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Speaker 1: I'm Peanut Tolman and this is the NFL Players Second

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Speaker 1: Acts Podcast. I got my guy Roman Harvard with me.

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Speaker 1: We're in Phoenix, Arizona at the NFL Annual Meetings. It's

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Speaker 1: a great time. We got some golf in. It's got

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Speaker 1: some good weather. The weather's great. I hit the ball

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Speaker 1: great on golf. I'm looking forward to winning more, even more,

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Speaker 1: even more. And so what we got now is I

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Speaker 1: want to take to make sure we tell all of

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Speaker 1: our followers to give us a follow, like a review,

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Speaker 1: a comment. Anywhere you listen to your podcast with us

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio podcast. You tell a friend to make

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Speaker 1: sure to tell a friend to tell a friend to

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Speaker 1: check us out. We actually got another follower at breakfast

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Speaker 1: this morning. So just know we continue to spread the

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Speaker 1: word and we're doing our thing. Peanut, Who we got today?

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Speaker 1: We got a Viking's head coach, Kevin O'Connell and Bears

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Speaker 1: GM and Pulse. Check out their interview. Today's guests went

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Speaker 1: thirteen and four in his first season as a head coach.

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Speaker 1: He won Super Bowl fifty six as an offensive coordinator

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Speaker 1: for the Rams. He is a Saint Diego State alum.

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Speaker 1: He got his first coaching gig in the NFL in

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Speaker 1: twoy fifteen. Please welcome our guests, head coach of the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O'Connell. So, uh, you were at the

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Speaker 1: game last night, right, Saint Nigos State, y'all have huge Alabama? Wait?

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Speaker 1: Wait what team did y'all beat Alabama? Yeah? He went

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Speaker 1: to Alabama and I love I'll tell you what. Oh

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Speaker 1: my god, I've never seen I mean, just the athletes

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Speaker 1: on that court. Saint eve State has done an unbelievable

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Speaker 1: job with their program. But Alabama, my goodness, I mean

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Speaker 1: the number one overall seed for a reason. In turn, Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we had to We had to slop it up a

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Speaker 1: little bit, make a little bit of a street fight

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Speaker 1: to get that one. That's kind of the way we play.

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Speaker 1: But it lets you to me though, it doesn't really

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Speaker 1: matter about what seed you are, because they y'all got

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Speaker 1: the job done right, well you can it was. It

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Speaker 1: was the first time in a while for me being

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Speaker 1: at an NCAA tournament game. Um, I'm sure you guys

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Speaker 1: have been to those games before. It doesn't feel like

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Speaker 1: it just feels like they're regardless of seeds. It feels

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Speaker 1: like there's two teams just playing right and anything can happen.

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Speaker 1: Like when you're there, you actually feel how a sixteen

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Speaker 1: could be to Purdue. You know, FDU could be Purdue.

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Speaker 1: You could you feel it because that ball goes up,

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Speaker 1: momentum swings, and that's guard who was on the You know,

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Speaker 1: it's a street going on. Who goes hot and win?

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Speaker 1: And so lucky for me, I didn't get to watch

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Speaker 1: the game. I was flying here last night, so I

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Speaker 1: didn't watch the game. I did keep up with the scores,

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Speaker 1: and so San Diego State was up, but it was

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Speaker 1: one half. I'm like, if Alabama shoots well, they beat

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Speaker 1: anybody in the country. Clearly they didn't shoot well San

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Speaker 1: Diego State. And after talking to some of my friends,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't about what Alabama didn't do, but it was

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Speaker 1: more about what San Diego State did to Alabama. Last night,

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Speaker 1: I had a blog party playing great defense. Just give

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Speaker 1: me a little inside of what you saw as a

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Speaker 1: basketball matchups, because yeah, you're big sports, Well, shoot, they

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Speaker 1: had to be physical because I mean you look at

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Speaker 1: these guys. I mean Alabama has first of all, they're big,

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Speaker 1: they're long, they're athletic. I mean, my man, you know

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Speaker 1: some of these guys, I just watching them and warm ups.

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Speaker 1: You're looking at one side of the court. It was

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Speaker 1: the old like, I know you guys did this in

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Speaker 1: your playing career. Sometimes you're playing against the team, you

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Speaker 1: look across the fifty and you're like, my goodness, no, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we'll take that guy. That guy, that guy will take

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Speaker 1: them all. I'm standing there with my son. I brought

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Speaker 1: my eight year old Kaden, and we're watching Sandy or

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Speaker 1: stay warm up on one side and we're watching and

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Speaker 1: you're like, I'm having a tough time seeing it. And

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Speaker 1: then that game said got started it and it literally

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Speaker 1: turned into I mean it was nasty, kind of physical ball,

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys on the ground, big diving for

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Speaker 1: loose balls, and Alabama. I just thought it was a

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Speaker 1: great game. Sanday State's up at the half. Then Alabama

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Speaker 1: goes up nine kind of early on in the second half,

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Speaker 1: and you could just see the skill, I mean, guys

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Speaker 1: above the rim, long threes, quickness, speed, all the things

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Speaker 1: that made them the best team in the country. Um.

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Speaker 1: But then Santay State just it was like they decided

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Speaker 1: very about the time they got their bench actually got

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Speaker 1: a tea they got teed up. I don't know who

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Speaker 1: said what, um, but right about that time, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if it was the head coach or who it

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Speaker 1: was that got it, they kind of clicked into gear

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Speaker 1: and every loose ball became theirs, every long rebound became

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Speaker 1: theirs extra possessions, and before you know what, that one

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Speaker 1: seed started to press a little bit towards the end,

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Speaker 1: and UM, huge win for the program. Basically, Alabama cave.

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Speaker 1: Want to pressure yall, y'all cave right. That sounds about

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Speaker 1: that sounds about they're young, though I was. I basically

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Speaker 1: stayed at the Alabama team hotel and talking that They're like,

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Speaker 1: we're really good, but we're youngy very they don't know

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Speaker 1: how they're gonna respond. And Sanday State's got a bunch

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Speaker 1: of grown, grown men. I think that matters. It does

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Speaker 1: matter at the time. Yeah, well, I'm glad y'all lost.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad your team won it. It's bad because you know,

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Speaker 1: Peter and I got to work out in this morning,

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Speaker 1: and look, I only packed what I packed, so I

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Speaker 1: wasn't anticipating in Alabama lost. So I got my Alabama

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Speaker 1: gearl on this morning. Literally got some guy from Gonzaga

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Speaker 1: apologizes for me. Had some random guy come up to me, Oh, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm a San Diego State alone and I'm like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't even ask you, come hold you. I loved

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Speaker 1: every minute of it. Keeps asking me about it. I'm

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Speaker 1: just like, you know, she's the only packed what I packed? Man,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry. It was great. It was I loved every minute. Congrats, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: congrats Will I will say this much. The Alabama fans,

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Speaker 1: they were awesome. Like during the game, the atmosphere was great,

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Speaker 1: but even after talking to some of them, you know,

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Speaker 1: they were, hey, credit credit to where it's dude, State

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Speaker 1: won that game, how they played. You know, we gotta

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Speaker 1: but the positivity towards that young team. Man. I know

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Speaker 1: some of those guys you're probably be playing in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: but they got a hacker program. We were so proud

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Speaker 1: of them this year. And I know we're supposed to

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Speaker 1: be talking football, but it's so in basketball right now.

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Speaker 1: We're so proud of them. It was. It was really good.

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Speaker 1: And also Alabama fans they love on the basketball team

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Speaker 1: as much as they can. If that would have been

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Speaker 1: a loss on the football side, it's totally different emotions.

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Speaker 1: That it would not have been all nice and everybody,

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Speaker 1: you know, they would not have that as well. No,

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Speaker 1: either would coach Saban. Yeah probably. Yeah. So I've had

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Speaker 1: the I've had the pleasure of going in two Super Bowls.

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Speaker 1: I've lost two super Bowls thanks to Peyton Manning. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you won one, you lost one. But we've had the

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Speaker 1: joy of going. I know you won super Bowl fifty six.

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Speaker 1: I hate romanmannow was off, but super Bowl fifty six

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Speaker 1: with the Rams. And three days after winning the Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl you get hired by the Vikings. Yeah. Do you

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Speaker 1: feel like you had enough time to like really enjoy

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Speaker 1: that championship? No? And and the crazy thing is, you

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Speaker 1: know I can remember it. You know, I officially became

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Speaker 1: the head coach that Wednesday following the game, But I

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Speaker 1: mean I was trying to put together staff, even through

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Speaker 1: the interview process. You know, I didn't want to ever

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Speaker 1: leave anything for my current job that would have left

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Speaker 1: me thinking what if? What if I would have done

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Speaker 1: a better job with the third down pass game plan,

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Speaker 1: a red zone or whatever it was. So I was

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Speaker 1: all in, But then I'd go home at night, eleven

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Speaker 1: o'clock at night and I'd stay up four or five

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Speaker 1: hours putting together staff zoom calls with potential coaches, just

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Speaker 1: trying to make sure that you know, the Vikings weren't

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year, so they're not waiting to do.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's great that you're coaching in the Super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: but you got some responsibilities already. So it was a lot.

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Speaker 1: But I just remember when I told myself, I got

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Speaker 1: to you guys, remember super Bowl week, it's you know,

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Speaker 1: and we were home in LA. We didn't even go

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Speaker 1: to the team hotel till Friday or Saturday, whatever it was.

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Speaker 1: I just said, about Wednesday of that Super Bowl game week,

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Speaker 1: I was going to put it all away. And about Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: about one o'clock, I was still doing saying, you know

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Speaker 1: it was the phone would ring, and there was never

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Speaker 1: totally kind of brushing it to the side, but I

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Speaker 1: was able to focus on it. Unbelievable experience to win

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Speaker 1: that game, but yeah, I was. I literally took my

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Speaker 1: son and daughter, my oldest two to the parade and

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Speaker 1: then met my wife and the rest of my family

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Speaker 1: literally an hour from I left the parade about an

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Speaker 1: hour into it and went to kill get on the

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Speaker 1: plane and flew to flew to Minnesota and hadn't been

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Speaker 1: back since to California since you know, basically that day.

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Speaker 1: So it was it was fast, man, it was it

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Speaker 1: was it was it was not your normal. Let's just

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Speaker 1: put it this way. Other people were enjoying that parade

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Speaker 1: a little bit more than I was. Yeah, I was

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Speaker 1: gonna say, because you know a lot of times, you know,

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Speaker 1: after games, you win. Okay, we got twenty four hours? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: now did you I did. I did go to the

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Speaker 1: super Bowl party, got to spend a lot of time.

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Speaker 1: But before you know, it was just I'll never forget

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Speaker 1: I stayed out. Obviously, you play that game, you go

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Speaker 1: the party. Mister Cronkie put it, put on an unbelievable

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Speaker 1: super Bowl party, stayed out late. I just remember my

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Speaker 1: phone going off about six thirty or seven o'clock the

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Speaker 1: next morning, and I might have went to bed two

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Speaker 1: hours before that. And it was people in Minnesota like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we need you to we're trying to get this done

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Speaker 1: or this coaching contract done, or are you good with this?

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Speaker 1: And I was like, and it hit me in that moment,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, this is nobody cares. Nobody cares there. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I gotta. I saw I listen to another

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Speaker 1: interview you did and you talked about, you know, managing

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Speaker 1: your time. Yeah, and so I'm not great at that.

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Speaker 1: So okay, And you said, as a head coach, you

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Speaker 1: always feels like, man, it's always something to do, somebody's

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Speaker 1: always depending on you, whether it's you know, it's through

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Speaker 1: the organization, it's charitable causes, it's you know, lean doing

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Speaker 1: something for a player, or your coach is making sure

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Speaker 1: the coordinators everybody's has something going on. So and versus

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Speaker 1: a coordinator, maybe you had a little bit more waiting

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Speaker 1: time for somebody else to tell you or assistant to

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Speaker 1: tell you where you need to be going or something

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Speaker 1: to be doing. So how do you manage that? How

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Speaker 1: do you get to this point or are you still

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Speaker 1: into this learning process or maybe just give us some

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Speaker 1: insight on the difference of being from a coordinator time example,

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Speaker 1: to now the head coach and now running the whole thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think the unique thing for me is trying to

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Speaker 1: be the play caller too on offense. So really, although

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Speaker 1: I've got some great coaches, I got a great offensive

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Speaker 1: coordinator in West phillips As the play caller, you're still

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Speaker 1: I feel an obligation to get in front of the unit. Saw.

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Speaker 1: I need to be with Kirk and in the quarterback room.

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Speaker 1: I can't just be the voice that shows up on

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Speaker 1: game day and being his ear and be calling plays.

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Speaker 1: So you've got to totally submerse yourself in the in

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Speaker 1: the offense with those players, installs in the past, game,

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Speaker 1: run game, you know how we're going to play the game,

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Speaker 1: articulating what it's going to take to win the game,

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Speaker 1: all those things you do as a coordinator. But I

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Speaker 1: just tried to do a lot of those things on

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Speaker 1: a whole scale with our entire team. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: I learned from some really good coaches the previous team

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Speaker 1: I was with and with the Rams, being around Sean

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Speaker 1: and and really the coolest thing you did for me

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Speaker 1: was said, Hey, you're gonna be a head coach, why

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Speaker 1: don't you just kind of tag along on a lot

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Speaker 1: of this stuff. So I watched him go really what

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Speaker 1: it felt like at times and you know, even times

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Speaker 1: where I shouldn't even have been in his office, Uh, hey,

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Speaker 1: why don't you come in. We'll talk about you know,

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Speaker 1: the OTA schedule or something crazy. And you're like, man,

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Speaker 1: this guy truly is pouring into me to develop me

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Speaker 1: to become a head coach in this league. So, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, too much as given, much as required. So

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Speaker 1: I tried to soak it all in. Um, he's one

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Speaker 1: of my closest friends. But what what that really let

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Speaker 1: me see is he's a play caller that tries to

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Speaker 1: be totally all in on his team. Culture matters, all

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Speaker 1: those things. You can say a lot of things, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but then you got to back it up. And the

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Speaker 1: ultimate enemy to all that is time when you're trying

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Speaker 1: to do everything. Um. I also have you know, we

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Speaker 1: had our fourth child and during the season, about week eight,

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Speaker 1: on a Friday, what the heck, let's just go play

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Speaker 1: the Commanders in Washington. And I left my wife at

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Speaker 1: the hospital and luckily her mom was in town. You know,

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Speaker 1: she'd had the baby. Every baby was healthy, wife was healthy.

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Speaker 1: And I went back and went to walk through, then

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Speaker 1: got on the plane and flew to Washington. So didn't

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Speaker 1: it crazy that we do that? Nobody? Actually a lot

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Speaker 1: of people gave me a you know, I thought people

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Speaker 1: would be like, man, that what a what a coach

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Speaker 1: going to But I took some pretty good, you know,

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Speaker 1: pushback from like our our female fan base of Hey,

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Speaker 1: you don't know what it's like to have a child.

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Speaker 1: You're there supporting, you know, basically being a cheerleader for it.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we're the ones that I can't believe

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Speaker 1: you left her at the hospital. I there were some

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Speaker 1: people that genuinely were not happy that I left. I

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Speaker 1: got the flip side of it, though, because we had

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Speaker 1: played a game my wife was she was pregnant, and

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Speaker 1: someone asked the question, um, if she goes in labor,

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Speaker 1: you know, are you gonna go? And I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'll just miss the game. And then everyone was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: why would you do that? Do you want to get

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Speaker 1: paid for sixteen games? You want to work sixteen days

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Speaker 1: a year and all this sold of stuff like so

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Speaker 1: it's kind of like, damned if you do, damned if

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Speaker 1: you don't know that. It was one of those questions.

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Speaker 1: I was just like, whatever, I'm well, well, I missed

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Speaker 1: my first child's birth because she came on a playoff

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Speaker 1: game and you know I was in San Francisco. She

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Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to go, she was late. Yeah. Then next

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Speaker 1: you know, I get a miss like six phone calls

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Speaker 1: and you look up You're like, oh, she's going too late.

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Speaker 1: She's like, I'm gonna hold it. I'm like, okay, baby,

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Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Appreciate that. And it was like, nah,

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Speaker 1: the second quarter is all good. But when did you

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Speaker 1: When did you first get the first text you actually saw?

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Speaker 1: Was it before they know? It's after the game? It

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Speaker 1: was after? It was after I'd had no idea. What

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Speaker 1: would you have done if you if you had got that,

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Speaker 1: Like you come in pregame the last twenty minutes, you

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Speaker 1: come in from that, what would you have done would

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Speaker 1: probably would have been emotional and like I've probably been

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Speaker 1: a little shook. You know, you want to be angry,

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Speaker 1: you want to be in this zone. Yea, And all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden you get like the picture of your

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Speaker 1: first child. It's just that, it's gotta it's got to

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Speaker 1: shake you a little bit out of There's no way

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Speaker 1: you can't be thinking about that and then try and

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Speaker 1: go out there in the before the biggest playoff game

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Speaker 1: of year, you know at the time, but it was

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Speaker 1: it was fireworks. It was a great game. But talking

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Speaker 1: about a day of emotions though, I mean, you're playing

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Speaker 1: a playoff game. Actually, you know your daughter's born. You

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Speaker 1: lose the playoff game after you put so much into it,

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Speaker 1: a nail biter, and then you know everybody else is sad,

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Speaker 1: and then you're kind of happy. I remember that game,

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Speaker 1: yeah against US No, that was against San Francisco. Ran

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Speaker 1: the quarterback s week. We blitzed from his right side

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Speaker 1: the whole game and all of a sudden they ran

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Speaker 1: quarterback sweep away. You are that that's part of your inventory, right, No, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's you call former film. Well I can remember some

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Speaker 1: of the players in that game. It was who they

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Speaker 1: have crab Tree and yes, oh yeah, and the tight

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Speaker 1: end um burning Davis and so it was a it

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Speaker 1: was a great game. I mean we had five turnovers?

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Speaker 1: Was that when? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that was it. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: That was a Tony Montana game where they they played

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Speaker 1: it was rocket. It was a great atmosphere. It was electric,

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Speaker 1: I'm telling and that's saying something because you played in

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Speaker 1: one of the best for a long time than man. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was one of the best atmospheres I've ever been

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Speaker 1: a part of. So um, who would you say? So

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Speaker 1: you're you're talking about Sean's when your one of your

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Speaker 1: closest friends and I know two thousand and eight, you

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Speaker 1: got drafted by the Patriots. Josh mcdonwalds. He was the

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Speaker 1: o C at the time. Who would you say? A year?

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure you learned a lot from him, just

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Speaker 1: kind of you know him and Tom and all that.

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Speaker 1: Who would you say you're I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: coaches they talk about being a coaching tree, like who

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Speaker 1: would you say you're a disciple of? Or who's a

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Speaker 1: part of? Like just tread them come from, honestly, So

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Speaker 1: much of what we do offensively and everything was kind

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Speaker 1: of shaped and in LA and what we tried to do.

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Speaker 1: So the first name is always Sean McVeigh just because

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Speaker 1: he did so much for me as a coach. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was really cool because I had been friends with

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Speaker 1: Sean uh or about my entire coaching career since about

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. But really kind of he gets the head

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Speaker 1: job in LA, I go to what he's instrumental in

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Speaker 1: me getting the quarterback job in Washington as he's kind

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Speaker 1: of leaving town and I'll just never forget it. Being

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Speaker 1: like he told me at the time, He's like, we'll

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Speaker 1: circle back and I'm gonna get a chance to hire you.

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Speaker 1: And then three years later, he's bringing me out there

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Speaker 1: to be the coordinator, you know, a huge moment in

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Speaker 1: my career. And then also ultimately we you know, make

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Speaker 1: the trade for Matthew Stafford, we win a super Bowl,

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Speaker 1: and then I become a head coach. So I owe

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Speaker 1: so much to Sean from that standpoint. But you talk

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Speaker 1: about it, I I don't know if you can be

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Speaker 1: a player and then be part of a coaching tree

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Speaker 1: of somebody else. But I learned a ton from coach Belichick.

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Speaker 1: You know, last year, I got to sit right next

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Speaker 1: to him at these owners meetings for three days and

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Speaker 1: it's like, you know, that's coach next to me. And

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Speaker 1: was that a little weird? At first? It was, and

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Speaker 1: then he had a real way of kind of breaking

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Speaker 1: the ice and it, Yeah, so he made it. He

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Speaker 1: made it not weird at all, and we actually had

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Speaker 1: some great football discussions and kind of and then that

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Speaker 1: carried over it and when we played him on Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: this year and spend some time with him after the game,

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Speaker 1: I think the world to him. But Josh McDaniel's Billy O'Brien,

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Speaker 1: Bill Belichick. I mean, there's unbelievable coaches that I was,

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Speaker 1: you know, around being around Nick Kissario in the personnel department,

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Speaker 1: I just learned so much and had no business learning

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Speaker 1: it at the time. I was so far I mean,

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Speaker 1: talk about being thrown in the deep end of the pool.

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Speaker 1: But I still look back on some of those notebooks

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Speaker 1: from team meetings or some of those offensive installs, and

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Speaker 1: just it's like somebody teaching you things that you had

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Speaker 1: no idea right at the time. You're writing things down

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Speaker 1: and you're really not absorbing it. And then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, you get this job and you start being

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Speaker 1: responsible for a whole heck of a lot more than

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Speaker 1: than really just being a backup quarterback on a team.

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Speaker 1: You go back through some of these notes and it's

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Speaker 1: gold right there, you know, on the pages of that notebook.

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Speaker 1: So I have to give so much credit. And then

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Speaker 1: everybody in between. I mean, you guys, know, some of

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Speaker 1: the best moments, some of the best playing career moments

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Speaker 1: you had, might have been on some of the worst

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Speaker 1: teams you played for. You know, where you're personally individually

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Speaker 1: might have been at your best. I still tell people

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Speaker 1: some of the best coaching jobs that I've ever done,

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Speaker 1: we might have won four or five games my first

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Speaker 1: year in Cleveland doing it. But shoot, I you know,

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Speaker 1: I felt like I I coached my tail off. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So that's what you learn about this is if if

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Speaker 1: you get and it Sometimes people could say it's a cliche,

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Speaker 1: but if you get wrapped up and be and being

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Speaker 1: defined by the results of what we do, whether you're

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Speaker 1: a player or coach, h you know, it can really

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Speaker 1: hold you back from reaching your true potential. I tend

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Speaker 1: to focus as much as possible on the process of

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Speaker 1: how I do things, why I do things, and then

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Speaker 1: can I make the people around me better at doing

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Speaker 1: what they love to do and and just being a

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Speaker 1: you know, a positive part of their day. So when

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Speaker 1: they walk through the I said it day one, year

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Speaker 1: one in Minnesota, and I think we accomplish it. But

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Speaker 1: I wanted our players to walk through the door and

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Speaker 1: feel like shoot leaving at the end of the day.

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Speaker 1: This was a positive thing for me today. I got

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Speaker 1: better today. I like being around my teammates. I like

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Speaker 1: being a part of this and it was really important

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Speaker 1: for us to do that. And now we got to

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Speaker 1: build on it. I remember RIVERI used to always say

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Speaker 1: that he was like after practice was over, he would

400
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Speaker 1: always say, you don't have to rush out of here

401
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Speaker 1: to go home. Now, Yeah, y'all, y'all can stay because

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Speaker 1: I think he just wanted us to be around each

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Speaker 1: other and just be locker room guys. And that I

404
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,440
Speaker 1: think it's that that says a lot. It does if

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Speaker 1: you like your space, you want to be there, and

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Speaker 1: you care about the people around you. And I think

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Speaker 1: last year was such a great example of you guys

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Speaker 1: really hitting it running. And could you talk about maybe

409
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Speaker 1: the success that you guys had last year maybe what

410
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Speaker 1: some of the things that you saw early that you

411
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Speaker 1: knew these guys were going to be successful, and then

412
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Speaker 1: also where does this team in the organization, what does

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Speaker 1: it look like going forward? Yeah, I think one of

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Speaker 1: the cool things for us was I just remember coming

415
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Speaker 1: in and guys like Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith, Dalvin Cook,

416
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Speaker 1: guys that have been staples Adam feeling of the Minnesota

417
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Speaker 1: Vikings organization and have played a lot of football, won

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Speaker 1: a lot of games. I mean, Harrison's yeah, I'm bloom

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Speaker 1: and we're lucky enough to be able to bring him back,

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Speaker 1: which was huge for me to be able to keep him, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, on our team and as part of our

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Speaker 1: leadership with that sea on his chest. But I knew

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Speaker 1: we had a good makeup of great leaders that have

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Speaker 1: been around, you know, a certain way of doing things

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Speaker 1: for a long time, and we're going to come in

426
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,639
Speaker 1: and right wrong or indifferent. We were gonna just be different.

427
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,000
Speaker 1: And I told our team this, I believe so much

428
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,920
Speaker 1: in the why behind how we're going to do things

429
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:38,880
Speaker 1: because I just got done winning a Super Bowl, doing

430
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:40,960
Speaker 1: it that way and feeling a certain kind of way

431
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,000
Speaker 1: every day, and feeling the joy of even in our league,

432
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:49,160
Speaker 1: when the circumstances and the stress can sometimes overtake organizations

433
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 1: and be their demise in LA we just found a

434
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,840
Speaker 1: way to enjoy even when we dealt with adversity. It

435
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,800
Speaker 1: wasn't all just smiles and candy canes and and it

436
00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:02,240
Speaker 1: was it was real tangible human being interaction, dealing with

437
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,320
Speaker 1: adversity and overcoming winning a super you know, all of

438
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 1: those things to reach the pinnacle of our profession together.

439
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,320
Speaker 1: So nobody can tell me nothing about there's another way

440
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:12,680
Speaker 1: to do it, because this is the way I know,

441
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,159
Speaker 1: And I think you guys are gonna enjoy this, and

442
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:16,480
Speaker 1: I think you guys are gonna want to do it

443
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,480
Speaker 1: this way, and We'll worry about the results when they come.

444
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: And you know, I think in those close games, those

445
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,440
Speaker 1: end of game moments, we relied on that stuff. So

446
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,200
Speaker 1: anybody that says it's just kind of cliche coach speak

447
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,720
Speaker 1: stuff when stuff got really hard, the best version of

448
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 1: our team came out, they do. I think that that.

449
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: You know, we weren't always perfect. There's a thousand things

450
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 1: that I need to do better, and then I'm working

451
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,399
Speaker 1: on to try to be better for our organization. But

452
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 1: we relied on that and it was really cool to

453
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:44,879
Speaker 1: kind of see how it happened in year one and

454
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 1: just kind of moving forward. It's easy to do in

455
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:48,680
Speaker 1: year one, right, It's easy to come in and be

456
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 1: different and kind of sell something off a win in

457
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: a super Bowl, and hey, we win thirteen games, and

458
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 1: this is why I got all the answers. Well, now

459
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,920
Speaker 1: you got to go, you know, not only duplicate that

460
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,160
Speaker 1: in year two, but now you're playing a first place schedule.

461
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,440
Speaker 1: Now you're playing now you're kind of you're not sneaking

462
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: up on anybody anymore, and you know, we're gonna have

463
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 1: to be at our best to be more consistent with

464
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 1: how we do it, play a better brand of football,

465
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 1: rely on all those things and improve from a standpoint

466
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: of our technique fundamentals, and then make sure we understand

467
00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 1: the culture thing doesn't just just because you achieved it

468
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 1: in year one. It's a daily thing. Culture is people.

469
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 1: Culture is interaction. Culture is never missing a you a

470
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 1: moment to say, hey, great job, Hey, you know we

471
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: got to get better here. That accountability thing, a new

472
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,159
Speaker 1: thing for me, is that personal responsibility. Like I think

473
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 1: accountability is you guys feeling like I need to be

474
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: accountable to you, But how about me being accountable to myself.

475
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 1: That's that personal responsibility that I think is going to

476
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 1: be huge for our team and the growth of the

477
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,280
Speaker 1: next generation of Minnesota Vikings leadership. We got some of

478
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 1: the best players that they're positioning football, justin Jefferson, Christian Dai, Saw,

479
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 1: Brian O'Neill. I mean, we've got TJ. Hawkinson, We've got

480
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: some unbelievably young, talented player with so much potential to

481
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: be great in our league. But I want them to

482
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 1: understand it's time for them to wear the sea on

483
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,560
Speaker 1: their chests. It's time for them to take the next

484
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: step and help be a main reason why we sustained

485
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: the great culture that so many great vikings helped us

486
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 1: build in your one. Yeah, so the name of this

487
00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: podcast is the NFL Player's Second Acts Podcast. Yeah, we played,

488
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 1: we retired. We did something else in our in our

489
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 1: second act. You played retired. You got into broadcasting. Yeah,

490
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 1: did that for a brief stint. Yeah, and I'm sure

491
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 1: you enjoyed it. What made you? What made you want

492
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 1: to get out of the broadcasting and get back into coaching. Well,

493
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: I just finished up. I was doing some kind of

494
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,480
Speaker 1: combine training on the side, you know, the quarterback guru circuit,

495
00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 1: thinking you got all the answers. There's no scoreboard in

496
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: next game, so that's one of the All you need

497
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: is one to hit them. Yeah. I watched Jordan palm

498
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 1: over this last Year's awesome. But he's great good. I mean,

499
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,480
Speaker 1: once he hit Josh Allen, He's like, bro, I got it,

500
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 1: I got the book. It is so convenient to be

501
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 1: able to put that, and he's really good at what

502
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: he does. But it is so convenient to look up

503
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: at that scoreboard at whatever field that they're playing at,

504
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 1: and that thing is off. There's no there's no running tale,

505
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,959
Speaker 1: there's no you know, two unbelievable defensive players that are

506
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 1: tasked with taking away you know, it's just about footwork.

507
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,360
Speaker 1: It's about throwing a pretty spiral. Look at this cool

508
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: drill you can come up with that as I've been

509
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 1: down that road, and it is building each one I give.

510
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: I give guys a hard time because I'm jealous of

511
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 1: those guys because in March and April, they're at some

512
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 1: field for two hours, and then they're they're at home

513
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 1: with their kids and on the beach and doing all

514
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,159
Speaker 1: the things that they might even be having. The workout

515
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: on the beach. All right, but I did that. I

516
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,880
Speaker 1: did some college football broadcasting. Loved it, I actually really did.

517
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 1: I loved being able to do production meetings and meet

518
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: coaches and players. I did some games up at Army UM,

519
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,400
Speaker 1: you know, I did six games up there, and meeting

520
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 1: some of the cadets and just totally different type of

521
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 1: human being than than what I felt like I deserved

522
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: to be spending a lot of time. These guys are unbelievable.

523
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: But then Mike Petton called and he said, you know,

524
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,400
Speaker 1: you know, Mike had tried to get me to come

525
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 1: work for him before. Rex Ryan had tried to get

526
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,199
Speaker 1: me to come work for him before just never felt right.

527
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: I felt like I had kind of owed it to

528
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: my wife to let her have a life, and you know,

529
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,159
Speaker 1: we had moved around so much with me as a

530
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: player that I wanted her to have a home base.

531
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,919
Speaker 1: But then Mike Petton called and offered me the quarterback

532
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,320
Speaker 1: coaching job. And that was not something that I felt

533
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: entitled to by any stretch, but just felt like it

534
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,879
Speaker 1: was an unbelievable opportunity and I was ready to at

535
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: that point. The timing worked out and I've been doing

536
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: this everything and how long before? How long did you

537
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: do broadcast? Two years? Two years? I got done, played

538
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve, kind of thirteen fourteen, I did the

539
00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:00,560
Speaker 1: broadcasting stuff and then quarterback and yeah, being room man,

540
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: it's my it's on my business card. But uh but yeah,

541
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: and then fifteen started coaching and I had done and

542
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,119
Speaker 1: did a training camp internship. Got a chance to be

543
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: around Kyle Shanahan in twenty fourteen was awesome. Um, so

544
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: I was. I made sure I made sure I stayed

545
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,440
Speaker 1: around it and and and really watched a bunch of tape,

546
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 1: tried to that That's really where I liked doing the

547
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: draft stuff is on the grass stuff was fun. But

548
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 1: I got to spend you know, time with Marcus Murio

549
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: to Jameis Winston, you know, Johnny Manziel coming out that year. Um,

550
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 1: just doing ball in a in a quarterback almost like

551
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 1: a quarterback meeting room, watching tape and UM, you know,

552
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 1: just trying to teach and and and learn myself. You

553
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 1: know how to always say learning the why, Why are

554
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 1: you making these decisions? Why are you doing this? And

555
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: when you ask that question, it is amazing the types

556
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,719
Speaker 1: of things you'll hear people say, because it's never ever

557
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: what you think. I'm telling you. The why matters. Yea,

558
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: and most I've just learned if you coach it and

559
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 1: you believe it, and you give these players the why

560
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: they're so art and they're so committed to being great

561
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: at what they do. I mean, you guys are two

562
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,439
Speaker 1: great examples of it. You guys. Were you mentioned Ron

563
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 1: Rivera already? I'm sure you guys could say coach after

564
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 1: coach that when you close your eyes, you think back

565
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 1: to that dB meeting when they told you why you're

566
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: going to play this trap coverage a certain way, or

567
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 1: why you had to you know, punch at the ball

568
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: the way you did. I'm sure that was natural in

569
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,440
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, but somebody took somebody told you

570
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 1: why to you know why and how to do it

571
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: at some point, and then you took it because you're

572
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 1: a great player and make your own When I tell

573
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson, this is how I want you to run

574
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: this route because this and this reason and this is

575
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: why it's important, and then he goes and makes it

576
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: his own at a world class level, That to me

577
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,879
Speaker 1: is coaching in our league. Coaching is not waving your

578
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,640
Speaker 1: finger at somebody telling them rules and this is why

579
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: you can't do things, and this is why my way

580
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: is the only way. No, it's as truly a collaboration

581
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 1: with world class athletes and guys that just want to

582
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 1: be pointing in the right direction. Tell them where to go,

583
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: and I promise you they're going to do everything they

584
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,119
Speaker 1: can to go get it done. Now, you may have

585
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: just answered this question like literally with that answer that

586
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 1: you just gave. That was beautiful, because a lot of

587
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 1: people don't understand that the understanding that what coaches see

588
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 1: that really lights them up or gives them joy. And

589
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: you kind of just said that what gives you joy

590
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 1: when you see these things and your special athletes. But

591
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 1: what I want to know though, is that so many

592
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 1: people talk about how smart you are, your IQ, your game,

593
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 1: prep all the things that you do before the game

594
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,680
Speaker 1: that leads up to this game. And so could you

595
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: give us an example of something that. Man, this was

596
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,399
Speaker 1: something that I had dialed in and it showed up

597
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 1: in the game and it was beautiful, Like, just give

598
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: us that aha moment at any point in time last

599
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:40,720
Speaker 1: year that you saw that kind of comes to mind.

600
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 1: I see it in your eyes. Well only because I

601
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 1: was just thinking about it off of that previous kind

602
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 1: of talking about justin Jefferson, And there was an example.

603
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: You know, We're playing the Patriots on a short week

604
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: Thursday night, Thanksgiving, and you know people had started for

605
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 1: the really for the first time in his career, doubling them.

606
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys played against right it was hey

607
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: cover one, double eighteen wherever he is. So we're playing

608
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: the Patriots, I know the background of that defensive philosophy

609
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: and the coach Belichick. I could literally envision him standing

610
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: up in front of the team saying, we may lose

611
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: the game. A couple of ways but I can tell

612
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 1: you how it's not gonna happen. We're not gonna let

613
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: eighteen beat us. So I vividly remember telling Justin in

614
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 1: a in a past install, Hey, they're gonna double team you,

615
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna come if we put you

616
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:32,840
Speaker 1: in the slot. I think it's gonna come from the

617
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: nickel outside leverage and the safety being inside leverage from depth.

618
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: I call it at east west double. You know, doesn't

619
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: always have to be side by side. But I told Justin,

620
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 1: I said, if you can just vertically beat the nickel

621
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 1: and then put your foot in the ground and vertically

622
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: you kind of treat it as a two part process.

623
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: You're just running an inside fade, but beat the nickel

624
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 1: with your release, get up on the toes of the safety,

625
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: and then stick him. I promise you double team or not,

626
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 1: you're gonna catch. You're gonna go get this ball. And

627
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 1: I got Cousins looking at me like it's gonna be

628
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,240
Speaker 1: double and you want him just run a fade to

629
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: go ball, And I was like, yes, I know, you

630
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,479
Speaker 1: guys think I'm crazy. But and then it and then

631
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: I kind of saw how they were playing early on

632
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 1: in the court in the first court and I went

633
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: over and I told him, I said, I'm calling this play.

634
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: Don't think I'm crazy. You're gonna it's gonna hit. It's

635
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,959
Speaker 1: gonna hit. And it literally like like it was almost

636
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 1: like it fell into place in the in that that

637
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 1: exact moment and it hit, and uh, you know, I'm

638
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: you know, I'm over there. Justin comes running off and

639
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,040
Speaker 1: it was like five plays later in the drive and

640
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 1: he comes running off and I'm like, I told you

641
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: about that. I told you we were gonna beat that

642
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: double and he's like, what are you talking? Are you

643
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: talking about that play five? I'm like, oh, what wasn't

644
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: as big deal to you as it was, but this was.

645
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: I mean, but that was one of those moments and

646
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: I was just thinking about it before you didn't ask

647
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: a question. But stuff like that is when it kind

648
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: of I think you get it. He buys you some

649
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: credibility right with the guys, and and shoot, they'll tell

650
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 1: you for every one time like that, there's right three

651
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: times where I say some crazy stuff that that doesn't

652
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 1: end up panning out, or maybe the exact opposite thing happens.

653
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 1: But you get those wins, you'll you'll take them every

654
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 1: time you can get them, and coming from a safety

655
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: that is literally the worst route to get and try

656
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: and stop in the double because it's the splitter right

657
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: down the middle. Oh yeah, you got everything inside and

658
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: inside corners the nickels you need to outside. And next

659
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sitting waiting on him to stop, and

660
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: he just runs slapped by everybody. And it's like the

661
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 1: one that nobody ever talks about. But it's the one,

662
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 1: the easiest double team beating. Yeah, I love it. No,

663
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: it's awesome. Thirteen and four rookie season. Right, you tied

664
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 1: with two other coaches in their rookie season going thirteen

665
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 1: and four? Do you know who those rookie coaches are?

666
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: Off the top of your head, you give you one clue.

667
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: One is coaching now, one is still coaching now? Is

668
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,480
Speaker 1: it Matt? He's one? Yeah, I knew Matt. And then

669
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: the other one's gotta be so this other coach is

670
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 1: still coaching but in college. That's the only clare I'll

671
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:11,920
Speaker 1: give you. Really was he? Goofy? You got the ass

672
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 1: on yo sheet? Why are you looking at me like that?

673
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: I'm playing it up for the camera. Okay, we gotta

674
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 1: be Jim Harball, right, Oh yeah, yeah, because I was

675
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: thinking Sam fran wash was at that time. Because I

676
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: know there's there there was some other the r PR

677
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,360
Speaker 1: guys that had given me a list at one point

678
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: this year. Um, and I remember seeing a lot of

679
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 1: the folks that had done it. You know, they also

680
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 1: had something else in common. They had pretty good quarterbacks,

681
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,960
Speaker 1: just like I got it too in Kirk. I know

682
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 1: Steve Young might have been somebody's quarterback at one point

683
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 1: or you know. But but as far as those guys,

684
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, and then I think, uh, you know, Jim

685
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 1: had Alex Smith, Who's I got to coach in Washington,

686
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,480
Speaker 1: somebody that I absolutely love, love love Alex Smith so

687
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: big time. So having the privilege and honor to shadow Sean, Yeah,

688
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,800
Speaker 1: being in all those meetings and him kind of mentoring

689
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: you along the way and trying to prepare you to

690
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: become a head coach. Was there was there one thing

691
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 1: that happened this past season that you weren't prepared for

692
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 1: or didn't expect or just kind of shocked you. That's

693
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: a good question. That is a good question. Um. I

694
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 1: would probably say there were some real personal moments or

695
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: some players wad a player lose his dad in training camp.

696
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: We had to coach lose his dad in training camp.

697
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 1: There was just some moments throughout the year, either with

698
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:43,840
Speaker 1: players having you know, having their their girlfriends or wives

699
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,440
Speaker 1: have babies, and you know that just these young players

700
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: just those were the things that, yeah, because you get

701
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: so wrapped up in just our game and sometimes it

702
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 1: can feel like the most important thing in the world,

703
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 1: nothing else matters, and then there's like a real life

704
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 1: moment that happened and you're just nothing. You're just nothing

705
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 1: more than a support system. You're just you know, hey,

706
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 1: football doesn't matter, you know, come talk to me about

707
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: you know, open up and talk to me like like

708
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,560
Speaker 1: you would a brother or uncle or a father or whatever.

709
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: Because some of these guys, if you're not going to

710
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,800
Speaker 1: do that for him, who will. Yeah, And I just

711
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: found like those moments kind of you hate to say

712
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,720
Speaker 1: that you needed some of those moments to truly grasp

713
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: the importance of your role outside of just winning and losing,

714
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 1: but those would probably be I mean, some of the

715
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 1: football things that came up learning moments for me, but

716
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 1: those were those are the moments I can remember vividly

717
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: how I felt, you know, both during and then after,

718
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: and then the response from the player or coach. You

719
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 1: know where there's nobody else. You're the head coach. You

720
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 1: know they're looking for guidance and support and are you

721
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 1: willing to give it to him in those in those

722
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 1: critical moments, Kevin, do you think being a former player

723
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 1: has given you an advantage for being a coach in

724
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: some like you know what it's like like dealing with

725
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: the same example you're talking about, Like you've been in

726
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: that locker room where your guy's hurting. Yeah, and you

727
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:09,320
Speaker 1: don't just look at us like I'm just focused on

728
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: XS and OS. I think it's two things. I think yes.

729
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 1: For a standpoint of that of knowing the I just

730
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 1: remember as a player, there were some days where nobody

731
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 1: asked me how I was doing, you know, nobody cared

732
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 1: how I was point. So there's never a moment where

733
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 1: if I'm walking by a player down our beautiful hallways,

734
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,320
Speaker 1: in our buildings, brand new building that we have, whatever

735
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,320
Speaker 1: it is, I'm never gonna not look you in the

736
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: eye and say how you doing, man? Yeah, And you

737
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 1: may not always tell me any coach, it's actually funny

738
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,759
Speaker 1: ask I'm not doing well, you may not, but I'm

739
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 1: going to ask you enough that if I ask you

740
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 1: a ten times and one time I feel like that

741
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 1: was different than the other nine times, probably not going

742
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: to be the last time you hear me ask about you.

743
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 1: So it's like, I think that's important. And then the

744
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 1: other thing is I do I do believe very very

745
00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 1: strongly in the sports performance and can we run an

746
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:03,280
Speaker 1: organization from a standpoint of I believe players are inherently

747
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: if you get the right kind of guys. I believe

748
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,279
Speaker 1: they're tough. Yeah, I believe they're smart. I believe they

749
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 1: care about doing what it takes to win. But can

750
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:11,800
Speaker 1: we have a team that when that three and a

751
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,440
Speaker 1: half hour window happens on Sunday, our players are fresher

752
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 1: than the other side. Can we put together a schedule

753
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,360
Speaker 1: where we're tactically mentally prepared to play a game. But

754
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 1: we got a little bit more life in us, We

755
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 1: got a little bit more juice in us because of

756
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,919
Speaker 1: how we do things both in training, camp, game week

757
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: walk throughs, how we travel, you know, where we put

758
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: the players on the plane when we travel, Like all

759
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: that stuff matters, like what we feed them, what we

760
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 1: you know, if we're gonna cut any corners. It's not

761
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:41,759
Speaker 1: going to be something that the players will feel like,

762
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,040
Speaker 1: I promise you that. And we're lucky. We're lucky to

763
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: have the support we do from our owners and our

764
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,840
Speaker 1: organization and the great people that are around our players.

765
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,320
Speaker 1: And I think they felt it. So now it's you know,

766
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 1: I think that's important that we not only continue to

767
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: be one of the you know, one of the best

768
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,239
Speaker 1: in the league, yet let's go try to be the best.

769
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 1: And I believe you guys were voted a number one

770
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,359
Speaker 1: of the first time they had this the NFLPA thing,

771
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 1: which it's great for me to talk about. For the players,

772
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 1: I was appla, I was going up. That should be

773
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 1: the fact that that was the first time this stat

774
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,960
Speaker 1: or this uh and for all those that don't know,

775
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,120
Speaker 1: they had a ranking that said the best player experience

776
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:30,880
Speaker 1: between each organization ranked upon like food, facility, trainers, the

777
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: whole nine and the whole gambit of what it really

778
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: intentils he's across the board. It was it was that's

779
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,840
Speaker 1: in presive on y'all, and that's where it made me

780
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:42,479
Speaker 1: overlook the cold. But honestly think though, like it's easy

781
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:44,520
Speaker 1: for me to sit up here and try to take

782
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,800
Speaker 1: the credit. But think about like you guys can probably

783
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,399
Speaker 1: I could say right now, you know who's your favorite

784
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 1: equipment guy? Yeah, and Tammember, who was your you know

785
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,919
Speaker 1: you had a trainer that you always went to, thanks, Yeah,

786
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 1: I mean you had your strength coach that got you rusty.

787
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 1: I mean like, so, the fact is it kind of

788
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,239
Speaker 1: came together in a really cool way where I just

789
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,480
Speaker 1: wanted to empower those people. But this is the first time.

790
00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 1: That's why I told d and some of those guys

791
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:10,800
Speaker 1: with the NFLP, I said, I love the fact that

792
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: you did it. I'm sure some organizations don't, but I

793
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,319
Speaker 1: just like the fact that, shoot, I'm giving game balls out.

794
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 1: You know, I'm having game balls made for our training

795
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,960
Speaker 1: staff and our you know, people that coordinate our travel logistics,

796
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,839
Speaker 1: and you know, they it's a lot, it's a lot

797
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: of work that they don't get credit. Nobody would ever

798
00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 1: know for people to get credit. And I've had former

799
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,840
Speaker 1: players that have gotten into that side of the business

800
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: that are now coaching, and they said it was a

801
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: little bit tougher for them. Like non player coaches sometimes

802
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 1: look at players coaches, it's like former player coaches that

803
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 1: these guys come in they think they know this right.

804
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 1: They it's a little bit tougher for the former players

805
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 1: to all of a sudden kind of get the same

806
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 1: credit early as the guys that were not, just because

807
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,960
Speaker 1: maybe it's a different grind. I don't know. Maybe you

808
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 1: could speak on that a little bit if you didn't

809
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: seem like you've had to go through that as much,

810
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:11,080
Speaker 1: but you do understand it. Yeah, I think I tell

811
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 1: people a lot of times like that, maybe say, hey,

812
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,520
Speaker 1: you were never a quality control coach. I would challenge

813
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 1: them to go see me years three, four and five

814
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 1: with the New York Jets, drawing cards, running the scout team,

815
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 1: you know, breaking down tape for Sanchez, like writing up

816
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,480
Speaker 1: the third down. Like I was doing a lot of

817
00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,120
Speaker 1: the jobs that I now ask a assistant quarterback coach

818
00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:35,560
Speaker 1: to do. I was doing those things while I was playing. Why,

819
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:38,800
Speaker 1: Because I learned very early on, maybe in New England

820
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,360
Speaker 1: or when I got to New York with Rex, you

821
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 1: got to do something to provide value. Yeah, it's really

822
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,840
Speaker 1: hard to provide value as a third quarterback. It was

823
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:49,160
Speaker 1: so hard that they eventually got rid of it altogether.

824
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 1: With that emergency there. Maybe it's coming back. We're gonna

825
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 1: talk about that this week. But but I say that,

826
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like that's one thing. But really,

827
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: in its purest form, a good co is a leader,

828
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 1: a teacher, and a motivator. And if you've got if

829
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: you feel like there's something positive, which I'm sure both

830
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: of you guys probably do from your playing career that

831
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,080
Speaker 1: can help you be a better leader, teacher, and motivator,

832
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:15,319
Speaker 1: by all means you're gonna be a really good coach.

833
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to work really hard at him because

834
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: to do it the right way, it takes a lot

835
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:21,319
Speaker 1: of time and sacrifice to do it the right way,

836
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, the only thing

837
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,319
Speaker 1: that matters is if you're a position coach, is your

838
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,840
Speaker 1: position group prepared as best as they possibly can be

839
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,640
Speaker 1: to go do their jobs? And are you? I coached

840
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: Josh McCown who was older than me. I coached him

841
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,120
Speaker 1: my first year coaching, and at the end of the year,

842
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 1: I said, Josh, how did you think I did? He's like,

843
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 1: you made me a better player. I think you did

844
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:42,839
Speaker 1: a great job. And to this very day, I'm still

845
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: really close with him, and I'll he just got into coach.

846
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:47,839
Speaker 1: Just got in there and I tried to hire him

847
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: a year ago and I love him to death. But

848
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a great coach because he literally could

849
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: sit there and say, you made me a better player.

850
00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 1: Regardless of what you're you know, how many game balls

851
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,719
Speaker 1: you got at home or how many years you've been

852
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: doing it. You have one role. How well can you

853
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,879
Speaker 1: you know, execute that role for somebody else? First, that's

854
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: what coaching is. If you're a servant mindset to being

855
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,919
Speaker 1: a coach and you have a background of being able

856
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: to absorb some information. In the end, you still got to,

857
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: you know, provide the path to guys having success on

858
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: the grass. But there's a whole lot that goes into it.

859
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: Can you teach? Can you lead? Can you motivate? And

860
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,040
Speaker 1: you're gonna be just fine. I like that. Teach to lead, motivate.

861
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: I love it, Kevin. Last question before we get you

862
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,440
Speaker 1: out of here. This is a question we asked everybody

863
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 1: that comes on our podcast. Yes, who is on your

864
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: personal Mount rushmore? Someone that that? And I know this

865
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 1: is really glass poured into you. You've already mentioned twelve people. Yeah,

866
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:51,360
Speaker 1: you got to pick four. There's only four spots on

867
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: this mountain. Well, I think this is life, not just sports.

868
00:41:55,680 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 1: Not Yeah, no, I think you know, my grandfather, uh,

869
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,440
Speaker 1: for sure would be on there. My dad would be

870
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,880
Speaker 1: on there. Tell me why your grandfather my grandfather because

871
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: he just you know, was an unbelievable leader of just

872
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,399
Speaker 1: human beings and was a great and just had such

873
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 1: a didn't come from a whole lot and just kind

874
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,719
Speaker 1: of built an incredible life for himself. And then I

875
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 1: got really close with him. My grandma passed away when

876
00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,879
Speaker 1: I was in college, and he actually would drive around

877
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: the country to my games and an RV and be

878
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 1: at the games. And then I actually trained for the

879
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: draft out here in Arizona. This is where he lives

880
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: and literally spent I lived with him, spent time, So

881
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,360
Speaker 1: we just became really close. But he's always, uh you know,

882
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 1: just been somebody that I've looked up to. My dad

883
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:44,760
Speaker 1: was the same way. My dad was in the FBI

884
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,399
Speaker 1: for twenty five years, worked his absolute tail off. Talk

885
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:53,399
Speaker 1: about personal sacrifice for your family. And so those those

886
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 1: two for sure, and they get their own their own

887
00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 1: wing of of Mount Rushmore, I guess, but know Sean

888
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,360
Speaker 1: McVay would be on there, just because of his direct

889
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:08,399
Speaker 1: impact on me for sure. And then shoot man one more,

890
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:14,320
Speaker 1: I would probably say I would probably say Bill Belichick

891
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 1: just because just I watched. I don't know if anybody

892
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,320
Speaker 1: loves football as much as he does. And just his

893
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,399
Speaker 1: impact on a team and just so many different human beings.

894
00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 1: I don't think I could be a head coach in

895
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,560
Speaker 1: this league without having been a player for him, If

896
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: that makes any sense. That is an ultimate compliment. Yeah,

897
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,120
Speaker 1: I get it. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah,

898
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,640
Speaker 1: his mannerisms, the everything, just and his ability, like everybody

899
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 1: has this perception to him and it's real. But then

900
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: there's also the time walking down the hallway where he

901
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,320
Speaker 1: pulls you aside and says, hey, no, this is what

902
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 1: you're doing well, this is what you could do better,

903
00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 1: and this is how you should do it. Go go

904
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:52,719
Speaker 1: do those things, and and just his care of every

905
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:55,279
Speaker 1: single player on his roster, how you can help the

906
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 1: team win, Put the team first. You know, all the

907
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,600
Speaker 1: things that makes up day, what it means to play

908
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 1: for him. The man doesn't miss anything. He sees everything.

909
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: He's at all, he sees and has respect for you know,

910
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:10,920
Speaker 1: just some of the things he even this year, it

911
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 1: kind of cemented that this year text messages I received

912
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: from him after a big win we beat Buffalo or

913
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: we come back from thirty three down against the Colts

914
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 1: and win, like he was always just acknowledging those things

915
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 1: as accomplishments. That's cool because people have that perception of

916
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,800
Speaker 1: because he's just so. He has that stoic look of

917
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,719
Speaker 1: just seriousness all the time. But you big taty bear

918
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 1: deep down the side. That's cool. That's real cool. Yeah,

919
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 1: for sure, you're man. You might be a coach now. Man.

920
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 1: Appreciate that. We both would be really good coaches. If

921
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:42,400
Speaker 1: you ever want to get into it, man, you know

922
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: where to find me. We'll do well in that top

923
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 1: two facility up in Minnesota. Right, that's right, Kevin Man,

924
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:51,920
Speaker 1: Thank you, man, appreciate it. Yeah, appreciate you. Yes, thank you.

925
00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 1: Right there, you just heard Kevin O'Connell, head coach of

926
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings, really giving him some insight on his

927
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: whole career path from playing to all of a sudden

928
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:18,760
Speaker 1: now being the man over one of the best seasons

929
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: for a first year coach. Really, I don't really like him,

930
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:25,800
Speaker 1: but I like him now though, Like, how can you

931
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 1: not like him? And the success that he's had. Like

932
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 1: I'm madd he's in the NFC North, but I'm don't

933
00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 1: hate me for saying this Bears fans, but I'm kind

934
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:37,879
Speaker 1: of wanting him to succeed a little bit because after

935
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: that that little interview we had, like I like the guy,

936
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:42,839
Speaker 1: it seems like you're still struggling to say you even

937
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,279
Speaker 1: like him, Like I am. I don't want to get crucified,

938
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,680
Speaker 1: but I like what he's doing in Minnesota. You know

939
00:45:48,719 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But here's here's a here's a counter

940
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 1: move of that. I love what Bears Jim Ryan Poles

941
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,360
Speaker 1: has done this offseason and to hear more about what

942
00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 1: he's doing now and how he got his role check

943
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:06,640
Speaker 1: him out in this interview. We got a special guest,

944
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:10,400
Speaker 1: this next guy. He's a part of the Bears organization.

945
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:14,719
Speaker 1: He spent thirteen years with the Kansas City Chiefs in

946
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:19,160
Speaker 1: various roles and now he is currently the Chicago Bears.

947
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:26,720
Speaker 1: GM Please welcome to the podcast, mister Ryan Poles. Welcome,

948
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,960
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Brother, Thanks for blessing us with

949
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: your presence. Now, you have been extremely busy this offseason

950
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,120
Speaker 1: and just the guy one being a former player on

951
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:42,480
Speaker 1: the team, and just all the bugs around Chicago and

952
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:48,719
Speaker 1: just around the league. Everybody is loving what you and

953
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 1: the rest of the organization are doing with the pick,

954
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 1: trading it, getting rid of it and getting more draft picks,

955
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,760
Speaker 1: all the signings and like the city is on fire

956
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,239
Speaker 1: right now. DJ Moore aspect, I got to hear it.

957
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:07,239
Speaker 1: How do you pour that up? Because that was how do? Yeah?

958
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 1: So how do how does how does a GM negotiation

959
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 1: for another GM? How does like that negotiation go? Yeah,

960
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: it's just it's conversation like we're having right here. Um. Obviously,

961
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,600
Speaker 1: you do your homework of what teams you know are

962
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,839
Speaker 1: looking to move up, and you start looking at the roster.

963
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 1: You look at you know, the picks now and in

964
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:30,960
Speaker 1: the future, and you start brainstone. You put together different

965
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,320
Speaker 1: sequences that make sense. You know for the Chicago Bears.

966
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,600
Speaker 1: You just have to find out if it's it makes

967
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,879
Speaker 1: sense for them, right. So you go back and forth

968
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,160
Speaker 1: and have those conversations that go over a couple of

969
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:44,919
Speaker 1: weeks and there are some non negotiables that you say, well,

970
00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 1: I need to have this in the package, okay, and

971
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 1: um and Dj, was that for us? Okay? We wanted

972
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 1: to add more playmakers to this roster. We want to

973
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:59,359
Speaker 1: player that can really help Justin be successful. And um,

974
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:02,080
Speaker 1: so that's kind and we stuck with and we went

975
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:03,759
Speaker 1: hard on that and it worked out. I got to

976
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,040
Speaker 1: know this because all right, going through like player contracts,

977
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 1: you know, trade trade deals, I always think it's like

978
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,000
Speaker 1: some kind of sliding slick to the game, right because

979
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:17,440
Speaker 1: everybody's talking about Lamar Jackson needing the agent to do

980
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,800
Speaker 1: his deal, Like do you teams ever lead out with

981
00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 1: their best deal? Like what's the negotiation process? Or do

982
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: I give you the C deal then wait on your

983
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:27,120
Speaker 1: B deal? Then already I'll give you. Then we work

984
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: our way up to the A and then we get

985
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,279
Speaker 1: then get it all done. Yeah. Really, for any negotiation

986
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 1: that I've been a part of, even from my time

987
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:36,680
Speaker 1: in Kansas City to now, you know, both sides start

988
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:39,920
Speaker 1: to their most favorable you know set okay, okay, and

989
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:42,279
Speaker 1: then you work in from there. Okay. So that's kind

990
00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:44,560
Speaker 1: of how it goes. So nobody just shows their hand earlier,

991
00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:46,640
Speaker 1: like Okay, this is exactly what I want. Let's just know.

992
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:49,920
Speaker 1: So you must be good at like getting cars, right,

993
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 1: I'm sure you can trying to go when you're trying

994
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:55,319
Speaker 1: to go get a car or buy a house, It's like, look, man,

995
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,600
Speaker 1: I'm a gem of a billion dollar corporation. I know

996
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:01,279
Speaker 1: I can get the best thing. Yeah, Like that's that's

997
00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: that's awesome. So you spent thirteen years with various titles

998
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 1: and roles in Kansas City. Yeah, being there for thirteen years, Like,

999
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:12,719
Speaker 1: how did that prepare you to be the GM of

1000
00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:15,319
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears a day? Like did you shadow people? Did

1001
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: you do internships? Did you shadow the gym or the

1002
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:20,680
Speaker 1: assistant gem? Like how did you How did you get

1003
00:49:20,719 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 1: into that role versus what most players do. They just

1004
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:25,640
Speaker 1: kind of get into coaching and then they might make

1005
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:28,200
Speaker 1: that transition into being a gem. Yeah, you almost have

1006
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,879
Speaker 1: to take one more step back. After I got cut

1007
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:34,160
Speaker 1: from Chicago, you know, I was trying to figure out

1008
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do. Almost took a marketing job,

1009
00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:39,040
Speaker 1: and then I got a call from a friend at

1010
00:49:39,080 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 1: Boston College and said, Hey, you want to come down

1011
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:43,759
Speaker 1: to be a GA. So I said, yeah, absolutely, you

1012
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 1: know because at that point that's all you know is football,

1013
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 1: and you love it. You're passionate about it. So you

1014
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 1: jump in the recruiting part of it, which to me

1015
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:52,640
Speaker 1: was by far the best thing I could have ever done.

1016
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:56,360
Speaker 1: So you're a recruiter at Boston, Yeah, okay, yeah, and

1017
00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:59,480
Speaker 1: what you learn is all the things in the office

1018
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:02,839
Speaker 1: that you don't know when you're playing. So there's an

1019
00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:06,200
Speaker 1: example and I laugh about all the time. A recruiting coordinator.

1020
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:08,720
Speaker 1: It's like, all right, we gotta put these packets together.

1021
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:13,000
Speaker 1: So this is before the machines stapled the paper for you,

1022
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,240
Speaker 1: So you had a staple them all. I'm just coming

1023
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: in from from getting cut and I'm knocking them out,

1024
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:21,400
Speaker 1: just getting it done as fast as I can. Stable staple, staple, staple.

1025
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 1: Put them all on my guy's desk, go work out.

1026
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: I come back and they're taped all over the office

1027
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:31,080
Speaker 1: with a red circle around the staple and said, WTF.

1028
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:33,799
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what did I do wrong? So I'm

1029
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:36,399
Speaker 1: looking at it, and he was like, the staples should

1030
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,279
Speaker 1: be paralleled at the top on every single one. It's

1031
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:42,799
Speaker 1: a small job, but be detailed about it. So those

1032
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:47,800
Speaker 1: little detail things from stapling to you know, run and

1033
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:52,680
Speaker 1: get coffee, watching tape, using the computer, like all of

1034
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:55,800
Speaker 1: those little things you start to kind of sharpen that

1035
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,600
Speaker 1: blade early to know what office like is office of

1036
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:03,640
Speaker 1: life is all about. And then getting to Kansas City

1037
00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:06,640
Speaker 1: and really just starting at the bottom as a scouting assistant.

1038
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:09,440
Speaker 1: And again it's it's hard work. You know, no one

1039
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 1: really talks to you. You're grinding out take for people.

1040
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 1: No one's saying thank you. You know, it's it's tough.

1041
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: But through that you get a rhythm of the league

1042
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:20,960
Speaker 1: like there used to be. Now it's like electronic boards.

1043
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:23,879
Speaker 1: Back then it was like magnets. Yeah, so you would

1044
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:27,520
Speaker 1: have to do And then on the board you do

1045
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,400
Speaker 1: the whole roster. Everyone's roster in the entire league, so

1046
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 1: thirty one other teams, and through the season you start

1047
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:35,880
Speaker 1: moving the tags around and then there's an ir bucket

1048
00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:38,480
Speaker 1: at the bottom. You see there's three or four teams

1049
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:40,399
Speaker 1: that get the injury bug every single year because you're

1050
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:43,040
Speaker 1: moving all these tags down. How do they replace those players?

1051
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,640
Speaker 1: They're going there's trades, they're going to the emergency board.

1052
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:48,640
Speaker 1: So you get the flow of the league doing all

1053
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:51,920
Speaker 1: these jobs that a hard work and no one's you know,

1054
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,840
Speaker 1: patting me on the back floor, but you get a

1055
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,239
Speaker 1: feel for what you're doing. And then through that just

1056
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:59,520
Speaker 1: getting time in college scouting going out on the road

1057
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:02,960
Speaker 1: to pro scouting, getting a feel for the locker room.

1058
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:06,720
Speaker 1: So those things kind of morph and just allow allowing

1059
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:09,239
Speaker 1: me to create, like all these little buckets so that

1060
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:11,839
Speaker 1: when it's time to go, there were for me, there

1061
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:15,799
Speaker 1: were very few blind spots, right. So that's been my path.

1062
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,799
Speaker 1: I've been blessed too with the different jobs I've had

1063
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 1: to do, different types of gems that I worked for

1064
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:23,080
Speaker 1: that allowed me to do what I'm doing. Ryan, that's

1065
00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:25,840
Speaker 1: I love that story. And you drew a great picture

1066
00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:28,800
Speaker 1: for those that don't know. He's talking about the tags.

1067
00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:32,440
Speaker 1: And so each player where like blue is mean you

1068
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 1: like top five, Yeah, red is mean like you're a

1069
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 1: top tier pro Bowl player. Green is your adequate starter. Ye.

1070
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:40,920
Speaker 1: Then you had gray you're like a sub guy or whatever,

1071
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:44,480
Speaker 1: special teams whatever. I was a blue guy. You probably

1072
00:52:44,520 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 1: were blue blue guy too. I was probably a red.

1073
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:48,319
Speaker 1: Now you're blue. I'm gonna give it to you. You're

1074
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:53,359
Speaker 1: blue gray here. It's just it's hilarious though to see,

1075
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:56,439
Speaker 1: like because your path in your journey, because I wanted

1076
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:58,600
Speaker 1: to know, how do you go from being a former

1077
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 1: player to all the sudden be an office in the

1078
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:04,600
Speaker 1: office side and being a GM where you're the biggest

1079
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,680
Speaker 1: guy in the office area, because most office guys are

1080
00:53:07,719 --> 00:53:10,800
Speaker 1: not big, they're not former players like you they have.

1081
00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:13,560
Speaker 1: These guys don't even have experience in football on the

1082
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:16,040
Speaker 1: field wise. And to be in that moment to all

1083
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:19,200
Speaker 1: of a sudden, I see how comfortable are because you've

1084
00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:22,880
Speaker 1: done it all and so doing that and having that experience,

1085
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:26,480
Speaker 1: maybe you could just tell us, you know, how you were.

1086
00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:29,760
Speaker 1: So were you uncomfortable at first? Were you not confident?

1087
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 1: And playing football? Does it actually help you at all? Yeah?

1088
00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 1: So there's I'll break that down on the two things.

1089
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:42,200
Speaker 1: Being uncomfortable absolutely, because there's parts. I mean, you're writing reports,

1090
00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:45,320
Speaker 1: thousands of reports, and my first GM that I worked for,

1091
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:49,160
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli, getting a meeting, reading my report, my heads

1092
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:54,480
Speaker 1: down and not really projecting. And after I get done

1093
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:56,560
Speaker 1: with report, takes a little break and said, hey, can

1094
00:53:56,560 --> 00:53:58,080
Speaker 1: I talk to my office. I'm like, I'm about to

1095
00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:01,400
Speaker 1: get in trouble. So he goes, Listen, he goes, I

1096
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:03,480
Speaker 1: swear to you said this. He's like, someday you're gonna

1097
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 1: be a gym. He say, there's something about you, he goes,

1098
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:07,719
Speaker 1: But when you read your report, even if you have

1099
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:10,640
Speaker 1: to stand up, stand up, project and talk with confidence

1100
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:12,880
Speaker 1: so people believe in what you're talking about and what

1101
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:17,120
Speaker 1: the report says. So just those little things are huge,

1102
00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:20,560
Speaker 1: but they're uncomfortable at first because you can talk ball right,

1103
00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:22,719
Speaker 1: but can you write a report and do it the

1104
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,360
Speaker 1: right way? I'm either talking about grammar or all the

1105
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:27,719
Speaker 1: like the little things that you can get away from. Yes.

1106
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:32,360
Speaker 1: And then in terms of having the background, this is like,

1107
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:34,680
Speaker 1: this is real, especially in today's game. And I got

1108
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: a couple of guys from Ian Cunningham was on my staff.

1109
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:41,080
Speaker 1: He played Jeff King's one of our directors of player personnel.

1110
00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:43,600
Speaker 1: He played six seven years at the tight end. The

1111
00:54:43,719 --> 00:54:48,120
Speaker 1: coolest thing is they always bring you back to just

1112
00:54:48,320 --> 00:54:51,879
Speaker 1: remembering what the locker room feels when you make certain moves. Yeah,

1113
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 1: they're always because even I'll get away from it because

1114
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 1: it'll be more transactional. And one of my guys that

1115
00:54:57,320 --> 00:54:59,120
Speaker 1: hold up, like, if we bring this guy into the

1116
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:03,160
Speaker 1: building into locker room, how does that make everybody else feel? Yeah,

1117
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:05,719
Speaker 1: if you take this guy out, what is that going

1118
00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:08,239
Speaker 1: to do to your culture? How are we going to

1119
00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:11,320
Speaker 1: replace that? We don't think enough people realize that, you know,

1120
00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:14,440
Speaker 1: not even it's all about the locker room. Is this guy,

1121
00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:17,560
Speaker 1: we man, he's got a lot of personality. Is that

1122
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:20,400
Speaker 1: gonna make this guy feel uncomfortable? Is he gonna be

1123
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:22,800
Speaker 1: a cancer to the team. Like, I don't think fans

1124
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:24,960
Speaker 1: really get that because oh, you should just go get

1125
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:27,200
Speaker 1: this player. He's like they think of it like it's

1126
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:32,960
Speaker 1: not it's not fantasy football people. I mean, we made

1127
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:38,120
Speaker 1: some trades early and we made sure just from our conversations.

1128
00:55:38,280 --> 00:55:40,279
Speaker 1: Matt and I went and grabbed all the leaders and

1129
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:42,279
Speaker 1: had a conversation said, this is why we're doing what

1130
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,960
Speaker 1: we're doing. It's uncomfortable, but we want to let you

1131
00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:47,920
Speaker 1: know how that is. I don't think people will talk

1132
00:55:47,960 --> 00:55:51,239
Speaker 1: about like dj DJ is moving out of one house

1133
00:55:51,320 --> 00:55:55,239
Speaker 1: into another in Carolina. He gets traded, that's your life

1134
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,920
Speaker 1: just got shaken up, right, and you got a kid,

1135
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:00,200
Speaker 1: you got another kid on the way, you got you know,

1136
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:02,840
Speaker 1: your girl. Like, there's a lot that goes into it.

1137
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:04,680
Speaker 1: So from an organization, we got to be there for

1138
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:08,160
Speaker 1: him and they communicate properly and help him in that transition.

1139
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 1: So having that, at least being in the locker room,

1140
00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 1: I didn't play the level you guys did but you

1141
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:15,400
Speaker 1: got to have that feel of how all of these

1142
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:17,400
Speaker 1: things affect your locker room, and to me, it goes

1143
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:19,800
Speaker 1: a long ways and the guys appreciate that. So so

1144
00:56:19,960 --> 00:56:22,359
Speaker 1: being the gem now and you kind of got your

1145
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:25,319
Speaker 1: feet underneath you and you're you're moving things along. Um

1146
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 1: As a player, we all have that welcome to the

1147
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:30,040
Speaker 1: NFL moment, like the first hit you took or something

1148
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:32,440
Speaker 1: like that that kind of really shook you as a gem.

1149
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:36,319
Speaker 1: What was your welcome to the NFL moment? I am

1150
00:56:36,360 --> 00:56:38,840
Speaker 1: a gem? Holy you know what that just happened? Like

1151
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,400
Speaker 1: something like you didn't see, like something that just like

1152
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:45,200
Speaker 1: took took the wind out of you. Yeah. I've talked

1153
00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:48,760
Speaker 1: about this openly, so no secret book. The first fridgen

1154
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:52,480
Speaker 1: s I I had was a failed physical and I

1155
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:54,839
Speaker 1: had this, I mean, it's got It was good money.

1156
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:56,400
Speaker 1: It was a player that was going to help us

1157
00:56:56,440 --> 00:57:00,520
Speaker 1: in our culture, can affect, you know, our defense. And

1158
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: to sit in a car and have that conversation wanted

1159
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 1: to get ripped by his agent, but also to sit

1160
00:57:05,239 --> 00:57:07,319
Speaker 1: in a car and explain to him why I had

1161
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:10,520
Speaker 1: to do it. I had to do that crushed me

1162
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:13,920
Speaker 1: because I know that guy celebrated with his family. I

1163
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:15,560
Speaker 1: know he flew up ready to go wheady to do

1164
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:18,160
Speaker 1: his press conference, and I gotta that's part of this

1165
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:20,600
Speaker 1: thing that's harder as a gym two is you can

1166
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:23,240
Speaker 1: feel the locker room, but there is a business side

1167
00:57:23,280 --> 00:57:25,440
Speaker 1: of this thing where you gotta do right by the business.

1168
00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:27,880
Speaker 1: And it wasn't right and I had to I had

1169
00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:31,080
Speaker 1: to make that call, and that that hurt me like

1170
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,480
Speaker 1: that was that was a tough and that was one

1171
00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:35,000
Speaker 1: of the first big things I did when I walked

1172
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 1: in the door. Yeah, so that was my welcome to

1173
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:41,080
Speaker 1: the league moment as a generalman. Now, Ryan, I gotta

1174
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:42,960
Speaker 1: know this because I've seen you the last couple of

1175
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,960
Speaker 1: days with your family. So clearly your family man, your son,

1176
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:48,160
Speaker 1: your daughter or your wife. You guys are all hanging

1177
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,200
Speaker 1: out all the time. Do they take a lot of pride?

1178
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:53,480
Speaker 1: How often do you see them celebrate when you make

1179
00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:56,280
Speaker 1: this big trade to pull off the one that you

1180
00:57:56,360 --> 00:57:58,800
Speaker 1: did that everybody's talking about trading the way trading back down.

1181
00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:01,360
Speaker 1: Do you guys like celebrated at the house if you're

1182
00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:04,280
Speaker 1: doing like chess, pops, like what's going on? Champagne, Like

1183
00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:07,440
Speaker 1: what's going on? I told you score the win and

1184
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:12,080
Speaker 1: touchdown game, like everybody's excited for you. How is that?

1185
00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:14,360
Speaker 1: Could you wrap my head around that as the gem?

1186
00:58:14,440 --> 00:58:16,560
Speaker 1: Because now I got my suit and tie one, like,

1187
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:19,840
Speaker 1: they still celebrate the same, so I gotta So my

1188
00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:21,840
Speaker 1: wife was a former athlete, so it's on to the

1189
00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:26,000
Speaker 1: next thing. So there's we celebrate. I mean we're half

1190
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 1: you get a feel for it. But it's like, you

1191
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:30,360
Speaker 1: gotta go back to work, like this is move on

1192
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:34,040
Speaker 1: to the next. I'm about your wife, man, keep you real.

1193
00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:37,400
Speaker 1: Yeah good, but yeah, she's you know, suld remind me

1194
00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:39,600
Speaker 1: of this free agency. We gotta win games, like that's

1195
00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:42,000
Speaker 1: what it's about. So it's true. So does your son

1196
00:58:42,080 --> 00:58:44,240
Speaker 1: play football? He does? And how cool is it for

1197
00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:47,200
Speaker 1: your son to see you? Like my dad is the

1198
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:49,520
Speaker 1: gym and I know he's right there in the corner,

1199
00:58:49,560 --> 00:58:51,080
Speaker 1: but like, is it is it kind of cool? It's like, yo,

1200
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:53,800
Speaker 1: my dad is the gem of the Bears. Yeah you

1201
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:55,680
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, how how cool is that

1202
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,000
Speaker 1: experience for for your son to see you in the

1203
00:58:58,040 --> 00:59:00,840
Speaker 1: position that you're in right now? Yeah? I love it. Um,

1204
00:59:01,240 --> 00:59:02,680
Speaker 1: you know, I think the biggest thing for me though,

1205
00:59:02,840 --> 00:59:05,160
Speaker 1: is just like the work ethic, the time that you

1206
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:08,760
Speaker 1: gotta put in. You know, he knows there's shoot, four

1207
00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:10,840
Speaker 1: times five times of the week. You know, I'm getting

1208
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:13,720
Speaker 1: home and he's already sleeping. M So he gets how

1209
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:16,439
Speaker 1: much time and effort that goes into this. But also

1210
00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:19,080
Speaker 1: he knows, you know, the rewards that come with doing

1211
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:21,480
Speaker 1: a good job and cool thing about him and he's

1212
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:23,680
Speaker 1: he's been on the Super Bowl parade. He knows what

1213
00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:26,240
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go for. Yeah, and he knows what

1214
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:29,080
Speaker 1: it means to our family. So what advice would you

1215
00:59:29,200 --> 00:59:35,840
Speaker 1: give to a player that has been released recently retired? Ye?

1216
00:59:36,120 --> 00:59:38,760
Speaker 1: What advice would you give to that player who wants

1217
00:59:38,800 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 1: to go in the route that you went as far

1218
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:43,080
Speaker 1: as not wanting to be a coach, but yo, I

1219
00:59:43,200 --> 00:59:44,960
Speaker 1: want to be a GM one day. I want to

1220
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,960
Speaker 1: run a team like my former GM. Like what it

1221
00:59:48,040 --> 00:59:51,520
Speaker 1: tells me? Yeah, what advice do you give? Yeah? So

1222
00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:54,840
Speaker 1: I would say there's two routes to really dip a

1223
00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 1: toe in and see if it's for you. M to me,

1224
00:59:57,400 --> 00:59:59,520
Speaker 1: it's an internship with one of the teams or to

1225
00:59:59,600 --> 01:00:03,240
Speaker 1: be a yeah at the college level, those two things

1226
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:06,440
Speaker 1: for me and what I've seen to do for folks

1227
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,760
Speaker 1: that have come through both in Kansas City and our facility.

1228
01:00:09,840 --> 01:00:12,480
Speaker 1: Now you get an idea of what it's all about

1229
01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:15,880
Speaker 1: the time that it takes, what the lifestyles like, because

1230
01:00:15,920 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 1: you don't really know. To you you can at least

1231
01:00:18,080 --> 01:00:20,080
Speaker 1: dip your toe on a little bit. So that's my

1232
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:24,800
Speaker 1: recommendation is to do that and get started and see

1233
01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:26,120
Speaker 1: if you like it or not. But tell me this,

1234
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:28,840
Speaker 1: because I know we gotta let you go your mount

1235
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:32,200
Speaker 1: rushmore of influence in your life. Yeah, who would those

1236
01:00:32,280 --> 01:00:35,040
Speaker 1: four be? Yeah, so I got to start out with

1237
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:40,440
Speaker 1: my dad for sure. My dad. Yeah. To me, I've

1238
01:00:40,480 --> 01:00:42,320
Speaker 1: just been fortunate. I feel like I was raised the

1239
01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:46,680
Speaker 1: right way, you know, the work ethic, how I prioritize

1240
01:00:46,720 --> 01:00:49,640
Speaker 1: things in my life. Those are big and that's kind

1241
01:00:49,680 --> 01:00:52,080
Speaker 1: of my foundation. So it kind of starts there. But

1242
01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:55,560
Speaker 1: then in the game, you know, it's really the gems

1243
01:00:55,560 --> 01:00:57,240
Speaker 1: and the head coaches that I worked for. You know,

1244
01:00:57,320 --> 01:01:00,240
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli came in really talking me about the plan

1245
01:01:00,360 --> 01:01:03,919
Speaker 1: and how to do things the right way. Um, John

1246
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:07,280
Speaker 1: Dorsey allowed me to really get an eye as an evaluator,

1247
01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:09,800
Speaker 1: like how to evaluate, how to build a roster, how

1248
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:14,240
Speaker 1: to draft, and then Brett Veach who's in Kansas City.

1249
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:18,280
Speaker 1: You know his style to always anticipating, like your your

1250
01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:20,280
Speaker 1: brain's always got to be two steps ahead of everybody

1251
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:23,200
Speaker 1: else so that you can Yeah, so you can get

1252
01:01:23,280 --> 01:01:26,960
Speaker 1: the pieces that you need. And then I would say

1253
01:01:27,040 --> 01:01:29,720
Speaker 1: Andy Reid would be on there too. Um, that's a

1254
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:33,040
Speaker 1: guy who does it the right way, has a great

1255
01:01:33,080 --> 01:01:35,919
Speaker 1: relationship with players, and it's that fine line being able

1256
01:01:35,920 --> 01:01:38,760
Speaker 1: to push your guys but also show love and respect

1257
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:40,760
Speaker 1: to him so they're willing to do whatever you know

1258
01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:44,560
Speaker 1: for him. So I've always admired how he moves and

1259
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:47,320
Speaker 1: how he operates and how he leads in The leadership

1260
01:01:47,360 --> 01:01:49,439
Speaker 1: piece is probably the one that sticks out too. It's

1261
01:01:49,480 --> 01:01:53,200
Speaker 1: like we went through some rocky things. There was losing streaks,

1262
01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:57,200
Speaker 1: there was winning streaks. Um, this dude is just stable

1263
01:01:57,440 --> 01:01:59,240
Speaker 1: like he does not like so you will be walking

1264
01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:01,160
Speaker 1: down the hallway after three game losing strick. You look

1265
01:02:01,160 --> 01:02:03,840
Speaker 1: at Andy, see what he's doing, same thing, just trying

1266
01:02:03,880 --> 01:02:08,160
Speaker 1: to find solutions and I'm talking about problems and the

1267
01:02:08,240 --> 01:02:10,760
Speaker 1: way he moves to the organization and leaves is incredible.

1268
01:02:10,840 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, Hey, appreciate you stopping by coming through

1269
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:18,160
Speaker 1: being a guests on the show. Good Luck, good luck man.

1270
01:02:18,200 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for you guys, and of course I always

1271
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:22,760
Speaker 1: rough Chicago, but especially now getting to know you and

1272
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:24,880
Speaker 1: you see in your family, I know what you're about.

1273
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:27,160
Speaker 1: Good luck man, do your thing. I'm so proud of you.

1274
01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:31,520
Speaker 1: Appreciate it me too. Let's go. Let's go, wanting, Yes,

1275
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:41,080
Speaker 1: let's go. I can't tell you how excited I am

1276
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:44,240
Speaker 1: about the Chicago Bears and what Ryan Poles is doing.

1277
01:02:44,560 --> 01:02:48,120
Speaker 1: The buzz around town is he's making all the right moves.

1278
01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:50,960
Speaker 1: So yeah, man, I'm really looking forward to the two

1279
01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:53,680
Speaker 1: thousand and twenty three season of Chicago Bears. Yeah. I

1280
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:57,040
Speaker 1: totally understand why you're excited, but also understand and see

1281
01:02:57,080 --> 01:03:00,560
Speaker 1: why other people might not be as excited taking advantage taking,

1282
01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:05,000
Speaker 1: for instance, Green Bay Packers or these Minnesota Vikings, anybody

1283
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:07,680
Speaker 1: that has to play the Bears might not be as excited,

1284
01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:10,280
Speaker 1: just because you understand all the great things that Ryan

1285
01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:12,640
Speaker 1: Pols is doing there, the way he's trying to build

1286
01:03:12,680 --> 01:03:14,680
Speaker 1: this team from the ground up. And also I really

1287
01:03:14,720 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 1: appreciate all the experiences that he shared with us personally

1288
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:20,840
Speaker 1: about his journey from going back to college at DC

1289
01:03:21,240 --> 01:03:22,840
Speaker 1: to all of a sudden, being at the lowest levels

1290
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:25,360
Speaker 1: of Kansas City, moving up to moving up the food

1291
01:03:25,400 --> 01:03:27,560
Speaker 1: chain the way that he did. You truly understand why

1292
01:03:27,600 --> 01:03:29,680
Speaker 1: this man is successful and why he is a budding

1293
01:03:29,760 --> 01:03:33,760
Speaker 1: superstar in the category of GM in the NFL. Right,

1294
01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:37,080
Speaker 1: but more importantly, what we appreciate are you, the listeners.

1295
01:03:37,560 --> 01:03:40,600
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in to listening to myself and

1296
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:45,600
Speaker 1: Roman Harper, to the NFL players Second Acts podcasts. Keep listening.