Player Storytelling: Whitney Mercilus

and special needs. And he also has a new cooking show. That's Right, Football Players Do Cook is a cooking show on i G TV. Welcome Whitney, appreciate it, thanks for having me on here, and yeah, definitely looked throw down a little bit and kitchen to We're recording this before week eight of the season, and I want to talk about how this season a season like no other in NFL history. What are the challenges of COVID The first question with me, what adjustments you're and your family have

had to make? Yeah, man, it's uh, it's been a learning year, Uh, with this whole pandemic and all that, so me and my family had to make some major adjustments. My parents are you know, in their fifties and sixties, so that's a very huge concern with covid um affecting the older population, so that I had to take that into account, especially going to practice and being around guys, and then you hear these flare ups of covid throughout

the league. And also my my sister and her husband are down here and they just had their first firstborn, just knew born last year. She's one years old and all that, so I want to make sure that they're protected as well too, So stressing because I want to see my family, and I got to make sure that I, like my sisters, claimed from COVID before I even see them. And uh, you know, we have we understand the fact that, you know, being distanced in the time. It's okay. We

love each other and all that. And then once things, once this thing gets corrected, we'll we'll be just fine. How's it all to your training and your game, prip Man. So uh let's go back to like March. I mean, so I had made a trip back from Chances did and then uh man, and that as soon as I made it back home. That's when Kovie hit and the lockdowns happened. So at that moment, because I didn't I was gonna head to Arizona to go training. Guess usually where I go train out every single year. So that

got cut out because Arizona is another hot spot. So the training facility out there I got shut down quickly. So everything, I mean everything in Houston as well too, So I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do for training? And all that. Literally I was in the backyard and pushed up stood ups like old fashioned, well I had I had a propane tank get the back so even that hit some of some crutches, some abs, you know, curl that thing. Um you know. I mean, I'm using

everything inside the house at that moment. And uh, by the grace of God, honestly, was like one of the guys you used to work in the Houston, Texas when he was around in my neighborhood and whatnot and was training some of some of the guys from the Texans and whatnot. So man just linked up with him then started working with him like privately, like out in the open field and stuff like that. Because no, there was

no Gems open and whatnot. So we were just doing like positioned drills, just doing some conditioning and stuff like that. So I had to really just do that for a while, and that not until like non essential businesses could be back open, like gyms, so I found them to go work out at, but still couldn't really travel, you know, because the Arizona even though they kind of open back up, they shot right back down again. So it was really difficult. Also,

people don't know. It's like, you know, the NFL was trying to uh, you know, put together a game plan with the union. Uh as far as okay, are we gonna have a season? Isn't gonna get pushed back? So guys really didn't know, all right, do I need to train this hard right now or do I should I like ease off and so that my body doesn't peak.

So it was really hard to really gauge that during that time because we didn't really even know for months on end whether we were going to start on time or we were or we weren't gonna have a season. You know, thank you wouldn't. We may have missed the golden opportunity with the with the Legends community, because when you guys not having all your up to data medities

and being at home. Just as you said, we could make you guys with some of the veeditans who didn't have all this, and they could have given you some regiment of some of the things they did man when they were at home. Right, all right, I could have taped man. Shoot, I should have hit up some of my guy. That's what I said. It did. Man, let's transition into the cookie show. Man. I'm still I'm still thinking about cooking man. Man, Man that plays ball, that

could cook his own meal? Man, looking on, where's these with with that? Did that evolve from your new normal? Man? Yes, yes it really did. So me and my girl. My girl was at down here. She's from Chicago, so she was stuck down here with me. I had to deal with me for all the months, and so that was that was a whole thing to do. Man. Yeah, pretty much, we've just thrown down to the kitchen and all that.

So I'm getting updates from a manager as far as like you know, went through the foundation, Like, okay, are events are being canceled so we're gonna have to say change it up? Stuff like that? And also how are partners Foundation partners doing stuff. So all the while like hearing about the families, what's going on with them as far as like you know, increasing domestic violence stuff like that. Also kids, you know, regressing back, you know from all

the treatments and the therapies and stuff like that. So I kind of wanted to come up with something constructed because me and my girl, we were just thrown down in the kitchen like just about every single day. I probably packed on like a good COVID team or something like that. So so man, I said, I want to do something for the kids. And I was like, man, you know what, let me start this thing out and just do some simple dishes for you know, these kids to you know, make a pbn J sandwich or like

a grill cheese sandwich from that man. Okay, So one day I did. And so one day I did like a pizza bagel. That was cool. Everybody was like, all right, all right, okay, okay, I'm gonna have to try that, you know, a nice easy light snack. So the next time I did it on Wednesday, Uh, it was a grill cheese sandwich. There was a lot of people who disagree with my cookie skill, with some real cheese, sam ConA tell you that right now. I got blasted for all the day, like, are you serious You're gonna put

on some grill tee sandwich? Man, I thought you could, man at that moment. At that moment, I said, man, I'm done. All right, here we go. And I got pretty much the internet bully men pretty much, uh, you know, showing that I could actually cut, I could actually cook. I know my spices, I know my cuts and meat and stuff like that. So pretty much. Uh man, I forget the first one. I think I did, like something like pasta, um squidding pasta. I did that. I did duck.

So it literally there was there was no there was no gray area. Literally and went from simple grill cheese sandwich straight up to duck and fog water. So you given, you given, you give a social media the credit for this passion that was birthed to you through some of the people that was hating doing it. Yeah. Man, So really I already had an innate, uh like thing in me where I just love to cook. Um. I was

very curious always and stuff like that. So I had a lot of time during COVID in order to you know, really you know, try it out perfect some things and stuff like that and really try out things that I've seen over the number of years that I've into restaurants or see my mom doing the kitchen. It's already, it was definitely there already. I just got bullied by the internet or I and they all know who they are too.

If we transition back to football Houston, the texts you guys are having the challenges season has been been fired? How have you been able to stay focused? Um? You know the courzy thing is uh like this change that's going on. And besides COVID with a coach being fired, this happened to me before in my career when I first got drafted to the juson Texans. I was with Kubiak for you about two years and then to the

third team. Was a terrible year for us, and so he got fired at towards the end of the season and Way Phillips said took over as the interroom head coach, and so I I already went through that transition once before, and once it happened again this past year, I was like, oh, okay, I've been here before. I know what to do, I know what to expect, how to play these games and

all that. Now. You know, what people don't see is how taxing it can be mentally, because there can be some instent well, there's instability, if you will, And that's no surprise to any to anybody, that's just that. Of course, you got to concentrate on the season and everything and guys, that's what guys are doing and just keeping the whole group together like this and just worrying about these games

right now. You're not worry about the future. But the instability that's there is because you know, once a new person comes in, whether it's GM, like they find a GM, they find a head coach, then that culture, that previous culture that when everybody once knew is going to be you know, removed or you know, some people may stay,

some people may leave. And also guys are in last years of the contracts and you know they were seeking to because they knew the culture uh that once here there and they don't know what's gonna happen next year. I am I gonna be let go stuff like that, you know, and a lot of guys, I mean, you tack that on with COVID, you tacked that on with like us going through the season, right now guys are

mentally weighed down a hundred percent. So for me, I'm like I had that experience before, so I know how to keep my mind very focused and stay in the present moment and try to mentor a lot of the other guys who hasn't who haven't gone through it um in order to say, just stick together, don't think about too much about the future, just think about right now and try to stay in the present moment. Now, did

you get opportunity to share with the entire team. Have you done an individual as relationship your prior experience going through a transition like this, Yeah, you know. The thing

is I I think coaches have already addressed it. So as for me, I work better with talking to guys like individually or as like you know, a little groups here, a little group there, or whatnot, especially a lot of young guys, you know, some of them, like you know, they're better in settings where like it's more of like a one on one setting or or you know, maybe it's two year better and stuff like that, and we can all sit into like a little small group and

just talk about you know, what they expect he she's are from here on out, and just draw from me is for whoever is willing to listen. So it's a it's that That's how I've been able to handle it. As far as teaching other guys. Let's talk about your foundation with mercy, sir. You've always been active in your communities. What drives you to be active in your community? You know, it really steps from my family, my mom especially because every time I like, it's me, my sister, and my brother.

She always taught us that, you know, no matter what we got, you gotta at least give something back. And my parents are immigrants from Haiti, so she always like anything that she had, she would you know, she would send back to Haiti to some family. Um also any time in their friends who needed help. You know, over the years that I was growing up, she would help him out. She literally would take it the clothes off her back and just give it UH to anybody who's

in need. So seeing that in her, cultivating that UH in all of us, that's why I'm so active in the community US. And then the day I'm blessed, regardless of a position, whether I made it to the NFL or not, I was blessed at the time I came into this world, So why not be able to be a blessing towards others? That's what that's all really what I want to be. It's just to be able to help that next person who needs help, whether it be mentally, spiritually,

or monetarily. So there's a good question, why have you chosen children with disabilities as a focus of your foundation? Yeah? Yeah, worst shot start all right. It goes back to my family again, is they've always been in a health care field for a while. So my my father, my mother works in nursing homes when as nursing assistance when I was growing up, and then my sister went to it and went to school for medicine and she's general practitioner

herself down here in Euston. So all the while, like she's in school, my parents are doing that at the nursing home. As I'm growing up, it was already in my blood. It's in my d and they had servitude and all that, and uh, you know, I just really empathize with people and really, uh you know, I think about people first before I think about myself. When I was growing up as well too, so it was already there and and it's been taught so when I got to college, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do.

I was in communications for a little bit, and then I got into community health. And community health there was a concentration which was disabilities and rehabilitation. So I was learning, uh, this book or reading this book throughout one of these classes.

It was called ds M or a less like all the different disabilities and stuff like that, and uh, this class pretty much encompassed like, all right, how to structure somebody's home living, how to structure you know, the transportation if they're dead, you know, if they're just a you know, work environment, X y Z, if the list goes on. So I caught it really pretty much. That caught my eye. And after that I was like, man, yo, this is

really interesting. I like this a lot. And so I wanted to before I went to the NFL, I started branching into pre met. I said I didn't want to. When I first got I said, I want to do nothing, nothing medicine at all. Nothing. And then like four years later, I'm trying to get trying to get in a premante crazy right, So then I get into the NFL, and man, it's a long story, but like yeah, this is the

last part I promised. But but I get to the NFL and pretty much I started working with kids a lot, you know, whether it be like play sixty all that, and visiting a lot of kids in the hospital and just seeing really how stressful it is on the families

monster monetarily, emotionally, physically all that. So that really tugged on my heart as well too, and I wanted to come up with foundations, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, and I didn't want to just put slap something out there that I was gonna care about. So if I don't care about it, then any donor that's gonna give to it, then that's not building their trust in order to say I'm passionate about this and making sure it that your dollars are doing exactly what

it does. So it took me about five years or four years, and when I was in illegal whatnot. So that's where in two that's sixteen, that's when I created with Mercy with my manager and UH put together with Mercy to UH to really help that the community. I just read like I love working with kids. Also just putting it together what I studied in uh college, and that's how it came to be. What does the main benefit in your life that comes from working with people

who are either physically or developmentally disabled. Yeah, so you know, the most rewarding thing about it is and whether you're religious or not. And for me, I I am it teaches the basic, key basic principles in life as far as loving one another, no matter why how different with you, we may be being really patient with one another as well too, empathizing with one another and being there for one another as well too, and understanding that man, just

truly how blessed we are too. Kind of some capacity, we all have a special special thing about us that guy gave us to impart on this world. And somebody with someone with disabilities or myself who's able body to be able to go out there and go play, we all have this innate gift in order to provide the world. And uh, I think that's one of the things that has been rewarding as far as working with individuals such as those, because that's something man, they got some of

the most beautiful and greatest smiles ever. And I'm like, I may have crappy day at practice, um man, I just got cussed out by the coach about five coaches. Then I go work with uh some of the kids uh here in Houston, Uh some who I made like great friends over the last a couple of years. And I see they smile, and you know they really you know, they know if they have a disability and all that, but they don't let that get them down. They know

they they're special. Man. At the end of the day, when I lay up see them and I interact with them, like, man, my day. Really it wasn't that bad. Now, how is your work in the kitchen tied to your foundation? Well, cooking in the kid cooking in the kitchen with developed into something a whole like into a whole different beast

for sure. So recently we had a foundation event and usually this is called done with mercy, so you're done with me, Like pretty much we would set up the event at like some like some restaurant that I really wanted to go to, something like that, and we create a deal and have some of our biggest donors go there. So I couldn't do that, so we had to be very very creative and how we bring these donors on to at least raise some money for the kids this year or Whatnotuh, so we didn't take a loss or

anything like that. So pretty much it was a great idea for in the kitchen will win on Wednesdays and take that and actually make it into a foundation event where I brought two chefs to cook with me and pretty much have the entire gre and pretty much I was sitting there just looking pretty I ain't go a lot to you, didn't you the challenge of the two cooks, nothing like that? Oh no, it wasn't. So they were there, they were providing it. So we provided a class like

a class. So so pretty much it was like so this event had steak, potatoes and spinnach, right and the in your head you're like, man, that's just too simple. But the way the chef did it, I would have never been able to do it the way no, I mean the meat just melted in your mouth and had like this garlic sauce on top. I'm telling you, like

he killed it. He killed it. And then we had a pastry chef come in and did like this very holiday cake and had like cinnamon start these ginger all within the cream frosting and stuff like that, and it was really good. It was light, it was fluffy, and

it just tasted absolutely immaculate. So it was just pretty much basically a cooking class that everybody paid for or towards the foundation, and uh, we were close to we were close to our goal as far as fifty thou which is which is uh absolutely a blessing, especially coming out of COVID. Yeah, so that's that's pretty much how it started the foundation. Everybody had a great time. I was cracking jokes all day long. Come on, man, you got me hungary already, Man to make the trip to Houston. Man,

check out? Good, good, that's all right. I want to close out. Let's talk about the mask you wear. Yeah, tell me what the mask is and who honors African America's with disabilities who were slain by police? The mask

that I wear, Zoe, of course, we got it. So and this is this ties into a whole another well not a whole another thing, but like the same thing as far as how many responsibilities we all have, like on the profes on the athlete level, because COVID not understanding whether we're gonna, like, you know, play or not, then we have you know, our coach firing also voting stressing them for people to vote to get change done,

and then also black lives matter. You know, there a lot of the uh uh you know, social injustices and stuff like that, and supporting that as well too, and having strategic plans individually and collect as a collective group. So there was a lot mentally this year. Uh, just go back to earlier. It's how you know, players are feeling. We needed to come up with playing like what we're gonna do for the first game with Kansas City. I mean it was gonna be us so and I'll get

around about to how it came to be white. Why I wear those maps? So we were the first game, So there was a black national anthem, and then there was the national anthem as well. Now the thing is, we all know like it should be. Everybody should know wrong from wrong and right from right, and so as a collective group, we didn't want to stand for one day them and then not the other, so that we

gave other people, like the entire country fuel. You know, why are you gonna stand for this anthem not this one? Oh you're not paytrioted because you're standing for a Black lives matter, the black a national anthem and not the national anthem, like, so both teams we collectively said, hey, we're gonna just stay inside the locker room and then we're gonna come out after afterwards, and then we're gonna take a moment of silence and delayed the game. Delay

that has started and starting time of the game. We got into the production of the entire NFL game. Whatnot right for football to be back on our time? So we got boomed. So at that point, it's like, Okay, what do people and then like when we do that, what do people want? What is it? What is it? It's tough to say, and you're not gonna please everybody.

We understand that. So just getting into why did it is because I wanted to continue Like now it's like it kind of got drowned out a little bit, and I'm the type of person when I start something, I'm gonna see it all the way through. So in order to say, I wanted to make this thing like seamless.

So I didn't want to just keep on putting like random names and stuff like that and just like like supporting the cause, like a support support the cause, but it had to make sense, So I wanted to tie it into and so I sat there, I was like, man, how do I tie it into the foundation? There's gotta

be some instances. So, like, I started doing some research, a lot of names and seeing if there's you know, a common common denominator in there as far as disabilities and long behold, there was so a lot of the Like one individual, different Tanner, who had a man she she was shot inside of her home because he was having a manic episode. Her sister wasn't there and all that.

So reading about those stories and stuff like that, so it takes a certain special somebody to deal with those individuals and know exactly what they had, what they're going through in order to deal with them and calm them down instead of or having you know, the police trained even more uh in order to deal with those individuals or something into that matter. So why were these ask

is because it's HIGs. It is these these individuals had disabilities, they had manic episodes, and the cops were calling on them, and the cops weren't equipped to handle set uh set individuals. The thing is, yes, I deal with children with disabilities, but when they grow up, people forget the fact that these people have disabilities. For a lifetime. Yeah exactly, because not just one time in their life and then oh yeah,

we just forget about it. So again, So I wanted to represent these individuals, not only show these injustices that's that's been going on, because uh, there's been instances where you know, somebody after the fact, like I want to go murder about like ten, ten, fifteen people like in for example, in the church, arrest them peacefully and then gives them like water X y Z sass that are they okay and stuff like that. Now, these individuals, like you could have done the same thing. You could have

disarmed them, not shoot them. You can have disarm them in a different way or whatnot, or called the proper people in order to handle these in vigils. So I wanted to represent them, um and to continue the mission of the foundation as well too. Sorry that was long winded, but you know, I know that it was well said

and well thought out as well. I love how you consciously and conscientiously think about what you're doing and the best way to do it where it would work with your foundation but also with people that people would understand it and not be turned off. Thank you. I appreciate that it's a you've obviously taken a stand on matters that are important to you. How should players allegence move toward getting involved and what matters to them? What are

some best practices and benefits of getting involved? First of all, like I've heard it numerous times with research research, be conscious, like you said, be conscious of what you and you know want to support and all that read into it. Don't take for like the you know, the headlines and stuff like that. Actually take the time to get actually dive into it and really understand it for yourself. Whether it's like you know, some headlines out there that just

give some miserinformation. Just get the facts. And then after that once you once you get those facts, like use your platform in any way that you can, Like for me, I'm using the Foundation in order to push these missions, you know, using the NFL platform as well too. One of the biggest things right now is voting, so not only just the general election for the presidency, but also voting within our own state or you know for the letters legislative board or what not, UM seats, you know,

the UH, your local mayor as well. To make sure those people online with your values and stuff like that, or they're just a good person out there to day and they're gonna take care of people, and so doing research as far as that goes, and understanding that those little small things can add up to a major thing, and not to bindly go into it, always being always

be thoughtful of each of your actions outside. I want to tell you what one of the things I've noticed and many legends like myself, we are thrilled and we're so how would I say, we're so proud if that's the word that we use of you guys, the current generation using your platform, but using it conscientiously, thinking through what you're doing, why are you doing it right? And being able to use this opportunity to this window. You know it's short for some loan for others, but it's

still a short window compared to our entire lives. So keep up the great work. Tell all that all your teammates, man A, Niss and the legends really appreciate the current generation of guys and we love you guys. Continue to grow the game. Whitney, this has been fantastic. This has been a great podcast. The work that you're doing is is just it's so amazing to me because you personally don't necessarily have anyone directly as a relative that has a disability. But yeah, God is so fit to give

you a passion for those with disabilities. So it's I think of a young lady who was raising a child with disabilities and Whitney, my conversations with her really opened my eyes that I had no clue and most people wouldn't have. So keep up the great work with your foundation. Thanks for coming on, thanks for listening in. The best is yet to come. Appreciate the time this has been

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