Speaker 1: Practice. What a win for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow,
Speaker 1: What is up Dolphins? And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast,
Speaker 1: part of the Dolphins official podcast network covering your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and as always, each
Speaker 1: and every day, I am here to bring you your
Speaker 1: daily dose of Miami Dolphins football. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick spent a day with Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk to Neil about his time with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins quarterback and the launch of his new podcast, The
Speaker 1: Neil Reynolds Podcast. All of that and more here on
Speaker 1: this Friday, April the third edition of the Drive Time Podcasts.
Speaker 1: And I am very excited to get to this interview
Speaker 1: with Neil Reynolds. I think we can all agree that
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick is one of the most liked players, most
Speaker 1: unique players in the league, and he often gives refreshing
Speaker 1: perspective not just about football, but really any topic in life.
Speaker 1: A fifteen year NFL VET, a graduate of Harvard with
Speaker 1: a degree in economics tough to find a more well
Speaker 1: rounded resume than what Ryan Fitzpatrick offers. So with that,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get to my interview with Neil
Speaker 1: Reynolds of Sky Sports and The Neil Reynolds Podcast. He
Speaker 1: spent an entire day with the Dolphins quarterback chatting about football,
Speaker 1: life and everything in between and joining me on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Now is the host of sky Sports TV, the Inside
Speaker 1: the Huddle podcast and his newest project, The Neil Reynolds Podcast,
Speaker 1: self named Neil. Welcome in, sir, Thank you for having me, Travis,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. Yeah, it's been exciting times
Speaker 1: m launching this new podcast, and yeah, I got to
Speaker 1: spend spend a day with a man who's dear to
Speaker 1: Dolphins fans hearts. I'm sure he certainly endeared himself to
Speaker 1: us last year with the way he finished out that season.
Speaker 1: You even talked about it in the podcast, and we'll
Speaker 1: get to the stuff here in just one second. About
Speaker 1: him carrying Walt Aikin's of the field after that when
Speaker 1: in New England just really symbolizes and personifies the kind
Speaker 1: of man that Ryan Fitzpatrick is. And that's the debut
Speaker 1: subject of Neil's new podcast, The Neil Reynolds Podcast. He's
Speaker 1: gonna go one on one with different NFL stars and
Speaker 1: NFL people and get their perspectives and their takes and
Speaker 1: who better than Ryan Fitzpatrick. And first, Neil, let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and start here with your your project and talk
Speaker 1: about it. What was the inspiration behind this new podcast
Speaker 1: and what can fans expect from these one on one
Speaker 1: really intimate interviews. Yeah, and that's what that's what I'm
Speaker 1: am me in for. Um. Obviously, I'm I'm four thousand
Speaker 1: miles away from the u S so, um, there's no
Speaker 1: point me doing a podcast that's looking at all of
Speaker 1: the ins and outs of the news of the NFL.
Speaker 1: And I actually do that to a degree for the
Speaker 1: UK audience with inside the Huddle anyway. So this is
Speaker 1: a this is a chance for me to use great contacts.
Speaker 1: I have great contacts. I pride myself on having very
Speaker 1: very good contacts. I just I was texting back and
Speaker 1: forth with Fits this afternoon. I've just got off the
Speaker 1: phone with Kurt Warner, So you know, I do have
Speaker 1: contacts through quite through the Sky Sports work, also through
Speaker 1: NFL UK. We do NFL UK live stage shows around
Speaker 1: the country and we go to theaters and we tour
Speaker 1: and I've been with a lot of big names and
Speaker 1: we don't just get to sort of do one into
Speaker 1: We get to sit on a tour bus for six hours.
Speaker 1: As we go from place to place, you really get
Speaker 1: to know the person. And so these are stories of
Speaker 1: their lives in football. So it's not about the news
Speaker 1: of the day. It's about how they got to where
Speaker 1: they are, you know, what makes them tick, what drives them,
Speaker 1: what stories can they tell us along the way. So
Speaker 1: really trying to take fans, you know, as you said, intimate.
Speaker 1: I think that's the that's the feel I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get with this is um you know, take fans really
Speaker 1: in in in that person's life. And and that's why
Speaker 1: with with fits And to start the first one, you know,
Speaker 1: I mentioned to him that I'd like to come out
Speaker 1: to see him in the America and could we do
Speaker 1: the interview, and he said, well, yeah, don't just come
Speaker 1: and do the interview. Let's go fishing. We'll go fishing
Speaker 1: for the day. So we we went fishing. I'd never
Speaker 1: fished before in my life, and then we sat and
Speaker 1: did the interview afterwards, and and so you really want
Speaker 1: to get that kind of up close field. So it's storytelling.
Speaker 1: It's just telling these stories of how people got to
Speaker 1: the nfl SO Episode two I recorded the day after
Speaker 1: I spent the day with Fits. I went and spent
Speaker 1: an hour or so with Bruce Arians, the head coached
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it's about his life. It's
Speaker 1: not about Jamis Winston. It was actually before they signed
Speaker 1: Tom Brady um, but it's more about you know, Bruce
Speaker 1: Arians was a bartender who got held up at gunpoint
Speaker 1: once he got kicked out of high school. He coached
Speaker 1: Andrew Lucky, coached Peyton Manning Big Ben. It's all It's
Speaker 1: all about those stories. It's not really about the headlines
Speaker 1: of today. Well, you've certainly found the best characters in
Speaker 1: this big play that we do call the nf Bell
Speaker 1: to kick off this podcast, and you guys can find
Speaker 1: the Neal Raylands podcast wherever you get your episodes from,
Speaker 1: whether it's Apple, Spotify, you can go ahead and download
Speaker 1: that podcast. And first, Neil, before we get into this,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Fitzpatrick's upbringing kind of what brought him to
Speaker 1: the stage of his career. But before we do that,
Speaker 1: I have to ask you because the promo you guys
Speaker 1: shot on those scooters you beat. When you're around Ryan Fitzpatrick,
Speaker 1: you just you just can't help but have a smile
Speaker 1: on your face. And I was chuckling as I watched
Speaker 1: that was that little clip rehearsed or was that completely
Speaker 1: off the cuff? Ryan Fitzpatrick and his finest So I
Speaker 1: told him what we were so we it wasn't rehearsed.
Speaker 1: I said, I want you to say welcome to the
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick Podcast, and then I'll correct you and then
Speaker 1: we'll just go go from there. Said just follow my lead.
Speaker 1: So we did it once. That was one take and
Speaker 1: that was it. That was just and I didn't know
Speaker 1: he was going to give it the big cell like
Speaker 1: he did. That was that was all him, And there
Speaker 1: was no there was no kind of lines. It was.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a rough idea of what to say,
Speaker 1: but that that's just him and and it was. It
Speaker 1: was great because we knocked on his front door. We
Speaker 1: arrived at his house and straightaway he came out into
Speaker 1: onto the porch and said, we're going to go to
Speaker 1: the at the end of the street to do some
Speaker 1: of the filming. So he said, it's about you know,
Speaker 1: it's about a quarter of a mile down this way,
Speaker 1: half a mile down this way, And I said, okay.
Speaker 1: So he said, we're gonna need to jump in a car.
Speaker 1: So I said, okay, we're all going to get in
Speaker 1: one car. And he said, no, No, your producer and
Speaker 1: cameraman they can get in a car. Guys, just drive
Speaker 1: to the industry. It's right down that way. You can't
Speaker 1: miss it. You and here we're going on these and that.
Speaker 1: And then he just pulled open his garage and he's like,
Speaker 1: let's get on these. There's like a couple of big kids.
Speaker 1: And then he just goes race it off down the
Speaker 1: street and I have to catch him up. I've never
Speaker 1: been on an electric scooter in my life. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just him. He's just a He's one of the
Speaker 1: most down to a fun guys, totally unspoiled by fifteen
Speaker 1: years in the NFL. You would you wouldn't think he
Speaker 1: was an NFL player. You just think he's a regular guy,
Speaker 1: which is why I think so many people loved him.
Speaker 1: And I actually have a great story to add for
Speaker 1: the scooter idea here. Neil I was at a game
Speaker 1: for the Dolphins and Bengals last year. It was right
Speaker 1: before Christmas, and so he had his entire family down
Speaker 1: and he had a great game that day, through for
Speaker 1: four touchdowns over four hundred yards. And my wife and
Speaker 1: I went down to Los Olas and Fort Lauderdale for
Speaker 1: a dinner that night, and who do we see besides
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick. And like you mentioned, he's got the beard,
Speaker 1: he's got the trucker hat on, the T shirt and
Speaker 1: the shorts. Looks like a regular dude. And he was
Speaker 1: walking alongside who I think was his mom, and he
Speaker 1: looks at one of the bird scooters and I kid
Speaker 1: you not, Neil. It's funny you mentioned that, because his
Speaker 1: eyes lit up like a twelve year old child when
Speaker 1: he saw that thing, like I want to ride that,
Speaker 1: but he couldn't do it. He didn't do it. He
Speaker 1: passed it by, but he definitely wanted to get on
Speaker 1: that scooter. So I think that's a hilarious segue, hilarious story.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to ask you, since you did spend
Speaker 1: the day fishing with him, is this the kind of
Speaker 1: guy he mentioned in the podcast growing Up with Brothers
Speaker 1: and how the house was full of testosterone and how
Speaker 1: every Thanksgiving the biggest competition was the pregame way in
Speaker 1: and the post game way in. In terms of the
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving meal dinner. So I was curious, does that competitive nature,
Speaker 1: that competitive streak that he grew up with, did that
Speaker 1: translate onto the fishing boat and did you guys kind
Speaker 1: of go back and forth that way. No, he couldn't
Speaker 1: have actually been more different in maybe he saves the
Speaker 1: competitiveness for his brothers. But he was the perfect coach.
Speaker 1: And I was terrible, Travis. I've never filmed it. I've
Speaker 1: never fished in my life. I've never fished. I couldn't
Speaker 1: even cast off to start with. And it was funny
Speaker 1: we were I said to my producers. We were driving
Speaker 1: home at the end of the day, back to our hotel,
Speaker 1: and we were talking about what a great day it was,
Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, there was a little
Speaker 1: piece there where you could see why he's been so
Speaker 1: loved in every locker room he's been in. So every
Speaker 1: time I messed up, he would say, that's my fault.
Speaker 1: I didn't teach you properly. So I cast off one point.
Speaker 1: I cast off and the hook attached to the rope
Speaker 1: at the end of my boat. I didn't even get
Speaker 1: the cast off off the boat, and the hook got
Speaker 1: all hooked up and caught up and he was like,
Speaker 1: that's my bad. I should have told you to look
Speaker 1: out for the rope. Literally, every time I messed up,
Speaker 1: it was his fault, and it was he made me
Speaker 1: feel so like welcome so at home. So don't worry
Speaker 1: if you mess up, you know, if you if you
Speaker 1: do something, I mean to be fair. He was giggling
Speaker 1: away how bad I was at times. But I also
Speaker 1: did catch a fish and I had no idea what
Speaker 1: I was doing, and he talked me through the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he wasn't competitive, but I got to see
Speaker 1: that that classic you know, it's not your fault, it's
Speaker 1: my fault kind of leadership. And it was just interesting
Speaker 1: because if he translates that onto the field and into
Speaker 1: the locker room, you can see why he's so love
Speaker 1: so when you can't the first And he accept the
Speaker 1: credit for that as well. Oh no, but I didn't
Speaker 1: want to touch it, so no, no, it was all me,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was giving me the credit,
Speaker 1: but he had to take over because I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to touch the fish. I'm not not very
Speaker 1: good at that kind of thing. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: know that. I just wanted to get the fish off
Speaker 1: the hook and back in the water as quick as
Speaker 1: we could. But you know, it was one of those
Speaker 1: it was one of those days where we were we
Speaker 1: were we we kept everything rolling while we were fishing. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, aside from the sit down interview, and I
Speaker 1: think both of us forgot that we had a camera
Speaker 1: on us, that we had microphones on. It was just yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just I mean, I've covered the NFL for
Speaker 1: a long time and it was one of the one
Speaker 1: of the special days and it was It sounds like
Speaker 1: you really had a great time with him, Neil, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't surprise me at all being around the guy
Speaker 1: just just emanates that energy. And you talked about this
Speaker 1: on the podcast with him coming off the bench and
Speaker 1: that Washington game, how he really sparked the offense and
Speaker 1: led two touchdown drives and almost one the thing at
Speaker 1: the very end of the contest, and you can kind
Speaker 1: of see that that gravitational pull that he has as
Speaker 1: a quarterback on the football field, Clearly he has that
Speaker 1: outside the football field as well. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of talk to you here about his draft day
Speaker 1: experience since we are coming up now just three weeks
Speaker 1: away from the draft, and I actually didn't know that
Speaker 1: he had an offer from Eastern Washington. I'm a Pacific
Speaker 1: Northwest guy myself, that's like two hours away from where
Speaker 1: I live. Found that very interesting. He talks, of course
Speaker 1: about his some of the trash talk in the IVY
Speaker 1: league there at Harvard, says, these stories are great. You
Speaker 1: guys have to go check them out. On the Neil
Speaker 1: Reynolds podcast, he talks with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dolphins quarterback. But
Speaker 1: back to the Dolphins aspect and standpoint. You mentioned that
Speaker 1: the way he does kind of have that gravitational poll
Speaker 1: in the locker room. How much did you really get
Speaker 1: from him in terms of just being around him on
Speaker 1: an outside the football field, and you mentioned that leadership,
Speaker 1: but just the kind of guy that you want to
Speaker 1: be around definitely the definitely the kind of guy you
Speaker 1: every fan would want to go and have a beer
Speaker 1: with him. Everyone would want to hang out with him,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the same in the in the
Speaker 1: locker room. And then when we got together to to
Speaker 1: talk about his career and we talked during this podcast episode,
Speaker 1: he said it was actually the Dolphins turnaround at the
Speaker 1: end of the season was more about emotion and art
Speaker 1: and effort than just XS and os. You know, he
Speaker 1: said he felt like he had to bring an energy
Speaker 1: and a vibe to the team when he got in
Speaker 1: there as a starter, and I thought, well, that actually
Speaker 1: sums him up as well, because you know, along the
Speaker 1: way over fifteen years, it's probably not been perfect. I mean,
Speaker 1: he talked about in the podcast, he talks about the
Speaker 1: impact on his family of having to move eight different times.
Speaker 1: You know, he's got seven children and you know his
Speaker 1: very very supportive wife who kind of leads away whenever
Speaker 1: they have to move somewhere else. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: not been perfect for him. It's not been fifteen years
Speaker 1: all in one spot. But he's always brought that emotion,
Speaker 1: that energy, and that heart. I think that's that that
Speaker 1: you know, if you sum up Ryan Fitzpatrick as a player,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with the heart. You know, never sliding,
Speaker 1: always dive in my bead first at the end of
Speaker 1: a run. That's him and that's why I think fans, players, everyone,
Speaker 1: wherever he's been people have loved him. He puts it
Speaker 1: all on the line. He had a quote on your podcast,
Speaker 1: Neil that I think completely summarizes what you just said
Speaker 1: per quickly. At this point of his career, what do
Speaker 1: I have to lose? He said, And he also talked
Speaker 1: about having a thirteen and eleven year old boys that
Speaker 1: watch every game and they're going to copy his attitude
Speaker 1: with whether it's hanging his head or being you know, upbeaten, encouraging,
Speaker 1: and he sets the right example that way. But going
Speaker 1: back to the idea that he plays with the mentality
Speaker 1: of what do I have to lose? But you also
Speaker 1: asked him about kind of this area of sweet spots
Speaker 1: for athletes, the experience and athletic ability both kind of
Speaker 1: coming together at the right time. And fitz has told
Speaker 1: us He told us last year in training camp that
Speaker 1: he thinks he's playing the best ball of his career.
Speaker 1: And I think if you go back to the tape
Speaker 1: last year, that would certainly be the case, just based
Speaker 1: on the way he played and kind of dealing with
Speaker 1: the circumstances that he had in the situations he dealt with.
Speaker 1: Do you think that it's crazy to say that Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick at thirty eight years old can be the best
Speaker 1: version of himself? No, I think as soon as the
Speaker 1: ms of that, and that was kind of why I
Speaker 1: was leading him that way. I think that's clear to
Speaker 1: say what you look at what he did in Tampa, um,
Speaker 1: I look of what he did last year with the
Speaker 1: Dolphins when he was back in there. I mean, we
Speaker 1: had we had the week's seventeen game on Sky Sports
Speaker 1: here in the UK live that and we were kind
Speaker 1: of watching it, thinking, well, Week seventeen, sometimes there's everything's decided,
Speaker 1: so you kind of you kind of just hope that
Speaker 1: the Dolphins can hang around long enough in this game
Speaker 1: against the Patriots to make it interesting. So at least
Speaker 1: we have an interesting program we can put out to
Speaker 1: the viewers over here. And you know what, I thought,
Speaker 1: he had an answer for everything the Patriots defense throughout
Speaker 1: him and that was a good defense. And when when
Speaker 1: the game was on the line with the last two
Speaker 1: minutes left, he just methodically moved the Dolphins down the
Speaker 1: field and fired that strike for the winning touchdown. And
Speaker 1: I thought, here's a quarterback now who has all the answers.
Speaker 1: He's probably seen every defense, and I mean he's he
Speaker 1: doesn't play scared, does he? I mean it doesn't play
Speaker 1: He plays like he he plays LuSE. He plays with
Speaker 1: it all on the line, and he's not afraid to
Speaker 1: make a mistake. And I think that goes back to
Speaker 1: exactly what he said to me, which is what we
Speaker 1: got to lose. This might be something neal that you
Speaker 1: you have to kind of go off the reservation in
Speaker 1: terms of this podcast you did with Fitzpatrick to answer.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious because you mentioned the way that he
Speaker 1: said that the hardest part about coming to a new
Speaker 1: team because he has bounced around, you know, two years here,
Speaker 1: two years there, one year in a spot, time and
Speaker 1: time again, and he comes in and has to develop
Speaker 1: these new relationships and get to know a whole new
Speaker 1: locker room, a whole new coaching staff, a whole new
Speaker 1: training staff, of cooking staff. I mean, the operation of
Speaker 1: an NFL football team is hundreds deep, and he comes
Speaker 1: in and finds a way to kind of galvanize this
Speaker 1: entire organization. Have you ever had conversations with teammates of
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick that can tell you the exact same thing. Um,
Speaker 1: I haven't actually really spoken to many people that have
Speaker 1: that have played with him, but I just get that
Speaker 1: sense from looking at looking at how fans react to him,
Speaker 1: and I saw it. I just I'll just give you
Speaker 1: this It's probably the only way I can really say
Speaker 1: where I've seen it, and you know, he could tell
Speaker 1: me it, but I can see it as well in
Speaker 1: terms of fan bases. Is when we went around the
Speaker 1: UK and we were touring, and we did four shows
Speaker 1: in five nights, various spots around the UK, and we're
Speaker 1: getting on the bus and we're going from city to city,
Speaker 1: and literally as I introduced guests onto onto the stage,
Speaker 1: you know, they get a polite round of applause and
Speaker 1: fans were jumping out of their seats when when he
Speaker 1: walked out, they were singing the you know, the fitz
Speaker 1: Magic songs. We had. We had guys turning up him
Speaker 1: with big beards on, some with fake beards on. We
Speaker 1: had guys with massive beards who who asked if they
Speaker 1: could come on stage and meet fits and then he
Speaker 1: got them to do a thing here and he and
Speaker 1: his linemen do where they rubbed beards on each other.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he really brought into it, But I
Speaker 1: would say I've seen it more from the fans side
Speaker 1: as opposed to teammates of his and getting up close
Speaker 1: and personal with that beard, like you mentioned the fitz
Speaker 1: mag beard. You talked to him about does he still
Speaker 1: hide things in his beard? First, let's let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and start there. Actually, Neil, you asked me if he
Speaker 1: if he keeps things in his beard, if he mentioned
Speaker 1: something about baby carrots, can you kind of can you
Speaker 1: just expand upon that, because I was I was curious
Speaker 1: to hear more when I heard the podcast. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think everyone should go and if they google Ryan Fitzpatrick
Speaker 1: baby carrots, then there there is a video there from
Speaker 1: nfl UK, an nfl UK Live tour where so we're
Speaker 1: we're touring and talking on these nfl UK lives and uh,
Speaker 1: fitz was talking about how he used to stick things
Speaker 1: in the beard, pencils and pens, and then he tells
Speaker 1: a story about how it was Thanksgiving Day dinner and
Speaker 1: he had put a baby carrot into the beard. And
Speaker 1: so as as fitz is telling the story, he starts
Speaker 1: talking about how the kids have gone to bed and
Speaker 1: the wines flowing and him and his wife are getting
Speaker 1: a little bit romantic, and then he paws is because
Speaker 1: he's not quite sure how much more of the story
Speaker 1: to tell, and so then I just said and out
Speaker 1: popped your baby carrot, and that was it. Went viral.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, yes, so, yeah, you can do with
Speaker 1: that one what you will. But that was that was
Speaker 1: the story, And I suggest everyone going to look up
Speaker 1: Brian fitzpatrick baby carrot on the internet. How much how
Speaker 1: much attention does he paid it was beard throughout the
Speaker 1: course of a day, Like being around him, is he
Speaker 1: is he manicuring it? Because that thing is so it's
Speaker 1: it's so majestic, Neil, when you and I'm sure you're
Speaker 1: getting up close to it, you had a chance to
Speaker 1: kind of see that, like is he kind of tinkering
Speaker 1: with the beard all day? Or like what's his activity
Speaker 1: with his own facial hair? Now? He leaves it alone?
Speaker 1: He leaves it alone. He um, I think you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think he even I don't think he even
Speaker 1: touched it once. When I was saying, it's just like
Speaker 1: he lets it run free, you know, let's it do
Speaker 1: whatever it needs to do. I don't think he's I
Speaker 1: don't think he's doing a lot of grooming. M Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just too he's too laid back and chilled out
Speaker 1: for that. I tell you why, so did the only
Speaker 1: thing he did about his appearance that day. So we
Speaker 1: scooted down to the water's edge and again, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's like a three or four minute scooter ride down
Speaker 1: to the water's edge. And then he because he likes
Speaker 1: to be kind of outlandish, and he was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: I wanted a I had this shirt like a sort
Speaker 1: of real Florida's shirt that screams Florida. I wanted to
Speaker 1: wear that. He was like, wait there, wait there, and
Speaker 1: he sort of went off on his scooter. He came
Speaker 1: back with the shirt on, and he was because I
Speaker 1: think he was going on vacation the following week, so
Speaker 1: so he came back with this kind of loud Florida,
Speaker 1: almost like Hawaiian type shirt on and then um, he said,
Speaker 1: where are we going to sit while we're doing this interview.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, we can either sit on the
Speaker 1: rocks by the water, and he said, well, the tider
Speaker 1: come in soon's I'll tell you what. I'll go go
Speaker 1: and get a bench, and off he goes on the
Speaker 1: scooter again. Then he comes scooter him back with a
Speaker 1: bench under his arm. I mean he did ever, he
Speaker 1: did all the kind of legwork to set up the
Speaker 1: interview and actually as he left on the on the
Speaker 1: as we finished the afternoon and we were heading out.
Speaker 1: He had a bag on on his table by his
Speaker 1: door with all these Hawaiian shirts for his holiday and
Speaker 1: and he said, oh, I should have worn this one.
Speaker 1: And it was the loudest, brightest pink shirt you've ever seen.
Speaker 1: And I was fits that would have been brilliant. I said,
Speaker 1: that shirt is brilliant. I said it's bad. It's so bad,
Speaker 1: it's good. And he wouldn't let me leave until he
Speaker 1: gave me the shirt. He gave it to me that
Speaker 1: he didn't even keep it. He gave it to me.
Speaker 1: It's up in my it's up in my closet, now
Speaker 1: ready to go for whenever I go on vacation. You
Speaker 1: got to give him like one of your shirts or
Speaker 1: a shirt and tire jacket like the old jersey swap
Speaker 1: they do sky sports suit. Yeah, that's perfect. So you guys,
Speaker 1: I don't see him as a suit and tie guy. Really,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's ever worn maybe at Harvard.
Speaker 1: I would imagine that maybe he had to come across
Speaker 1: one one of his one day at Harvard. And let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and let's talk about that for a second.
Speaker 1: Neal his his time in college at Harvard. You talk
Speaker 1: about his Wonderlok score got a forty eight out of fifty.
Speaker 1: On the wonder leg. He played in the East West
Speaker 1: Shrine game, and he remembers getting off the bus after
Speaker 1: that game and taking an exam proctored by an ex
Speaker 1: Harvard coach in a hotel room. Winds up being the
Speaker 1: fifth to last draft pick back in two thousand five?
Speaker 1: Was it five? Yes, two thousand five, And so his
Speaker 1: time at college kind of prepared him for the league
Speaker 1: in a way, But it was also one of the
Speaker 1: more unique experiences for a player coming up through the
Speaker 1: draft process, was it not? Yeah? Well, and and because
Speaker 1: football wasn't the priority for um for most of the
Speaker 1: students of that school. So I don't think he walked
Speaker 1: around like a like a big shot, and I don't
Speaker 1: think maybe that's why he is like he is now
Speaker 1: he was He's never been that kind of big man
Speaker 1: on campus. I think he's just one of the guys.
Speaker 1: And Yeah, it was interesting around the draft because his dad,
Speaker 1: he didn't know if he was going to get drafted,
Speaker 1: and he wanted to kind of keep it low profile,
Speaker 1: and his dad invited about forty family members and friends
Speaker 1: to their house on the weekend of the draft, and
Speaker 1: he didn't get drafted on day one, and I think
Speaker 1: then get drafted on day two, and then all these
Speaker 1: family people were around and Fits is sitting off in
Speaker 1: a separate room, embarrassed about not getting drafted, and then
Speaker 1: he finally hears his name called and he's on his way.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't it wasn't a traditional route to the NFL.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's going to be interesting about
Speaker 1: some of these stories that I tell you know, one
Speaker 1: of my future guests will be Kurt Warner, who was
Speaker 1: stacking shelves, as we know, in a in a grocery
Speaker 1: store before he came to NFL Europe and then made
Speaker 1: it with the Rams. Bruce Arians was kicked off his
Speaker 1: high school team as a quarterback and didn't know what
Speaker 1: kind of future he had before he became a graduate
Speaker 1: assistant coach. No, no one has any one kind of
Speaker 1: cookie cutter route to the NFL. Oh, And that's where
Speaker 1: I think it'll be interesting with these stories. I'm also
Speaker 1: noticing I've interviewed a few people already and started sort
Speaker 1: of stockpiling some of these because they're fairly timeless. Some
Speaker 1: of these interviews it's really about the arts and the
Speaker 1: wins and losses. It's all about the relationships in the
Speaker 1: locker room and the relationships with players and coaches, players
Speaker 1: and fans, players and teammates. I think that's coming through
Speaker 1: as I start to talk to more and more people.
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things that you'll hear most.
Speaker 1: You know, players that have moved on in their career
Speaker 1: and retired talk about is the thing they missed the
Speaker 1: most is that camaraderie and the relationships in the locker
Speaker 1: room and just the day to day grind being around
Speaker 1: guys working towards that common goal. It really is a
Speaker 1: special bond created amongst all those players, and hearing those
Speaker 1: perspectives on your podcast will certainly be great, Especially Kurt Warner,
Speaker 1: what a what a great story that is. Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: I didn't know much about his background until you told
Speaker 1: me here, so I'll definitely dive into that. All you
Speaker 1: guys out there here, Drivetime podcast fans check out the
Speaker 1: Neil Reynolds Podcast. He is Neil Reynolds, the host of
Speaker 1: sky Sports TV, the Inside the Huddle podcast, and now
Speaker 1: of course the new project, The Neil Reynolds Podcast. You
Speaker 1: can find him on Twitter at Neil Reynolds NFL and
Speaker 1: his podcast wherever you get your podcast from the Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick episode number one, do not miss that and of
Speaker 1: course all the episodes after that. And Neil, when we
Speaker 1: do get back to normal life and we do get
Speaker 1: back to football, hopefully we can grab a point sometime,
Speaker 1: whether it's over in your neck of the woods or
Speaker 1: out here in South Florida. Absolutely, Travis to appreciate having you,
Speaker 1: having me on, Appreciate the Dolphins allowing me to tell
Speaker 1: this Ryan Fitzpatrick's story. And yeah, the Dolphins are one
Speaker 1: of the most popular teams in the UK, so I
Speaker 1: hope to see you guys back over here in London soon.
Speaker 1: We really appreciate Neil, Thank you so much. Thank you
Speaker 1: so do yourself a favor and go check out that podcast.
Speaker 1: It's the first on the Neil Reynolds podcast, the new
Speaker 1: project from Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports. It's about forty
Speaker 1: five minutes. I didn't want to get into too much
Speaker 1: detail because I don't want to spoil some of the
Speaker 1: details and some of the stories from that podcast, but
Speaker 1: I promise you will not be disappointed. The Dolphins quarterback
Speaker 1: is very very entertaining, and that interview is fantastic, from
Speaker 1: his time in high school up to college at Harvard,
Speaker 1: through the pros, the challenges of becoming a quarterback that
Speaker 1: kind of had to go from back up to starter,
Speaker 1: to back up to starter, to bounce around the league,
Speaker 1: and then of course now his time with the Miami Dolphins,
Speaker 1: And how great was that quote about the fishing, teaching techniques,
Speaker 1: and how great of a coach he was, always taking
Speaker 1: blame and deflecting any praise possible when Neil did in
Speaker 1: fact catch that fish. That's just the kind of guy
Speaker 1: he is. That's the kind of quarterback he is. And
Speaker 1: the other great note from this podcast I took away
Speaker 1: was the quote that we heard from Fits last training
Speaker 1: camp about how he thinks he's playing the best ball
Speaker 1: of his career and throughout the course of the season
Speaker 1: and the year prior with the Buccaneers. To me, that's
Speaker 1: a percent true. So Fitzpatrick on the up and up,
Speaker 1: the trajectory of pointing forward, and of course his presence
Speaker 1: in that locker room in Miami goes a long long
Speaker 1: way galvanizing the entire football team and creating a great,
Speaker 1: lighthearted but serious work ethic in the Miami Dolphins locker room.
Speaker 1: So again, Neil Reynolds podcast. Go check it out, Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1: As for this addition of the Drive Time podcast, that's
Speaker 1: going to be my time you all. Please be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us
Speaker 1: a rating, leave us a five star review that helps
Speaker 1: the podcast go up the charts. There help Let's get
Speaker 1: out to more Dolphins fans. Follow me on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Wingfield NFL, follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins, check out
Speaker 1: the fish Tank and the Audoriable podcast, and of course
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins dot com. Five look back with nottt more
Speaker 1: up on the website and all of our previous podcasts
Speaker 1: before that Here on Drivetime. Until next time, fins up