Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for
Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, four
Speaker 1: team year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Anius Williams. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the NFL let this podcast. I am
Speaker 1: as Williams. Today we sit down with three NFL legends
Speaker 1: to discuss life working as a black man in the
Speaker 1: league office and how they use their NFL platforms to
Speaker 1: inspire change. Our three guests today are Osama Young, safety
Speaker 1: and Super Bowl forty four champions when my native New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints. That's right, he brought the Super Bowl home
Speaker 1: to my hometown. He also was outstar in a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl forty four commercial by his dad at Leroy. He
Speaker 1: is a player engagement manager in the league office. Our
Speaker 1: second penelt fullback Darrell Young, not related. I'm starting to
Speaker 1: wonder if you have to be young in order to
Speaker 1: work in the league office. He also engagement player relations manager. Lastly,
Speaker 1: we have defensive lineman Darrell Campbell, d C and associate
Speaker 1: producer at NFL Films. Gentlemen, I am so excited to
Speaker 1: have you on. Welcome than you. Let's die right in
Speaker 1: on the NFL Legends Podcast. To focus with guests former
Speaker 1: players has always centered around their journey. Probably the most
Speaker 1: critical point along everyone's path has been dealing with transition.
Speaker 1: And if you play in the National Football League or
Speaker 1: have them played, you will transition, and as you guys know,
Speaker 1: not always when you're ready. Can each of you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about your transition from the gridiron to
Speaker 1: the league office? And that's what the first question? What
Speaker 1: was it like? And how did you get into the
Speaker 1: league office? But first talk about the transition from the league. Well, well,
Speaker 1: I'll take I'll take the range first. It was tough
Speaker 1: for me. First off, I got injured, you know, uh
Speaker 1: my my first time getting seriously injured. I fractured a
Speaker 1: vertebrae and I bounced back. I came back the next year,
Speaker 1: and the next very next year, I told my knee
Speaker 1: up bad, A c L L C L hand me
Speaker 1: off the bone and I tried to bounce back, but
Speaker 1: I couldn't. It was the first time I truly felt
Speaker 1: like my body failed me and my mind couldn't push
Speaker 1: me through it. And even though I had thought about
Speaker 1: how I was going to transition and what I was
Speaker 1: going to do after my playing experience, it still was
Speaker 1: tough because mentally I thought I could do it. I
Speaker 1: just knew I could do it. I had done it
Speaker 1: so many other times before. And now it's transitioning into
Speaker 1: the league office, and and it wasn't that smooth of it.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to work with the league. I I
Speaker 1: did job shadows, I did internships. I was going to
Speaker 1: different places trying to figure it out what specifically, where
Speaker 1: specifically I would land. And I took advantage of the
Speaker 1: Legends Development program and was fortunate to meet the rail
Speaker 1: and several others in the League office. But I landed
Speaker 1: that position, and it's no looking back. So I remember
Speaker 1: a song by the name of the late artists Prince.
Speaker 1: He had the songs uh that Usama that said when
Speaker 1: doves cried, When did that tear drop fall from your eye?
Speaker 1: When you knew it was over? It does criss right there.
Speaker 1: I love it, you know what, I knew it was over.
Speaker 1: And it just so happened that, uh, my dad passed
Speaker 1: away shortly after uh after my my injury. He was
Speaker 1: he was able to see my last game out in
Speaker 1: Oakland at the Coliseum and and he was there with
Speaker 1: me along with along with my my family. We we all,
Speaker 1: we all, we we had those tears, but we knew
Speaker 1: we were going to come back. And guess what. My
Speaker 1: father passed away the next year, you know, during my recovery,
Speaker 1: and then my daughter was born and I said, wow,
Speaker 1: my my life isn't just football anymore. More. The priority
Speaker 1: is now, Hey, let me let me show this baby girl,
Speaker 1: my baby girl. Are you that that I'm able to
Speaker 1: do much more than just play football? And how how
Speaker 1: is she going to see me? How? How is she
Speaker 1: gonna see that legacy that I'm going to leave behind
Speaker 1: that my dad left for me and left some huge
Speaker 1: shoes to feel. As you all saw in that commercial,
Speaker 1: it was that was that tier right there. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a tear of joy having a baby girl,
Speaker 1: but it was also you know, those tears are sorrow
Speaker 1: being that, hey, I'm no longer able to play this game,
Speaker 1: which we know eventually what happened most times sooner than
Speaker 1: later for others. How about you, Darrell, What was it
Speaker 1: like what your transition from a grid arm? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: it was, uh, it was tough. You know. The transition
Speaker 1: really started for me in the Redskins. Well, excuse me.
Speaker 1: I was doing an internship with under Armor and the Redskins.
Speaker 1: I went into Jay's office and said, Hey, what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do. I know you don't value fullbacks right now,
Speaker 1: but you know that's where I've been my career, so
Speaker 1: you know that's what I want to do. And it's said.
Speaker 1: He looked me in my eyes and said, we're not
Speaker 1: gonna bring you back. We're gonna allow you to to
Speaker 1: try free agency, and uh, you know, be ready if
Speaker 1: we do bring it back. And I said, Jy, I've
Speaker 1: been here in this business long enough to know that
Speaker 1: you're not gonna bring me back, so thank you for
Speaker 1: the opportunity in the last seven years. Fast forward, you know,
Speaker 1: the next year I signed in UH Chicago for a
Speaker 1: short Stanton in Carolina and then UH Carolina drafted a
Speaker 1: fullback and he's still on the roster now. But I
Speaker 1: remember going into the room and they said, hey, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be out starting fullback while I was out looking
Speaker 1: for places come back. An hour later, they cut me
Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, I'm done with this.
Speaker 1: So that day I reached out to Stephen Bone, who
Speaker 1: was in the league office now, and I said, Hey,
Speaker 1: that opportunity that you were speaking on, that you spoke
Speaker 1: so highly on is that's still available and that was
Speaker 1: his Legends Development internship. I applied driving back on that day.
Speaker 1: Literally by the time I got in Maryland, I had
Speaker 1: submitted my resume driving and uh, typing up a resume.
Speaker 1: I don't encourage it, but I did it. Um submitted
Speaker 1: that and three weeks later, you know, got to call that.
Speaker 1: You know, I was chosen for the second round of
Speaker 1: the interviews, so I had a decision to make. San
Speaker 1: Francisco called me. Kyle Uschek got hurt. I was on
Speaker 1: my way to the airport. John Lynch called me and said,
Speaker 1: you know what, we had a player could hurt today
Speaker 1: be ready for next week. And I said, with all
Speaker 1: due respect, Mr Lynch, I'm done. So that day the
Speaker 1: League office. The next day, the League Office offered me
Speaker 1: the internship, and that was part of it. It was
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things I've ever done. And you know,
Speaker 1: talking about crying man, that was in the car Boo
Speaker 1: who and when the rage kids bringing me back, man.
Speaker 1: But that was the first time in my life where
Speaker 1: I felt like I wasn't on it outside of being
Speaker 1: cut my first year being on practice squad. But you know,
Speaker 1: I was ended up coming back and being a starter
Speaker 1: for six years after that, so that that that was
Speaker 1: part of the transition. It was hard. It's still hard
Speaker 1: thinking about it, knowing that I think I still can play,
Speaker 1: and even got a call that next season Atlanta wanted
Speaker 1: to bring me in for workout in Tennessee, and uh,
Speaker 1: I just said, you know what, I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: the career now the experience is over. It's interesting, Durrell,
Speaker 1: you use the word the first time you realize you
Speaker 1: are not wanted versus Okay, my career may be ended.
Speaker 1: But from that psychological standpoint, you said not wanted, how
Speaker 1: did you reconcile that, Because there's a different between Okay,
Speaker 1: I know I played. Uh I see the right on
Speaker 1: the wall. Uh No one's gonna offer me a job.
Speaker 1: It's a whole different psychology from the legend a former player.
Speaker 1: When you say I wasn't wanted, how did you surmise that? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I've been playing football since I was six years old.
Speaker 1: It was you know, no one ever tells you you're
Speaker 1: done playing, and that's the hardest piece. So dealing with
Speaker 1: that mindset and not feeling wanted, I had to come
Speaker 1: to reality that, you know what, I had my daughter,
Speaker 1: she was three. I had to be in a position
Speaker 1: where I had to take care of my family at
Speaker 1: that time. So that's what encouraged me to be a
Speaker 1: better person each and every day. But it was the
Speaker 1: hardest thing I've ever been through in my life. Talking
Speaker 1: about crying, talking about finances, like all the things that
Speaker 1: you think about. It was. It was. It was different,
Speaker 1: you know, And it's something that I still think about now.
Speaker 1: And when players talk about their transition, them like, I know,
Speaker 1: I get it. I don't want to lecture, but this
Speaker 1: is how I dealt with it. So it was. It's
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things. And I'm glad to have
Speaker 1: guys like Osama and d C on this on this uh,
Speaker 1: on this podcast with me to to to tell those
Speaker 1: stories and to to uh just look back and say,
Speaker 1: you know what, we had the opportunities to do what
Speaker 1: we did, and you know what's next. So no, what
Speaker 1: about for you, d C? Every time I'm on the
Speaker 1: podcast or you and I converse, it sounds like you
Speaker 1: on top of the world. Tell us about your transition.
Speaker 1: I love your enthusiasm. The biggest reason for the enthusiasm
Speaker 1: and this is because I get to, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: be amongst people like just like Darrell said, him and
Speaker 1: Usama and you know, honestly, even you and everybody on
Speaker 1: this podcast. I I derive a great deal of my
Speaker 1: energy from the team. When I played, I was a
Speaker 1: team guy. Was the Philly one of the bunch. I
Speaker 1: was the one that you know, people look to me
Speaker 1: and say, yo, d C, like you're gonna be right
Speaker 1: when the season is over, because you know, you're, yeah,
Speaker 1: your boys with your two we come back because you know,
Speaker 1: everybody disperses and goes the separate war years after a season.
Speaker 1: And you know, for me, my journey was was one
Speaker 1: where um, how can I put it? It was it
Speaker 1: was It was a great deal of scratching and clawing.
Speaker 1: Came into the league No. Three toward my A c
Speaker 1: L the week before the draft, was slotted to be
Speaker 1: a second third round draft pick, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: God bless me um by, you know, having Lovey Smith
Speaker 1: come in um with Chicago um and his training staff
Speaker 1: and and and and and the organization rehab me on
Speaker 1: their own time. And then it was just six years
Speaker 1: in the league of scratching and clawing, you know, shuffling
Speaker 1: from the practice squad rosters to the act of roster
Speaker 1: and we all know what this business is like. But
Speaker 1: you know, I, I truly am thankful to God for
Speaker 1: the opportunity's and the teammates that you know, I've I've had,
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity to be around. My last stint
Speaker 1: in the league was two thousand nine. Got released in
Speaker 1: Baltimore early on in that season, picked up in Canada,
Speaker 1: went a great Cup with Mark Trustman's Montreal Alouettes, and
Speaker 1: then again I had to deal with you know, like
Speaker 1: you said, d why that that feeling of not being
Speaker 1: wanted anymore? Um? But the mental let down, I guess
Speaker 1: from from my perspective, was just that what do I
Speaker 1: do now? Because what do I chase? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? The passion I had for the game of
Speaker 1: football is still in me. I still want to continue playing,
Speaker 1: but it just kind of seems like, you know, my
Speaker 1: number is up. UM. I called my defensive line coach
Speaker 1: in Montreal, Michael Sinclair's a longtime great NFL defensive end
Speaker 1: for Seattle and a bunch of other teams, and um,
Speaker 1: he told me something really profound. He said, d C,
Speaker 1: You've always taken care of this game. And somebody told
Speaker 1: me this, if you take care of the game, the
Speaker 1: game will take care of you. Um, I suggest that
Speaker 1: you reach out to UH to coach trustman and see
Speaker 1: if there's UH if there might be an opportunity through
Speaker 1: people he knows or you know, I'll be looking on
Speaker 1: on on for your I'll be looking out for you
Speaker 1: on my behalf as well. So I wrote him a
Speaker 1: long email. I'm talking about pages long, all types of
Speaker 1: stuff in there. Man. I probably was just crying with words,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And then uh, you know
Speaker 1: Mark Mark hit me back and he said, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I have a friend and this is the this is
Speaker 1: the cool thing about networking and being around brothers like
Speaker 1: you know, Sama and d Y. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: When when you when you when you're part of a team,
Speaker 1: you know, he said, listen, I got a good friend
Speaker 1: of mine at NFL Films. His name is Greg Cosel.
Speaker 1: I know you're an exo guy. You know you're also
Speaker 1: a tech guy. Used to cut all the highlights and
Speaker 1: stuff for the team while I was playing in Montreal.
Speaker 1: It was I've always had an affinity and a knack
Speaker 1: for technology, And he said, listen. You know I was
Speaker 1: looking like Kimbo slow ex back then. Man, I had
Speaker 1: like a face thro I mean that went from the
Speaker 1: beard all the way around the head. And I mean
Speaker 1: you could you could just see my eyes. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: Um and uh he said, you know, I would suggest,
Speaker 1: you know, doctoring up your appearance. UM. Uh, going to
Speaker 1: you know, NFL films with the shoot suit jacket. Talked
Speaker 1: to my friend and UM, you know, see what happens.
Speaker 1: I'm not promised you anything, um, but just see what happened.
Speaker 1: So I came in. The first person I met in
Speaker 1: the lower level UH atrium at the front door was
Speaker 1: Steve Sable Um, and he came out. He said, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: are you here for to to talk to someone? And say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm here to speak with Greg co Sell for NFL matchup.
Speaker 1: He said, h we'll, we'll, We'll get around to him
Speaker 1: and in the second just come come roll with me.
Speaker 1: So I'm rolling around films with Steve saying when he's
Speaker 1: just showing giving me a tour. We eventually end up
Speaker 1: in Greg's Greg's office. Greg's watching all twenty two tape
Speaker 1: like he all he does. Legs kicked up on the desk,
Speaker 1: and um, he's picking my my my brain about knowledge.
Speaker 1: And you know, one hour turned the two and it
Speaker 1: seemed to be having a good time. And the next thing,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, a couple of weeks later, says, hey,
Speaker 1: I want you to come in as a seasonal and
Speaker 1: learn and and and that's what I did. And you
Speaker 1: know the rest is history, and I'm on with you. Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm blessed to be on with you fellas. Right now, Dearyl,
Speaker 1: did you know you were walking around with the legendary
Speaker 1: Steve Sable? Oh yeah, with our questions. Well, first once
Speaker 1: he told I saw his face and I was like,
Speaker 1: this can't be life right now, like that Steve Sable
Speaker 1: right there, and and and then he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: come roll with me. I'm like, yep, I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say no. Um, and and like he just
Speaker 1: he he's such a brilliant man. I mean from all
Speaker 1: the art we have around this place. He I mean,
Speaker 1: he told me a story like how this whole place
Speaker 1: came to be, the old building the current building. Now,
Speaker 1: it was just unbelievable. And and and to this day,
Speaker 1: you know, those are moments with him, I won't forget um.
Speaker 1: I I remember just being you know, my second third
Speaker 1: year editing, even when you know Steve was battling cancer
Speaker 1: and he was you know, uh he had to he
Speaker 1: he was relegated to a wheelchair and coming. He would
Speaker 1: come in just to watch me edit. He would say
Speaker 1: a couple of things here and there with the strength
Speaker 1: that he had, you know, for suggestions. But he cared
Speaker 1: so much about people, and that's one of the things
Speaker 1: that made me fall in love with this this place,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it also fuels that enthusiasm and fire
Speaker 1: because I love people. You can't do anything without the
Speaker 1: people that you surrounded with your team. Durrell who something.
Speaker 1: I feel the same way about you all boys. I
Speaker 1: love you dearly and I'm super proud of what you
Speaker 1: guys are doing at the league office because your boots
Speaker 1: on the ground and you care about all of our
Speaker 1: brothers that's coming off that field to make sure that
Speaker 1: you know there's a place for him. So you know,
Speaker 1: as long as you know God has me in this
Speaker 1: position to be associated with that, you know, I'm all
Speaker 1: aways had that energy and ENTHUSIASTM Well, guys, when we
Speaker 1: had the discussion about what we would call former players,
Speaker 1: and we end up coming and I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: league office come up with the term legend. Well, we
Speaker 1: got some kicked back a little bit because the some
Speaker 1: of the Hall of Famers said, well, if you call
Speaker 1: every former player a legend, then what are we And
Speaker 1: what we wanted the Hall of Famers to understand was
Speaker 1: a legend if you're one percent every guy has played
Speaker 1: in the league, one percent of high school players playing
Speaker 1: the league. So no matter how long a guy played,
Speaker 1: if he had made it to the league, he was
Speaker 1: a legend wherever he came from. Even though depending on
Speaker 1: the length of the career, that player may not feel
Speaker 1: like their legend, but to them back home, they are
Speaker 1: a legend. So d C tell us about those dynamics
Speaker 1: and that psychology actually becoming out the ball getting called
Speaker 1: my perspective on it, and you hint it, You hinted
Speaker 1: at it with just my enthusiasm. So my perspective on
Speaker 1: it is where all legends. We all made sacrifices to
Speaker 1: get to this point, to to have careers, regardless of
Speaker 1: the length um but even more than that, and because
Speaker 1: I'm a man of faith, we're all blessed to to
Speaker 1: to be able to say that. And I think that
Speaker 1: in and of itself means a lot. And that is,
Speaker 1: you know, just something that should be cherished, should be respected. UM.
Speaker 1: And I think even when I when I got when
Speaker 1: I signed up for the the NFL Legends community, prior
Speaker 1: to even any projects with respect to this podcast and
Speaker 1: and and other adventures that we do overheit NFL films, UM,
Speaker 1: I was I was star struck because you know, some
Speaker 1: of the guys, like the warren SAPs of the world,
Speaker 1: you know, guys that I studied film on just to
Speaker 1: try to emulate a fraction of what it is that
Speaker 1: he was able to do. Um. You know, I was
Speaker 1: like that, dude is a legend. That does that mean
Speaker 1: I'm a legend? You kind of think about it in
Speaker 1: those tournals. I'm like, man, I just like my career
Speaker 1: was back and forth, our practice squad rosters. I mean,
Speaker 1: can I even you know say that. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, Um, we all share common experiences
Speaker 1: and and and and honestly it heightens the common bond,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. Again, even to to my brothers on
Speaker 1: this this podcast here d y new Sama, you guys
Speaker 1: had amazing careers. Um. And you know, I've I've watched
Speaker 1: YouTube clips on you guys, highlights on you guys, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, it's it means so much to me
Speaker 1: to just say, man, you know what, those are my
Speaker 1: brothers through this, through this legends community, through our common
Speaker 1: bond and experiences that we've shared. Regardless of the length
Speaker 1: of career, I can say the that I can with
Speaker 1: conviction state that you guys are my brothers. And that's
Speaker 1: why I'm so excited when I see you. That's why
Speaker 1: I root for you and cheer for you when you
Speaker 1: guys are doing things at the League office and you know, um,
Speaker 1: and that's why I always have your backs. Legend. Any
Speaker 1: other term of endemnment that that it might get changed
Speaker 1: to noe makes no no matter to me because it's
Speaker 1: all about that common bond and um the brotherhood. So
Speaker 1: thank you, d seeing who song. I got a different
Speaker 1: question for you and and maybe Durrell. How different is
Speaker 1: that working of the league office versus being on the field.
Speaker 1: What does that psychology are? Like? Wow, Wow, that's uh,
Speaker 1: that's everyone. That's an everyone because you know, they both
Speaker 1: take a vast level of commitment. Uh, they both take
Speaker 1: a vast level of of knowledge and understanding. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: one of them beats up your body and your brain,
Speaker 1: and another one is more so just the mental, the
Speaker 1: brain and the social and emotional. But uh uh, I'll
Speaker 1: say that looking at my my NFL experience and you know,
Speaker 1: now transitioning and being a legend, just to allude to
Speaker 1: your last question is wild for me because to even
Speaker 1: say myself as a legend, but I like to recognize
Speaker 1: my brothers that are on the line right now and
Speaker 1: others and saying those guys are legends. And then we
Speaker 1: stepped into the the corporate space of the NFL and
Speaker 1: the business side, and we're rookies again. You know, we
Speaker 1: know the game, we know the business of the game
Speaker 1: to an extent, but the corporate side of it, that's
Speaker 1: that's the challenge, you know. I uh, I think the
Speaker 1: other guys on the on the phone as well, we
Speaker 1: all we all had learning experiences when we first stepped in.
Speaker 1: And you know d C mentioned, you know, a cleaning
Speaker 1: up coming in with suit when I first met the
Speaker 1: reil indeed, why we were both suited and booted as well,
Speaker 1: and we were both like, where's the bathroom? The same
Speaker 1: way as the same way you come in and you're
Speaker 1: like looking for the training room. Where's the training room?
Speaker 1: How do I get my ankles taped? You know, and
Speaker 1: you feel you feel like a vet to some degree.
Speaker 1: But then in your first meeting, people aren't listening to you.
Speaker 1: They're not waiting for your ideas. They're not they're not
Speaker 1: they're not waiting for you to provide input. And when
Speaker 1: you do, if it's not heard, you always want to
Speaker 1: go back to speaking on the the experience as an
Speaker 1: NFL player to show them, Hey, I do know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. I have experienced things that that very
Speaker 1: few or if not any of you have experienced it.
Speaker 1: And I and I have some valuable input to display.
Speaker 1: But but still like a rookie like the I say,
Speaker 1: the most of the successful rookies you put in at
Speaker 1: extra time to be successful at your craft. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what all of us have done. You know,
Speaker 1: we we ask questions, we look for mentors. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: mentors come to us. You know, we've been we've been
Speaker 1: blessed to have people and you know, right right right
Speaker 1: and out at our disposal, and say a Troy who
Speaker 1: played the game and transitioned into this space and and
Speaker 1: others throughout the building who who have opened up to us.
Speaker 1: But if we don't take that initiative, or if we
Speaker 1: don't speak on it, that stigma exists as just the
Speaker 1: guys that played the game that are in the building
Speaker 1: and don't necessarily have value correct the role. Who comes
Speaker 1: to you with a quick question, but to you d
Speaker 1: C the end of the veterans make you bring donuts
Speaker 1: when you're a rookie, man, uh, it's it's funny. It's
Speaker 1: funny that you just you should say that, because, um,
Speaker 1: first off, you gotta understand and you know that. And
Speaker 1: to to to Sama's point, when you come in as
Speaker 1: a rookie, the difference that I like to say that
Speaker 1: I've seen on the field with you know, guys like
Speaker 1: Brian Urlacker or um um, Derek Brooks and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: who I have the you know, the fortune to play with.
Speaker 1: They understood the power of taking advantage of every opportunity.
Speaker 1: They understood the power to studying. You know. Usami said,
Speaker 1: you come in and you know you have to ask
Speaker 1: those questions, you have to learn um and and you
Speaker 1: know in some instances you have to go get donuts.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just one of those things you might
Speaker 1: when you come in, you might have to go get
Speaker 1: the executive producers glasses from you know, Lens Crafters or
Speaker 1: somewhere because he can't do it because he's putting together
Speaker 1: a show. But at the same time, those are the
Speaker 1: those are the lumps that you have to take while
Speaker 1: you retool and reinvent, reinvent yourself and educate yourself to
Speaker 1: the nature of the business so that later on you
Speaker 1: can make strides and you can um, you know, showcase
Speaker 1: your talent within this new space on this new field.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean as a rookie, I've I've I've
Speaker 1: done plenty of late nights and studying and you know
Speaker 1: analytics that never got you know, used on the show.
Speaker 1: But you know, uh, now you know I'm in a
Speaker 1: position nowhere. You know, I don't have the title of
Speaker 1: playing the show, but you know I kind of put
Speaker 1: the show together visually, so you know, you just have
Speaker 1: to Your time always comes. Is That's what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say. Hey, Durrell, did you take advantage of any
Speaker 1: of the NFL programs to help you train for what
Speaker 1: you do? You know what I didn't know about NFL programs.
Speaker 1: I did the p A programs and I did an
Speaker 1: internship at UNDARMED. One of the things that I did
Speaker 1: there was learned how to use Microsoft Outlook. That was
Speaker 1: the best thing that I could have learned during that time,
Speaker 1: but also how to network. But in terms of the
Speaker 1: NFL programs, I was not aware about all the resources
Speaker 1: that were available. And you know, I just got off
Speaker 1: the fielding twenty seven team. But one of the things
Speaker 1: that you know changed up when we came into building,
Speaker 1: Troy said, we want to be intentional and we want
Speaker 1: to have you guys go off to the teams, not
Speaker 1: to not to just be that player rep, but to
Speaker 1: build relationships and talk about the information that's out there
Speaker 1: for players. And then fast forward, we have the Player Portal.
Speaker 1: So we have so many different resources now that allow
Speaker 1: players to engage with the league office that weren't there
Speaker 1: necessarily three years ago, or they were there but we
Speaker 1: just didn't know about them. Well, we know what these
Speaker 1: transitions become become obstacles. Were you being three African American
Speaker 1: men in the league officers, Well, what has been your
Speaker 1: experienced with stereotype, stigmas, unconscious bias maybe while working in
Speaker 1: the league office. DC oh Man we we we here. Uh.
Speaker 1: I guess the word the word culture comes to mind
Speaker 1: when I say that. And I don't mean that in
Speaker 1: a negative way. I mean that in a way where
Speaker 1: you have to understand and and and and Oussama d
Speaker 1: y no, you guys can are gonna add into this
Speaker 1: when you get to the league. Right, what's the nine
Speaker 1: times I'll attend. The first thing you have to deal
Speaker 1: with is the the change in speed of the game. Right,
Speaker 1: the things are just moving at such a frantic pace
Speaker 1: and you're trying to catch up right here in the
Speaker 1: NFL films. UM, I believe that the culture here has
Speaker 1: been a certain way for so long, UM. And since
Speaker 1: there isn't very much representation African Americans in particular, UM
Speaker 1: that it's it's an opportunity for for for growth in
Speaker 1: this area. It's an opportunity for a better understanding, UM
Speaker 1: with respect to what you know, UM african Arians go
Speaker 1: through when they do enter spaces like this, and in particular, UM,
Speaker 1: people didn't know me, and they only knew the football
Speaker 1: football side of things, and so my the way people
Speaker 1: looked at me was, hey, you're just a football player,
Speaker 1: UM that's in this space and you know what You're
Speaker 1: gonna go to the place where all football is, which
Speaker 1: is NFL Matchup. It's all about xos is at all
Speaker 1: twenty two footage. That's we feel like, that's comfortable, comfortable
Speaker 1: for you. You go there and you do your thing
Speaker 1: in there. The only problem with that is that is
Speaker 1: not the business of NFL films. The business of NFL
Speaker 1: films is making stories, is making documentaries. Is UM showcasing
Speaker 1: the lives of many NFL football players and put it
Speaker 1: in putting it on the big screen. So the show
Speaker 1: that I was on was was basically an outlier show.
Speaker 1: UM a great show because it's been around for years.
Speaker 1: I know when you know I played the game, I
Speaker 1: would be watching it like game David. You know it's
Speaker 1: NFL Matchup, you Jaws and Hodge and and everybody on
Speaker 1: UM on the set. I saw that dynamic. Um, I
Speaker 1: saw the fact that I was on this show because
Speaker 1: I'm only seen as an athlete, and so that's where
Speaker 1: the athletes are gonna go. What I did and I
Speaker 1: had to the same thing you do in sports. Okay,
Speaker 1: what what are my assets here? If I'm a defensive lima,
Speaker 1: like I mean, I got a pretty sick inside club move.
Speaker 1: Uh my first step is pretty all is pretty good.
Speaker 1: But you know that if if he catch me with
Speaker 1: that arm up, I'm gonna get bammed out the way.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Right now, everybody's kind of
Speaker 1: looking at me just like an athlete. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't really get too many opportunities. Uh, even though I'm
Speaker 1: waving my hand, and you know, there are a couple
Speaker 1: of things, a couple of talks and discussions I have
Speaker 1: to take on the chin and I know, and if
Speaker 1: I'm being quite frank here, if I was white, nobody
Speaker 1: would be talking to me this way. And you know
Speaker 1: what I did, instead of saying, you know, a getting
Speaker 1: down to myself and saying pretty much f the situation,
Speaker 1: I said, let me let me, let me let me retool. Okay.
Speaker 1: I specialize with technology. I went to school for operating
Speaker 1: systems grad school for operating systems. I was computer science major.
Speaker 1: So really I saw a bunch of systems in here
Speaker 1: that everybody was only utilizing one way. So I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe there's a way for me to
Speaker 1: to get in that way. So I went to the
Speaker 1: tech side of the building. I talked to all the
Speaker 1: engineers I learned about, you know, the inner workings of
Speaker 1: how information is transmitted from the production side to the
Speaker 1: tech side. You know what that started to teach me
Speaker 1: about workflow. And so what I started to do is
Speaker 1: become a master of that. And then once I understood
Speaker 1: that workflow, then I could take that back to the
Speaker 1: editing grounds, the production grounds, and then people would confide
Speaker 1: in me about things they didn't know about, and then
Speaker 1: I would help them. And then I feel like that
Speaker 1: was my end to the story, the story world. And
Speaker 1: I got my first opportunity the with um inside the NFL,
Speaker 1: and then the rest was history. Because then my co workers,
Speaker 1: my teammates said, you know what, he's not just a
Speaker 1: football player. He actually and this is this is quite funny.
Speaker 1: They say, you know what, he can write, he's thoughtful
Speaker 1: and you know he's profound and he can can do
Speaker 1: these things. Now, in my mind, the stigmas and things
Speaker 1: are associated there before I even did anything. But as
Speaker 1: an athlete, what do we do someone? What do we do?
Speaker 1: Do you why? You know, even if they're looking at
Speaker 1: it in a way of color, we have we we've
Speaker 1: always done it. Since we played the game, We adapted,
Speaker 1: we came in, we retooled, we we we reinvented, and
Speaker 1: and then just like the one percent you were talking about,
Speaker 1: it is we we excelled. You know now as brothers
Speaker 1: were part of the Letanis community at NFL Films. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm an associate producer, and I come to
Speaker 1: work with people I called my teammates, and some of
Speaker 1: them were people back then who said, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: never get a full time job here. That's just that's
Speaker 1: just kind of a little bit of of what what
Speaker 1: what happens? But you know, still keep that enthusiasm, still
Speaker 1: keep that excitement, and and and and and and guess what,
Speaker 1: this is the same people that said, hey, you'll never
Speaker 1: get a job A high five in the hardway, and
Speaker 1: I call them brothers. Hey, d C, d C. I
Speaker 1: want I wanted to add to that, man, because I
Speaker 1: love the fact that you pointed out some uh, some
Speaker 1: very very valid points in terms of you know, being
Speaker 1: black is one thing. Being a former player legend is another.
Speaker 1: You know, you're celebrated for your accomplishments on the field,
Speaker 1: and and that's the main thing, the one thing that's
Speaker 1: cool about the guys on this on this podcast right now,
Speaker 1: is I recognize the fact that y'all a man at
Speaker 1: the year, winners for your respective teams, and Byron was
Speaker 1: a white representatives and and we give back to our
Speaker 1: communities consistent or recognized for all that while playing, you know,
Speaker 1: and and then stepping into the office space. Most people
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about that. They want to talk
Speaker 1: about those on the field accomplishments, which is cool, we
Speaker 1: can celebrate that, but they don't want to know about
Speaker 1: the internships and job shadows and in teaching and philanthropic
Speaker 1: efforts that that you've done, and and all the other
Speaker 1: commitments that you've made to to to at least be
Speaker 1: seen as on the same level of your colleagues. And
Speaker 1: you know me, I'll speak from myself in d wise
Speaker 1: point of view. Being in player engagement, it's one thing
Speaker 1: that we're there and we're we have this dream job.
Speaker 1: We want to be involved in strategy and business. So
Speaker 1: we said, you know what, we gotta get leadership certifications
Speaker 1: and we want to we got to go back to
Speaker 1: school and get our degree, our master's degree, and we
Speaker 1: hire executive coaches, and we take so many different different approaches,
Speaker 1: and again they are still sometimes ignored and which can
Speaker 1: be frustrating, but just like you said, we're always going
Speaker 1: to keep on pushing and that's one of the things
Speaker 1: that like I think make up that less than one
Speaker 1: percent that we keep on bringing back. Like we're all
Speaker 1: about that commitment and we're gonna bring it to the
Speaker 1: field and we're gonna bring it to the office as well.
Speaker 1: I love that, do see it? Love it? Man? And
Speaker 1: would you say the experiences of being in the league
Speaker 1: being African American required, because what DC just talked about
Speaker 1: as well as Usama is it looked like it required patients.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about that drill? Yeah? Absolutely, So you
Speaker 1: know each and every day you know it's a it's
Speaker 1: a new challenge. And you talk about patients. Well, for me,
Speaker 1: being from the practice squad to waiting behind the great
Speaker 1: Mike Sellers to starting in the position to getting cut
Speaker 1: the waiting game was the hardest thing on the field,
Speaker 1: but I learned how to adapt to that is both
Speaker 1: of these gentlemen eluded to. You adapt to that. You
Speaker 1: you you put yourself in a situation where you say,
Speaker 1: you know what, that's not gonna work today, but that
Speaker 1: inside zone, we might come back to that in two weeks.
Speaker 1: You know, like you said, you wait some things out
Speaker 1: and you have your opportunity, but you have to be ready,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh you could. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're ever you're ever ready, you can prepare for it,
Speaker 1: I should say, I don't know if you're ever ready,
Speaker 1: But when that challenge comes, I know I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: myself in the best situation for that opportunity. So here's
Speaker 1: a here's a fantastic question, all right, being DC, being
Speaker 1: in films, Salmon Durrell being the league office as well,
Speaker 1: how did you guys make the transition as relates to
Speaker 1: the I would say, the etiquette in the locker room
Speaker 1: versus being in corporate and also things said on the field,
Speaker 1: how things are sit in the locker room. Now you
Speaker 1: you're also working with females as well. Tell me about that, DC.
Speaker 1: I think it has a great deal to do with one,
Speaker 1: you know, behavior, corporate behavior um understanding the boundaries that
Speaker 1: have to exist when you're in the corporate space as
Speaker 1: opposed to you know, that natural exchange that you have
Speaker 1: in the locker room, where you know that locker room
Speaker 1: space is comfortable space and you can talk about anything.
Speaker 1: In corporate America, uh, and NFL Films we're a bit
Speaker 1: more reserved and and we stick to our our business,
Speaker 1: which is you know, making stories, um, but also dealing
Speaker 1: with you know, like like females and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: You just you just have to understand that that the
Speaker 1: corporate space takes again back to that point we alluded
Speaker 1: to a great deal of patients to negotiate. I think
Speaker 1: workflow UM is key. Teamwork is key, and then and
Speaker 1: and and understanding that and and having I should also say,
Speaker 1: like an open mind us to say, hey, what it
Speaker 1: is that that I'm suggesting might not be um used,
Speaker 1: what it is that I'm this thing might not be
Speaker 1: put on the forefront of any initiative that might go
Speaker 1: on around here because maybe it's just not time for
Speaker 1: it yet or maybe you know, I have a good
Speaker 1: deal of growth yet to do. And and like to
Speaker 1: that point that I was talking about, you know, you
Speaker 1: can prepare, you can prepare for things. You can prepare
Speaker 1: or you know, to try to prepare for the corporate space.
Speaker 1: But you know, but you can't always be ready for it.
Speaker 1: You can't always be ready for uh those situations that
Speaker 1: come up, um until you're actually in them. And then
Speaker 1: you know what, that's another notch on the belt that
Speaker 1: you know you you praise God that you got through
Speaker 1: and then you're able to act accordingly the next time.
Speaker 1: All of us on the football field is immediate in
Speaker 1: terms of you if you score or get a sack, uh,
Speaker 1: pancake as a blocker, we high five is all. Exuberance
Speaker 1: is excitement, right you get corporate all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you may have just great idea, man and great presentation.
Speaker 1: It was like, okay, we'll all go back to our offices.
Speaker 1: How did you How did you deal with that psychology
Speaker 1: thrill oh man? So for me, it was, uh, it
Speaker 1: was tough, you know. But it's one of the things
Speaker 1: where I started reading more, I started educating myself more.
Speaker 1: I started asking questions. That's what the Solmo mentioned. I
Speaker 1: always told myself, and this is the quote I live
Speaker 1: on in life. Uh. I always told myself, if you know,
Speaker 1: you can't complain about having a lot on your plate
Speaker 1: when your goal was to eat. So regardless of how
Speaker 1: that takes, how how it takes to get there, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get but it's the truth. I can't complain about
Speaker 1: having a lot on my plate when my goal is
Speaker 1: to eat. That's what I said day one. So how
Speaker 1: it takes to get there, whatever it takes to be
Speaker 1: that captain of that ship, I'm gonna figure out how
Speaker 1: to do that while treating people the right way. Talk
Speaker 1: about office etiquette, talk about ethics, just fairness, integrity, all
Speaker 1: of those things that come into play. You think about
Speaker 1: that as you as you try to get into the position.
Speaker 1: But as as DC alluded to, I'm a servant man,
Speaker 1: so I'm honest to myself, I'm honest the peers around me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna treat people just like they want to be treated.
Speaker 1: The Golden a little. In addition to focusing on the
Speaker 1: journey and transition with this podcast, the other things with
Speaker 1: all of this, some unrust, social unrest been in the
Speaker 1: positions what you guys are have any new passion has
Speaker 1: been ignited while working under each of your league roles
Speaker 1: and if so, what are they who summer? And you
Speaker 1: know what? Uh? With with all that's going on, it's
Speaker 1: it's been a reminder for me to think about how
Speaker 1: how blessed we are to be in the positions that
Speaker 1: we're in. You know, we we're we're we're working for
Speaker 1: the best, the best professional league out there. And I'm
Speaker 1: biasing saying that because I spent most of my younger
Speaker 1: adult years playing playing in the league. But now I
Speaker 1: understand how much influence and impact we have with the
Speaker 1: NFL and the players that make up this lead provide
Speaker 1: to the communities that that they serve in and that
Speaker 1: there that they were born in. So working in player
Speaker 1: engagement is one thing, but Social Responsibility, the Social Responsibility
Speaker 1: Team and Inspire Change has has provided us an opportunity
Speaker 1: to have a voice in those rooms. Uh, sometimes I
Speaker 1: challenge the group, I challenge others to speak up. We
Speaker 1: we might see something that we know isn't right and
Speaker 1: we don't say anything about it. So it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: we're just as bad as the person that's performing the act.
Speaker 1: And and if we don't speak up about it, if
Speaker 1: we don't say something, if we don't put us, if
Speaker 1: we don't stand for something, we don't stand for anything.
Speaker 1: We we started to take an intentional approach to say, look,
Speaker 1: how do we highlight specifically what we stand on, Like
Speaker 1: we're doing so much in these communities, these underserved communities,
Speaker 1: these COVID hot spots, and and but we haven't actually
Speaker 1: put a word on it we haven't actually said anything,
Speaker 1: and now we've got different things, different items going on
Speaker 1: for the players. It takes all of us to end racism.
Speaker 1: Where players are speaking up, we're welcoming that, we're encouraging that,
Speaker 1: and being in those meetings. It's uplifting. At times, it's
Speaker 1: a challenge because oftentimes you know, it's something that's mentioned
Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily get brought to the forefront, but it's
Speaker 1: still an opportunity to provide input. And I love that.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that I cannot only do that,
Speaker 1: but I can go back to the young leaders that
Speaker 1: I served with my foundation and and and empower them
Speaker 1: through mentorship and talk about some of these initiatives that
Speaker 1: we're doing, and talk about how they have a voice
Speaker 1: as well, and challenge them in the real I don't
Speaker 1: give a scenario. I want you to speak to your
Speaker 1: experience in the league office. A lot of times people
Speaker 1: refer to things as prejudice, in other words, prejudice within
Speaker 1: the corporation, unconscious bias. Would each of you guys start
Speaker 1: with Darrell say, I found when you don't have proper
Speaker 1: representation at the table, there is just many times things
Speaker 1: you don't even think about because you don't have somebody
Speaker 1: that represents something that may not be on your radar
Speaker 1: or it may not be something you're literally conscious of.
Speaker 1: How important has it been being in the league office
Speaker 1: to be that voice as an African American to have
Speaker 1: that that that that too to share in the room
Speaker 1: our perspective not that you represent all African Americans, but
Speaker 1: you represent African and African American. Does that make sense? Drill? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It does. Yea. You ask a great question, and I think, uh,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, I haven't been to the
Speaker 1: table too many times in those situations, but when asked,
Speaker 1: I feel like we've had had some out comes where
Speaker 1: we can say, Okay, we've made we moved the needle
Speaker 1: a little bit, and not saying that people in the
Speaker 1: room haven't done it, but it's just speaking from a
Speaker 1: player perspective, speaking from an African American perspective, you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna you're gonna bring something different to the table.
Speaker 1: So but it comes back to that strategy piece, and
Speaker 1: I think we've been doing a better job, you know,
Speaker 1: since the George Floyd's situation in terms okay, what do
Speaker 1: you all think? What can we do? And I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say we shied away from before, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: like that until the world had to pause and say,
Speaker 1: look what just happened. What do we need to do
Speaker 1: to address these issues in the workplace? And we've been
Speaker 1: part of these conversations, and you know, Osama has been
Speaker 1: leading a charge to be honest with these one of
Speaker 1: those guys who his boots on the ground, he's been
Speaker 1: doing it. Art McAfee has been doing it. Now things
Speaker 1: are coming back full circle. Okay. You know you talk
Speaker 1: about voting education, what we were doing that with Fritz
Speaker 1: Pollard the past few years, but people weren't taking advantage
Speaker 1: of it because you know, it may not have been
Speaker 1: important at the time. But now we're seeing, Like I said,
Speaker 1: because of COVID, the world had to slow down, and
Speaker 1: it was good for us all. But now having to
Speaker 1: see at the table, I feel like not saying that
Speaker 1: I specifically contributed to it, but there would have been
Speaker 1: some instances well I felt like I've added value to
Speaker 1: it some how. Have you spoken up after the death
Speaker 1: of George Floyd? You guys have spoken out frankly to
Speaker 1: your co workers about your own personal experience. Tell me
Speaker 1: about that wow, you know, you know it was it
Speaker 1: was tough. It was tough for me. And just listening
Speaker 1: to d Y, you know you hear that humility. He
Speaker 1: He's like, nah, I didn't have a lot. Man. I'll
Speaker 1: be straight up on the mic right now. Yes, you have,
Speaker 1: you have you You've challenged me, You've pushed me to
Speaker 1: speak up, and I think others have followed the lead.
Speaker 1: Uh with with with our voice when it comes to
Speaker 1: you know, after George Floyd as d what I mentioned,
Speaker 1: this has just been going on for so long, and
Speaker 1: and when when we had our our staff meeting, I
Speaker 1: had to share an experience that I had when I
Speaker 1: was a child and I was I was handcuffed, and
Speaker 1: I know for a fact, looking back at it, how
Speaker 1: how hurt I was, how hopeless I felt at that
Speaker 1: given moment. And I can't imagine imagine having a knee
Speaker 1: on my neck, being choked, suffocated and fighting for my
Speaker 1: life and and begging for my grandmother or my mother
Speaker 1: or I can't imagine it. So I said, man, I
Speaker 1: can't remain mum on this call. And at first I
Speaker 1: wasn't going to say anything that I said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write and I wrote, wrote, wrote, I wrote
Speaker 1: out what I what I experienced, and I shared it
Speaker 1: with my my, my team and player Engagement and and
Speaker 1: f CM Football Communication and Marketing, and they were receiving.
Speaker 1: They were receptive of it. They listened and immediately I,
Speaker 1: I mean, I started crying. But other people you could
Speaker 1: see the hurt, you can see the hanks, you can
Speaker 1: see the surprise. And for me, that was a reminder
Speaker 1: that tag on they really had no clue that the
Speaker 1: other black people on this call, our other black team members,
Speaker 1: several of them have similar stories. And when we got
Speaker 1: on our all league meeting, I had to do it again,
Speaker 1: which was even tougher for me to bring myself back
Speaker 1: to that point and do it again for probably five
Speaker 1: hundred to a thousand people that I don't know, that
Speaker 1: have never met me. And in the response from it,
Speaker 1: with several emails, a few texts, calls, you know, people
Speaker 1: checking in and everything, And in my response to that was,
Speaker 1: I thank you. Let's do the work. Now we've got
Speaker 1: a job to do. And and since you do know,
Speaker 1: and since we can't hide, we can't hide anymore. And
Speaker 1: now it's it's evident that their injustices throughout our entire community,
Speaker 1: our society. We've got to do something about it. And
Speaker 1: stepping up, speaking up about it is one thing. Changing
Speaker 1: laws is another, as locating is another. Providing support, that's
Speaker 1: that's that's major. So uh I was fortunate to have
Speaker 1: that platform, and uh I was encouraged by my colleagues
Speaker 1: and everything, and and now we're at a point where
Speaker 1: I think we are seeing change. But we've got a
Speaker 1: lot of work to do when it comes to diversity,
Speaker 1: when it comes to equality, when it comes to so
Speaker 1: much in our communities, d C and and really Darrell,
Speaker 1: uh some any of you guys can answer this question
Speaker 1: when all of us for players, there are a number
Speaker 1: of legends and current players, I think the league is
Speaker 1: against them. How have you from your prospective scene, how
Speaker 1: much work and how the league really does care for
Speaker 1: the player and for the legends. I do not believe
Speaker 1: that the league is against players. I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't believe that's I don't think that's the thing.
Speaker 1: What I'm encouraged by is durrell a new Sama speaking
Speaker 1: up because their work, they're them being boots on the
Speaker 1: ground has a direct effect on you know, me over
Speaker 1: here to NFL Films, and I'm not in the league office,
Speaker 1: but this is NFL Films. Is one of the three
Speaker 1: league officers, L A and Y and then us out
Speaker 1: here there. There aren't very many black folks here. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get into the numbers, but they just aren't. Um.
Speaker 1: And even more than that, I'm the only former player
Speaker 1: in the building. So when I come in every morning
Speaker 1: and before COVID times, eb Hard Press wanted to see
Speaker 1: another black person in the building and a couple of
Speaker 1: I could go to three days without seeing somebody. But
Speaker 1: now because of it's it's it's a direct correlation with
Speaker 1: what it is that do saman d y do with
Speaker 1: player engagement and with making sure that you know, we're
Speaker 1: talking about these issues. I see I've seen an uptick
Speaker 1: in you know, African Americans and black people and people
Speaker 1: of color color through our internship program. I've seen um
Speaker 1: more talks and discussions that the Black Engagement Network is
Speaker 1: having with leadership here. There is anyone who's African American
Speaker 1: on our leadership uh committee. UM. But again, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm encouraged that as long as these conversations and discussions
Speaker 1: continue to happen because of what d Y does and
Speaker 1: and the new Sama do that you know at some
Speaker 1: point that will change. It has has changed the game
Speaker 1: for me. I've seen Howard Barbieri, who is a former
Speaker 1: you know, offensive lineman for the Giants. He's come through
Speaker 1: here over the last few years. Um Um Chris Wilson,
Speaker 1: who's the second round draft pick for uh KNSA City Chiefs.
Speaker 1: He's he's here right now on his second stint um
Speaker 1: as a seasonal. And I hope he gets full time,
Speaker 1: a full time gig because he's um an independent filmmaker
Speaker 1: and you know he's that's that's his life, that's what
Speaker 1: he's been doing. I mean, I'm starting to see change
Speaker 1: because of what it is that these brothers are doing.
Speaker 1: So when when people say that, hey, the league is
Speaker 1: against this or anything like that, ay, I looked to
Speaker 1: my left and all right, I see d Wy and
Speaker 1: do something. I say, Na, it's not because these brothers
Speaker 1: are making change that I that I feel directly every
Speaker 1: time you know, we have a meeting or a discussion
Speaker 1: or you know, I come out my office and I see,
Speaker 1: you know, the things are changing. The people like me
Speaker 1: in the building, I like the time man, and that too.
Speaker 1: It needs because I'm wouna be honest man. When I
Speaker 1: was on the field, I said, the league don't care
Speaker 1: about us, man, they sent me a fine letter. How
Speaker 1: they're gonna send me a fine for twenty two and
Speaker 1: care about me? But that was a young being not
Speaker 1: understanding that. I also didn't get off the couch to
Speaker 1: go vote in those PA meetings to make a difference.
Speaker 1: So now I understand that things are negotiating one, but
Speaker 1: two being in this space in the league office and
Speaker 1: the resources that are there. But when you can go
Speaker 1: back to school for free, when you can you have
Speaker 1: all these resources and benefits, I think it's about the
Speaker 1: player now, and now we have to start looking at
Speaker 1: ourselves and evaluating are we putting ourselves in the best
Speaker 1: situation as players? Not when it not when we're in
Speaker 1: times of need. But while I'll while that check works
Speaker 1: on Instagram and we verified when people respond to you,
Speaker 1: what are you doing to better yourself during that time?
Speaker 1: And that's what we do. The challenge players. I don't
Speaker 1: question you, I'm just challenging you to be better than
Speaker 1: you were yesterday, to be better than you were today today.
Speaker 1: Now I don't feel bad because I know, God, there's
Speaker 1: so many opportunities. There's so many resources. We're meeting players
Speaker 1: where they are in terms of social media, face to
Speaker 1: face interactions. We have transition coaches, we have the Legends community,
Speaker 1: we have you know, player engagement. There's so many different
Speaker 1: avenues now that it's just an excuse at this point
Speaker 1: if you don't utilize the resources that are there for you.
Speaker 1: It's outstanding. As we calls out, I want to talk
Speaker 1: about the future, uh from the grid, our journey as
Speaker 1: African men, and a corporate meta fold to your unique
Speaker 1: perspective on inspired change succinctly and quickly touch on what's
Speaker 1: next to your journey the lead and make a difference
Speaker 1: in the league office DC uh is I can possibly
Speaker 1: put it. I'm just going to continue to put my
Speaker 1: passion in people and my faith and God that uh,
Speaker 1: you know, things will change. And as long as I'm
Speaker 1: surrounded by brothers like the RelA New Sama and we
Speaker 1: all are like minded, that's gonna happen. Sama. Uh. My
Speaker 1: mission is to continue to be a servant to others
Speaker 1: and and take on more of a mentorship role to
Speaker 1: those that are new and looking to make a career
Speaker 1: here but outside of that. I want to continue to inspire,
Speaker 1: inspire the ones that are on the field right now
Speaker 1: and those that are looking up to them, but remind
Speaker 1: them that football is only a fraction of who they are.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to fall into a dark space.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to feel as though they're not
Speaker 1: supported and from the league. I know that we can
Speaker 1: do that through player engagement, through the Legends community, continue
Speaker 1: to serve and continue to mentor and provide support. Durrell, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to agree with that, man. There was some
Speaker 1: strong statements right there. I uh, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to steal that inspiring, inspiring, uh and motivate.
Speaker 1: You know, in my community. Now, I look at the
Speaker 1: graduation rate and when I would graduate from high school,
Speaker 1: not much has changed. So what am I going to
Speaker 1: do to activate there? But showing them that that's hope
Speaker 1: that you don't have to go down the line of
Speaker 1: you know, selling drugs and education has got me the
Speaker 1: same amount of money without doing time. So uh, you
Speaker 1: know that's one of the things that you know I
Speaker 1: want to do is inspire others, serve, give back and uh,
Speaker 1: you know it just continue to be the person that
Speaker 1: I seen myself when I said I was gonna do
Speaker 1: this thing. Durrell O, Sama the Lion and d C.
Speaker 1: This has been amazing podcast. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us, Thanks for listening to the best is yet
Speaker 1: to company. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. H This has
Speaker 1: been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request
Speaker 1: a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at
Speaker 1: NFL dot com, m