Fatherhood: David Johnson

no different. Today we have with us David Johnson from the Houston, Texas to talk about his family and how he manages being an NFL player and being a dad at this unique time. David, Welcome to the show, My brother, welcome, what's up? Thanks for having me. Hey, it's it's it's an honor. It's a pleasure to be able to have you to come on here. Because at one point of time, everybody has their lives and they have so many different things to do. But we're going through this COVID nineteam

pandemic right now. How are you guys adjusting as a family, understanding and knowing that typically throughout this time you would be training at one of the facilities, you know, it's been weird. We're adjusting as best as we can, but no one was ready for this. We never was prepared for this, so we're really just going on the fly and figuring things out as we go day to day. Um. The biggest thing I think is struggling with DJ um not understanding fully. He's three years old, so he's not

understanding fully what's going on. And he wants to go outside and go to the uh you know, museum, go to the zoo and just go and play with kids. Uh, And he doesn't have the ability to do that. So it's really UM being stressed that way the most. Probably, Yeah, you talked about DJ and also London. I know she has a birthday coming up, but you know, when you look at it, and typically your years have been mapped out,

your months have been mapped out. How do you see your role now playing a part of your kids life since you're at home more of the top. It's actually yes, since I'm at home more, UM doing helping Megan out, my wife a lot more of just taking care of the kids, UM, feeding London, putting her down, helping DJ, feeding him, playing with him a lot more, getting a

lot more free time to interact with those guys. And now DJ is getting older, he's three, like I said, and so now we're trying to teach him how to write, you know, how to read, how to count and so on. There're a lot more to help out that way. Um, not so busy, like you said, on a normal um at this time, easily gone into the facility. And so now I think it's really relieving Megan a lot um

and trying to balance two kids now. And now London's at the age of walking, so now she's getting around and getting into everything and trying to you know, eat everything, And so I think I can help my wife out that way as well. Yeah, and I know football is a big part of your life, and it's everything that you do in order to prepare for the season. How does football played a major part in their lives right now? Throughout this time period. I remember when I wanted to

spend more time with my daughter. Because my daughter is now seventeen, she couldn't come see me play all the time. So I remember when I was training, I used to bring her with me that she didn't realize I was training. She just thought I was doing some fun things outside, running around but how has that played a part in their lives? Right now, that's definitely been what it's been like.

DJ has been coming out outside. I basically feel like in high school again, training, running on the streets, using anything that I have in my disposal as an exercise equipment. Right now, I'm doing pull us on dj jungle gym and using his toys for ad rollouts and stuff, you know, his toys at wheels on it, and so he just thinks I'm playing. He'll jump on my back and self well and goof around, and so he thinks I think right now, he just thinks I'm playing and goofing off.

I'll go out into the field and start running. He'll start spreading with me, and then he gets a little tire sometimes and says he's done. He creates to help just sit there and watch. So it's funny because he thinks that I'm you know, playing all the time, and I do goof off with him, but he doesn't know that I'm actually trying to like get in shape or get my exercises in so I'm ready for the season

whenever that does come. I guess you could say that's what you're doing to keep it fun as well, because they don't have a clue because they're so young that this is your profession. But you intertwine the both in order for them to get they need out of having their father and also you get what you need from

training from the football aspect exactly. It's definitely true because whence the season is here, Um, you know, they barely see me, especially you know, when we're traveling and then we have practice and they don't have the facility long. I basically only get to see him when he goes down for his nighttime, going down to bid and so now I'm here all the time, and I think he's understanding, um, a little bit that I'm you know, training training himself,

but like you said, he's not grasping it wholeheartedly. And you know, for me, it's really just trying to spend as much time as I can with my family because once, like I said, once football comes, it's not like I get a lot of time to hang out with them and see those special moments of you know, London walking

or saying our first word and stuff. So during the season, I'm so busy that you know, I unfortunately I'll have the time I'm doing and I'm loving it now because I do have the time to see all those special things you talked about your oldest it's three years old, and when you look at it, it's it's relatively new for you at three and a one year old, even though it probably feels longer. But how has that experience been, just being a father and making that transition, because I remember, um,

my my situation was a little different. My daughter stayed in Atlanta and I used to fire up sometimes. But now you have the double duty part, you know, of making sure that you keep that balance on both sides. So how has that been as far as juggling that schedule so far? Right now? It's not too bad, just because, like I said, with the pandemic going on, um, you can't do too much football. We're not at the facility. UM, We're just doing you know, virtual zoom calls, UM meetings

that way for a couple of hours. And so it's been, uh, pretty good because I'm sitting here, you know, hanging out with DJ in London a lot more than I normally would. And the balancing, like I said, also hoping out my wife um with them too as well, or and just being a normal family um, as of right now, and so it's been good, um to say the least. We all know Father's Day he's coming up, and uh, I remember,

like we only get one day. That's that's the only thing we used to say coming into the locker room. But I wanted to ask you because since you you take so much pride you have a great family, I wanted to ask you, like, what impact do you think your own childhood and upbringing have on you as far as now you're playing your role as your father. So when I was growing up, I didn't have a father figure. I had an older brother, but I didn't have a

actual father. It was just my mom. And now that I'm a father, I want to make sure that I'm there for everything that I can be there for the birth I I said, those milestones, rolling over, crawling, walking, talking, speaking. Um, you know DJ is starting to safe or he's been saying full senses and stuff like that, and I want to make sure that he knows that I'm there. I want to make sure that he knows that I'm there when he falls, he has an accident. Um, he can

always come to me, he can confide in me. And I want to be the father to teach him you know, life and teach London, you know life lessons that I was uh that my mom was having to do both mother Indian father for um, being the father for her kids and so um. That's I think the biggest thing that I've learned from my childhood is just as a father, I want to be there for everything. And with being that old pro dad as you are, you have more time to implement things that you see it's vitally central

to their growth. What's the one thing since you've been at home the majority of the time that you've really enjoyed other thing that you've really learned about yourself that that you said, you know what, I like this and I look forward to continuing to do it with the kids. I would say the biggest thing is being active. Especially in this world today, technology has really I feel hurt

this younger generation. They're so dependent on cell phones, computers, video games that they don't really go outside and play anymore or do activities just being in the grass, running around, rolling around in the grass, swimming, doing you know what

I did as a kid growing up. And I think now that I'm here, um a lot more at home, I get to actually, you know, go out there and do that stuff from from early morning all the way till night and I get to you know, try to figure out ways to keep Dejay active, keep them excited about going outside, keep them excited about being, um, being

an active kid. Um. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I've learned since this quarantine is that, hey, since we can't just go out and go to the zoo or go to the amusement parks, we can try to figure out ways to have fun at home in the backyard or even just in in the house, playing board games, playing card games. Um. You know, we always keep playing Hung Hung and Hippo, which was a great game for me growing up. And you know, stuff, teaching

DJ that stuff. Um, you know, I can't can't let him win them all, obviously. You gotta teach them, you know, how to be able to you know, not a storely was it. But you gotta teach him that you can't win everything, obviously. And so that's the thing I think I want to continue doing, um once this pandemic is over, or once DJ and London gets to his age and make it over. Yeah, And you do a lot to pour out into your kids, and when you look at it, you you can't deny the fact that your other half,

she's helping you tremendously. Talk about the team work that you got, you guys have developed in order to create

such a great environment for raising your kids. Your wife, man, Megan, she has been such a tremendous help And I knew she did a lot, but once I was done with football, um, you know, at the end of this season and now having two kids, I understand how much she really does, even from like just getting his food ready, and you know, kids, they have no patience, and so DJ is like, where's my where's my I'm hungry, and like her having to balance you know, doing that, washing dishes, cleaning the house,

doing laundry, just everything that she's doing. Now that I'm helping her out, it's it's really amazing to see how she works and what she does for this family, keep this family together as a good strong unit. Um is

amazing to watch and witness. And now that I get to help her out and relieve some of all that stress that she has um of being you know, a mother and balancing all this life because you know, as you know, as football players were barely home during the season, and so now that I get to see it, um, you know every day daily is really amazing, and it really I feel like for me, it really makes me very proud, you know, to be married to Megan and everything that she does for us. Hey, I bet she

had a fabulous Mother's Day. Huh. Yeah, she had a great time, and her and DJ had big cinnamon rolls homemade, were amazing cinnamon rolls they made from scratch from the brig all the way to the icing, and so it was a good time. Gave her. She said, these are the best flowers I've ever got her. So, you know, to this to me, got this big giant arrangement of

flowers because she deserves it. And you know, I had DJ and London and our dog obviously or not obviously, we treat him as our kids, and so we had had them all trace their hands and write a cool Mother's Day car And it was a good day, you know, just of us being together, um and enjoying the day. Dave.

When I hear you talk, man, you take so much pride into everything that you do, whether or not, if it's being a better father, whether or not if it's being a better husband, acknowledging the fact of your wife, what she does and how valuable she is. Oftentimes, we as men, especially in your position being a leader, you pour so much into other people who are around you, and when we come back, we have to refiel to

get our energy back. What are some of the things that you do to re feel yourself or should I say what motivates? What motivates you to continue to be that great dad that you are the biggest things, like I said, my upbringing, Um, watching my mom having struggle to raise six kids with a set of triplets, and UM, I think I just wanted to make sure that my kids have the best life as a child is that

they can't have. UM, make sure I'm always there, like I said, and reflecting on my upbringing and um, you know, wanting to do everything for my kids so that they, you know, don't have to struggle as much as I did, and so that they are becoming respectful, responsible young adults when they get older. I remember having my teammates he's one of my close friends now, Uh, Philip Rivers quarterback now in Indy. He had a tribe. I want to say,

he has like ten kids, and he was. It was impressive for me to see how he juggles everything from the football side and then be a family man to the utmost. He was more so like my role model without him even knowing it. Any other guys who see who's doing great work that you could just that motivation would just say, you know what, I respect to grind I respect the hustle because I know how hard it is for them to do. I think my thing is um. He's actually a former You and I player. He played

long before me. Um. It's Kurt Winner and he has seven kids to him and his wife Brenda, and I talked to him all the time, and just to see his ability to balance, like you said, the lifestyle football and now that he's you know, busy being a commentator, balancing all that and still having time to hang out with the family, make sure that his kids are respect like I said, respectful during their homework, uh and everything like that. And another guy for me um is Carson Palmer.

He was a quarterback for us, and just to see him be a great father off the field with you know, our Saturday walkthroughs. He's sitting there as a quarterback leading the offense. And then he when football is over, he knows how to transition to being a playing with his kids, running around and jogging around and having fun with his family.

And I think I've learned from him. Another big thing is that when you're in football, being football, but when you're with your family, don't have don't um have still have that if it was a bad game, don't have that bad attitude toward your family. Um try to just be be there with your family and enjoy your time with your family, um or and you know if I fumbled or you know, did had a bad game. And he's taught me that to just you know, think about it when it comes to the next day when we're

doing corrections, are watching film. Don't think about it while you're reading the book to your son, who's you know, going to bid or who's playing and you're having a bad attitude, because that will affect, you know, the relationship, because your son, like my son now, who's three, he isn't understand, you know, what happened to me in the game, or he doesn't understand that I had a bad day. So he's just trying to have fun and enjoy hanging hanging out with his father and Carson Palmer. Just to

witness the way he did that was amazing. Thank you, thank you for sharing that, because in my mind I'm thinking like how, like how do is it? Is it even possible? How? And what's the why? But you made a great point because your kids, they want to make sure they're in the moment. They don't care about football. They don't even know that that's your profession. So that's a great point to add in for all of the guys and all of the listeners to hear, because they

don't know. They only know what they see and what they wanted at the moment. So thank you for that, David, Thank you. I want to talk about something that most NFL dads have to deal with, and that's changing teams. Now. I played fifteen years on five different teams, so for mean it almost became a routine deal to move around. I knew how to move around, and I knew when I unpacked everything. Okay, this is what I can't take out too far because I know you just never know

when how long you may be there. How hard has it been just from the family life dealing with the change, and has it gotten started to the point to where you're starting to move things around, so it's been, um, pretty difficult. I think the biggest thing, though, is the uncertainty of if we're gonna have a season, when we're actually gonna pick up and actually me as a team, Um, when I'm gonna be able to actually go to Houston

and move everything. So I think that's right now is the hardest part of being on a new team is trying to figure out what to move and when we're gonna be able to move um. Me and Megan, we're still right now trying to debate on what we're actually gonna bring, what essential items. Like you said, you never know how long you're gonna be on that team once you start, you know, changing teams, and you don't want to bring, you know, the whole house. You want to

bring your essentials. And it's I mean, honestly, I'm gonna it's gonna be hard for us to figure out which one what stuff we need, um when we do go, and also just to travel with kids. I read you know, how we're gonna get everything down there, um, and what stuff do we take you know first or wait a

little bit. I mean, I don't know. This would be my first time, So I think you know when once it actually you know, starts developing and and all that, I think it's gonna be that's when the stress is really gonna come, is trying to figure out how to get everything down there and when the when to go down. Yeah, you definitely gotta be safe because you look at it now. You just even the thought of you taking your kids on the plane and the recirculation of the air on

the plane. So that's something that you have to think about. So I would imagine you would get a out of mileth put on your car because I'm pretty sure you guys will be driving down whenever they open it back up exactly exactly, because I don't know. I mean, yeah, dude, did we find ourselves down there and didn't have someone shopping? But you don't know you know what to bring, so you gotta make sure you know how to bring everything. And then we drive on there. And I heard that's

a long drive. So trying to keep kids, especially DJ at three years old, um in a car ride for that long entertained, it's going to be difficult. David. My last question I have for you is we see so many guys come into the league and the locker room is just turning over and over, and you see so many youngsters that come in. But what would be your advice.

You're a young father, but you have two kids three years and coming up with one with the birthday coming soon, what would be your advice to those guys to let them know, hey, these are some of the steps that you need to take to manage your time and manage your time on the football side, and also manage your

time on the family side, so everybody is helped and happy. Yeah, I think my biggest thing for to managing balancing all that is once you get into the NFL, so many people between relatives or marketing or you know, just everyone coming at you to try to get a piece of your fame or try to get a piece of you being an NFL player. I think the biggest thing I've learned and that a lot of veterans have told me, coaches as well as that you need to make sure

you're filtering who is in contact with you. You need to make sure you know that the person who is uh you're communicating with or interacting with is has the best intentions to be with you and be you know, alongside of you in NFL because everyone will try to come at you to get a piece of the NFL life, and that could drain you, and that will take time important time that you want to find spend with your family. And with football, especially coming in as a rookie, you're

gonna football is such a fast pace. It's like you know, getting pH d in in football, and so you gotta have time to study your playbook and be ready to go because you don't have a rest shirt year to try to play. They're not gonna let you figure it out and then you play. They want you to be

able to play right now. And that's the biggest thing is you gotta be able to filter between who's actually wanting to have a real um relationship with you and who's in it for a different reason um, Because like I said, they will drain you, not just you your It will drain you personally, will drain you energy, and you know it will affect both sides, and only say your family and your football side if you're not filtering it right. So what you're saying is the benefit of

having structure. Similar to as we walk into the buildings of our respective teams, that will be advantageous of other young fathers who are in the game to take advantage and take heat up, is what you're saying. Yes, exactly, UM, other young fathers who are coming into the game because UM, you know, you want to see all like I said, you want to see all those milestones. You want to be with your family. You want to be with your kids.

And if you're you know, out doing who knows what, um, and you know, not doing the right thing, it can affect you, like I said, your family and your football. And so you really want to make sure, like you said, you have a good structure, good support system around you as well with your feeling. But David Mann, thank you

for your time. Uh and you're insighting your wisdom. Will make sure all of the guys here there's across the league, across all of the platforms that they can sit down and listen to all of the wisdom that you just gave them. So thank you for your time, Thank you, Thanks for having this has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at NFL dot com.