Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. My name is Lindsay Young, and I'm a
Speaker 1: staff writer and assistant editor here with the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: and I'm so thrilled that you are joining us for
Speaker 1: a segment of our Getting Open series, which focuses on
Speaker 1: all things mental health. The series has been going on
Speaker 1: for a while now and we have been able to
Speaker 1: talk to general manager Rick Spielman, Chief operating officer Andrew Miller,
Speaker 1: several players including Eric Hendricks and Adam Feelin and others
Speaker 1: as well that are connected to the organization who have
Speaker 1: personal or maybe indirect stories around mental health journeys, possibly
Speaker 1: how their foundations focus on the area, how it's affected
Speaker 1: their lives or their families in some way. Really, our
Speaker 1: mission is just to break down the stigma around mental
Speaker 1: health and normalize this conversation. Today, I'm really excited to
Speaker 1: sit down with none other than Vikings legend John Randall.
Speaker 1: Now I really don't think he probably he needs much
Speaker 1: of an introduction. I'm sure that most listeners know that
Speaker 1: John is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He
Speaker 1: was a seven time Pro Bowl participant and was named
Speaker 1: First Team All Pro six different times. He was the
Speaker 1: NFL SAX leader in nineteen ninety seven, and he was
Speaker 1: named to the NFL nineteen nineties All Decade Team as well.
Speaker 1: But what you may not know about John is that
Speaker 1: currently in his life post football, he actually serves as
Speaker 1: one of five directors within the NFL Legends community, and
Speaker 1: he is really passionate about working with other former players
Speaker 1: who are kind of transitioning into this next area of
Speaker 1: their life, and mental health plays a big part of that.
Speaker 1: So it's a very important topic to him. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited for you to hear what he has to say
Speaker 1: around this issue. So John, super super pumped to have
Speaker 1: you here today. Throughout this Getting Open series, we've talked
Speaker 1: to some current players, we've talked general manager Rick Spielman,
Speaker 1: but you are the first Vikings legend to be on
Speaker 1: this series, and I think that's going to be a
Speaker 1: great conversation. We'll start it out kind of generally, I guess,
Speaker 1: why do you think that mental health is an important
Speaker 1: topic to cover, especially within the NFL. Probably one of
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons for about mental health. I think it
Speaker 1: is for most guys's minds, especially during the season, because
Speaker 1: I know myself personally, I was it was a very
Speaker 1: stressful game and I've had this conversation in different manners
Speaker 1: with current players and former players. And I remember Jerry
Speaker 1: Rice telling me that he wanted to grade out from
Speaker 1: a game. He wanted a hundred, and he said he
Speaker 1: could never get a hundred. And he was talking about
Speaker 1: all the pressure he put he put up on himself
Speaker 1: up trying to get that grade of a hundred. And
Speaker 1: I know as a former player that the things you
Speaker 1: go through through that week of practice, coaches are coming
Speaker 1: up to you and tell you they're depending on you
Speaker 1: to do this, They're depending on you to do that.
Speaker 1: Then you got your family meeting you to do certain
Speaker 1: things we got mean for their family or for you
Speaker 1: to do as a husband a significant other. Then you
Speaker 1: got guys dealing with say they've got may have a
Speaker 1: car payment, they may be taking care of the parents,
Speaker 1: they may be having this thing. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on you as a player and you trying
Speaker 1: as your own expectations are to have a great season
Speaker 1: because your contract may depend on it. And there's a
Speaker 1: lot of stress on a current player, and sometimes that
Speaker 1: can get to guys. And I know back when we
Speaker 1: were playing, we used to do from the NFL players association.
Speaker 1: They would come in and do the role reenactments of
Speaker 1: a player dealing with his family, coming in and say
Speaker 1: that a player and a significant other or having issues,
Speaker 1: and how would he perform on the field knowing that
Speaker 1: his personal life wasn't all straight And so, you know,
Speaker 1: I remember going through things like that and having guys
Speaker 1: come in and all of a sudden a coach telling them, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, you're not starting this week, or you
Speaker 1: know what we're potentially looking at, maybe putting you in
Speaker 1: a backup role, and just being around guys. I knew
Speaker 1: about the pressure. I dealt with it, and some guys
Speaker 1: just don't know how to deal with it. And you know,
Speaker 1: in high school and college, you're just you're playing a game,
Speaker 1: and you get to the professional level and it's more
Speaker 1: of a business and you know, your contract depends on it,
Speaker 1: or you say, your your pay depends on it, and
Speaker 1: there's so many different meritives that can change it. So
Speaker 1: for me, I see, it's a lot of fresh on
Speaker 1: those guys. I love that you brought that up, John,
Speaker 1: because I think sometimes people kind of don't understand all
Speaker 1: of these stressors that do affect professional athletes, right. They
Speaker 1: tend to think about the money that you get for
Speaker 1: the sport or kind of the fame, but they don't
Speaker 1: think about those additional stressors and things that really weigh
Speaker 1: on athletes, you know, from week to week. And so
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about You mentioned that when
Speaker 1: you were playing, you mentioned some of those scenarios and
Speaker 1: things that that you would go through. How have you
Speaker 1: seen the topic of mental health be brought more to
Speaker 1: the forefront in the days since your playing career. Well,
Speaker 1: I think one of the ways that it's became more
Speaker 1: of a focus point is impact that mental health has
Speaker 1: become and it's not necessarily just the guys, but the families.
Speaker 1: Um My god. I was thinking about when, uh, when
Speaker 1: Agan Peterson got kept from the Vikings and he went
Speaker 1: to Arizona and from Arizona to New Orleans, and I
Speaker 1: was just sitting there talking with some guys and they
Speaker 1: were just like, oh, man, he's moving around. He's he's
Speaker 1: going from this team to that team. And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but are you thinking about his family now? He's got
Speaker 1: to move and and and and change around. And I
Speaker 1: think I mean things like that, as you know, having
Speaker 1: to move from Minnesota to Arizona, and Arizona to New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I think the NFL and the NFL Players Social Association
Speaker 1: now feed how stressful it can be for the guys.
Speaker 1: And and now it's twenty twenty one, and the guys
Speaker 1: deal with so much. And one of the things, or
Speaker 1: one of the ways that guys do then is by
Speaker 1: going on social media. And we've got several guys that
Speaker 1: come out there. You know, they just just or let's
Speaker 1: say react, They just instantly want to post it what
Speaker 1: they're going through or talking about it. And you know,
Speaker 1: then our fans see it, and it affects our fans,
Speaker 1: and then it gets back to our teams. And so
Speaker 1: to me, mental health it's a focal point because it
Speaker 1: affects our players, it affects us as fans, and it
Speaker 1: affects the team. And so it's it's so many ways.
Speaker 1: It's it's can cause suicide, it can cause um from
Speaker 1: from from guys having wat problems, guys uh having fatigue.
Speaker 1: But they're there's so many different ways that mental health
Speaker 1: can affect us now and that we know about. So
Speaker 1: that's one of well some of the reasons why I
Speaker 1: believe it's so important and I'm glad that we're focusing
Speaker 1: and focusing in on it because it used to be
Speaker 1: where guys really didn't want to talk about it, and
Speaker 1: now we're making it, We're putting it out there, we're
Speaker 1: telling people it's okay to talk about it. And I'm
Speaker 1: thrilled about that. I love that. And you mentioned that
Speaker 1: when you were playing and still today. But some people
Speaker 1: maybe I know you mentioned men, but I think everybody
Speaker 1: in society, some people can handle these things maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit easier than others, or they know kind of
Speaker 1: how to handle these feelings and these emotions. For you,
Speaker 1: how did you handle kind of the stressors of the NFL.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had such a long career, very successful,
Speaker 1: but obviously there's always going to be ups and downs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one of what that I did it was kind of unusual,
Speaker 1: but after the season, I would get in my car
Speaker 1: and drive from Minnesota two taxes and it's such a
Speaker 1: long drive, but it's a drive that kind of gave
Speaker 1: me a chance to just kind of relax and kind
Speaker 1: of get at ease about the season and say, fence,
Speaker 1: if we didn't have a good season like ninety eight,
Speaker 1: I would definitely drive and take my time getting home
Speaker 1: and go and see my mom and it would just
Speaker 1: kind of relieve the stress as as I drove back home.
Speaker 1: But I also got to say that for the Vikings,
Speaker 1: you know, we had a Bible study which allows a
Speaker 1: lot of us to talk to the pastor. I think
Speaker 1: the name was Tom Lampeer who would who would allow
Speaker 1: guys to come in and talk about what was going
Speaker 1: on in their lives. And I gotta say maybe not
Speaker 1: a lot of other teams were able to do that,
Speaker 1: but being on the Vikings and having that Bible studies
Speaker 1: really took a lot of stress off guys. Has that
Speaker 1: faith aspect kind of continued to play a part in
Speaker 1: your life, you know as you navigate post career stressors
Speaker 1: and different things that come up. Well, for me, I've
Speaker 1: got my family, my wife, I who was my best
Speaker 1: friend who I talked to about almost anything that I
Speaker 1: have going on besides golf. But she's a person that
Speaker 1: I confide in. And a lot of guys who are playing,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't have that significant other, So I
Speaker 1: think sometimes they may find other resources, and it may
Speaker 1: not be good resources to put their problems into. It
Speaker 1: may be drinking or whatever. But you know, guys, some
Speaker 1: guys don't have that and it may lead to just
Speaker 1: wrong things. But for me, it's it's the religious part
Speaker 1: is still there, but having my wife who I can
Speaker 1: talk to. But for me also, the transition was a
Speaker 1: little bit easier because for me from football to back
Speaker 1: to say being normal, playing fourteen years in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, I think I had the option of saying
Speaker 1: that I wanted to retire my own terms. Well, a
Speaker 1: lot of guys don't, and you know, sometimes that can
Speaker 1: lead to guys to some guy's mental health problems too.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a really great segue into my
Speaker 1: next question. You're currently working as a director for the
Speaker 1: NFL Legends community. Can you just tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about what that looks like, what that means. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'm wanting the director. We have five others directors. I'm
Speaker 1: the Central North, so I kind of handle the Midwest.
Speaker 1: But what we try to do is engage our former
Speaker 1: players and what we actually where we started off was
Speaker 1: engaging them and trying to figure out if there's anything
Speaker 1: that we can help them with through the transition from
Speaker 1: football and that maybe getting into college coaching that maybe
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, say you want to go back
Speaker 1: to get your college degree or you you're thinking about
Speaker 1: getting into radio or television. That's what we started out
Speaker 1: trying to do, but we've have say blossom into also
Speaker 1: being involved with the NFL combine, the NFL Draft, the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl. We also do the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: But we also find ourselves in our community trying to
Speaker 1: help our maybe our trans players, but our former players
Speaker 1: and anything that they have gone on. And like, for instance,
Speaker 1: for myself, I worked with Willie Howard when Willie Howard
Speaker 1: was trying to build a new weight room for his
Speaker 1: high school. I was able to find him some connections
Speaker 1: to make that work out and actually we got Adam
Speaker 1: feeling involved in it well. He also donated to the
Speaker 1: completion of Willie Howard's weight room. And what has that
Speaker 1: been like for you to kind of transition into being
Speaker 1: on the quote other side of the game, I guess
Speaker 1: what way the most about this role? Oh my God.
Speaker 1: For me, on a personal note, I love doing this
Speaker 1: because to me, being in the National Football League first
Speaker 1: of all, was an honor and a pleasure to play
Speaker 1: a game that so many people which they could have played,
Speaker 1: And for me to play this game I looked up
Speaker 1: to so many guys that came before us. That's the
Speaker 1: Randy White, the Howie Long, the Alan Page, the Jim
Speaker 1: Marshalls who made this game what it is today. So
Speaker 1: this allowed me to give back to other former players
Speaker 1: who've done so much for this game. And so being
Speaker 1: around these guys, to me, it's like, I see it
Speaker 1: as twenty two thousand former players in a huddle and
Speaker 1: allow me to be in a huddle and to assist
Speaker 1: those guys to finding ways to make their transition of
Speaker 1: their second career better. And uh, you know, I get
Speaker 1: the chance to go to different parts of the country,
Speaker 1: to being involved with golf tournaments, to being involved with charities.
Speaker 1: Uh I do Joe Namath March of Dimes in New
Speaker 1: York or we raised a million dollars in one day.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the things of being in
Speaker 1: the Legend community. It allows me to do it just
Speaker 1: to give back and to be part of things that
Speaker 1: were say the league office can't do, but on a
Speaker 1: personal we can do it myself for Chad Pimington, Leonard Wheeler,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's a great role, it's a fun role,
Speaker 1: and it allows you be a part of NFL but
Speaker 1: just in a different capacity. Yeah, that's incredible. I mean
Speaker 1: the impact sounds just fantastic. Those different things that you
Speaker 1: were mentioning. I want to go back to one thing
Speaker 1: that you mentioned a little bit earlier, and you were saying,
Speaker 1: how you know, there are different things that may be
Speaker 1: former players encounter, whether that's looking for a new career path,
Speaker 1: they might be struggling with some level of depression, they
Speaker 1: might turn to substance abuse. What are I guess some
Speaker 1: resources that are available within the Legends community to support
Speaker 1: those men that may be facing those different things. Well,
Speaker 1: one of the things that we've started is we started
Speaker 1: an app for former players where they can go upon,
Speaker 1: which is the players dot NFL dot com where they
Speaker 1: can sign up and they basically get information of what's
Speaker 1: going on with the National Football League and also the
Speaker 1: NFL Players Association. But there's different things that you can
Speaker 1: get that can give you information. We have info Lifeline
Speaker 1: or where you can go on there and if you're
Speaker 1: having mental health issues, a guy can get on there
Speaker 1: and as very private and talk to many other people
Speaker 1: who can help you through this mental health. But we've
Speaker 1: got several people. We've got Kenyaka, who I talked to
Speaker 1: every year, me and other guys in the legismate where
Speaker 1: we sit with her for two hours and we've go
Speaker 1: through questioning and figuring out different ways of trying to
Speaker 1: figure out if we are going in the right direction,
Speaker 1: if we personally have any issues. But it's a great
Speaker 1: thing to talk to her because she's the vice president
Speaker 1: of Wellness and Clinical Services put the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that we've talked about a
Speaker 1: lot throughout this series is just how it seems like
Speaker 1: mental illness is something that impacts probably everybody's life at
Speaker 1: one point or another and in some way or another.
Speaker 1: And I know you've talked a little bit about your
Speaker 1: personal express already, so don't want to put you on
Speaker 1: the spot, but is there anything else that you'd like
Speaker 1: to add just about how this topic has affected your
Speaker 1: life personally, either directly or indirectly. Directly, it really hasn't.
Speaker 1: But I know from talking to Kenyaka from the NFL
Speaker 1: office that mental health usually affects one out of five Americans,
Speaker 1: and so I think that's for me looking at those numbers,
Speaker 1: it's going to affect somebody that I know. And since
Speaker 1: I do talk to a lot of former players. I'm
Speaker 1: usually talking either talking to a guy who's either dealing
Speaker 1: with it or somebody in his family is dealing with
Speaker 1: mental health. And so for me, if there's somebody who's
Speaker 1: played in National Football League that I can try to
Speaker 1: reach out to and try to make it better, then
Speaker 1: I'm gonna reach out to him, because, like I said,
Speaker 1: for me, the NFL isn't just a game. It's a family.
Speaker 1: And if there's somebody's hurting and I want to reach
Speaker 1: out there, I'm want to try to do something for
Speaker 1: them because it's taking care of mean personally, I see
Speaker 1: it's taking care of our own and doing so much
Speaker 1: better because I always saw it as charity starts at home,
Speaker 1: and so for me, they don't follows home, and so
Speaker 1: I want to try to do as much as I can.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, And I think lastly, John just kind of
Speaker 1: from a big picture perspective. As we continue this series,
Speaker 1: you know we've talked to guys like Eric Kendricks, Jalen Holmes.
Speaker 1: We did a segment with the Feelings here recently. Now
Speaker 1: we're talking to you, what kind of impact do you
Speaker 1: think this can have when you know these people who
Speaker 1: are well known athletes are well respected by people are
Speaker 1: willing to open up and talk about some of these
Speaker 1: difficult things. Oh man, that's you know, that's so easy.
Speaker 1: I think it shows the rest of the world that
Speaker 1: they're human, that they have problems just like everybody else does.
Speaker 1: And I mean that's for every athletes who's played to
Speaker 1: play from sports. That's one of the questions I know
Speaker 1: I get asked all the time about is little things like, hey,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? Are you you know, I know
Speaker 1: you played in that shoal league, say you're doing this
Speaker 1: and that I'm like, no, you know what, I'm at
Speaker 1: home because my wife says I have to be here
Speaker 1: at certain times. I have to do this. So I
Speaker 1: think for guys who can talk about it, that's to
Speaker 1: me that that puts those athletes on a higher pedestal
Speaker 1: because you can talk about your personal problem, you can
Speaker 1: talk about things you have going on. You can say
Speaker 1: that that you cry, you can say that you get emotional,
Speaker 1: you can say that that your day isn't perfect. And
Speaker 1: because that's one of the biggest things, they believe that
Speaker 1: athletes are perfect, and you know, for me, I'm not.
Speaker 1: If I did, I would have a great golf game.
Speaker 1: But uh, I think that's that's what makes it true,
Speaker 1: is that guys are vulnerable, and especially when it's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, you you've got to let people know that
Speaker 1: you're normal. And uh, you know, mental health is so important.
Speaker 1: And like I said, it may not affect you are,
Speaker 1: but it affects someone that we know that we care about.
Speaker 1: And if we could do something to help support our
Speaker 1: friends and families, why not why not be truthful and
Speaker 1: and and and tell them that you got something that
Speaker 1: either you got something going on what they do. I
Speaker 1: honestly don't think that there's a better way to wrap
Speaker 1: this up, John, But thank you so so much for
Speaker 1: for taking time out of your day, time out of
Speaker 1: a possible golf day. I'm not sure for no. Any
Speaker 1: time I get a chance to talk to some some
Speaker 1: vikings who who love who love it to you as
Speaker 1: much as I do, then scold I can do golf
Speaker 1: another day. I love it. Thanks so much, John, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: Huge things to John for hanging out with us and
Speaker 1: just sharing some of his thoughts in his heart around
Speaker 1: this very important topic. I know for me it's really
Speaker 1: cool just to see kind of another side of him
Speaker 1: and how he's so passionate about working with the NFL
Speaker 1: Legends community and around this area. Thank you guys as
Speaker 1: well for tuning in and listening to another episode of
Speaker 1: Getting Open. I invite you to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: Vikings digital platforms, as we do have another couple episodes
Speaker 1: coming up.