Speaker 1: Everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Arizona Cardinals, an ESPN play by play
Speaker 1: announcer Dave Pash. Our guest this week is Cardinals left tackle,
Speaker 1: three time captain and twenty twenty one Pro Bowl selection
Speaker 1: d J Humphries. In fact, I'd love to call this
Speaker 1: episode DJ unplucked, because Humphries goes off on everything over
Speaker 1: the next thirty minutes. As you'll hear, DJ touches on
Speaker 1: how he became one of the best left tackles in
Speaker 1: the NFL after what looked like an ugly start to
Speaker 1: his tenure as a pro football player following leaving Florida
Speaker 1: a year early and becoming a first round draft pick.
Speaker 1: Humphries will also talk about the struggles at home the
Speaker 1: last two years for the Arizona Cardinals. I don't know
Speaker 1: what am I what do we do? What do you?
Speaker 1: This is like, I don't know. It's hard. I couldn't
Speaker 1: tell you. And that's I think that's the hardest part
Speaker 1: about what's going on right now, is like not having
Speaker 1: a true solution. Also, what it's like to play in Seattle,
Speaker 1: the growth of Kyler Murray, the gifts that Humphries has
Speaker 1: received from Murray and quarterbacks for the Cardinals over the years.
Speaker 1: We'll also talk about DJ's foundation that he's heavily involved
Speaker 1: in and what some of his interests are away from football.
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Speaker 1: one eight hundred. Next step, Let's have some fun, talk
Speaker 1: some Cardinals and a lot of other things with Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals star left tackle DJ Humphries. J. Appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1: First time you and I've actually had a chance to
Speaker 1: really sit down and chat like this, and you're one
Speaker 1: of my favorite stories on the team. When I think
Speaker 1: back to when you came into the NFL at your
Speaker 1: age and leaving Florida early to where you are now
Speaker 1: is one of the pillars of the team coming off
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl three time captain getting the contract. How much,
Speaker 1: and I know it's in the middle of a football season,
Speaker 1: but how much do you reflect on how far you've come?
Speaker 1: I think I think mainly when I talked to young
Speaker 1: players and young players come to me for like guidance
Speaker 1: and asking me questions about things. Our three young age
Speaker 1: rushers that we got, Liketta, Cam and my Ju We've
Speaker 1: we've had a very interesting relation. We've we've developed an
Speaker 1: interesting relationship between the three of us, between those three
Speaker 1: guys in me over just these past five weeks and
Speaker 1: just kind of you know, them kind of perceiving how
Speaker 1: the NFL is going to be and trying to like
Speaker 1: not step on toes and be careful with how they
Speaker 1: rush and stuff like that. And I'm like, yo, bro,
Speaker 1: I need you rush, bro, because I got to be
Speaker 1: ready for channeling this week I got frankly, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I need you to go and like
Speaker 1: getting them to understand that and watching it kind of
Speaker 1: bear fruit for them on the other side of it,
Speaker 1: and watching them, you know, progressively every week get closer
Speaker 1: and closer to being legit players. And knowing all the
Speaker 1: tunes that they got. I think that's like times like
Speaker 1: that is when they really be like dang, like this
Speaker 1: is cool, Like I couldn't have did that eight years ago.
Speaker 1: I didn't have anything for you eight years going now
Speaker 1: to be able to to kind of shine the light
Speaker 1: of some guys and help them do some things, and
Speaker 1: it helped them continue to grow and develop. It's like,
Speaker 1: that's that's super dope. Sure, when did it click for you?
Speaker 1: Do you remember a moment in time or an off
Speaker 1: season where, for lack of a better term, the light
Speaker 1: went on and you became the guy that you are
Speaker 1: now or at least started down the road to becoming
Speaker 1: the guy you are now. Yeah, I think that that
Speaker 1: that first off season out of my rookie year. First
Speaker 1: I have my son like in the beginning of that
Speaker 1: off season, and that was like a that was like
Speaker 1: a different wake up call for him. It was like
Speaker 1: a not even so much football, that was just like
Speaker 1: a life like I have to set an example, I
Speaker 1: have to do things in a certain way, but I
Speaker 1: think football it kind of I remember that first offseason
Speaker 1: and coming here and like training and going upstairs and
Speaker 1: asking good He's like yo, like like what can I like,
Speaker 1: we're gonta get some drills and like just do some stuff,
Speaker 1: and like not understanding like you can't do things like
Speaker 1: during the off season with coaches and like they can't
Speaker 1: do drills and stuff like that, and like that when
Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, I have to figure this out
Speaker 1: on my own or I would be out of the league.
Speaker 1: And I think that was when it kind of clicked
Speaker 1: for me. That was when I got got in touch
Speaker 1: with the Charles and that was how mean on the Charles.
Speaker 1: Our relationships started from there, kind of like just trying
Speaker 1: to take that ownership. It's like, Yo, this this league
Speaker 1: is not gonna wait for me. Nobody's gonna help me
Speaker 1: figure this out. I have to like go do it myself.
Speaker 1: And that offseason it's kind of what it happened. I
Speaker 1: kind of been building those same routines I've been going,
Speaker 1: been training there ever since, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: that that same offseason mentally trying to get better every
Speaker 1: year because of that from that off season. So Harold Goodwin,
Speaker 1: that's good. He who is now with Tampa and swear
Speaker 1: is more than a human being I met other than
Speaker 1: t J. Car Listen. I don't know if you've ever
Speaker 1: done to the presents of PJ. If you know who
Speaker 1: PJA is a longtime NBA head coach, So I don't
Speaker 1: know how he doesn't swear in the air because he
Speaker 1: swears all the time. And then Charles Bentley, former NFL
Speaker 1: offensive lineman's training guys. And this new contract that you did,
Speaker 1: you negotiated that yourself, right, how did that go? Like?
Speaker 1: First of all, why did you do it yourself? And
Speaker 1: then how did the process go? So? First, are you
Speaker 1: available if I need you for my next contract with
Speaker 1: ESPN or with the car So first of all, I
Speaker 1: am available for all Asian inquiries. One percent one percent good.
Speaker 1: It depends on what we're negotiating. Well, Broadcast agents normally
Speaker 1: take ten percent. So see, I'm not gonna I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be that guy to you, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I will never be that guy. But if we're negotiating
Speaker 1: a hundred million a deal here, now, I won't need
Speaker 1: a little you know, we may have to shave a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I think I'm gonna get that. Then
Speaker 1: a one or two percent, I'm going to shave a
Speaker 1: little bit more off the top of you know, we're
Speaker 1: going that fair, you get one hundred million dollars as
Speaker 1: much as you want, you take eighty percent. But but uh,
Speaker 1: my financial advisor, man by the name with Santana Johnson,
Speaker 1: very unassuming man if you were to meet him in person,
Speaker 1: because he's just so laid back and calm. But we
Speaker 1: developed a relationship over the last eight years and it's
Speaker 1: I pretty much talked to him every day of my
Speaker 1: life pretty much since I've signed with him. We developed
Speaker 1: like a big brother relationship, and he's kind of just
Speaker 1: kind of taught me so many things about business and
Speaker 1: and the ways of life and how you handle things.
Speaker 1: And he basically he kind of started my will spinning
Speaker 1: as becoming a businessman. You know, he got me and
Speaker 1: my first business deals doing real estate, my first business
Speaker 1: deals doing trucking. Like he's kind of aided me through
Speaker 1: all of those things, and it just kind of it's
Speaker 1: the only thing that's ever excited me aside from football,
Speaker 1: is kind of taking control of of business and trying
Speaker 1: to use what I've required over my last seven eight
Speaker 1: years of football and watching it go in other places
Speaker 1: and continue to produce fruit for me in that same way.
Speaker 1: It's something that's like it excites me watching it happen.
Speaker 1: It's something that's fun for me. So being able to
Speaker 1: be able to do the same thing, basically do another deal,
Speaker 1: the biggest one that I could do in the moment,
Speaker 1: or you know what I mean, in this timeframe for myself,
Speaker 1: and it kind of be an isolated environment, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, not an environment that's the New York Stock Exchange,
Speaker 1: but I got worried about vulture, you know what I I mean.
Speaker 1: It's a it's an isolated environment in this building where
Speaker 1: I know that I'm not gonna get taken advantage of. Granted,
Speaker 1: I know they're going to try to win, but I
Speaker 1: know I'm not gonna get taken advantage of. So I
Speaker 1: know that I can go into this fight and really
Speaker 1: fight and learn and get some keys and get some
Speaker 1: callous about myself and do things a certain way that
Speaker 1: this is what I wanted to do. And it just
Speaker 1: made so much sense for I mean, it was fun
Speaker 1: the whole way. It was hard as hell, but it
Speaker 1: was fun though it was the whole off season pretty
Speaker 1: much literally the whole off season. Yeah, Like I had
Speaker 1: an offer already, I think in OTAs Or I didn't
Speaker 1: have an offer. That's what it was. I didn't have
Speaker 1: an offering ot so like that whole through that whole time,
Speaker 1: that time frame, so all leading up until the day
Speaker 1: my stomach started hurting the account. That's pretty much the hold.
Speaker 1: That was pretty much the timeline. Were you in significant pain?
Speaker 1: I mean I was crushed. That's done. It was it
Speaker 1: was Are you being serious? I am being serious? Man?
Speaker 1: As wow, man, I don't know how I made it up. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Um, not everybody can be Larry Fitzgerald. Not
Speaker 1: everybody can be Kobe Bryant and be a great player
Speaker 1: for their team forever. You're trending that way of being
Speaker 1: a cardinal. I know you're still in your twenties, but
Speaker 1: signing a third contract, you're trending that way. And who
Speaker 1: knows what's going to happen down the road. But is
Speaker 1: that something you think about or have thought about being
Speaker 1: in one place for an entire career? Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: That's always been my goal ever in playing football. I
Speaker 1: always wanted to go to a team and be a
Speaker 1: main state to that team and retire from that place,
Speaker 1: and you know, be able to live in the town
Speaker 1: and go to the grocery store and get the glory love,
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean. That was always my dream,
Speaker 1: was being that guy that was the hometown guy, that
Speaker 1: that that played in one team for a long time
Speaker 1: and he stayed there and they look you know. I
Speaker 1: mean that was always when I thought about That was
Speaker 1: what football always was to me. That's what you do.
Speaker 1: You go somewhere. You'd be great there and they love
Speaker 1: you there forever and you you live your life there.
Speaker 1: Maybe run for mayor or something like that when you
Speaker 1: like sixty, you know, like that that was that was like,
Speaker 1: you know, that's it. I like that mayor d J.
Speaker 1: Humphreys man only fun things? Um? Was it always football
Speaker 1: for you? What other sports did you play growing up?
Speaker 1: And when did you like your recruiting process? Did you
Speaker 1: get recruited by other schools for anything other than football?
Speaker 1: I always wanted to be really good at basketball because
Speaker 1: my dad was good at basketball. But I sucked, man,
Speaker 1: I was so bad at basketball like it was. It
Speaker 1: was it was. And when you say suck, look clarify,
Speaker 1: like you you couldn't dribble or you didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do when you got the ball on the post,
Speaker 1: because I'm assuming you played on the low block. That
Speaker 1: was literally the only thing I knew what to do.
Speaker 1: Anything passed a drop step and going straight up with it,
Speaker 1: or rebound, setting a good pick or a foule. I
Speaker 1: was a fish out of water from anywhere from in
Speaker 1: between those spaces, like anything else. You give me the
Speaker 1: ball on the elbow, I don't want to. I don't
Speaker 1: know what to do. I'm getting it out of my hands. Now.
Speaker 1: Do you watch the NBA or college basketball? Not that much.
Speaker 1: Only when my dad's around, so I can like act
Speaker 1: like I'm cool manly man. But I'm a Netflix guy.
Speaker 1: You're at and I don't even watch football, But I
Speaker 1: swear I watched so much film that, like when I
Speaker 1: go home, it's like I watched Thursday night football because
Speaker 1: that's when we do the online dinner. But I guess
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna see it at some point. I'm watched
Speaker 1: the film at some point, like I don't need to
Speaker 1: watch what about college football? Ever? Watch college football? Do
Speaker 1: you still keep in touch with people in Florida? There's
Speaker 1: been like nine coaching changes. Yeah, left, I don't really
Speaker 1: keep I don't really keep in touch with Florida. The
Speaker 1: only time I watched the only time I really watched
Speaker 1: the Gators. If it's I'm like, I got like a
Speaker 1: friendly wager with somebody, like I'm like, you know, Tennessee
Speaker 1: played and I had I had bet I was gonna
Speaker 1: have to wear a T shirt. But luckily I got
Speaker 1: out of that, you know, I didn't have to do it.
Speaker 1: But like the little stuff like that, that's the only
Speaker 1: time I already ever watched. But it's it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I just I rather just watch cool.
Speaker 1: I get it. I would much rather writse Ricky Morty
Speaker 1: didn't watch. I haven't seen it. So oh you haven't
Speaker 1: seen it? Now, Okay, what do you do at nighttime?
Speaker 1: What you can't sleep? Do you? Just like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: working a lot. I'm calling that's you know, That's why
Speaker 1: I asked you about it. If you watch because I'm
Speaker 1: doing like, for example, Wednesday, I'm doing preseason NBA for
Speaker 1: ESPN Timberwolves, Lakers, and then I'll do a college game
Speaker 1: on Saturday. They do the Cardinals on Sunday. So, like
Speaker 1: you though, there's a lot of times, but the last
Speaker 1: thing I want to do is watch a sporting event
Speaker 1: exactly because it's working for you. It's work this is
Speaker 1: your job, So I understand, but there's some people that
Speaker 1: love it so much that that's all they want to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love football, you know, it's crazy. I love football,
Speaker 1: but like I don't. I don't like it's a lot
Speaker 1: of times in football, I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: I only watched the left tackle. Like if people ask
Speaker 1: me something, like you can ask me something and be like, Yo,
Speaker 1: what's the situation here? What we I don't know about.
Speaker 1: Just I'm about to block the end. That's that's all
Speaker 1: I know. Like, I don't namer myself with things in
Speaker 1: my mind like safety rotations and what coverage they're running
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna block
Speaker 1: this dude right here. That's like the best pass rush.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna block this dude, So I don't even care
Speaker 1: about what the safety is doing over there. So along
Speaker 1: those lines, who were the toughest guys you've gone up
Speaker 1: against this year? Of all times since you got in
Speaker 1: the league, who were the toughest players you faced? Because
Speaker 1: you're a lot of times on the island, you're going
Speaker 1: up against a guy that's the best player on the
Speaker 1: defensive line, and sometimes the best player on the defense. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get some dogs. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you somebody who's the first time I ever went to
Speaker 1: a game and like I was just getting worked and
Speaker 1: it was like I just didn't know what Like I
Speaker 1: was just overwhelmed. I didn't know what to do. Was
Speaker 1: nobody that could save me. But the first time I
Speaker 1: played Cliff for April at right tackle at home and
Speaker 1: he was rushing off the edge and I was playing
Speaker 1: right tackle, that was my second year in the league.
Speaker 1: I think, oh my goodness, it was like a series
Speaker 1: there where I didn't even touch him. He was just
Speaker 1: running straight And I'll say, bro, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you'll want me to do, but I'm trying so hard,
Speaker 1: like like it's not like I'm giving bad effort, but
Speaker 1: like I'm trying my hardest and I just can't get there.
Speaker 1: And I think Cliff is one of the few people
Speaker 1: that's like that. That game. I can remember that game
Speaker 1: like snap for snap and that was like that was
Speaker 1: six years ago. I think six seasons ago. He was
Speaker 1: in Seattle or Detroit. He was in Seattle. This was
Speaker 1: this was like his last season, that last year he
Speaker 1: played the year before the year before the last year
Speaker 1: he played because he got hurt that next year, the
Speaker 1: year before the last year he played. Bro I was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: this is nuts. Like I was like looking forward to
Speaker 1: like next season, like this is gonna be my measuring
Speaker 1: stick to tell me how like how better, how much
Speaker 1: better I've got in the year and he got hurt
Speaker 1: and so he got hurt. I didn't get a chance
Speaker 1: to do it, but like that was the cliff. Um
Speaker 1: I always Me and the Neil Hunter in Minnesota is
Speaker 1: always a battle. I mean literally, since he's been an
Speaker 1: lash has been a battle between me and him for
Speaker 1: as long as we've been going against each other. Um
Speaker 1: Burns and Charlotte is really good. He's gonna be like
Speaker 1: he's good now, but he's he's got a lot of
Speaker 1: upside and there that he's got to. That D line
Speaker 1: we played this past weekend was a bunch of freaks
Speaker 1: to is really good sign obviously. What about the Bosa
Speaker 1: the Bosa brothers, Yeah, how did I did I even forget? Like, well,
Speaker 1: sometimes they're hurt, I mean, but they get hurt a lot.
Speaker 1: I've never played the other one. I've never played Joey.
Speaker 1: Joey and I think he missed the game. When the
Speaker 1: Cardinals played and I was hurt at the child. I
Speaker 1: was hurt. We went to We went to hurt. Corey
Speaker 1: kind of played left town for me. But yeah, yeah, Nick,
Speaker 1: like that's that's probably like the every year. I know,
Speaker 1: those two games don't get real. So because obviously you
Speaker 1: become an excellent left tackle and you said you're focused
Speaker 1: on blocking this guy or if there's a game or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know what you're doing and who you're blocking. How
Speaker 1: did you get so good? Meaning? Is it film study?
Speaker 1: Is it anticipating based on a previous move that a
Speaker 1: guy has made what he might be doing on this
Speaker 1: next play, or is it just you're constantly worried about
Speaker 1: your technique as opposed to what this guy might do
Speaker 1: in front of you. I think that's what I had
Speaker 1: to become because it kind of made me soft in
Speaker 1: my approach. My thought process was soft. I was worried
Speaker 1: about things. I'm worried that he's gonna do this, or
Speaker 1: he's gonna instead of making my mind up, like yo,
Speaker 1: it's third down, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: to spof and throw my hands and I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like I had to I had to
Speaker 1: put myself, make myself be that person who I thought
Speaker 1: I was in my mind. I had to just pull
Speaker 1: it out every play and put it on film. And
Speaker 1: if you do it one time, now you know that
Speaker 1: you can do it like you have to do it.
Speaker 1: This is the standard. You gotta just do it every
Speaker 1: time you're tired. Who cares? Like this is how you
Speaker 1: have to do it? And I think that's just kind
Speaker 1: of like how I condition myself to think like it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. It's like, you gotta go right now. Your
Speaker 1: foot hurt everything, and I cares. You gotta take this
Speaker 1: set right now. You know what you gotta do. You
Speaker 1: know exactly how you gotta do what you have to
Speaker 1: do it. Let's go on one hood that, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I think that's just that focus on me.
Speaker 1: It's really when I started making a turn, because it's
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about what these guys gonna do. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a mixer forever because it's endless, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So I think that was the that was
Speaker 1: the turn for sure. It's just me making it about
Speaker 1: myself being so honing in on my technique. Honing in
Speaker 1: on my process, honing in on everything that I need
Speaker 1: to do to be prepared to be able to go
Speaker 1: out there to play at the level of player that
Speaker 1: I want to play it, and it's and it's continuous,
Speaker 1: it's every year is something that I can get better.
Speaker 1: And just having that mindset of searching for it. I'm
Speaker 1: never feeling like, oh, yeah, I'm good, like I like
Speaker 1: who I just signed another deal, Like I'm good like
Speaker 1: I'm forever searching for it, Like I got something to
Speaker 1: fix from this last week. I've been playing really good
Speaker 1: ball this season, but I still got something to fix
Speaker 1: from last week that I fixed from the week before that.
Speaker 1: I think something from the week before this week, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And just having that continuous Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a great game, but I messed up on
Speaker 1: these three things. I got to make sure that's what
Speaker 1: I'm focusing on. I got to continue to focus on
Speaker 1: the stuff that I was thinking about, and I got
Speaker 1: to add those three to the back because it's everything's
Speaker 1: got to be. I gotta chase perfection, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, whatever we fall it in between, as long
Speaker 1: as I'm chasing perfection, I like where it's gonna la me.
Speaker 1: I love what you're saying. I want to get more
Speaker 1: into that and what's going on with the team. Let's
Speaker 1: start with talking about this week going to Seattle. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned to you, doing college football, I've done games Florida, LSU, Alabama,
Speaker 1: Penn State, Ohio State where the crowd is phenomenal and
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand people. I have never been in a
Speaker 1: louder outdoor stadium than Seattle. Whatever it's called these days,
Speaker 1: it changes often. I think it's is it looming field?
Speaker 1: But anyway, what's it like as a player? Because I'm
Speaker 1: there is a broadcaster and it's really a loud for me.
Speaker 1: But what's it like when you're on the middle of
Speaker 1: the field in that and you guys have had a
Speaker 1: lot of success despite that noise in Seattle. You know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. The middle of the field is like the
Speaker 1: best place to be. It's not as loud in the
Speaker 1: middle of the field when you get close to those
Speaker 1: opposite twenties. Though, oh man, you started speaking signing inguage.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of this right here, A lot, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's but it's it's I think from playing in Florida
Speaker 1: and just playing in the SEC, like I get a rush,
Speaker 1: like like I feel like I thrive and played better
Speaker 1: like two minute situations, those situas like when it's just
Speaker 1: like we gotta have this crunch is chaia, we don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on? Is I don't even It kind
Speaker 1: of feel like white noise. Honestly, it feels like the
Speaker 1: TV like when it's I'm I'm not that old, but
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, the TV steal went off,
Speaker 1: like it would just go to static TV. And that's
Speaker 1: what it sounds like to me sometimes. And that's like,
Speaker 1: that's like I love it though, because it feels like
Speaker 1: college football. It feels like you like we're having fun.
Speaker 1: Like it's just the environment. It's so fun to be it,
Speaker 1: even being an opposing team, it's a fun environment to
Speaker 1: be it. Look, I know this is a question you
Speaker 1: guys have asked. I've been asked at nauseum probably and
Speaker 1: I've been asked too, and I have no idea what
Speaker 1: the answer is. But no home wins in a year,
Speaker 1: It is there anything you can point to as to
Speaker 1: why maybe that is is there? Because the environment, Like
Speaker 1: the other day against Philadelphia, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: Eagle fans, you know, the game Sunday in Seattle. It's
Speaker 1: going to be all Seattle fans. So, like you said,
Speaker 1: you get to a place where you kind of thrive
Speaker 1: in that environment. Do you think that is impacting things?
Speaker 1: Or am I reaching here? Because honestly, I don't know
Speaker 1: what the answer is, and I've given a thousand interviews
Speaker 1: about it and I really don't know. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you appending on which day you ask me, I'm
Speaker 1: reaching also because I like, I'm My feeling is the
Speaker 1: same way as like, I don't know, because it's like
Speaker 1: and it's it's hard, it's even harder like going to
Speaker 1: games and going to home games and feeling in tune
Speaker 1: and going to playing well and like not winning and
Speaker 1: it's hard, Like it's I think that's that's really hard
Speaker 1: for me to rationalize. Like it's the weirdest thing. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's a competitive thing. It's it's a
Speaker 1: weird feeling going home playing well and losing, and it's
Speaker 1: like I don't like what what am I like? What
Speaker 1: do we do? Like? What do you? Because if I
Speaker 1: if I go, if I play like, if I play
Speaker 1: like trash, I'm giving up sex all over places. It's like, yo,
Speaker 1: I just gotta be better. We're gonna win this game.
Speaker 1: It's as naive as that is. I just it gives
Speaker 1: me like some sense of rational now to myself when
Speaker 1: I'm at home and I'm by myself, it's like, yo,
Speaker 1: I just gotta be better and we're gonna win. So
Speaker 1: going home and then like watch a film like damn,
Speaker 1: like this is like I don't know, it's Fred And
Speaker 1: that's so frustrated because everybody is so competitive that we
Speaker 1: all scratching claude to win, and it's like it's hard.
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you. And that's I think that's the
Speaker 1: hardest part about what's going on right now. It's like
Speaker 1: not having a true solution, not really even And yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think the same probably can be said about
Speaker 1: the starts. You know why NFL trends don't last long.
Speaker 1: There's too many good players and too many good teams.
Speaker 1: Usually teams don't go eight games without winning at home,
Speaker 1: and they don't go five first quarters without scoring a point,
Speaker 1: So at some point it's it's gonna change. Hopefully it's
Speaker 1: this week, and then in two weeks you get DeAndre
Speaker 1: Hopkins back, and obviously that's something everybody points to because
Speaker 1: of how good DeAndre Hopkins is and how things become
Speaker 1: easier for everybody else when you have a player liked
Speaker 1: hop on the field. Would you agree with that one
Speaker 1: thousand percent? I was talking to him about that day,
Speaker 1: talking to about how the fact that we're in this
Speaker 1: position and a season, and how we haven't scored in
Speaker 1: five first quarters, and how many games we've we've started
Speaker 1: with over fourteen hole and how many games that we
Speaker 1: ended the game in the battle and almost wanted in
Speaker 1: the fight, like and we're doing all that without our
Speaker 1: number one offensive target for real. So that's like that's
Speaker 1: something for me. It's like, Yo, we have so much talent.
Speaker 1: It's like it's all little things. It's all the attention
Speaker 1: to detail, the carrying things over from from from drill
Speaker 1: to to to practice, from practice the game, like all
Speaker 1: of those little meticulous things. That's like the grand scheme
Speaker 1: of things. It's simple for us, the talent and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, Like we have everything in that regard. It's
Speaker 1: that attention to detail the small things, and that that
Speaker 1: was mend I was literally just talking about this before
Speaker 1: I came down here. It's like I remember being on
Speaker 1: that NFC championship team, well lost in the ENCYL rookie
Speaker 1: year and this team has eclipses that team in talent,
Speaker 1: but that team did all the little things right. That
Speaker 1: team knew all the little things that that team had,
Speaker 1: all the small details and nuances and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And that's like that, Like I was basically spa comparing
Speaker 1: those two to him and seeing that, you know, because
Speaker 1: we were talking about being on playoff teams and all
Speaker 1: that stuff like that, and it's just like, that's what
Speaker 1: it is. I think, in my mind is the small thing.
Speaker 1: It's just the little attention to detail stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: we think that doesn't matter in reality when you look
Speaker 1: back at it on the game field. It's all small stuff.
Speaker 1: Another thing that I get asked about a lot is
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, and I I feel like Kyler is low
Speaker 1: hanging fruit for a lot of people, meaning he's become
Speaker 1: an easy target for people to try to nitpick at.
Speaker 1: It's clear and he's far from a finished product, but
Speaker 1: it's clear based on where he was. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think about where you were as a rookie to where
Speaker 1: you are now and maybe where you were in year
Speaker 1: four where he wasn't year one to where he is
Speaker 1: in your four very different in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And it's players to say that, it's coaches to say that,
Speaker 1: it's personal people that say that. So where are some
Speaker 1: of the areas you've seen Kyler grow from year one
Speaker 1: to year four and maybe more specifically from last year
Speaker 1: to this year. I think if you're talking about from
Speaker 1: last year to this year, I think his level of
Speaker 1: ownership that he has this year, the way that he
Speaker 1: wants he wants things done a certain way now, he
Speaker 1: wants routes run a certain way, he wants certain he
Speaker 1: demands certain things from the people that's around him. And
Speaker 1: it's so fun to see because that's what you want.
Speaker 1: I want you to want me to do things a
Speaker 1: certain way because it's gonna put us in the best
Speaker 1: position to win. And you know that, and you need
Speaker 1: to get that message across to me. But because it's
Speaker 1: that important to you, and like seeing all those things
Speaker 1: come up from him, it's so impressive to see he's
Speaker 1: like everything that you want for your young quarterback, all
Speaker 1: to progress, all the steps that you want, he's literally
Speaker 1: doing it. My favorite thing about Kyler that not that
Speaker 1: the media the reason why he's low hanging fruit is
Speaker 1: because he'll call a spade a spade, and he doesn't
Speaker 1: mind telling you that the dumb questions are dumb questions,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I think it's easy
Speaker 1: to I feel like that's how it works. You know.
Speaker 1: If I if I say that your question that you
Speaker 1: asked me was a dumb question, and then I do
Speaker 1: something the next day, you're gonna be the first person
Speaker 1: to write an article about it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of like that's kind of a
Speaker 1: bit of what he's dealing with. Also, it's like, I'm hey, listen,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna come and ask me something dumb, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you that it's dumb. And now the backlash
Speaker 1: is gonna be that and and we're not gonna I'm
Speaker 1: also gonna adds to the fact that you're a quarter
Speaker 1: being out a quarterback. That's just what comes with it.
Speaker 1: Like he's the low hanging that that's the fruit hangs
Speaker 1: low because it's a big apple, like you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, And that's and that's just what it is.
Speaker 1: That's that's what comes with it. We gotta that's it's
Speaker 1: always gonna be that if something happens on the old line,
Speaker 1: They're gonna look at me first because I'm the highest
Speaker 1: pitying the old line. Hump, how did you allow this
Speaker 1: to happen? Whether or not that she even says, you
Speaker 1: don't even know where where anything came from? How to
Speaker 1: hump play? Then if that's what the old line looks like,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, that's just the It's just the
Speaker 1: world of what we live in professional sports. And I
Speaker 1: think him allowing it to not rattle him and handle
Speaker 1: it the way that he sees fit handle it is
Speaker 1: fun for me to watch because it doesn't bother him
Speaker 1: the outside world's feelings about him and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: It doesn't bother him. Is his response to it what
Speaker 1: kind of leads to his getting the back last day
Speaker 1: he gets, but it genuinely does it. It doesn't bother
Speaker 1: him at all. I like what you said because, whether
Speaker 1: we want to admit it or not, we in the media,
Speaker 1: and I obviously include myself, we all have our favorites,
Speaker 1: and sometimes we pick our favorites for the wrong reasons,
Speaker 1: and sometimes we don't like certain guys for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example, like Damian Lillard was on
Speaker 1: this podcast a couple of weeks ago, and I love Dame,
Speaker 1: and Dame and I have had a good working relationship
Speaker 1: for fifteen years. He's been great to me. He's one
Speaker 1: of the great guys in the NBA. I am a
Speaker 1: big fan of Russell Westbrook as a person, and most
Speaker 1: guys in the media don't like Russell Westbrook because of
Speaker 1: how he might come off. But I think when you
Speaker 1: get to know somebody a little bit more and you
Speaker 1: see you know, you kind of peel the layers back,
Speaker 1: You see behind the curtain a little bit, the competitive fire,
Speaker 1: you know, catching a guy after a game's rough, sometimes
Speaker 1: you don't get what you would get on a normal Tuesday. Yes, exactly,
Speaker 1: that's it is. I learned that from Larry. That's why
Speaker 1: Larry has never miked up in his career. I learned
Speaker 1: it from him. They said, you can't put him Michael
Speaker 1: me at my most emotional state in my life ever
Speaker 1: that I'm just not. I can't. I'm a different person.
Speaker 1: It'd be interesting when hard Docs is here for you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I keep forgetting that they're
Speaker 1: here too. Oh my god, so much. I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna be a star. I think you're headed for starting.
Speaker 1: Either I'm gonna be a star, I'm getting canceled. That's
Speaker 1: those are the two options. You know, I'm going to
Speaker 1: the B stage. I'm getting canceled one or the two.
Speaker 1: All Right, a few more and I'll get you out
Speaker 1: here because you've been really gracious with your time. Um
Speaker 1: making the Pro Bowl last year first offensive lineman's is
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen first tackle since Lomas Brown. I don't count it?
Speaker 1: Why not? Why to count it? Because I didn't go
Speaker 1: like I didn't but you got named. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know it's like, yeah, we could, like Billy didn't want
Speaker 1: to take me to the problem, So can you take me?
Speaker 1: I guess I'll take you of me? So what's that's?
Speaker 1: That's just granted my grandmother, everybody, it's amazing. I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's cool, but like it's gonna feel I'll
Speaker 1: feel differently when I make it this year when I'm
Speaker 1: when I'm named. It started like I feel differently about it.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your your grandma. You and your wife have
Speaker 1: a foundation, the Peewee House Foundation, which is named after
Speaker 1: your grandma. Correct, yeah, different grandmother, Yeah, different grandma, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: can you tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, So, um,
Speaker 1: Peewee's my grandma. That's my mom's mom. Elizabeth Ann means
Speaker 1: she's her name is Peewee. She was a premature baby,
Speaker 1: and she was so small she her bid. Her bed
Speaker 1: was the top drawer of her mother's like a nice stand,
Speaker 1: so that her nickname was Pewee. She's a little she
Speaker 1: was the baby. Um, but that's my grandmother. She was
Speaker 1: tough as nails. Um. They're super stirn with me. My
Speaker 1: whole life, you know what I mean, kind of grew
Speaker 1: me to be the gentleman and the man that I
Speaker 1: am in a sense of how I carried myself and
Speaker 1: do certain things. It's a cross between her and my
Speaker 1: dad or the two basically guys that people that moted it.
Speaker 1: But my wife, a wife. I always talked about starting
Speaker 1: a foundation in her honor and kind of going back
Speaker 1: and giving back to my hometown in South Carolina. And
Speaker 1: my wife knows that I'm very like if it's not perfect,
Speaker 1: I'll never do it. And she kind of just took
Speaker 1: it off for Christmas one year, she she gifted me
Speaker 1: the LLC and EI E and all that stuff like that.
Speaker 1: She kind of started it made it all the founders
Speaker 1: and all that stuff and uh yeah man, we this
Speaker 1: this this year, we had our second annual um A
Speaker 1: Fresh Food initiative. We had our second annual Backpack Drive
Speaker 1: this year. At the backpack Drive, we added a carnival.
Speaker 1: We had like a nice little carnival out there are
Speaker 1: kids who like baby get on like some fair rides
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Has some bouncy houses and slides
Speaker 1: and stuff. UM gave out like I want to say,
Speaker 1: close to fifteen hundred backpacks. It's awesome something like that,
Speaker 1: Like something like something like that, like like U two
Speaker 1: thousand boxes of food like it was, it was, it was,
Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was super fun like it.
Speaker 1: But it's I left Union County. I got it spelled
Speaker 1: in the eighth grade. Did yeah, yeah, yeah, I was bad.
Speaker 1: I was. It was a rough kid. But so it's
Speaker 1: it's it's funny like leaving and coming back and people
Speaker 1: haven't seen me since then and coming back and they're
Speaker 1: seeing me doing all this stuff and it's like mind
Speaker 1: blowing and it's seeing seeing people see me do something good.
Speaker 1: It felt it feels real good because I know how
Speaker 1: much how much HAVOC I read in my hometown for
Speaker 1: a small stint there in my in my young in
Speaker 1: my young childhood. But it's it's it's been fun, man,
Speaker 1: It's it's it's something that's ever evolved. I would love
Speaker 1: to eventually get to a point where I have a
Speaker 1: trade school in my hometown, to where I can kind
Speaker 1: of restart that that wave of these kids that are
Speaker 1: graduating high school and they know they're not gonna college,
Speaker 1: being able to at least get into a field or
Speaker 1: something that they have a true interest in, and being
Speaker 1: able to really go to work and earn a make
Speaker 1: a career out of yourself. And I mean, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: probably one of the most artists and self aware people
Speaker 1: when it comes to certain things. And I know, if
Speaker 1: I wasn't six five, three hundred pounds, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to the University of Florida, probably going to the unc
Speaker 1: USC Upstate, which is in Union, South Carolina, do you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So like that, I just know,
Speaker 1: I know that. So I I want to be able
Speaker 1: to create a lane for those kids that are that
Speaker 1: would have been like me if I wasn't as big
Speaker 1: as I am and then was going to go to
Speaker 1: college to play football. Um to basically live that lifestyle
Speaker 1: that you would want to live in a way that
Speaker 1: you would want to live doing something that you actually
Speaker 1: want to do. You talked about your son earlier, Dash correcting.
Speaker 1: Your daughter's name is Nova. How did you come up
Speaker 1: with the names? I don't know. I named them both,
Speaker 1: though I'm two for two on the names I named them.
Speaker 1: I like them. Yeah, umph Nova, Humphres. Yeah that's Dash Nova,
Speaker 1: But you don't remember how you came up with, no clue,
Speaker 1: straight freestyle them off the dome. First name, middle name,
Speaker 1: and both of them stuck like it was like, that's Jeremiah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's cool. Novah and Humphres cool and he just
Speaker 1: stood out. They thought, yeah, yeah, they just thought it.
Speaker 1: Because I have three children. One of our daughters is
Speaker 1: named Zuzu. Her middle name is Pedals. Now. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've seen the movie It's a Wonderful Life.
Speaker 1: Have you ever seen? It's a great Christmas movie. Watch
Speaker 1: it anyway. One of the kids in it is first name, Zuzu,
Speaker 1: middle and we don't know what the middle name was.
Speaker 1: But the whole thing about the movie is Jimmy Stewart
Speaker 1: is the main actor. He remembers how good things were
Speaker 1: when he finds the petals that Zuzu gave him in
Speaker 1: his pocket, and so us. But I do remember we
Speaker 1: were my wife and I were in New York City
Speaker 1: and we may have had too much wine. We came
Speaker 1: up with name, but it's not a name. She's twenty
Speaker 1: one years old. She hadn't changed her name. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: she's out of the window. She if she wanted to change,
Speaker 1: it'd have been changed exactly, exactly. Um. Last thing can
Speaker 1: you name? Because Kyler Murray last year got you guys
Speaker 1: golf clubs? First of all, how cool is that? And
Speaker 1: then can you name all the gifts you've received over
Speaker 1: the years from your quarterbacks? I can those golf clothes
Speaker 1: well awesome, and I can name all my gifts. Um.
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer got us the dart guns one year. That
Speaker 1: was the year before that, though he got the guys
Speaker 1: when I was a rook ye, I didn't get this.
Speaker 1: He got the guys fly fish and sets. And then
Speaker 1: the next year when I was playing, he got a
Speaker 1: dark guns like the ones that you pump with it
Speaker 1: like you put a bike pump on it and pump
Speaker 1: it up like I could take down a buffalo a bison.
Speaker 1: I swear it was a video of Ted new taking
Speaker 1: a bison down with it instead of my did you
Speaker 1: use it? I used it one time in my backyard
Speaker 1: and I shot the target and it went through the
Speaker 1: target and like hit my wall, like made a loud noise.
Speaker 1: I just ran in the house. I never used it
Speaker 1: again because I was scared out. Yeah, I was scared.
Speaker 1: Another christ Like called the police. So I actually know
Speaker 1: that one too. I actually Christmas story. And can't you
Speaker 1: shoot your eye out with the lead with the lamp
Speaker 1: in the leg? Yeah? I know? Okay, um what else said?
Speaker 1: I got? David Johnson got me a green egg one year,
Speaker 1: a green egg? Green Eggs. Still got it, Still use
Speaker 1: it like a real egg. What's what is the smoker?
Speaker 1: The green eggs? Oh my goodness, we gotta get you
Speaker 1: in the backyard, dude. What is it? It's like a
Speaker 1: big smoker, but it's like a It's like a A
Speaker 1: is a ceramic or is it? It's like a big
Speaker 1: I don't even know how to explain it. It's a
Speaker 1: huge smoker, like a green egg, and it's amazing. But
Speaker 1: I always burned stuff up on it. So I haven't
Speaker 1: quite figured out how to use aqs of pro at
Speaker 1: using it though. Okay, Um, Kyler got us pictures one year.
Speaker 1: That was just no, we got scooters. I don't know
Speaker 1: what Josh Rosen and Sam Bradford, I don't think they
Speaker 1: got us anything. Sam Sam didn't play very long, so
Speaker 1: maybe maybe he has an excuse. Yes, fair touche touch
Speaker 1: the wild Hog scooter club was that was That was
Speaker 1: the first was Kylage first year. Then we got to
Speaker 1: pick this next year, and then we got the golf clubs.
Speaker 1: You remember all my gifts? This very good memory? Do
Speaker 1: you guys still as as an offensive line, go out
Speaker 1: to dinner all the time and just Kyler still Yeah,
Speaker 1: everything Kyler goes as you pay? Uh No, we trade
Speaker 1: off days that pay. Yeah. He always used to pay
Speaker 1: on like he likes to pick the days that are
Speaker 1: like cheap and try to pay. It. Took us the
Speaker 1: hot cheek one day and pay. He felt so good
Speaker 1: about it. Was like a four hundredllar chick, like, bro,
Speaker 1: just come on, we just ate chicken nuggets and you yeah,
Speaker 1: I got this one, y'all, boy, I got this one,
Speaker 1: all right, I will hope. So what about the next four.
Speaker 1: All right, what was the show again on Netflix that
Speaker 1: you watch? Because I need to find something new to start.
Speaker 1: So this is not Netflix, this is all Hulu. It's
Speaker 1: called Ricky Morty. There's nothing. There's nothing that's about it, Like,
Speaker 1: there's nothing that's you're not about to learn anything. You're
Speaker 1: not about to like get any knowledge, no worldly advice
Speaker 1: or nothing. It's just mindless, mindless TV. Straight detach your
Speaker 1: brain from Like that sounds good. The world get you
Speaker 1: a good laugh, probably like some humor that's like not
Speaker 1: like if you if you got caught watching it, somebody
Speaker 1: probably think he's a weirdo, because it's like you're got
Speaker 1: to figure out how weird I am when you go
Speaker 1: watch it the first day. I have to watch it's
Speaker 1: not just so you have to tell them back to you.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how I liked this show and
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing. I watched on revernd, like I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on. Well, listen, I really appreciate the time. DJ.
Speaker 1: You've been great and I'm not surprised you got such
Speaker 1: a big personality. I do think you're going to be
Speaker 1: a breakout star on Hard Knocks. But I hope, most
Speaker 1: importantly that people around the league know how great of
Speaker 1: a player that you've become, and hopefully the Pro Bowls
Speaker 1: and the All Pros and hopefully playoff wins are in
Speaker 1: your future. In our feature, so I appreciate that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep playing ntil they are, so I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna not stop playing until they are. So it's
Speaker 1: all good. Don't even worry about I'm all right, where
Speaker 1: do we start? That was as entertaining a guest as
Speaker 1: we've had on the Day Pash Podcast. Grateful for DJ's time,
Speaker 1: grateful for his honesty. Like me and seemingly everybody else
Speaker 1: in the organization, no one has an answer. The Cardinals
Speaker 1: aren't trying to play poorly at home. They're not trying
Speaker 1: to put up goose eggs in the first quarter. For
Speaker 1: whatever reason, it just hasn't happened. But as I said
Speaker 1: in the conversation with DJ, trends usually don't last long
Speaker 1: in the NFL. At some point, the Cardinals are going
Speaker 1: to explode offensively in the first quarter, and at some
Speaker 1: point they're gonna start winning again at home. Great stuff
Speaker 1: from DJ on the growth of Kyler Murray. Also on
Speaker 1: what it's like to play in Seattle as the Cardinals
Speaker 1: go to play the Seahawks on the road this weekend.
Speaker 1: We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Resorts
Speaker 1: and Casinos. You can follow us on Twitter at pashpod,
Speaker 1: and we also encourage you to go to your podcast
Speaker 1: platform and rate us, tell us what you think any
Speaker 1: guests that you'd like to hear from coming up our
Speaker 1: Thanks again to DJ Humphreys and also to you for
Speaker 1: listening to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.