Eric Wood talks Damar Hamlin’s strength, finding competition in media, Kobe Bryant motivation

heart radio app or wherever else you listen to your podcast. Now, It's been a crazy two weeks in the NFL, very dramatic week. Eight team teams fighting for playoff positioning. The playoffs start this weekend. Really looking forward to that. The NFL is just now starting to heat up. We all know once the playoffs starts, everything ratses up another level.

Another thing that happened during last week, the last two weeks is, and this is probably what's really got everybody's emotion is going his uh the NFL community really getting behind and really trying to show some love in uh To in the country as well, all rally behind Bills player Damar Hamlet after he was injured last Monday in the game against the Bengals. We all saw it and we will talk about Damar and much more in this

episode today with our guests. Eric would now listen. If you don't know that name Bribe as the top of your head, you're playing with yourself. You need to pay a little bit more attention here. Eric is a beloved member of the Bills Mafia. He spent his entire nine year NFL career with the Buffalo Bills. He's now in his fourth season as calling games for the Bills Radio network.

He also has a podcast himself. He's a businessman and a man of faith, which he leads on because when you look up his Wikipedia, that's the first thing that says I like a man like that. He lives on it. So welcome in, Eric, Welcome to NFL Players Second Acts Podcast for Man. How you doing this morning? I'm doing great. It's an honor beyond with you, Roman. I appreciate that intro a lot, my brother, Oh man, no doubt, man, it's much deserve. Hey, look, bro, I see you repping

Louis in the background. Got your Pro Bowl helmet up. But that's what I'm saying, we gotta give you some respect, my brother. Come on, doc, it's all good. So we got some more great news about Tamar Hamlin. Uh, well within the last forty eight hours. Uh, that he was released from the hospital. He's in Buffalo now, he's at now at home. Uh, continue to rehabbing things with that nature. Uh. That's a long way from where we were a week and a half ago when we saw him laying on

that field in Cincinnati. Eric Um, how do you put into the words the roller coast of emotions from not only yourself but also the Buffalo community and the people that you cover with this situation over the last week and a half, being in that stadium that Monday, and I call in the game in Roman. We've seen injuries happen all throughout the NFL, throughout our time in the NFL and broadcasting and media. You know what a football

injury looks like. And sometimes it's gruesome. Look, I did the Joe thisman leg break my rookie year and went straight into an ambulance. But I'm I'm with it. You know it's not it's not something out of the realm that football players know. You're subjected to the whore. The panic on the players, the coaches, and even a lot of the medical staff and trainers was is an image that will last with me forever. We were completely shaken. The entire stadium in Cincinnati was shaking. This was I'm

originally from Cincinnati. This was was electrifying. I've ever seen that stadium. And sometimes Bill's Mafia can bring that out in the fan base too, like they kind of invade and so you get extra allowed yourself. And it truly was an incredible atmosphere. And then less than ten minutes in the game, it is dead silent. You know, they say there's one in every crowd, There was none in that crowd. There was no one saying, get up off

the field, let's play this game. Anybody that was win within an eye shot of seeing the reaction on the field knew that this was different. And so you have a young man who is so well respected, so well loved in Buffalo, in that community, within the team in Pittsburgh. Here Mike Tomlin talk about him. This is a guy that has impacted so many lives. Lay on the ground fighting for his life, others are fighting for his life essentially on the field and then you're thinking, what's best

case scenario here? What's best case scenario? What's best case scenario? When you shock him and it doesn't work, you do almost nine minutes of CPR and you're losing oxygen blood flow to your brain, what's best case scenario being a vegetable? Like? Is that the best case scenario in this situation? Throughout the week, the news got progressively better, to the point where Sunday against the Patriots in Order Park turned into

a celebration. A celebration. Initially it's the celebrating the trainers pregame Roman. You know this from all your time in the NFL. The trainers are behind the scenes and get no credit, but oftentimes they're they're the ones that are helping you get to the game each week. They're doing so much, unnoticed, unrecognized. Well, they wanted to recognize the trainers, have them run out of the tunnel and celebrate them

in stead of the team running out like individually. And they said, well, we gotta if the players are on the field, we gotta be working. You know, there's taping to be done, last minute, there's guys a neat stretches, shoulder mode, exacle but whatever it may be, that's the type of guys these are. And so it turns into

a celebration. First the trainers, the Naime Hans runs back the kickoff, then he returns another kickoff for a trunchdown, and it was it was a special day, especially with all the news that was coming out that Damar was in. You know the new Sunday morning was excellent neurological function, one lung function. And so to us we're like, oh my gosh, this is this is literally a miracle. I don't want to I'm a man of faith. I don't want to undermine all the work that went in and

everybody that contributed to that. But even the doctors will say, you know, this is this is a young man that that is doing better than we thought he would be doing. And so um, there was there was so much good that's come out of this. You know, it's hard to tell non Christians that, hey, you know there there will be something good that comes from this when there's a twenty four year old that may lose his life in the NFL community come together, see this country come together.

It was it was beautiful. Eric look man like it has to be said, like you can be a man of faith or you can believe in whatever you want to, but you can't tell me it's not a higher power than what we saw when we saw Damar laying out there. We saw everybody the emotions on that field. Not only that, but looking at so you were at the game, but watching it from TV was probably even scarier because we had never seen anything like that before. We saw the hit. We saw him get up, we saw him go back down,

and you just don't know what's up. Then you see the CPR, you see we're literally trying to save a person's life and you don't know why. Like you said, I've seen the most crucial injuries. I've seen achilles, I've seen a c l S. I've seen compound fractures, I've seen and that doesn't shake you as a football player, doesn't shake you. But when you see one of your guys that all of a sudden, they're not moving, they're unresponsive, they and the looks on the players face has told

you that something was different. Um. And then to see the way that America responded. The people that were calling the game, Joe Buck and Troy they were having struggles just to try and put it into words. So it was really tough, and so that almost that glimpse of that like looking inside. Uh. For the American people and for everybody else around the world watching that night, I

think it was I think it was very moving. I think for the first time in a long time, we weren't looked at as just a football player or just a guy in New Jersey. Everybody that that pulled it everybody's heart strings just a little bit. It did, It truly did, and the reaction throughout the week was just special. I mean it was just different. I mean, this is a country that's just so divided on everything, and you know, we we said fifty fifty on politics. We have religions,

race and everything that divides this country. But one thing most Americans love is sports. And America's favorite past time now america is definitely most popular and profitable pastime is the NFL. And so in the biggest stage, the most anticipated Monday night football game since I can remember, this happens.

It was a stage that brought this country together and the amount of love and outpouring that came from this and then even demors comments when he comes out and as he's as he's putting out messages through social media. It was just special that that young man now is saying, Hey, just tell tell three people you love them. I mean, how cool is that? But his message wasn't you know, I'm a fighter, I'll be back. It was man, it's been the love and the outpouring has been incredible. Thank you,

keep it going, keep it moving forward. Talking about that that outpouring love. UM, I know a lot of people watch football, they love football, and they all want to be a part of many different things. But um, I don't think as many people understand just how close the guys are inside of a locker room and how much time we spend together. And sometimes we spend way more time with your teammates than you do your actually family.

Like that, your football team becomes your family, and our families become families with each other because of all the time spent, especially over years. You were in Buffalo for nine years, so you have family members that we're not your origin family members until you showed up there. Can you maybe talk to the listeners, uh, just about the world of the brotherhood that is the NFL or a locker room and uh kind of share that part or

your experience with that. You know, we always talk about the brotherhood of the NFL, but it's not always on display for everyone to see. And and I often tell people this, like, yes, I want to go out on Sunday and I want to whoop the person in front of me, but I also want him to walk to his family after the game and hug him and and be fine. Like I never want to take someone out on the field. I'm not gonna do anything dirty to a player on a football field that could injure him,

like I not. We we there's a certain level of respect. When I got to the NFL people early on in my career, what's the biggest difference between college and the NFL? Said? In the NFL during TV time outs of the offensive defense is out there. You have guys that trained together in the offseason, maybe played together in college. They're dapping each other up and asking about people's families. Well, then you gotta flip the switch and go. But it's different,

like that didn't happen often in college. But there's just a certain amount of respect, and when guys crossed that line of respect, they lose their reputation quick in the league because it truly is a brotherhood. So as of as of this taping on Thursday, January til twelve, nearly eight and a half, almost close to getting closer to nine million dollars has been donated to to Mars the Chasing M's Foundation for his annual toy drive. Like, how

amazing is that? And what does that say about the person to Mar Is that so many people in Buffalo and around this country and possibly the world showed him love in that way. Yeah, it it's amazing the support because so many were just looking to do anything they possibly could could be dollars that, in Damar's name, make an impact further than this game. And so now Damar and his foundation they're gonna be able to do so

much more than a toy drive. They can do a toy drop for essentially about most of the country with this amount of money, but they're gonna be able to do so much more with this money. When you look at the list of people on the list, I mean, it was amazing, you know, and and so many donated anonymously, and that's great and and I respect that as well. I also think that there's a point in leadership that when a Tom Brady puts Tom Brady in ten grand

immediately after. There's something to be said about leaders leading the way. Robert Kraft, your rival who you're playing the following week, who owns the team, does eighteen thousand and three dollars. Eighteen is a Jewish number for life. Three for Damar Hamlin like that is a sign of respect. And I'm fine with you getting the credit for that donation because you're leading the way. And so to me,

it reminds me of Ephesians. God can do am measurably more than wherever we ask or imagine, and is what we are and what tomorrow asked and imagined. And here's God doing a measurably more well. Eric, Man, I appreciate that. Man. Um, all right, So we're gonna take a little break right here. Um. I want to continue to tell all of our listeners

just how well DeMar is doing. It's been a huge improvement and the fact that now he's back home doing some rehab and really working to it better improve himself and his and everything. That's uh, everything that's the family and everybody is so excited about. So we'll be back. We're gonna pay some bills and then when we come back, We're gonna really jump into what Eric is doing next for himself personally and how his growth is continue to expound since his time of hanging it up. So thank you.

We talked about tomorrow having good life changing injury. Eric, you know what that's well about, um, And you're about to to your second Pro Bowl. I see one Pro Bowl helmet behind you right there. You're about to go to your second Pro Bowl. You just signed a contract extension, and then all of a sudden boom, you have a career ending injury because of your neck. At your neck, So when did you go from Okay, this is just

a normal injury. I'm feeling a little paying too. Uh no, you're not gonna be able to play anymore, man, Roman. It was such a unique experience and my first four years in the league, coming as a first round draft pick, never been hurt in my life. Start every game at the University of Louisville for my freshman year on get to the NFL. So Joe Thising leg break, it's a high ankle spring. The next year, it's an a c AL.

The following, it's an m CL the following, and then I start fifty two consecutive games, which was the most for any active center in the NFL at the time. Break my other leg On Monday Night Football in seventeen season, Sean mcdermotts hired, Brandon Bean's hired, and everyone thinks we're tanking. But I can't leave Buffalo while we're still in the longest playoff rout in all pro sports. Like, I can't leave Buffalo and I'm heading into a con track to year.

So the Bills offered me a contract and I signed it. They offered me a contract extension, the first one Brandon being gave out with his tenure with the Bills. Yeah, so, so I signed a contract extension before the season. Were the team that breaks the playoff drought when everyone thought we were tanking after we traded away our last top three draft choices. And I'm the only player on the team to play every single snap that season, including the playoff game. Now, I did get stingers for the first

time in my life. And for those listening, you know a burning, numbing sensation down your arm. For me, it was my arm. It could be other extremities for others, and I didn't think anything of it because my high school buddies got stingers. They're fine, Like, why would this be any differently? They came more frequently. So I go to extraphysicals. My son's about to be born, and I said, hey, I gotta get back to Louisville. I'm gonna drive home just so I make make sure that I'm there for

the birth of my son. I played every snap. Just clear me for the Pro Bowl. I'm good, they said, grabbing him or on your way out of town on your neck. Just let's just make sure everything okay, Well, we'll just call you. You You don't even have to come back in. I'm sure it's fine. I get the news while I'm in the delivery room waiting on my son to be born January eleven, which was yesterday, the day of my son's birthday birthday, appreciate it and figure out

that I have a career ending neck injury. At C two C three. There's disc and bone sitting into my spinal cord where they're not sure how It hasn't affected me a lot worse, but I absolutely, even with surgery, have no possibility for return. And so I go from getting a contract extension, I'm avenger. You know the following year, I'd be Josh Allen's mentor. They wanted me to be the Veterans center in front of their first round quarterback that they were gonna take the following year, and that

was gonna be me. So for me, that would have been a as I looked at it, Okay, this is a chance for me. Look, and I love Profobatta played till the wheels fell off. It's a blessing God took me out when he did, because how would I quit now? As good as they that's so good and so But to me, I'm thinking, Okay, I get to pour into a young quarterback. That'll kind of be my legacy that I leave on with the Bills. You know how I

can mentor the guys and all that. Well, then it's all stripped away in an instant and I had to figure out what was next for me. So when you get this news, all right, you've been I mean, like you listed off all the injuries before once you got into the league. When you get this news, um, kind of take me through emotions of you getting this news.

You're in the late the you're in the labor room with your with your son, the birth of your son, and I can talk to this about a little bit because um in my my my girlfriend, my then white, my now wife was actually went into labor. I was playing in a playoff game. I was in San Francisco. I get a call that morning. I missed like four phone calls. She's like, I'm going into labor, but I'm gonna weight on it. I'm gonna hold it. I'm like, okay, cool.

That was my first kid, so I didn't know. I'm like, yeah, cool. And so go playing the game. We lose the game in San Francisco, and all of a sudden, but you get this, this this joy, I get this picture of my daughter, and so it's this there's crazy sense of emotions where you go from this sad to this like relief and like it really is like somebody smiling down

on you at the end. I want you to tell me what your emotions were like going through such a wave of the negativity of hearing that you're not going to play able to play this game that you love. You've been playing it since you're a little kid, I assumed,

and versus now, but you still have a little baby boy. Now, Yeah, it sounds like your wife's a lot like my wife too, because if we would have went on the playoffs and I couldn't make it, she was like, don't worry about I was like, no, I am worried, and yeah, that's she was like, gotta go, you gotta go. Yeah, yeah,

similar wise in that sense. But you know, I caught win that morning that it was probably worse than they thought, and this and that, and so I get the call and we're literally in the delivery room and my wife was like just answering. We both want to know, and so I couldn't even speak. I gave her the thumbs

down and she started crying. The nurse was like, it's baby, It's not gonna hurt that bad, and she's like, it's not about the baby, you know, laughing, But you know, so that was that was There was a lot of emotion tied to a career that you poured so much into. And look, I love profo by my wife club Profo. But we loved and half a hear in Buffalo and had a house up there. We had great friends up there. You talking about the family, the people were gonna miss

I mean, it was gonna affect us. But then we get this little boy who's truly my meny me for those out there checking out on my Instagram Attie with seven or on my Twitter, like, literally, God gave me a miniature version of myself as my career is taken away, he gives me this son. So now I have this healthy, beautiful little girl who's two and a half years older. And now I have literally a miniature version of myself who now at five years old, is my best friend.

And so it's the high highs and low lows and ultimately, no matter how much you can say, look for me, it's faith and it's family then even friends than football. Man, When football is taken away from you and you put so much into it, you realize that there is a piece of your identity wrapped up in being a pro ballplayer, and not even just the game, in in identifying as a professional football player. Yeah, it's it's everything. It's it's your whole life. It's none of that, but it's your

family's life. It's you know, they're used to come to the games in room for you. They're used to traveling and doing all these things. I don't think we realize how much everybody else it revolves around you in your world. When you make it to the ultimate pinnacle of what

you've been shooting for your whole life. Just real quick, for those listening out there, you know, no matter what profession you're in, but especially pro football, be very sensitive to your family members at that time because you think it's all about you, but it's not. And I neglected that for a little while. You know, it was all about you know, how quick can I get this weight off so my body feels good? And they told me to lose some weight to help relieve some of the

neck tension. And then it's all me, me and me. What am I gonna do next. I'm gonna prove that I can be a business man. I'm gonna prove that I can get in the broadcast booth. And I wasn't nearly as as sensitive as I should have been to my wife. And look, we're in a we're in a great place now. But for those out there that are going, you know, if you're a CEO, if you're a big time pastor you you everybody in your family has got to live that life too, and it's not just you

that has to transition in those moments. I'm glad you brought up transitioning. So when you retired from the NFL and you were transitioning to a new way of life, what sorts of things did you do? Uh? Did you write down to keep yourself positive, especially in the moments when you really miss being part of the game. I know we all kind of go through those moments, in those times of loneliness or the sense of what are

we doing to do next? Because our path at one point in time was just bought and it just took us to where we are eventually. So maybe you could share with your transition. Yeah, that's a great question. So for me, it was a lot of conversations. It was a lot of trying to learn from other people that transitions successfully no matter what they were in life. You know, what were your next steps? For me, I'm a man of faith, so I continue to pour into my faith.

You know, I'm a gratitude journal guy. Three things in the morning you're grateful for every day. That has been proven to literally rewire your brain to where throughout the day you start looking for things because your brain wants to put his least amount of stress possible in itself at all times. So when it knows it has to write down three things that you're grateful for. It'll just start looking for him and taking mental notes. As opposed to looking for the things that are ticking you off

on a constant basis. You're looking for constant things you're grateful for so that you can write them down and not have to rack your brain later. And so I stayed consistent with that to kind of put myself in a great head place. But man, just surrounding yourself with the right types of people. I started a podcast What's Next with their We're just trying to learn from others

and how they transitioned. You know, being around football in in a broadcast sense, not doing the coaching hours, not doing the front office hours, but being able to still have my foot in the door and be around the game has been been good of my soul because there's others that you know, they walk away on their own

terms and they can they can just roll. For me, I wasn't done yet with the game of football, So being around the game of football in in in a small capacity calling the games has been good for me as well. When did you decide that you want to try and like dabble into this whole broadcasting deal. I gotta know because I have my own journey. When I thought I could do it, and now that I'm starting to do it, um, it's been really cool to kind of dive into. But it does give you a sense

of your around the game. You get to see this game, what what made you say? All right, this is probably what I like to do. So right when my career ended, a bunch of national media members reached out and said, hey, you were always great to me. If I can ever do anything for you, let me know. So I utilized them as resources. But the bills because the salary cut purposes and me just signed that contract extension, they had to keep me on the team until May thirty one.

If they kept me until June one, then my salary kicks in. But they couldn't cut me before a free agency or all my dead cat money kicks in. But

they left me on the on the roster that long. Well, now I can't go get a job or I'm retired and not injured, and so I literally could do nothing, which put me, you know, for someone wired like me, was not great at times, but it also made me take some time off and and really has some introspection of what I want to do next, and being around ball was something that I wanted to do, but also with young kids, it wasn't gonna be great if I hopped into coaching or anything else, and so I wanted

to hop into the media world. I needed to. I'm an offensive lineman from playing my whole career in Western New York on a on a bad team for almost my entire career, and so look, I get it, if if I wait five years, people are gonna be like, who are you again? And so I needed to hop right in, and like anything, I didn't stop. I didn't start on Monday night football like Jason woulden, and that's okay, you know. I started calling. I called one game for Fox my first year out and did two pregame shows

the next year. I called games for college games for ESPN and a CC network and Bills Radio Broadcast for two years so I could get double the experience and yet see what I liked between TV and radio better. I gotta face for radio, and the Bills are good. It's fun, and so I stuck with the Bills Radio Broadcast and then started doing some podcasting where I kind of control my own hours, control my guests. I control the conversations, and yeah, there's times where you gotta hustle

for a sponsorship or whatever it may be. But for me, I can go play pickleball in the morning, I can play some golf. I can pick up my kids from school and drive them to school when I want to and not have to get that structure because you know, doing everyday radio, yeah that pays pretty good. But if you're on from noon to three good? Yeah. Exactly would you say your transition was good? And how would you encourage other people to, like, you know, take some time

in between? Uh, would you suggest maybe taking more time off? Like will you say you didn't do that, but would you say that that process was good for you? Or would you maybe suggest maybe taking some time for me personally? I took three or sixty five days and did absolutely nothing, and then I kind of decompressed, and then I figured out, all right, what do I truly want to do? Because

I had no idea. I didn't want to coach. My father was a coach, and I knew he wasn't around all the time, and the kind of the same thing you said, well, sometimes you may still be kind of have that pent up energy. So I don't know if I need to go and coach, because then I may be too intense for these kids, like or like, I don't know, So maybe you kind of walked me through your process or what your belief is now and what

how it should be handled. Yeah. When I when I said I was with Fox my first year out, you know, I literally called one game and that was on Thanksgiving weekend because no one wanted to call games that weekend, and so that was the one opportunity I got. And I did two pregame shows, so it felt like I took off three and sixty five days. You know, don't don't get me wrong. I we went to Bills games

for the first time ever, not working, not playing. I went to Louisville Cardinal games, which I had never done. A detailgated. Was this your first time getting the tailgate? Because I remember my first time tailgating. It was like the best time in my life. Oh, no doubt, gout, no doubt. I went down. You know, Ryan Fitzpatrick was

playing for the Buccaneers. We went and visited fits and you know, I'd go see buddies play that I've never got the opportunity to just go casually sit there and so, uh, that was fun to take some time off, and you definitely need time to decompress and appreciate what you've done, especially if you have a long enough career in the NFL. Actually wrote a book called Tackle What's Next? I see it right there behind you. Let's and for me, honestly,

it's not a lot of my original opinions. It's many podcast guests and a lot of it is fueled what their advice to me was through this time and so there's steps in. Hey, we gotta identify our gifts again if we can't. You know a lot of people. As an NFL football player, your your gifts are maybe critical thinking, communication, whatever, maybe, but you have physical gifts that you no longer going to be able to use is on a football field. Okay, what other gifts do you have? And use those to

figure out how you can serve others? Because if you can bring value to others, then you will one feel value yourself and that's gonna be fulfillment. So bringing about others will bring you fulfillment. So you've got to utilize your gifts to do that. And when you bring value to either enough people or valuable people, you will be compensated,

and it may be compensated royally for that. But I will say this, in your time transitioning out, whether it's an executive coach, whether it's having someone like Dr Dr Mondo out of my podcast who has the cheet code, who can work with you mentally, getting in the proper mental space to hit that transition, I think is as big as anything, because Roman, I know you have as many buddies as me that truly struggle and that transition out.

But it's not their own fault. You know, we're not coached through it like we've been coached our entire life. One of the hardest things for me was creating a schedule on my own because for the longest since I was or you know, someone's dictating your days for you,

and now you just have this freedom. Well, we're so we're so used to getting that schedule right, the piece of paper, or we know our schedule, Monday's, this, Tuesday's, this Wednesday's at all the way up to a game and just what you do for all your life, and then all of a sudden you no longer get that that schedule and we all yearned for that, and we do have a lot of friends, especially me, that have struggled with this transition, and sometimes and I feel bad

on myself. I still have to be thankful in my own space and just say, hey, look, it's still nine of people I hear wish that they can handle or be exactly where you're at right now. You found your second act eric in the media space, and you're doing radio, you're calling some games, you're doing your podcast, which has been great for you, um, and you're being a father as well. Do these things scratch the competitive bitch? Yes?

So yes, I'm trying to be the best Christian man, husband, father I can be on a daily basis and do get weekly grades from my wife because I wanted, you know, I gotta have a well you know if I need this, I need this like the grading scale in my house and just like okay, okay, so Roman, this is one of the best. This is one of the best means

of advice I've ever got. Was weekly. Just check in with your wife when you know she's got some free time and say, hey, as a husband and father, grab me on a scale one to tend give me some feedback. But you cannot justify anything, and you can't combat anything. It's not Hey, you didn't help get the kids ready. You know that that hurt my feelings or I needed some help there and then you rush us out the door. But you didn't help at all, and you say, thank you, baby.

I appreciate that because because we want to grow, we need feedback. We're saying, we're so used to every six inch sip we take on a football field being analyzed, but then you go to be a husband and dad and there's not a specific playbook, there's not a you know, someone giving you constant feedback. If there's not those open lines of communication where you're not going to justify or come bad it. And so that's one of the best

piece of advice I've ever got. And so yeah, I mean, like yesterday I checked in, or two days ago I checked in, and she said, uh, you know, everything's been awesome. I'm glad you. I was supposed to play pickleball yesterday morning, day of my son's birthday, and I wanted to be there in the mornings. I canceled, and she goes, and I really appreciate you canceling that pickaball game, Like simple built me up. You know, that built me up and so um, you know, it's been a healthy exercise. But

you asked about competitiveness, and I'll say this. For my like strength Finders test, competitiveness is always number one. And so for me, I gotta find you know, whether that's golf, for pickleball or things that I can compete out of my life. And business can be that way podcasts and numbers and whatnot, but for me, I just love competition, and so getting a golf game here and there, playing some pickleball a few mornings a week where I can truly compete with a group of guys, it's just good

for my soul. I do think that that competitiveness, however you find it a little healthier in sports than other things, is great for people. So number one, my mind's blown. The whole grading scale with the wife E. I'm definitely taking this and putting it into my life because I need that. I'm so used to being graded on everything. And not only that, but I love feedback. I love getting coached up like that's all we that's always getting so but I cannot be combative. That's the key to this.

So I can't say anything. I just got to be thankful, Thank you, baby, I love you all right. I'm getting better this morning, Eric, I feel the juices flowing. Now. Another thing, Eric, that you have been competitive with has been your weight loss. I told you as soon as I saw you, I said, dude, you let like a linebacker, probably even the tight end the money. I can see you catching some touchdowns right now. Um, how much weight did you? How much did you weigh during your playing days?

And was there moment, either during or after you're playing career when you decided you had to lose your playing weight? Yeah? So I played. The heaviest I ever played was three D sixteen hounds at six am the Friday before at weigh ends. I consistently played between three oh eight and three ten. I was three nine at six am before our final playoff game. And so that was that's amazing. You remember that exact number. Well, that's amazing you remember that.

You know? For me, I don't really do anything halfway, and I don't really like to wait around on things. So for me, it was how quick can I get this off because I know it's gonna make me feel better and I and I need to look. You know, when I was a junior in high school, I was six four two oh five. I wasn't naturally three ten. I put the weight on because it wasn't that great of an athlete and so, but then as an offensive linement, you end up being a really good athlete to moving.

So I put the weight on for a for a long period of time to be able to earn the money and earn generational wealth for my family compete at the game I love. But I got it off in in four months. I lost fifty three pounds. Well, I'm anywhere between two forty five and two fifty five now, so I'm down, you know, fifty five sixty five pounds and and feel good. Look like I said earlier in in broadcasting, I you know, one of these great looking dudes that you want to put on camera. But I

look like a football player still. You know, if I go if I go too far on the light scale, then then I'm not gonna look like a football player anymore, and I might not look like I can kick uh Grace's boyfriend's butts here in a few years. Hey, that's important. We've seen Hey, we've seen bad boys too, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. That's important, Bro, you gotta be scare got a highlight you and you got a highlight reel. You could show off. There's no doubt, Bro, no doubt.

So it is funny though, because when I see some of my former teammates that have lost all the weight, it goes it kind of You're right, Eric, It is just like happy medium where you don't want to lose too much because then it's like because you don't really lose weight in your head and you guys get too skinny, right, and then they look like, you know, it just looks weird, bigger head on a small body when you used to

see it in this way, it's it's different vibe. It's a different vibe for all my guys losing all that weight out. It's funny though, because, like you know, people talking about high school reunions and see who put on the weight. For NFL ballplayers, you know, we gotta be a certain way and you gotta stay in shape. And even if at linemen are big, you know, we're paid to be big. It's when you see each other five or ten years later that you start messing with each other.

You know, the first time I saw you know, Fred Jackson and Lashawn McCoy you know, they might have been up five pounds. But hey, guys, you know you can see it, but you're going the other you know, just messing with those guys and so and so it's funny seeing who goes one way and who goes the other. All right, So we also mentioned you're a businessman. How do you decide um what products you'll endorse and what ventures fit who you are? Yeah, so that's a great question.

So I never endorse anything I don't personally use and I don't know the people behind because man, you get one reputation. Takes four seconds to creating a reputation should in four years to change it back if you blow it. And so you know stuff that I use or that that I know that and I know the people behind it. As far as investing this, this is way too simple because there's a lot of that goes in on the

finance side and everything else. But I listened to Kobe Bryant talk about one time that he chooses investments and very successful investor when he was still a lot Kobe Bryant said, I want people that are obsessed with a product, like just absolutely obsessed with it. You could feel it from him and no backup plan, Like, this isn't a side venture, this isn't a Hey, this is my fourth startup.

I've already made it. You know, someone that has no backup plan and obsessed whatever with whatever their product is the shore right now? Um, and I promised this wasn't just I didn't put it on for this. But Dano's Seasoning is a company out of Louisville. I meet this dude who's a straight hustler, you know. He's working at a bar selling chick in with a seasoning on it. And they said, man, this is so good, you should sell it. And he's like, I don't know about selling chicken.

And he's like, wait, I should sell the seasoning. And he goes from going around to trade shows and barbecue festivals and whatnot. It makes about a hundred grand COVID hits. Well, now that business model is god, what is he gonna do? Gets on TikTok builds a huge following because he's funny and whatnot. And now there's a lot more pieces in place. It's a much bigger company. But they're doing eight figures in early revenue around now in over thirteen thousand retail stores.

I mean It's incredible what he's built. And so for me, it's fun to be a part of that Dano's team, you know, because and there's other teams that I'm you know, there's other investments I've made. But when you leave the NFL, you ask people, what do you miss the most in its locker room? Was done when you can get in the right business group or the right broadcast career, whatever it be, and it feels like that locker room again. Well, I heard you use the word team. I think that's

so important. Uh, finding your own teams or or whoever that may be. And how many teams do you say that you're part of? Now? Cool? I got my home team first and foremost. I got my bills team, the broadcast team that I'm that I'm working with weekly. Um, I have a team around me of you know, financial advisors, c p A, people giving me advice speaking of my life. I have a men's group that we meet weekly at our church here in Louisa, Kentucky. The guys that speak

into me. I have an incredible friends group. And then I would say, you know, I have these these business teams, but first and foremost that would be the Danos team. The tagline for your podcast is how do you make your what's next in life? Your best? Yet? How do you live that yourself? For me, it's just daily growth. One of the taglines underneath my book is stack wins, and so not every day is gonna be a home run. There may be steps back, but are you stacking wins

on a consistent basis. Often say that wealthy people don't play the lottery because they understand that wealth is not created overnight. But it's just those daily steps and people often ask and it, and it really hit me one time that I didn't have a great answer for them. They said, how do you go into the University of Louisville with one scholarship offered the least heralded recruit of your class, and you're the one that ends up the

first round draft pick? And I said, I just got better and better, Like I just every single day I committed to getting better. And so it's for me personally and for anyone out there, it's identifying the areas in your life you want to improve or you want to dig in on, and then it's just small daily winds, stacking those winds up, and then over time, yes, you may see that hockey stick effect where you see that just huge upward trajectory growth. But that's not always the case.

Sometimes it takes years. But it's that just constant stacking of winds that I feel like we'll lead you to make your what's next in life? Your best yet. I mean, Eric, man, I just feel like you're just well, you might be one of the smartest centers I've ever met. So you you are definitely checking all the boxes. I was telling my man Thomas earlier. He was like, centers are some of the smartest people on the field. I might, yes,

but I don't think all centers are created equally. I think it's most of them are really smart guys that help check protections, they're doing all these other things. But I think all the centers in the NFL and everywhere else in the world get credit for the ones that are smarter than most. And I think you check all the categories, my brother, I appreciate that. I truly knew

that means a lot. You know, what's funny to be a great center unless you have a quarterback like a Payton Manning, a Drew Brees Tom that's just gonna run run the whole show, right, a lot of the yeah yeah, similar to a safety and middle linebacker that's gonna run the defense. Get every on the same page. You have to be able to think quick on your feet, and

you've gotta be able to communicate. You gotta be able to communicate to anybody, because not everyone's gonna you hope that everyone's speaking the same language, but they might not be. It might just be he goo left for other people, you know, a special term. But it's amazing, you know. I had my pouncing from the Dolphins on my podcast recently, and it's amazing, like how we can feed off each other. Just two centers that are kind of the show at the line of scrimmage and all that. So I truly

appreciate those. Not only that, but you guys run the show, and you're usually the smallest one in the group, right, you know what I mean. Like, but you get up there, you command it, you do what you gotta do. I love that for you, I mean I love that for most centers. The great ones. Pouncies are Come on, man, you guys are two of the best that's done it. Um, this is a question we like to always kind of end our show with and you know what I'm gonna do too at one time, well not one time, but

I'm gonna throw another one in here. All right, your Mount Rushmore of people that have influenced you or been special and mean the most to you in your life are who? Mm hmm. That's that's a great question. You know, it's only like four. So yeah, I was gonna say Mount Rushmore is four. So I will say, um, Jesus and how he lived, you know, put him number one. Number two, I'll say my parents together, I'll make that a collective. Number three, i'll say my wife. And number

four i'll say, I'll say Bobby Petrino. And that may come as as as surprise for a lot of people understanding what he's done outside and and this is not someone I have that closer relationship with, but this is a guy that changed my life. You offered me my one scholarship offer. And look, if you can get past the colorful language with Bobby Petrino, there is some pretty

good messaging behind it. But just the constant pressure you put you on you on a day to day basis, when you get through it, like the game, just feel easy. And it feels easy because it's you know, you're just in this in this high pressure bubble at the facility. Um. I wish I may text you a different response later, but off the top of my head, I'll say those four. It is all good. I can't wait to see him and Jimbo Fisher together. I have no idea how this

marriage is gonna work. It's been Texas and him. I just but hey, I'm here for it. I cover the sec on a day to day basis. I can't wait. I think it's gonna it's gonna be crazy. I think Jimbo and his uh he has some flamboyant words and he's really hard on quarterbacks. Now he had Bobby Petrino coming in to call the offense. I don't even know, but hey, I'm looking. I'm all for it, honestly, and and A and M's got more money than anyone to bring in skill position players. I said this, Bobby is

an incredible offensive mine. He has been humbled to a point of no return over the past ten twelve years, and his relationship with his kids and grandkids now he's different. You know, I've been spoken to him on the phone a little while. His text message is even seen different. He just seems like, like I mean, being humbled can do a lot of things to a person out And I'm excited that he's got a chance because you talk about competitiveness, needing football. This is a dude who needs football.

This is what you know. His dad was a coach. He played, and he got right into coaching. It's what he loves to do. And so I'm glad he got another shot on a big stage. It's literally his whole life is what you're telling me. All right now, Eric, last question here fill in the blank right now. My life is fulfilled. I love that every Uh We've heard some different answers. Fulfilled is one that you cannot complain with, uh complain about. And Uh it's really good to hear

that from you, especially the way your your career ended. Um, from everything going on in Buffalo right now, you've see him on top of the world, brother, and you're doing some really great things, uh with your businesses, your podcasts, um anything, uh every the TV, and especially in life. And I'm taking things from you, just from this conversation to day, I will start being graded in my house on a weekly basis. So I appreciate you. Eric Wood

thank you for joining us. No, my pleasure, Roman, I appreciate you having me on Tell Peanuts, I said, Hi, and uh look forward to just continuing to follow you guys. And I'll tell you what, there's a lot of men out there that have taken that advice about the weekly grades and love it and love it. Sometimes I cringe for the answers, but but they love it. Dude. Hey man, I'm I will only accept my bad grade and get better, all right, no doubt, I love it all right man. Well, look,

thank you to all that listeners for tuning in. This is the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. We'll see you later. Piece