Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back Man, season two of All the Smoke. We got
Speaker 1: a real special guys, what's up with your Brode with
Speaker 1: the virtual handshake? I'm gonna tell you I never told
Speaker 1: him back. I want to welcome back to another edition
Speaker 1: of All the Smoke. We got a very special guest today. Man,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players in the league right now,
Speaker 1: the number one, if not one of the top, if
Speaker 1: not number one. I think it's between him and uh
Speaker 1: Kiddle out in San Francisco. Man, But welcome Travis Kelsey
Speaker 1: to the show. Super Bowl Champ. Yeah, he has a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Champ, So you gotta give him the title
Speaker 1: right now. Man. You know it always makes it make
Speaker 1: it sound like I did something in life and you
Speaker 1: put that tank, you put you put that title on
Speaker 1: the end now, but you definitely put in work. So
Speaker 1: tell us what present day life is. You know, wherever
Speaker 1: the world saw the NBA bubble, this success, uh, the
Speaker 1: NFL obviously chose not to go with the bubble, and
Speaker 1: there's been some canceled games, there's been some played games.
Speaker 1: Guys have caught it. Guys have got over it. Um.
Speaker 1: Adam Silvers had a while back the commission the NBA.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna have to learn how to live with this,
Speaker 1: and it kind of seems like that's what the NFL
Speaker 1: is doing, just you know, learning on the fly. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I just want to say I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys having me on. Man. I'm a big fan
Speaker 1: of the show. A lot of the conversations you have
Speaker 1: man have been inspiring as well as you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, informative man. And yeah, to to talk about
Speaker 1: the NFL and what's going on with life right now. Man,
Speaker 1: it's just to to work into the house. That's really
Speaker 1: my entire, my entire routine right there. I just go
Speaker 1: to the facility and come back home. I'm fortunate that
Speaker 1: I got a lot of people, um to help me
Speaker 1: out around the city, um, around the around the house,
Speaker 1: to make sure that I'm you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I got an unbelievable chef. Uh. That's going to
Speaker 1: the grocery store and making sure that you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm getting my nutrition and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and uh, everybody's just being accountable and that's what exactly
Speaker 1: what you were saying about the commission, um, mentioning that
Speaker 1: it's you know, we're gonna kind of have to live
Speaker 1: with this for a little bit, um and try and
Speaker 1: make things work. And uh, I'm just I'm just proud
Speaker 1: of the NFL. I think right now it's been a
Speaker 1: very successful season. I mean, of course there's been the hiccups, um,
Speaker 1: but we all knew that was gonna happen. Man. It's
Speaker 1: just uh, everybody being accountable and what they're doing. And
Speaker 1: it's not just you know, in in the house and
Speaker 1: in the in the facility. Uh, one mistake could could
Speaker 1: screw up everybody's a chance to you know, earn their
Speaker 1: paychecks in the NFL this year. So everybody just just
Speaker 1: gotta keep maintaining what we're doing. Man. What's the hardest
Speaker 1: part about all this if there is one? Obviously, you
Speaker 1: know you worked to the house and normally that's low
Speaker 1: key how it is during the season. But what's kind
Speaker 1: of been the hardest part about this process so far
Speaker 1: now that it has to be so strict. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing is, um is balancing out the
Speaker 1: time with the family, the time with the friends. Uh,
Speaker 1: making sure you're still maintaining somewhat some distance, uh, knowing
Speaker 1: that anybody could could have this virus and not show it.
Speaker 1: Um And and you know, even though we are getting
Speaker 1: test sometimes it takes longer for for somebody to show
Speaker 1: up on the test, you know. And there's there's so
Speaker 1: many different variables to to you know, the equation of
Speaker 1: what is COVID and how how to be you know,
Speaker 1: quarantined and stay safe out here. There's so many different
Speaker 1: variables that you have to hold into accountant. It's just
Speaker 1: what it's doing is it's kind of making me be
Speaker 1: stand offish with the family and the friends, and it's
Speaker 1: that's the worst thing. That's the worst thing that that
Speaker 1: I could I could do because I'm such a family guy,
Speaker 1: I'm such a friend. I want all my friends around.
Speaker 1: I ended up grabbing a suite at Arrowhead because I
Speaker 1: wanted that environment after the game, being able to celebrate
Speaker 1: and hang out with the family and friends. Um And
Speaker 1: you know what, it's just, it's it's not that right
Speaker 1: now this year. And it's definitely a different field going
Speaker 1: to and from the stadium. Absolutely well, someone who has
Speaker 1: you know, been around African American culture pretty much your
Speaker 1: whole life, uh swag. Some people might say you have
Speaker 1: some black in you because the way you care yourself
Speaker 1: and push your push your h you know, with the
Speaker 1: injustices going on, with the shootings. We just saw shooting
Speaker 1: the other day in Philly with a mentally ill man
Speaker 1: and his mom begging the cops not to do it,
Speaker 1: and they shot him right in front of her. What
Speaker 1: do you think about the current climate of America right now? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I try and think very positive about things and and
Speaker 1: with with all the unfortunate things that are going on
Speaker 1: in the world and in this country specifically, with you know,
Speaker 1: the injustice injustices, the certain events that have have led
Speaker 1: to deaths, I just think it's, um, it's extremely you know,
Speaker 1: it's extremely unfortunate. But what it's doing is it's it's
Speaker 1: it's bringing the problem to life to everybody. And you
Speaker 1: have your you're being force fitted and and and that's
Speaker 1: kind of I hate to say, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: how um, white America is gonna have to have to
Speaker 1: handle this. It's just, you know, because it's such an
Speaker 1: uncomfortable situation for a lot of people that just don't
Speaker 1: understand and um, you're just gonna have to open your ears,
Speaker 1: open your hearts and listen to what's really been going
Speaker 1: on that that you know, a lot of people have
Speaker 1: just you know, let happen. And from me, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's calling out the bs. It's seeing wrong and calling
Speaker 1: wrong what it is and uh and letting that be known.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure enough. I think the world is a
Speaker 1: beautiful place man. There's a lot of hearts out here,
Speaker 1: and I think it's uh, it's going to continue to
Speaker 1: get better and better because you know, I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: big supporter and a big believer in UM and and
Speaker 1: people want to do the right things and uh and
Speaker 1: and what's right is right, man. I think at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, what's happening now is you It's
Speaker 1: like you said the same thing with how NFL players
Speaker 1: are doing with the COVID being held accountable. I think
Speaker 1: we're holding everybody accountable now. Anybody that stands on the
Speaker 1: side of hate. You can't hide behind closed doors no more.
Speaker 1: You know, you got you, you got you got people
Speaker 1: allowing those types of people that have hate to come
Speaker 1: out and stand the front line. And we see their
Speaker 1: faces now. But they understand too that there's more people
Speaker 1: that stand on the side of love and were pushing
Speaker 1: these people with hate out. And that's what I love about.
Speaker 1: Everybody's being held accountable and people from all races that's
Speaker 1: on the side of love. They understand that now is
Speaker 1: the time to stand together in all the plus to
Speaker 1: live in a better place. I'm with you, man, holding
Speaker 1: everybody accountable at all costs, and and that's something that
Speaker 1: I think it's been unbelievable in the NFL is that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's becoming a huge discussion. I believe every
Speaker 1: single team had at least three days during training camp
Speaker 1: where we took two to three hours at the end
Speaker 1: of our day to really sit down and talk about
Speaker 1: these matters, talk about what it means, uh to be
Speaker 1: an African American or a minority in America and the
Speaker 1: and the views uh that that can be that can
Speaker 1: be subject to them. And it's just, um, it's it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing because it's creating the conversation. Uh. It
Speaker 1: can be uncomfortable at times, but you know, this isn't
Speaker 1: a comfortable world. You know, some of the best things
Speaker 1: that I've ever gone through in life, you know, words,
Speaker 1: some of the roughest times of my life. Um and
Speaker 1: and I and I'm and I'm thankful for those opportunities
Speaker 1: to come across my life and and turn me into
Speaker 1: a better person. And I think that's what's going on
Speaker 1: right now in America for sure. Well, a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't see this too. We we talk about the
Speaker 1: African American problems, which is a big part of it.
Speaker 1: But when I've been going to these neighborhoods, trap and
Speaker 1: I've been going to to to give back and help
Speaker 1: the people that need it's all races. It's also it's
Speaker 1: a lot of it's all races, a lot of people
Speaker 1: from all races that are struggling in these areas that
Speaker 1: need help and need people to know that they care
Speaker 1: about them and we hear them and we need to
Speaker 1: be their voice. So people need to understand that side too. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a big problem with them killing black people, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, when you go to these areas
Speaker 1: that that where where where they need and we're giving back,
Speaker 1: it's every race that needs well. I think I think
Speaker 1: what's important to too is I mean, growth is uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Anytime we're trying to elevate
Speaker 1: and get to the next level, whether it be in life, sports, business,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be uncomfortable. And I think both of you
Speaker 1: guys made great point is right now, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's not even about black, white, brown,
Speaker 1: It's about everyone versus hate unity, you know, because all
Speaker 1: all races have hate, and hate comes in every shape,
Speaker 1: form and color, and that's what we have to band against,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So the one positive, you know,
Speaker 1: there's been several positive things, but you know, watching Jack
Speaker 1: out in the streets and and kind of watching stuff
Speaker 1: and see and stuff and being involved. The one positive
Speaker 1: that one of the main positives I took from as
Speaker 1: that you see every color of the rainbow out there,
Speaker 1: you know, and like you and like you said, Travis,
Speaker 1: it's something that has to be forced fat You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if things would be as effective, and
Speaker 1: this would have reared his naked head if if we
Speaker 1: weren't in this pandemic. You know, we've been forced to
Speaker 1: set our asses down. Watch the news. You see it
Speaker 1: across social media, talking amongst you, Yeah, you're talking amongst
Speaker 1: your teammates, you know. I mean, it's a real reality check.
Speaker 1: That's a real look in the mirror, UM being being
Speaker 1: you know, being being a white star athlete with the platform.
Speaker 1: What are some of the stuff you're trying to do?
Speaker 1: Tell us about that. Yeah, no, I think it's UM
Speaker 1: it's a part of I don't want to say it's
Speaker 1: a part of the job. It's just a part of
Speaker 1: life standing up for the right things. UM, calling out,
Speaker 1: calling out the b s when you see it. I
Speaker 1: just I've always I've always had the mentality as the
Speaker 1: mentality my father gave me as a kid. In the
Speaker 1: community that I grew up in. UM, it's so multicultural,
Speaker 1: and so it has so many different social classes, and
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful um family of a community of
Speaker 1: different and ethnicities and social classes. And UM, I just
Speaker 1: I feel like if if, if the world had a
Speaker 1: little bit of what I grew up in. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: an experience that you could take from one of my
Speaker 1: best friends mother being from India and and and his
Speaker 1: father being being an American black man, Irish and black
Speaker 1: uh of Irish and Black descent. It's just it's such
Speaker 1: a cool unique that's just one of my friends. I Mean,
Speaker 1: it just goes, it goes on, and UM, it's so
Speaker 1: unique of a place that just gives you a broad
Speaker 1: mentality on appreciating someone else for who they are and
Speaker 1: their culture, UM and and and the and how beautiful
Speaker 1: you can be prideful of where you are and appreciate
Speaker 1: someone else's UM and what and what I just try
Speaker 1: and push in on my platform and and and and
Speaker 1: around the Kansas City area is uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's all it all comes from power, right Yet I
Speaker 1: hate to say this, but systemic racism UM the world
Speaker 1: that that lives inside UM politics. I think the initiative
Speaker 1: to voting and it's not necessar fairly the main guy
Speaker 1: that the president. It's not necessarily that. It's the little
Speaker 1: things that you can do in your community. UM, the
Speaker 1: small initiatives that you can vote for in your community
Speaker 1: that can really change not only your life with the
Speaker 1: people around you, life that you know might need that
Speaker 1: helping hand. UM. You know, it's just a Voting is
Speaker 1: such an under underappreciated as as I was growing up
Speaker 1: through my through high school and college, I just think
Speaker 1: it was very underappreciated. And now it's starting to really
Speaker 1: become a must and and a job for everybody to
Speaker 1: get out and vote for the right things normally. Uh,
Speaker 1: the NBA has kind of taking the league with social
Speaker 1: justice reform players using their platform and speaking out. But
Speaker 1: I'm we're obviously starting to see it a lot more
Speaker 1: now from the NFL, which I think is a huge
Speaker 1: step because you know, the owners for the most part
Speaker 1: of stand on pretty much the exact opposite side of
Speaker 1: players on a lot of different things, and they've kind
Speaker 1: of kept you guys from expressing yourself. But it seems like,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously now but maybe in the last year
Speaker 1: who you guys are really starting to find your voice
Speaker 1: in your footing. What do you what do you contribute
Speaker 1: that to? It's the guys that paved the way, that
Speaker 1: that stand up that um that you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: They want to see change, you know, and then it's
Speaker 1: unselfish changes. It's knowing that um yeah, it's it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily affecting me as it is more so affecting the
Speaker 1: whole of the NFL. And I think, uh, one of
Speaker 1: the initiatives of the new cb A that we just
Speaker 1: grabbed was, um, some of the some of the guys
Speaker 1: that are you know, the big name guys are are
Speaker 1: gonna get paid. You know that whether it's guarantees or not.
Speaker 1: As a different story, but um, we wanted to really
Speaker 1: make sure that there were more secure ways for guys
Speaker 1: to make money and keep money in the NFL, even
Speaker 1: if it's just like you're you're a special team's guy,
Speaker 1: or you're a practice squad guy, you're somebody lower on
Speaker 1: the chart doesn't have that big time contract yet. Um,
Speaker 1: we were we really wanted to make sure that everybody
Speaker 1: had the same benefits and uh, and that those guys
Speaker 1: were getting a better opportunity to make more money, um
Speaker 1: than what they were getting in I think that's one
Speaker 1: thing that we definitely got done with the new c
Speaker 1: b A and it just keeps going up from here.
Speaker 1: Um is a tenure c b A and hopefully in
Speaker 1: ten years will be in discussion with it with an
Speaker 1: even better opportunity than then we came into it with.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know that's how that's how things just
Speaker 1: you know, keep going up as as long as as
Speaker 1: long as people care about you know, not necessarily themselves,
Speaker 1: but the future. Yeah, the NBA is the The NBA
Speaker 1: has been real good at this, especially with the social
Speaker 1: judge side. They really let the players take over and
Speaker 1: really speak their minds if if the NFL can or anyway,
Speaker 1: what can they learn from the NBA. I take away
Speaker 1: from how the NBA handles things well. I think one
Speaker 1: of the things the NBA does the best of is,
Speaker 1: uh they push their players in the right way. Uh.
Speaker 1: They shine light on the players in the in the
Speaker 1: in the right way. And I think that's something that
Speaker 1: the NFL has definitely taken note of, um and given
Speaker 1: and given you know, more players the opportunity to get
Speaker 1: out from under the mask and into into somebody's living room.
Speaker 1: Um and in the right light, in the right light,
Speaker 1: though not necessarily you know, is done right in the
Speaker 1: n B A. I mean, it's very it's it's friendly,
Speaker 1: it's loving, and it's very it's very meaningful, and it's powerful.
Speaker 1: Uh and and and you know what, it's it's almost
Speaker 1: like the NBA is is preaching family to everybody in America.
Speaker 1: And um and I think that's such a beautiful thing
Speaker 1: to be a part of that organization. Um and and
Speaker 1: and it's been the model. It's been the model of consistency.
Speaker 1: And that's why culture is driven by so much in
Speaker 1: basketball because of the way the NBA and the players
Speaker 1: in the NBA have been able to touch the hearts
Speaker 1: of America. Have you Have you seen, obviously, with Cap
Speaker 1: taking a knee in two thousand and sixteen. I think
Speaker 1: obviously if you didn't understand or didn't get it back then,
Speaker 1: you understand the two thousands of twenty why he took
Speaker 1: the knee. What has kind of been the energy in
Speaker 1: the shift in your opinion, because obviously you were in
Speaker 1: the league in sixteen and the knee was met met
Speaker 1: with mixed reactions, it was hijacked by the president. It
Speaker 1: made out to be a bad thing. But you just
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier in the interview, Um, you know, earlier in
Speaker 1: training camp, you guys were taking two or three hours
Speaker 1: a day, a couple of days a week to kind
Speaker 1: of talk about being black in America, being a minority
Speaker 1: in American. I'm sure that didn't happen back then. So
Speaker 1: what kind of energy have you seen change in the
Speaker 1: past four years when it comes and stuff like this.
Speaker 1: I think what what happened back then was so new
Speaker 1: that uh, well I wouldn't say so new, for for
Speaker 1: the fact for the fact that he was kneeling was new.
Speaker 1: And and you people can go NonStop about whether the
Speaker 1: anthem was something or not people were they were getting
Speaker 1: in to the minds of America to try and switch
Speaker 1: the narrative. And uh and and it's as clear as
Speaker 1: day that that was never the issue was the anthem.
Speaker 1: It was always the fact that it was a black
Speaker 1: man kneeling for the anthem um and that that that
Speaker 1: white America wasn't appreciating that. And um, I think I
Speaker 1: think now it's very well known why he was doing it,
Speaker 1: and that there and that it's being attacked and um,
Speaker 1: and the NFL sees that and they're trying to do
Speaker 1: something about it. And um. You know, a foot forward
Speaker 1: is is all you can ask for the opportunity to
Speaker 1: change the minds, um of those that that you know,
Speaker 1: need to need a better understanding what's going on. You know,
Speaker 1: that's all you can ask for. Absolutely. Travis Kelsey super
Speaker 1: Bowl champ. What does that mean to you, man? Uh,
Speaker 1: It's it's it's just prideful. It means, you know, I've
Speaker 1: I've done something with my life with the guidance that
Speaker 1: I've gotten with in my life, with all the people
Speaker 1: that have supported me through my life, I've gotten somewhere
Speaker 1: that they can be proud of that I can be
Speaker 1: proud of. Um, I'm so uh, I'm so prideful and
Speaker 1: where I come from and the people that have helped
Speaker 1: me along the way. UM, I know I didn't do
Speaker 1: this alone. And to have a title like that, um
Speaker 1: with it with the guys that I did it with.
Speaker 1: Um Man, it means the world. And all it does
Speaker 1: is it makes you want to go and get another
Speaker 1: one and keep reaching success like that, I think it's
Speaker 1: safe to say that not only did your quarterback take
Speaker 1: the league by storm and took the world by storm?
Speaker 1: What is it? What has it been like working with
Speaker 1: him and developing the chemistry you guys have to make
Speaker 1: you one of the top duels in the league. Now,
Speaker 1: Oh man, it's uh one has been fun. Man. As
Speaker 1: soon as he walked in the locker room, Uh, you
Speaker 1: could tell that he had you know, he had the charisma,
Speaker 1: He had the the ability to to relate to everybody. UM.
Speaker 1: He's not a shy dude. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: he's very UM, he's very open with who he is.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not gonna he's not gonna shy away
Speaker 1: from anybody or or or keep to himself. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean? He's here for the moment and he's
Speaker 1: here to have fun. And but at the same time
Speaker 1: is professional. Listen took over when once once we were
Speaker 1: out there on the field and in the classroom or
Speaker 1: in the work or in the in the offices and stuff. Um,
Speaker 1: and from that point on, man, you knew it was
Speaker 1: it was gonna be. Uh, we were gonna have some fun.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the way he slings it, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to figure out exactly what's what he's thinking.
Speaker 1: So so this entire time, I've just been, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to get to know him on the field so
Speaker 1: that I can be in the right places at the
Speaker 1: right time. And uh, and that's basically my job is
Speaker 1: to paint a picture for him for the quarterback. And
Speaker 1: as much as and as much is as much chemistry
Speaker 1: as I can build with that guy, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get into his mind so that I can make his
Speaker 1: job easier, which in in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 1: and make the game easier for our team. Ye'all done
Speaker 1: that fast, and we've had a lot of fun. That's why.
Speaker 1: That's why. Yeah, I mean it holds true in basketball.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the closest teams I was on
Speaker 1: was with the team with Jack in two thousand seven.
Speaker 1: With that we believe team, and we were a team
Speaker 1: that kicked it on and off the court. Obviously, with
Speaker 1: circumstances different now with COVID, do you get a chance
Speaker 1: to really hang with someone like him or some of
Speaker 1: your other receiving mates to to really kind of get
Speaker 1: that off the field vibe as well? I wish. I
Speaker 1: wish it was that easy. Man. We've we've had some
Speaker 1: times when we just hung out, um, you know, especially
Speaker 1: before this season a little bit during training camp and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But because of the because of COVID
Speaker 1: in the situation, the NFL has actually clamped down on
Speaker 1: on us being able to hang around each other because
Speaker 1: if one guy gets it a you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: they don't want a lot of us around each other
Speaker 1: for a long period of time. So they actually told
Speaker 1: us that we couldn't hang outside of the building with
Speaker 1: three or more UH teammates. So it's like they're really
Speaker 1: putting us in a little mini bubble in our own cities.
Speaker 1: But uh, I mean, we're making it work. It is
Speaker 1: what it is. Um. What you gotta do is you
Speaker 1: gotta enjoy, you know, on road trips, you gotta enjoy
Speaker 1: the plane rides, stuff like that, the bus rides to
Speaker 1: and from the game, the evenings that you have, you know,
Speaker 1: in the hotel before the game. You know you're trying,
Speaker 1: you know, catch catch a game, or enjoy a few
Speaker 1: conversations at dinner, you know, things like that to keep
Speaker 1: the mood light, you know, because whenever you're at work,
Speaker 1: it's it's all work. You're you're focused on the task
Speaker 1: at hand. You're focused on trying to get the game
Speaker 1: plan right, and things like that. Um, it can it
Speaker 1: can get you know, a little bit too routine in
Speaker 1: the building. So making sure that you know, you keep
Speaker 1: it lighting and have some fun throughout it all, knowing
Speaker 1: that most of the guys are just going to the
Speaker 1: facility and back home every single day. What's it like
Speaker 1: being the hunted? Now? Obviously Super Bowl champs. You had
Speaker 1: a tough loss in two thousand eighteen to the Patriots
Speaker 1: in the n f C Championship. Come back and beat
Speaker 1: my motherfucking niners. I said, I funk with you, but
Speaker 1: it hurt my heart that you took it from my names.
Speaker 1: What what's it like from going from the hunted like night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not to give a Yeah, that's what it is. It
Speaker 1: was that was a battle man. That was my team.
Speaker 1: And you know, you guys did your thing. You know
Speaker 1: you guys, haven't. You guys had a knack for coming back.
Speaker 1: That's your guys, m O. And you guys did that
Speaker 1: and you handle business. But what is what is it
Speaker 1: like now being the team that has a target on
Speaker 1: your back every single night knowing that, hey, ship, this
Speaker 1: team is only one one or two games in the division,
Speaker 1: but they know they're playing us. You know, I got
Speaker 1: a chance to play on a Warrior team that was
Speaker 1: like that. No matter who we played every night, we
Speaker 1: got their best effort. What is it like now having
Speaker 1: to carry that target on your back? Um? To be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't feel too much of the pressure
Speaker 1: of of living up to being a super Bowl champion.
Speaker 1: Like in that respect, I feel like, if anything, the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl just gave us confidence that Yeah, this is us,
Speaker 1: this is who we are, this is what we do. Um.
Speaker 1: I thought the loss to the way we lost to
Speaker 1: New England, everybody knew we were we were gonna be
Speaker 1: a good football team. Everybody knew that they had to
Speaker 1: bring their a game to beat US, um, because we
Speaker 1: were one play away from being in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And UM, I think you know, as as as the
Speaker 1: season goes on, UM, you get more focused on on
Speaker 1: the little things and you try and you know, perfect
Speaker 1: the weaknesses and and and and strengthen everything that you're
Speaker 1: doing positively in the game. And it's just, uh, it's
Speaker 1: a NonStop battle to better yourself. So you just have
Speaker 1: to have that mentality and know that you know, this
Speaker 1: is this is this is what we do. Is I
Speaker 1: go out here and I play football and uh and
Speaker 1: I played to with with these guys next to me too,
Speaker 1: to a level that you know, I feel like we
Speaker 1: have the advantage and and and that's just the mentality
Speaker 1: that you have to have going into a games. Have
Speaker 1: been adding le beyond bell on to the phone. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it's a I don't know how our GM keeps pulling
Speaker 1: a rabbit out the hat just making stuff happen. Man,
Speaker 1: But uh, left Bell is and unbelievable since he's been
Speaker 1: in the building. Man, you want to talk about being
Speaker 1: kind of stuck in the routine of things, And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's still early in the year. And everything,
Speaker 1: But you can get caught up in just coming into
Speaker 1: working and seeing the same faces when he came in,
Speaker 1: and it's just a different jolta energy. He came in
Speaker 1: ready to work, ready to ready to figure out this
Speaker 1: offense so that he can make an impact right away
Speaker 1: because he's excited to be in a winning football or
Speaker 1: or at least a program that you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: can explore the right winning said it right, winning football,
Speaker 1: I mean that ship. You gotta think he's extra fresh too,
Speaker 1: you know, with an injury injury plague season and then
Speaker 1: not really playing that much. To me, he probably has
Speaker 1: something something to prove to himself and to everyone else.
Speaker 1: Like you know, don't forget that I was the best
Speaker 1: running back in this league before I went to before
Speaker 1: I went to the Jets, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So you know you said it absolutely right. I think
Speaker 1: that kind of you know, that's like going to the Spurs,
Speaker 1: are going to the Warriors, are going to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: When you you know, when you have a chance to
Speaker 1: go from the from the gutter to the penthouse, you
Speaker 1: want to raise your focus, the level of your game
Speaker 1: everything you possibly can, because you know, you want to
Speaker 1: be a small part of something great, and I think
Speaker 1: it's a unique opportunity for him to be who he is.
Speaker 1: And like you said, come to a team like your guys.
Speaker 1: That ship is crazy, man. It's just just up to
Speaker 1: Andy Man. Just take it to a hunother level. And uh,
Speaker 1: I was talking about his energy, and you can see
Speaker 1: in the first walk through how he's jumping around and
Speaker 1: he's got almost what looks like fresh legs. I don't
Speaker 1: know how much he was running over there in New York,
Speaker 1: but it looks like he's got fresh legs. Like he
Speaker 1: like he's a young dude all over again and just
Speaker 1: ready to get after it. And I mean that kind
Speaker 1: of energy is infectious, you know what I mean. When
Speaker 1: you see a guy with high energy, man, you want
Speaker 1: to play to that level and you want to meet
Speaker 1: that level. And because because um it is what it is.
Speaker 1: When you when you're playing one of the best teams
Speaker 1: in the National Football League and you see that they're ready,
Speaker 1: you see that energy pregame, you see them coming off
Speaker 1: the ball early in the game, you know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a dog fight. And a lot of guys get
Speaker 1: a little uncomfortable in that dog fight when they see
Speaker 1: that other teams don't bring it and and and it's
Speaker 1: the top dog with it. So it's just it's a
Speaker 1: mentality to just bring it every single day and have
Speaker 1: that have that grit, have that dog, and you uh
Speaker 1: to go get it. Man. I think as an athlete
Speaker 1: is no better feeling than knowing you got guys and
Speaker 1: how many of your teammates you have that taking this serious.
Speaker 1: You know you you got you got you, You got
Speaker 1: guys that come out here and ready to do the job.
Speaker 1: Everybody on the same page. Everybody have the same goal
Speaker 1: to win. And when you get on the team like
Speaker 1: that when I went to the Spurs, the feeling up winning,
Speaker 1: the feeling up, the feeling up, everybody taking their role
Speaker 1: serious and all having the same common goal to win
Speaker 1: a championship. That is contagious, bro, And I know he
Speaker 1: feels that walking in that locker room. M hmm. It's
Speaker 1: like you said, it's contagious, man, It's contagious. And when
Speaker 1: and when you when it really means something to you,
Speaker 1: that's when you can take it to the new level.
Speaker 1: And it means something to him right now. You can
Speaker 1: see in the way he works. Yea. So Westlake boy,
Speaker 1: Westlake Ohio A three parts three excuse me, A three
Speaker 1: sports star in high school football, baseball, basketball. I played
Speaker 1: everything is well going through high school. When did you
Speaker 1: decide to or did you play everything up until your
Speaker 1: senior year when you had to start trying to pick
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do next? Oh? Yeah, So first, so
Speaker 1: I got a funny story about Westlake, Ohio. I'm from
Speaker 1: Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Uh. When I took, I took going
Speaker 1: into the NFL so serious that I thought when it.
Speaker 1: When I was filling out the form for the NFL
Speaker 1: dot com stuff, I thought that I had to put
Speaker 1: where I was, like the hospital I was born in.
Speaker 1: So I put Westland Hospital. I thought it. Well, I
Speaker 1: thought they wanted the government government. So that's how that's
Speaker 1: how silly I am. But I um, I'm from Cleveland Heights, Ohio,
Speaker 1: and they just put Westlake up there. So when they
Speaker 1: shout out to west Lake and everybody, but I'm from
Speaker 1: the east out of Cleveland. Uh. To ask you a question, though, man,
Speaker 1: I still, I still I wish I could find my
Speaker 1: way down to an NBA team for a quick fifteen
Speaker 1: days ten days. Yeah, I love hoops. I'm actually wearing
Speaker 1: the old school. I don't know if you guys were
Speaker 1: part of the old school Gatorade, hoop it up back
Speaker 1: in the day, back in the day, that was that
Speaker 1: was life right there. UM. But for me growing up,
Speaker 1: growing up, I played every single sport, uh you could
Speaker 1: think of. Man, I was going from hockey practice to
Speaker 1: basketball practice when I was in like fourth fifth grade. UM,
Speaker 1: I was playing baseball just about year around, hockey year around,
Speaker 1: soccer year round. Um. And and when it got to
Speaker 1: high school, that's when I really had to, you know,
Speaker 1: narrow it down. And UM, I wasn't sure exactly what
Speaker 1: I was gonna do. I knew I knew my school
Speaker 1: was was more tailored to a basketball school, as we
Speaker 1: had one state uh in nineties seven, um and had
Speaker 1: a good track record that guys going to college for free,
Speaker 1: UH playing playing hoops. And you know that was something
Speaker 1: I knew. You know, my grades weren't the best, My
Speaker 1: effort in the classroom wasn't the best, So I knew
Speaker 1: I had to, you know, sale somewhere else if I
Speaker 1: wanted to go to college for free. So it was,
Speaker 1: um it was definitely a basketball football were the main
Speaker 1: two in high school. UM and UH I. I just
Speaker 1: I had more offers, uh and and and it just
Speaker 1: felt more comfortable for me to stick with football. Even
Speaker 1: though I did go to Cincinnati to play both football
Speaker 1: and basketball, Um, I never saw the court. I practiced
Speaker 1: a few times and got and got in a few
Speaker 1: summer games. But outside of that, man you, um, you
Speaker 1: only saw me cheering for the hoop squad. But I
Speaker 1: think it was it was. It was an easy transition
Speaker 1: because I initially went to college for to play quarterback.
Speaker 1: So I went to University of Sinnaight to play QB.
Speaker 1: And my first my first year of red shirted. Second year,
Speaker 1: our coach Bryan Kelly, who's that Notre Dame now had
Speaker 1: a package for me, um that to be the Wildcat,
Speaker 1: And man I did when I tell you, he came
Speaker 1: up with this the week before our first game, all
Speaker 1: training camp, two days nothing. I'm just trying to work
Speaker 1: on my three step with my three step game, right
Speaker 1: like I'm a rookie, like I'm a freshman, fresh meeting
Speaker 1: in the pocket. And sure enough he puts this this
Speaker 1: package together and wants me to straight run the ball.
Speaker 1: And the game came around. We went up I think
Speaker 1: like two scores and the third time into the red zone.
Speaker 1: He threw me in there, and I'm I'm in my mind,
Speaker 1: I'm like, he's not even gonna call this, and he
Speaker 1: throws me in there, and I remember being so scared.
Speaker 1: My brother is actually playing left guard at this point,
Speaker 1: which is which is ironic because he's he's lead blocking
Speaker 1: for me. So I'm catching the snap. I'm catching the snap,
Speaker 1: reading the defenders, and I'm like, in my mind, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not even I'm handing this thing off the first time.
Speaker 1: I'm just letting a round. I'm like, hey, I'm in
Speaker 1: this thing. I'm a freshman in this uh, in this
Speaker 1: college football game like I always dreamed of. And man,
Speaker 1: it just didn't feel like I was ready for the
Speaker 1: moment um. And then once I got my feet wet
Speaker 1: for one play, man, I was ready. I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I can do this. I can do this.
Speaker 1: I I see how everything kind of just slowed down
Speaker 1: a little bit, and uh, and that's when I really, uh,
Speaker 1: I really felt that I could take the game, um
Speaker 1: and turning into something you know that I could I
Speaker 1: could do for the rest of my life. Um, Because
Speaker 1: everything once once it all slowed down and I could
Speaker 1: get into the zone. UM, I had the confidence to
Speaker 1: be able to just play instinctually. UM, and I made
Speaker 1: the I made the transition into into into the tight
Speaker 1: end room. UM naturally so so because I was doing
Speaker 1: the wildcast stuff, the coach wanted me to kind of
Speaker 1: be on the field so that we can when you
Speaker 1: sell players in and out in football, the official actually waits. Uh,
Speaker 1: the offense can't snap the ball until the defense. You
Speaker 1: give the defense time to switch their personnel. So if
Speaker 1: you keep a certain personnel on the field, Um, they
Speaker 1: have to keep their personnel on the field. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's one of those things where he wanted me
Speaker 1: on the field so they could stay in a certain
Speaker 1: personnel so that I could run the ball as well.
Speaker 1: But Uh, doing that meant that I had to play
Speaker 1: a little bit of tight end. And the success I
Speaker 1: found with tight end, man, it just it it took
Speaker 1: off in college. And uh, you know, I've just been
Speaker 1: so grateful that I got the opportunity at such a
Speaker 1: young age, or I didn't wait till later in my
Speaker 1: college career to make the transition. Um, it was just
Speaker 1: it was something that that, UM, I really found a
Speaker 1: love for the game when I when I moved to
Speaker 1: tight end. How big were you at the time when
Speaker 1: you were playing the wildcat quarterback coming out of high school?
Speaker 1: I was a big dude. Now, I told you I
Speaker 1: read shirted. Man, it was once you I feel like
Speaker 1: once you read shirt as as in college, man, it
Speaker 1: just turned into the party central man. I wasn't I
Speaker 1: wasn't taking the workouts too seriously and it ended up
Speaker 1: hurting me a little bit going into training camp. I
Speaker 1: wasn't ready for it, and going into training camp next year,
Speaker 1: but I was still about six five to fifty to
Speaker 1: fifty five. I've always been I've always been a pretty
Speaker 1: big quarterback. I went into my freshman year of college
Speaker 1: at about two thirty five. Okay, So I was always
Speaker 1: a little bit on the hilthy side to make that decision.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, quarterbacks as probably the most privative
Speaker 1: position on the football field, and then going to tight end.
Speaker 1: You know you're not You're not the star as they
Speaker 1: would say on the football field. But how did how
Speaker 1: long did it take you to make the decision to
Speaker 1: go to tight end? Like was it just instant soon
Speaker 1: as you had success? Well, I was always I was
Speaker 1: always kind of in between the two. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I love the physical, ay is the tight end position, uh,
Speaker 1: the football position. That's why I like running the ball
Speaker 1: so much at quarterback, or I like I loved running
Speaker 1: the ball so much a quarterback was because I could
Speaker 1: lower my shoulder on somebody and get an extra few yards.
Speaker 1: And when I when I had I turned that mentality
Speaker 1: into being a tight end one, I realized, I gotta
Speaker 1: hit the weight room. My body can't be taking all
Speaker 1: these hits like this, and I gotta be able to
Speaker 1: be stronger up top. Uh. And then the legs to
Speaker 1: be able to block these d ns that are two
Speaker 1: d seventy eighty pounds. Um. So it was a complete
Speaker 1: change of mentality um to sitting up in a pocket.
Speaker 1: But I still had that physical that physicality that I
Speaker 1: grew up with playing hockey and lacrosse, and the being
Speaker 1: the little brother, um. Being able to take a hit, blindside,
Speaker 1: take a hit, um, things like that. The traits were
Speaker 1: easy to transition. And then you take the the ability
Speaker 1: to you know, play on the court, be able to
Speaker 1: go up and grab me, be able to grab alley
Speaker 1: you and take it off somebody's head. Things like that.
Speaker 1: That the athletic ability. UM, that transferred from the court
Speaker 1: over and then the ability to track a baseball, the
Speaker 1: ability to go deep in and run down, run down
Speaker 1: the sidelines, and track a ball flying in the air. UM,
Speaker 1: all these all these different sports helped mold me into
Speaker 1: um the tight end that I am today and the
Speaker 1: success that I have today. UM. If you if you
Speaker 1: watch a lot of my routes, it looks like I
Speaker 1: might have a rock in my hand, like I'm crossing over.
Speaker 1: I didn't have that on the court. The handles. The
Speaker 1: handles were suspect on the court. But it looks like
Speaker 1: when I'm moving sometimes I'm using the in and out crossover,
Speaker 1: you know, things that kind of get somebody to step
Speaker 1: one way. Because in football it's a game of inches.
Speaker 1: All I need is this much separation because when I'm
Speaker 1: reaching for a football, I only need about five to
Speaker 1: six inches to a foot for myself to get my
Speaker 1: hands on it before you do. And then once it's
Speaker 1: in my grip, uh, it's mine. So it's it's having
Speaker 1: that mentality of you know, being being being the boss
Speaker 1: on the field, but at the same time, haven't having
Speaker 1: you know, a slick way of running your route to manipulated,
Speaker 1: munipa manipulating way to to to you know, get the
Speaker 1: defense to think I'm doing something else. Man. Uh, that's
Speaker 1: that's the game that I play. I think you made
Speaker 1: an amazing point, and I hope that are you know,
Speaker 1: the dads are listening and the kids are listening to this,
Speaker 1: actually parents overall that you said every sport you played
Speaker 1: made you the player you are today, And I felt
Speaker 1: the exact same way. You know, I was all American football,
Speaker 1: played baseball, obviously all American basketball, but I took every
Speaker 1: I took the toughness from the NFL. That's why you
Speaker 1: know I was playing football. I felt like I was
Speaker 1: a football player playing basketball. Like I've never shied away
Speaker 1: from the physicality or anything things like that, but I
Speaker 1: really feel like I took you know, the hand I
Speaker 1: of baseball, the physicality of football, and allowed me to
Speaker 1: play fifteen years in the NBA. And I think too
Speaker 1: often now kids are parents are vicariously living through their kids,
Speaker 1: and it's one sport year round, making it a job
Speaker 1: at such a young age, you know. So I think
Speaker 1: it's great and I try out of preseat. Man, I
Speaker 1: think all the sports hone you in and you'll find
Speaker 1: what sport is yours eventually. But all those other sports
Speaker 1: you play alone in the way are gonna help you
Speaker 1: develop into hopefully you know that that the professional athlete
Speaker 1: you aspire to be. I'm right there with you, man.
Speaker 1: Playing every single sport definitely helps you out. UM, and
Speaker 1: then having the mentality of you know, I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer, and there's a lot of professional athletes that
Speaker 1: could have chose another sport have been been just as successful,
Speaker 1: if not even more successful. Having the grit and the
Speaker 1: mentality of getting better at something and finding that routine.
Speaker 1: I think I think at a young age, I never
Speaker 1: really understood how to how to create a routine of success. Um.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand going to practice what these jump shots
Speaker 1: really meant. I didn't understand what these dribbling um skills
Speaker 1: that dribbling the skills and in and out of cones
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, what all these fundamentals were gonna
Speaker 1: mean on an instinctual decision on the court. I didn't
Speaker 1: understand all of that at a young age. UM. But
Speaker 1: it really took off for me when I moved to
Speaker 1: the tight end room, because I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: how do do I how do I play this position?
Speaker 1: Let me look at some of the greats. Let me
Speaker 1: look at some stuff on online on on on what
Speaker 1: people are saying, you know what I mean, are teaching
Speaker 1: these tight ends at a young age the fundamentals, the
Speaker 1: basic fundamentals. And once I started to really get into
Speaker 1: those fundamentals and and finding that routine is success, everything
Speaker 1: took off for me. My love for the game took
Speaker 1: off because I was having so much success with it.
Speaker 1: And and I think that's something, Um, if you have
Speaker 1: a knack for for being on being competitive and being
Speaker 1: on the athletic field, court, rank, whatever it is, um,
Speaker 1: find that routine of success. Uh and and and even
Speaker 1: if it's something that you're doing just the minimal, you know,
Speaker 1: finding that routine and just walking home with the basketball
Speaker 1: in your hands, holding the football to your chest when
Speaker 1: you're walking through the hallways. Little stuff like that creates
Speaker 1: instinct world features that have it. It creates, It creates
Speaker 1: these little instinctual things that just hold onto the hold
Speaker 1: onto the ball a little bit tighter, being able to
Speaker 1: oh when it hits a crack, being able to grab
Speaker 1: the ball with your intrinsic muscles in your hands, just
Speaker 1: things like at that you naturally just you don't think
Speaker 1: um will make you that much better, but over the
Speaker 1: course of time, uh, it makes you that much greater.
Speaker 1: What the constant improvement, you know, from being a third
Speaker 1: round pick, constant study improvement every year to being the
Speaker 1: prototypical hybrid type tight end. You know, you're you're too
Speaker 1: big for dbs, you're too fast for linebackers. You're the
Speaker 1: new age of you know of tight end. What does
Speaker 1: that mean to you? Considering you went like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, arguably the best in the game because of
Speaker 1: the other ship that you know hones you growing up
Speaker 1: to become a tight end. Yeah, I um, Well, the
Speaker 1: first thing is, you know, I think I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people try and build the stereotype of a
Speaker 1: tight end like, oh, he's big, he could run a
Speaker 1: little bit of routes, but he doesn't have the whole
Speaker 1: route tree. And in my mind, I was watching the
Speaker 1: wide receivers run routes and I'm like, I can run
Speaker 1: that route, just give me the opportunity to run it.
Speaker 1: And that's the biggest thing is a tight end is
Speaker 1: getting that opportunity. And I have so much appreciation for
Speaker 1: what coach Andy Reid is done in terms of my
Speaker 1: success and giving and trusting me with uh winning these
Speaker 1: one on one matchups, being open for the quarterback, having
Speaker 1: the full route tree in a game plan to to
Speaker 1: make the defense second guests and have to play a
Speaker 1: reactionary position. All of that goes into account to what
Speaker 1: who I am as a professional and without a coach
Speaker 1: being able to put me in these situations, um, I'm
Speaker 1: not the same player and I the biggest thing is
Speaker 1: I've taken mentally, um my game to a whole another
Speaker 1: level by not letting myself get boxed into what a
Speaker 1: stereotype player would be. You know, I think NonStop. You
Speaker 1: always have to you have to keep trying find to
Speaker 1: find a way to get better. And that's why I
Speaker 1: watched everybody in the league, everybody, all the tight ends.
Speaker 1: Whenever I turn on the film, I'm watching it, and
Speaker 1: whether it's the third tight end over in you know, Atlanta,
Speaker 1: or the starting tight end in San France, I'm watching
Speaker 1: to see what they they're doing to have success and
Speaker 1: how I can implement that into my game, uh knowing,
Speaker 1: you know, especially if it if it's something that's dominating
Speaker 1: seeing that you're you know, you, you study your opponents.
Speaker 1: Obviously study your peers from your position coming into this space,
Speaker 1: considering you are a hybrid, do you did you watch
Speaker 1: more receivers or did you watch more tight ends that
Speaker 1: you looked up to and kind of passenger game or
Speaker 1: was it a mix of both? Initially? Initially I watched
Speaker 1: the tight ends and that was just creature, I having
Speaker 1: creature of the position. Um. I was watching Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: Once I got to the league and I really had
Speaker 1: access to the film all over the league, I started
Speaker 1: watching Tony Gonzalez during his prime years here in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I started watching a lot of Shannon Sharp. Uh. At
Speaker 1: the time, Rob Gronkowski was taking the league by storm,
Speaker 1: So I was watching a lot of him. Um and
Speaker 1: what he was doing. Uh, Jimmy Graham had a unique
Speaker 1: ability to to get open in the red zone and
Speaker 1: and and play the game. Yeah, exactly play the game
Speaker 1: at a high level. Uh, knowing that he just transitioned
Speaker 1: into the position. Um. So I was looking at all
Speaker 1: these guys. And then on top of that, when you
Speaker 1: watched the film, uh, you can't help it to see
Speaker 1: where the ball goes. So so throughout film, I started
Speaker 1: watching you know, just everything, watching guys run routes uh,
Speaker 1: doing doing doing wide receiver routes inside uh and and
Speaker 1: from that point on, I mean just go going up
Speaker 1: to the players, the quarterbacks and the coaches and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: why don't we throw a little uh slant and go
Speaker 1: out here? Why don't we throw a little corner and
Speaker 1: go why don't we you know, work this this route
Speaker 1: inside just one time and see see how that looks um,
Speaker 1: letting him know I feel comfortable with running these routes
Speaker 1: and getting open for you. And um, I think, uh
Speaker 1: a lot of like I already said, a lot of
Speaker 1: my success goes to to coach Andy Reid. But being
Speaker 1: on the same page as everybody in this offense is
Speaker 1: definitely something that has has made me a better player.
Speaker 1: So toughest matchup, toughest matchup, man, Um, I mean that's
Speaker 1: Super Bowl was pretty intense. Man. The Niners. Man, there's
Speaker 1: no joke that that defense that they had last year.
Speaker 1: The hell yeah, you're just saying that because you're appointed,
Speaker 1: not a fan, man, get off the gap. But but
Speaker 1: but but he even though our four was nice as fun, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that and just the overall scheme. Man, the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator is one of the best in the league.
Speaker 1: He he teaches it very well and makes sure that
Speaker 1: it's it's everybody's sound. Like the biggest thing about the
Speaker 1: outside whether to know much about football, is that everybody
Speaker 1: on the football field is playing defense has a gap
Speaker 1: in the run game. So the gap between the center
Speaker 1: and the guard a d tackle might have, or a
Speaker 1: linebacker might have, you know what I mean. And for
Speaker 1: a defense to be sound, everybody has to be able
Speaker 1: to fill a gap and be able to, you know,
Speaker 1: make their tackle if called upon. And I think what
Speaker 1: what San Francisco does unbelievable job of is in terms
Speaker 1: of zone coverages and rushing the quarterback and making sure
Speaker 1: that their run game, their their defensive run game is
Speaker 1: on point. I mean, he everybody seems to be on
Speaker 1: the same page over there. And that's why it's so
Speaker 1: hard to put up points on them, um, because they
Speaker 1: take away the deep the deep threat, and they do
Speaker 1: very well. They're very good job of underneath uh kind
Speaker 1: of matching up to everybody. So it's just that defense
Speaker 1: was was very underrated, if it wasn't already, if it
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, praised is one of the best in
Speaker 1: the league. And um, I think that was definitely our
Speaker 1: toughest matchup. But you can never look past uh, you
Speaker 1: can never look past Baltimore. Baltimore has got a great defense.
Speaker 1: Uh uh. And if you don't get if you don't
Speaker 1: get on top of them early, UM, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a long day because Lamar is gonna be able to
Speaker 1: just take his time downfield and and create great or
Speaker 1: create huge plays. Um. Who else you know what I'm
Speaker 1: looking right now with the bucks Man. The bucks are
Speaker 1: playing great football with the veteran football team. Uh, great coaches,
Speaker 1: and it's and it's all new. It's all new, a
Speaker 1: lot of it is. Uh. It's hard to scheme up
Speaker 1: new things. That's why you see a lot of immediate
Speaker 1: success out of out of out of some players because
Speaker 1: it's so brand new. You don't really know their tendencies
Speaker 1: and things like that. Um. But as they play longer
Speaker 1: down or longer in their career and longer down the season,
Speaker 1: they start to get schemed up a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they moved higher up that they moved higher up to
Speaker 1: Scott and report exactly. Yeah. Yeah, transitioning you Uh, you
Speaker 1: did a show for you know, our Network showtime. Uh,
Speaker 1: moon Base eight, How did that come about? Man? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't even know how it came about.
Speaker 1: I think they needed a football player, somebody with uh
Speaker 1: a tougher mentality. Uh in the in the kind of
Speaker 1: like the moon Base eight of the characters that they
Speaker 1: were they were putting together, um, and my name came
Speaker 1: across the board and sure enough that picked it. I
Speaker 1: don't know how the heck I got picked. I didn't
Speaker 1: really do too many I didn't do any um audition
Speaker 1: for it or anything like that. I just kind of
Speaker 1: showed up. And here I am sitting there looking at
Speaker 1: Dale from Stepbrothers right right now, eyes listen. I was
Speaker 1: I was like a little kid in a candy store. Man.
Speaker 1: I just I was admiring. It was like the real
Speaker 1: life show. And and John c Riley is he is livable, bro,
Speaker 1: he is so funny, unbelievable, dude. He's awesome. Guy. All
Speaker 1: three of the other characters, um and all three of
Speaker 1: the guy the main leadson in that show or I mean,
Speaker 1: they were just they were awesome. They were helping me
Speaker 1: out with everything. Uh. Knowing that I was a rookie
Speaker 1: in the game, I had no idea what I was
Speaker 1: really doing. Um, but I had a whole lot of
Speaker 1: fun listening to those guys and watching those guys be professionals. Man.
Speaker 1: So you're also on featured on ease show Catching with Kelsey.
Speaker 1: If you ever need a wingman on the show like that,
Speaker 1: I'll let me because I'll definitely come through and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, be that support. Um with that is there
Speaker 1: is not looking ahead. Obviously you love what you do,
Speaker 1: but you know, we're more in the era now of
Speaker 1: you know, life after sports, and more than ever, athletes
Speaker 1: are in other things as they're dominating their one particular
Speaker 1: sport is in front of the camera, behind the camera,
Speaker 1: and interest of you for your post career without a doubt,
Speaker 1: I'm keeping all the windows open right now. Are all
Speaker 1: the doors open right now? Uh? Kind of venturing into
Speaker 1: a few different areas. The fashion world is one of them.
Speaker 1: I have a clothing brain, True Colors, just a lifestyle
Speaker 1: brand right now that I'm trying to build. Uh. We've
Speaker 1: got some fun releases coming up soon. But I think
Speaker 1: whether it's fashion, uh talking sports in general, um, I can't.
Speaker 1: I can see myself talking to football for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life. But I kind of want to venture
Speaker 1: into all sports knowing that I have a love for
Speaker 1: all competition man, everything from golf to tennis to you know, hoops,
Speaker 1: you name it, man, I'm in it. Man. I loved
Speaker 1: I love to be around the sports sporting atmosphere and
Speaker 1: uh and talk and shoot shoot the stuff with everybody. Man.
Speaker 1: Being such a high profile UM athlete now in this
Speaker 1: day to social media, do you find it tough trying
Speaker 1: to keep up with it? Balance it, block out the negativity,
Speaker 1: benefit from the positivity, and just social media as a whole.
Speaker 1: We know you popping on G two, you got you
Speaker 1: gotta make sure you you're you're pushing the right material
Speaker 1: and the right contact. It's just it's just UM. One.
Speaker 1: I think it's enjoying the people UM that you share
Speaker 1: UH similarities with, so jumping on shows like this where
Speaker 1: I can relate to guys, you know, appreciate all your guys,
Speaker 1: both your guys opinions on things UM, and then pushing
Speaker 1: the right content and UM. I think what people don't
Speaker 1: really understand about about athletes and UH people with following
Speaker 1: is that there's there's once you get to a certain following, UH,
Speaker 1: the comments just start going they take, they take, they
Speaker 1: take their own road into into whatever leads. You know,
Speaker 1: you could post a picture about uh football, and out
Speaker 1: of nowhere here comes somebody talking about your relationship. So
Speaker 1: mental health, mental mental health is something that is very real,
Speaker 1: um to two people with the following, And it's because
Speaker 1: you know, you want to you want to care about
Speaker 1: what somebody is saying about you. It's just it's in
Speaker 1: my It's in nature that I you know, I want
Speaker 1: to be loved by everybody that ship. I'm a fun
Speaker 1: loving guy. It is who it is, what it is um.
Speaker 1: On the on the field, I could care less about
Speaker 1: who I'm going against. That's the mentality I have on
Speaker 1: the on the field. But as a person, I want
Speaker 1: everybody to appreciate, you know, who I am because I
Speaker 1: represent a lot of people from back home that would
Speaker 1: that that are prideful of that. You know, we're in
Speaker 1: the era now where I was actually just talking on
Speaker 1: ESPN earlier today about Michael Jordan's saying he doesn't think
Speaker 1: he can handle this social media era if he was
Speaker 1: playing you know what I mean. And I think social
Speaker 1: media has been the greatest gift and the greatest curse
Speaker 1: and the reason why it's the greatest curse is just
Speaker 1: because there's so much negativity and jealousy and anger and bitterness,
Speaker 1: and like you said, people think because we're athletes that
Speaker 1: the ship people say doesn't get to us or doesn't
Speaker 1: affect us or doesn't bother us, and it and it's
Speaker 1: furtherest from the truth. I mean, obviously we have to
Speaker 1: block it out and do a job. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, you've got people talking to about your kids,
Speaker 1: talking about your girl, your ex girl, something you did.
Speaker 1: I'm like, god, damn, like okay, or or another thing,
Speaker 1: like would you really say that to my face? Like
Speaker 1: if someone's gonna talk big ship on Instagram? Everyone thinks
Speaker 1: that Mike Tyson on Instagram like to me, just don't
Speaker 1: say nothing you wouldn't say to my face. Like I
Speaker 1: respect that you say to my face. I might do something,
Speaker 1: but just don't. Just don't say ship that you wouldn't
Speaker 1: normally say. And I think that's unfortunately a society that
Speaker 1: we live in. Or as great as you are, you
Speaker 1: guys are Super Bowl champs, there are still people that
Speaker 1: just want to talk shipped to you, to talk shipped
Speaker 1: to you, you know, instead of saying like man you're
Speaker 1: a hell of you know, you're a hell of a
Speaker 1: tight end. You guys are a great fucking team. It's
Speaker 1: harder for people to do that now. It's so much
Speaker 1: easier for people to hate and and it's it's a
Speaker 1: sad position in a in a sad state of affairs
Speaker 1: that we're in. When it comes to that, it gives
Speaker 1: everybody opinion, It gives everybody opinion trapped. But also it
Speaker 1: gets to the point, like you said, all we can
Speaker 1: worry about is the message, the message we're given out.
Speaker 1: We can't really worry about what people say because people
Speaker 1: are gonna say all types of things. But long as
Speaker 1: I message it clear, they're gonna twisted regardless. But all
Speaker 1: we can control is our message. As long as I
Speaker 1: message getting getting off is the right way, then that's
Speaker 1: all you can't control, especially these days. I'm I'm right
Speaker 1: there with you. My brother had a he had a fun,
Speaker 1: fun time when he won the Super Bowl and for
Speaker 1: the parade, he dressed up like, uh, whatever that is
Speaker 1: over there in Philly. I forget what it's called, um,
Speaker 1: but he um. He said something in in in his
Speaker 1: parade speech that that resonates with me. He went down
Speaker 1: the line of everybody that that the media pointed out,
Speaker 1: all the flaws the media was talking about. Old, the
Speaker 1: Eagles can't win it. This guy does this, he's he
Speaker 1: he can't catch the ball, he's a terrible blocker, you know,
Speaker 1: things like that. And he went down the list, he
Speaker 1: named everybody's flaw and said, that's what this guy wrote
Speaker 1: about everybody. And you know what, you know what I
Speaker 1: said to him, fuck him him. You know, just straight up,
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to hear. I'm not trying to hear
Speaker 1: none of that. We meet, we we reached the mountain
Speaker 1: peak and and and got crown king and and you
Speaker 1: can't say anything about it. And uh and and you
Speaker 1: know what, sometimes you just have to block it out
Speaker 1: and just tell him him, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: that's the mentality that you have to have. I used
Speaker 1: to at a at a younger age in my career,
Speaker 1: UM really care about all of that, uh to a
Speaker 1: certain extent. And um, and it used to get to me.
Speaker 1: It used to get to me a lot, like and
Speaker 1: I would get frustrated out on the field, uh, not
Speaker 1: having the success that I I thought I should have.
Speaker 1: And and you know what, I I wasn't living a
Speaker 1: fun life and and and and and mentally you have
Speaker 1: to be able to find happiness and what you're doing
Speaker 1: and block out a lot of the negativity that's going
Speaker 1: on and uh. And mental health is such a huge
Speaker 1: part of being being an athlete, especially in today's game.
Speaker 1: Right yeah, coming down the home stretch. UH. What's the
Speaker 1: mission of eighty seven and running eighty seven and running um?
Speaker 1: Our mission is to is to help out as many
Speaker 1: as many of the kids in Kansas City and Cleveland areas. Uh,
Speaker 1: and that those are just to the two areas that
Speaker 1: I'm focusing on right now, being from Cleveland and playing
Speaker 1: in Kansas City. UM, right now, right now, I'm just Uh.
Speaker 1: I grew up as uh, like I said, in a
Speaker 1: very multicultural, very diverse area of a social as. So
Speaker 1: I understood privilege UM at a young age, and I
Speaker 1: understood how many uh, you know, different walks of life
Speaker 1: are really out here and how I can appreciate that
Speaker 1: but also appreciate you know, what my family is doing
Speaker 1: to provide for myself and my brother and UM in
Speaker 1: the way that my father and my mother were kind
Speaker 1: of that adult and that that guidance for a lot
Speaker 1: of other kids because they didn't have that. UM. It
Speaker 1: made me understand that you know what, UM, I need
Speaker 1: to be able to lend a hand if I if
Speaker 1: I'm giving all of this fortune, if I'm giving all
Speaker 1: of this, uh, all this opportunity, UM that these other
Speaker 1: kids aren't getting, you know, and whether it's due to
Speaker 1: to failed school levies and not having the extracurricular activity, um,
Speaker 1: not having the band, not having you know, all these
Speaker 1: all these extracurricular things within the school to to you know,
Speaker 1: just not having that the ability to go out and
Speaker 1: get a glove. You know. I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that all the kids UM in this city having to
Speaker 1: having least an opportunity to to to get into something.
Speaker 1: And uh. And that's what eighty seven running is all about,
Speaker 1: is making sure that underserved kids around both Kansas City
Speaker 1: area and Cleveland area are given the opportunities in life
Speaker 1: that can help give them success. Man, we appreciate your yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah best man as vice versa, fellas as vice versa,
Speaker 1: are we gonna take you up on the I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get you numb, I'm gonna fun with you for real.
Speaker 1: You already know, you already know, alright quick hitters. Here
Speaker 1: we go. Top five your your top five artists, Top
Speaker 1: five artists. Oh man, he took it there, gotta leave.
Speaker 1: I've been on the old school. I've been to see
Speaker 1: I've been on the old school finding all old school stuff. Man,
Speaker 1: whatever you want right now, shout out. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Casey's Casey's Old School, Bloodstone Man, one of the one
Speaker 1: of the one of the I believe, one of the
Speaker 1: most player bands that that I've heard recently that that
Speaker 1: UM wasn't wasn't at the top of the list when
Speaker 1: I initially started getting into this, Uh finding all this
Speaker 1: old school music. Um, and there were Kansas City Zone,
Speaker 1: so I gotta give them a shout out. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: all over it with with music. Man, I could go forever. Man.
Speaker 1: Twenty one Savages is popping right now. Um God, Lee
Speaker 1: threw me on the spot. I can't even think of
Speaker 1: one specific justin timber Lake has always been a favorite man.
Speaker 1: I can always go back. I'm excited to hear his
Speaker 1: new stuff when he jumps on and then, Uh, Drake
Speaker 1: is always a favorite man. Anything he throws on end
Speaker 1: up finding finding a way to dance to it and
Speaker 1: move to it. Um and then Uh, I'll switch up
Speaker 1: the genre. Let's go um chain smokers. Man, those are
Speaker 1: my guys out there, h l A based, I believe.
Speaker 1: Actually I think they're actually East Coast Base, but they're
Speaker 1: out in l A right now. Man, favorite Sneaker. As
Speaker 1: a kid, Oh man, you put me on the spot again,
Speaker 1: I would say as a kid. As a kid, the
Speaker 1: Back to the Futures were just it was everything to me,
Speaker 1: and that's why I went. When I actually got my
Speaker 1: first UH check in the NFL, the first thing I
Speaker 1: did was go online and try and find the Back
Speaker 1: to the Futures in my size. I got drafted in
Speaker 1: thirteen and they had just came out in two thousand
Speaker 1: and twelve, but two thousand and eleven. I forget which one,
Speaker 1: but man, when they first when they when I saw
Speaker 1: the movie as a kid, I it blew my mind
Speaker 1: away that that these things were even being created. And
Speaker 1: then the story behind it and the fact that it
Speaker 1: was helping out Parkinson's disease. Um, just everything about it. Man,
Speaker 1: you know what the Sneak is all about the story.
Speaker 1: But I could give you ninety nineties kick references all day, man.
Speaker 1: I was playing in the Jordan fourteens. When I was
Speaker 1: in fifth grade, I threw the black laces in them
Speaker 1: because I thought I was sweet. Uh, candy, the candy
Speaker 1: candy came four teens. Yeah, man, it's yeah, it goes,
Speaker 1: it goes on and no no, man was huge for
Speaker 1: for me. Fashion all started for me in the in
Speaker 1: the nineties because of the Kicks Wave Man, the Barkley's,
Speaker 1: the Jordan's, the Pippins. Uh, you name it. Man, What's
Speaker 1: what's up? When we asked you this question? You gotta
Speaker 1: help us get this guess who would you like to
Speaker 1: see on all the smoke on the oldest smoke? Um,
Speaker 1: could be a teammate, could be an opponent, could be
Speaker 1: a different genre life period. Man, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep it in there. I'm gonna keep it in the
Speaker 1: boxing and and and go Tony Gonzalez. Man, I would
Speaker 1: love to hear your guys conversation with the greatest tight
Speaker 1: end to ever play the game. Man. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: got the basketball background, like as you know, he had
Speaker 1: a training camp with the Heat when he was he
Speaker 1: was younger. Um, he went right out here. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: went to he went to cal Berkeley, So that's right
Speaker 1: out of my way. So I know that was someone
Speaker 1: I looked up to because he was doing it at
Speaker 1: the highest level or college at least, you know, on
Speaker 1: bost sides. So that was that was a big motivation
Speaker 1: for me. Tony G. You know the biggest memory I
Speaker 1: got to Tony G as a kid with NFL Street
Speaker 1: NFL that man, and I used to play with him
Speaker 1: every single time. That's where I knew the tight end
Speaker 1: position could be done. And I was like, okay, this
Speaker 1: because I lets guy Man, I gotta watch football man,
Speaker 1: he's a monster. Hell yeah, last question right here. We
Speaker 1: know you gotta get running five dinner guests dead or alive. Man. Um,
Speaker 1: this is a good one. R I P. Kobe Man
Speaker 1: I would. I mean there was had a very brief
Speaker 1: opportunity to to say, you know how much I appreciated
Speaker 1: his MoMA mentality in terms of like having that uh
Speaker 1: and being able to incorporate something like that into my
Speaker 1: professional mindset. Um. So Kobe would definitely be one of them.
Speaker 1: R I P. And then um from there, man, god ly,
Speaker 1: I would, Uh, I would. I'm a huge outcast fan
Speaker 1: from growing up, so Andre three thousand, I would definitely
Speaker 1: throw in there. Man, very ever one of the ever
Speaker 1: um from air dang Man. I know this is supposed
Speaker 1: to be quick, but godle, I can't even think this fast. Man. Um.
Speaker 1: Throw throw a fun guy in there, like Charles Barkley. Man,
Speaker 1: he's one of He's one of my favorite guys to
Speaker 1: be around. Just electrifies the room every time he walks
Speaker 1: in it. Um and never met Jordan Man. I might
Speaker 1: as well just get the dream team, man, Just bring
Speaker 1: the dream team on it and we'll figure it out
Speaker 1: from there. Larry Bird. I grew up in Cleveland, Man,
Speaker 1: so I heard the legend of Mark Price. Man, so
Speaker 1: you might as well throw Mark on there and keep
Speaker 1: it moving from there. Nic. That's dope, man. Well, Travis
Speaker 1: Kelsey Man, we appreciate your time. Best to luck the
Speaker 1: rest of the way, sir. And uh, let's get that
Speaker 1: sign jersey. You already know we'll get it. We'll get
Speaker 1: it a sap man, I'll get it to your a sap.
Speaker 1: It'll be it'll be a super Bowl jersey. Just so
Speaker 1: you know, appreciate it by you already know. That's a wrap.
Speaker 1: I want to thank our guest Travis Kelsey for his
Speaker 1: time today. You can catch this on Showtime a boat.
Speaker 1: Comeb on YouTube in the High Heart Black Effects platform.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you out next time. This is all a smoke,
Speaker 1: A production of The Black Effect and Our Heart Radio
Speaker 1: in partnership with Showtime