Getting Open with Tony Richardson

Jalen Holmes, Adam Feelin. We spoke with Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, and last week we had the honor of hearing from Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randall, who really shared his thoughts and his heart around the topic of mental health, specifically within the NFL Legends community. So that's why I'm so excited this week to sit down with fellow NFL legend Tony Richardson. Now, Tony had a

sixteen season career in the NFL. He spent most of his career, the first part of his career in Kansas City with the Chiefs, and he then played for the Vikings in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven, which we'll hear more about in a second. And Tony is equally passionate about working with NFL alumni and really being a part of that network, that community, and also encouraging others to look out for their mental well being, to be aware of mental health, and to really normalize

that conversation around not being okay. So let's tickle us into what Tony had to say. Tony, thank you so much for joining us. As we just mentioned in our intro for fans who maybe don't know as much about your career, sixteen season career in the NFL super impressive. Of course, just two of those years were in Minnesota, two thousand and six and two thousand and seven, the ladder of which was a Pro Bowl season for you. It was probably a short and sweet time for you.

But what did you appreciate about your time in Minnesota with the Vikings? You know, I was definitely, Uh, it was it was it was a change, I think just because you know, I had been in Kansas City. So actually I played seventeen years, so a lot of people because I had one year with the Dallas Cowboys on practice squad, so since the count against my pission, I say seventeen um, but you know it was different, you know, it was uh, you know, I spent eleven years in

Kansas City. And that's kind of where you know, I kind of my football career kind of blossomed and and you know, took off and then um, you know, uh, the Vikings actually had a leadership change, a new head coach, and then a dear buddy of mine by the name of Les Pico happened to be uh, happened to come over to Minnesota and he said, hey, you know, to Rich uh, you ught yourself to just kind of look around and come come check out and see what, you know,

what direction organization is going. And it was as soon as my feet you know, touched the ground and uh, in Minnesota, it was just like it just felt right, you know, from the greeterers at the airport to you know, the hospitality, the Vikings organization, the leadership and the direction they were going. You know, it just felt right. And then um, you know, obviously the first year I actually had an injury, so I was, you know, I was

out time the first year. Second year, we bought this guy and by the name of Adrian Peterson, who was actually over my shoulder right now in a Pro Bowl picture, and he gave me life. And it's interesting because you know I initially said, okay, you know, come to Minnesota two year deal and I'm pretty much gonna hang the clicks up and ap literally he's just like taking um. You know, her older dog starts to start slowing down

a little bit. You get him a puppy, and so I got me a puppy, and so Ape would be like, hey, Tis you want to run sprince after practice? I was, oh, yeah, we want to sprince all the time. And I was like, Okay, over back, that's one. He was like, no, let's do this over back, over back, that's one. I'm like, how do you want to do before? I'm like, bro, we just finished practice and you want to do all this running.

But it, uh, you know, he gave me life, um, you know, just to be able to see a young man that gifted um, to be able to work in you know, work in the community. It was, it was. It was a great opportunity. Well I love to hear that, um. And if I'm not mistaken, you ended up not hanging up your cleats like you mentioned. And then you did finish your career with the Jets, so played another few seasons for the past ten years or so. Then, how have you stayed connected to just the NFL family and

why is that something that's important to you. Yeah, so the department actually I work right now and actually I work, you know, along John Randall and obviously Tracey McDonald with the Vikings, and so my position is I'm the Northeast

coordinator for Legends Community. And I think, um, you know, it's kind of one of those things because my last year in twenty ten twenty eleven was a year we actually had the lockout and I was on the union side of that lockout, and I think I just kind of needed to take some space away just to kind of clear my mind from the NFL as well as

from the Union. So I kind of, you know, it was in kind of a different space where just trying to figure out what was next and this opportunity, you know, I'm still living here in New York City, and the opportunity you know, um, you know, came to my table about helping former players and helping them in that transition. And I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I kind of wish I had some them that kind of

pulled me through that transition. And you know, one thing in life, we realize we're always transitioning, you know, I don't care if you're eighty, if you're ninety. There's a transition in some form in your life, and the more people and the team that you can have around you, you know easy that transition is going to be. And so you'm the Northeast coordinated for Legends community and so my two teams I support living here in New York and New York Jets and the Giants. But we work

as a team. And so if there's someone you know, maybe a former Viking that's here in the New York area, John may call New York and say, hey, can you get on the phone, you know with such and such or vice versus. So, you know, we work side by side, and the number one thing is just making sure our guys are doing well, you know, after football, and just trying to allow them and understand like the power to shield and the opportunities that you can have m you know,

staying connected, you know, back with your NFL clubs. I love that you brought up John too, because we just did a recent segment with him, and it's great to have both of you a part of this series. I know that you had mentioned a little bit to me about being involved with MVP can you try tell us a little bit what that looks like. Yeah, So MVP

is something that's very near and dear to my heart. UM. So, MVP the acronym is merging veterans and players, UM, and it literally it's something I kind of knew about UM for a while with my dad being former military. So my dad served thirty thirty two years of Vietnam veteran

proper heart. My sister did twenty eight years and four deployments, and so it's it's kind of the exact same transition, you know, I saw my sister, Well, at first, I saw my dad transition, you know, being uh, alpha male and being uh, you know, someone in the leadership position and having soldiers around, and everywhere he goes people saluting him, and all of a sudden he comes home, my mom's

not saluting them. So I saw him kind of go through that transition of uh, you know, just what's what's next? And so what Jay Glazer and Nate Borrier um, they actually they actually served with Pat Tillman and so he's a he was a marine if I'm standing corrected, and he actually served and he actually played for the Seattle Seahawks.

So they started just to kind of see, like you know, veterans and professional athletes kind of go through that same type of loss of identity, kind of trying to figure out what's next, and you know, doing something at the highest level and then all of a sudden it's over and it's like boom, and so it's um, it's an opportunity and it's really been great because it's something that

helped me tremendously through the pandemic. Because normally it's an in person workout for thirty minutes and then you sit down, drab some water, and everyone sits in a huddle, like the true huddle like you have in football, and you just talk and you share and it's unbiased. There's no judgment, there's no politics. Don't force religions, really, don't force opinions unless somebody asks, like for you know, for help. But it's just an open opportunity just to sit and just talk.

Because I think, as men and women, because the servants of women as well, you know, we harbor all of this stuff up. You know what I mean. It's like, you know, because we're told in football, hey, if you break your finger, okay, tape it up. You gotta keep playing. Oh you dislocate your elbow. Okay, you can't be hurting. You gotta keep playing. And so I think what our society has kind of raised us to say it is like when you're hurting inside, um, if you're feeling lonely,

if you're feeling sad, you gotta tough it up. You gotta build that scar tissue and just keep going. In life. You can't do that. You cannot go through life building it up because eventually, build up, build up, build up, and it's going to be it's gonna be an overload, and you know, unfortunately, bad things happen. And so what it really allows me to do and I'm that's you know,

my day to day is zoom, zoom zoom. So yeah, yeah, yesterday we just launched Seattle and so it's a hybrid, so they actually there were some um, some members in the gym and then afterwards we did a thirty or

we did an hour huddle and it's over zoom. So I did Seattle yesterday, I did New York last night, and I did La and it's just great because it's like my family now and it's like I look forward to it and you know, people share wins, and they also share when they're having just things they just need to talk about. And I think when you have a community, it's like literally having sixty therapists at your anytime you need them. And we say the magic really happens after

the huddle. So we make a point to check on two or three people that you hadn't checked into. And you just don't know that that a little check in, Hey, you're just picking up the phone or sending the text and to say, hey, you know, how are you doing? What's going on? And just the way the weight of people, you could just feel it, like sometimes you get on the phone and you could just feel like, man, I'm so glad you call it today because I was actually

just I was going through something. And I think just having that community has really helped me tremendously and just like it allows me to be vulnerable and it shows me that I don't have to go through this life alone and I can, you know, I can build my team back up again, and I think that's very important. Yeah, and that was an organization that I was not super

familiar with before you shared it with me. So I thought that was really a neat thing and I think it's cool how you talk about the overlap between those two different types of life transitions, and it sounds like for you, it's really beneficial because it not only is a support system for you through MVP, but you're also able to help support other NFL legends through your role

that you work on with the Legends community. And it sounds like mental health, um, and you know, maintaining your mental wellbeing and of those around you is a really important role in both of those positions. Yeah, it definitely is. And I think that's one thing and I'm so glad that we're able to talk about mental health because before, you know, even when I had the stigma, if somebody would seeing a therapist or said they had a therapist, they just want to put you in the corner and

it's like, oh, something's wrong with him. And it's not the fact that we're getting out in front of it and understanding that. Uh. You know, just when I would go to the gym and do biceps, I'm building my bicep muscle. If I'm doing squats, I'm building my quad. You definitely have to continue to keep working on your on your mental health. It's because mental health is not a bad thing. Mental health is mental health. Um, you

cannot be mental health disorders, of course. But the more we get out in front of it, and the more we can say, hey, you know what, I'm actually not doing so well today, Hey I actually need to talk to someone. Um, that's when we really can start to make a difference in our society. And it's you know, it's and it's unfortunate because even you know, in our NFL family, um, you know, we've seen the tragedies, you know, weekend and week out, and you hear about, you know,

different things that are going on. And you know, uh, Al tomb who's a great receiver, just had a situation that I found out about yesterday that his daughter was her life was taken by her husband in front of an eight month old child. Like that's that's some real heavy stuff. And it's even though it didn't if it even though I know Al and it's not my daughter, but it still wears on you. And if you it's still just you know, because you hurt for him, and

you hurt for that family, hurt for that community. And so I think the more and more you just kind of, you know, just have someone to talk to and have a support system, get out in front of mental health. And it's just um because every day in our in our world, you know, it's it's almost sometimes where I just don't you want to turn a TV on because I'm afraid of like, okay, what, you know what, what's

going to be the news of the day. And so I think the more we get out in front of it and understanding like our young people, UM, I do a lot of work in the anti bullying space. I just did a really nice deal with a high school here in New York yesterday over zoom of just talking about you know, just dealing with you know, bully like cyber bullying and all like all that stuff plays on

your mental health. So yeah, I'm glad we're able to get out in front of them and talk about it and share that mental health is okay, it's okay to have a therapist. Is welcome to have a therapist. I love talking about therapist and it's a it's a great thing. Since you brought that up, having a therapist to talk to you. And I think especially you hit the nail

on the head. I think life is always hard, but this past year people have been isolated so many difficult things going on, you know, whether it's racial tensions, the pandemic, loved ones being ill. What would you maybe say to somebody who is intimidated by the idea of seeing a therapist or who has never gone through that process before, about what it's been like for you. Yeah, I would just say, uh, just drop the stigma because I think you know, and I would just give examples of my

own personal life. It's just like you know, living here in New York City when the whole world shut down, you know, living in an apartment obviously, you know, like not seeing this easier if you're living like a ten thousand square from home, it's just more space to be lonely. But you're a when you're in New York City, it's like the walls, Like some days the walls felt like

they were they were closing in. And you know, for me, you know, having my dog obviously was a tremendous help, but just having someone to talk to, because you know, it's and a lot of times it's not even necessarily like you're asking for an opinion, but just having someone to talk to because you know, I could talk to Rambow, he's not my dog he's not gonna talk back, but just you know, just having someone So I would just I would telling anyone who's just um, it's healthy. It's

it's healthy, and it's and it's needed. And if you're married, sometimes your spouse might not be that person, you know what I mean, because you might be sharing some things that potentially that you just need to you know, work through. And so just having someone to be able to talk to and have someone that's trained in that space, I

think it's really really helpful. And that's the beautiful thing about MVP is we do have each other, but we have a clinician that's on all of our calls because you know, sometimes there's some guys share different things and you can kind of pick up on signs and the clinician to jump in and she's like, hey, as soon as we get off this call, you know, I can tell you're angry, I can tell there's some things that you're really harboring, and let's get on the phone call afterwards.

And so having someone's trained, I think it's very beneficial. And I was just telling anyone to just drop the stigma and just try it, because I think, you know, it was things that it's funny too. It It just and I just acquired a new therapist, like right at the beginning of the pandemic, and the first time we

were on the phone and I was like, okay. I think it was like a thirty minute, you know, meeting, and we end I'm talking for an hour and a half and I just remember sharing stuff about my childhood, about things were just popping up, and I'm just like, man, next thing I know, I'm in the kitchen and I'm like cooking, and she was like, oh, you're like cooking. I'm like, I love cooking, and it's like my therapy. And so it's just it's just all those different kind

of things. And I think the more you share it and you start to pull back the layers and you start thinking, like, man, maybe the things that I'm dealing with at age forty nine was something that I didn't address when I was three, you know what I mean. It's like all of that goes hand in hand. So I would tell anyone who's listening, you know, to this, or anyone's hesitant about seeing a therapist, I would say, just go for it, because it's the best thing I

have going in my life. And I wish, you know, I wish I would have done this a lot earlier in my life, and I can definitely, you know, personally attest to everything that you just shared too, and would encourage people to do the same to at least kind

of explore that. One of the things that I love about the Vikings organization is that they do have a clinical psychologist and a clinical psychiatrist that are available for the players, the coaches, but also all of the staff within the organization as well, which I think are such

important resources. When we were talking with John Randall, I know his career started a little bit before Years and ended a little bit before Years, but you guys did overlap there for some time in the NFL, and he was just talking about the way that the stigma has kind of started to break down over the years, and how mental health has been to become a more accepted

topic to talk about, especially within professional sports. What do you appreciate about seeing the tide kind of starting to turn there and seeing the league put an emphasis on this topic. Yeah, I actolutely applaud the league. And so a dear friend of mine is In Yaka. So In Yaka actually works for the NFL and she even just had We just did our Legends summit and our second day of training was an hour and a half training

on mental health. And I applied the NFL because it's it's a thing that I think we should have been doing a long time ago, because you know, I mean, we do realize that, you know, we play a sport, and you know, and I know for a fact, like the day I signed my first NFL contract was the day they were already trying to replace me. So that's just the nature of how our business sales. But I think we owe it to these young men who come into this National Football League to not just build up

their football body, but build up their overall body. And so I think we in effect that the NFL has really jumped out in front of it now of saying that we have to you know, I know, part of the CBA, every team has to have a clinician and psychiatrist on staff, and it's it's something that's definitely needed because and for me, I would make it mandatory, but at least they're available, but I would make it mandatory, like you know, every Tuesday, you got fifteen, you got

thirty minutes, forty five minutes just to talk to somebody, because you know, I was talking to a buddy of mine, Orlando Pace, and he's part of the Legends community as well, and he was just sharing a little bit about his journey. So he was the first overall draft choice as an offensive linement, so he was getting drafted. He got drafted

to the Saint Louis Rams. They were one of the losing his teams in football history, so all of a sudden, they're like, Okay, why would you draft an offensive linement

that's not a fancy pick. And so he was talking about that mental stress that he had to endure because everyone was saying, Oh, he's going to be a bus or he's not going to pan out, um oh this draft pick is too high, and he was like, I had nobody that I can talk to because you can't talk to your parents about what that stress level is, like they haven't done that. You can't even really talk to your coaches about what it is to be really

they have to carry the weight of the world. He's a big man, so he was able to do it, but to carry the weight of the world or the city on your back every single day and just the stress of like of obviously he said, you know, the expectations they put on me were very high, but I

could high expect chessons on myself. But just now, as I was listening to him sharing, we were talking to the draft eligible rookies coming in this year, so we were doing like a panel talking to them, and just when I was hearing him speaking, first of all, he was speaking to me and it was just like, you know, it was just it resonated inside of me, and I'm like, here's a man obviously made it to the Hall of Fame, you know, join John you know, in the NFL Hall

of Fame's offensive linemen. But he had to carry the weight of the world, like he needed someone there, and at that time it was do one there. You know, there was no therapist, and it could have went obviously it weren't great for him, but it could have easily went the direction. So I'm so glad now that the the NFL is out front of it. I'm glad that all the teams are supported and now we just have to get more players. Just to understand that it's okay to say I'm not okay, I think you kind of hit

the nail on the hide two. And another thing that we've kind of talked about at times throughout the series is that mental health challenges don't discriminate. I think people tend to think that, oh, well, they're a professional athlete, they have the finances to deal with things they have X, Y, and Z, and that's just not the case. I think people maybe don't recognize the different pressures that come with that.

But regardless of that, you know the fact that it doesn't matter who you are, what your background is, what your economics standing is. You know, mental health is important to focus on, and so I know that's important to you as well. Yeah, And that's the thing about it. It's like, and it's interesting you said about money. It's like there's more money, more problems, So more money, more stress. And that's the thing about It's like, and people do think like, Okay, if you have a lot of money,

you can solve your problems. And actually a lot of times sometimes the most successful people are the most other loneliness because you isolate yourself and you you climb, You just climb that ladder and as you climb, you're just like weeding people out, and all of a sudden, you get to the top. Of that mountain and there's no one there and you're there by yourself, and then you're just looking around like I have no one to you know, really talk to, and no one to share it with.

So I I do think that, Yeah, it's not it doesn't discriminate. It's not you know, it's not a it's not a white problems on a black problem's on his spanding problem. It's just a side of problem. And it's just like you, you know, you look at all of these things that are going on in our community and it's like, you know, and stress obviously stressors affect your mental health, and so you know, the Black Lives Matter movement, Like, did it directly affect me on my day to day

life as far as the streets. Yeah, when I can look out the window and see that and there was those are those are stressors. And you see those people that are angry and in the street, it's like all of a sudden, even though if I'm not out there, margin I still feel it and I still um, you know, I still feel their weight and I feel their pain, and it's just like, you know, so all those things and the more you can just get up and just

talk about it and just share it. Like you know, when I was watching something on TV it really kind of you know, struck me a different way, and to be able to share that and saying I really didn't like how it made me feel. So that's the thing. I think we just had to continue to just just you know, be open about it and you understanding that there's a lot of people out here who are hurting and when people when hurt. When people are hurting, they

hurt people. And I think that's why you're seeing a lot of unfortunate incidents and grocery stores and malls and different things like that, because you know, they've been pinning up all this stuff and they just it's gonna come out some way, and unfortunate it comes out in bad

ways sometimes. When you were talking about seeing a therapist and how important that's been for you, are are there any other kind of practices that you've adopted into your life, you know, not n professionally, that are just helpful for you and maintaining your mental health and what would those be that other people could implement you? Yeah? Mine is I'm a I'm a huge yogi, so I love yoga.

And it's funny because I started doing yoga in like nineteen ninety seven, and funny enough, so Mary Reving with the Vikings. I introduced Mary to my yoga studio. I got Kevin Warren doing yoga, so they all got into big yoga and all that stuff. But yeah, I started doing yoga in ninety seven and I mainly started doing it for the flexibility, um, but then it then as

I started to you know, get really into it. Then just like the breathing, and it's just like, Okay, in the middle of a game and you're in a high stress situation and it's like fourth and two and you gotta get the first down, you go to your breath.

And that's the same thing in life. And that's the thing that yoga teaches you when you get to a stress situation or your backs against the wall, if you breathe and you think about back and you think through your life, and it's like, you know, what if I would have just took four more breaths before I made that decision, or before I actually responded to that question, or before I set that text, or before you know, you know, it's before you hit sin, then it's it's

a whole different situation. I think it, you know, you know, even for here living in New York City, it's a high stress driving and I find myself like, you know, someone cuts me off and they're yelling at me, and I'm like man, and I'm like, okay, let me just breathe,

let me take a deep breath. So so that that helps a lot, you know, just the breathing meditation, just taking time out of just because we don't like we spend you know, all day long on that this little thing and we're here call a phone and I look at it and I'm just like, oh, my screen time today it was fourteen hours. I'm like, this is ridiculous. So do you know, so just like put that thing down.

It takes no one takes a lot of people don't even take thirty minutes for themselves out of a given day. But I try to take like at least an hour sometimes two hours of just like stillness, quietness. And I know for a fact, if I'm not if I don't have, if I'm not one hundred percent given to myself, then I can't give nothing to anyone else. And so I think that yo, I know for a fact that yoga meditation helps and I like cycling. It's kind of the

same thing. It's you know, it's a sport. Obviously you can ride with other people, but it's also a sport that you can get out and ride by yourself. And then just like you know, sometimes like man, I really want to go on do thirty miles today, and then all of a sudden, I'm like, you know, I'm out there, my mind is clear, I'm just enjoying being outside, and just, um, it did not come back, and I'm just a different So just I guess, I guess all overall, exercise, exercise

really helps. Yeah. I mean I've never been a good yoga person, but a number of people have brought it up during the series, so maybe I'll have to give it another shot after this. It would be great, definitely, and Tony, I think lastly, just I loved getting to chat with you a little bit on the phone before this, and I shared with you a little bit about this project and about kind of our mission behind it, and

you are all in. You know, you and I have never really worked together before, and I love how much you jumped in. Do you have anything else I guess that you haven't mentioned that you would love for listeners to take away from this today from your message, Yeah, I think that. I think you know, and obviously thank you so much for having me on today, but I

think it's your biggest thing. It's just like um self check ins, and I think UM checking on like your friends and your family because I'm always and I've always I don't even know how I started to adopt this, but you know, obviously now with a lot of things still being closed, but I always would if I see someone in a restaurant server, I was like, hey, how's your day going? And it's amazing how many times when

you ask someone how their day is going. And I've had, you know, some servers like oh, you know, today's great, and then somebody be like, wow, you know what, I'm so glad you're asking that because you know, I literally just having the worst day of my life. And I think if we just check on two or three people, it's not hard to check on your family and your friends just to kind of see like, you know, no one get and no love them give you, like it's like, hey,

how are you doing? I'm doing great, and just keep moving like no, how are you really doing? And I think the more we can do self check ins, and it doesn't have to be two people a day, but if you just check on like two or three people a week and just ask them like seriously, you know, how are you doing, and hey, I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to. I think the more we do that because you know, unfortunately we live. You know, everyone has different lives, and you know, this

pandemic is still affecting a lot of people. But I think just when people, you know, when they know someone really cares about them, they know there's another day that you know that they can live. And that's the thing I just unfortunately we've seen unfortunately seem you know, people take their lives and that's the thing that we need

to get we get arms around that. Well a man, I can definitely echo all that Tony, and I really appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us today and share some of your thoughts and I know it's going to make an impact for a lot of people. Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you to Tony for joining us for that conversation. I learned so much.

I love hearing from Tony and just his passion for this area and his connection to to Minnesota and the Vikings community still just a really great person to listen to. Thank you guys for listening to another segment of Getting Open, and I do want to encourage you to continue to

keep your eyes on all Vikings digital platforms. We do have one more segment coming up of this series and then we'll additionally have a wrap up segment as well, so really looking forward to sharing that content with you, So keep an eye out