think, yeah, I jumped on
Speaker 1: him my eighth grade to freshman year, I was about
Speaker 1: five ten five eleven and eighth grade, and then my
Speaker 1: ninth grade year freshman year of high school, I was
Speaker 1: sixty four, just a tall, lanky didn't know what to
Speaker 1: do with it. All I could do is long snap
Speaker 1: and try and get down the field and tackle somebody.
Speaker 1: That's funny that you say that, because I really don't
Speaker 1: think I grew my brother until I was probably like
Speaker 1: a junior senior, because my freshman year I was five five,
Speaker 1: one thirty two, and then by the time I became
Speaker 1: a senior, I was like, you know, one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty pounds. But this number tell the story. How you
Speaker 1: chose the number eighty seven eighty seven. So I have
Speaker 1: a lot of pride of where I came from and
Speaker 1: the people that have helped me out along the way,
Speaker 1: because I know I know, my silly self needed some help.
Speaker 1: I needed some guidance. I needed somebody to slap me
Speaker 1: upside the head and tell me which way to go
Speaker 1: in life, just because I always chose the fun route
Speaker 1: over what was needed. And my brother has always been
Speaker 1: that for me. You know, He's always been the the
Speaker 1: one that you know, like I said earlier, kind of
Speaker 1: walked walked this life before I was able to even
Speaker 1: get into it right. I took so much, so much
Speaker 1: pride and seeing him have success that I wanted to
Speaker 1: have that same success or. I wanted to have success
Speaker 1: for this family. And and it all started back in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty seven in Cleveland, All Hire, when my
Speaker 1: brother was born. I had like three or four different
Speaker 1: numbers that the chiefs were told me I could grab,
Speaker 1: and eighty seven was one of them. It was the
Speaker 1: only one that really made sense for me. Was to
Speaker 1: was to you know, show some love to the to
Speaker 1: the guy. And I don't think I would be here
Speaker 1: without him, uh, knowing that, you know, this has definitely
Speaker 1: been a fun journey man. So I was just showing
Speaker 1: a little love to my brother. It's that's an unbelievable
Speaker 1: because that was the same thing that happened to me.
Speaker 1: To have somebody that's already walked the path, that's already
Speaker 1: there where you're trying to get to, to tell you
Speaker 1: what you need to do, how to go about it,
Speaker 1: and once you get there things you need to do
Speaker 1: is invaluable. But when I want to go through some
Speaker 1: some some all Time Brothers. Okay, we got the Watts,
Speaker 1: I've got the Barber's ridden and Tiki. We got playing
Speaker 1: Bruce Matthews. We also got the son Clay the Third,
Speaker 1: we got Peyton and knee Lie. We got the Kelsey's
Speaker 1: And when yours truly last, would not least pull it
Speaker 1: up the rear the sharks sterling in shadow? Where where
Speaker 1: when it's all said and done, where are we gonna
Speaker 1: put the Kelsey's on the All Time Brothers NFL Brothers lift.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to start throwing. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: just put on an Excel sheet of what everybody's accomplished.
Speaker 1: I'mnna have to see what it and see what it is. Man.
Speaker 1: After that, we have to turn on the tape. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean, the taped on a lot. I
Speaker 1: ain't just got ain't gonna a lot's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: to kiss to manage. Man, God, dank, I got dank
Speaker 1: and they did it at all three levels, high school, college,
Speaker 1: and man, you I would put us up there though. Man,
Speaker 1: I think I think our journey, our our road and
Speaker 1: then the success we've had at the time that we've
Speaker 1: been in the league. Man, you can't you cannot say
Speaker 1: that that both of us were dominant players when we played. Man,
Speaker 1: And you know that's something that privateully you can hang
Speaker 1: your hat on as you know. Man, Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: an unbelievable feeling. I remember the first time my brother
Speaker 1: and I made the Pro Bowls together, we made first
Speaker 1: team All Pro together. Man, it's that's a that that
Speaker 1: that's that's an unbelievable feeling. There's there's nothing like that feeling.
Speaker 1: And and unless you know it's you know, people like
Speaker 1: what that you know it's but you don't get it.
Speaker 1: There have been a lot of brothers and you know,
Speaker 1: when you make the All Pro team, that's just not
Speaker 1: one conference. That's for the entire league. And to have
Speaker 1: you like manage to go to the Pro although you're
Speaker 1: not gonna have it this year, to go to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl and take that picture standing on the field
Speaker 1: with your brother and knowing where you came from and
Speaker 1: here you are here, man, that's a great feeling. That's
Speaker 1: a great feeling. Trial you got it. And and obviously
Speaker 1: everyone always likes to say the statistics of youth football
Speaker 1: and the oh, the one of a million, you gotta
Speaker 1: be one of a million in high school and then
Speaker 1: one of one hundred thousand in college, and this and that.
Speaker 1: But for two guys to be able to come from
Speaker 1: the same place, the same household, and be able to
Speaker 1: have this much success in this game, and it's definitely special.
Speaker 1: And like I said, man, I hang my hat on
Speaker 1: that one right there. So football, you said, I remember
Speaker 1: you telling the story earlier. You played a lot of sports.
Speaker 1: You played lacrosse, you played hockey, hockey, you played basketball,
Speaker 1: You played football once you say, you probably got to
Speaker 1: the tenth of eleventh grade. He was like, football is
Speaker 1: my passion. Football is to rid them. So did you
Speaker 1: stop those other sports or did you just dedicate more
Speaker 1: to football, to be honest, To be honest, it was
Speaker 1: my sophomore junior year of college where I was to
Speaker 1: take football series because I went to the University of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Played both sports. All. The reason why I even committed
Speaker 1: to the university was I went down to Cincinnati for
Speaker 1: a five star basketball camp and my brother was in
Speaker 1: the middle of the spring ball so I'm I'm at
Speaker 1: the basketball camp and I'm talking to everybody. They're thinking
Speaker 1: that we were thinking about offering you a basketball scholarship.
Speaker 1: And I stayed the weekend with my brother just to
Speaker 1: hang out with my brother. Hadn't seen him in a while,
Speaker 1: and I ran into Brian Kelly, the coach of Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: who at the time was headball coach over at Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: He looked at me, sized me up real quick and
Speaker 1: was like, well, do you play football? And I was like, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm a quarterback. You know, I'm home over here and thinking,
Speaker 1: so we're interested in me. I'm so he comes over.
Speaker 1: I had him a film, I had him a CD
Speaker 1: a DVD of my highlights, and by the end of
Speaker 1: the weekend, I had a dual scholarship football basketball scholarship
Speaker 1: from the University of Cincinnati. So I actually went down
Speaker 1: there to play both sports. But the basketball, like I said,
Speaker 1: the handles, it just didn't It didn't work out for me.
Speaker 1: So I ended up making the transition for did you
Speaker 1: know that? Did you think you were gonna play quarterback
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati or did he tell you you were going
Speaker 1: to move to a different position. He told me he
Speaker 1: was gonna give me the opportunity to play qv and
Speaker 1: I remember it like it was yesterday. Man. I remember
Speaker 1: going out there the first day a trainee camp, right
Speaker 1: before the season started, my sophomore year, my rest year,
Speaker 1: freshman year, my second year in the league, I mean
Speaker 1: my college, my rest year year. I didn't do anything
Speaker 1: but just sit around. That's when I told you I
Speaker 1: kind of game that good way day. But I came
Speaker 1: in my second year and the first day he took me,
Speaker 1: took me away from all the other players, and Coach
Speaker 1: Kelly was just sitting there working with my drop, my
Speaker 1: three step drop, the one step out of the gun,
Speaker 1: little things, asking me if I knew the plays here
Speaker 1: and there, if I knew how to read coverages. And
Speaker 1: I felt like I gave him all the right answers
Speaker 1: and he gave me an opportunity to play quarterback. He
Speaker 1: actually put me in at a wildcat position and had
Speaker 1: a few different plays off of it. But knew that
Speaker 1: I wasn't ready for mentally to be able to take
Speaker 1: over this entire offense. I just I was too mature.
Speaker 1: But he could put me in there and I could
Speaker 1: run a little something and uh and do some stuff
Speaker 1: off at instincts. But I definitely went down there with
Speaker 1: the intentions of playing both both sports and being a quarterback,
Speaker 1: and uh, basketball never happened and football ended up. I
Speaker 1: slowly transitioned into the tight end room, where I found
Speaker 1: out that I definitely belonged. So so, how how nice
Speaker 1: was your your game in high school? Your quarterback game
Speaker 1: in high school? I'm not gonna lie I was. I
Speaker 1: was a pretty selfish kid in high school. Man, I
Speaker 1: was somebody. I was out there just trying to sling
Speaker 1: and get the girls and fun. I have some fun
Speaker 1: out there on the field with the guys. I always
Speaker 1: felt that, you know, I could get five yards, so
Speaker 1: it hitch hitch was out of my mind. I'm not
Speaker 1: throwing a hitch man he get five yards on the
Speaker 1: ground I was. I was much more comfortable with the
Speaker 1: ball in my hands and running it. The coaches hated
Speaker 1: me for it, But at the same time, like I said,
Speaker 1: I was just a little immature and wasn't ready for it,
Speaker 1: but I had I had some success. Man, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at Ohio. You look at the NBA players Lebron James,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, Oakley, Ron Harper, c J. McCollum, John Halcheck,
Speaker 1: Nate Thurman, Terry Road, jar Earl Borkins. And then you
Speaker 1: look at your your NFL players Charles Woodson, Robinsburger, Starback,
Speaker 1: Chris Carter, James has And Luke Keakley, Levy Yard, Paige
Speaker 1: Jack Lambert, Bruhage. Baby. You know, like when it's all
Speaker 1: said and done, when they start mentioning like NFL and Ohio,
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey is gonna be on this list, So it is. Jason, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be to bro y'all. Y'all, y'all got nice little
Speaker 1: little set up here. Oh man, it's uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: definitely prideful, you know what I mean. Let alone be
Speaker 1: in from the Midwest of you. I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of Midwest cities have that have that blue collar
Speaker 1: prideful mentality of where they come from. Growing up in
Speaker 1: a sports town like Cleveland and just a sports state
Speaker 1: like Ohio. How much pride they have in football alone? Yeah,
Speaker 1: my father, my grandfather played football. My uncle played football.
Speaker 1: Uncle ended up playing at Purdue. Knowing all of that
Speaker 1: no one was in my bloodline, and knowing where I
Speaker 1: came from and the history and the tradition and the prestige,
Speaker 1: it just fuels you mentally to want to go out
Speaker 1: there and have success. And with that, I mean, you
Speaker 1: just try and find ways to make yourself better and
Speaker 1: to go out there and find wins man. But I'm
Speaker 1: definitely pride and prideful and proud to be from northeast Ohio. Man.
Speaker 1: You mentioned about how playing with your brother at the
Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati and he possibly saved your career. You
Speaker 1: had gotten into some trouble. I think, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: he had already gone. You had gotten kicked off the team,
Speaker 1: and he comes back and he asked the coach to
Speaker 1: put you back on the team. And then your senior
Speaker 1: year you catch forty five passes, seven hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: two yards, eight touchdowns, First team All Big East. But
Speaker 1: the previous two seasons you had two touchdowns one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty three yards. Why were you able to take
Speaker 1: off your senior year? What? What? What clicked? What? What?
Speaker 1: What was different? Like? I so so the process the
Speaker 1: timeline of events was my my sophomore year, I had
Speaker 1: the Wildcare. My second year in college, I had the Wildcare,
Speaker 1: which was ended up being my retro freshman year. And
Speaker 1: then that next year I got kicked off the team.
Speaker 1: When I when I got kicked off the team. That
Speaker 1: year was my brother's senior year, and he, I mean,
Speaker 1: the entire offseason, he was begging the coaches to give
Speaker 1: me another chance and set a list of things that
Speaker 1: I had to accomplish to be able to bring the
Speaker 1: benefit of playing football game at the University of Cincinnati
Speaker 1: or appreciate the opportunity of playing football again at the
Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati. And I'm forever thankful for that conversation.
Speaker 1: I mean, it took a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: guts for him to be able to go in there
Speaker 1: and put his name on the line for myself knowing that,
Speaker 1: you know, I threw this scholarship away and down the
Speaker 1: drain like it didn't mean nothing to and and it was.
Speaker 1: It was a very it was. It was a moment
Speaker 1: where I to grow up. I had to grow up
Speaker 1: and become a man or a man of my own mistakes,
Speaker 1: because up to that point it was always old. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I could get away with this, I could get away
Speaker 1: with that. Well, like my father says, the bullshit always
Speaker 1: catches up. Excuse my language, but bullshit always gonna catch up.
Speaker 1: If you're out here doing the wrong things, it's gonna
Speaker 1: catch up to you, just because that's just not how
Speaker 1: you live. And I'm, like I said, I'm always here
Speaker 1: for the fun. So I'm a very passionate guy, and
Speaker 1: I want to do the right things, fund just sometimes
Speaker 1: over road that as at a young age. And to
Speaker 1: have him put his his name on the line for
Speaker 1: me and to give the coaches enough, you know, confidence
Speaker 1: that I was going to be able to be that
Speaker 1: guy for them. I wasn't able to, you know, step
Speaker 1: into a locker room be a leader. It still took
Speaker 1: you know, a process and a group of men to
Speaker 1: help me and guide me in the right direction. I'm
Speaker 1: just thankful for everybody, even versus Cincinnati, that not only
Speaker 1: gave me that chance, but guided me in the right
Speaker 1: You know, my brothers at the forefront. It's funny Andy
Speaker 1: Reid drafted your brother at Philly. He gets terminated, he
Speaker 1: goes to Kansas City, he turns and drafted and draft
Speaker 1: you now there's a story. I don't know how true
Speaker 1: it is. You can confirm or deny this that after
Speaker 1: Andy talked to you, he asked to speak to your
Speaker 1: brother and asked, is he go mess this up? The truth?
Speaker 1: And as the guy, honest truth man, when I tell you,
Speaker 1: I had never been more excited. It was. It was
Speaker 1: like a roller coaster of a call and all and
Speaker 1: it all happened within like fifteen seconds. I get the call,
Speaker 1: it's a Missouri number. I'm thinking, I'm going to Saint Louis,
Speaker 1: shout out the Jeff Fish and everybody over there. But
Speaker 1: I did not want to go to Saint Louis. Did
Speaker 1: not had the recipe for success and U and actually
Speaker 1: what I didn't know is that the Chiefs didn't have
Speaker 1: that recipe for success either. Actually had a worship which
Speaker 1: was two and fourteen the year before. So Andy Reid
Speaker 1: comes in drafts me with his set and pick and
Speaker 1: uh and I answered the phone thing and it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Saint Louis. He answers the phone, and hey,
Speaker 1: how are you doing this this, Travis? I said yes,
Speaker 1: He said, this is Andy Reid with the Kansas City
Speaker 1: Chiefs and I'm talking about my Whoa's baby. I'm ready
Speaker 1: to rock and roll. You know what I mean. I
Speaker 1: got one of the greatest coaches ever do this. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. Man. He immediately takes it right back
Speaker 1: to the floor. Listen, man, this is this is serious.
Speaker 1: This is no no goofing around. It was a whole
Speaker 1: lot of words that I would rather than not I repeat.
Speaker 1: He basically said, do not screw this up. This is
Speaker 1: a serious opportunity. And he was asking me if I
Speaker 1: was gonna mess it up, and they said, all right,
Speaker 1: put your brother on the phone. I was like, how
Speaker 1: did he know my brother was right here? I didn't
Speaker 1: he already knows so and sure enough, you used to
Speaker 1: see my brother get on the phone. I'm staring at
Speaker 1: my brother like you gonna say you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, I hope he doesn't say anything bad,
Speaker 1: and he's just like, yeah, nope, nope, I got you.
Speaker 1: I got your nose. Almost like he was asking my
Speaker 1: brother to make sure that I knew what I was
Speaker 1: getting myself into. Reiterated, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I think it was something he was he was just
Speaker 1: telling him, like, I need you to make sure that
Speaker 1: this dude, does not screw this up, because I will
Speaker 1: kick both of your ass. The year you were drafted,
Speaker 1: Tyler Iford went in the first round, the twenty first
Speaker 1: pick to Cincinnati. Zacht Ergs went second, thirty fifth pick
Speaker 1: to Philly. Gavin Escobar forty seven to the Cowboy Advanced
Speaker 1: McDonald second round, fifty fifth pick to the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine ers. What's going through your mind? You're like,
Speaker 1: I'm better than all them cats, and I'm gonna show you.
Speaker 1: I just it just because that's how I was draft
Speaker 1: all the receivers that went before me. I'm like, because
Speaker 1: I went to the bowl games. I don't know if you,
Speaker 1: but I went to the Blue Gray game, went to
Speaker 1: the East West Shrine game. I'm watching these guys and
Speaker 1: I remember calling my brother said, I mean, I'm betting
Speaker 1: all these cats, and I'll see him going up the
Speaker 1: board before me. I'm like, hold on, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: what did I miss? Man? I'll tell you what. You
Speaker 1: have to have that mentality. You have to have that
Speaker 1: confidence within yourself to know that you can go out
Speaker 1: there and have success no matter where you are, no
Speaker 1: matter who's in front of you. And uh, and that's
Speaker 1: just that's just the competitive of my state that I've
Speaker 1: than I've always had. But what it really did was
Speaker 1: it made me dislike the guys that that that were
Speaker 1: taking in front of me. I mean that great guy,
Speaker 1: unbelievable guy. We've ended up becoming your friends over the years, Tyler,
Speaker 1: I've heard the exact same way. But what it made
Speaker 1: me do was it made me, you know, gain this
Speaker 1: competitiveness to to every single day, uh kind of I
Speaker 1: don't know, mentally be crazy enough to to outperform somebody
Speaker 1: that you don't even know what they're doing. Right day,
Speaker 1: I told myself, I'm gonna work harder than every tight
Speaker 1: end in the in this in this league. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what Gronk was doing, I didn't know what Urt
Speaker 1: was doing, I didn't know what anybody else was doing.
Speaker 1: All I could do was control myself and my process
Speaker 1: and what I was doing and uh and have confidence
Speaker 1: that I was going to keep getting better in that
Speaker 1: and man, throughout the years, it's been awesome to know
Speaker 1: all those guys. Bas McDonald another guy that I absolutely
Speaker 1: love and have a tremendous respect for. Gavin Escobar ended
Speaker 1: up coming and playing for the Chiefs for a little bit.
Speaker 1: I what it did for me was initially start the
Speaker 1: competitive edge to be the greatest and at least try
Speaker 1: to be the greatest meet and uh, and that's where
Speaker 1: it started. Man, What was the first thing you purchased
Speaker 1: with some of the money from your rookie contract man?
Speaker 1: You want to I spent it all, Shannon, I should
Speaker 1: have been on the thirty for thirty broke the way
Speaker 1: that all the young guys in the league, all the
Speaker 1: guys that I had, have the opportunity to to to,
Speaker 1: you know, get that big first check in from the NFL.
Speaker 1: Save it man, find a financial advisor that you trusted,
Speaker 1: that that's going to do right with your money, because
Speaker 1: I would searching around for card deals after my first year,
Speaker 1: trying to you know, just pay rent exactly. So one
Speaker 1: of the first things I bought was I'm a big
Speaker 1: Sneaker fan. So and the Marty mcflies man the Back
Speaker 1: to the Future and the Nike airbags. Where were the
Speaker 1: first purchase of Kicks that I got. I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted them ever since I saw them self tie themselves
Speaker 1: on McFly's feed. And then on top of that, I
Speaker 1: always wanted a roley Man, So I went out and
Speaker 1: got myself a rolling from a from a Kansas City
Speaker 1: jewelry shop. Man, you got to get the rolling. When
Speaker 1: I was walking, I was walking in this empty apartment
Speaker 1: with some Marty mcflies on the rolex. Man, I felt
Speaker 1: like I was the coolest guy in the world. Man,
Speaker 1: How difficult was the transition? Because when I try to
Speaker 1: tell people about Okay, look, when you were in college,
Speaker 1: you're basically playing for room in books, you got study hall.
Speaker 1: When you go to NFL is a job. You're playing
Speaker 1: for mortgages, you're playing for kids future, and to college
Speaker 1: to witch you, it's a whole different ball game. Ain't
Speaker 1: nobody gonna say go to study hall. Ain't nobody waking
Speaker 1: you're brought up to go to class. You got to
Speaker 1: be a professional man. And that's why I was saying,
Speaker 1: you gotta find that that routine is success. What is
Speaker 1: your routine in college? For me, it was the coaches
Speaker 1: had workouts early at eight am, We had class from
Speaker 1: nine to noon, and then we had practice at one
Speaker 1: That is a structured routine. Yes, you have to give
Speaker 1: you success that what you're doing in the weight room
Speaker 1: is is a structured routine for you to get bigger
Speaker 1: and stronger, so you can have that success well in
Speaker 1: the league, you don't. You don't necessarily have that. And
Speaker 1: you need you need to be a professional. And and
Speaker 1: and like I was saying, you have to own your craft.
Speaker 1: You have to own who you are. And that has
Speaker 1: grown so much throughout my career. My first couple of
Speaker 1: years it was just let me just show up and
Speaker 1: go to work, you know, and then through throughout my
Speaker 1: my years, I was starting to feel a little bit
Speaker 1: more soreness. So what do I do for that? How
Speaker 1: am I? How am I eating? How am I am
Speaker 1: I doing certain things outside of the facility? Or does
Speaker 1: my they end as soon as that last meeting hits.
Speaker 1: And what it did for me was it created a
Speaker 1: lifestyle that I could lean on in a routine that
Speaker 1: I could lean on to not only stay on the field,
Speaker 1: but keep having the success that I was having on
Speaker 1: the field. There's nothing like a plan and to see
Speaker 1: that plan come to fruition. There's nothing like training the
Speaker 1: way I eat, the way I train, the way I
Speaker 1: do certain things, and to see that playoff on the field.
Speaker 1: Because once you see it's just like anything. Once you
Speaker 1: see a little success and you're like, Wow, that's why
Speaker 1: I'm having a success. You keep that going and you
Speaker 1: it's hard to ever get away from that. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: And what it does is it just fuels you to
Speaker 1: be able to nitpick it. Now it's everything's details now.
Speaker 1: Now it's how many cards am I taking in? How many?
Speaker 1: Oh do you want to put a tracker in my past?
Speaker 1: How many? How many miles am I running? So I
Speaker 1: can know what type of recovery that I need, how
Speaker 1: much sleep I need, the in terms of hydration, and
Speaker 1: you can start to nitpick to the point to really
Speaker 1: see it becomes an obsession exactly. You get obsessed with
Speaker 1: the process. That's where everybody talks about. Enjoy the process,
Speaker 1: Enjoy the journey. That's the journey right there, seeing seeing
Speaker 1: your your scheduled events turn into success and and and
Speaker 1: just you know, thriving that, know that, know that you
Speaker 1: can be accountable for the guys next to you by
Speaker 1: doing this. Man, how much time do you think you
Speaker 1: put it into training, your nutrition, your phisiol things of that.
Speaker 1: How much time do you think you putting in the
Speaker 1: off season? And how much time do you think you
Speaker 1: do put in during the course of a week? Man,
Speaker 1: Oh man, when I tell you it's it's at least
Speaker 1: in the off season at least two hours two hours
Speaker 1: out of the five day, So Monday through Friday, you're
Speaker 1: going two hours every single day of at least spending
Speaker 1: time on muscle and body and development. So whether that's
Speaker 1: you want to take that to the skill aspect or
Speaker 1: you want to mentally get after it, depending on you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's a recovery day or whatnot. Taking that much
Speaker 1: time out of a day to just own in and
Speaker 1: put complete focus on your craft and on your body
Speaker 1: can do wonders for you. And on top of that
Speaker 1: throughout the week. I mean, I couldn't tell you how
Speaker 1: much I actually because I'm a big visual guy. I
Speaker 1: like to visualize. I like to fantasize about making plays
Speaker 1: out on the football field. So I'm never in a
Speaker 1: moment on the football field where i haven't thought about
Speaker 1: some type of way to instinctually have success, because that's
Speaker 1: what that's the That's the biggest thing from going from
Speaker 1: my rookie year to my third fourth, fifth year in
Speaker 1: the league is I understood more of what was going
Speaker 1: on around me, but I was able to play faster.
Speaker 1: My mind wasn't tricking my feet up. So being able
Speaker 1: to put that into play with the athleticism that you
Speaker 1: trained for all season long or all off season. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's just it's needed. It's so much needed. You
Speaker 1: hear about all these guys putting in a half a
Speaker 1: million to a million dollars and just recovery to get
Speaker 1: that blood flows circulating into get these muscles loosened up.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not only is it injury prevention, which
Speaker 1: which is keeping you on the field or on the court,
Speaker 1: but it's also making you that much more efficient when
Speaker 1: you are out there. Right. And you can't say enough
Speaker 1: about what it means to recover in terms of rehab
Speaker 1: and prehab. And I've taken into a whole other level
Speaker 1: these past couple of years, man, and it's really paying
Speaker 1: off on me. What was that first Pro Bowl experience
Speaker 1: like to get that call and says Travis Kelsey, you
Speaker 1: have been selected to the Pro Bowl? What was that
Speaker 1: feeling like? Man? When I tell you is the coolest
Speaker 1: because I had just went to the year before, I
Speaker 1: had just went to Scottsdale, Arizona, when the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: and Super Bowl was in Scottsdale or in Arizona and
Speaker 1: U and I watched my brother playing his first Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I saw my family's excitement during the game. I
Speaker 1: had on his practice jersey, and I was I was
Speaker 1: out there being a fanboy all over again. And to
Speaker 1: be able to see my family's excitement that I was
Speaker 1: out there, that that my brother was out there with
Speaker 1: all the stars, all the guys are dancing in the
Speaker 1: end zone, all the guys that you know, the names,
Speaker 1: the top names in the National Football League. To see
Speaker 1: the smiles on their face too, you know, oh, there
Speaker 1: he goes, there he goes. That's that's everything. That's everything
Speaker 1: I ever needed in life to be able to give
Speaker 1: me motivation, because making my parents proud of of who
Speaker 1: I am has always been the number one goal for me,
Speaker 1: knowing how how fortunate I was as a kid and
Speaker 1: how much they gave me as a kid. Man. And
Speaker 1: that first Pro Bowl in Hawaii, man, I tell you
Speaker 1: it is like nothing else. Man. Not only was it
Speaker 1: my first Pro Bowl, but I got to sign my
Speaker 1: first extension uh in Hawaii on that day, on that week,
Speaker 1: and man, it was that my family was out there
Speaker 1: with me, and it had a few, uh few my
Speaker 1: ties cos the waves come in. It was a beautiful scene. Man,
Speaker 1: first a rookie, you gotta buy them my time. Bro.
Speaker 1: I know they hit you up real hopefully when you
Speaker 1: went to why they didn't get you a tray? What's
Speaker 1: your room number? You get the room number and you
Speaker 1: get that bill. They're like, man, they had got me.
Speaker 1: Listen this time. I was ready for it all and
Speaker 1: I was ready to take the hit. Man. I'll tell you,
Speaker 1: I'll last year you had. You guys had a miraculous
Speaker 1: run because I know one had ever done this what
Speaker 1: you guys did to fall behind by double digits and
Speaker 1: then turn around and win every game by double digits
Speaker 1: on your way to the Super Bowl. So let's start
Speaker 1: first with the Houston Texans. You fall behind twenty four nothing.
Speaker 1: What's going through your mind on the sidelines when you
Speaker 1: when they scored that kick that field goal to go
Speaker 1: up twenty twenty four to nothing. What's going through your mind? Well,
Speaker 1: the first thing that was going through our mind was
Speaker 1: initially frustration. Right, you start to ask yourself why why
Speaker 1: is this happening? Why is this happening? They're like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: it must be something out of our control, Like you mean,
Speaker 1: like something like the football guys just got it against us.
Speaker 1: Man we did something we didn't we ain't living right
Speaker 1: or something. And then you and then you you face reality.
Speaker 1: Coaches come together, we come together as a collective group,
Speaker 1: and everything we were doing was self inflicting right penalties.
Speaker 1: It was miss mister signments, it was dropping drop passes exactly.
Speaker 1: It was stuff that we could control. And once we
Speaker 1: found out and and kind of got regrouped by path
Speaker 1: by coach Eric the enemy, everybody kind of just locked
Speaker 1: in and from there we showed our personalities. Coach Read
Speaker 1: dialed up the right stuff for us to be able
Speaker 1: to march down the field. And an unstoppable performance by
Speaker 1: by Patrick Mahomes and what he did to surge us
Speaker 1: back into into that game and then just take us
Speaker 1: into a blowout the next game. You're Chennessee Titans. They
Speaker 1: were the hottest team in the playoffs. They had gone
Speaker 1: on the road beating the New England Patriots and for
Speaker 1: all intents and purposes, broken up the dynasty. They go
Speaker 1: to Baltimore and beat the unanimous m VP. So they're
Speaker 1: coming in red hot. They got Derek Henry who's running
Speaker 1: over everybody. You fall behind ten nothing and you like,
Speaker 1: here we go again. I'll tell you what, it was
Speaker 1: a little bit different of a feeling. I honestly never
Speaker 1: never felt frustrated in the Tennessee game. It was never
Speaker 1: it was never a down moment in the Tennessee Game.
Speaker 1: I always had confidence that we were just right there.
Speaker 1: You know, we might not have been in the lead,
Speaker 1: but I still felt like, you know, we had a
Speaker 1: good grasp of the position that we were in right
Speaker 1: And all it took was a couple of plays right
Speaker 1: before half Pat went out there and had his famous
Speaker 1: you know he has he moved on the line, hit
Speaker 1: this unathletic spin on somebody, and just find his way
Speaker 1: into the end zone. He had that moment, and then
Speaker 1: the momentum just kind of just takes over and and
Speaker 1: it's all about the greatness that one five is and
Speaker 1: just following his lead man, because in those moments, you
Speaker 1: need you need your quarterback to be great. Now you're
Speaker 1: on the biggest stage. You can't ask for anything more
Speaker 1: than this. You're here. A couple of years earlier, you
Speaker 1: witness your brother go to the super Bowl, they win it,
Speaker 1: and you're like, we're here and you're down ten starting
Speaker 1: to fourth what's going through your mind. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: That's when it get a little frustrating. You know you're going,
Speaker 1: you're going to the fourth and you know you just
Speaker 1: can't get it going. Whether it's the angle in which
Speaker 1: guys are coming out of routes, or you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's just minimal stuff that we just we haven't been
Speaker 1: hitting on, whether it's slammed a flat route, little stuff
Speaker 1: like that, getting one extra guy blocked in the in
Speaker 1: the run game. It started to get just a little
Speaker 1: bit frustrating, and you started to see a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of your hopes and a lot of your
Speaker 1: dreams started to slip out of your grass. And all
Speaker 1: I can say is that you know the leaders and
Speaker 1: the and the and the coaches in this locker room,
Speaker 1: when adversity hits, it's almost as if we we turn
Speaker 1: we flip a switch and uh and and it stayed
Speaker 1: true ever and you know those first couple of playoff games,
Speaker 1: and it's really I think it's it dates back to
Speaker 1: the Patriots AFC Championship game the year before. Yes, where
Speaker 1: we know we have that capability to turn this thing on,
Speaker 1: lock in and play our best football win need you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Tom Brady got us that day.
Speaker 1: He was a he had the ball the last time
Speaker 1: and he was the one that had the ball in
Speaker 1: hot and scored his touchdown. He got us that day.
Speaker 1: But we knew that we belong, you know. And and
Speaker 1: and what that did for is mentally we had to
Speaker 1: switch to where no matter what point in time, it is,
Speaker 1: no matter how much doubt you got, it's time to go.
Speaker 1: We need to lock in and be ourselves. And uh,
Speaker 1: and I mean we just have great leadership starts up
Speaker 1: top and it just trickles down from coach Andy Reid
Speaker 1: all the way down to the offensive defensive coaches to
Speaker 1: the offensive defensive captains and and it's a it's definitely
Speaker 1: the pleasure to be in and it's something something special.
Speaker 1: A part of Clark goes down to zero SUP bowls
Speaker 1: over confetti starts to fall down on the field. What's
Speaker 1: going through Kelsey's mind? Wait? Man, I could still picture
Speaker 1: it because I don't know if you've been down to
Speaker 1: Miami's new new stadium, man, but this got the perfect
Speaker 1: opening to make you feel like you're you're in the heavenue. Man.
Speaker 1: When that coffetti's flying down I just ucked up. I
Speaker 1: tapped coach b enemy like, Man, look at that, it
Speaker 1: looks like stars were flying out of the sky. Man.
Speaker 1: It was just to reach the mountaintop the way we
Speaker 1: did together, you know. And you can you can say
Speaker 1: it was one guy because type of Mahomes played his
Speaker 1: tail off the entire playoffs and led us to all
Speaker 1: those victories. But we did it as a as a
Speaker 1: collective group. And he'll even tell you that, man. And
Speaker 1: it was just it was so much fun. And I
Speaker 1: cherished those memories with every single one of those guys
Speaker 1: on the team. Man, it had been fifty years since
Speaker 1: you guys had won the Super Bowl. How special was
Speaker 1: it to win for Kansas City? And what was it
Speaker 1: like going through that parade and seeing all that red
Speaker 1: and all those fans like we brought the we brought
Speaker 1: the Lombardy back to Kansas City. You want to talk,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it, you know it. Just like
Speaker 1: everybody else over there in Bronco Country, Kans City fans
Speaker 1: are gonna show up, man. Yes, they're gonna get loud,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna give give you all the passion that
Speaker 1: they got. And I'm so fortunate to not only land
Speaker 1: to this organization, but to be here in this city,
Speaker 1: I think it embodies a lot of the values that
Speaker 1: I have in life, which is very prideful where I
Speaker 1: come from, very blue collar and work your tail off
Speaker 1: for what you what you work your tail off for
Speaker 1: what you want in this world and in Kansas City
Speaker 1: is every bit of that, man, And I would I'm
Speaker 1: just you know, I'm still prideful to you know, keep
Speaker 1: bringing the success and the rings back to Kansas City,
Speaker 1: knowing that they put their all every single Sunday that
Speaker 1: we go out there. Man, what do you think has
Speaker 1: been the most difficult part about repeating patience getting through
Speaker 1: the season to get to to where we are now.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you uh, I feel like coming into it, all
Speaker 1: you can think about is the playoffs all over again.
Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, we're gonna We're gonna make the playoffs. Mentally,
Speaker 1: you say that to yourself, we're gonna make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We have a great group, we got Patrick mahone's the
Speaker 1: best player in the National Football League. Leading is we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna make the playoffs. Mentally, being able to
Speaker 1: lock in every single week so that dream that that
Speaker 1: that situation happens that's been the hardest thing because you
Speaker 1: wanted to fast forward. Man. You do you want you
Speaker 1: want all the all these games to take care of themselves.
Speaker 1: You you you handle business and the division, you handle
Speaker 1: business to get the number one seed, but you really
Speaker 1: want to get back to this point right here, right
Speaker 1: the playoffs, to be able to go through that journey
Speaker 1: that you know, this is the last dance. It's it's
Speaker 1: either winner going right. That's been probably the most difficult,
Speaker 1: difficult part. And uh and we're here now, so and
Speaker 1: so now that now we got all that over with,
Speaker 1: I could just go out here and really play for
Speaker 1: the for for another super Bowl man. And uh and
Speaker 1: well I'm a week I'm a week early. We still
Speaker 1: gotta go out here and take care of the charges.
Speaker 1: But it's uh. I would that would definitely say just
Speaker 1: being patient and not letting complacencies set in, uh while
Speaker 1: while we're kind of, you know, gearing up for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And that's what my question was, how have you been
Speaker 1: able to avoid complacency? I think leadership, man, I would say,
Speaker 1: you know, call me silly, but I think leadership was
Speaker 1: what they had in Seattle when they when they went
Speaker 1: back to back leadership is what they have in New
Speaker 1: England for all those years Kansas City, we have great
Speaker 1: leaders We have guys that it matters when when we
Speaker 1: come into the building to have the accountability to do
Speaker 1: our job the guy next to us. And when you
Speaker 1: have guys like that every single day that love to
Speaker 1: come in to work, love what they do, enjoy the
Speaker 1: process of getting better at football, and enjoy the competitiveness
Speaker 1: and don't get complacent with that. That's that's special. And
Speaker 1: when you know you have that, it just gears it up.
Speaker 1: It turns it up even more. Like you said, you
Speaker 1: get obsessed with it. It kind of loses out of
Speaker 1: you every single day you wake up and it's contagious.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing for us is that going
Speaker 1: back to back. I remember Mike told us to start
Speaker 1: when we were starting the we won in ninety seven,
Speaker 1: beat the Packers, and they were coming back to try
Speaker 1: to repeat. And I remember Mike's very first meeting. He
Speaker 1: told us there's been a lot of teams that won
Speaker 1: one in a row. He said, if you want to
Speaker 1: be special, repeat and and you said, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: it one week at a time. And what we did
Speaker 1: the way we approached the tracks that he was just
Speaker 1: putting the game up that we were playing that week.
Speaker 1: We didn't know who the next game was, and then
Speaker 1: the next week, and then the next week, and then
Speaker 1: once we got there, you know, we ended the season
Speaker 1: fourteen too, and it was like, Okay, let's go win
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, and it was about we didn't care
Speaker 1: about who got the credit, because there's gonna be enough
Speaker 1: of the cake to go around that everybody's gonna get
Speaker 1: a piece. Now, clearly, your piece is not gonna be
Speaker 1: as big as is my homes or it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be the guy's not gonna be as big as yours
Speaker 1: or Tyreek and some of the other guys. But you
Speaker 1: will get a piece. You'll get a slice of the
Speaker 1: cake as long as you play your part. Everybody in
Speaker 1: the part, whether it's special teams, whether it's offense, defense,
Speaker 1: the holder, everybody has a role to play. Nobody rolled
Speaker 1: is more important. Everybody rolled can up end this card.
Speaker 1: And so that's the way we approached it. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking to you and it sounds like, Man, I've never
Speaker 1: had this conversation with him before, and he's talking like
Speaker 1: the very things that we said as a team is
Speaker 1: that let's handle a business game, the game. Let's get
Speaker 1: out of this season healthy. Now let's go win another
Speaker 1: super Bowl without a doubt. And that's the makeup of
Speaker 1: a championship team is when you have the guys in place,
Speaker 1: you know, that understand their role, that understand their their
Speaker 1: success within this this this game, it just makes everything
Speaker 1: goes out much smoother. And I was saying in terms
Speaker 1: of leadership, what leadership is this coach Reid does an
Speaker 1: unbelievable job of trying to get everybody involved. He tries
Speaker 1: to make sure that everybody gets a piece of that
Speaker 1: pie on the offensive side. Yeah right, And what that
Speaker 1: does is it helps everybody else out And when you
Speaker 1: have to cover all five, you know, skill players out
Speaker 1: out there on the field, that makes it. That makes
Speaker 1: my job because you're when Tyreek takes two guys and
Speaker 1: I know, I'm I'm singled up or Tyreek are both
Speaker 1: getting double with a guy like Sammy Watkins or Mikole
Speaker 1: Hardman or DeMarcus Robinson are singled up, or we got
Speaker 1: you know, lady on bail on a on a linebacker.
Speaker 1: You know, these mismatches start to start to become more
Speaker 1: of an issue for defenses when you try to, you know,
Speaker 1: alter your defense towards one guy, and Coach Reid understands that,
Speaker 1: he understands what defenses are gonna try and do. And
Speaker 1: it just makes this this machine, this offensive machine, just
Speaker 1: that much better. But like like we said, man, it
Speaker 1: just goes to the leadership that you got in that
Speaker 1: building and in that locker room to make sure that
Speaker 1: everybody's doing their job and and you know, not only that,
Speaker 1: but excited about doing their job. Yeah, I think it doesn't.
Speaker 1: I think it's it does does a great service, I think,
Speaker 1: and it does a great job. And Patrick does a
Speaker 1: great job of guys on the field don't always feel
Speaker 1: like they're decoys because they didn't give a moment as
Speaker 1: you meant mentioned Robinson, he caught the game winner last week.
Speaker 1: It might be him, It might be hard man, It
Speaker 1: might be saying me, you know you and tire, you
Speaker 1: guys are gonna get you go get your targets. But
Speaker 1: it's these other guys that sometimes they don't get a
Speaker 1: catch in the game then all of a sudden, but
Speaker 1: they still know they're running the busting their busts knowing
Speaker 1: but hey, this still might be my moment he might
Speaker 1: put it up through. So hey, I can't fall asleep
Speaker 1: on this route. Oh yeah, And that's the fun about
Speaker 1: playing in this offense, man, One five is gonna find
Speaker 1: you if you're open, and then we just we just
Speaker 1: try to take advantage of all those opportunities. Man, we
Speaker 1: got unbelievable, unbelievable men in this locker room. Man, I
Speaker 1: would ask you something to happen in week five, the
Speaker 1: Raiders beat you guys in Kansas City. Man, did you
Speaker 1: know that they took a big three a lap around
Speaker 1: Arrowhead a couple of times? Or when did you find
Speaker 1: out about it? I found out in the media, as
Speaker 1: everybody else did. And then when we played them later
Speaker 1: on in the season, everybody made sure that we knew
Speaker 1: about it. You know. Good for them, man, good for them.
Speaker 1: But that's what they feel like they got to do
Speaker 1: after a win to you know, we beat the we
Speaker 1: beat the top dogs. You know, do your thing, man,
Speaker 1: But excuse me, I think it's uh, you know, to
Speaker 1: take y'all when you guys beat them in Vegas did
Speaker 1: and they take y'all to drive down the strip? He said,
Speaker 1: it is himself. Man, that's that's not our gig man.
Speaker 1: We don't do that kind of stuff. We just take
Speaker 1: we're trying to take care of business on the field, man,
Speaker 1: and just leave it right there. I think it was
Speaker 1: it was a lot of them. And I've be the
Speaker 1: little brother in my entire life, so I understand. I
Speaker 1: think it was a lot of the little brother beating
Speaker 1: beating the beating the big brother and uh and feeling
Speaker 1: feeling pretty bold about it. But we all knew what
Speaker 1: was what was real and that I feel like at
Speaker 1: least I threw away the game for us, and that loss.
Speaker 1: If if we don't lose another one from here on out,
Speaker 1: which we don't plan on, that loss is gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna hold some weight for me for a long long time.
Speaker 1: Are you superstitious? I would. I would say that I'm not,
Speaker 1: But I do believe that there is a little bit
Speaker 1: of carmon and some things that I'm doing. So so,
Speaker 1: what I mean, do you eat the same pregame meal?
Speaker 1: Do you? I mean, do you drive the same way
Speaker 1: to practice? What do you get the same room at
Speaker 1: the hotel night before game? What are some of the
Speaker 1: things that you would do? I would I wouldn't take
Speaker 1: it to that extent because pregame meal is is the
Speaker 1: same every single time when we're whenever we're on the road,
Speaker 1: I'm always eating French thows before a game. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess that's about friends, tolds, oat meal and egg whites.
Speaker 1: No serum. See I need say, I need that sweet,
Speaker 1: I need that kid. That the light I would see,
Speaker 1: I'm superstitious. I'm traft. I was superstitious, Like if I
Speaker 1: went somewhere, like if I go to Kansas City, because
Speaker 1: we're gonna stay at the same hotel for the most part.
Speaker 1: Say if I had a good game, I'm gonna stay
Speaker 1: in the same room. I got the same we're at home.
Speaker 1: I'm standing in the same room, I'm driving the same
Speaker 1: way to the stadium. I'm going in front of the elevator.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna press the button and I gotta stand in
Speaker 1: front of the elevator door, which I think is gonna
Speaker 1: open first. And then was that if I get that
Speaker 1: thing right on the first track, somebody in trouble trail
Speaker 1: trap about to get a note hung on him. I hear,
Speaker 1: I hear, I would say, I'm superstitious and I gotta
Speaker 1: live right, man, If I'm not living right. I know,
Speaker 1: I know it's gonna be a rough day for me,
Speaker 1: so I just make sure that I'm living right throughout
Speaker 1: the week so I can feel comfortable going into a game.
Speaker 1: But in terms of game day having little stuff like that,
Speaker 1: for me, it was I started off doing that one
Speaker 1: I was younger in the in the NFL, and if
Speaker 1: one thing went wrong, it would just be like I
Speaker 1: you know, whether it was you know, I forgot my
Speaker 1: special undershirt that I was gonna wear out for pregame
Speaker 1: or something like that, I was just like, man, it just,
Speaker 1: you know, it makes you feel out of whack. It
Speaker 1: makes you feel like you've got to do something else
Speaker 1: to make up for that, or you know, it just
Speaker 1: doesn't It's not the same routine, so obviously I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna have the same success. Other things started playing in
Speaker 1: my mind and I just become a mental midget out there. Man,
Speaker 1: I screw everything up. What what makes and you read
Speaker 1: an offensive genius? Man? I would I would say, I
Speaker 1: would say this creativity, But it goes more than just
Speaker 1: the creativity. It's it's the work that he puts in
Speaker 1: to understand what other defenses are doing so that he
Speaker 1: can have the creativity in place, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So his his knowledge of another team's defense, his understanding
Speaker 1: of what they're doing, what they're trying to take away,
Speaker 1: how they're leveraging guys, his understanding of that allows him
Speaker 1: to be creative in the routes that we're running and
Speaker 1: allows us to have success in the routes that we're running.
Speaker 1: And it sets us up for success. It puts us
Speaker 1: in positions to where it enhances my skill set. And
Speaker 1: for an offensive guy, offensive coach to be able to always,
Speaker 1: you know, put their their players in a position to
Speaker 1: have that success or to have the upper hand. That's
Speaker 1: what more can you ask for as a player, that
Speaker 1: opportunity right there. Man, demand to go against somebody that
Speaker 1: I have had success you know doing this. You know
Speaker 1: you get an outside leverage, man, Well, let's run deep cross.
Speaker 1: I get a guy that's head up, Let's run a
Speaker 1: fake deep cross and come back out, sail out whatever
Speaker 1: whatever it is that the defense is doing. Coach Reid
Speaker 1: always has an answer. And uh. And as a player, man,
Speaker 1: as long as you know how to set these rounds
Speaker 1: up and and and play with that leverage, play with
Speaker 1: the scheme, man, you can you can have all the
Speaker 1: success in the world. Where did this swag come from?
Speaker 1: We don't normally see guys like yourself. It's swag delicious
Speaker 1: that you guys are. I see the LV roll, I
Speaker 1: see the DR I see the Greg Lord, I see all.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hold on, bro, what what's what's really going on?
Speaker 1: Where did that come from? You just gotta enjoy it, man,
Speaker 1: I personally, I think it comes from Cleveland Heights are
Speaker 1: higher where I come from. Every day in my house,
Speaker 1: they don't drive like that in Cleveland Heights, Bro. And
Speaker 1: then you gotta try something the day you will be surprised.
Speaker 1: We got, we got, we got two different sides of
Speaker 1: the sky. Yeah, we got, we got we got the
Speaker 1: side that's that's predominantly. Well. We just have different social classes.
Speaker 1: So we have, you know, we have one social class
Speaker 1: where it's you know, two three million dollar houses and
Speaker 1: then other ones that we have you know, apartment of it.
Speaker 1: So it's you have both sides of the spectrum where
Speaker 1: I come from, and and so every day it was
Speaker 1: it was it was. It was a fashion statement. And
Speaker 1: then I mean on top of that, you see a
Speaker 1: nice car coming by, you know, everybody knows who's who's
Speaker 1: in that car and what it is, and you get
Speaker 1: excited for it. But uh, it's it's just always been
Speaker 1: in me to uh to appreciate that kind of stuff man,
Speaker 1: and have fun with it. It's never been that I
Speaker 1: that I've you know, I've focused on or anything like that.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of always just been the natural, Uh,
Speaker 1: just who I am, and it just who'ses out of me.
Speaker 1: A lot of people kind of throw the words swag
Speaker 1: into you know, what you're wearing, what you drive, and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. Man, swagger is how you
Speaker 1: wear it, how you're driving, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: just to have that that that that that comfortable and
Speaker 1: confident you and no matter what you're doing. Man, that's
Speaker 1: the real swagger right there. Did you know? Like, Man,
Speaker 1: if I ever get me some cheese brom this, I'm
Speaker 1: a rocket. I'm a rocket like this? You know it? Man?
Speaker 1: You know I was never a chain down to your
Speaker 1: belly black kind of guy. You know what I mean? Right?
Speaker 1: Just keep it right here around the collar, right, And
Speaker 1: this is something nice and nice and subtle. Man. So
Speaker 1: are you? So you you're more of a clothes as
Speaker 1: opposed to a jewelry guy for the most part. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. You gotta have your ice, man. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got a few people you don't need. You don't
Speaker 1: need ten pieces, Okay, you need one or two chains
Speaker 1: a watch. I'm good. I was telling my my friens.
Speaker 1: I like the subtle aspect of jewelry, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: just just a little bit of shine here and there.
Speaker 1: I usually got my chain tough. But it says I
Speaker 1: was at club Shah. I thought, you know what I mean, Letter,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. I appreciate you bring it out in
Speaker 1: the little spark. Spark a lot. I see that. I
Speaker 1: see that trap. Bro. I really appreciate the time. Man.
Speaker 1: I know you got a busy week coming up. Stay healthy,
Speaker 1: get out of this game healthy. If you play, good
Speaker 1: luck along the way, brother, I'll catch it down the road.
Speaker 1: But I want to really thank you for coming on today. Bro.
Speaker 1: This ain't the last time, big Gun. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, he happy with the throw the wall,
Speaker 1: come back. I'll be right back in the club. Baby.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it, bro, good look it all right, Nah, have
Speaker 1: a go with the nephew saying it unifest dog. Appreciate
Speaker 1: it all My life, the grounding, all my life, sacrifice,
Speaker 1: custle Bay, to price, want a slice, Got the broller
Speaker 1: dice to Sware all my life. I've been grinding all
Speaker 1: my life, all my life, the running, all my life, sacrifice,
Speaker 1: custle Bay, the price and want a slice, Got the
Speaker 1: broller dice to Sware all my life. I've been grinding
Speaker 1: all my life,