Hi.
I'm Bram Weinstein, voice of the Commanders here on a very special Legends event weekend as we're on the eve of retiring the number twenty eight the Great Hall of Famer Darryl Green. Throughout the evening, I'm going to be talking to a number of Washington legends and it's brought to you by Equa Trust. Here at the Great Ricky Sanders, I see you. Good to see you. You know, it's interesting I was watching Mayor Bowser's giving Darryl Green the
Key to the City. Yeah, and I was thinking about you at the White House with Ronald Reagan looking for you and throw you a touchdown pan.
That was one of the joys of my life man, to get a pass from the President. But I just want to congratulate Darryl Man. This guy is a first class person. I played against him in college. I went to Southwest Texas State. Daryl went to a and I and just asking him who broke down the sideline on him and he couldn't catch me.
We had a good time, man, Darryl Man.
I used to work out with him in Houston. We used to run the hill.
We get out there on the track running and doing all that stuff, man, But the person, he's unbelievable, you know, to play twenty years. Loved his family, loved God most of all. And I remember going to his house doing Bible studies, like my man, we're talking about and.
He straight up with you.
You know, if he's a good friend, he's always gonna give you the best advice to keep you going through life.
When you played against him in college, did you know he would be a special NFL player?
Oh yeah, yeah. And he ran track, you know, and this guy could even so fast. I knew he had something special in him. But you know, it was a little division to school, you know, and and I was competitive, but they just couldn't take Texas State.
It's so interesting how many of you guys from those small schools ended up playing here.
Yeah, that's true.
You know.
A lot of guys came from Texas from the those small schools. You guys schools in Texas right now they play in thirty thousands.
You know, they got thirty thousand fans in the stadium.
Is it like that when you played When I played at probably about ten thousand.
It's big, yeah, I mean huge in Texas.
So what do you make of what the team is doing right now, Like you have, you had no chance to watch them play here.
Yeah, I say, I live in Houston right now.
Man, I don't get to see a lot of the Commanders games, but I get to see a lot of the Texans and the Cowboys. But when I watch them, man, I love that quarterback Man Daniels, He's he is a beast. You know, they got some good receivers. Defensively, if they can tighten it up a little bit, I think they're going to go into the playoffs and they can go.
They're deep.
I think they can do some good things.
Ricky. Last thing, what did it mean for you to play for this organization?
Man?
It's it was life changing man to win two Super Bowls here, uh be under one of the greatest coaches ever, Joe Gibbs. Jack Ken Cooks was a good owner and just then organization, you know, with these new owners, good people, and the fans here unbelievable.
Die hard, die hard.
Every time I come back in town, it's like I've never left. You know, I go out to eat, I don't have to pay for that, and they.
Come, Yeah, you know, I'm gonna start hanging out with you Darling.
But I love DC and I love this area and I love the team.
Man.
Ricky was great. Thank you so much. Yes, sir Washington Legend, Mark Schlareth, Great to see you Mark.
It's great to see you Brown. Always good to see you. Man.
So this is a big weekend for Darryl Green. He played with Darryl Green. What can you tell us about playing with.
Oh Man?
Obviously, Darryl is an unbelievable human being. It's great a football player as you is and was better human being. And I know everybody says that, but Darryl and I have a great like. We have always had this great, very close connected friendship, and I think that's one of the cool things about our generation is oftentimes you are compartmentalized on a football team based on the positions you played, and there wasn't a lot of that with Washington the
Redskins back then. We were not compartmentalized. We were all connected, and so I was very connected with Darryl.
I was very connected with.
Art Monk and with Charles Mann and Monte Coleman and of course all the guys that I played with on the Hogs. But my wife and Daryl's wife Jewele have been fast friends and we essentially, you know, helped raise the kids, and so we're a very connected family. And you know, to the point where their daughters used to come to our house in Colorado for Thanksgiving and leave the parents behind, so just before they had families. So just a very connected group. We've always been that way.
And you know, I just I'll remember back to my rookie year where like Mini camp, we're running forties for Lord only knows what reason on Sunday, after three days of practice in a sheeting rainstorm, you know, where everybody's got wet, sloppy cleats.
We just practiced, you know, won our first practice.
And like the whole team would wind up.
To watch Darryl Green run as forty and like I remember, like it was yesterday. We're all in this sheeting, just just deluge and the turf is stopping witness wall, you
can see the water draining off of it. And Darryl stands up in that rainstorm and runs like a four to two flat, like it just ridiculous after three days of practice and the whole nine yards and but just an unbelievable man, always so committed to his family, always so committed to the community, and you know where the rest of us are packed in ice and doing a you know, whatever it is that.
We have to do to get ready to play next week.
Daryl's downtown, you know, serving in DC and you know, doing the foundation and the learning centers and all those things that we all try to help support him with. But his energy was he had this boundless amount of energy for service and for the community.
You know, It's funny, everyone famously knows what you went through with all the surgeries to continue your playing career, and you look at him and you go, you look, take one look at him and go, that guy played twenty years in the NFL. It's almost unbelievable that he was able to do something like.
That, really was.
And I heard a statistic today that I'd never heard before, and I'm like, that's one of the most amazing stats I've ever heard. Nineteen straight years with an interception, Like he played twenty years, nineteen straight playing cornerback in the National Football League where he intercepted at least one pass. It's one of those records when you hear it, you're like, that can't be true. That will never be broken, you know, And so yeah, his ability to stay healthy, his ability,
I mean nineteen twenty straight years without having a hamstring injury. Yeah, being the fastest man in the world and not having a hamstring injury, Like, how does that even?
It doesn't even compute in today's NFL.
It's so interesting, you know, there's so many injuries and you just wonder, like what has changed and the way we practiced And oftentimes I always say, man, we practice to be football players, and in today's game, a lot of the organization is trained to be track stars, and it's just a it's a different way, you know, it's
a different game. And no question, he was such an unbelievable tireless worker, like we said, not only in community, but a tireless worker as far as taking care of himself and always being in top shape and always being ready.
So you're still deeply connected to the game, So you're very in tune with what's going on here. What do you see in Washington as they are rebuilding right now?
Well, first off, you know we always talk about culture, and culture is really that like that buzzword that everybody tries to put their finger on, but nobody.
Can quite figure it out.
And Dan Quinn and I have been friends for a long time, and to watch him operate is really cool. And to watch the connectivity that he has with his football team, from player to player, from coach to coach, from coach to player is really it's really fun to watch that because it brings me back and heartnins me back to kind of the nostalgic days when I played here and the kind of connection that we had as
a football team. And it's happening to go usually fast, yes, but you talk to dan Quinn and it happened unusually fast, but there's an intentionality there. And that's the reason it happens so fast is there are non negotiables here. We are gonna play hard for one another, we are gonna sacrifice from one another. We are gonna, you know, we're
gonna have this attention to detail. And if dan Quinn was here and you cut off the mics, he would tell you we're not as talented as we need to be, but we have those other things, those intangible aspects to a football team that make that football team great. And that's something we have here, and it's something that's non negotiable.
And then you know, it's really cool for me to watch guys like Cliff Kingsbury who brought in this air raid system into the league in Arizona and you know, had some success early but it kind of fell apart.
And to watch him get boot out of the league, which all of us get fired eventually, right, but to watch him embrace that, to take some time away from that and to say, what do I need to do to take what I know and what I can lean into and what I really like, what I really have been passionate about my whole career and add to it and create some something that's better, that's more adaptable to
NFL style of football. And then to go out and find an Anthony Lynn and to revamp the you know, the run game coordinator, former head coach, former teammate of mine in Denver, and to connect with him to establish a running game and then you know, and then change personnel from offensive line to get tight ends. It can
really block to condensed formations. To understand the value of being under center, even though I have a young quarterback where the whole college game is shotgun, and to understand that, hey man, shotgun has its place, it also has its limitations. From a you know, limiting maybe thirty forty percent of your run game and you don't have your back turn to the defense on play action, so you don't get
the same reaction. And like to watch him amalgamate these two you know, kind of systems together and watch that stuff like really grow and then to watch a young quarterback just absolutely flourish in that. And I know people here in the DMV are so excited. They should be because he is that kid. I've gotten to sit down with him twice, man, and that is an awesome, awesome kid.
He is wildly ahead of the curve.
All right.
Last thing, what did it mean for you to live in this community and play for this organization?
You know?
It was It was such a special time. And most of the time, like I cut my teeth in the NFL, is a you know, a tenth rounder out of the University of Idaho. Because these guys believed in me, and it didn't matter that I was small school and kind of you know, part of the pump, but small potatoes. They gave me an opportunity and then they embraced me.
The players embraced me, and I was instantly welcomed in, but I was held accountable, and there was a standard here and a work ethic standard and a preparation standard
that that was just the standard. And you know, it's funny as you travel around the league, there are a lot of teams that think they're working hard, they think they're playing hard, they think they're preparing the right way, they think they're you know, sold out for one another, and they think they're doing the things the right way, and they're not close.
I walk around and watch practice.
And like, this team's got no clue what it means to be connected, what it means to serve one another, what it means to play for one another, what it means. Like I took the things that I learned playing here and ultimately playing at the University of Idaho because we were that connected there as well, but playing here, and I brought them to Denver with me, and you know, and I sat down in front of our team and go, dude, dude, like this ain't good enough. Like like I came from
a place that was a championship organization. I came to a place where I came from a place in Washington that when I played here, this franchise was a crown jewel and you know that those days left, and you can see it now. I think that's why there's so much excitement with the alumni here and so much excitement
in the dm IS. You can see that with this organization, you can see those glimpses of the past, you can see the future on the horizon, and you can see this organization all of a sudden becoming a crown Joey like a I do a daily television show on FS one called breakfast Ball. And you know how the national television game works. You worked in it for a long time. There's a bunch of teams you don't talk about.
That's right.
There's there's six teams that move the needle, and and that's a public thing, man. That is like, hey, hey, the NFL's this public trust, and here are the six teams that move the needle ratings wise, and these are the six teams we're going to talk about. And it's fun for me to watch Washington like not beyond that radar, but all of a sudden to say, we don't talk about Washington, but we can talk about Jaden Daniels. And now all of a sudden, it's like, well, Jaden Daniels
and Washington, Jaden Daniels and the commanders. Hey, dan Quinn and the command Like you can start seeing that thing start to tick up.
And that's why the excitement here is so strong.
It's so amazing, and it's cool to be a part of it on the national television see because I'm watching it.
I'm watching them move, like we've got a board, Like.
Hey, these teams you can talk about, right, I mean, you know how it plays.
Houston did it a year ago, Washington's doing it now.
Absolutely, and it's it's really really awesome to see it really is. And having been able to sit down with dan Quinn a couple of times and call two games, to sit down with Jayden Daniels, and call to and sit down with you know, Cliff Kingsbury and like I sat down in Arizona in the game I called in Arizona when Washington throttled the Cardinals and sat down at seven thirty in the morning with Cliff and you know,
just shooting the breeze. He goes, oh, yeah, Jaden was knocking on my office door at five am this morning, like, hey, what are you doing, Like.
Let's talk about football.
Like there's there's that level of excitement, that level of preparation, that level of curiosity, right, and I want to know everything. I want to get better. I want to you know, I want to leave this team. It's just really cool to see Mark.
Thank you so much. My pleasure all right here with Clarence Vaughan played on Super Bowl. Team's got the rings to show for it two Super Bowl. Yeah, how often do you wear those.
All the time? Yeah?
If anybody ask anybody, I'll tell you I always kept the riding.
So you crossed over with Darryl Green. Obviously what was he like as a teammate.
As a teammate, he was awesome, good example. I could tell you some stories about Darryl when I really got to know who he really was. We used to work out because they brought the rookies in doing the April June when when we got drafted. So he brought us standing to work out for the summer. So we're working out. We're doing a hill, we over Jeorsh Mason. We're doing track work, four hundreds, eight hundreds. We started at nine o'clock. Now it's about ten o'clock, eleven o'clock. We go back
to the hills again. We run back in and we go on the field do some leg word drills. All right, now it's about you know, twelve o'clock. He's a right, this will get some of the and come on back.
I'm like, what.
I'm going home? Man, You go see that's why you're not gonna play ten twenty. Y'll like, dude, I don't want to play that long. I want to get six years in ten years and get out. But watching his work ethic him all right month, those kind of guys that walk the Paygton's if you if you look at those guys work ethic, it's just it's it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable how they pushed themselves. And one of the good things about Darryl I thought he was like he was blessed,
you know. I think the God of Hand was on him because I've never seen anybody run a forty yard dash. He ran at four one nine munch cause I saw him doing four two and for me, I ran a four four four. For for for me to get a four to four, I got to get a good start. I got to get out of the black blocks. That first ten yards I could have got out. He ran the first ten yards like slipped in the next thirty and he hit the clock.
They go, oh, oh, what do you run?
Uh, don't worry about just kickuse you supposed run two.
He ended the cub scalio. All, don't ry about. You're good. Yeah good. He ran it for one night.
But going to battle with Darrel, you know, he he he knows how to keep you level, you know, without you know, panicking, getting into just getting to.
The game, you know. And the stuff he does.
Don't believe while I was there when he ran that ball back against the Bears, hurt his ribs and he ran that back and stuff, and but he's always been there as a big brother, confident and things like that. And if you see a guy like that, that's small to me. He was small because I was a strong safety linebacker. And so I'm saying, if he's going at it hard, I'm gonna go at it heart.
So it's nothing I can do too. So he learned a lot. He's a good, good family man too. It's a good friend. Went to the church together.
He always will challenge you, make you challenge yourself, you know, to doing the right thing and all those things in it.
As you think back to that time, the glory era of the team. How do you think about it now and and what made you so successful at the time.
Wow, I'll say it's I watched these guys now. We were so prepared. We had Richie Pettibone as a defensive coordinator. I don't think Joe could have done it without I know he couldn't have done it without him, because on both sides of the ball and special teams, we were well prepared. We worked hard, we pushed each other. We won most of our games in practice. You know, I can't tell people. I tell people this there. You're not gonna turn it on on game day. If you're not
doing it in practice, you're not making the players. You not have guys coming at you hard. I'm talking the scout team. You We would challenge each other in practice. Who was challenging us so hard? Certain teams we played they were intimidated by us. I'll tell you example. We had a guy named Rob Johnson who played for the Rams.
We really ran the track.
Guy Dar'll end up running them down, but I know he used to catch the ball. I was gonna kick off cover. So Wayne Severe as the coach, he goes.
This guy he'll come out of here two yards and he'll run the ball out.
He'll run out of the zos.
So you gotta get down there, guys on their veil, I say, what okay, So we're all all pissing us off. So we go to l we running down there. It's someone gun catch the ball in two yards and endzo. I'm running down the railroad tracks to hash. He takes a knee. I'm like you, that just ran all the way down here, he goes.
I watched the film. I saw the film. I said, okay, I just started laughing, he said. He said, it's a business decision. I'm not coming out of here. I'm not running out of the enzone. I saw you guys, how you hit it anyway. So you can see teams, and you can see the physicality that we had in our practice and in the game and stuff like that. So what really helped us, Like I said, we challenge each other. And I think these kids right now are on the same path.
They just stay focused on what they gotta do and execute their plays. And the coaches put these guys in the right position where they can play, where they can make a play. That's all you can ask you can only do your job in your position at that time. Man, everybody has to be successful on every give and play. Eleven guys have to be successful. If one or two guys drop off, you know it's not good, and then we don't beat them up, but they know that's unacceptable.
You don't have to have the coach tell you that I know and stuff like that. I hate it Monday's game. It wasn't the coach.
The players and did the coaches, So it's terrible. So you don't want to have that.
Claires, is a pleasure meeting you. Thank you so much. A lot all right here with David Wyndham. We can't have a Darryl Green chronology without recognizing what we're calling the replacement team now? Is that the proper terminology for the replacement team?
Now?
Nice to have you here, Thank you for having me. What do you remember about that about that time?
Well, like everybody's been saying, he was above the above, he was one of the great from day one when he got here. But I saw him as a teenager in Houston, Texas because he used to work for my uncle. I'll come from Mobile, Alabama, and I see this little skinny kid to me, he's gonna make it to the league and he's super fast and all this. I'm like, whatever, I'm a stud of an athlete. That's when you're younger than him.
But he was. He was.
He was back in when we was like thirteen fourteen years old, so I go that far back with him.
He worked for your uncle.
He used to work for my uncle, Joe James. What did he do It was a fish market, So my uncle Joe had several different businesses. He hired the kids in the neighborhood to do different odd jobs the corner store, the fish market, cutting grass and stuff like that. But Darren was always around my uncle Joe, and he was like, here's what pro athletes were like, talking about me and my brother not knowing that, you know, years later I was see Darrel in nineteen eighty seven with the Redskins.
Did he find out whatever Daryl did he could do quickly? Probably yes.
But Darrel's like, say, his belief was even back then when he said he found God when he got to the college. But he was always he had this or about it that you knew he was a godly man. He didn't run around talking about it, and it was there.
It was always there.
Tell me about those that time. Is the replacement team just for a moment because you were coached by Joe Gibbs. Yes, the team was winning. You guys won famously in Dallas. There was an amazing moment back in the nineteen eighties where you guys won. When you think about that now, like what comes to mind for.
You, Well, the fact that the team opened their arms and love us as regular Redskins and we're no longer scaped, we're replacement players. But all of the original Redskins they look at us when we come to the reunion the alumni game. They don't look at us like we we sidelins. They look at us at professional form of professional athletes. And it's a great feeling. This is like my six or seventh one coming back to It's.
Great, David, it's pleasure. Media, Thank you too much.
Thank you, sir.
All.
Johnny, I'm told that you're faster than Darryl Greed, you'd be the only person in the room that is.
Well, you know what, I came in in eighty seven, and when I came in, I got drafted this and when I came in, but then two three months I was living at the old house, driving his car, and we just and he really adopted me. He's four years older than me, adopted me. And we trained together, you know, every day, did the hill.
Work and stuff.
So you know, people say I was I was the second fastest ever at the Redskins. I tell darr I said, well, you felt my power and I felt yours.
So we were gonna leave it at that.
You know, did you ever find out? Did you ever settle it?
We never sell it. We always trained together. And uh, our training was really intense because he liked to win. I like to win too, so so it got to a point where we was killing each other on the track and and so as he was as me being a younger one, I started letting him win.
So but yeah, he was, I mean he was fast. I know he was fast.
And and in in a corner in the closet he'll secretly say, oh, yeah, uh he was fast.
Suit. So you know, it's interesting, like every person sits down to talk about him. We know all the amazing things that he did on the field, but it sounds like it was so much more. Really.
Yeah, you know, uh uh I called down my best friend. Uh, I live in Houston, Texas. He finally bought a home in Houston, Texas, and and I keep it up. So every time we come to Houston, you know, we sit around in the garage and stuff. I mean, last time we sat around the groag for a couple hours, talked about a whole lot of stuff, cried and everything, and uh, it's it's such a it's it's such a a great you know, feeling to have a friend like you know,
like like him. We go way back. I mean, it's like, uh the way you know, the Green family you know, adopted me when I came in and I had I've had a chance to see all the kids grow up, you know, and uh, you know, Jared is my godson, Darrell is my baby, you know, and.
Joy is my joy, you know.
So all the grandkids is my my you know, my my grandkids too. So it's such a it's it's such a great to be a part of the family and you know, and how they accepted me and loved me and Stuffer and you know, to play with Darryl, to play with him, to be a friend to him, to to just admire what everything he's done and what's going on, you know, he was earlier today.
He was crying.
I said, Dawn stopped crying, and then I went up to him and say, hey, man, you deserve everything you're getting, you know, I said, I'm so proud of you.
You know.
It's from the first day that I met you to now I can be more proud, you know.
So it's great for him.
Johnny, thank you so much. It's pleasure media here, thank you all right here with the great Vernon Dean. You were a roommate of Daryl Breed, a young Darryl green right. Absolutely tell me about that experience with him.
So it's really like for us, it's normal. You go to camp, you get a room, mane. But I knew Darryl was special. And if Virgil's c coming here and he talked to you, he'll tell you why. We all knew very Daryl was special. The first player one on ones, Daryl fell down on his face and got up forty oars down the field, broke to pass up. First day ever going against the veterans, ever in minicamp rookie year. Ever,
that was my first time seeing him do anything. Ever, so we all all knew he was special at that time. But going forward, when we were roommates, it was you know, I mean, were just ballers, man, and we're trying to trying to compass the same goal.
When you see him do that in practice, does everyone kind of stop and go. That's not supposed to happen.
There's always a wild factor and you say, that's why we're here. Yeah, but some other some some other people have more wild factors than others. And I and I can say Daryl had more wild factors than a lot of us, because honestly, I had no idea what he did on Monday night his rookie year. He was gonna do it none And he said this all the time. Had I gotten out the way, he might have called twenty quicker because I was on the field. The guy that he ran past, the last to catch him.
That was me.
So there are those wild factors. He just had more wild factors than anybody.
Else heard it. What did it mean to you to play for this organization? They drafted me.
I was a first pick in nineteen eighty two. Fortunately, Bobby Bethter saw something in me that at the time twenty seven other teams didn't see, and he chose me to come in this organization and when I got here, I knew it was a great organization from top to bottom because I just.
Saw the commitment from the head coach.
Not only him, but the ownership management general manager Bobby Betha. By the way, he was outstanding general management. I mean because he found he found gyms under a carpet on the stones. That's how you found Daryl Green and so so you know, I was blessed and fortunate to have an opportunity to come and play for this organization burning It.
Was a pleasure. Thank you so much, man, appreciding Man, it's a former safety of the Washington franchise Ken Coffee, played in the nineteen eighties and with Darryl Green. That's it, right, And the first time you got together with Daryl or knew of Daryl, was actually way before you played together in the NFL.
Right.
Yeah, We competed against each other in college and Darryl ruined our perfect season, our national championship season. What I didn't share with you is we were undefeated last regular season game of the season, and our district had our Comforence had Alvin Garrett who played at Angelo State. They had won the national championship, they had Abalaine Christian Wilbert Montgomery had won the championship the year before. Texas A
and I had won the national championship numerous years. We were that kind of team and we felt that good about it. And Darryl and Texas A and I rolled in and they ruined our perfect season for us. We still won the national championship, but they ruined the perfect season. And what I didn't share with you is the very last play of the game was a flea flicker where we tossed the ball to Ricky Sanders.
Huh.
Daryl was on the other side, And to this day, I maintained that Ricky would have outrun Darryl if they wouldn't have whistled the ball dead.
I don't know if you've seen Darryl run. I'm not sure if you're right about that.
From this is my story, I'm sticking with it.
You know now it makes me believe that the secret of the teams in the eighties and nineties was it Bobby Bethardo, Joe Gibbs. It was somewhere in Texas under the radar football players.
You know, it's interesting you say that.
Every time I see Mark Moseley, I hug him and tell him you're the only MVP of the league's been a kicker. Like I just love neat things like that, and I love the environment that Joe and Bobby created that would allow Daryl will tell his own story. But I just get amazed that the number of people who passed him off is too small or not experienced enough. I mean, the hometown university that was in his neighborhood by passed him twice. Make sure you have him tell
you that story. But at the end of the day, you can look at it and it just becomes an inspiration to us. So if we keep trying, if we keep plugging, we can do some great things in life.
Did you know when you played against him in college that he could be what he ended up being in the NFL.
No, no, no, And that's not any disrespect to him. I knew he was extremely talented, but we're talking about twenty years and we're talking about his ability. I saw Harold Carma Carmichael a couple of months ago, and occasionally, you know, five foot nine Darryl would cover six six Harrold Carmichael. And if that isn't a Mutton Jeff mismatch I don't know what it is, and yet Darrel was
able to hold his own. So I just think what people didn't see about Darryl, about Vernon, about a lot of us, it's just how hard he worked, how he continues to work.
He's in fantastic shape. But there's.
If you understand his discipline with his diet and the fact that he goes out and runs like he's thirty years old and he's trying to make his last season.
It's not a surprise.
No, you played in the Glory era. What do you think of what you see right now with the Commanders?
You know, I am so happy for coach Quinn and the team. It's it's easy, you know, to point to number five and say, you know, it's on your back and not taking anything away from him. But what what the organization has to do is create an environment where players can be the best that they can possibly be.
And that just doesn't happen with one person.
It is literally one of my enduring images is seeing Rick Walker and Monty Coleman in camp going ahead to head.
And it was like this, this was my first training camp and.
I'm telling you Brown that was like raging bulls and Yellowstone or something like that.
It was just I knew I had to step up my game and or I mean, the story of those teams really are the team, the players where they came from. You had good quarterbacks, you had good coaching, you had stars. Yeah, but it was the team.
Oh it was. It was absolutely the team.
And you know, my greatest joy about all this is is, unfortunately for the individuals, we actually ended up cutting you know, second and third round players the first season because they.
Weren't as good.
And that went directly to the bottom line of you know, paying a signing bonus in some cases of you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars or whatever. But you know, Joe gibbstood on the fact that they weren't the best forty five at the time on the team, and that's what we were going to go to battle with every week, weekend, and week out. That's what we were going to battle with. I remember one year we went to Green Bay. It was freezing. It was the coldest game that I've ever
played in my life. And we had two guys who got.
Signed in the middle of the year.
They were from the South and they just didn't understand how cold they could get in Green Bay. Bottom line is they really didn't lead the heaters on the sideline, and the next day they were cut. And Joe's point was, Hey, if I can't count on you to show up in a regular season when it's tough, what makes what makes me think that you're gonna be tough in Chicago, in Dallas, in New York when we need you?
And so.
Maybe Darwinian, but I love the fact that I was there because I was the best at my position and the guy to my right was the best, and the left was my best and I knew it.
I knew it in my heart, just like they knew it.
Last thing. What did playing for this organization and being in this community mean to you?
Everything?
My bride and I came here as a young couple. We we had our children here, We had our lifelong relationships, whether I'm talking about the Monks, the Coleman's, the Walkers, the Greens, the Deans like these are lifetime relationships that once again the environment allowed us to do that. On a professional basis, I knew the value of hard work.
I don't believe I've ever been outworked professionally. I've been fired, I knew that, you know, the sun would rise tomorrow and I would be in a position to do something great again. That that's what this game gives you if you allow it to.
And it's never about.
The person who replaces you, Like like, I'm excited for those guys after I get over it emotionally because I know I replace someone, you know, and that's the same thing that happens in life every day in some form or fashion. It's what did I take from it? How can I help me on the next part of the journey?
Ken? It was a pleasure. Thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you all.
Right here with Cidney Johnson you played with there. What was the.
Experience like, I mean, it was a total experience for me, Like I said day one, you know, just maybe feel welcome here, put all my my my my fears to rest, you know, showed me what it was like to be a true professional, not only from just showing up every day and every week to work, but also off season programs,
you know, the dreaded Hills. You know, anybody that's ever worked with him over a period of time, they can thank him for their longevity in the league just based on his his work ethic and the kinds of things he was able to show you.
Could you tell us a little bit about that, like what what did he do?
Well?
I mean, you know, just come in to follow him and see what he did to get itself ready for the season. You know, you know we always went deep into the playoffs, so you know, you know after that, your body needs to rest.
The first thing we do.
Take ninety days off and reign sleep or or hell we were back out there in ninety days at George Mason working on our speed, working on our conditioning, getting ready for the season. Uh, you know, as early as March, so you know, get all the injuries healed and get back to it. And that's what he showed.
Not me, not just me, but a.
Whole a whole cadre of of of of defensive backs and wide receivers would come and follow him out there.
You were part of a Glory era team here. But what did it mean for you to play for this organization?
Uh?
You know, come in coming into the organization. Uh you see him on TV as a California kid, you know on the East coast. Uh you get to see uh, you know, the Washington Redskins at the time being a California it meant everything because I get to see, you know, you know, an organization that had a lot of tradition, great coaches, great players, but everybody was a family, you know, on and off the field. So uh, that's what separated this organization from all the other organizations out there.
Sidney, his pleasure, Thank you so much.
Thank you.
With Linda Treill, you're one of the people who've walked through here and didn't play with Darryl Green. So when you think about Darryl Green, what comes to mind for you?
So when I think about Darryl Green, the first thing that comes to mind is meant to me at least it's someone that's a follower of Christ's number one. I think that's important because I'm also a follower of Christ, my Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ. Number two. He came from a small school, so that's something I can resonate with. Coming from Norfolk State, there's always going to be a knock on a smaller school, telling people telling
you that you didn't play against the best competition. But just looking at the Daryl Green's highlights over the years and understanding that adversity.
He've overcame in order to be to where he is today.
Such a blessing man, and that's something that's very admirable and something that I looked up to as a former Redskin.
I mean, comes, small school, small guy. Twenty years it's really amazing. I mean it's almost mind boggling when you say it out loud.
Yeah, twenty years of anything is as nuts man.
He's definitely somebody that trained and worked on and off the field just as hard as the next person, and really took care of his body. The man's about sixty six right now. I'm constantly writing them on Instagram. And for him to be so humble to take a youngin like myself and write me back and just give me words of wisdom, that's a blessing. But if you ever see the videos that he's posting at about sixty six, this man is still as fast as he probably want us twenty years ago.
That's embarrassing actually for all of us. Yes, what do you make of what the commanders are doing if you watched them at all this year?
Yes, so I've been in several games. I've kind of made it my point to come back this year under the new ownership, as you can see, the atmosphere feels amazing. The city's on fire. We're loving what we're seeing. I love the fact that Dan Quinn, who used to be my defensive coordinator at the University of Florida.
Has brought home ties back here.
There's a young cat by the name of Bobby Price right now that also went to North State and dawned at number seven, just like I did, who signed with us not too long ago. So I'm excited to be back in the city. You can feel the love, and I love where this organization is headed. The ownership has set it themselves. They want all of the alumni back, and we definitely feel the love for real.
Quick. What was your experience like playing for Dan Quinn?
Oh, my god, dan Quinn is somebody that in which I told today I had to walk through.
I told him.
You know, when I initially met you, I hated you because for a young brother that's coming from a city like Miami, no one really held me accountable. I was a five star guy coming out of high school and I kind of, you know.
Big man on campus.
But Dan was the first person that told me that hey understand something any and everything that you do. I'm gonna hold you accountable for it. And he also taught me that if a coach stops coaching you, that's when you should be worried. But when he's really on you, he wants to see the best out of you, and he wants to see the best potential that you have.
Linda, thank you so much.
Thank you