Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Official Jets Podcast, powered
Speaker 1: by Amazon Web Services. Ethan Greenberg, Eric Allen, joined by
Speaker 1: New Jet safety Bradley McDougald. Bradley, thanks locks for joining
Speaker 1: us here on the podcast. No worries, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a pleasure to be here, all right. So let me
Speaker 1: start with this. Bradley, can you take us through where
Speaker 1: you were and your emotions when you got the call
Speaker 1: that you were going from the Seattle Seahawks to the
Speaker 1: New York Jets. I was in Uh, it was Saturday.
Speaker 1: It's past Saturday. I was in Columbs, Ohio, US frown
Speaker 1: raised um the West kid. But I was home visiting
Speaker 1: my family, you know, checking on everything, make Surevan was
Speaker 1: okay before I head out to camp. And uh, I
Speaker 1: was supposed to have a flight out Sunday to go
Speaker 1: to Seattle. And uh, I get a call from John Snyder,
Speaker 1: the GM over there, and my my first year actually
Speaker 1: like WHOA, what does he want? You know, I'm about
Speaker 1: to be there tomorrow. Your GM doesn't just call you
Speaker 1: every day, and so calls me and I'm talking to him.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking it's about like COVID testing. Because the you know,
Speaker 1: we were in the big negotiation from the players Association
Speaker 1: to the GM. So I was just kind of I
Speaker 1: called him the day before to clarify on things about
Speaker 1: the news that I heard I faked veteran players. So
Speaker 1: I gave him a call. He asked me. He text
Speaker 1: me back and asked what he called me tomorrow and
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, no words. So he called me the
Speaker 1: next day. So I'm still thinking it's about that, and uh,
Speaker 1: I was letting me know. I was talking for like
Speaker 1: two minutes and then uh, I was just letting me
Speaker 1: know that my concerns and questions been answered a bout
Speaker 1: other players. And then that's when he stopped me, like yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop you there. Uh he's just been traded
Speaker 1: to the Jets. And I'm like wait what And then
Speaker 1: you know, he goes on for a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: and thanks me for all the all the things I've
Speaker 1: done for the Seahawks, and I really really appreciated my
Speaker 1: time there in the work I put in for the team.
Speaker 1: And my mind was just so like like lost. I'm
Speaker 1: like wait, like I really got traded to the Jets
Speaker 1: and he's like yeah. He was like, uh, we're waiting
Speaker 1: for the league to approve it. And as soon as
Speaker 1: I said that, I had, like my my phone to
Speaker 1: start vibrating crazy like and the next and the next thing,
Speaker 1: you know, I get on Twitter Adam scheffmer Man never
Speaker 1: Adam Scheffer, But I don't know if I like him.
Speaker 1: Last time he tweeted my name, I got fined twenty
Speaker 1: six dollars for a hit that wasn't even illegal. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: Adam jeffinitely never just dropped good news from your boys.
Speaker 1: So if your name comes across that thing is it's
Speaker 1: something for real? Is happening? All right? So Schefter is
Speaker 1: a good guy, no doubt about it. You time you
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to meet him friendly, But when you
Speaker 1: found out you were going to be a Jet, what
Speaker 1: were the subsequent conversations Like with your new GM Joe Douglas,
Speaker 1: you knew head coach Adam Gates, and of course you
Speaker 1: knew your new defensive coordinator Greg Williams. In a tense
Speaker 1: fellow man, yeah, get to that point too. But Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas and and Adam Gates, you know, they were more
Speaker 1: than welcoming and just I could hear them, the voice,
Speaker 1: the excitement, how passionate they were to have me and
Speaker 1: how happy it word brought me a lot of comfort
Speaker 1: and made me start thinking how great this was to
Speaker 1: be here as a Jet and the opportunity that lies
Speaker 1: for me. You know, all everyone it was an opportunity
Speaker 1: to play, and this is no different. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: an undrafted your kid going on my eighth year, so
Speaker 1: this is just another place for me to come, come
Speaker 1: in and make my home. And that was the first
Speaker 1: thing I thought of, that this is just another opportunity
Speaker 1: to go win another staff over, another fan base over,
Speaker 1: and and just go make plays in a different uniform.
Speaker 1: That's all it is. And I mean, that's all it's
Speaker 1: gonna be. But when I called uh uh Greg Williams,
Speaker 1: he was the same way. He was intense. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm used to I got used to a certain style
Speaker 1: of coaching and uh out there in Seattle, and there's
Speaker 1: no right or wrong way to do this. You know
Speaker 1: that everybody's different, everybody's wired different. He's just having to
Speaker 1: be one of more intense coaches I've ever uh, I've
Speaker 1: ever communicated with. But I've never heard a bad thing
Speaker 1: about Greg Williams. I know players that played under him,
Speaker 1: and they all have positive things to say. I actually
Speaker 1: reached out to him first. I called him. Uh, Joe
Speaker 1: Duglas tiving Gates called me, but I called Uh. I
Speaker 1: called him because I just wanted to introduce himself, letting
Speaker 1: him know what kind of player I was, what kind
Speaker 1: of man I was, and how excited I was to
Speaker 1: be here. And the same goes with my my position coach,
Speaker 1: uh Dinar Williams Wilson. Uh, he was just excited. Uh.
Speaker 1: They were kind of letting me know. There are no
Speaker 1: bullshit type of guys, and you know they're gonna push you,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna work you, and they dispect expect out
Speaker 1: out of their players, and I can only respect that.
Speaker 1: They're very rare that a player will reach out to
Speaker 1: his coordinator and position coach after the trade. Usually it's twice.
Speaker 1: FIRSTA you said that you wanted to tell these guys
Speaker 1: who you were as a player and as a man,
Speaker 1: So why don't you tell us what you told Greg Williams.
Speaker 1: I just let him know that I was. I'm I'm hungry.
Speaker 1: I'm hung I've always been hungry. I got a chip
Speaker 1: on my shoulder that's never less. I've had success to
Speaker 1: other places, but you know, I still feel like I'm
Speaker 1: one of the most slept on safeties in the league.
Speaker 1: I know you've seen my film, but that doesn't that
Speaker 1: doesn't do gushes to who I am as like, because
Speaker 1: I'm not only a good player, but I'm a good
Speaker 1: guy in the locker room. You know. I like to
Speaker 1: motivate those people around me. I'm really the type of
Speaker 1: person that just letting my play do all the talking.
Speaker 1: But since it was my first time meeting them, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a while before we strapped on the past
Speaker 1: and we actually get to go out there and line up. Um.
Speaker 1: I just wanted them to know that, uh, that they
Speaker 1: got a good guy coming. It was hard working and
Speaker 1: like I said, I'm humble, but I know the value
Speaker 1: I can bring to a team. I know who I
Speaker 1: am as a man. You know. I like to go
Speaker 1: to work every day and giving my all, go home,
Speaker 1: rest up, and and go back and do the same
Speaker 1: thing the next day. And that's that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1: I'm not into all the media and all the all
Speaker 1: the talking back and forth from people. I just on
Speaker 1: Sundays to let my play do all my talking. And
Speaker 1: as the type of man I am, um and I
Speaker 1: just wanted everybody know that I was excited about this.
Speaker 1: You know, some guy like you said, some guys don't
Speaker 1: do that, but I wanted to just uh initiate the
Speaker 1: first conversation and and and let them know personally that
Speaker 1: I was excited about this opportunity, and not only excited,
Speaker 1: but I was thankful and grateful for the opportunity. So
Speaker 1: it seems like you're gonna fit in the locker room
Speaker 1: just fine. Actually, on your Instagram post of you, I
Speaker 1: think flying to New York right on the private jet,
Speaker 1: the PJ Marcus May comments. He says, you and I
Speaker 1: are gonna get along just fine. What have your conversation
Speaker 1: has been like with your new teammates and how excited
Speaker 1: are you to finally be able to get on the
Speaker 1: field after a wild, unprecedented offseason. Well, this obviously is,
Speaker 1: and you know it was crazy for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't have a O. T. A. S.
Speaker 1: But I mean we were vetting you're going to be
Speaker 1: eighth league if year in the league. You're not really
Speaker 1: worried about that, as it's kind of the time that
Speaker 1: young guys get the rents that they needed, and that's
Speaker 1: when they really take their big jump from year one
Speaker 1: of the year two is in that all those rents
Speaker 1: kind of add up, you know. But um, I I
Speaker 1: didn't take that time off from I want to say
Speaker 1: April to June. I've been down in Texas. I've been
Speaker 1: doing two days for three months now in Texas heat.
Speaker 1: I'm in some of the best shape I've been in,
Speaker 1: and um you know, I'm hungry. I've been hungry. I
Speaker 1: all want to go prove myself, no matter how good
Speaker 1: I had over a year I had before, or what what,
Speaker 1: how far, how far we got in the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: that none of that matter. It's a fresh star, fresh
Speaker 1: opportunity to just go prove yourself because what you did
Speaker 1: last year don't matter. Where you were at last year
Speaker 1: don't matter. None of that can save you. Is about
Speaker 1: the work that you put in. I'm probably as healthy
Speaker 1: as I've ever been, and I used the time really
Speaker 1: just focused on my body, on my mind and uh
Speaker 1: get it best shape as I can get, and and
Speaker 1: just tighten up all my skills. You know, I go
Speaker 1: back in ourselves, gout myself like coaches do. And I
Speaker 1: know I had things to work on, and I feel
Speaker 1: like I used that time to really work on that.
Speaker 1: I was out there with a great group of guys
Speaker 1: to train with Chris Harris. Um he's a KU guy
Speaker 1: in mind. We got a great trainer out there. It's
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys. You know, we're doing seven on
Speaker 1: seven every day. Uh, we're finding ways to still played football,
Speaker 1: you know, while following the rules. And we were you
Speaker 1: know safe about how we lived in in in social
Speaker 1: distance and all those things. But it will still work
Speaker 1: to be done. And uh we got creative with it
Speaker 1: and we still were able to get a lot of
Speaker 1: work in. So UH didn't I didn't really use that
Speaker 1: time as an excuse to take off or or not
Speaker 1: be focused. So um, it was a different offseason. But
Speaker 1: it was a different offseason a positive. You know, you
Speaker 1: just had to do a lot of work from home.
Speaker 1: And that's where I feel like this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a year like the lockout year. You're gonna you don't
Speaker 1: really see who was a true pro and who really
Speaker 1: put the work in and who didn't. What do you
Speaker 1: think about coming into a system where Greg Williams likes
Speaker 1: to have his safeties as interchangeable parts, because I know
Speaker 1: in Seattle, Yeah, you're comfortable playing in the box, but
Speaker 1: you'll go back and play single high. Sometimes they use
Speaker 1: the nickel. It seems like your versatility is gonna be
Speaker 1: a good fit here. I feel like, UH one of
Speaker 1: my I feel like that's one of my strongest suits.
Speaker 1: You know, when I when I first was getting into
Speaker 1: a league, a coach told me, if you a one position,
Speaker 1: you might make the team, but if you could play
Speaker 1: multiple positions and find success of these different positions, you're
Speaker 1: going to make the team. And I always pride in myself.
Speaker 1: You know, I was a wide receiver before I did
Speaker 1: two years of UH wide receiver in college and I
Speaker 1: only play safety for two years. I played both ways
Speaker 1: my freshman year, but you know, I bounced around so uh.
Speaker 1: Being an athlete was always one of my strong suits
Speaker 1: and that hasn't changed. And then at this point in
Speaker 1: my career, I used my mind a lot more than
Speaker 1: I ever have. And that makes you play a lot
Speaker 1: faster than you ever could think of, because you could
Speaker 1: be a hell of an athlete. You are out there
Speaker 1: and running four or three, but if you don't know
Speaker 1: what you're doing, you're gonna look like a four or five,
Speaker 1: four or six guys. So it's all about knowing your playbook.
Speaker 1: No one really supposed to but be and not only
Speaker 1: know when you're supposed to be, but the guys around
Speaker 1: you that make you move even better. If I know
Speaker 1: this guy is going to water this guy on the inside,
Speaker 1: where I could play stronger on this side, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's it's a bunch of small things.
Speaker 1: It really all works together, and when you see the
Speaker 1: bigger picture of defenses and how it was really put together,
Speaker 1: you know that's gonna make you a better And one
Speaker 1: of greg one of the first things he told me is,
Speaker 1: you know I lined guys up to their strengths. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find a way if a guy has a
Speaker 1: certain skill set, I'm gonna find a way to line
Speaker 1: him up and he could be as successful as possible.
Speaker 1: So that was refreshing to here and knowing that he
Speaker 1: had that mindset and he was able to do that
Speaker 1: for players and his statue sos. I know a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that played for him and came in and
Speaker 1: had success, and I plan to do the same thing. Bradley.
Speaker 1: Off the fields, what do you like to do in
Speaker 1: your free time? I know you talked about it a
Speaker 1: little bit before. You're pretty laid back guy. But what
Speaker 1: what do you do if you have a day to yourself? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I like to I'm really a home by the guy.
Speaker 1: I'm one of those guys that I don't mind. This
Speaker 1: quarantine thing didn't really phaze me. I don't I've had days,
Speaker 1: you know. I don't leave a house for two days,
Speaker 1: you know. I like to. I like to get a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of cool stuff and put it in my house.
Speaker 1: I got a dog. I got play fest with him
Speaker 1: named Roscoe. You guys are meeting. He's a guh what
Speaker 1: kind of dog? Prince Bullehall? Oh yeah, okay, yeah, he
Speaker 1: already ordered his Jay. He's uh, you know, he's waiting
Speaker 1: on me. He's he's wondering where I'm at. Told him
Speaker 1: I do there like a week ago. But thinks I
Speaker 1: abandoned him. But I gotta get him out here. That
Speaker 1: will bring me a lot of comfort. But no, I'd
Speaker 1: just like to hang out. I like to cook. I
Speaker 1: said that earlier. Cooking is in my one of my interests.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy cooking. Um, thinking about own the restaurant
Speaker 1: one day. But besides that, I'm not really a video
Speaker 1: game guy. I like to watch film. I actually like
Speaker 1: to be a student of the game. I get some
Speaker 1: time off. I like to take that time, especially during
Speaker 1: the season, and just take care of my body, whether
Speaker 1: that's stretching or have somebody stretching me getting massages. I
Speaker 1: just like to take that time off and just reset.
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a hell of a conversationalist. I love
Speaker 1: to be around people, but I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: that wears you out, and I get I get a
Speaker 1: little time to myself, and I just used it to
Speaker 1: refresh and recharge myself. You know, I've been cooking quite
Speaker 1: a bit this off season two. I'm a big fan
Speaker 1: of Hello Fresh, and they tell you how to put
Speaker 1: it all together. I've been doing a good job. But
Speaker 1: enough about me. Let's keep on talking about Bradley. Um,
Speaker 1: what's up with the Twitter handle at Baby League? I
Speaker 1: know there's a good story behind that. And then my
Speaker 1: second part, let's stay and talk about the family. What
Speaker 1: did you do with your grandmother's house this offseason? Well,
Speaker 1: the Baby League, it's actually no story. My older brother
Speaker 1: he had. It's actually when Twitter first started, I told me,
Speaker 1: I promised myself I never made a Twitter like why
Speaker 1: do I want to read with somebody else's random thoughts
Speaker 1: are like this. So one day we were sitting around
Speaker 1: and uh, my brother's handle was Youngly and I don't
Speaker 1: even know where he got that from. And uh somebody
Speaker 1: was like, bro, you might we'll just make one too,
Speaker 1: you could be baby League, and we all just thought
Speaker 1: that was so funny. So I just ended up making
Speaker 1: it and it stuck, you know. And then I also,
Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to get a Twitter hand we become
Speaker 1: famous or easily found. So I'm like, oh, man, I
Speaker 1: really never had a nickname, so but you can call
Speaker 1: me be Mac though. Be mact is my new nickname,
Speaker 1: but um yeah, I never really had a nick game,
Speaker 1: so I just kind of went with it, and it's stuff.
Speaker 1: You know. I was in college. I was still with nobody,
Speaker 1: and then I get verified. It's like, who is Baby League,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of it's kind of how that happened.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, this off season, I made one of
Speaker 1: the biggest persons is best persons in my life, remodeled
Speaker 1: my uh uh, totally renovated my grandma's house from top
Speaker 1: to bottom. It was one of the biggest blesses I did.
Speaker 1: And uh the reason I did it because, uh, I
Speaker 1: grew up in a single parent home and uh so
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time over my grandparents house
Speaker 1: when they when my mom had to work, and the
Speaker 1: weekend summers. You know, I was over there a lot.
Speaker 1: And my grandfather passed when I was in the eighth grade,
Speaker 1: going into ninth grade, and so the house, you know,
Speaker 1: at the time, when I was young kids, one of
Speaker 1: the nicest thing in our family was kind of like
Speaker 1: the pillar. It was like our temple. You know. Everybody
Speaker 1: used to come over there and do Eastern dinners or
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving or Christmas even if you will. And then, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, over the years, my grandma, you know, she's
Speaker 1: strong as she is, but uh, the house just started
Speaker 1: to you know, take the toes a lot for a
Speaker 1: woman and endo and she still taking care of other
Speaker 1: people around her. H She just retired not too long ago.
Speaker 1: So I just thought it would be a great present
Speaker 1: to give her. And plus she's getting older. She still
Speaker 1: had my grandpa with this what he thought was so cool.
Speaker 1: It's hot tub in there, and it was getting hard
Speaker 1: to the point it was hard for her to step
Speaker 1: over into the into the bathtub and one of my
Speaker 1: worst fears where her just slipping the bathsup or something
Speaker 1: crazy like that. So um, yeah, from top to bottom,
Speaker 1: I just made it as nice as possible for and uh,
Speaker 1: it really turned out great. You know, the really tears
Speaker 1: and the contracts that they did a great job. They
Speaker 1: they surpassed anything I thought it could look like. And
Speaker 1: she loves it. I had and and the funniest part
Speaker 1: is so it took about two months and all this
Speaker 1: was during the pandemic too, and they got all that
Speaker 1: done two months, which is incredible. But I had to
Speaker 1: staying in the airbnb and I'm like, Grandma, these are
Speaker 1: the this is what your house is gonna look like.
Speaker 1: She wasn't processing it. Like they knocked down a couple
Speaker 1: of walls and really just gutted the whole house out,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, so I kind of wanted her to
Speaker 1: get comfortable to where I feel like to living in
Speaker 1: a new house. And She's like, I don't know about this, baby,
Speaker 1: I kind of just want to go back to my house.
Speaker 1: And so you know a lot of people they want
Speaker 1: to be in their house and they want to be
Speaker 1: if I'm like Grandma, you got a little finished. Like,
Speaker 1: don't like, just be patient, grandma, You're getting a whole
Speaker 1: new house. But uh so she finally comes back and
Speaker 1: she stays in and she loves it and she cries
Speaker 1: and she does all that. But like a week later,
Speaker 1: I'm like, how does it feel? She said, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know, baby, this this still how does it
Speaker 1: feel like one of those being bees? So I don't
Speaker 1: think this is my house hit And I'm like, no, Grandma,
Speaker 1: that's that's your house. That's what it is. She's like,
Speaker 1: I love it just doesn't feel like mine. I feel
Speaker 1: like one of those being bees she calls them, and
Speaker 1: she calls airbnbes be and bees. So yeah, but that's
Speaker 1: probably one of the best things I've done with my
Speaker 1: money since I started making money. And uh, I'm definitely
Speaker 1: proud of it. Are proudly well. We appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us here on the
Speaker 1: Official Jets Podcast powered by Amazon Web Services, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the New York Jets Man. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: I look forward to me and you guys, you know,
Speaker 1: working with you guys in the Pisa, and I'm und
Speaker 1: your chicken come from front m