Speaker 1: Command This Family an extra special episode of the Next
Speaker 1: Man Podcast.
Speaker 2: Hey for Darien Mathis, come in and talk to us
Speaker 2: about the.
Speaker 1: Precious of being the second round thinking how he finally
Speaker 1: feels healthy and ready to go. Then bring on another
Speaker 1: second round. Pick former tight end for the Washington Redskins,
Speaker 1: Fred Davis pulls up and talks about his favorite memories,
Speaker 1: plans for the burden, and goal all that more. Right
Speaker 1: now a Next Man Now. This episode of the Next
Speaker 1: Man Up is brought to you by Cancelo Proud Kioks,
Speaker 1: partners of.
Speaker 2: The Washington Commanders.
Speaker 1: Now, we know you'd hate waiting in lines for your concession,
Speaker 1: but we got something for you. To go to the
Speaker 1: club level of Northwest Stay and find yourself one of
Speaker 1: these cantlop self served kiosks.
Speaker 2: Put your order in and head back to your seat.
Speaker 2: You want miss a minute of the game. That will
Speaker 2: bring the food to.
Speaker 1: You and you can enjoy the game without any lines,
Speaker 1: without any hassle.
Speaker 2: And without missing a second of game action. That self
Speaker 2: ordering power by Cancelo see you at the game. Command
Speaker 2: this family. Now let's start to show.
Speaker 1: The man this family for our Next Man Up. Got
Speaker 1: a Bama boy in the building man. Another one, our guy,
Speaker 1: our defensive tackle for Darien maddis Darien.
Speaker 2: How you doing, brother, good?
Speaker 3: I'm doing good, Bro.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: For being here. Man.
Speaker 1: We know you busy brun like me, and you have
Speaker 1: never actually got to sit and wrap like like this.
Speaker 2: We did a car sholder as it come out yet,
Speaker 2: but we ain't really got to really really kick it, man.
Speaker 1: So I want to start in the beginning because you
Speaker 1: know we've had to be robb On and like y'all
Speaker 1: Bama boys just different.
Speaker 2: Man, sooning about y'all Bama cats. I want to know
Speaker 2: what is it?
Speaker 1: What is it that gets y'all so ready for the
Speaker 1: NFL because y'all come in game ready.
Speaker 2: What about Bama does that for y'all?
Speaker 4: I really just say the journey, bro. Like coming in
Speaker 4: as a freshman, I think with Coach Saban, he did
Speaker 4: a good good job was just taking us through the process.
Speaker 4: You know, freshman year, sophomore year. By that time, some
Speaker 4: guys come in ready freshman year, but by your sophomore year,
Speaker 4: junior year, you should be developed, you know, just by
Speaker 4: being in his system.
Speaker 2: Sure, when did you feel fully developed?
Speaker 4: H I tell you my junior year for sure, I
Speaker 4: started to develop more, you know, just being around, you know,
Speaker 4: in his presence, you know, learning how to learning how
Speaker 4: to become a young young adult, you know, just being
Speaker 4: around his presence. And I think by by time my
Speaker 4: junior year coming around, I was much more so mature, more,
Speaker 4: you know, older, more like understood the game more. And
Speaker 4: I say about that time, for sure.
Speaker 1: And you were a dog in college so much so
Speaker 1: you end up being the second round pick when you
Speaker 1: get drafted in the second round. But Washington, do you
Speaker 1: realize the pressures that come with being such a high
Speaker 1: pick in that moment? Uh?
Speaker 4: I say it most definitely was a lot of pressure
Speaker 4: because you know, everybody got.
Speaker 3: Their own their own view of you. You know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Some people got high expectations for you, and some people also,
Speaker 4: you know, they got their own opinion like, oh he
Speaker 4: shouldn't have been there, woo woo. But at the same time,
Speaker 4: you know, you just got to keep your faith in
Speaker 4: God and just accept the consequences that come with it,
Speaker 4: good or bad.
Speaker 1: When you look back at that, what would you say
Speaker 1: at that point your expectations for yourself.
Speaker 4: Was well, really just you know, come out in ball,
Speaker 4: you know my first year, you know, I got you know,
Speaker 4: I ended up getting injured my first game. Then second
Speaker 4: year I went through the same process. So really just
Speaker 4: it was really I just had I had big hopes.
Speaker 4: You know, I was excited, you know, I was feeling good.
Speaker 4: You know. Then just everything went downhill. So I had
Speaker 4: to just like a whole reset. You know. It was
Speaker 4: a reset for sure.
Speaker 1: And you talk about these big hopes you have, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, let's paint it, man. I think it was
Speaker 1: like the fourth or fifth play of your first game
Speaker 1: where you went out and you were out for the season,
Speaker 1: and you have these hot hopes, you have these expectations
Speaker 1: for yourself. What goes through your mind when you have
Speaker 1: the injury? They tell you, hey, man, your season's over
Speaker 1: with Man, how do you deal with that moment?
Speaker 3: Ah?
Speaker 4: Man, it was a lot like just depression. Bro's going
Speaker 4: through that.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I'm I'm more so a I said, popular loner when
Speaker 4: it comes to stuff like that. Uh, I was just depression, Bro.
Speaker 4: It was so much built up. Just I stopped coming
Speaker 4: to means I just wanted to be by myself. So
Speaker 4: just after dealing with all that, it was more like, man,
Speaker 4: let me get back into it more. You know, I
Speaker 4: started coming back around more, started filling in the presence
Speaker 4: of my teammates and stuff like that. So I think
Speaker 4: just being around them they kind of helped me. Brought
Speaker 4: me out of my shell a lot, for sure.
Speaker 1: And when you depress, man, it's hard to even get
Speaker 1: to that point where you go around your teammates again
Speaker 1: and let them allow you to get yourself out of
Speaker 1: your shell. So how did you get to that point?
Speaker 1: How did you get through this depression and get out
Speaker 1: of that dark place?
Speaker 4: Just talking to doctor Robertson, you remember her great, Yeah,
Speaker 4: she kind of helped me get up out of that.
Speaker 4: She's just just talking to her every day, you know,
Speaker 4: we had though it was one on ones where she
Speaker 4: helped me cope with the pain that I was going through,
Speaker 4: you know, all the depression and so just you know,
Speaker 4: being around guys like John bro I think he was
Speaker 4: the and for sure one of the big brothers like
Speaker 4: I played that role. Was just encouraging me to do
Speaker 4: things better, you know, just you know, take my time.
Speaker 4: Just you're gonna be like, you're gonna be bad, bro,
Speaker 4: Just just be patient, be patient, you know. So it's
Speaker 4: just guys like tying and pain and fail. They're just
Speaker 4: keeping me keeping my head up, for sure.
Speaker 1: So having that game and those tools in your toolbox
Speaker 1: already after that first injury, then when you get your
Speaker 1: second injury in year two, did it reset again or
Speaker 1: were you already able to kind of deal with it
Speaker 1: because you knew that you had dealt with this before. Uh?
Speaker 4: Nah, I mean it kind of just went back. It's
Speaker 4: like dang. It's like, damn, I can't catch a break.
Speaker 4: I'm like, dang, what's going on. It's like, dang, rather
Speaker 4: don't supposed to be here. It's like it's so many
Speaker 4: questions you just go through, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: But then again, you know that just played the role
Speaker 4: of me just getting closer with God. I started getting
Speaker 4: closer with God. I just started praying more, just started,
Speaker 4: you know, just give them more time to God. And
Speaker 4: then I just say, like, just this shit, I just
Speaker 4: been the health has I ever been, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. I changed my life around a little bit.
Speaker 4: You know, I had to move different, had to you know,
Speaker 4: changed the way I was doing things. And I think
Speaker 4: they played a big role in it, for sure.
Speaker 1: And I mean it's clearly worked out, man, Because it's
Speaker 1: very interesting. You're one of the few holdovers from the
Speaker 1: last regime, right Like they came in and they cleaned house,
Speaker 1: but they kept a few guys. They kept those guys
Speaker 1: that they know were dogs. What did it mean to
Speaker 1: you to have that voter confidence from this culture staff
Speaker 1: that did not draft you, this ownership that did not
Speaker 1: draft you, and they say, you know what, we're gonna
Speaker 1: keep you here in ball.
Speaker 4: With For sure, it meant a lot because just going
Speaker 4: all the way back to the summertime, Bro, it's just
Speaker 4: all the work report, it's my d line coaches. They
Speaker 4: believed in me so much. They played a big role
Speaker 4: on me just coming out my shell this year. You know,
Speaker 4: I feel like I improved because of them. You know,
Speaker 4: they gave me the confidence that I have now. Just
Speaker 4: for them bringing out the confidence, it just it means
Speaker 4: a lot, you know what I'm saying? Because I want to,
Speaker 4: don't I say, like two years ago, I want I
Speaker 4: want the same field that I am today, for sure?
Speaker 1: And you keep using the word confidence, man, So I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear what your definition of that. When it
Speaker 1: comes to you and the way you play the game,
Speaker 1: you keep seeing you got that confidence back.
Speaker 2: Where is your confidence at right now?
Speaker 3: Ah?
Speaker 4: Man, it's I ain't like my confidence there, It's like
Speaker 4: it's through the roof. Like you know, two years ago,
Speaker 4: I wouldn't have a confident confidence that I have today
Speaker 4: with my d line coaches, for sure. And confidence to
Speaker 4: me is just knowing you can go out there and
Speaker 4: do your job. You're gonna beyond selfish, you know, put
Speaker 4: it on the line for the team and just you know,
Speaker 4: just be a team player and just also just locked
Speaker 4: in on my keys, locked in on the things I
Speaker 4: gotta do, uh to contribute to the team, for sure.
Speaker 1: And being a team player in year three means that
Speaker 1: you're starting to become a veteran yourself, right And you
Speaker 1: got a young guy and Johnny Newton that gets drafted,
Speaker 1: another second round pick comes in, also deals with an
Speaker 1: injury right out the gate. Man, how were you there
Speaker 1: to help him out and kind of talk to him
Speaker 1: because again you lived that same life.
Speaker 4: For sure. I was most definitely, most definitely gave him
Speaker 4: advice on you know, the things not to do, you know,
Speaker 4: just like the things I went through. Like I just
Speaker 4: told him, Man, you gotta stay around, don't go often,
Speaker 4: you know, in your own lane, trying to deal with
Speaker 4: it by yourself. Most definitely, just stay around with the guys,
Speaker 4: you know, keep coming to means, you know, just stay
Speaker 4: stay in the building, you know, keep your presence felt.
Speaker 4: Because when you got people like that in your corner,
Speaker 4: like the guys we have on this team, you'll be
Speaker 4: you gonna be just fine.
Speaker 1: And now he's healthy, and now you guys get to
Speaker 1: line up with each other, and you guys are both
Speaker 1: getting a lot more minutes now that johnsan Allen, you know,
Speaker 1: went down, and you're getting those opportunities, you're getting those reps. Man,
Speaker 1: what has it been like being able to finally be
Speaker 1: on that field, being able to finally show what you
Speaker 1: can do.
Speaker 4: I feel good, you know, it's a blessing. But I
Speaker 4: also know, you know, guys like well, the the giant
Speaker 4: John injury, it kind of helped us out a lot because,
Speaker 4: I mean, we get more snaps, but at the same time,
Speaker 4: we get to show John that we got his back.
Speaker 4: You know, we're not gonna let him down even though
Speaker 4: he gone through that. We had to step up, like
Speaker 4: it was a big call for both of us. You
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying to step up at this time
Speaker 4: because we really needed John, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: With him going through the injury, it kind of it
Speaker 4: could have been a setback if he wasn't ready, you know,
Speaker 4: it could have been a real setback if we weren't ready.
Speaker 4: And I think d line coach is prepared as well
Speaker 4: to step up, for sure.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like John helped you be prepared as well,
Speaker 1: like you said, like he was a big reason why
Speaker 1: you were able to get through that injury. Have you
Speaker 1: been able to be there for him while he gets
Speaker 1: through this injury, because it's a lot different when you're
Speaker 1: deep in your career and you suffer injury like that
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 4: Like I just I think it was like two days ago,
Speaker 4: I was just around him. It was in a lunch room,
Speaker 4: and I remember him telling me this when I was hurt.
Speaker 4: He was like, I feel what you eat now he
Speaker 4: was dying and I was like, ah, we had getting
Speaker 4: fat now woking up.
Speaker 2: So I was rounding him.
Speaker 4: That And also just like how he was telling me
Speaker 4: when I was young, he was like, man, just stay around,
Speaker 4: and you know, he just had a kid and stuff.
Speaker 4: So I understand that too. But John also still be
Speaker 4: in present. You know, he's still been around, you know,
Speaker 4: just showing his face and just also giving us tips
Speaker 4: and keys on you know, what he see from us
Speaker 4: on film for.
Speaker 1: Sure, and that's got to be so helpful for such
Speaker 1: a young defensive line room. And one someone else has
Speaker 1: got to be helpful. Darryl Tap, that is my favorite
Speaker 1: person probably walked around to this building. All you gots
Speaker 1: smile on you frohim. Can you talk about Dryl Tapping
Speaker 1: what you've been able to see from him as a
Speaker 1: defensive line coach and what he's really done for this defense.
Speaker 4: And he done a lot, you know, not just for
Speaker 4: the defense, but I mean not just for the D line,
Speaker 4: but also for this whole defense man. His presence, I think,
Speaker 4: you know, the president that he bring into the into
Speaker 4: that room. Br he uplifted the guys. He give us
Speaker 4: so much confidence in ourselves. You know, I think he
Speaker 4: been a big impact on me for sure, you know
Speaker 4: since he got here, because he just installed instill in
Speaker 4: started Like I know, I lost the confidence in the
Speaker 4: first two years. So it was like when he came
Speaker 4: and like, man, I just want to play, you know,
Speaker 4: he make you want to play for him, you know,
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, He just make you want to like, oh,
Speaker 4: you just want you know the type of coach did
Speaker 4: lay it on the line.
Speaker 2: For, sir.
Speaker 4: He one of those guys that I just laid on
Speaker 4: the line for because I know he giving me so
Speaker 4: much tools to use out there on Sunday nights.
Speaker 1: And it seems like this coaching staff is full of
Speaker 1: that Sharif, Floyd, Willie Gay. And then you have a
Speaker 1: Joe Wid junior who's being a defensive coordinator for the
Speaker 1: first time. Man, show some of the Joe Wid Junior
Speaker 1: because I know his impact on you guys on off
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 4: Joey, He's doing his thing for sure.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: I just everything I say is just like when it
Speaker 4: goes back to confidence.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 4: They they believe in me so much and I can
Speaker 4: feel it and it just gives me confidence. So just
Speaker 4: with Coach Wig, Coach Sharif, Coach Tap and Okay man,
Speaker 4: they give me so much confidence in myself. It's like, damn,
Speaker 4: I ain't really ain't believe in it like that. So
Speaker 4: it's just like it just boosts me up to just
Speaker 4: keep going. You know what I'm saying. They believe in
Speaker 4: me so much, and they just give me so much
Speaker 4: high praise, you know, even when the other people don't.
Speaker 4: So it's just like I love them for that and
Speaker 4: I'm always gonna appreciate that for just giving my confidence
Speaker 4: back for sure.
Speaker 1: Well you've earned it, bro, You've come out there and
Speaker 1: you've earned it. You've heard the coaches say like how
Speaker 1: hard you've worked, and you could have easily signed off, man,
Speaker 1: but you stayed in and you kept grinding.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: So last question for you, because you said it. Everybody
Speaker 1: has expectations for you. Everybody has this type of player
Speaker 1: that they think you are. But now that you're healthy,
Speaker 1: now that you're feeling good in your confidence is back.
Speaker 1: Looking at camera right there, and tell the fans what
Speaker 1: type of player it's for, Darien Mathis.
Speaker 4: Oh, Man, I'm a doll. You know, It's always been
Speaker 4: in me. You know, it's always been there. It's just
Speaker 4: you know, you know, people have setbacks.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I'm a doll.
Speaker 4: Bro. You know I'm gonna fill out those gups for
Speaker 4: the all linebackers and I'm just gonna continue to keep improving.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not there. Yeah, I'm not perfect, but
Speaker 4: I'm gonna continue to get better and we're gonna just
Speaker 4: continue to live this defense up week by week.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: Hey, brother, we have appreciated having you on man. It's
Speaker 1: been so much fun watching on that field.
Speaker 2: Do your thing.
Speaker 1: The energy you bring, Man, and you bring it means
Speaker 1: a lot to us in this fan base for Darien Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate your.
Speaker 2: Time, brother, so I appreciate it. I appreciate you Man.
Speaker 1: This episode of Next Man Up is brought to you
Speaker 1: by Cantlope, Proud Kiosk partner of the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 2: We know you hate waiting in lines. We know you
Speaker 2: do not want to.
Speaker 1: Miss any game action, so we have something for you.
Speaker 1: Go to the club level at Northwest Stadium and find
Speaker 1: one of these self served Cantalope Kiosk and place your order.
Speaker 2: Then head back to your seat. You won't miss any
Speaker 2: of the action.
Speaker 1: You will get your food delivered to you so you
Speaker 1: can enjoy watching your Washington Commanders. Cantlope is the Proud
Speaker 1: Kiosk sponsor of the Washington Commanders, making your game days
Speaker 1: even more convinced, Next Commanded standing for our Next Man
Speaker 1: that we have somebody very very special drafted in the
Speaker 1: second round as a tight end, went to USC at
Speaker 1: Cali Boyd. We got drafted by the Washington Redskins, and
Speaker 1: now he's back to show love and talk about his
Speaker 1: memories welcoming a tight end Fred Davis for how you doing?
Speaker 2: Brother?
Speaker 3: Good? Good? How you doing? Thank you for having me
Speaker 3: on man.
Speaker 1: Appreciate oh man, you know I always appreciate you all time,
Speaker 1: and it's always great to have, you know, ex Redskins
Speaker 1: come back and talk about the glory days.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: So let's let's start from the beginning. Like I said,
Speaker 2: you was a U, a sea cat.
Speaker 1: You bought out so much out there, you got drafted
Speaker 1: in the second round. And back then tight ends weren't
Speaker 1: really getting drafted super high was very rare. So getting
Speaker 1: drafted in that second round. Let's go back there, Man,
Speaker 1: what was going through your head? Did you know you
Speaker 1: would be drafted so high? Did you know you were
Speaker 1: going to be a Reskin?
Speaker 3: Man? I had no idea.
Speaker 5: And you know what's so funny about that is like
Speaker 5: when you're in that process, I mean I didn't know
Speaker 5: that teams take you for visits, other teams take you
Speaker 5: for visits for other teams, and just to play that
Speaker 5: draft game.
Speaker 3: So I got.
Speaker 5: I mean, the teams that took me on visits was
Speaker 5: the Saints, the Cowboys, Arizona, and the Jets. So I
Speaker 5: had no idea, you know, that I was going to
Speaker 5: be drafted to the Redskins. My agent didn't even mention it,
Speaker 5: like even one time. But then again, when I the
Speaker 5: retrospective looking at it, and I know how the draft goes, Now,
Speaker 5: everything is about the best player on the board in
Speaker 5: that moment, So anybody could have a selection of a
Speaker 5: draft pick, but that could change in a matter of
Speaker 5: a moment depending on who's getting drafted before him. So
Speaker 5: I learned that later, like, but then at that moment, no,
Speaker 5: I had no clue. I was coming off of a
Speaker 5: season with the Trojans with Pete Carroll where we had
Speaker 5: already came off of a couple of national championships. We
Speaker 5: lost that one to Texas, and then we went to
Speaker 5: the Rose Bowl and we beat Illinois.
Speaker 3: So that was my last game, and after that it was.
Speaker 5: Just straight training and getting ready and getting ready for
Speaker 5: the Combine and also like the players meetings and all
Speaker 5: that kind of stuff. So when I went to the
Speaker 5: NFL Combine in Indianapolis, I never met with the Redskins,
Speaker 5: I think even once, So it was definitely a shot
Speaker 5: for me.
Speaker 3: I knew that I had a feeling that I.
Speaker 5: Was gonna be one of the players the top two
Speaker 5: or three tight ends taken because of I mean, I
Speaker 5: won the Macie Award that year.
Speaker 3: We had a good season, My stats were pretty good, so.
Speaker 5: I knew that I was probably I knew I thought
Speaker 5: I had a chance of getting in the end of
Speaker 5: the first round. But you know, coming out, you know,
Speaker 5: I think they thought a lot of guys from college.
Speaker 5: I mean, they've drafted a lot of guys in the
Speaker 5: past from the USC, but a lot of the stigmatism
Speaker 5: about us is that were Hollywood and that we like
Speaker 5: to party and all that stuff, which in LA you
Speaker 5: have the option to do a lot of things, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean, it's LA, It's Los Angeles.
Speaker 3: But I feel like with the day of the draft, man,
Speaker 3: I didn't want to go to New York because I
Speaker 3: was like, if I'm not going to.
Speaker 5: Get drafted first, I don't want to be sitting there
Speaker 5: looking crazy because you've seen those stories.
Speaker 3: Of guys just sitting there in the came room and like, man,
Speaker 3: what you doing here? Still? So I just decided to
Speaker 3: be at home with my family.
Speaker 5: We had about one hundred people at my people's house
Speaker 5: and we watched the draft. And whenever you're watching the draft,
Speaker 5: once they get through the first round, it's like, man,
Speaker 5: you don't know when you're gonna get picked, and everybody's
Speaker 5: looking at you, like, man, what's gonna happen. So I
Speaker 5: think when I got that phone call from at the time,
Speaker 5: Jim Zorn was a coach head coach and he was here.
Speaker 5: I had him for a couple of years. He called
Speaker 5: me and at the forty eight pick I seen I
Speaker 5: went across the TV.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, man, I was just happy to
Speaker 3: be off the board man at some point, you know.
Speaker 5: I mean, even though it was still kind of early,
Speaker 5: I was a forty eight pick, and then to see
Speaker 5: that my other we got two other picks in that
Speaker 5: second round, and we picked the.
Speaker 3: Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas.
Speaker 5: So we picked three third round, I mean, three second
Speaker 5: round picks that day, so it was different.
Speaker 3: We normally don't get that many picks in the second round,
Speaker 3: so it was kind of It's kind of a special
Speaker 3: moment for sure.
Speaker 1: And you talk about knowing that you were going to
Speaker 1: be drafted. Right, that takes a moment. Right, it's either
Speaker 1: that year when you were playing and you would see
Speaker 1: that final year, or it's maybe even before then. When
Speaker 1: did you know that you were actually going to make
Speaker 1: it into the NFL and be able to fulfill that dream,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure it happened way before you actually got drafted.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think every kid when they leave
Speaker 5: high school, they think, I'm going to the NFL. But
Speaker 5: I think, Mama, where I really knew because you when
Speaker 5: you play on a team like USC or University of
Speaker 5: Miami or Alabama, you're going against five star guys every
Speaker 5: day in practice and you're seeing like even your backup
Speaker 5: could be a starter somewhere else.
Speaker 3: So the competition level, I just.
Speaker 5: Knew, like, Okay, I mean, we got all these first rounds,
Speaker 5: Reggie Bush winning the Heisman. We had like two three
Speaker 5: Heisman winners in that five year span, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean. So I just knew I was around the
Speaker 5: right talent and at the time, you know, we're not
Speaker 5: doing that.
Speaker 3: Well right now, but we'll be back. The Trojans we
Speaker 3: was like top five team every year, you know that year.
Speaker 5: So for me, I just knew, like I'm in the
Speaker 5: right position to be on the right platform, and then
Speaker 5: also to have these great coaches around me and these
Speaker 5: other great teammates, you know, like the Klay Matthews and
Speaker 5: Dwayne Jerris, Steve Smith, Reggie Bush, Lyndale White's I can
Speaker 5: go on man, Keith River. We had a squad of
Speaker 5: guys that went in that first and second round, like
Speaker 5: almost twenty two guys in the last two years.
Speaker 3: So I just knew I was in the right position.
Speaker 5: And if I can beat these guys every day, you know,
Speaker 5: you know, winning mar one on ones and play well,
Speaker 5: I just knew, like, okay, I can make it. But
Speaker 5: then to answer your question, I would say my sophomore year,
Speaker 5: I was seeing that, you know, we don't really use
Speaker 5: a lot of tight end play a lot, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean.
Speaker 3: We're more of a receiver and running back school. The
Speaker 3: tight end get love, but he doesn't get that much love.
Speaker 5: So I kind of figured, like after I had a
Speaker 5: good game my sophomore year, like, Okay, I mean, I
Speaker 5: know I'm not going to get that many balls because
Speaker 5: we have a lot of receivers.
Speaker 3: Seeing a lot of running, a lot of running game.
Speaker 5: We're gonna use but if I get four or five
Speaker 5: balls a game in this in this in this system,
Speaker 5: in this program, oh, I know I can make it
Speaker 5: for sure.
Speaker 3: And then my.
Speaker 5: Junior year, and of course, and then my senior year
Speaker 5: when I want the MAC you word, I definitely knew, like, okay, well,
Speaker 5: they already labeled me the best tight end in the country,
Speaker 5: so and there's never been one at USC and I
Speaker 5: felt pretty special about that and it still hasn't been one.
Speaker 3: So I feel good about that. And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm definitely can I'm definitely gonna make it.
Speaker 5: And then after going to the combine and seeing the
Speaker 5: other guys that I had to be in competition with,
Speaker 5: not saying that I thought I was better, but I
Speaker 5: just like, I think I'm better. So I just I
Speaker 5: just knew, like if anything, you know, a lot of
Speaker 5: off the field stuff can kind of get guys in trouble.
Speaker 3: I never got in trouble in college, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 5: I never felt no drug test, but still you can
Speaker 5: get labeled as a party year or someone that goes out,
Speaker 5: and I feel like, you know, that's the only thing
Speaker 5: that would probably make me go later, is like stuff
Speaker 5: like that, you know, and you.
Speaker 1: Talk about all these things you were able to accomplish
Speaker 1: that you would see. But then again, you're following in
Speaker 1: the footsteps of a ton of dogs. You named a
Speaker 1: bunch of them, and now you're coming to the Redskins
Speaker 1: where you're a second round pick. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure that comes with being that high have a pick,
Speaker 1: especially for a tight end, especially the best tight end
Speaker 1: in the nation. Right you already have all these designations
Speaker 1: in the moment. Did you feel that pressure coming here?
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't really realize, you know. I mean
Speaker 3: there's a lot of pressure for.
Speaker 5: A third or fourth round pick, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: first and second or like that's like they go they
Speaker 5: go inside together, like they have expectations of you in
Speaker 5: that first year, maybe to have some progression or do
Speaker 5: something for the team those first year, definitely the second year.
Speaker 5: So for me, I didn't understand that, like the okay,
Speaker 5: they really because this is another thing. When I got drafted,
Speaker 5: I was just like, Okay, what tight ends do we have?
Speaker 5: And I knew Chris Cooley was. I never really watched
Speaker 5: his game, watch this game because I was on the
Speaker 5: West coast more, but I knew who Chris Cooley was,
Speaker 5: and I knew that he was like a pro bowler,
Speaker 5: a tight end, a great tight end. So at first
Speaker 5: I was like, yeah, no, it'd be great to be
Speaker 5: able to learn for something like that. But I just
Speaker 5: was hoping, like, how are they gonna how are we
Speaker 5: gonna play?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 5: Are we gonna play two tight end sets? Are we
Speaker 5: gonna change the formations up? Are we going to like
Speaker 5: share time?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? I mean it is his
Speaker 3: show still, you know what I mean?
Speaker 5: Because I think of it as like a hierarchy, right,
Speaker 5: because if he's getting paid, he just got a deal
Speaker 5: I think around like a couple of years before that
Speaker 5: for like like thirty or forty million dollars or something
Speaker 5: like that. So I didn't understand it. I just was
Speaker 5: wondering at first, why did they pick me? But then
Speaker 5: I you know, you never know what coaches are thinking
Speaker 5: or what they're gonna use in packages, So I felt
Speaker 5: like maybe they had some cool packages for me and
Speaker 5: Chris to like like playing and be able to play together,
Speaker 5: because I felt like if me and him played together,
Speaker 5: I think we would have definitely been one of the
Speaker 5: best duos for sure.
Speaker 1: What was it like coming into the building when you
Speaker 1: said you have a guy like Chris Cooley there, Like,
Speaker 1: what was that initial thing like like when you come
Speaker 1: you're not you don't know nothing about the DMV, right,
Speaker 1: you're coming here for the first time, but now you're
Speaker 1: also coming in knowing your behind almost in the shadow
Speaker 1: of a tight end that is beloved by the entire team.
Speaker 1: What was that like, what was your guy's relationship, Like,
Speaker 1: what was it like, you know, coming in as a
Speaker 1: rookie year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was interesting, man, because just like you said,
Speaker 5: just get into this area and then when you go
Speaker 5: to Ashburn, you don't realize, oh, that's not DC, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean exactly, it's not DC. But no,
Speaker 5: that was different first because you know, he's coming from
Speaker 5: LA and you're living in Landing Down, so it's like
Speaker 5: a big difference. But other than that, coming in, Chris
Speaker 5: was a great guy. You know, he was smart. Like
Speaker 5: one thing I've learned about him was like, you know,
Speaker 5: he would help me for sure. He wasn't one of
Speaker 5: those guys to try to, you know, tell you the
Speaker 5: wrong play or you know, if he wasn't gonna help you,
Speaker 5: he wouldn't say nothing at all, which I respected, you know,
Speaker 5: because you want you to do it yourself and learn yourself,
Speaker 5: because a lot of guys get a guy that would
Speaker 5: tell him the wrong shit and have him fuck up
Speaker 5: on purpose because he's a rookie, or you feel like
Speaker 5: he's coming in here to take your position. You know
Speaker 5: what I mean, Because when you get draft a guy,
Speaker 5: draft a guy second round when you probably had other
Speaker 5: needs that year.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, it's either two things.
Speaker 5: You either trying to replace somebody or trying to trade somebody,
Speaker 5: or it could be a lot of different business position,
Speaker 5: business things that could be going through the team's mind
Speaker 5: at that moment. For me, I just was like, I'm
Speaker 5: just gonna keep my head down and just try to
Speaker 5: be the best I can be, and Chris would help
Speaker 5: me a lot, you know, just watching him, man, he
Speaker 5: was just a smart guy. He knew everybody's position, not
Speaker 5: only the tight end position. He knew what every receiver
Speaker 5: had to do, what the backs had to do. And
Speaker 5: being around a guy like that, most guys just know
Speaker 5: their position and maybe one other position.
Speaker 3: Chris was like a quarterback out.
Speaker 5: There and he knew where to be at all times,
Speaker 5: everywhere to be, and learning that from him was really important,
Speaker 5: and then also learning technique on being a smaller tight
Speaker 5: end that has to block these guys, you know, like
Speaker 5: the d Wears two times a year and these other
Speaker 5: big d ns that are pretty they're pretty big guys,
Speaker 5: so technique would be everything. And I think I learned
Speaker 5: a lot, to be honest with you, a lot about
Speaker 5: blocking from him, because I think I became a pretty
Speaker 5: good blocker at one point for the Redskin because of Chris.
Speaker 5: To be honest, you know, I already had the receiving
Speaker 5: skills down, but the footwork of blocking and being able
Speaker 5: to stay on the guy to get the back through
Speaker 5: the hole and not put your butt in a hole,
Speaker 5: and a lot of from other techniques I definitely learned
Speaker 5: from him.
Speaker 1: And what a guy to learn from when you think
Speaker 1: about being a rookie, Like we have a rookie in
Speaker 1: Ben Sinon right now who's learning from a guy like
Speaker 1: Zach Ertz. So when you think about your rookie year,
Speaker 1: you think about the game Chris Cooley was giving you.
Speaker 2: What is one piece of advice.
Speaker 1: He gave you that you would give to a fellow
Speaker 1: rookie tight end or a younger guy.
Speaker 3: Well, he knew that, you know, every player is anxious
Speaker 3: to play.
Speaker 5: Man, you know what I'm saying, You want to get
Speaker 5: out there, you want to contribute because you got here
Speaker 5: for a reason. He's just saying being patient, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean. Basically just being patient and let the
Speaker 5: game come to you. I think letting the game come
Speaker 5: to you and not getting frustrated. I think it's the
Speaker 5: best advice you can give somebody, because sometimes you try
Speaker 5: to force the game to come out, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean, instead of just letting it come to you
Speaker 5: and just making the plays that you can make. Because
Speaker 5: one thing about office of coordinator, if you're making plays,
Speaker 5: they're going to continue.
Speaker 3: To get you that in that position, or they'll try
Speaker 3: to make ways.
Speaker 5: If a good office coordinator will try to make ways
Speaker 5: so that you touch the ball, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So I think that's very simple, just you know, just
Speaker 5: letting the game come to you and actually study in
Speaker 5: film because.
Speaker 3: A lot of guys, you know, when you come from college.
Speaker 5: You study film, but you know, at the quarterback position,
Speaker 5: but the tightening position, you study film, but you don't
Speaker 5: have that much to study when you're like separate like
Speaker 5: fronts and maybe in some coverages, but you can easily
Speaker 5: get away with not studying and still being able to
Speaker 5: play a good football game at tight end. I think
Speaker 5: him he made me realize how important knowing what opponent
Speaker 5: you're going against each week, you know, the different variables
Speaker 5: they can bring because every player is different. You know,
Speaker 5: you might got a guy that is a speed, quick guy,
Speaker 5: you might got a guy that's a power rush guy.
Speaker 5: You know, just the different nuances of the players that
Speaker 5: you can probably go against. I think the studying really
Speaker 5: is the film rooms. That's one of the major ones
Speaker 5: that I feel. I definitely he really put implemented in
Speaker 5: me because I watched how much he knew, you know,
Speaker 5: he could he could see something before the coach see
Speaker 5: it and then go to the coach and be like, hey,
Speaker 5: I'm seeing this look right now. This is what I
Speaker 5: see on the field and stuff like that. Being able
Speaker 5: to do that helps a lot, makes the game easier,
Speaker 5: makes it slower when it's already fast.
Speaker 1: And it didn't take long for you to get comfortable.
Speaker 1: Because I believe in like twenty eleven, you had your
Speaker 1: best year of your career. Of course you were with
Speaker 1: the I believe you got Offensive Player of the Year
Speaker 1: for the Redskins that year too. It's very interesting year
Speaker 1: because you had your trials and tribulations, but then you
Speaker 1: still balled out. You still got that recognition at the end,
Speaker 1: Man talk about that twenty eleven season and what you
Speaker 1: remember from that and what that was like being such
Speaker 1: an integral part of this offense, and so.
Speaker 5: To say you's something else like before that happened, like
Speaker 5: the two thousand and eight season, they didn't know how
Speaker 5: to use both of us, right, And that's one of
Speaker 5: the things that I was worried about, and that kind
Speaker 5: of got me frustrated, right.
Speaker 3: I was really frustrated.
Speaker 5: Because I was like, I know I can play right now,
Speaker 5: I'm doing it in practice. I'm like literally killing our
Speaker 5: first team every day in practice.
Speaker 3: Like Cooley would.
Speaker 5: Come to me be like, man, I don't know why
Speaker 5: they're not using us in two tight end sets. But
Speaker 5: you know, at that point, you had a coach like
Speaker 5: Jims Oorn no offense to him. He's never been a
Speaker 5: head coach before, and he was taking on a position
Speaker 5: from being a quarterback coach to office Cordinerd now being
Speaker 5: thrown in the head coaching position with a whole bunch
Speaker 5: of guys were different in that time in our team,
Speaker 5: I felt we had a whole bunch of different personalities.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of different personalities.
Speaker 5: I mean, so that first year, I don't know, I
Speaker 5: probably had like a couple hundred yards nothing crazy. But
Speaker 5: then the second year is when I knew I was
Speaker 5: supposed to be here because in two thousand and nine,
Speaker 5: you know, and this is a story that I tell
Speaker 5: people because it helped me a lot. It'd be a
Speaker 5: guy like this on your team sometimes you need to
Speaker 5: listen to. I was with Chris Samuels and me and
Speaker 5: him became really close. Chris Samuel's office Lineman, ten time
Speaker 5: pro bowler. You know, he just seen me one day
Speaker 5: on the sideline pouting and I think a lot of
Speaker 5: guys do this that are young, right, And I would say,
Speaker 5: like I was just out there pouting, like, man, this
Speaker 5: is bullshit, Like I know, I'm supposed to be in here.
Speaker 5: I'm just catching balls and I don't wish no ill will,
Speaker 5: no nobody get hurt or nothing like that. But that game,
Speaker 5: he just said, man, you know one thing about the NFL.
Speaker 5: You gotta stay ready and be ready. Doing this ain't
Speaker 5: gonna help you. Gotta be ready. And stay ready and man,
Speaker 5: when he said that to me, I was like, you
Speaker 5: know what, You're right, I got to be professional and
Speaker 5: even if I'm not getting what I wanted this moment in.
Speaker 3: A selfish way, I still should be a team player,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: And I think I had a realization moment because the
Speaker 5: older guy was telling me that that I respected and
Speaker 5: then not saying I wanted that. But that next play
Speaker 5: that game, Chris Cooley goes down with a broken foot. Right,
Speaker 5: So that two thousand and nine season, I start the
Speaker 5: whole second half of that season and I put up
Speaker 5: like five touchdowns six hundred yards, five hundred yards or
Speaker 5: something like that. For me, that was my breakout. I mean,
Speaker 5: my biggest year was two thy eleven. But for me,
Speaker 5: that was a breakout for me because no one expected it.
Speaker 5: And then I mean, well they expected it from me,
Speaker 5: but the way the season was going, it didn't look
Speaker 5: like they were coming to They weren't kendlon to where
Speaker 5: they were understanding that me and Chris.
Speaker 3: Can both play at the same position.
Speaker 5: It would cause a lot of defensive issues because you
Speaker 5: don't know if you have to have a safety out there,
Speaker 5: a corner out there, and that could change a game.
Speaker 5: But once that happened to me, that was like a
Speaker 5: realization like, Okay, I'm supposed to be here and I
Speaker 5: can make plays against these guys in the league, and
Speaker 5: I could and I could make plays back to back
Speaker 5: weeks if they give me the opportunity.
Speaker 3: So that was a wake up moment for me to
Speaker 3: be honest. And then, as you know, coach Dorn gets
Speaker 3: fired and.
Speaker 5: We have a whole different regime coming in kach Shanahan.
Speaker 3: And it gets me to twenty eleven because that in.
Speaker 5: That moment, Kochhanahan was I mean, he was cleaning house,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. It didn't matter if he
Speaker 5: was a second round, third round guy, if you didn't
Speaker 5: perform in practice or you didn't play to his expectations
Speaker 5: or was trying to be that type of player.
Speaker 3: Oh, he was getting rid of you.
Speaker 5: You know, I've seen a couple third rounders go second
Speaker 5: round or go even an older.
Speaker 3: First rounder go. So I just knew, like, Okay, this
Speaker 3: is a new regime.
Speaker 5: They probably don't want to they don't They didn't pick me,
Speaker 5: so they probably don't want me here.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna have to bust my ass every Day.
Speaker 5: And so that season we got Donna McNabb of course
Speaker 5: from the Eagles, But that season is when I feel
Speaker 5: like we first started having really like real stability as
Speaker 5: a team, where there was structure, where there.
Speaker 3: Was you could feel the structure from Shanahan.
Speaker 5: So coming into that twenty eleven season, I mean, they
Speaker 5: got rid of Donovan and we had a quarterback controversy
Speaker 5: with Beck and Rex Grossman.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 5: It was just it was a crazy season, man, because
Speaker 5: that training camp I came down. I came in a
Speaker 5: little bit slimmer, more of a receiver south, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean. I lost probably about five or ten
Speaker 5: pounds that first that training camp. They I think the
Speaker 5: coaches knew, like, oh yeah, he's coming in. This is
Speaker 5: like my third this is like this I'm coming into
Speaker 5: my fourth year rush. So I'm at and now I'm
Speaker 5: at this point in my life where I feel like
Speaker 5: I'm a veteran too.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 5: I feel like most guys don't get past four years.
Speaker 5: So if I'm getting to this point, I got to
Speaker 5: start showing people how I need to be here and
Speaker 5: like why I should be one of the top tight
Speaker 5: ends in this league.
Speaker 3: And I feel I can be. I mean this year,
Speaker 3: they didn't.
Speaker 5: You know, this is the same year they cut Chris
Speaker 5: after halfway through the season, which kind of sucked because
Speaker 5: I did want him to be there in this moment.
Speaker 3: Too, But they, I guess they didn't see it happening.
Speaker 5: And I was making plays that year, man, I was
Speaker 5: making a lot of plays in training camp. And then
Speaker 5: when we still had a quarterback controversy a little bit
Speaker 5: because Rex started half the season, Beck started half the season,
Speaker 5: it was, you.
Speaker 3: Know, you can never get really truly truly comfortable.
Speaker 5: But even though with that or without, I mean, I
Speaker 5: put up pretty good numbers in that year. I put
Speaker 5: up probably like eight hundred yards receiving in like six
Speaker 5: or seven touchdowns, and I like missed four games.
Speaker 3: So to me my.
Speaker 5: Projection, I felt like I could have got like least
Speaker 5: eleven hundred twelve hundred yards receiven that year if the
Speaker 5: situation was right. But like I said, I got suspended
Speaker 5: that year. I was having a coming out party that year.
Speaker 5: It's just happened to be that I made a bad choice,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. And I like to talk
Speaker 5: about that because I think it's important for people to
Speaker 5: hear it. I think that year is the same year
Speaker 5: me and Trent actually got suspended the last four games,
Speaker 5: you know, for smoking marijuana, which in our young minds,
Speaker 5: you know, we just didn't want.
Speaker 3: To do Tour it All shots.
Speaker 5: We didn't want to be stuck on Perkinset, we didn't
Speaker 5: want to be stuck on Xanax.
Speaker 3: We didn't want to because.
Speaker 5: That's what happens to a lot of guys, right, I mean,
Speaker 5: it happens to a lot of guys, and then when
Speaker 5: you get away from it, the team would say it's
Speaker 5: not my fault. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: that guy does become addicted to those drugs, and for me,
Speaker 5: I just felt.
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, marijuana kind of helped me relax.
Speaker 5: And you know, as you see now, they're changing the
Speaker 5: rules in the NFL, you know what I mean, They're
Speaker 5: changed me tremendously because what I did before. You're not
Speaker 5: saying I'm still wrong for doing it, because he's breaking
Speaker 5: the rules, is breaking the rules.
Speaker 3: But what I did before would not even get me suspended,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 5: So it's just the right time, in the wrong in
Speaker 5: the wrong moment, and I feel like that mistake kind
Speaker 5: of fucked this up a lot.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Definitely me, because I'm coming off a year where I
Speaker 5: could be making life change of money again and I
Speaker 5: made a mistake and I put my team in jeopardy
Speaker 5: and I wasn't there for them, to be honest, like,
Speaker 5: in that year, we could have still come probably won
Speaker 5: some more games, you know what I mean. And I
Speaker 5: feel like in my position at that moment, getting guys
Speaker 5: to trust you, like the Shannonhans and all these other
Speaker 5: people like that, shit goes a long way. And I
Speaker 5: feel like in that moment, I kind of messed up
Speaker 5: a little bit. You know, I messed up a lot, actually,
Speaker 5: but I got to come back and regain their confidence
Speaker 5: and come back for.
Speaker 3: Another two years. So I felt good about that.
Speaker 1: And you're going through, like you said, like you're making
Speaker 1: a name for yourself. You're going through this, and then
Speaker 1: you get this four game suspension. You said it yourself.
Speaker 1: You feel like it's slowed down your stat line.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean because I was on track to get like, yeah,
Speaker 5: I was a thousand yards, like eleven hundred yards that.
Speaker 2: Year, easily over one thousand yards that year. You will
Speaker 2: fast that.
Speaker 5: With four games left, I mean, the NFL, you can't
Speaker 5: guess because you never know, you could have a bad week.
Speaker 3: The NFL is any given Sunday.
Speaker 5: But the way I felt that year and how I
Speaker 5: was starting to feel towards the end of that year,
Speaker 5: the confidence I was gaining, Yeah.
Speaker 3: It just made me feel like it's possible for sure.
Speaker 1: And early in this interview you had mentioned it. You said,
Speaker 1: guys quickly get labeled. He's a partier, Oh, he's a poethead,
Speaker 1: lay off the weed, and things like that, especially back
Speaker 1: then because it was so different after that first incident,
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you were labeled something like after
Speaker 1: you got into that trouble, do you feel you were
Speaker 1: ever ever going to be able to shake that label
Speaker 1: of a guy that maybe couldn't be relied on or
Speaker 1: a guy that maybe was being irresponsible or breaking the rules.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I did feel like to shake it, you know,
Speaker 5: because the Redskins still wanted the franchise tag me after that,
Speaker 5: so I knew, like, Okay, they see my value. I
Speaker 5: was putting up top five numbers that year, and that
Speaker 5: can kind of feed into your egle too, because you
Speaker 5: don't really sit back and know, like, hey, you don't
Speaker 5: really get too many chances with these people to make
Speaker 5: them trust you, and you gotta have not only that
Speaker 5: if I'm gonna be a top player on my team,
Speaker 5: my teammate should be trusting me too.
Speaker 3: Now, you know.
Speaker 5: And do I feel like there was a label? Of course,
Speaker 5: I think I had a label before that, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean. But that just helped this little fight
Speaker 5: even more.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 5: He's a younger guy in the league, but he's making
Speaker 5: dumb mistakes, you know what I mean at this point,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean, he should be making He
Speaker 5: shouldn't be making those type of mistakes, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean, those type of choices or decisions. Now when
Speaker 5: you look after the next year, I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 5: mean they probably would have. I probably could have put
Speaker 5: myself on the market. But if I didn't get suspended,
Speaker 5: but I'm still the rest can still have the rights
Speaker 5: to me. So they offered me a franchise deal, and
Speaker 5: of course that's like, well, okay, you're getting top five
Speaker 5: money for one year, but that means that means that's
Speaker 5: a proven deal.
Speaker 3: That means I don't really trust you really, and that.
Speaker 5: Just shows you, like you know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 5: Like you can't get label because now it's like, okay,
Speaker 5: well show me differently and I'll give you what you
Speaker 5: think you want, and then we want to see and
Speaker 5: everything is going to the eyeballs. Be on your course
Speaker 5: because you're an investment. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: they don't want to make the wrong choice. And you
Speaker 5: know what I mean, because you get stuck in these
Speaker 5: deals with these guys. Back then, guys weren't doing three
Speaker 5: year deals. You know, if they were doing that now,
Speaker 5: it'd be different, you know what I mean they doing.
Speaker 5: They was doing five year deals, six year deals, you know,
Speaker 5: stuff like that. So the game has changed where now
Speaker 5: a guy you can get them for two or three
Speaker 5: years and then just like, you know what, this wasn't
Speaker 5: the right decision.
Speaker 3: I don't have to stay with this decision. I can
Speaker 3: move on from this decision.
Speaker 5: But the guy might make a little bit more money,
Speaker 5: but still I don't have to stay attached to this person.
Speaker 5: So that year, I think I had Drew Rosenhouse at
Speaker 5: the time, I was in Miami training.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna come
Speaker 3: back train hard as hell.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna you know, you gotta get tested every like
Speaker 5: every like almost every two to three weeks that you
Speaker 5: got to do at the drop of a dime. If
Speaker 5: you're not there in three hours, that would come as
Speaker 5: a suspension, even if I wasn't stuck in traffic. So
Speaker 5: you do have to do things to make yourself seem
Speaker 5: responsible to the league and to your team. So it's
Speaker 5: not like you just get to chill and hang out. No,
Speaker 5: you get tested every you gotta go. You gotta go
Speaker 5: to a therapist every week, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So it's things that steps you got to take, and
Speaker 5: you got to continue to do that until you're out
Speaker 5: of the program, which will be a year and a
Speaker 5: half for me at that point.
Speaker 3: So I to ask you a question, Yeah, I knew
Speaker 3: I could.
Speaker 5: Check that situation because I just knew like my team
Speaker 5: value me, you know, talking to the coaches and to
Speaker 5: Bruce Allen at the time. He was telling me like,
Speaker 5: you know, this is a bad choice you made. You
Speaker 5: were one of my favorites. I have a lot of
Speaker 5: hope in you. So that kind of gave me clarity too,
Speaker 5: you know, when you got your head coaches and your
Speaker 5: GM talking to.
Speaker 3: You like that.
Speaker 5: So I knew I could do it, but it just
Speaker 5: it was just really come up to me to come
Speaker 5: down to me.
Speaker 1: And you had a few trials and tribulations in your career,
Speaker 1: you have an achilles injury, you have all of these
Speaker 1: things take place while again you are showing the world
Speaker 1: how how capable you are, how great you are. Do
Speaker 1: you feel that NFL fans at the league that the
Speaker 1: world got to really see how special Fred Davis the
Speaker 1: NFL player was.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think.
Speaker 5: I think I think they seen like pieces of it,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean, Because it all comes down
Speaker 5: to a lot too, you know, I mean even that year, right,
Speaker 5: I tear my achilles. That following year, I mean, in
Speaker 5: those first four games, I got three hundred and fifty
Speaker 5: nine yards. I'm on track now to do that again,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. It's like you about to
Speaker 5: do the same thing over again. It's like from the
Speaker 5: way we were playing and the way that I felt
Speaker 5: they were trusting me with the offense, and that Giants game,
Speaker 5: I already had about three hundred and fifty nine yards.
Speaker 5: It's only game four. I'm the leading receiver on our team.
Speaker 5: And we got some greats on our team. We got Pierre,
Speaker 5: we got Santana, you know what I mean, And I
Speaker 5: just felt like, man on this path.
Speaker 3: Boy.
Speaker 5: Even if I didn't get that thousand before, I put
Speaker 5: up eight, and then if I put up a thousand
Speaker 5: this year, that's that's that's putting in a couple of
Speaker 5: years back to back. That's pretty you know, top five
Speaker 5: in the in the league at that moment. But that
Speaker 5: kind of that set me back, man, really really bad,
Speaker 5: you know, because I didn't expect that. You know, you
Speaker 5: never do expect that. Again, I didn't even I didn't
Speaker 5: even know I tore my killies until I went in
Speaker 5: the back. I mean, it just feels like somebody kicked you.
Speaker 3: You don't even know.
Speaker 5: And yeah, man, it was a big setback because the
Speaker 5: partest thing about an injury, depending on injury, is just
Speaker 5: the time out, you know, the mental the mental part
Speaker 5: of it, because you can as physical strong as you want,
Speaker 5: but the mental shit beat you up. Am I gonna
Speaker 5: be the same player when I come back? And am
Speaker 5: I gonna feel the same? Am I gonna be the same?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 3: It's just a lot of.
Speaker 5: Things that a lot of things that negative that get
Speaker 5: in your head and you got to try to be
Speaker 5: positive about And I don't think that a lot some
Speaker 5: people are good at handling it. Some others are not
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 3: I don't think. I think I handled it well.
Speaker 5: But I think the mental part is sitting out because
Speaker 5: I'm a I have to I like to be on
Speaker 5: the move. I like to be a part of things,
Speaker 5: So to have to sit out it probably pretty.
Speaker 3: It beat me up pretty mental.
Speaker 5: It's pretty much mentally, And I think for guys getting
Speaker 5: hurt that's the hardest thing because it's not just about
Speaker 5: getting back, it's really about the mental aspect of it.
Speaker 1: And how do you get over that hurdle? Because again,
Speaker 1: you're going through all these things. But now, I mean,
Speaker 1: you clearly got through, right, you're a businessman. Now you've
Speaker 1: moved on with your life. You still had, you know,
Speaker 1: a great career in the NFL. But how did you
Speaker 1: get over those mental hurders? Because there's people listening going
Speaker 1: through their own life hurdles right that don't even have
Speaker 1: to do with football.
Speaker 2: How did Fred Davis get through that?
Speaker 3: Man? To be honest, just getting back to my basics.
Speaker 5: Really, you know, when you have a lot of yes
Speaker 5: man you or friends or people from the outside telling
Speaker 5: you what you think you should do. I think I
Speaker 5: just took a little break from just like what I
Speaker 5: normally did, because I mean when I go out and parties,
Speaker 5: and yeah, I will go out parties sometimes drink some times.
Speaker 5: But then when you do a little bit too much
Speaker 5: where you're doing it without even thinking about having fun,
Speaker 5: you're just out here just coasting where you're just like, okay,
Speaker 5: I just want a distraction.
Speaker 3: That's when it becomes a problem.
Speaker 5: And I think just me having a time to really
Speaker 5: sit down and be quiet with myself instead.
Speaker 3: Of not no family members, not no friends.
Speaker 5: None of that, just me and my own thoughts really
Speaker 5: and just understanding what I truly want to do, and
Speaker 5: you know, understanding where I'm at in my life and
Speaker 5: how I got here and just appreciate it, because sometimes
Speaker 5: this moves so fast you don't get a time to
Speaker 5: really appreciate it. You go from being drafted to next
Speaker 5: year you're on a team to now you got to
Speaker 5: get ready for the season, and you barely had a
Speaker 5: rookie off season because you're a rookie, so.
Speaker 3: It's like you don't really get to slow down.
Speaker 5: And then when you put your own life on top
Speaker 5: of that, where you're not slowing down, you don't really
Speaker 5: get to sit back and appreciate the moment in the
Speaker 5: hand and see what's really going on until it's too
Speaker 5: late or to something tragic happens or maybe a mistake.
Speaker 3: But I feel like just having that time to yourself
Speaker 3: to really process.
Speaker 5: Your thoughts and really understand who you are and where
Speaker 5: you want to be at or what you want to do,
Speaker 5: even in this league, because if you don't have a
Speaker 5: plan and you're just out here just like, oh, I'm
Speaker 5: just gonna let whatever comes to me come to me,
Speaker 5: it doesn't work. I've seen it with other guys, Like
Speaker 5: I said, I've seen guys make two hundred million the broken.
Speaker 5: I've seen guys with a million dollars still got money.
Speaker 5: It's how you treat it with a plan. So to me,
Speaker 5: I think that's the most important thing for.
Speaker 1: We appreciate your insight and your game, man, and now
Speaker 1: we're in a season where things are looking great. Now
Speaker 1: this is we're recording this before the Dallas game. However,
Speaker 1: this will be coming out after the Dallas game, so
Speaker 1: we won't talk.
Speaker 2: About that game so much.
Speaker 1: However, you did say you will be at the game,
Speaker 1: so just talk to me what it means. Because you
Speaker 1: stay close to DC, like Cali and DC, Like those
Speaker 1: are your two homes, and what does it mean for
Speaker 1: you when you come back to that field, come back
Speaker 1: to that environment, be around these amazing fans that cheer
Speaker 1: for you for so long.
Speaker 2: Man, how excited are you to be back at the crib.
Speaker 5: I'm just excited because you know, we have we haven't
Speaker 5: really had a lot of hope in the past years,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. I've been a part of
Speaker 5: some of those teams where we started out six and
Speaker 5: oh and then the tail off at the end, or
Speaker 5: started out really bad and win a few at the end.
Speaker 3: I'm just happy to see the.
Speaker 5: Fans, you know, because last time we went to playoffs
Speaker 5: in twenty fourteen and I was there for that, and the
Speaker 5: energy there was crazy, Like they just want to win
Speaker 5: so bad, you know what I mean. It's been so
Speaker 5: long and it's due, you know. I'm just happy to
Speaker 5: see when I go there, just the energy, you feel,
Speaker 5: the love, You feel that you can tell they're excited
Speaker 5: about the season.
Speaker 3: You just see you can feel the energy, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean.
Speaker 5: Like just even with the players, you know, they look
Speaker 5: like they believe that they could win, which is always
Speaker 5: important and it gives hopes to the fans and to
Speaker 5: see that we have more people in our stadium that
Speaker 5: are our fans and the other teams fans.
Speaker 3: That's the most important.
Speaker 5: Thing because that for a little bit there we're starting
Speaker 5: to tail off in the end. But now our fan
Speaker 5: our fan base is starting to come back. And there's
Speaker 5: nothing like a Redskins slash Commanders fan. But the Commanders,
Speaker 5: there's nothing like that, you know what. I mean to
Speaker 5: see those because they love their team, they love for
Speaker 5: and just to go to the stadium and you know,
Speaker 5: like I said, to beat these teams and to have
Speaker 5: the season that Jaden Daiels was having.
Speaker 3: And Terry scary Terry and Arts.
Speaker 5: The tight end, and then the running game and Robinson
Speaker 5: and that defense is playing pretty well.
Speaker 3: I just think it's a great thing and it's fun.
Speaker 3: It's fun to watch and it's fun to be a
Speaker 3: part of.
Speaker 1: There is no better place to be on a football
Speaker 1: Sunday than the DMV. Fred Davis, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining us.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Appreciate your testimony and just being so honest with us.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: We got to have you back on off for like
Speaker 1: you know, we and you could dive into a lot
Speaker 1: more things but for Fred, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: Brother.
Speaker 3: Definitely be back brother for sure.
Speaker 2: For sure for show. Yes, Sir, Commanders family, this is
Speaker 2: our Next Man Up.
Speaker 1: Tight End played his whole career with the Redskins, My guy,
Speaker 1: Fred Davis.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, brother, Thank.
Speaker 3: You, brother, appreciate it man. Thanks for having.
Speaker 2: Me command this family. I hope you've enjoyed this episode
Speaker 2: of Next Man Up. Now.
Speaker 1: If you want to catch our old episodes, you can
Speaker 1: on the Commander's YouTube page or stream the audio wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. I am Brian Cople Junior and
Speaker 1: this is Next Man Up. Catch you on next Friday.
Speaker 1: Cancelope is the proud Kiosk partner of the Washington Commanders,
Speaker 1: making your game day experience more convenient,