Eric Wood

What's up? Boys?

Welcome to another episode of Busting with the Boys. I am your host Will Compton, my co host Taylor Lawan. He is in Canada for the next month. The boy is going out his wife Taylor and shout out Taylor, no free shouts of tailing.

She is from Canada.

She hasn't been home in three years, so they're spending some time out in Canada. The boy's gonna get busy out there. It got the whole gym set up. He's like the fucking rock dude. He's got his Iron Paradise set up out there. They're on a beautiful lake. But he's gonna be living the dream for the next month. But you got your boy. This is gonna be our

I love that.

Go back to regular programming. One a week. We drop on Wednesdays. We will change all this stuff for you. We will update you guys on social media at BUSTINWTB, but we are going back to one a week, dropping every Wednesday six am. All audio platforms. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, all that stuff.

You're listening right now. Do the boys a solid.

You guys fucking help us out tremendously when you download the episodes, when you subscribe on Subscribe, resubscribe, do all that shit, and then of course video drops on YouTube at noon. This is all central time that I'm talking about.

But before we.

Get in and everything, we got to shout out the most durable, reliable vehicle on the road.

The Chevy Silverado.

Strong, dependable just like you folks who drive them, and hopefully a lot of new dads are driving the Chevy Silverado after hopefully their kids or wife bought them a Chevy truck over the weekend. The Chevy Silverado is modernate, advanced, with a ton of grit, a partner in getting things done, especially when it comes to the heart and soul of a pickup truck the bed. With the Silverado, you get the most functional bed of any competitor on the planet. Think Class standard cargo volume.

The inner gate.

Folds to a large step for easily getting in and out of the bed. Go to a Chevy dealership near Go to a Chevy dealership near you. Let him know that the boys sends you. I think they're gonna throw in a free trailer hitch. The boys like to go to Freeland Chevy right here in the greater Nashville area.

But go buy yourself a Chevy Silverado.

The Summertimes, The Summertimes, Rolling Fourth of July is coming up. Nothing is more American than being in a Chevy Silverado. Strong, advanced, dependable, and hard working, just like you guys.

All right, what can we talk about now? Boys?

I don't have my compadre Taylor here. What is new stuff for us? Before we get into talking all things, Eric, would we got some house cleaning we would like to take care of. If you're watching right now, you're gonna see the boys repping a new colorway of the dad hats, the dad ropats. I'm wearing a black one white riding white rope.

It is fire. We got a lot of new.

Colorways for the for the dad hats, for the girl dad hats that are there right now. There's a wait list right they're sold out. I think we're on a waiting list. A lot of new colorways coming with that too, Navy blue with the white, black with the white. There's a lot of different several colors that are coming with that. So be on the lookout for new merch. But we have new merch going on right now. You see your

What else?

I hit the episodes? How are episodes? We're going back to regular programming. I hit the merchandise, the fire shit that we get. The boys got going on right now?

Uh yeah, we you already said something about tightening you, and I'm sure we'll dive into yesday.

Yeah, tight en You is coming to town. It's currently Tuesday. You guys are listening. Everybody's flying in today. George kitt Ole, Travis Kelsey, Greg Olsen. They are putting these boys like they are having the highest of vibes for like a position group in the NFL. They're staying at the freaking I probably shouldn't say where they're staying at. I was about to say, but they're staying in a nice little hotel. They're gonna have a lot of camaraderie. They're working with

That would be electric. We will do whatever pos.

Talk about him on the episode You're about to listen to with Eric Wood.

Yeah, there you go. Shout out fucking Jack for that heads up play. We talk about Josh Allen.

Yeah.

Eric Wood comes on the podcast Boys. He's a former Buffalo Bill. He was forced to retire and end his career after a Pro Bowl season because of a bad severe neck injury. The dude number one Jack. I would say he's in the tier of like Joe Thomas after retiring and you go from fat to fit.

Dude.

I think when he came on, Taylor was like, that's me when I leave football.

He's like, got so hyped about it. It was just I can't wait too.

He's got a bit of a chest though, you know what I mean, Like Taylor, I feel like if he's got to get some.

No I, you's got to get them shelves. You gotta get them shelves on the chest.

Google Eric Wood that the photos you see on Google are not the same guy.

Dude, Dude, Google Eric Wood.

He's got some funny because he's got the curly hair, he's got the blonde curly hair.

You can he's got some funny choby picks and dies for ball. He was such a dude. He was all about ball.

We get into a lot of obviously Buffalo Bill's talk the time he was with Buffalo, how they're good now, how they were shitty back then, why he thought they were shitty back then. We talk about how his career ended, how he dealt with that transition. We kind of dive into that because the man's an entrepreneur, he does a podcast, he's in the media game, he does a lot of really cool shit. Because we talk about how football player struggle was like finding that next high, like that that

You played at the highest level.

You have all these highs, like the stardom, the fame that comes with it, the money, all of the all of the benefits of being a professional athlete, and then when that gets kind of taken from you, like you feel like everything can be a little boring, right, because you're so used to like riding this high. And so we talk a lot about like chasing that next high, like what was it for him when he got out of it? Tells a hilarious Ritchie and Cognito story. We

When it was Father's Day.

I was like, oh sweet, it's a little late, and I'm gonna give a free shot out right here, but it's no free shoutouts. But it's a little late to get bright Side Bakery. And she looked at me and she so sorry, got you, babe. I ordered him for pick up because bright Said bakery sells out.

Within an hour.

They opened up at eight o'clock. By the time we picked him up at nine to fifteen on the door, it sets sold out. But they obviously if you order ahead of time, you go and pick up your box. No free shouts at bright Side Bakery. For the love of God, we would love some gift cards since we're giving you a lot of love because your pastries are fucking a one.

And then we went over to Mike Chandler's. Had a great.

Pool pool day, get some rays, grilled carnivore diet, and we had.

Some high vies.

Man, the boy had a stogy. I was in the dream. We had little ruin the pool and stuff like that. But I had a phenomenal Father's day. I hope all the dads you guys did out there as well, and everybody took care of their old man or their husband. But other than that, man, let's jump into the episode.

Were good. They're old boys.

You gonna and one of these are we just you can just roll it into it.

We can do it. I can shout out Duke Cannon right now. No free shots of Duke Cannon.

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If I get a little bit of caffeine in me, I get my anxiety spikes a little bit, I will start pitting no matter what. With du Canon, they have dry ice. The deodoran is incredible. What is it methanol? Am I saying that right? What are their ingredients? It's like it's like a glacier sitting under your armpits throughout the day. I sort of got I feel it right now, right when you put on. It smells nice, It feels nice throughout the day. But one of my favorite sens is that sandal Wood cologne.

I take the Sandalwood Colone.

If you could smell my wrists right now, if you can smell my neck, you'd want to take me right here on the bus, but you can't. But the Sandalwood Colonne is my favorite clone. It's a little clear sprayer spritzer thing that you can do. And they also have it in the big, Big as Brick of Soap. They have phenomenal products. Go check the boys out the Big as Brick of Soap with the scrubber And that was a big play by you guys, by the way, teaching me about the loofa inside.

The scrubber sailor.

Yeah, that was heady move because I don't even take the soap out of the out of the little case. Now, I just scrubbed myself with it. It's insane. The cologne, the hair washed, the hairstyling, beard care. They got everything you need. Check out Duke Cannon at any target or on Duke Cannon dot com and use code busting for fifteen percent off your first order. Guys, Duke Cannon is not for clowns. Go get your shit now, go get it everywhere.

Oh yeah, now I.

Can say it because we're still in the We're still in the episode. Now we're gonna get back to the episode. This is episode one sixty two with Eric Wood busting with the boys. You guys love it because we love you, guys. Biggest of pugs and tinies of kisses.

Hey, my daughter, My daughter pooped in the toilet yesterday by herself, Willow. And she's just like low key, just poty training herself right now. She's gonna be two in July. She's like, shees her sister Daning and she's like, I just want to do that, So I take her diaper off and run over. So I just got I just got a text about it. Do uh tam from Tailing to like the rest of the family, and she had like four times this week pee and pooped in the toilet.

We have two, six and four.

Our little boy he was like three and a half, taking big boy dumps, like in my size kid taking big boy dumps in you doing. Our daughter was like the same way nineteen months Yeah, in her pants again, that's wild.

Like girls think it's sick, boys are like screwed.

My daughter takes the biggest shits my oldest. Her ships are like adult sized. She goes in there, no problems, screams at me, which rumps in a wiper and you just go and look at it and you're like, yeah, I had to get a picture of this is into somebody.

It's unbelievable, dude.

And Ryan Fitzpatrick's text chain is eighty percent kids dumps.

Each other. Yeah. Yeah, his youngest is three, and he can rip.

Themhing to rip them, like something you'd find in the locker room.

Dude.

Uh but even this morning, like when you come in parents, like there's no more like my time, Like if you have to the bathroom and mom's not around, like that happened this morning, and I had to take a dunk and I was like, I guess you guys are coming with me. So I have a picture of my daughter she's like plugging her nose, and my youngest is kind of just like looking with So it's just like me kind of looking like what's going on in there? And I finished, and god forbid, I flushed it before they

A bit your kids aren't trying to kill it.

But you know what I'm saying, Like my daughter will like all of a sudden be like climbing up her high chair and like standing on her high shir It's like you just gonna die, like what, You're a high ledge and you could follow at any moment going down the stairs right at any point.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, you're trying to grab Willow's hand, and Willow's misindependent, Yeah she is.

Yeah, Yeah, were over at the house today, well, And the oldest are always more cautious, Like we didn't even have to child prove our house for our daughter. Some comes along it's like everything needs to be childprooved, like get the baby gates out and everything.

We didn't have to do any of that with my daughter.

Little boys or different animals, especially if they're the second Why is it, I don't know. It's like something about that oldest mentality, Like the oldest ones are more mature, they're more cautious, they're rule followers.

The second one. I don't know why. It's like, get a psychologist in here to explain it.

I mean Cody, Cody's more of, like a way more of a wild card than me. I'm the oldest, so I would like, yeah, that kind of makes sense. Yeah, I feel like the oldest usually are kind of like that, and then the middle child, second child, they're kind of just like, what the fuck's that?

Dudes.

Deal a little different for me because my brother, my dad called him the Golden boy growing up.

He was always he as younger than me.

He always came home, did his homework, first star athlete, was killing it, and I was kind of like your wild card and.

You're the oldest.

I'm the oldest. It's definitely flips now though. Did you drink formula? I did for a little bit. Yeah, I was like a little how I came out six pounds. I was tiny, Yeah, I mean I did for a little bit.

Pounds. My brother was My brother was a month early, was four and a half pounds. Damn. Yeah. They fit like in the palm of my dad's say. It was crazy wild.

But you're talking about Ryan Fitzpatrick, like, hey, everybuddy I've ever talked to.

You, like I missed him.

I was like a year before year after he was at the Titans is he like the coolest dude ever?

What he is.

He's got absolutely no ego, which is not super rare but fairly rare for a quarterback. They have zero ego, Like go into a game like Fitch, you've got to slide today, like we we can't win if we have our backup in there, Like you've got to slide.

But he has no ego.

I always say everyone from the mailman in the building to the GM to every player, he's everybody's favorite dude. He's not like a party animal off the field, but you get him out a couple times a year. Yeah, he's just he gets along with everybody, and everybody's walcome at his house. You know, he's got seven kids now, but like everybody on the team's welcome at his house, from the DB's to the wide receivers to the old line whoever may be. Like everyone's at his house. I mean,

Guy No, like he's got a great like chest, hair, body, though. You know what I'm saying that dad bod Yeah he does. He's got a great style about him.

Yeah, but like he'll drive a strength coach nuts, but he will grind on some film. But hard work are great. Dude, one of my best friends of this day. You got it hasn't come out yet, and I have no idea how I gotta show you what he wore to the Masters this weekend. So him, he goes to the Masters every year with his dad and his brothers. So he sends me this picture the other day and.

We should want So there's him and his brother just phenomenal beards. It's unreal, like these suit jackets with teal. Yeah, turn you turn and show the cameras. Outstanding, That's what I'm saying.

I feel like his popularity probably went up even more when McGregor was like a superstar.

And then gmcgregor and then the ego. The rest are just kids, don't pick. But did he he was the bills with you, Yeah he did. He give you the yetti cooler with his face on it. Just all the guys that the Tennessee got, yep, and the guy's at Houston.

God, that's like his go to gift.

That's his go to gift for a guy with no ego, to give you a yetti with his picture on it.

Right, kind of streams differently a little bit.

People see them, they're like, is that Zach Brown because it's like the beard and the he had on.

But I'm like, no, it's Ryan Fitzpatrick.

But when he got his extension with the Bills, that was his like big payday. He got like a five year, sixty million dollar deal, which was okay money at the time, like top fifteen starter mine.

Oh where what it is now?

No, not at all, but that was kind of mid tier, Like he knew he wasn't going to break the bank, but he wanted his stick in a situation. And man, a year and a half later, he broke his rids and didn't tell anybody. He played like crap the rest of the season. They going to cut him, draft DJ Manual and I honestly think we could have built something up there at that time.

I mean, I'm the eternal optimist.

You know, every year played in the longest playoff ro out in all professional sports at the time, and.

Every year was our year. You know. Yeah, looking back, and you guys came in.

When you guys came in, there was a spending floor, like teams had to spend a certain amount. Not when I first got in the league, like our team, when I look back at my rookie year, we had a few big names that could sell some tickets too, Lee Evans, our quarterback was Trent Edward's fits was the backup at first.

Can we do this? Do that?

Google has a bought the team totally different. Look how they're spending money now, Like I.

Have no idea.

I had no idea how Brandon Bean has gotten all these guys under the cap. This year they're bringing in everybody. They're bringing von They do josh As deal. Last year they just redo digs deal, de Kwan Jones. They bring him in, Rod and Staffold you know, which is funny. And we got to get to talking the Little Bills Titans at some point. Absolutely the Bill's nemesis, like last year was teams that can get physical with him, which everybody built their defenses now to defend the Chiefs in

Yeah, Rogers one of the best run blocking guards I've ever seen in my life.

Good, he's average.

Cost me for my life, bro, it's not even as well like I've seen him do that to everybody, bro everything.

The only person I han't seen him do that to his high tower.

Yeah, he would just try and make me feel better, but I'd be like, hey, comp I got I got somebody this week, and then he'd like show me in a beg.

Well I do feel better than yeah, just just everybody. But what's the weakness of his game?

Why is is I'm not here to I'm not here to talk about Rogers weeks.

I'm not gonna soil my boy. He was okay, so uh.

I will tell you like Roger's conditioning is incredible. He's a hard worker. He's always grunning in the weight room.

I think.

I think he's gonna do really well at the Bills. It seems like your coach is a guy that kind of keeps hit guys together, like kind of.

Like Rabel does.

He's got to lead a leader of men mentality, and he guys got all the pieces already.

The Bills are that fucking team.

I came at the Bills I think after it was like my first game back from suspension, and I started talking shit to Shaq laws in Shack Lawson, Yeah out of nowhere and the Bills and this is like not even really playing, and they the Bills mafia fucked my world up on Twitter.

Absolutely strong, dude. They are so strong.

It's like you want that as as a player, Like you want your fan base to be like that. And even for me, like going to see those fan base, it's like it's fucking wild out there. Yeah, valls are the same way. Shout out Jack back there, the volunteers go hard. But yeah, I think I think Roger's gonna do a great job.

Aaron Kromer, who he had in LA right, Yeah, Yeah, Chromer's awesome. I played for Chromer. He's one of the best offensive line coach in the league. He's like he learned under Howard Mudd and Bill Callahan, so he's got like a little bit of that, like we're tougher than them, go drive them off the ball. But then he teaches you what I called the ninja tricks of o line, like grapping the hand down the hand, reach around, grabbed their hip.

Yeah.

I did it to Bobby Wagner at the Pro Bowl one time, Like I let him get past me, and then we were running outside and so I just grabbed his opposite hip and just threw him up towards the field.

Yeah.

Bobby turned around like, what the hell was that little ninja trick? Brother, litt ninja trick?

Yeah?

You know.

Uh.

When I was at the Pro Bowl in sixteen, the coaches were I think the the San Diego Chargers at the time, and the line coach was like literally teaching that to us in the individual drill. Yeah, I believe that was I don't know.

It was Aaron's assistant, Thrumer's assistant in Buffalo.

He was incredible. He was like, all you got to do is grab the hip.

So I like, you know, our on line coach at the Titans, He's very like, this is how you do it.

That's how you do it. There's no other way to do it. This is the way.

And I pulled one of those out in Houston, like grabbed the dude's hip. He totally beat me off. The ball got to step through him. I was like fifteen yards. I'm like, fuck, that shit works. Every ref around was like, hey, don't do that. I know, you know, they kind of gave me the warning. But yards were made, baby, I know I was about it. Yeah, those little tricks are something.

No doubt at center, you can't really do it a tackle.

But my biggest changeup was like, and I would only do it if I had a dude who I was gonna struggle with in passpor but take my off hand and just pop them right on the forehead.

That's a big thing for centers, right. You know, do you ever do you ever meet a David Molk? He played for the Eagles and the Charges for a little bit, hit a couple of coffee in the league.

Yeah, but he was the Remington Award winner. Yeah, he had.

He won the Remington Award at Michigan, And that was his big thing is if there was a dude.

He was a smaller guys, strong as a Knox though.

He's like anytime the guys didn't give an issue, I fucking just jammed right in the face right away and then back up and then guy's kind of disoriented.

Yep, it's a genius move.

And then you buy a second and most pass plays left two and a half seconds, so now you got a second and a half the block of guys opposed to two and a half seconds. Yeah, but you can't do it every time, and then the refs don't like it either, right, because it catches them off guard, like, well, what'd you do is the hands of the face. I'm like, yeah, I mean I threw my hand to hit him in the chest. He ducked his head. I mean, yeah, exactly.

And there's always a greary.

It's kind of like at their discretion when they can call it because you can grab the face mask if you pull off. Some refs are cooler about that. But if you just have it up there for a little bit, your ass is getting called.

Oh, no doubt about it.

And like for me, the umpires behind me so all the time, Like I'm a taller center, so all the time people get me right under the chin and just drive me back. I'm like, turn it around midplay, like what but they can't see through you.

Yeah.

And also the quarterbacks right behind you have the running back. You guys are kind of in a little cluster.

I know.

In the beginning of my career it was I didn't play the game with the refs. It was like, you know, butter them up, shake their hands, house life, Oh you had kids, the whole thing. I didn't do that, So I do something they would the a fact, I mean a flag at me. Hey, that was just a misfranspronunciation. Please don't come at the boy, but they would throw a flag and I'd get it. I'd be like, what the fuck are you doing kind of go at them.

And now you start to know the guys and stuff like that. It's a it's.

Chess, dude, early different games it is. Earlier in my career, I thought I was coach k out there. I mean I was all over the refs, hammering them, hammering them. I had back to back double holding call games, which is an offensive line, just absolute nightmare sound games a year four and I was like, man, I need a totally different approach. I went into every game the rest

Hey, here's what I'm gonna do with my silent count today.

Let me know if there's an issue, Hey, did you see anything on film?

Alignment issues?

Give us a warning and dude, the whole game, they'd be like, get your tackle up. Is it supposed to throw in the flag? It's like, man, why the heck what did I do with that? The whole time of my career. But I was also a little bit of a psychopath early my career. My rookie year at at Tennessee, Dan and Bosh played Nebraska with one of my teammates and good buddes, Chris Kelsey, who just absolute meatheads.

Well, I basketbays I got.

I was playing guards at the time, and I just wiped Van and Bosh out of the pocket, got him pretty good.

One time he was bull rushing our tackle.

Well, we throw a pick six, and it's like a quick pick six, so the dude runs in the end zone.

They got off a hitch or something like that, like in the third minute.

And Vandon Bosh after they scored, comes and just wipes me out fifteen yard penalty, big fine, and Any went in the locker room after the game, didn't even shake hands with Kelsey.

His college roommate goes like, what the hell did you do to Vandabosh.

I was like, dude, I was wearing him out there another games, like talking so much trash if he's probably thirty five years old, Like, well, this dude, just shut up and leave me alone.

They're smoking us, like out there having fun.

The thing about like coming going into guys like when you slide in slide protection or something like that, the three technique makes an inside move and he's gonna fuck them up or something like that. That's kind of gone away a little bit. They're definitely big on, like no blindside heads or so they don't even weird wiping out the pocket.

It's weird. Yet Ben was one of the best at that.

Yeah, Like Ben would sit there, he had nothing to do and go smoke somebody and hear him his big hit ass just kind of laughing in the corner as he did something. But they're like they're kind of big on, like, hey, don't do that anymore, which sucks because for me, if I have like a two I or a nose and I have an end right here and he's gonna bull rush me, like I want my guard to couldn't clean that up. Or if he goes inside, I want my guard to fuck him up a little bit because he knows, like,

No doubt about it. I know it.

I would always try and set vertical off the ball, make that three technique, think he had a two way go and think he could spin and man, you catch. There's no better feeling as a center than when you see that three technique spin and you know you're just gonna clean him as soon as he turns his head.

Did you see Quentin Nelson?

I think it was like two years ago against the Chargers Melvin Ingram and he does spin move, uh.

Laid him down? H Yeah? What was his name? The Castro?

No, not, the Castro was a guard, Castanza, the left tackle. He does spin on him and he fucking cleans them, absolutely murder. It was one of the most beautiful blocking plays.

Where Nelson does things on a football field for a guard that just like shouldn't happen.

What do you think it makes him so special? I think he's really smart.

Now he's like super talented, but I think the way he the way he's able to pick stuff up and what he does now he's mean, but then like he plays with a ton of attitude. But then you'll hear him miked up and he like picks a dude up, like hey, my bad or you all right, yeah, how do you switch it on?

And not like that?

Like I'm either like like I hated playing against domeatop Peco because he was so nice. He would get me out of my game, right, he has the fan and so like the whole game he'd be like, butter me up, and then all of a sudden he like gets my hand and like hits the quarterback. I'm like like you got me, you got me, And so like I don't know how Quinn Nelson turns it on and off. But he's got a great combination of size, speed, strength, and then I think he's really smart.

Yeah, he does a lot of stuff.

He gets away with a lot of stuff as far as like grabbing guys in the outside. He's got a great reputation. I know a lot of guards like to talk trash on him, but that's my boy.

Yeah.

The thing is when you work out with him, guy's got a tank like no one else. When it comes conditioning, he can just roll all day. He's talking shit. But then you go and like hang out and he's like super mild manner, the nicest guy in the world.

Like he's just awesome to be around, even around cue. He's a sweetheart. He's a sweetheart, dude. You just look at him.

You're like, this, dude's a fucking tank, right, just a massive individual, individual, giant traps like kind of walks around and it's just like hold monster.

When they stuck came out at left tackle, he really showed off his athleticism.

Yeah, a lot of guards can pop out the player. Yeah that's wild.

That's a different animal playing left tackle. You bump out the right and you got the tight end on your side and all that.

It's fine.

You got the left tackle on an open edge against the defensive ends that are going to go against you, and they just pop him out there and.

He just doesn't even blink. It unbelievable. Just a couple of hogs talking ball.

I love the old war story. You say one, Taylor thinks about a memory, He says one. You remember, you say one. Both pro bowlers just hogs in the trenches.

Dude.

You I looked over and saw your busting hat and like, my wife is always cool, Like we're down here celebrating our tenure aiversary and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna go, thank you, thank you, And uh so she wanted to take a nap anyways before the Garth concert tonight, but I was like, hey, I'm gonna go to a podcast and we listened to the Pat McAfee one on the way down.

Like she knew who Pat was. We listened to that on the drive down.

But we were walking around the Gulch today and someone had one on one of those hatches, like someone random, and I was like, that's the podcast and she's like, that's pretty tight that, Like people were just walking around Nashville with the year on it. I know a bunch of people do that like that like set it in so and that it was like pretty cool.

I podcast, no doubt about it.

Oh yeah, with a real deal Like this is a huge, great point everybody listening right everybody listening right now needs to go.

To our merch store and cops some merse bussing through.

That's probably in all of our links, your Twitter, my Twitter, Everyone's Twitter.

Yeah, it's gonna be in the link.

But yeah, dude, it's crazy how Nashville is kind of like taking us in. You know, it's been Willow and played here for two years, had a little bug fly. Yeah it's just one year, bro, and it's crazy because you will go out now and any like, if I go anywhere, it's like I get at least one the boys. I'm like walking mindy, kind of like throw up a quick deuce as you're walking.

I've heard you guys talk about this over the years. Has it quieted down as far as Oh Taylor had a holding call, must be too worried about the podcast? Like has that quieted down?

I think we've quieted it down in our heads, like it's fine.

It's once.

It's like no, no, it's yeah, it's just as bad as it was. I think, like what people don't realize is every NFL player is doing something in the off season, right, whether it's playing video games, whether it's doing this real estate deal, whether you're trying to have your money they made in the league make more money. I'm just doing it on a public platform that everyone can see, right.

If I just caught that. I know.

I was hype and I could do it, but the other of us got and I'm thinking, I'm gonna snatch this thing.

Oh you lying, but yeah it is, Yeah, go ahead. I was gonna say.

I feel like, like if I'm a fan and I'm thinking about Taylor and chirping Taylor, like the holding calls and stuff like that, because I've I've kind of seen it happen, right like the first year it started. It was after my first year at the title. Yeah, I catch trace. But it's hilarious though. I mean, obviously I love this.

So they'll blame you if Taylor does something bad.

No, I mean I might get tagged and stuff. People won't like blame me.

I might.

They might barely say something, and then I'll make it seem like they're actually trying to blame me just to fucking have fun with it. But like, so the first time you got to see it, Taylor was coming off the ped suspension. That's when we first started the podcast, So Taylor was in a suspension.

I was.

I got hurt in New Orleans, so I wasn't playing either the first part of the year. So Taylor's going back and playing and he's you know, whether it's a holding penalty or jump a false art penalty or something like that.

Like there's a lot of truth.

It was very new is year one, right, and we were the only NFL to players doing that, and uh so there would be a lot of trips there to where like made you tight because it was our first year doing it.

Even made me uncomfortable. I'm like, fuck, should we even.

Be doing this right now that we've gotten used to it and it's it's been established, like Taylor proves that he does both things. Now, if you're a troll trying to get in, I won't say our heads like Taylor's head or something like that, or try to make it seem like something. You actually need to see him mess

Shut the fuck up? Type of yeah, right, If.

I'm like, if I'm chirping in year one and now I've kind of cooled off because of whether we've snap back or people snap back at you. Now you actually need to see one of us fail to try and really reach in there and try to grind somebody's gears.

That's how I kind of see the development over there.

Right, because you have to interact with the audience or else you don't want to.

Build it up.

Oh you put it on, Nick Lombardi, the Titans gonna won by at least twenty eight points of Taylor One didn't have a podcast.

That's It's like, you have to be active on social media to promote a podcast, so you're going to see that stuff. Otherwise I'd be like, dude, just completely ignore it, just go about your business. But you can't do that because you're trying to promote the podcast in the brand.

And it's a super dramatic change for me. Like you're talking about turning it on and off like during the season. I'm kind of like not really on social media. I am on social media, but on like a normal person amount you know what I'm saying. Like right now, it's like a coble hours a day during the bars a day, and we fuck around. We treat we treated like a like a group text like We're always like chirping. All the boys are always talking and stuff like that, and

What did you say, Oh, Taylor want podcast? Yeah? So like, but the thing that.

Will was talking about that's super cool is like, as we've gotten going and like these year ones are kind of like just riding and dying with us, Like we have our own little like kind of squad that like just kind of loves us and we love them back, and they kind of just go for bat, like go to bat.

For us, which is awesome. That's awesome. Weird. Week one was tough.

Week one was Week one was hard. Taylor Jones and stuff. He's on the Cardinals. Their social media.

Share social media posted a picture of Tandler Jones and it said h busting with the Boys on top of it.

I was like, yeah, I go.

Taylor Jones was with the boys Now the only game of my life where I was like, how do I get the fuck out of here?

You know what I'm saying. Taylor came back in the game, he got booed like it was fucking up there.

I'm sitting up there like, oh shits sitting with my wife.

Yeah, I was it coming off the A C L. Was it just certain, like you.

Know, I could go sit here and have a lot of excuses, like I think, like the strength, the conditioning, the confidence just wasn't there at that point.

Yeah.

And it took me, like I would say, almost half the season to kind of start feeling like okay, like I'm going back to doing my thing. But I was even telling Mike, just Mike on the podcast yesterday when he was on that you know, even at the end of the season, my leg's not as strong as it was, and I'm like, how am I blocking guys now?

Like there was never like a true confidence during the season. Towards the end it got a whole lot better.

But yeah, it was just it was just up and down, especially and there was a bunch of issues with the knee there. I had like a bunch of I got a toe thing at one point at the next thing, and it was just like a whole bunch of shit.

I'm like, dude, like I can't, just I can't.

I was the tourniquid at to stop the bleeding and so but it's been all that that's happened has made me much more present and grateful for what I'm doing now.

Wow, because I wasn't allowed to.

I couldn't even run till like June last year, And today I just ran a ship lo I, I damn near passed that on the football field, and I was like, this is just fucking awesome.

It's just cool to do it and and like really enjoy it.

And it's like the ebbs and flows of football, of anything you really do in life. Those lows make those highs feel so much better. I'm stoked. I'm stoked for this year. I think it's gonna be awesome. I think we got a squad on us. I think the Bills rip, but you know we won the last Everyone thought Rogers was going to go somewhere. I'm like, I know he ain't going to the a f C.

He's not. He's not popping over there to compete with all those It's crazy. AFC's like the juggernaut right now, I know it. It's wild. It got Brady didn't jump over. West is a juggernaut.

If I was playing offensive line in the a f C, West, I would just be like just trade me. You know what I mean if you're a tackle out there. I mean they've picked up so many pass rushers.

Out there, Leil Mack and Joey Boss on the Chargers, you got Chandler and uh, your boy Crosby on the Raiders. You got Frank Clark and Chris Jones on the Chiefs. And then who's the last one in that division, Denver and you got Bradley Chubb over there too. Yeah, it's a fucking studs. Like, hey, boys, buckle your fucking chin straps a little tighter.

Good luck on the inside, it's not. In fact, the Titans play the a FC West is here nice especially I get trade.

Bill's brought in von Miller and I was stoked about that. I love Vaughn, loved him forever.

He thought on Vina, where is that his crew right now?

Well, I think the Bills are as good as anybody at managing players' bodies. They brought in my last year, they brought in these this. I don't think there are a couple, but a male and a female. Both their names are Joe Joe and Joe Sure. They're both from London. They worked in Premier League soccer forever managing player's body. So they came in and basically oversaw everything, and they're like, no, I think these guys any more.

Rest days and all that.

Like if you watch the Bills injury port throughout the week, they give more players rest days than anybody in the league. Stefan Diggs, everyone's like, man, he's having a down year last year. Well, they managed like even his catches throughout the year, like they didn't want they only wanted him get a certain amount of touches. I think this wasn't public, but I believe it was because they don't only want

Yeah, Addison, I think Addison's got a nice little bag of tricks for sure. I think Jerry Hughes, even in year twelve a super slippery quality like, does a great job especially against the play action pass. Like he doesn't necessarily butt you up every time in the run game. So in play action when you're trying to go get him, he makes the inside move. That's a tough Yeah, that's a tough deal. So you gotta be aware of that

That was fifty five percent. Wow.

So and you guys just had a slew. Do I think that rookie? I think he was either a rookie lot or so.

Yes.

And then aj Panessa at Panessa, I think he got a whole lot better. I was watching against Miami. Now, Miami didn't have the best offensive line, right yeah, And that's you your words, not mine, But I don't agree disagree, and I think he was he was doing.

When I was watching film, I was like.

Holy fucked, yeah, this dude is just putting dudes in a blender right now. Like he had some moves, good, nice double arm swipe, had get bender on the edge.

But I think a guy like Vaughn, you.

Know, they track everything nowadays, so like his snap to get off was one of the fastest in the league, So like that's one of his strengths was just get off.

Anyways, I think come.

Playoff time next year, von Miller can be a difference maker to get to the quarterback. And that's what the Bills, That's what ultimately got him against the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes could just run around back there and it just ended up being a shootout in the Bills defenses wore out and both defenses wore wore out. You got twenty five points scored in a minute and fifty seven seconds, but

You know how it's structured.

I'm sure because because if he's thirty nine at the end of that contract, right, it had to be either. It seemed like it was a team from the deal too, though, like looking at the numbers and where everything was signing bonus and all that against the cap.

Like you said, Buddy's a wizard. Yeah, so he was out there killing it. I know. I love Brandon Bean, So is that what you think?

You think if the Bills got the ball first and that overtime, Bills win that game.

Over, game over, both chances.

Both defenses were so gassed, like they could hardly move.

Yeah, I mean both Josh Allen and Mahomes were just going back and forth.

Though, you know, is there too much time on the clock? Oh and that was there too much on the clock? Just back.

Yeah, But the way Mahomes came and tie the game up at the end, incredible.

Yeah.

But the way Josh, oh no, it was all it was all fucking insane and who had the ball less in regulation?

So the Bills scored with thirteen seconds left, that's right, and they're up three and Tony Romo and they kicked it in the end zone allowed a touch back, which don't do the games coach has been fired. You know, not to speculate, but there apparently there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line. The kick as still on the team the special teams coach, isn't they kick it in the end zone so you don't waste any time there, And then they played off defense and let them just get up the field.

And then man, it even.

Hurts like to watch just because I love Sean McDermot and Brandon Bean so much.

Like they gave Sean McDermot was there my last year.

I was the first player being extended or gave a contract to in Buffalo as me, and so like.

I actually like those dudes. I know you like to, but so I know how much it means to them.

But to like watch the micd up situation where Travis Kelsey was like, Hey, I'm actually not gonna do it. Andy Reid just called like like look at their defense. I'm just gonna run up the seam. Just throw it to me.

I'll get down and we get a field goal to tie it. So Jesus wild. Yeah, that had to hurt. It was one of the best games to watch it. Yeah, I was calling the game, and you know, I thought the Bills were out of it, and then they.

Just go back and forth. In the fourth quarter, they get back in and take the lead. But you know, the city of Buffalo is just starving for a championship. And after the way Josh Allen played against the Patriots, they smoke him forty five to seven places.

That was a wild dude, Josh Allen.

And he's been to three playoff appearances, not like it's just won. In three playoff appearances, he has a fourteen to one touchdown interception ratio, which is like, by far the best in NFL history. Obviously, he's a students, a gamer, sounds one of my favorite people in the world, and he won me over for life. So this is two years ago, my son's birthdays in January, and so I texted Josh, like I didn't even overlap with Josh once, but we worked with the same hospital up there, our

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Sport Clips the pros in men's hair. Is it hard going from player to media?

Guy? Like is that something in the maybe in the beginning more so than now, Like it was always in the back of your mind, Like I have to have this kind of take because in the media game, like you've got to build credibility. To get credibility, you got to have like actual honesty, like you got to be objective, like you got to remove the emotion of these are my boys, but you know, you gotta do your thing.

Yeah, Now, it's good that there was a ton of turnover, Like I was out a season full season and then came back eighty percent of the roster it changed, so that that helped. But like, they don't pay me enough to be hypercritical of those guys that make hard takes on them all the time. Like I'm never going to trash the guys. But it was weird because yeah, yeah, your body's got a price. Everybody's got a price.

To Romo money. I'll talk wrap on anybody. Yeah, I respect, I respect that hustle.

But I'm like, dude, I'm I'm up here having fun. Like we're the Bills Radio broadcast, so like I'm I'm gonna be pretty you know, I'm a Bill's homer.

On this broadcasts.

When I was with ESPN for those couple of years, I'm calling college games like I'm not going to tear down these college kids. Now, I'll say if something was dumb or man, he should have made that catch er, that's a bad throw. But I'm not going to like attack a kid like, oh this kid, you know, he's lazy. Watch this like I would if I was watching film. We're in sitting in the old line room watching film. Totally different than when you're calling a.

Game, like you're not on everybody, Yes, exactly, like, oh, this dude's terrible, especially the old line too. That's crazy that because when you watch the d line, you're kind of respecting them watching when they do. Yeah, you watch other offensive line and you're like, what the fuck is this guy doing?

Man? Right, why is he so lazy? Why is he so this? Yeah, But like I feel like.

That's ever a position like for real, Well, you'll watch guys, you watch backers, and your coach will be getting off to some by and here's me thinking like, yeah, they're doing nothing like you.

You custed your ass off when.

I was doing something similar to this the other day. But all of a sudden, he's doing it. All of a Sudden's the greatest thing in the world, right, will probably who probably hate on like Quentin Nelson, like oh he gets this, he gets that, he gets away with this, but it's just like you know.

Right, But on the transition to the media, it got me Like the first time I went to like one of like the old line dinners the night before the game, or we were on the road and they invited me out to eat with them and then they started talking and they like pulled back because they thought I might like tweet it, or I'm like whoaa, whoaah, like nothing we ever say, Like I will never compromise a conversation ever with a player coach, like even like showing that

That's awesome, that's good. That's a good characteristic to have.

Yeah, but but it's like you blow the trust once and then like honestly, it's like like as a former player, like you never want that to like like you would never I would never want to turn years worth of a reputation off of like picking up a few Twitter followers or something.

Right, Yeah, some guys get off on that though. I know some like just going off the media we have here. There's a lot of great people in our media, especially at local media, but there's a couple of guys that just are dying to soil somebody.

I know. I just love the chaos, each.

A little bit of like an angle, and then you can make it into something, making it something huge.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Yeah, I Uh, let's get into your career a little bit, because you've had, like you had quite the career. You played nine years at one spot, which is rare. It's like we were talking about yesterday with Mike when he was on the podcast, like Taylor has been with one team his entire career, Like that's a rare thing to have.

And you had just re signed an extension what was it five years.

Signed a two year extension, so that would have put me through year eleven.

Got you, and so I was way off, good, way off, So completely way off. But uh, you had an incredible career man, a pro boy, and you were stud Like I remember you, you did talk like you were scrappy, that you and incognito. Incognito this day between him and Roger, the heaviest hands.

I've ever felt heavy hands.

But you suddenly had to end your career because of a neck injury. Like tell us about that story.

Yeah, So twenty seventeen, we break the longest playoff drought in all professional sports.

Everyone thought we.

Were tanking going into that season, and everyone thought I was a dumbass, but I signed the contract extension when everyone thinks we're tanking. But like we're sitting there, we got shady Kyle Williams, Tyrod Taylor's good quarterback, Richie's there. I'm like, man, we got some pieces like said, like this isn't a true tank, Like yes, we traded Sammy and Marcel and Ronald Darby, but like those dudes didn't fit McDermott's personality and they never were going to like

Bad.

You're losing too bad, Like you get taken out for so many diferent reasons. In the NFL, I played every single snap that year. I'm an alternate for the Pro Bowl?

Was it that?

After an injury too? So? Oh?

I had a ton of injuries, bro curious and my rookie year, I did the Joe thaismand leg break.

You're three. I did a CM compound fracture. Yeah, holy ship.

Right from the field to an ambulance to surgery four days.

Later, fly back to Buffalo and we and that was like, let's put a pin in that and just how that happen. Yeah, So I'm blocking for Ryan Fitzpatrick, former teammate of mine.

You can find it on YouTube if you want to pull it up, might as well. But uh, former teammate of mine at Louisville Montaviou. Stand at least playing de tackle for the Jaguars, And I just got a dude locked up and just standing there with him. Dies for fitz fitz makes a miss, goes through the side of my leg. I had never been hurt in my life. And we were earlier in that game. A guy left

Everyone's like, you didn't know that it was fucking out? No, it was. It was this so the bone was out of the skin, so.

It was a community which actually were so it was it breaks in half, the skin stays out there, and that actually made me have to stay in Jacksonville longer because it creates this like huge bubble on your leg.

But anyways, so here you go. Oh bro, I don't know if I really want to see this. Oh fuck yeah. So that was a good one. Think too. By the way, you're in phenomenal shape now, yeah, I appreciate it. That was about three hundred and sixteen pounds there. I was heavy. All right, that's good, yeah, snapper dude. So anyways, so do that go straight to the hospital.

Wait, you're chilling holding How did you react to that? You were like, oh, I should get up.

I was trying to push myself off the ground and then realized that it was pretty bad.

And now how did you react to that?

Were you freaking out when really hurting?

Ended up really hurting? And then uh, it ended up really hurting. Yeah.

Yeah, watch the YouTube video of it with the surgeons before I went into surgery.

Wake up in the middle of the night, have no idea where I'm in.

Where I'm at in a pitch black hospital room, and I'm like, I'm sweating my ass off, and I'm like the drugs.

I just started yelling.

I'm like, I literally have no idea where I am right and like I don't see like a call button or anything.

So I just started yelling. Nurses come in, flip on the lights.

I'm like, oh, look down, I'm in the same compression chores I played the game in and Jacksonville. I was like like, all right, this is disgusting. I was like, all right, need the ac down, need some new underwear, probably a bath where am I like like just start my rud we know, like where's my phone?

Like what the hell is going on right now?

Is the middle of the night and uh so, anyways, I was down there for four days and ended up making back started the first game of the season the next.

Year because that was in Weeke ten, Like you fucking yeah, what is a what is like a regular recovery for that?

Like it all kind of depends.

So like with bones, once they healed, you're pretty confident about it. Like when I did my ACL, like I didn't feel like real confident that sucker for about eighteen months. Yeah, you know, Like I'm like, man, it just kind of feels weak, like not as flexible, not as strong, like is this thing good?

You know?

And like acls are so obscure. It's like this little bitty deal I can just wreck your life. So you're like, is it good?

Like once that once they boy blost back there just towards ACL two days ago.

That recovery sucks.

But I'm sorry, but I'm my heart's going out to the boy the whole time.

But like they put a rotten screws in my leg, like that sucker was good.

Now it didn't hurt, It didn't hurt that bad.

Now you're not weight bearing for twelve weeks, so you're completely atrophied. I went from three six I went from three sixteen to two seventy eight quick?

Just how fast? How fast is that? Three weeks?

Okay, hey, I lost like thirty forty pounds, not forty thirty pounds in MYICL.

That's a good three week.

That's a great sign for post career, but it sucks when you're in the moment because then you had to get all that and some of it's you know, waterway and all that, and you get that muscle back quick. But yeah, thirty seven pounds or something, and then they put me back in the hospital for dehydration all that. No, Yeah, that was that was That was a tough one. And then I got hurt in week ten or eleven, four straight years to start my career, did the did the

Hey, at one point you I'd be like, hey, I'm not playing those going into like contract years.

Well yeah, yeah, so and then I'm heading So at that time, all first rounders had to sign a five year deal, So the Bills extended me before the next season. But it was a really heavy playing time incentive because I was like, look, I want to make top three center money. I'm resigning before mac he was another first round of that year, like he's gonna jump me as soon as I sign.

So like, I don't want to sign like some.

Team super like low deal that has you know, no risk to it like, I'll bet on myself.

That's fine. I'd deserve the money if I'm not playing anyways.

And then I go on to start fifty two straight games and earn it all, which was great. And then in twenty sixteen, break my other leg a Monday night football in Seattle on the goal line going left, smart too, the defensive line slanted this way. I'm trying to get through to the second level and bear defense, and the whole whole line collapses down on me. So break your other leg, break my other leg, mon night football heading into the bye week too.

So you got all these players, I don't need to see it. And then you fly back and then you last video fucked me up, and then you.

Fly back from Seattle six hours to Buffalo through the night.

Luckily at that time they made something legal out there that a bunch of the guys on the team were like kind of hooked me up. On the way home and Rex Ryan walked up to me, he goes, how you feeling, E. I was like a lot better than I should right now, Yeah, like a lot better than I should. He's like, all right, take me out.

Yeah, yeah, I'm all good, but uh, Heroin's different.

Yeah, what you're saying exactly, Yeah, yeah, the hard stuff and so break my leg. So all that being said, battle through injuries my whole career that year, play every single snap, feel great, Like, got some stingers throughout the year, but like our high school buddy's got stingers, Like everyone gets stingers in the NFL, Like, yeah, who cares hurt

It's all good. Yeah. But uh so I got.

These singers where they're like, let's get new around your neck, just make sure everything's good. And I was like, okay, well I have to get home right now. My son's about to be born. So getting a Mari drive back to Louisville. Two days later, sitting in the delivery room. My son's born. Fifty minutes after I get the phone call that my career's over even with surgery. You know, we've consulted with everybody. No one will ever pass you for a physical again, no team in the league will,

And it's said, my career is over, and like, and you just got that MRI just because you have you had stinger hits. Yeah.

I was the only player on the team that late every single snap that year. Yeah, so like so I know it and no one else does. And it was well like our family knew, but like me and my wife knew, but like no one else. And my wife's crying in the hospital bed after I told her, and not like mad, just like sad and emotional and I have a baby, you know, you guys know the emotions of that.

Yeah, the nurse imagine telling my wife. She's in the middle of trying to.

Like, well, we knew went through and you're like, hey, but I'm also we got to find a new job because it wears over.

Yeah.

They were like, hey, we're gonna call we have some serious news. So we knew something, so like she was like telling me, I want to know. So the nurse comes in and was like, baby, it's not going to hurt that bad.

I promise. My wife's like, it's not about the baby, like we exactly.

So anyway, so that that was like a pretty wild four or five months because the Bills wouldn't cut me because as soon as they cut me, my full cap hit was gonna come in. Like I was the second highest paid center in the league my first year out of the league because I just had signed that extension and so as soon as they cut me, all that hits and then they can't go sign free agents. Right, well, if i go get a job or anything, then I'm retired. If I'm retired, I don't get all that injury guarantee.

Done.

I'm like, yeah, I was never athletic enough to play tight end. I couldn't even start in my high school at tight end. So yeah, I'm really done.

Oh my god, that's crazy. Ye know, that is fucking emostly, like, what was that process like for you, dealing with that.

You're a pro bowler, like everyone's speculating and you're about to go like you're about to go to another one.

Yeah. Everyone. I loved ball.

Like that's another thing too, Like there's a lot of dudes in the league that don't love ball like I loved it, Like I loved watching film, I loved going to the stadium, I love I loved practice like I loved it all and so for me, like it was a big hit, and you know, honestly and at that time, like I had, you know, luckily, I have a great family and buddies in this foundation, my faith, and like so early on you're like, yeah, God, I know you have great plans for me, Like I can't wait to

Like OTA's was a ton of fun.

Yeah, I see them all those Bota's, I was like, oh, it's real, Like yeah, well.

I'm not heading back there anymore. So it sucked it, truly did. I went through the first game that the Bills, like the first game that I wasn't in, you know, in a decade, and they played APT Baltimore and they lost like forty seven to three, it's pouring down rain. We're up in the club just crushing beers, me and a few of my boys, and like everyone's like, is this,

But I also don't want to do the coaching hours.

As you guys know, it's hard to be a dad and a husband and this gotta be a little different now, no doubt about it.

Yeah, what was? So?

What was would it end up being like what the doctors told you happened to your neck? What would made it like career ending?

Yeah?

So I had disc and bones sitting into my spinal cord and it was at C two C three, So like if it was lower at four or five like Peyton Manning had next surgery and came back and played his was lower, it's more stable at C two C three. Any surgery up there, they'll just end your career because it's so unstable and you lose everything below in the spinal cord whatever, like you injure, it damages everything down. So that's paraplegia, loss of respiratory function, and so it's

You're lucky, saying because they just saw from an MRI.

It's like kind of like, oh, thank god we got an MRI because you would have continued playing it.

You weren't feeling anything wrong with you, right, I know it.

Yeah, everyone's like, man, you should feel so fortunate that you got out when you did. And look, I would have played to the wheels fell off and I get to play golf. I can still work out, I play with my kids like I love balls.

I would have played to the wheels.

Fell off, just ignorant, and every year would have been, hey, we got to go win the super Bowl.

Then we win to super Bowl. He was like, let's go win another one. That was awesome.

Yeah, So I would have just kept playing. So I believe God got me out when he wanted to. And honestly, that first four or five months sucked. It did, but I swear each year's gotten better than the last. I got a podcast, What's Next with Eric Wood. I have a ton of fun doing that, get to do stuff like this. We travel a bunch, work hard, in the falls calling games and whatnot, and then tone it back

Got some investments going. So it's been a ton of fun.

But man, that that transition's real, and for guys to transition out in the NFL to have other guys that can talk to, like, you know, we got buddies that are going, you know, through transitions all the time from the league.

Like it sucks, but no one.

But the thing about it is you can't talk to your buddies about it because they're like, look, you have more money than you know what to do with, right, and you get to stay home now, Like what's wrong with that?

Like like some of your buddies are still like they don't want to hear most of every buddy, You're right, they don't care to hear it.

They don't want to hear it.

Yeah, like they don't Like your wife doesn't have anyone to talk to because you know, my wife leslie like her girlfriends like they don't want to hear her talk about like well, you know, and Eric's at home helping out all the time now, and you.

Know, I think we're gonna go travel again. Yeah, yeah, golfing and just can't. But it's interesting again, yeah, you.

Like they don't want to hear that, like, but like it's hard on the wife too. Like we had a house in Buffalo, we had family, and you know, we had friends that felt like family up there.

Yeah, when you're in it, when you got the camaraderie with the boys, and like you said, it was nothing better.

I remember like in Washington, did you know Corey lichtenstagger at all? I m But we just had a group of guys where we're it's the same thing. We're golfing after practice every day, like when you're in it, because again you were there nine years. Like right, it's gotta just it's gotta suck. And I was talking one time with my buddy a mereb Doula. He's had a podcast on here, but uh yeah, monster wrench.

But he's the president, the biggest of whoever had the biggest he's the no.

But that's not gonna happen when somebody asks. He's saw always something one that I'll never get out of my head out of his mouth.

That's crazy.

But one time we were talking and it's kind of like we get to be on this roller coaster right with football, Like we live in such a we're so fortunate that we got to legitimately live our dream as a kid, Like you're playing mad and you're creating yourself and you just daydream about playing football, like we're pretending to be guys in the backyard when you're playing catch with your dad and stuff, and you're just like you're

This roller coaster.

You go to college, you're on scholarship, like you have structure around. You go to the NFL, you lose a little bit of structure, but you're making money and you're just you're living a high. And then when you're when you're done playing football, and I would assume it was this way for you, but you get the rug pullout from under you without even thinking twice, like having the option right, and it's like, I feel like what football

It's like, what's the next roller coaster? I'm trying to get on?

And you go and call games right, and there's not a lot of people in the stadium, Like it's just not getting your rock, Like it's not You're like, this is not what I want to be doing this, This isn't doing it for me. I feel like we struggle trying to figure out, like what that next? I guess highest so to speaker, like what's going to feel like I have purpose doing this?

No doubt.

I'm literally I completed the book. It'll release this fault. It's called Tackle What's Next. So it's a playoff of my podcast. So it's like a bunch of podcast guests who's poured into me because when I started the podcast, I didn't have any broadcast gigs or anything going. I was like, ma, now I'm supped to start creating some content,

But man, you can recreate.

Like my like the tagline of my podcast, how do you make your what's next in life?

Your best? Yet?

So like, go attack that next chapter of life, no matter what it is. And so many people are in a season of transition right now, whether it's from COVID, whether it's work, and like you can be in a transition life just because you say, like, man, I want to be better tomorrow, like and not even like putting too much pressure on yourself, like man, like I love my boy Ben Newman, but like I'm not gonna do seventy five hard over and over and over, like that's

Like it's what you go to school, your whole life. Then you go to college and you've managed all that.

Then all football players, no doubt, right, and then all of a sudden you have no schedule at all. So like getting in a routine daily that like serves you, that's gonna like put some healthy habits in your life. It's great, but you talked and you hit it on the head. When people are trying to recreate that, that how you get from football. That's where you see a lot of people get into trouble business wise. It's like, man, I'm gonna go all in on this real estate deal.

You're gonna hit a home run on this, like right, oh no, no, chill.

But it's uh, it's been fun to hop into like this podcast world learn from so many people, and you know, part of my passion now is helping people transition and and I just feel like as I learned on the podcast, people are learning with me and it's been a ton of fun.

That's awesome. When'd you start it? I started in twenty nineteen.

So we're like one hundred and fifty something, one hundred and sixty episodes in one a week. Sometimes we do two, sometimes I'll do a solo one and those do pretty good ratings.

And you can like boost the weekly listens.

Like if you're trying to get a decent sponsor, you're like, oh, yeah, last week we had you know X amount of listens.

It's like, well, we released too that week, but it's all good. Yeah.

And then for Melth like for me, like I like conversations that are chill like this, I like conversations with pastor CEOs, Like I just like to learn from people and pick their brains. But if I go back to the bills. Well, like, if I, like I have Brandon bean on once a year, that's gonna be one of our biggest episodes. Josh Allen Sean McDermott Like, but like, those conversations don't really do a whole lot for me.

You know, they're fun. I love those dudes, but like, you know, they're necessary for like the Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I'll be like yeah, like I'll get a weekly KPI report and I'm yeah, it's time to go back to the bills.

Well again, yea yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no doubt.

We are taking a break from this episode to shout out this is awesome. Shout out NASCAR. No for shouts in NASCAR til Junior Flex. NASCAR is headed to the Music City this weekend for a weekend of country music and racing. Nashville is the greatest place in the world to watch the best drivers in the world at the shortest super speedway on the schedule. Nashville is known for great music, honky tonks, and intense racing that you will

I apologize for that for.

Drivers, as they will battle it out for four hundred miles of action with the NASCAR Cup Series race on June twenty six, That is this weekend.

Boys, get your tickets.

I'll be there, a large Glenny Spider, a lot of the Barsool Boys, and also.

The Bust and crew.

We're gonna be out there shooting content, making under the hoods, some vlogging, a little bit, having fun with everybody.

So if you're out there, try to spot us.

We'll have fun with you guys, and we can't wait to experience the race live in person. Be sure to tune in to the NASCAR Cup Series from Nashville Super Speedway this Sunday, June twenty six at five o'clock pm Eastern on NBC.

That's that's uh, that's uh. What is that?

Three o'clock Central time, four o'clock Central time, four o'clock Central time.

Again.

The NASCAR Cup Series is Sunday, June twenty six at five pm Eastern, four pm Central on NBC.

Now back to the episode.

Going backwards a little bit, like, what are your thoughts on the Bills offensive line this year? Going into this year, Going into this year, I think there'll be solid and like Josh who's your best who's the best? Office liven there? Sean Dawkins left tackle. He's solid.

You know, he's a little undersized six to three. He came in my rookie his real wind.

Yeah did you hear about that? For Taylor one he did.

I got knocked out of the Bills game, like oh yeah yeah, And they were like at the end of the game like their probably the Bills proble left tackle tailor the one wasn't in. If they he would have been there, they would have got that right, Like I don't play for that team, boss.

Yeah. Yeah, And this guy is pretty good. He was in A decent player for sure. Yeah.

He's been with a Pro Bowl a couple of times. Yeah, but his rookie year was my last year. So that's like my little brother. And Deon doesn't drink, so like he was always my d d and like he would come over to the house and you know, all the holidays he's at my house, so like that's my like my little brother.

I love that dude.

He's like a kind of a throwback too, like the Bill Shraft in the second round at the Temple. He's kind of got this Odell Beckham haircut. And he's real active on social media, and he's goofy with the way he talks, and you know, he calls himself the Snowman and so.

Like at first, I was like, you gotta cocaine thing. I don't even know.

Honestly, I don't even know. I don't know if he's got like a lisp. And it was like, yeah, he's trying to say snow. I honestly don't know. We've been we've been friends for six years or five years now, and I don't even know. But so like that's my guy, you know. But he comes in and he's like a throwback O Lineman. I'm like, waa wait this dude with this dyed blonde, curly little thing on his head, like looking trying to be like Odell Beckham.

You know, a super like me guy. Yeah, where is the outfit?

Yeah? That on the body? He comes in. He's throwing people around.

He's physical, like physical physical, And Cordy Glenn was playing games with an ankle injury and this and that, and Richie was like, give me deon next to me and him and Dion started just throwing dudes out of the kitchen. And so Dion's at left at at left tackle at left guard. They they didn't resign Feliciano. I like Feliciana. He's a throwback too. Roger yep. So he got saffold. Mitch Morris really good center. Ryan Bates will probably play right guard. They re signed him. And then I like

No, I didn't watch him very much, but I was at the He had drafted in nineteen, right when the draft is in Nashville.

No, he got drafted this year. Was it talking about Cody Ford? That's what I'm thinking. I announced that pick on stage down here.

Really yeah, but Cody Ford second round pick, like the Bill Berner bean has not missed on many draft picks, like early on draft picks. And he didn't start last year again, and I don't know this would be his last year coming up.

But Pop's got a solid o line.

They take a ton of heat up there, which all the lines take heat. I'm like, look like, get I get all fired up defending the Bills offensive line. But I'll be like, look around the league and just start watching more offensive line film, Like there's not that many good offensive lines in the NFL right now, especially as you go later in the season, because the depth is really an issue, like filling a whole low line room with quality players. But I like where the Bills are

So they met.

I listened to Tom Brady talk about them, and he's like, no one confuses quarterbacks like they do because they're moving before every snap and they just play off each other. It could be a loud stadium in Buffalo and they're just moving and and Will you can probably tell us more about how difficult that could be if like one safety's up on the line of scrimmage. Well like if you're the other States, you're like, when's he coming back?

Like wait, dude, you got deep third and you just got to have trust.

But those I would say the past defense of the pass offense is the strength, and that's where a team like Tennessee has giving them the most fits these last couple of years. New England beats them last year in Buffalo because just running the ball, they.

Threw the ball three times. Now he was that was a crazy weather game. Crazy weather.

Now was.

They're trying to they're trying to get more physical upfront on both sides of the ball.

I like it, dude, what's your weakness?

The Bills weakness last year was rush defense and pass rush like and to me, like the Bill's production in sacks was pretty good, like I think at the end of the year, like number nine or eleven, like kind of in that range, like that's good upper middle, but in obvious pass rush situations, they just weren't getting home enough, like obvious pass rush like obvious you know, third and eleven and no one's close like like I know, as

He's got a pretty unique story too, right, because he's the first round pick to the Colts, sending behind in Freeny and mathis yeah.

But was called a bust yeah for a little bit, and now he's really made a home at the Bills.

We traded Kelvin Shepard.

Kelvin Sheppard shows up in the spring middle linebacker exactly, yep oh shows up, shows up at two hundred and seventy three pounds as a middle linebacker, and trade straight up Jerry Hughes for Kelvin Shephard. I think Kelvin Shepherd's coaching in the league now. Anyways, Jerry's still playing their

Yes, okay, cool.

Like Jerry's gotten what like three personal fouls against the Titans in the last five years.

Yeah, he's definitely gotten upset a few times. Oh, you get under his skin.

Like before we all played on Monday Night Football this year, I went up to before the game. I was like, no personal fouls, I bro. Yeah, He's like he's like I know, I know. He was like that he is riding like that. Jerry's one of the Jerry Let's go boys, Jerry. Jerry is like one of the greatest people. Like awesome, awesome, dude. He is a hothead. Yeah, oh my gosh. You want to talk about someone talking trash to the refs, Like he'll be on the sideline chirping at the refs. But

That cares. You know, is he still He's not with the Bills anymore? He is?

He He's still there. Actually write that down, boys, right down. I don't know if they resigned him or not. I should know that, but I think look.

That up real quick to see if they resign him. I actually want to know that. For the Jerry Hughes, yeah, because because I know he was a free agent going in this year, year twelve. Do you guys go to Buffalo this year? I know we played Buffalo. I'm not sure if it's at.

Or first in the divisions for the Bills.

Yeah, we got the Titians got a schedule. Now, last year we had, like I think when the whole grades come out of like hardest schedule. We were like number one I think, and it went pretty well until the playoffs. Go back to go Gole, Go back to Google and then go to search tools peen tepen Moore or go to the more column right there. What the oh all results do anytime? Anytime ago twenty four hours?

Yeah?

Oh hey back in the day when you're something new every day, when you're in college, when you're in college and like trying to like figure out hey, like what are people thinking about me.

I would do this shit all the time. It is so bad.

What was your last year of college? Twenty thirteen? And I saw I got jacket at fourteen? Gotcha well?

And we had Kurt Anderson, Michigan guy, so he was always talking about it and we were like looking at maybe taking a tackle early.

Oh.

So Kurt was always like, dude, we might be getting my boy laanen. And I don't know how close you'all were, just like your Michigan guys.

Yea guys are No, we weren't very close with us, very cool he said that. Yeah.

I was like, I definitely don't think I would have wanted to play for the Bills, just how cold it is.

It's amazing what these last few years has done for like free agent signings and people wanted to get your people want to go to the Bills now.

People don't realize is when you say, like, oh, why would people go to the Bills when they can go to LA It's like you're really spending six months out of the year there and it gets cold for a few months and then you can book it, you can lead you know what I'm saying.

And it's actually pretty fun. To play up in Buffalo, being completely honest.

Like we all live a lot of trouble. Richie was telling me about it.

Like we all live by each other and so like in a city like this is in a monster city. But like in La, guys the forty five minutes apart, Like you leave the stadium, you're not gonna see them again.

And I hang with the worlds like I come home from work. We had eight guys that lived in our neighborhood.

Me and Richie shared a backyard his uncle, Richie did my little Gracy girl. But like I'd get home and like Leslie and Grace would be like off playing at someone else's house, like enjoying themselves and so like it's a ton of fun. And then you're right as soon as the season's over, you can vacation.

You can live wherever you want, wherever you want, and like when you're up there, you should be working anyways, like it's grind time in the season, Like who cares if you're in La, Like, yeah, what was your regiment like when you were playing for me? Like I don't there's no drinking during the season for me at all. I just can't do it.

And I hate.

Like for me, it's always like, how do I stay ahead of the sticks? How do I make sure that my body's right going next week? And if I drink on a Sunday, even that next Sunday, let's say I'm not feeling as good or my conditioning is as good, I feel something, I'm like, fuck, you fucked it up for yourself, you know what I'm saying.

Yeah, so I would drink Sunday or Monday generally, not like crazy. Now, if I got like a bunch of buddies in town, I'll kick back some drinks with them after a game. So after every single game home games, I hosted a tailgate in my truck after the game because it takes like an hour. Yeah, it takes like an hour and a half for the parking lot to clear out after you get out there.

Well, we lived one mile from the stadium.

If I left right after the game or I waited an hour, I'd get home about fifteen minutes apart. So yeah, I started packing a cooler and put a bunch of beers in the back of my truck.

And honestly it was awesome fellowship like with the guys.

As the game, everyone come by and everyone knew they were invited, like and so then you end up having to pack more and more, and then you know, some of the young guys like, hey, bring a couple extra thirty packs and you know, we'll throw them in.

So we'd have a few beers chill out.

Went to the same Italian spot when I broke my leg and half my rookie year, this Italian restaurant half and a half. Yeah, this Italian restaurant started just bringing over dinner for me and my wife, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna be loyal to them, dude.

To Rubies, and I have no clue what you were talking about. We went, we went down, We went down to Rubies. Last night, we went to Jeff Rubies down here.

Last night, you and the wife met up with a former teammate of mine, Mike Coston. We went out, had a few beers afterwards, like this morning, get in the gym, sweat it out a bunch of electrolytes, rehydrate, boom back in, back in it.

So like even when I was playing.

But I'm like you, like I'd see dudes drink on Fridays and I was like, man if I cramped up in the game on Sunday and I drank on a Friday, like, I would never forget, I would never forgive myself.

No. And I'm like such a warrior, Like a.

Buddy of mine played a decade at tackling the league.

I mean he got blacked out every Friday night.

And like a lot of those dudes in like Green Bay back in the day, like uh, sitting in those dudes, Yeah, they drank every week and they balled out with it and.

Looked like he drank every single day. He had that body.

I know, But like I would never be able to forgive myself.

We come in on a Saturday for like the walkthroughs and everything else, and there'd be a there'd be a couple of dudes sleeping in the fucking locker room right from being out there before, just crazy alcohol smelling drunk.

Still, it's just like, yo, what are you fucking doing? Right?

Was a lot like that league, and that's like Rex was like real like Rex's personality, he said, like his coaching style is to empower you, like, dude, you're the baddest dude on our team. Like I remember we brought in Percy Harvey yesterday and uh, but he was like he's so empowering. Well, we had all these young cats that they like drafted, all these like wild dudes. Well then Rex is like empowering him. Like you go like, you do your thing, do whatever you got to do

I'm like, oh god, we got no shot, like we Oh that's the worst feeling, dude. I know when you kind of just know she hasn't been going the way it ship this week, I said anything, damn I know it. I freaking love Rex. Though he's such a good dude, and you said he lives here. Yeah, yeah, he'd probably be fun to get on.

It was over at any Lavetrie used to live over there. You played Andy, right, Yeah, great dude.

Great dude he was. He was one of my grooms with my wedding. Really yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah.

The only time I've ever been up in Buffalo was for his wedding with his wife. Was like July fourth weekend. Yeah, real selfish weekend to have a wedding. Because absolutely, I'm trying to it's the best holiday, second best holiday behind in the Halloween in my opinion. But we went out there and we had some wings. I don't know what the fuss is about in Buffalo with the wings.

You didn't go to the right spot then, I mean, I got there's some wings up there.

Change and he took us to Spice like this is it. I don't remember what it's called. I'm not here to I'm not here. I'm gonna get killed by Bill's mafia again.

But I wasn't. I didn't understand it.

Tastes like Hooters wings breaded, weren't very good.

I'm beyond the spot. I never take place bred of wings. No, no way, what's the best spot? I love? How you want violence against Bill's mafia. I don't want my favorite Hooters wings. That's my experience.

Yeah, my favorite spot is a place called Bar Bill and it's like a craft like they take it serious. That thing up bar Bill, bar Bill b A R space B I L L.

They do it right. How do they do these wings?

I mean they're like hating the sauce on there. It's the presentation. They separate the drums from the flats, homemade homemade blue cheese.

Maybe we're on a potographic website right now.

Hey, I do love chicken wings like crazy. No that she looks fire? Yeah, yeah that I got my own bug there.

And so like generally, when I'm drinking, generally, generally, when I'm drinking, my mouth say, I'll say, like the waitress back, you want another, like, I'll do one more. Like that doesn't mean that's my last one, Like I just want one at that time. So they did a mug for me. It said I'll do one more. And then you've probably drank with Richie before. Every time Richie drinks the next morning, it's I'm never drinking again. Yeah, I had them do

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Boys. Back to the episode, that's hilarious. What was it like playing with Richie Richie's is this now? Is this locker room talk? Oh?

I know the locker room talk. I don't know what your story was. If it was, no, I'll always talk about that. I was just trying to get his creative. I was just thinking about, like, you know, I love that.

I'm sorry for sending the growth of this, okay, and then I'll get into a good story with Richie because you prepped me on that and I got a funny one.

But we playing with Richie was awesome.

In twenty fifteen, in February, Doug Whaley is our GM and he reached out to me, he said, and we had gone into the offseason no, and we needed a couple of new guards.

You know he would He was like, he's like, he's like player in coach. Oh, yeah, he kind of. He can. He's able to play Bothy. Some mine like that. He's got very much. Ben Jones pipes to me.

Are like a lot of centers are like, yeah, we're just smart. Just cut the same way and with the coaches, corporate guys.

See, I said, down with the coach, we're kind of talking, you know, we kind of need we kind of knew.

Oh yeah, that's like Kyle Lorten came to the Bills. He's like, you're such a company guy. I'm like, Orton, you've been with five different teams and like, maybe you should be a.

Little bit more of a company guy. But we learned the game a little bit more.

Yeah, exactly, ship on the company guys. But it's not a bad gig. No, it's not a bad gig to be that dude. No, I just have an issue with authority. Yeah.

Yeah, it used to be heavy and the you know, the police. You know what I'm saying, the company guys.

But so Doug Whaley called me up, what do you think about bringing Richie?

And we had the same agent.

I'd met him at a bunch of events with athletes first and this and that. Loved the dude, and I was like, bring him in. I know he went through all that crap in Miami. I've talked to him about it personally. It'll be good, I'll you know. He moved in like right.

Behind the incredible to his side of the story.

It's at some point he needs to write a book and tell his side of the story.

It would be probably be a best sellery.

What Jonathan Martin Jonathan Martin story with Jonathan said he was getting bullied and stuff like that.

Oh racial stuff.

Yeah, listen, you know my vibe on that stuff. You should never say the N word or anything. And I think there was a voicemail or something. Yeah, but they were apparently they had a relationship. They had a relationship where like he was okay with him saying that. I don't know, like I said, I'm not cool with that.

Word, but Richie know what at that time, Like Richie wouldn't do that. Now I'd assume, you know what I mean, Like it wasn't whatever it was, it's always been a big deal regardless we bring in Richie. He was great for us, Like, never got in trouble. He's smart, he's physical. I've never us used to train with Richie. I've never been around anyone as strong as Richie.

I mean he's kind of a guy. You're just like, all right, do this weight now, and he's like, okay. I never seen him struggle with weight.

They wouldn't let him lift enough weight in Buffalo even like truly challenge himself and it's like unbelievable. Like I'm doing like two seventy five on incline and they're like, all right, just slap another uh played on the outside for Richie. I'm like what and like all right, I'll put another court on the outside for Richie. Just bangs it racks and like you can't go any higher, Like yeah, like holy smoke, this crazy strong rogers a lot like that.

Over the years.

You know, he's truly one of my best friends now. But so we were talking about stories and whatnot earlier. So we used to take our old line trips out of the season. So do you all do the fine system in your room?

Yeah? Okay, so we do the fine system? Is that the locker room story? Yeah?

Well, this this is gonna be a like this is a Richie Line story?

Right?

What year is this?

This is twenty sixteen? This is this is January of twenty seventeen. Because I have a walking boot on, which contributes to the story because I just broke my leg. So we used to always go to Vegas with half the fine money. The other half we'd like take kids Christmas shop, and then we justified taking this like Vegas trip and we just go out there and spend a bunch of money. And but like after the season, like you're so stressed out all year, then you go to

So then we became pirates.

So on the island, they have an authentic costume store that like specializes in pirateouf. So we spend five of us, four of us go spend twenty five hundred dollars on pirate out. It's each total, okay, And.

I'm in a boots, so obviously I'm like Captain Hook with the peg leg and the hat and coat and.

Like ruffled shirt. And Richie's got this whole big deal. And so we're walking around as pirates. We're walking into bars and Richie would just rake tables of drinks off and we literally I would literally have to like and people would be like, oh my god, that's Richie incognito. I'm like, I know we're gonna make it right. I'm gonna buy you two rounds of drinks out of this.

Yeah, we're all good clean.

He just fucking oh, he's a he's a wild animal and he drinks you. It's but it's fun times.

Yeah, yeah, I mean malicious, he's just yeah shop, yes, i mean he's just so big. But anyways, so like our favorite times are like when are we gonna go back and be pirates again? And I mean we would do those old line trips, like do you all do an oldlane trip as the year?

Yeah, we went to Vegas this year.

Yeah, I'm always big on getting the boys to Cabo, and everyone's all about it in August it's September. Then October hits been like, you know, Vegas is closer, we could do that. Oh we all want to gamble and then all of a sudden Vegas happens.

Yeah.

Well, Cabo's maybe one of my favorite plays on there. Yeah me my wife won seven straight off seasons. Really yeah, it's one of my favorite places in the world. Yeah, I know, you talk about all the time.

The one time the Hill Petrigal got like the yeah you know, okay my man's local.

Yeah yeah, yeah, we did that one year and then that place is.

Great because you're five minutes from downtown squid Road. The whole thing.

My favorite spot is the Hassi End of Beach Club because you can get those private residents there, like if the.

Wives want to lay out and chill.

You can walk right from your place down on the beach and you're like forty steps from like Mango Deck and all that my fast my favorite bar there, yep. And then you got the office right there like that, you can just walk to it all. But then you get inside your like little gates and you're at a five star spot.

You know, the owner of Mango, you know how they do, like the shows every day, Like there's a wet T shirt contest one day and the next day it's like a push up contest. Anytime they do the push up contest, there's always like the sixty five year old dude who's like in a baggy T shirt and kind of just sitting there having a drink. And they get all these billy, badass tough guys on spring break to kind of go

He walks up and just muscles out like one hundred of those things.

No problem do big buff guys are dropping out like thirty five.

And he's a buff old guy. I think that might be him. That might be him.

Look, that's the cutting the that's the cut in the hole right behind it, and.

It sits right there, you know, like that little famous little look of cobble where they have those like rocks as you're kind of going out and have that.

Little yeah, well there's a clove.

There's beautiful like big rocks that kind of stick out of the water as you're like driving your boat to go with marlin fishing or fishing or whatever, and right there right next to the harbor's mango deck.

And it's fucking unreal.

Let me give you one more like O line deal and and maybe some of the listeners can apply this one. So we would host all holidays at our house up in Buffalo. So we created this deal for Thanksgiving. And this is like when you talk about catching craft for the podcast. This is the thing that I would catch the most crap on for social media every year if like we played bad on Sunday, Like I would catch

Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Richie sat in front of the in front of the fridge one year and just was chugging wait till he or drugging water till he.

Gained enough weight to win it, and we so then we had.

To put like some gentleman's rolls about it, like dude, you can't just like sit in front of there and drink water at the end of the night.

And Richie's mom was going, I'm like, Richie, you're gonna puke. You're disgusting. Yeah, Jersey girl.

Where So, when Richie left Buffalo, he obviously went through a lot of stuff. Yep, where where were you in his life at that point? Trying to manage all of it? Yeah, honestly, and I and and honestly, you know, his dad passed mocked her in the middle of it. Richie, Richie struggled initially with my career ending more than I did.

Really.

You know, he's so emotional and he's so like like if you're close to Richie, like if you're in his inner circle, like he loves you, like you know, Richie doesn't have a wife and kids, so like, well, my career ended, like he was hurt, hurt.

And then his dad got sick and passed.

Then you know, Richie has come out that you know, he has mental health issues, Like that's it's and it's okay to talk about nowadays, which is great because that it needs to be talked about. And Jay Glazer's wing a bunch of good work in that community right now too. But anyway, so all that compounded on him, and he, you know, put himself in the media again doing some

Richie was was one of the guys that I met my wife when we got engaged in five weeks, married in three months, good for you. And he was one of those guys during that process where I'm kind of so worried about what other people are gonna think, what's gonna happen, where he was like he kind of sat me down, had the are you sure about this?

Talk?

And once I kind of gave him the reasons why I'm sure. He was like the number one supporter, like he he and Taylor were great friends. We all went to Vegas together for the McGregor Diaz fight. Like truly an older brother to me.

He he was, he was. I miss him all the time.

You know, our relationship isn't what it was because of a lot of things during that time, which is which is tough, especially having two little kids and you know, all that stuff he was dealing with. But I fucking love that guy and I miss him all the time.

So so many people know that me and rich are so close that when all that stuff started happening to Richie, well, I'm dealing with my own career ending, and now I'm just getting peppered with calls and text I'm talking to his mom every day and.

All that, and his boy in Utah.

Yeah, so I'm like talking to all these people and uh and and so it ends it ended up being a lot. But it's your brother, you know, Like I would do anything for that dude, absolutely anything. So it's like, dude, if it's phone calls, if it's whatever, like I'll do anything for him, you know.

You know, So he's happy, and I know that I don't know what he's gonna do with the rest of his career.

He didn't. He didn't play very much last year the Calf and yeah, like tourist calf. So he was out. He was out year, and I think I think he's done. I'm not sure.

It's not my job to say what his career is at this point, but like, if he is finished, you just hope that he puts enough structure in his life to kind of like be happy and comfortable where he's at. He's made a lot of money and he's done his thing, and you know, he's single, no kids, like he's he has a great life in Arizona. I just hope he kind of keeps up with what he's been doing last couple of years.

No doubt about it. I'm meeting him down in May play some golf down in Jupiter. Yeah, so I'll get to catch up with him. I haven't seen him in person forever.

Yeah.

I saw him the last game of the year, the Charges game. He came through and we were trying to get into the playoffs, and he was he seemed like he was in a great headspace.

Monster bear hug. Yeah. I was a little nervous because.

You know, yeah, we had a will and I just met when So when Taylor and I got married. We got married just the two of us on four twenty because we thought it was hilarious. And then fast forward like four months later, Talor gets pregnant and so we were gonna get we were going to get married like that summer, but ended up like, hey, well just or the next summer, but we.

Had to wait. My daughter was born two days before.

We were like thought about getting married in front of everybody, so you know, people are more comfortable with it, and that took a little longer, and Will was Will and I met like in a short amount of time and ended up coming to the wedding and we there was that's when Richie was Taylor proposed to me in five weeks two. Yeah, it was very fast. It was a very fast relationship for us. But that's when a lot

First experience with Richie and cognit you know, all the stories because he was a Nebraska guy right who got kicked out and then went to Oregon. Uh so I've heard stories about Richie, about this dude, and then you see this stuff in Miami and I felt his fucking hands when we played at Buffalo.

I want to say. I bantered with him a little bit about it.

And you know, we had an exchange, and you know, I was a little nervous being around the guy. And then he was like, oh, we're brothers because Nebraska, and I'm like, oh, thank god.

Right, yeah, yeah, ground here.

From the get go, him and I were like the minute we made So we played I think twenty fifteen, we played a week It was week four. We played the Bills and gay By Kurt was there, you know, Gabe, and he's like, hey, you got to meet this guy, Richie.

Dude, like you guys would be best friends.

We all went at dinner before the game and then we worked out that summer together. But even before that, in college, my my buddy Jordan Kovacs, he was a safety, white boy, try hard guy, walked on, ends up being a captain killing it, gets drafted to Miami Dolphins and he comes in town during his bie week and he's like dude, there's this guy there. I swear to god, you guys would be best friends, like brothers. His name is Richie Incognito. I'm like, fuck, yeah, dude, whatever, don't

Yeah.

I think he will, and we have an incredible platform to do.

That on too. Yeah, I mean I would.

I would love to have him on. I think I think it'd be very cool to heart over that.

And I'm just kidding.

Yeah yeah, we'll do a joint one and then release.

Its one with the boys. Then can both be on.

Yeah yeah, perfect, perfect, Yeah that sounds great. No, but like there were times in Buffalo so like Richie when he's in his great headspace and all that, like he still specializes in cross the line humor like period, like that's he's hysterical to be around.

Mouth hugs, He's fucking hilarious. Gosh.

You know that was back when the media could come into the locker room all the time, and I'd be like, Richie, like someone's going to report something you said and it's gonna get taken way out of context.

And he'd be like, yeah. I'd be like good, right, what would I say? Good Richie? Good Richie. He'd be like, I got you, I got you. Yeah, he'd be like he'd be like.

Real men, yeah, the best, but he would like be yelling crap across the locker room, like making fun of Zay Jones was like who that one of our rookies at the time.

He was always picking on to day.

Yeah, And I'm like, people don't know that you guys are friends, right, Like people don't know that you actually like him, and they're gonna say something again like you've got to chill.

Buffalo was cool enough never to do it, though.

It's cool, dude. Everything you're saying is the story With Jonathan Martin. I just I really want him to be able to tell his piece. You really want that to be able to happen. Great man, he'd be outstanding.

I think it would be a very interesting, too dynamic if obviously we were joking about it, but if we were all sitting together kind of just talking like we've all you met him in a different part, you met him in a different part. I kind of met him in a different part. Like if you're just talking through everything, I think it'd be really fascinating.

Yeah, no doubt about him.

It'd be outstanding about him and Fitzpatrick both draft in the same year to Saint Louis, and that was you know, last year could have been both their last year's.

They're what thirty eight and thirty nine years older? Yeah, they're old boys.

Like that's wild that both of them, Like the Rams stunk for so long, but like those dudes end up playing sixteen seventeen years.

That's why.

Yeah, what I wanted to ask about too, when you were talking about the Fitzpatrick and he signed the five year deal and then he played through broken ribs and stuff like that. Is that something that you know him well and you see it from the outside looking in when you see whe of your boys go, you're like, fuck, man, like, why don't why doesn't the organization see that he was

Yeah, you just shouldn't play hurt.

Maybe, But we talked about early on what everyone loves Fitzpatrick so much. He's got no ego, Like he would be like, no, I'd lay on my line from my teammates. I could go out there and play. But like he would scramble on a play and come back in the huddle and not even be able to call the play call because like he was hurting so bad and he's like, can't even get through a throw.

We started that year five and two. They give him a contract extension.

Our two losses were at Cincinnati, last second field goal, they were playoff team, at the Giants, last second field goal. They win the Super Bowl. M hm, you know we're five and two, we're in it. I tear my cl Fred Jackson broke his fibula.

He's a stun Yeah, no doubt about it.

And then fitz breaks his ribs and we kind of dwindled off.

It's crazy interesting just derail a team like that, especially when.

Don't have well quarterbacks. Quarterbacks especially and then if you don't have depth. Yeah, like if you don't have depth, you're just done.

One more thing about Fits is he always seemed like the dude when he'd come in his first four games where MVP type stuff, and then something would happen. I'm not sure what it was. He'd go from like throwing like crazy numbers to three picks yep, what do you what do you think I tested to that?

So he would have these really hot stretches because Fits is so smart here prereads defenses and he's willing to give his guy like receivers love him because he'll be like, when you have this matchup, the ball is coming to you, don't let me throw a pick, but like I'm just gonna throw it up to you, like when you get this dude on you or you know, he's just he trusts a lot of guys. Well, you know, I'll throw a pick here, you know, So he can get really,

That's when he showed up in the chains and all that. Hious.

I'm watching that game. That's the year I was out of the league, and I'm watching that game from home. He texted me before he goes to press conference in that outfit, he goes, should I do it? I'm like, absolutely, your personality hit. Let's go into Shan Jackson standing over there with those shirt on, waiting for him to give him back his chains and his glasses and his shirt.

And all that funny.

But I think part of the reason is he's just giving guys chances out there. He's trying to throw a whole shots and cover two and then it can go quick.

You know, those turnovers and just happened in her damn d he was a stuff.

And then he also this is one of the things we've talked about this at LANK. We actually talked about this on my podcast last year because I would always like, we'd be down twenty one points and Fitz would then go throw another two picks trying to get us back in the game, and I'm like, bro, quit throwing interception because at the end of the year, they're gonna be like, well,

You, right. How's that of him being released from and EJ was EJ Manual?

Yeah, I love EJ. But like they painted, they put themselves in the corner. They released Fits and then they have to draft a quarterback. And that was the year you know EJ was sixteenth overall. That was like he was the only first round quarterback that year.

Yeah.

Yeah, toughier for QBS, tougher for wo word the who would you say your five best Buffalo bills you've played with?

Is this tear talk? No, I'm just asking.

Five best Buffalo bills I played with?

Things about beer?

Is it?

Yeah?

Kyle Williams one God, what a stud I know, ye, butcher knives he was in.

If he was in a bigger market, he would be JJ Watt and all that. Yeah, you know, better than J Watt because he's awesome, Right, you said it. I agree.

JJ's tweet today. I just read tweeted that always try to steal my ship. I can't believe he's been reading your tweets like this.

That's crazy. J's on my ass. Yeah.

JJ robbed me wrong one time because Fits had to leave a golf game out in Arizona to go film something with Zach Brown and JJ Watt, and they cut.

Fits out of it.

When we went to the concert that night, and I was like down front, really drunk, like if you guys like like JJ tolten ship.

Yeah, So why did why would JJ rub your.

On in that scenario. I thought he had something to do with it. He probably did, But JJ is just

Gaps at a time, and he hasn't played real defense. Nope.

And if and if, like you can send a guy back to cut him, well, he'll jump way out of the way.

And so now he's complete out the way.

Now you're running inside zone and there's like literally just a gaping hole on the backside because he jumped out of the way.

No, I don't I haven't liked him from the second Devil's Advocate.

He's a phenomenal, phenomenal football player, player, great player.

Don't like him bleeding and taking his helmet off for sure was that.

I'll tell you who the real hero was of that Houston defense was Cushing. Yeah, the real hero stud he his fans man.

Dude he had he did a pot with on Brian Peters's podcast.

Yeah, it's pretty badass, is it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. He's like one of those dudes. You're just like, hey, this is a fucking boy. You know what I'm saying.

We uh he came on a visits Louisville, and uh, we got him. I don't I don't know that he drank a whole lot in high school, but he drank on his Louisville visit and he turned up.

Oh love.

That's in New Jersey cane and those dudes are fucking crazy. Yeah, he's a DeFranco boy. He's like a Joe DeFranco's like a trainer, a well known trainer out in the Northeast.

He ran in that dude's face with that helmet on, fitted a photoshop of his face on Cushing's body.

But it's like a perfect photoshop. Yeah, that's it's hilarious. Fishing fits really like that. That's hilarious.

So Kyle Williams, Kyle Williams, I mean I played one year with t O He's a Hall of Famer.

Shady was a stud, chased, smart dude. He didn't give a fuck about Pro Bowls or nothing.

Huh.

Richie was telling me that he made the Pro Bowl. He's like congrats. In the locker room, She'd be like, man, I'm give a fuck about that.

He wants to win games and and he wants to show out on Sundays. Yeah, and like he's so smart it's unbelievable. Like he could sit there on his phone and meetings. He knows everything going on. He'll never mess something up. And one time, I like, I built a lot of trust with Shady when I did this, and we've stayed close buddies. But he, uh, he was on

I was like, I just went off on you. Oh yeah, that's crazy. Shit was on his phone on a meeting that's yeah, he was like that.

It's always it was always incredible to him.

Bless you man.

It's hard to say because you know, he wins two Super Bowls at the end of his career, but he wasn't active for either of the Super Bowls. It'll be close, be a really close call. But Shay was an absolute stud.

Was incredible. I could just carry the ball like that, never fumble.

I know, he carried it like he was like you know how, you know how all the coaches are like, oh, he's a fumbler. Still they're showing tape. But if they haven't fumbled like Shady and they carry he's a fumbler. He just doesn't know it yet and he's just carrying it out to the side.

That man never fumbled. He holds it like who was the dude in the longest yard Nelly. Yeah.

The amount of fumbles per carry over the ten year stretch he played, that's that crazy crazy up to a certain amount of carries or whatever.

But ball Leshaun McCoy.

Fred Jackson, Fred Jackson might be Jackson. I mean Fred Jackson is one of my favorite teamates of all time. Just absolute stud.

Shoot.

Who would be the last one who do I played with towards the end like Tredavious White. He was a rookie my last year, absolute stud him.

Yeah, he's a monster leaving somebody out. Richie, I mean Richie really really good player. You know which he's on? Which he is? Play with the what's his name is it? Lee Smith? Smith?

Loved that dude. You guys the stories about Lee Smith. We who doesn't any time I go to the locker room, they played with me. Lee Smith is guy I don't know even know who.

Smiths? Just like old school throwback tight end.

He's in Tennessee, right, Yeah, he's in Knoxville.

I'm telling you I've heard he's got. He played last year for the Falcons. Here's how loved Lee is. Like.

Last year was gonna be Lee's last game. So we do a dinner before the Falcons Bills game last year night before the game. It's like a private little deals this Italian spot up in Buffalo, Your Italian spot, my second Italian spot. I got you, not too loyal?

How's the family doing?

But but Arthur Smith shows up their GM Uh both starting quarterbacks, legendary head coach. Oh he's awesome. Uh, Kyle Pitts, Beasley, Knox. I mean literally it was like a Pro Bowl and coaching staff like meeting at this Italian spot the night before the game, all for Lee and it was just like the coolest environment, you know, like for me.

I had one of my buddies with me from Louisville who was.

In town for the game last year, and we left and I was like, man, that night was good for my soul, like just to be around like a bunch of dudes talking ball and like no one you know, like a bunch of dudes from both teams just talking ball night before the game.

I was like, man, I missed that crap. But but Lee is an animal.

But we we found out early on that like we're cut a little too much from the same cloth, Like we both have that like go Jean and we had one really late night together and the next day, this was during the spring.

We're like, I don't think we can hang out that often, Bud.

Like, yeah, we really, we're like super close still this day.

But uh, I was like, man, we got to be really careful, like because we both have that. Like so I think I think both of I think everyone knows about this in both of our households, we get really drunk.

One night, Lee spends the night in my house.

I wake up in the morning I can't find my phone and like, I don't care how drunk I get like, I'm gonna plug my phone in next to the bed and go to sleep. Wake up, it's not there. I'm like, where the hell's my phone. I'm looking all over for it. I look under my bed and it's like in the middle of the front. Well, I have to like move the whole bedframe. It's not like you can just lift it up as soon as so it's dead as soon as I plug it in. My mom's calling. It's like

And he said he he has his.

Wife saying in his phone as like Mama, he thought he was calling Leslie.

I was like, well, why the hell would you call Leslie.

Yeah, why would you do that? Oh my god? Yeah, Lisa is this guy? Wait?

How long was his career? He just retired, but how long years or something of yours? Blocking tight end. Oh it's just a grinder, Yeah, just a grinder.

But I hear just all time stories like around the building around yeah, groom, everybody walking, legend gyboy. We'll let him tell. We'll let him tell his tales. He can come on. Yeah, he's invited.

Shall we do the tears talk? So we're gonna transition into a segment we called tier talk. We get a I think it's beers we talk. We're talking beers. We're gonna have all these beers in front of us, and we're gonna we're gonna rate them whether we want to put them in a tier one category, tier two, tier three.

You don't have the best beer on, you don't have miller light on there? Oh wow yeah what.

Oh it's just a it's a guideline. Now, okay, so we see the beer, so we know beers. I say, bluss, I'm a miller like a second blue light. But it's all good. Your your Miller light like a top tier Miller Light's like my favorite drinking light beer got you, But I'm not having one. If I'm like only having one, I'm having one. If we're having like.

Ten, Yeah, I'm butt heavy all the way? Is my bro? Is that just as the logo or that's just like how you roll both? I guess. I mean they do a great job branding.

They've obviously got me sold as a as a as an all in fan.

But but heavy is like my favorite go to vacation beer. Corona Light. Yeah.

See, I like sometimes it's just got that skunk, It's got that skunk pot.

It's not a bad deal. What about you?

Then that my number one tier one? Yeah, it's got to be bud Light. Uh, I'm sponsored.

Baby for me.

That's that's pretty low down the list for me. Really Like, I think bud Light gives me a headache. Delicious Hams is my Tier two a close tier too, But but Light takes the cake from me, takes the cake. Yeah, bud Light three. I think Souls number three for me. I love Soul. I like michelob Ultra.

Dude. Maybe that's that might not be a popular opinion, but I like me.

And that.

You know, I'm at a place that's Anheuser Busch. I'm going Mike Ultra over bud Light. That's okay, all right, sorry about this.

Yeah, I mean one that's not on here that I love Blue Moon, Yeah with an orange slice.

Yes, I like it. Yeah, I'm going so what so what your Tier one is one? Miller Tier two blue Light well bat blue uh? Tier three, I'm going Stella like for like having like one or two. Yeah, it pans out Miller High Life when I had those minis earlier today. Stella like I'm really giving away at the ariton down here, does it?

Stella? Yep? Yeah?

Four chrona light five Yinglinging is like a Winterer beer for me. It's like a winter beer, winter beer, like winter winter Golf, Winter Golf's beer, your go to drink.

I like, I like crushes beers. Listen to him, I like, I like beer.

We're tying one on if I but I'm not just having like one like if I'm doing that, you know in Kentucky it's like bourbon.

But I've gotten into tequilas.

I love to get the cleanest gets out of your system real quick, like clause azul is my favorites.

Like I just bought a barrel of Yeah, is.

That the one that dings at the top. It's a very nice but there's a lot of preservatives in it though. Really Yeah, that's what I was told in Cabo Wow. Yeah, one of the bartenders like, you can have this if you want. There's a lot of preserverves in this.

What was he said? Nineteen forty two?

He said, Tosa mikos. See I drink a lot of Yeah, like the best one to have apparently.

Yeah, I was having last night. A lot of people do that. Have you had?

We just had middle in on what's there's Instulidom their tequila. It's a really good tequila. They have three different kinds. And then Thomas Rhet has one too. I forget what it was called.

George got one that everyone's like Lebron's got one that it's pretty good.

Yeah tequila, Yeah, what's it called? You know? Almost man, I was there. What are your five tiers?

My five tier would be bud Light Tier one, Tier two would be Hams Ham would be hams Light. Three is probably Soul for Corona, and then I do mess with the Sekis.

But I like the Seki's amber is solid. See that's too dark. For me, I don't. I don't like that.

I uh, the Sekis is solid, but I think I kind of like that blue Moon vibe.

I like with the orange. But I'm not a huge beer guy.

But I'm drinking tequila like I like ranch water, tequila water with lime juice.

You are a big tequila Yeah, he's always a tequila guy.

But one of my favorite things to drink for like, if I'm having like a cocktail or something like that. These things right here, This this whistle pig stuff is unreal. You put that over ice. It's really good.

Is that?

Where is that made? Mad Vermont? Okay, it's pretty No, it's it's it's really good. You chill that. You put that on on the rocks. It's really good.

Person alcohol, it's good whiskey. It's a really good whiskey mixer drink. I'm going, uh but heavy, Oh really it's like that for you.

Serious.

My man's nostrils just had a fit. I'm gonna go butt heavy. Blue Moon, make a little Ultra cores Light? Say him again, Say him again? Yeah, but heavy? What Blue Moon? What make ultra? What Coors Light?

What?

Man? I don't know about this?

Huh oh vacation.

Tequila Sunrise.

Then I'll say, uh, Natty Light man, Hey, that's bro Natty Light like it's it's hated on a lot, like people get chirped a lot for this.

But if I'm at a local spot, I'm trying the local I p A s Yeah you know what I mean. I don't know what I p A stands for me, neither Indian pale ale. Yeah. I had to get that out there before Jack taught me. What are your what are your guys? Is? I know Jack, you guys talk about what I'm a Corse light guy.

Number one two would probably be Modello love a good Mexican ale.

Even throw Takat in there. What thek forgot about that?

Land Sharks great on the beach. I do like, uh, the Sierra Nevada down there because I made this list, so I threw that one in there, and crazy I'm a big Mexican ale guy. Just that was a line just never doesn't do it for me.

You with that, You're just not in your head.

Yeah, it would probably be like a course banquet or a Mexican beer.

That's about it. Got Yeah, what about you, you big Mexican ale guy. What's Hispanic. Yeah. Number one for me would probably be land shark yingling light.

Do sekis Tata and uh Michaelobultra at the end.

JP, you don't drink, but you can go ahead and it's your fir sotas JP.

Number one, Oh duels number one duels bush light light like the Zeros Heineken Zeros cors edge, cores edge.

You just keep giving him.

I had a buddy that quit drinking recently, so I know all the an aviers. Yeah, when we hit to pick up a platinums, Uh, what is that extra alcohol?

Don't that? Jn't know that though I didn't.

You don't drink for real, just tequila, just tequila, man, Right, we got hammered in ann Arbor.

What am I? Hey? JP got drunk and ann Arbor we did a little spring tour.

Yeah, it was incredible and uh we got after he had was it a beer in your hand or a uh tequila?

No tequila shots?

It was no because oh yeah, because we give you one and we had always one. Yeah, there always be an extra. So we got after the Nebraska. We had a great We had a great time at all the spots. We didn't get to get after it in Tennessee just because there's a day trip. He said, Nebraska, what you're talking about Michigan.

Uh, my fault, Tennessee. We didn't get to get after it. I'm saying, but you had it. You said we had a great time in Nebraska. You talking about Michigan and that we all went out right right right. But I'm saying, I'm just saying we got after it a little bit in Nebraska too. We're in Michigan. We have a great time in Michigan. Yeah, And uh, Taylor pulls me to

Bro.

So every time we order, every time we ordered drinks, there would be an extra shot and it would always be like, hey JP. And then we started j JP JB and I'm talking the bar was involved in everything, and yeah, just getting into.

We got him slaughtered bro will take advantage of me later that night. Yeah, that's crazy. He wanted the left doors. I was like, you gotta work for these left doors. I'll come on in. Oh, dude, you got j That was a great time.

Was so much to it was the past was fun too, but it was on spring break. Yeah, it would have been way more break.

I've thrown shots on the floor in the bar before. I know where light beer is gonna take me. That's why I say, like going to a concertors to night, like I'll just drink light beer. I know is exactly where it's gonna take me. I know I'm not gonna make a fool of myself. And you get to a bar and ever you know you guys know like when you're playing ball and everyone's, oh, let me buy you a shot, and buffalo people love like it's all like a shoting beer, shotting a beer like.

On the side, or you like hit him with the Ye, be clear. I never threw my shots on the ground.

You lying like a rug on a rich man's floor. Tar their swift, you know.

You for sure did.

Yeah, he was doing something. He was babysitting drinks or something, because he was the heavyweight.

Okay, he was running from bar to bar, running rinting Withers me. All the old lineman from Michigan came out with us. So we were all having a good time, like getting after it. And we were at this place called Scorekeepers, and we go to the Brown Jug, which is like.

Two blocks away.

He keeps us a blast and we go back to the Brown Jug and we're getting an uber and all of a sudden, we see JP fucking raining outside. He's fucking pretty another and someone goes, hey, who's got JP? And one of the old limono we got him and he fucking messed like three minutes after the car.

Who got out of the car. We're getting rides home and he's taking like a little bike taxi. Hey he was acting a fool, dude. It was so much fun.

We had a blast, dude. The Spring tours have been crazy for fun. I'm gonna need a special guest appearance next year on those.

Yeah, hey we're trying to go.

Let's do Louisville. I'm down to It's not far away at all. Yeah, two and a half three hours is it time on Louisville? Oh yeah, we have great time. Yeah, we can like The best is when you stay over night. You stay over night and get after it, like you can kind of be Like we were at skaps and some girls like what do you do for school? And I was like, oh, bro, I'm thirty. Like he goes, why are you here? And I was like that's a good question. I like walk away asked like those were ranging. Yeah,

That was a blast.

But we definitely the overnights we want to asu next year. You have a next year. Some of the Florida schools we're trying to stay warm next year. We hes all damn cold schools. Yeah, it was a blast, though. We should do Louisville because we were talking talking about bringing people with us, like having.

Like our like if you go to Iowa, try and get kill on board, go to Louisville, get you go to Georgia, get Ben Jones, like get like guys where they went to that school.

No doubt, Louisville's coaching staff is awesome too. You love those Oh really, Soderfield's great. You think we can get a jersey? Absolutely? See okay, guys quiping guy's my boys telling you, bro. We went to Tennessee and they didn't the ball.

I'm a ball baseball guy, but no, I've been tweeting at the balls baseball team too. I followed him, and I'm like, oh, we're built different out here. I'm a ball and I've worked out at Vanderbilt, so I went there, and I guess all the football team is like killing the string coach.

That trains me, like, well, what the fuck's the wand doing out there? Yeah, because you're because you're of all.

I'm a ball, I'm not a vall. I'm a ball baseball guy. I'm obviously a Michigan football guy.

Well yeah, for sure, but I'm in the brass football guy. So we're on Michigan wolf ringes. Yeah, it's true, you know what I mean. I don't know.

We'll have to see at the end of the year, in the fall when the balls play the Vanderbilt where I draw the line in the sand?

What's crazy? But I can't Vanderbilt.

If they played the Vanderbilt sorry and van I Vanderbilt hooks the boy up with the jersey, they might have the edge. But if Tennessee brings that jersey, they might have me too.

I don't know. I'm so easily bought.

We stand any any school we go to, like, oh, I'm gonna root for you guys, know yeah, Oh that's like if I'm not room for Nebraska, if I'm not room for Michigan, I'm gonna be room for Tennessee.

Yeah, that's how you gotta do it one hundred percent. Eventually we had all the schools and be like, we just want everybody to win.

We're gonna be yeah, yeah, yeah, give u participation teammates, Yeah, giving speeches at all of them.

That's awesome. Well, I think we've ran this one drive. I think we've done it. We've been it's been a great time.

It's been an outstanding time. We're happy you came on. And it's ten year anniversary. Yep, ten year anniversary.

We got engaged at a Garth Brooks charity event out in Vegas, like twelve years ago. You guys, we did the exact opposite of you, Like we got we took our time. Yeah, y'all went, Hey, there's a bunch of ways to kinn a cat, no doubt about it. But anyways, we got engaged at a Garth Brooks charity event. You know twelve years ago, so celebrate ten years at a Garth concert tonight.

Pretty tight.

That's all we actually found out, unless it was any with our daughter the day of a Garth concert, like Garth's been there to meet him. I don't think so, because they stopped doing like all the meet and greets for the people that are involved with the foundation with COVID.

I don't think so.

I got in this bad ass barrelhead like, uh, hand carved of him and Tricia show a picture. But uh so I dropped that off to a social media director yesterday, and so'd be cool if you give a shout out.

But you know, did garst Worth assault you have a shout out? You're O, that's cool. Yeah, that's awesome. Did you name your son Garth? No, he's Garrett, but that'd have been tight. I might start calling him Garth.

I was gonna say all this, all this, uh, all these hints at Garth man, it's kind of like written in the stars.

Of slopping in the face, Yeah, telling you what to do right now the universe.

Garth's a freaking awesome person, though, like like some of those guys aren't all they're cracked up to.

Be when you get to know him a little bit.

We hosted a football camp in Louisville together for all inner cities kids. No one knew who Garth Brooks was, and that's how he loved it. Like sitting there in a hoodie and a hat, just like chopping it up. But the moment like he sealed the deal for me. He's just sitting over there talking to my father in law. Doesn't know he's my father in law, talks to him for twenty minutes. My father in law is one of my favorite people in the world, but he's a maleman.

I'm like, he's a real one.

Yeah, guy that's not worth their uh the like the coldest anyone who has been like you know, like they come through Louisville and you know they're playing at our basketball gym and whatnot, like we'll generally meet him or whatever. Zach Brown was like like one of the dudes who like didn't offer to like have a drink or whatever. Yeah, like, oh, one of my buddies had grown out of he was

He grew up like this massive mustache and he was joking around.

He's like, man, I've been I grew up this mustache for the concert and Zach Brown's like, that's a weird.

Man, really, And then and then and then you know his chicken fry dude, and he's cold beer on a Friday night music.

I'll meet you, hear us. I love his music. I'll let you do. They kill it? Dude. What's that song? Ows me out? Yeah? Probably older Weather. Oh that's the song. Was just trying to think of you and I'm stucking cold weather. Maybe tomorrow will be bed?

Can I call you? Then?

Doom Doom Doom because I'm a ramsom man and I never got to change. He got a gypsy soul to blame, and they were bone for leaving bone believing.

Well, it's a woe row when you're in the lost and frown, you're a lover runner, and we go round and round Doom Doom Doom.

Because that last I feel like we've I was I can't think.

I kept thinking that one of you two It was like, both of you guys are gonna stop and let me keep going.

I was.

I love singing, yeah, always, what's that he was ready for? He was ready for us to turn the volume down the car on him real quick.

One of my favorite things to do is get up on stage and single with the band.

You talk about trying to replicate a rush, Yeah, playing football like singing in front of a crowd is awesome.

I love it. What do you got? Should have been a cowboys like my go to, but like I'm not doing it here.

Like we get a couple just wearing my six shooter riding my pony on the cattle drive.

I'll put I'll pull it.

I'll probably I'll probably end up on the stage tonight at the stage or something.

Because you and Garth boys like that. So you can get out there.

Where's my buddy at one of my boys, Chris Ferrara, Common Good He's playing at twelve thirty club tonight.

So awesome.

Spot by the way, it is, it's a cool area, Like that's one of my favorite spots. I was sitting that was sitting there one night. It's like the table that's kind of like right by the stage, and I was sitting there. Waitress came up like that's where JT sits when he comes in. I was like, oh, it's a special smith.

This is nice. Yeah, I get to rub off on you a little bit, you know what I'm saying. It was the troll. He was branch. Do we got anything else? We all got anything. We haven't hit on anything anything.

Foundation Foundation evan Wood Fund. So my little brother was born with severe several palsy. He passed when he was eleven. So we got that up in Buffalo stuck. So now it's called the Evanwood Fund. It was the Airwood Foundation. I made it the Evnwood Fund. It's under a children's hospital up there. So now they pay all the administrative fees, which is great. Yeah for all athletes that are starting foundations and all that make it a fund under a

It was to like, hey, well, we had to.

Pay a few bills and all that, like that three percent covers like booze at our charity event.

You know, like, yeah, you know, so that's been a ton of fun to do.

Throw the money out there. No, yeah, it's that's an investment. But now that's been fun. Got the broadcast, he got the podcast.

Yeah, what's next with Eric Wood? What's next with Eric Wood? Boy was coming out? What what would be the go to? People are like, all right, I'm gonna go check out his podcast? What's like an episode? You're like, all right, go to this.

Great question if you're into like personal development, like ed my Letts as good as it gets, you know, John Gordon, those types of dudes, those are great. If you're looking for a fun one, go listen to Ryan Fitzpatrick t O was pretty good on there. Joe Tom like if you like oh line talk. Joe Thomas was great. Nick Hardwick was great.

Okay, Joe's awesome all the time. Joe is on the bus Man. We've had him on Zoom but not the bus. Are you doing she Code? Are you working with them? I'm doing it in two weeks? Yeah she could. She Code?

Is Armando the guy that I've been working with for like brain hacking, like development breaking through those walls as a child.

Oh the mental guy, Yeah, mental coach. I could have just said that the first time. I actually it actually ran away from me real quick. And I'm excited about that e md R treatment.

Like I'm excited about it, and I think I'll like I had some traumatic stuff, so like I think that'll be really beneficial for me. But even like in talking with dudes that are transitioning out and be able to refer him to a bunch of other guys, I think that could be something that comes out of this.

It was all time, when the when the when the Titans brought him on and I've been talking on like three four years ago. I want to talk to somebody kind of figure out these demons. And they brought them on and I was like, who wants to do it? And I was like, I'm all about it. So Armando's my boy. We've been working a lot, so it's it's awesome. Yeah, like the first five sessions, I cried losing it. We're doing a three day intensive in Louisville where like it's

God, you'll be glowing at the end of it. He is so smart too.

The way he breaks things down tells you things, like the way he makes you search throughout your brain.

It's a crazy deal. How often do you work with him? Once a week? I need to bump that up in two weeks though. Yeah.

I mean, shoot, therapy is incredible, right, it really is, And they can get any kind of therapy in their life.

I feel like that's like a it's it is extremely beneficial, right, But this dude's worked with so many athletes, like he gets it right, right.

No, Yeah, but for people out there thinking all they're doing this some like some like extreme athletic hack for their brain.

No, like that applies to anybody, right, Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. Be able to live free with not as much weight on your shoulders. What a way to live. Yeah, it's really the dream. Yeah.

He was saying like, if you have if you have open loops of like traumatic experience in your life, you don't even know that you're triggering those moments. And I haven't even done the treatment. I've just had a bunch of conversations with him and looking into it. But you go back to the mental state that you were in at that age and that emotional state whenever you're triggered in any type of way, and like it might be you know, a death of a loved one, it might

Like emotion and mentally.

Yeah, I tell you what, you do an hour session with him and you leave that session feeling amazing.

He plays music for you, he does he.

Has a whole like work with this guy who does beats, but he put beats together in this like a way that helps your brain like relax.

It's a crazy deal. It's a crazy deal, but it's really cool, really cool.

I gotta get both of you guys on the podcast. Try to record with Will. First time in my life the internet went out at our house, so.

I try to do that. We got back up. Was it during COVID, Yeah, it was during COVID.

I mean, it was great stuff, and then it was like, well, we can't even do it next week because it'll be like we're just repeating. We're gonna we're gonna try and recreate the same stuff and it won't be nearly as good. I'm like, let's just let it breathe for a while and we'll go back and do it again.

Now I've kind of forgotten exactly get back into it.

Yeah, we would try and reconnect, and I would try and put myself in the same like state where I was like going and I'm like, are.

You there, Oh dude, I was that's tough. Yeah, we got We tried it there on a couple of times, and then it was zoom.

So you're like you're sitting there way and I feel like everybody at that point in COVID, like we're doing our You're like trying to figure out the whole Zoom game and everything else.

A touch of a lag, so you've kind of interrupting each other a little bit. Yeah, yeah, I heard you with my my boy cow Rude Off he's one of my best friends. I heard you all with him and like kind of stepping on each other's stores on. Yeah, that would be really hard if you're not in the room together, if you're co hosting.

Yeah, that was definitely a tough deal on Taylor and I, like we're not some buttoned up Yeah.

There's no there's no no doubt about it. And you're trying to run the conversation. You know, you don't want there to be just you don't want the guests to be sitting there like we done.

If we're talking to you, Will and I can kind of feel like when the next person's got a question when we're with each other, but if you're on the computer, it's like, I guess like you're kind of you get to a point you're like, man, I don't want this to be like an awkward pause, So I got to ask this question.

But Will is probably thinking the same thing. Right he goes ask question, We're like, well, hey, you go ahead. You know what I'm saying. You both say you go ahead and all right, and then it's just a fucking deal.

Then you just stay there there, you go ahead, you go ahead, kind of stare at us, look down on your phone, fucking idiot.

We appreciate it, bro, Yeah, i'mbscribed to what What's next with Eric Wood? Check out those episodes. But this was a This was a great episode. I don't have to look at notes like it's all.

Time, no doubt, no doubt about it. Yeah, and I appreciate you let me come on. I mean, I've been a fan of the show, so I'm honored.

Yeah, Tier three Cat in our Hands, Yeah, I love it.

I didn't get to uh, I didn't get to ask about because you're a huge football junkie, so the answer will probably be no. But now that you're doing the media stuff, do you think back, like, ah, man, if I would have if I would have struck a little more, started a little earlier, Because to me, it's always different when you're you become a retired player versus like being in being an active player. That's what I feel like it has been very beneficial for us is doing it

I think, especially with the media world, the more connections you can make like you don't even necessarily have to get reps, but like you better be treating those national media members with a lot of respect and make as many friendships as you can. Like I wasn't even like I thought I was gonna play for five or ten more years, so I wasn't like thinking about it all. But then Mike Silver and Ian Rapperport and all these

But then, you know, I love what you guys are doing.

Like having passions outside of ball is healthy too, you know, like in having something that you can pour into. But I always warned people, like I always tell people, I'm like, if you're too like if you're skipping workouts and stuff to go do this real estate gig and all that. Like you're gonna find the end of your career a

Yeah, football is definitely. Don't say that for credit, No, not at all. Yeah. Yeah, those paychecks they just don't fall off a treatment. Yeah that just playing in general too.

Oh fuck, it's like you said, like you just wake up and you just can't play anymore, and it's like there's no time, there's never you'll never be able to go back and try again.

And it's not a sport where you go and play recreationally like basketball, you can stay involved hootball, you can get on a softball team, like you can do stuff like that. Ball you ain't going and be like, hey, let's fucking let's get the boys together real quick.

Boys, yeah, which is.

Actually awesome because then you can just be the greatest forever and like no one's ever gonna be like, dude, let's do a one on one passer. You're like, no, we're not doing that like that, Like so then you're just good forever, like you're good. But like you see these like former tour pros, they'll play in like a pro am and they're like terrible now and they hated and they're crated, Like.

You never have to get that way about the game.

But last thing for me, but I really appreciated earlier when you said, like when you were running today, like you had that like the presence about you to say like, man, I'm grateful that I can even out here running and like it sucks to on a conditioning session, especially you said you almost passed out. I hate to be like, man, I'm grateful for this opportunity because I know what how crappy was last year. I couldn't even run. Like if people will ask me, like what do you regret anything

The sound off and be like, man, how cool is it?

And I only lived my way, so it's like five minutes, a couple of stop lights, and I'm there.

I'd be like, man, how cool is this?

Like I didn't even start on my high school football team as a junior in high school, and now I get to go to an NFL facility and work like and I would walk in each day just like on fire to be there. And that changed my mindset completely, just like a small little gratitude practice. But like when you're in the league, like enjoy it, Like you work

If you lose?

You put something bat on film, you're watching it any times a night, like fuck, yes, bring this up in the meeting tomorrow.

Yeah, but it's like, man, you get to be a part, Like you get to live out your dream like enjoy it and who gives a crap if you have beat to play. It took me a while to realize, Like those dudes on Defense get paid too, right, Like it's okay, yeah it is.

It's all about how it's worded to you two as you're receiving it from your coaches. Yes, like if the coach doesn't understand that they get paid too, and it's just like this cloud of like nothing's ever good enough.

That's hard to deal with.

That's hard to But you have to be comfortable with yourself working with a guy like Armando and doing that work, so you can be like, Okay, I'm doing what I need to do, and then you can be like you can be strategic about how you approach the next thing.

I have to work on my hands. I have to work on my set.

This way, my hips turn when I go to transition with the guys on the high end of the rush like those types of things, Like it's all about incrementally figuring out those little things and you just keep progressing. That's what great thing about campus camp fucking sucks. Nobody likes camp, but if you take it and like, I'm just gonna get better at this today, your whole game doesn't have to be good. But if you're like my

You're not there yet. It's August, it's late July, whatever it is. So making the most of it, for sure is everything.

And sometimes when you're getting coach trd like knowing that it's not like an attack on you personally, like it's not about you, Like, yeah, one thing that what I would think about holst me that would help me is knowing that that coach then leaves our meeting, has to go into a bigger meeting and they might be getting

A it's tough too that when ego gets in the way of like if your coach like Keith our online coach, he's never played offensive line, he was a tight end.

And then there's these.

There are times where there's a there's a little bit of a disconnect in a way where you're like, dude, like you're asking for something in a simple way that it's not it's not that easy to do, right, you know, you can't like it's easy to talk about doing something or where your hat's supposed to be bullets are flying, Like shit's a little harder. That's what the great ones do. They make it look easy. That's what it's a rable comment. The great ones make it look easy. Joe Thomas is

You know it's ship like that an awesome story of my podcast about to keep that start streak alive.

He didn't practice for like four straight weeks. His back was so bad.

He was doing like two and a half hours of treatment before games, getting it shot up. He couldn't even sit in meetings. He had to stand because his back was so jacked up. And they're just like wheeling them out every week. But he had so much pride in that star streak and he was like, man, at this point, I like I can play, Yeah, I can get out there. So like, what's it saying about me now? If I've made all this money and I'm making these Pro Bowls and now I shut it down? Like am I selling out?

I was.

I was at the game when he towards Trice up he was playing as Italians, and I was like, it was literally like watching somebody like I don't know, like an older brother.

I have to be like watching a superhero.

Yeah, but it was like home Bown, What the fuck's that movie with the fucking the Fox and the Hound When the Mom gets killed and you're.

Like, dam like you feel emotion like that, and of all the things to take him out of.

Wild, bro, you know what I'm saying. But like it was like he was coming towards us. I was literally like sitting parallel just watching Joe, Like that's how you know you're that good. I'm on the sidelines a'fter I get whatever the coaching notes or or whatever, I go in the on the side, I'm watching him play, just to watch this. It's Joe Thomas and it goes down and I'm like, fuck, dude, that's wild. Just crazy that he did it for so long. I have that many reps,

That'd be a cool story. I know, I wonder if that's true.

But playing in the same spot your whole career, Like there's something to that that's so cool that it's different because I think they made the playoffs one year. But like for me, like I couldn't leave Buffalo and then have them make the playoffs without me, Like that would if I was still playing and Buffalo made the playoffs and I wasn't.

There for it, like that would have crushed me.

I know, I know we got to go, but like, how are you gonna feel if the well Titans win the Super Bowl this year? But like if the Bill has ever beat the Titans for a Super Bowl, Like, how is that going to make you feel?

I mean, I'm a static for them in success now, Like I have no ill will. That's part of the that's one of the good things about like your career aning the way mine did, Like there's no chance to be coming back. I didn't walk away, right, so like I can truly just root on those guys, and I love those dudes, like Brandon Bean's Like we we've talked about you know what happens when we went in the Super Bowl, Like am I in the longer room like am my parties and it's like you're.

Everywhere I am. I'm like, I love you, b Yeah, get a ring. It does better you get a ring. That'd be hard. Yeah, that ring is the coolest thing. Yeah, it does suck. Thinking like the team you just left, like if they do well, well, I was. I was extended to be Josh Allen's center.

Like they knew they were going to draft a quarterback high the next year, so they extended me to be like his mentor essentially, which would have been super tight to like, yeah, one day walk away and then you like poured into someone like Josh.

Yeah, I was just got all the talent in the world. He's unbeliev Yeah, he's unreal. Yeah that's awesome.

Well appreciate you, bro. Now, well now we'll go ahead and in this one for yeah, for real real, Yeah, I'm putting the mic on beer.