LISTEN | Jets Safety Bradley McDougald (8/4)

It's past Saturday. I was in Columbs, Ohio, US frown raised um the West kid. But I was home visiting my family, you know, checking on everything, make Surevan was okay before I head out to camp. And uh, I was supposed to have a flight out Sunday to go to Seattle. And uh, I get a call from John Snyder, the GM over there, and my my first year actually like WHOA, what does he want? You know, I'm about

to be there tomorrow. Your GM doesn't just call you every day, and so calls me and I'm talking to him. I'm thinking it's about like COVID testing. Because the you know, we were in the big negotiation from the players Association to the GM. So I was just kind of I called him the day before to clarify on things about the news that I heard I faked veteran players. So I gave him a call. He asked me. He text me back and asked what he called me tomorrow and

I'm like, yeah, no words. So he called me the next day. So I'm still thinking it's about that, and uh, I was letting me know. I was talking for like two minutes and then uh, I was just letting me know that my concerns and questions been answered a bout other players. And then that's when he stopped me, like yeah, I'm gonna stop you there. Uh he's just been traded

to the Jets. And I'm like wait what And then you know, he goes on for a couple of minutes and thanks me for all the all the things I've done for the Seahawks, and I really really appreciated my time there in the work I put in for the team. And my mind was just so like like lost. I'm like wait, like I really got traded to the Jets and he's like yeah. He was like, uh, we're waiting

for the league to approve it. And as soon as I said that, I had, like my my phone to start vibrating crazy like and the next and the next thing, you know, I get on Twitter Adam scheffmer Man never Adam Scheffer, But I don't know if I like him. Last time he tweeted my name, I got fined twenty six dollars for a hit that wasn't even illegal. Well, yeah, Adam jeffinitely never just dropped good news from your boys. So if your name comes across that thing is it's

something for real? Is happening? All right? So Schefter is a good guy, no doubt about it. You time you have an opportunity to meet him friendly, But when you found out you were going to be a Jet, what were the subsequent conversations Like with your new GM Joe Douglas, you knew head coach Adam Gates, and of course you knew your new defensive coordinator Greg Williams. In a tense

fellow man, yeah, get to that point too. But Joe Douglas and and Adam Gates, you know, they were more than welcoming and just I could hear them, the voice, the excitement, how passionate they were to have me and how happy it word brought me a lot of comfort and made me start thinking how great this was to be here as a Jet and the opportunity that lies for me. You know, all everyone it was an opportunity

to play, and this is no different. You know, I'm an undrafted your kid going on my eighth year, so this is just another place for me to come, come in and make my home. And that was the first thing I thought of, that this is just another opportunity to go win another staff over, another fan base over, and and just go make plays in a different uniform. That's all it is. And I mean, that's all it's gonna be. But when I called uh uh Greg Williams,

he was the same way. He was intense. Like I said, I'm used to I got used to a certain style of coaching and uh out there in Seattle, and there's no right or wrong way to do this. You know that everybody's different, everybody's wired different. He's just having to be one of more intense coaches I've ever uh, I've ever communicated with. But I've never heard a bad thing about Greg Williams. I know players that played under him, and they all have positive things to say. I actually

reached out to him first. I called him. Uh, Joe Duglas tiving Gates called me, but I called Uh. I called him because I just wanted to introduce himself, letting him know what kind of player I was, what kind of man I was, and how excited I was to be here. And the same goes with my my position coach, uh Dinar Williams Wilson. Uh, he was just excited. Uh.

They were kind of letting me know. There are no bullshit type of guys, and you know they're gonna push you, and they're gonna work you, and they dispect expect out out of their players, and I can only respect that. They're very rare that a player will reach out to his coordinator and position coach after the trade. Usually it's twice. FIRSTA you said that you wanted to tell these guys who you were as a player and as a man, So why don't you tell us what you told Greg Williams.

I just let him know that I was. I'm I'm hungry. I'm hung I've always been hungry. I got a chip on my shoulder that's never less. I've had success to other places, but you know, I still feel like I'm one of the most slept on safeties in the league. I know you've seen my film, but that doesn't that doesn't do gushes to who I am as like, because I'm not only a good player, but I'm a good guy in the locker room. You know. I like to

motivate those people around me. I'm really the type of person that just letting my play do all the talking. But since it was my first time meeting them, there's gonna be a while before we strapped on the past and we actually get to go out there and line up. Um. I just wanted them to know that, uh, that they got a good guy coming. It was hard working and like I said, I'm humble, but I know the value I can bring to a team. I know who I

am as a man. You know. I like to go to work every day and giving my all, go home, rest up, and and go back and do the same thing the next day. And that's that's pretty much it. I'm not into all the media and all the all the talking back and forth from people. I just on Sundays to let my play do all my talking. And as the type of man I am, um and I just wanted everybody know that I was excited about this.

You know, some guy like you said, some guys don't do that, but I wanted to just uh initiate the first conversation and and and let them know personally that I was excited about this opportunity, and not only excited, but I was thankful and grateful for the opportunity. So it seems like you're gonna fit in the locker room just fine. Actually, on your Instagram post of you, I think flying to New York right on the private jet, the PJ Marcus May comments. He says, you and I

are gonna get along just fine. What have your conversation has been like with your new teammates and how excited are you to finally be able to get on the field after a wild, unprecedented offseason. Well, this obviously is, and you know it was crazy for a lot of reasons. You know, we don't have a O. T. A. S. But I mean we were vetting you're going to be

eighth league if year in the league. You're not really worried about that, as it's kind of the time that young guys get the rents that they needed, and that's when they really take their big jump from year one of the year two is in that all those rents kind of add up, you know. But um, I I didn't take that time off from I want to say April to June. I've been down in Texas. I've been doing two days for three months now in Texas heat. I'm in some of the best shape I've been in,

and um you know, I'm hungry. I've been hungry. I all want to go prove myself, no matter how good I had over a year I had before, or what what, how far, how far we got in the playoffs, and that none of that matter. It's a fresh star, fresh opportunity to just go prove yourself because what you did last year don't matter. Where you were at last year don't matter. None of that can save you. Is about

the work that you put in. I'm probably as healthy as I've ever been, and I used the time really just focused on my body, on my mind and uh get it best shape as I can get, and and just tighten up all my skills. You know, I go back in ourselves, gout myself like coaches do. And I know I had things to work on, and I feel like I used that time to really work on that. I was out there with a great group of guys to train with Chris Harris. Um he's a KU guy

in mind. We got a great trainer out there. It's a bunch of guys. You know, we're doing seven on seven every day. Uh, we're finding ways to still played football, you know, while following the rules. And we were you know safe about how we lived in in in social distance and all those things. But it will still work to be done. And uh we got creative with it and we still were able to get a lot of work in. So UH didn't I didn't really use that time as an excuse to take off or or not

be focused. So um, it was a different offseason. But it was a different offseason a positive. You know, you just had to do a lot of work from home. And that's where I feel like this is gonna be a year like the lockout year. You're gonna you don't really see who was a true pro and who really

put the work in and who didn't. What do you think about coming into a system where Greg Williams likes to have his safeties as interchangeable parts, because I know in Seattle, Yeah, you're comfortable playing in the box, but you'll go back and play single high. Sometimes they use the nickel. It seems like your versatility is gonna be a good fit here. I feel like, UH one of my I feel like that's one of my strongest suits.

You know, when I when I first was getting into a league, a coach told me, if you a one position, you might make the team, but if you could play multiple positions and find success of these different positions, you're going to make the team. And I always pride in myself. You know, I was a wide receiver before I did two years of UH wide receiver in college and I only play safety for two years. I played both ways my freshman year, but you know, I bounced around so uh.

Being an athlete was always one of my strong suits and that hasn't changed. And then at this point in my career, I used my mind a lot more than I ever have. And that makes you play a lot faster than you ever could think of, because you could be a hell of an athlete. You are out there and running four or three, but if you don't know what you're doing, you're gonna look like a four or five, four or six guys. So it's all about knowing your playbook.

No one really supposed to but be and not only know when you're supposed to be, but the guys around you that make you move even better. If I know this guy is going to water this guy on the inside, where I could play stronger on this side, you know what I mean. It's it's a bunch of small things.

It really all works together, and when you see the bigger picture of defenses and how it was really put together, you know that's gonna make you a better And one of greg one of the first things he told me is, you know I lined guys up to their strengths. You know, I'm gonna find a way if a guy has a certain skill set, I'm gonna find a way to line him up and he could be as successful as possible. So that was refreshing to here and knowing that he had that mindset and he was able to do that

for players and his statue sos. I know a lot of guys that played for him and came in and had success, and I plan to do the same thing. Bradley. Off the fields, what do you like to do in your free time? I know you talked about it a little bit before. You're pretty laid back guy. But what what do you do if you have a day to yourself? Oh? Man, I like to I'm really a home by the guy. I'm one of those guys that I don't mind. This quarantine thing didn't really phaze me. I don't I've had days,

you know. I don't leave a house for two days, you know. I like to. I like to get a whole bunch of cool stuff and put it in my house. I got a dog. I got play fest with him named Roscoe. You guys are meeting. He's a guh what kind of dog? Prince Bullehall? Oh yeah, okay, yeah, he already ordered his Jay. He's uh, you know, he's waiting on me. He's he's wondering where I'm at. Told him I do there like a week ago. But thinks I abandoned him. But I gotta get him out here. That

will bring me a lot of comfort. But no, I'd just like to hang out. I like to cook. I said that earlier. Cooking is in my one of my interests. I really enjoy cooking. Um, thinking about own the restaurant one day. But besides that, I'm not really a video game guy. I like to watch film. I actually like to be a student of the game. I get some time off. I like to take that time, especially during the season, and just take care of my body, whether

that's stretching or have somebody stretching me getting massages. I just like to take that time off and just reset. I'm a I'm a hell of a conversationalist. I love to be around people, but I feel like, you know, that wears you out, and I get I get a little time to myself, and I just used it to refresh and recharge myself. You know, I've been cooking quite a bit this off season two. I'm a big fan of Hello Fresh, and they tell you how to put it all together. I've been doing a good job. But

enough about me. Let's keep on talking about Bradley. Um, what's up with the Twitter handle at Baby League? I know there's a good story behind that. And then my second part, let's stay and talk about the family. What did you do with your grandmother's house this offseason? Well, the Baby League, it's actually no story. My older brother

he had. It's actually when Twitter first started, I told me, I promised myself I never made a Twitter like why do I want to read with somebody else's random thoughts are like this. So one day we were sitting around and uh, my brother's handle was Youngly and I don't even know where he got that from. And uh somebody was like, bro, you might we'll just make one too, you could be baby League, and we all just thought that was so funny. So I just ended up making

it and it stuck, you know. And then I also, I wasn't trying to get a Twitter hand we become famous or easily found. So I'm like, oh, man, I really never had a nickname, so but you can call me be Mac though. Be mact is my new nickname, but um yeah, I never really had a nick game, so I just kind of went with it, and it's stuff. You know. I was in college. I was still with nobody, and then I get verified. It's like, who is Baby League, and so it's kind of it's kind of how that happened.

But uh yeah, this off season, I made one of the biggest persons is best persons in my life, remodeled my uh uh, totally renovated my grandma's house from top to bottom. It was one of the biggest blesses I did. And uh the reason I did it because, uh, I grew up in a single parent home and uh so I spent a lot of time over my grandparents house when they when my mom had to work, and the weekend summers. You know, I was over there a lot.

And my grandfather passed when I was in the eighth grade, going into ninth grade, and so the house, you know, at the time, when I was young kids, one of the nicest thing in our family was kind of like the pillar. It was like our temple. You know. Everybody used to come over there and do Eastern dinners or

Thanksgiving or Christmas even if you will. And then, uh, you know, over the years, my grandma, you know, she's strong as she is, but uh, the house just started to you know, take the toes a lot for a woman and endo and she still taking care of other people around her. H She just retired not too long ago. So I just thought it would be a great present to give her. And plus she's getting older. She still had my grandpa with this what he thought was so cool.

It's hot tub in there, and it was getting hard to the point it was hard for her to step over into the into the bathtub and one of my worst fears where her just slipping the bathsup or something crazy like that. So um, yeah, from top to bottom, I just made it as nice as possible for and uh, it really turned out great. You know, the really tears and the contracts that they did a great job. They they surpassed anything I thought it could look like. And

she loves it. I had and and the funniest part is so it took about two months and all this was during the pandemic too, and they got all that done two months, which is incredible. But I had to staying in the airbnb and I'm like, Grandma, these are the this is what your house is gonna look like. She wasn't processing it. Like they knocked down a couple of walls and really just gutted the whole house out, and I'm like, so I kind of wanted her to get comfortable to where I feel like to living in

a new house. And She's like, I don't know about this, baby, I kind of just want to go back to my house. And so you know a lot of people they want to be in their house and they want to be if I'm like Grandma, you got a little finished. Like, don't like, just be patient, grandma, You're getting a whole new house. But uh so she finally comes back and she stays in and she loves it and she cries and she does all that. But like a week later, I'm like, how does it feel? She said, I don't.

I don't know, baby, this this still how does it feel like one of those being bees? So I don't think this is my house hit And I'm like, no, Grandma, that's that's your house. That's what it is. She's like, I love it just doesn't feel like mine. I feel like one of those being bees she calls them, and she calls airbnbes be and bees. So yeah, but that's probably one of the best things I've done with my money since I started making money. And uh, I'm definitely

proud of it. Are proudly well. We appreciate the time. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Official Jets Podcast powered by Amazon Web Services, and welcome to the New York Jets Man. Thanks for having me. I look forward to me and you guys, you know, working with you guys in the Pisa, and I'm und your chicken come from front m