Clay Matthews Talks Break Up With Packers, USC Dynasty, & His Family’s NFL Legacy With Brother Kyle

Summary

Bussin' With The Boys: Episode Summary

Title: Clay Matthews Talks Break Up With Packers, USC Dynasty, & His Family’s NFL Legacy With Brother Kyle
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Host/Author: Barstool Sports
Guests: Clay Matthews, Kyle Matthews

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Introduction

In this episode of Bussin' With The Boys, hosted by Barstool Sports, NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan sit down with Clay Matthews and his brother Kyle Matthews. The conversation delves deep into Clay's recent departure from the Green Bay Packers, the storied Matthews family's NFL legacy, insights into the USC football dynasty, and personal anecdotes that shed light on their high-energy, heartfelt dynamic.

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Clay Matthews' Career Transition

Leaving the Packers for the Rams

Clay Matthews opens up about his decision to leave the Green Bay Packers after a decade-long tenure. Discussing the shift to the Los Angeles Rams, Clay reflects on the challenges and disappointments he faced, particularly with the Packers' management and the eventual offer from the Rams.

Clay Matthews [04:05]: "We didn't even make the playoffs. They cut me loose after a year. Baltimore went 14-2. They had like, 12 Pro Bowl starters."

Clay emphasizes the impact of organizational decisions and how they influenced his career trajectory. Despite the setbacks, Matthews remains optimistic about his time with the Rams and the relationships he built there, especially with standout players like Aaron Donald.

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Family Legacy and Pressure

The Matthews Family NFL Dynasty

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the Matthews family's rich NFL history. Clay and Kyle delve into the legacy left by their father and grandfather, highlighting the expectations that come with such a storied lineage.

Kyle Matthews [24:36]: "And I'll shout out to Compton. Somehow I thought you were, like, trolling."

Kyle shares his own journey, contrasting his experience with that of his brothers. He touches on the pressure of living up to the Matthews name and how it has both motivated and burdened each family member differently.

Balancing Expectations

The conversation shifts to how the Matthews brothers navigate familial expectations while forging their own paths in the NFL and beyond. They discuss the internal dynamics of maintaining success across generations and the personal sacrifices involved.

Brian Matthews [56:30]: "But I'm not gonna be the first in my line to be an average and to not leave a mark for whatever that's worth."

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Interview Insights and Personal Anecdotes

Anecdotes from the Gridiron

Clay shares memorable moments from his time with the Packers and Rams, including locker room dynamics, on-field strategies, and interactions with other notable NFL personalities. These stories provide a behind-the-scenes look at life as a professional football player.

Clay Matthews [70:18]: "They had Pro Bowl starters, but mine was just..."

Interactions with Fellow Players

The Matthews brothers recount their experiences with teammates and opponents, offering insights into the competitive nature of the NFL and the camaraderie that develops over years of playing together.

Clay Matthews [84:39]: "Yeah, we beat him in that basketball game."

They also touch upon the importance of mentorship and support within their family and among their peers, highlighting how these relationships have shaped their careers.

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NFL and College Football Analysis

Playoff Predictions and Team Evaluations

Will and Taylor lead discussions on the current NFL playoff landscape, analyzing team performances, coaching strategies, and player developments. The Matthews brothers provide their expert opinions on which teams are poised for success and which face critical challenges.

Taylor Lewan [07:02]: "But I was like, bro, I'm gonna do that for sure."

Impact of Coaching Decisions

The conversation delves into how coaching decisions impact team dynamics and player performance. They discuss the potential ramifications of changing coaches mid-season and how it affects the overall morale and strategy of the team.

Will Compton [10:34]: "Yeah, and going off of the example you just gave..."

---

Personal Stories and Balancing Life

Navigating Life After Football

Clay and Kyle talk about their transitions from active sports careers to life beyond the field. They share how they manage family responsibilities, career shifts, and maintaining their personal identities outside of football.

Kyle Matthews [40:35]: "Yeah, well, from what I can tell, like quasi connected to the program."

Maintaining Family Bonds

The Matthews brothers emphasize the importance of staying connected with their family roots and how their upbringing has influenced their professional and personal lives.

Clay Matthews [115:05]: "I was ready to go straight from special teamer in college to the workforce."

---

Conclusion

In this engaging episode, Clay Matthews and his brother Kyle provide an in-depth look into the pressures and triumphs of continuing a family legacy in the NFL. Through personal anecdotes, expert analysis, and heartfelt conversations, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to excel in professional sports while balancing family expectations and personal aspirations.

Notable Quotes:

• Clay Matthews [05:24]: "Once again. And I'll shout out to Compton."
• Kyle Matthews [41:02]: "But those pids, those pids caught on."
• Brian Matthews [56:30]: "I'm not gonna be the first in my line to be an average."

---

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Transcript

[A]

What's up boys? I hope you are having an incredible day. Just a reminder that we drop every Tuesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and if you're an Amazon prime member you can listen to our podcast ad free on Amazon Music.

[B]

It's tailgate time at Raising Cane's.

[C]

Whether you're rooting for your squad or.

[D]

That other team, Kane's craveable combos rally.

[B]

Every fan for the greatest game day ever. Make some epic memories with cook to.

[A]

Order chicken fingers, crispy crinkle cut fries, buttery Texas toast and the reigning mvp.

[B]

That signature Cane sauce.

[C]

So grab your crew and make your next tailgate a touchdown.

[D]

Game days are better together.

[A]

Game days are better with Cane's Raising Cane's chicken fingers.

[D]

One love.

[A]

Alright we're good.

[C]

Be like bussin with the boys Hangin with the fellas betting on a game no woman's gonna tell us what to do and I've been over here.

[D]

Just.

[C]

Drinking beer and making that noise baby.

[D]

I'm hanging with the fellas.

[B]

Busing with the boys bro.

[D]

All right boys, welcome to another episode of Bus with The Boys, episode 311. Quick note. We talk a little NFL and we just sprinkle a little bit of CFB before the Matthews interview. Great interview. These guys are incredible. You hear the family dynamic. It is true. Belly laughs coming your way. But all of college football talk will take place on the Locker room this week. Big hugs, tiny kisses. Please enjoy everything.

[A]

Locker room drop surgery. Welcome to another episode of Busting with the Boys. This is episode 311 brought to us by the Chevy Silverado. The playoffs are here and every game counts. The boys know when it counts. You can count on the Chevy Silverado a dependable partner with strength, capability and true grit. Whether you're looking for a spacious interior to comfortably get to the game, the functionality of the multiflex tailgate to get the most out of tailgating, or the technology to make driving, towing and parking all easier. Chevy Silverado has got your back and now is the perfect time to get into a Silverado or Silverado hd. Our favorite truck and the official truck of busting with the boys. Go to chevy.com to check out all the great offers and even build your own Silverado. Visit jdpower.comawards for more award details. Fellas, it's been a long week. It's been a long seven days. Last time we sat on the bus. In the books, Wild car weekend, College football playoffs, Surviving barstool. And also side note, I hope everybody out in LA that listens to our show. I know we got some California fans. I hope everybody's doing well, safe like those fires you seem. I mean, it's. It's brutal what's going on out there.

[D]

It's crazy. What's going on. It's crazy. Also seeing videos of people adding to the fire in certain parts on Twitter, which is just nuts, man.

[A]

People adding to the fire.

[D]

Yeah, there's videos of people actually going around. I think there's one specific one of people opening their trunk in the middle of the highway, pulling out cans of gasoline and throwing it in the. In the bush. So David Spade came out, had a selfie video saying the police found a guy, let him go, who was starting fires. He's like, if you find anybody in the police, arrest them. I'll give you $5,000. So David. David Spade said. So it's like a. Something going on out there.

[A]

My God.

[D]

Something going on in the City of Angels right now.

[A]

Yeah. Hope everybody's keeping their head low.

[D]

Hope everyone's safe. Hope everyone's. If we had a. This weekend, I was in Vegas, and my neighbor was running from the fires. I don't know if you guys heard of him. Adam Sandler. You ever heard of him? He was out there.

[A]

Did you meet him?

[D]

Yeah, I ended up meeting him.

[A]

How'd it go?

[D]

Just on the elevator, walking in. Hey, good morning. How are you? Got out of there. He.

[A]

Dude, that was it.

[D]

He was running from fires. He was with his wife and his two kids. They were waiting. They didn't seem like they want to be bothered. But you didn't ask if you wanted.

[A]

To be on bus with the boys?

[D]

Not yet. And I thought about. I thought about him with the. Oh, you did something with Travis. I know Travis. We have a show called. I thought about doing the whole thing. I had a whole speech in my head off. Obviously, I was texting you about it. I haven't thought about writing that note. But then things got out of hand. But, yeah, I saw him at the elevator multiple times. Walked behind him. Actually, the first time I saw him, I was walking behind him in the hallway, him and his daughter. And I was kind of like five paces behind him. But they didn't know I was there, so I let like, a. Out. So they knew. Scared the. Out of his daughter. And it was just like, right then there I was like, oh, I gotta get out of here. Narrow hallway. Had to boogie.

[A]

Way too big. You're way too big.

[D]

Way too big. Yeah. Command. Just like, like, hunched over, walking towards her. It Was too much. It was too much, man.

[A]

Taylor was tell how he was in like the room next to him. I was like, you should slip a note like under his door.

[D]

I was like, bro, I'm gonna do that for sure. Gonna do that for sure. And then I was in the fight of my life for 48 hours straight. I kind of, I kind of forgot about it a little bit. But guy is dressed exactly like you see him all the time.

[A]

Oh, yeah, he is.

[D]

I thought, you see, I saw him three times. His outfit never changed. Like he is a homie. You can just tell. And the boys at Red Rock were telling me, they're like, yeah. The only thing I was like, is he like a high maintenance guy? Is he good? He's like, no, he's not high maintenance at all. The only thing he wanted was a. A lifetime fitness pass for a day to go play pick up basketball. So they thought it just all time.

[A]

You know, sailor to the way he dresses. Like he's peak his laundry pile by his bed and he just gets up.

[D]

The morning, no question. Yeah, he's a guy that like puts his clothes down and then like puts his feet right in as he's getting off the bed. Just pulls the same shorts up. But yeah, dude, highlight, highlight. It was awesome. It was a good little deal. But yeah, shout out to people fighting the fires. That's tough, man.

[A]

Where should we start first? Should we go NFL recap? Should we go college football? Should we go surviving?

[D]

Let's go NFL. It's the most recent thing in my brain right now.

[A]

Rapes to the Pats like that. Are we talking playoffs? Let's go there.

[D]

Because that is exactly. I mean, that's exactly what should have happened. Yeah, exactly what should have happened. You know, every Titans fan, obviously, being in Nashville, every Titans fan, Amy Adams, Strong. Everybody who is associated with the Titans right now is punching the air. They're fucking pissed off at themselves.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Because they messed up bad. Love Callahan. His story is still unwritten. We don't know the whole entire thing, how that, that final, you know, period happens. However, guy like Rabel, it's exactly what the Pats need.

[A]

Yeah, it's exactly what they're too exactly for Variable. Like, that's just the perfect storm. You're going back to a spot to where you had a 14 year career, obviously played for a good amount in New England. You got what, three Super Bowls.

[D]

Patriots hall of Fame.

[A]

Yeah, Patriots hall of Fame. You've caught touchdown passes. Like, you know the culture, you know the leadership there. You're going into a. An environment. You're going into a situation that's honestly perfect for him. I know you got a good young quarterback in Drake May. You got a lot of. You got a lot of cap space. You know the first move, too. You got to get John Stryker away from the Los Angeles.

[D]

I already texted Stretch. I said congrats on your move to New England. Yeah. He goes, what are you talking about? You know.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You know, you're getting ready for the Vikings.

[A]

But you.

[D]

Right. And by. Yeah. As always, this is Monday. As you're watching the show, whether it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the Vikings and the Rams have not played yet. We should actually go over that game because I think you took the Vikings in locker room, right?

[A]

Yeah. But we don't know by the time this comes out again.

[D]

I know I'd like to publicly change my opinion, though. I think the Rams are going to win that game. I think the Rams. I'm taking. I'm taking a veteran coach that's had many times in the playoffs. I'm taking him and a playoff Stafford.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And the playoff Stafford. I like that he shows up.

[A]

I know that the. His last three times getting on the grass, he's averaged like 150 yards and thrown for only one or two touchdowns total. Last three games.

[D]

Flip the script this time.

[A]

Yeah. And you know, if the Rams win, he's going back. You get to see Detroit Lions, Stafford golf. You get to see that whole thing.

[D]

That would be Detroit once again. God, people saying you. I can't believe the Lions fans did that. Just tell him, go fuck himself. Chant and fuck Stafford.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

That is just crazy to me. But I love it. I absolutely love it. But yeah, dude raves. Be on the Pats. Unbelievable. With good news always comes a little bit of bad news. It seems like Steelers Twitter is over the Mike Tomlin experience, which is coming just strictly from my perspective. If you're a team like the Steelers who has had multiple Super Bowls, you're a storied history franchise and you have a coach that gets you in the playoffs year after year. Whether you go far, whether you don't go, you kind of just like go that first game and come out. It's kind of like Tyree Kill saying, this is my first time, I haven't made the playoffs. I'm out of here. Like you. You just. Sometimes as a fan, you get so conditioned and callous to the success you've had, that's no longer good enough. Let me tell you, as a person who played for a Franchise that was not always a guarantee to make the playoffs. Hold it tight. Stay as long as you can. Understand that this man is the man for the job. Also you guys in the playoffs every single year. If you are picking in that 18 to 24 range every single year, like it's going to be tough to get your quarterback to get tough to get those premier blue chip players because a lot of people think like just because you're picked in the first round means like that doesn't mean it means you're like a premium guy. When in reality it's like how good is the draft? Who's going before? What are your needs, your necessities? When you're picking up in those late teens, early 20s, it's fucking hard to keep, keep establishing, you know, a lot of talent on your team while everybody doesn't catch up. So I'm personally a fan of Tom and Sting. If he is fired, somebody needs to throw the bag at him immediately.

[A]

There could be a thing too, like if you look at the last, what is eight years, he's been one and done in the playoffs since 2006. Just I guess pick a coach like variable. Let's just say he's on the Titans. Say he was the first eight years we've been, we were one and done every year. Fans would be pretty upset about it whether like and again. Tomlin is a big culture guy, one of the best culture guys in the business. He's had his, his histories with like the abs of the world. You've had the pound. You've had to, you've had to balance a lot of different personalities in that locker room. And two, it's just like over time, even though he's a really good culture guy, it's the same kind of culture stuff over and over. Like that could kind of slow down at some point.

[D]

You want to do it, you want something fresh.

[A]

Yeah, they do have like the lowest paid offense in the league. They got all their money tied up defensively. If you're looking at from a zoomed out views is like do you kind of blow up a little bit on defense and try and get some cap space and restructure a little bit, move some pieces around. Because as good as Cam Hayward is, he's been there forever. He's getting longer in the two 13 years now. TJ Water is obviously a stud.

[D]

He's not going anywhere.

[A]

Yeah, he's not going anywhere. But you got to almost look at all of these different options to kind of blow it up a little bit. If you're going to stick with Tomlin.

[D]

Yeah. And going off of the example you just gave of if Mike Vrabel is at the Titans for eight years, imagine.

[A]

Any coach who gets their job in their first eight years. First year they go to the playoffs, everybody's riding high, but every year they get to the playoffs. And this past year.

[D]

But that's not the example we're talking about.

[A]

They got the 10 wins and then lost the final four or five games.

[D]

I understand, however, you're talking about a sample size of 8 years from Tomlin. He's been there forever. He won a Super bowl in 2008 with the Steelers. Like, he's had a little bit. I'm just saying, if you look at. If you said, hey, I'm gonna give you a head coach, you're gonna make the playoffs every single year, but you'll be out of the playoffs after the first round every single year for eight years, you probably say, no, I'm not going to sign up for that. But if you had a little more context to, you know, Le'Veon Bell, a B, kind of, you're saying the Pouncy brothers, all these. And the Pounce brothers. You say Pouncy because they're such a prol. Group of individuals, but really only one Pouncey brother played there. Marquis Pouncey is one of the greatest leaders from my understanding that anyone's ever seen. Like, he is one of those guys that are just all time, like a true locker room guy, keeps everybody in check. But like, still very unique, loud, boisterous, like, individual were free Hernandez hats when all that stuff was going on. Like, they are in the public eye and will do some controversial things if you, if you're able to navigate that. Many personalities have sustainable success in being somewhere for so long. For me, it's very difficult to say, okay, go ahead and walk away from that because the grass is not always greener on the other side. You don't know how good you're gonna have it. I feel like the Titans are feeling that a little bit right now. Like I said, that story is still unwritten. But you just, once you start getting away from stuff and then also you look at the Patriots, we're very excited for Vrabel. But if Rabel doesn't have success, you're now looking at like, hey, maybe we should have stayed with Belichick, let him stay for as long as he wanted. So it's, it's, it's scarier to get away from Tomlin. It's safer to stay because from the outsider perspective, looking in on the Steelers, that's just. That's just my take on it.

[A]

I think that George Pickens, as I was thinking about it more, as crazy as his press conference sounded, that answer is almost. I feel like Steelers nation of. Like, how do you feel like the year went? We progressed. It was good. I got better.

[C]

Are you optimistic?

[B]

No.

[C]

I had a decent year. Are you optimistic?

[A]

No, I'm not.

[B]

And I feel like that's how the.

[A]

Fans kind of feel.

[D]

Just said, nah.

[A]

Yeah. Does George Pickens know what optimistic means? That was the question on the Internet.

[D]

That is funny. He has got to be probably the number one character in the league right now.

[A]

Yeah, he's my favorite player. Yeah, he's your favorite player.

[D]

He really is, bro. He just. You'll just see a play going on, then it'll be in the corner of the screen. Him just throwing somebody to the ground.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Doing random.

[A]

They're watching a game.

[D]

Street rat type.

[A]

Like, they're gonna have to get in the ball pretty soon or he's just gonna start giving up on routes.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Doesn't leave the line.

[D]

Yeah, dude.

[A]

And if you keep everybody together, you almost gotta. You got to go try and find another quarterback.

[B]

Right.

[D]

Got to find a quarterback.

[A]

You got Fields.

[D]

Yeah, Dog. No, you got to go get a quarterback.

[A]

But if you're wanting to be this team that gets over the hump of winning one playoff game over winning a playoff game, they have 10 wins with both those quarterbacks. Yeah, but Fields could do it.

[D]

That's what. That's what Will is essentially saying. Yeah. You had a 10 win season. That's great. You look at it on paper, but then you put. Since 2016, you have them limping into the playoffs. Russell Wilson starts off strong, then all of a sudden putters out. You know, it hurts.

[A]

When Russ came in, he was making that decision. Correct. For several games.

[D]

Yeah. There was a public apology in the locker room from me because I thought Russell was terrible and I thought he was done and he was playing a lot better. Turns out I was right. Turns out I was right all along. Arthur Smith, Low key, though. Low key should go to the Pats.

[A]

He's not.

[B]

He's not on a very good run.

[A]

The offense was not good with the Falcons. It wasn't good at the Steelers.

[D]

Had success with Brable Tannehill.

[A]

Yeah. I wonder who Brave's gonna bring in his OC maybe Josh McDaniels.

[D]

That's what I saw. You see that report?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

I think that's a no. No, you stay away from that for sure.

[A]

Get Arthur Smith. Because, you know, Brave usually brings in, like, guys. He's super close.

[D]

Was. Here's the thing that I don't like that coaches do. Hiring their friends. I do not like that. I think it is a. It is a mistake, and it gets people. Yeah, it gets people fired. It gets guys fired. Whether you're the gm, you hire the head coach as your friend, or you're a head coach hiring your staff, it's like, just pick the best guy for the job. Pick the best guy for the job who has the same core values as you do. When you're establishing a culture of a football team, move on. After that. Be okay. It's okay to say to your buddy, listen, I. Look, Garrett, I love you to death. You're not going to be my O.C. i'm sorry. I know you think you're. You should be able to switch that.

[A]

Garrett name to Todd Downing.

[D]

Todd Downing. And the thing is, is. Yeah. You bring up Todd, it sucks sitting here being, like, publicly like. Yeah, that wasn't the move. It wasn't the move. I love Todd. I. I thought he was a great guy in the locker room. Great guy to hang out with. Like, him as an individual was not the move at the OC Right. It just is what it is. Does Braves have any overlap with Bobby.

[A]

Slowik in Houston to where he could snag him over? No, because Slow. It came from the Niners with.

[D]

With Raheemiko, the Patriots tree. That Patriots tree is a blackhead.

[A]

Raheem Morris. I mean. All right.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You brought up picking. Having his post game presser about not being optimistic. You guys see A.J.

[A]

Brown?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Reading.

[D]

No. Post game. He had one catch. He had one catch after the game. He was livid. They win a playoff game. He was livid. He was on that topic.

[A]

I saw him reading, but then I saw him talking about reading and, like.

[D]

Right. You haven't tweeted about it. Yeah, he's. He basically, the. The beat reporters. The reporters came up after the game, and he's like, I'm not talking today because I got nothing to say. And then, like, got his thing smile on his face. But, you know, A.J. it was like an A.J. like, I'm smiling at you, but really, I'm fuming inside. I'm just trying to get away from this so I don't blow up type of situation.

[A]

Yeah. When I saw the book. When I saw the book stuff, I was laughing out loud, bro.

[D]

Yeah, the book thing is funny.

[A]

Was hilarious. I know.

[D]

Hey, but he had the book open in the middle, though, which was nice.

[A]

Yeah, he's trying to get his head right. Like, he did only have one catch. Maybe he's like, let me. Before I just.

[D]

And brother, there were my favorite.

[A]

Yeah, let me read my favorite paragraph so I can come the down.

[D]

There were multiple, like Omaha routes, quick out routes on several plays where it went to devonte Smith and he was. It was like a, you know, a contested catch that Smith would come down with, but AJ'd be over there and he'd have like five, six yards of cushion where there'd be some yak and.

[A]

Yeah, I saw a couple where he's got these hitch routes. He's getting some separation at the top of the route. You see a couple times where they're going to Devonte when A.J. just on his, you know, special move slant route where he'll just take it to the house if he. If you throw it to him and.

[D]

Stick it on the Eagles, too. The selflessness of Saquon Barkley. At the end of the game, game's already essentially in hand. There's a minute six left. Like, you score, it really doesn't matter. And he had so much open field to run.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

He's so much open field to get like legit 40 more yards and still could have slid.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

But decided to just slide it down and the game. Save the legs.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Get a big one coming up next week.

[A]

Yeah. Who do they obviously depends on tonight with the Vikings and the Rams, but as of right now, who are they looking to play? Like say the Vikings win since they're the first. It would be. It would be the Vikings. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that means Washington would play.

[B]

They play the winner of tonight's game.

[A]

Got you. Washington, no matter what, is going to Detroit because they were. They're low. They're seven seed. We're going to take a quick break and shout out game time. Playoffs are here and there's no better time to get out of some games. With the help of Game Time, the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. Yes. You guys have probably seen our commercial out there.

[D]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

People send me photos and screenshots every now and then of that game.

[D]

By the way, you look so handsome in that commercial.

[A]

Dude, I thought the same thing about you. Your eyes are beautiful. You know how much we love game time. And now with their brand new gametime picks feature, they're making it even easier to get to a game. Game Time picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. The NFL playoffs are in full swing and we've got some great matchups for fans to go see live and in. If you're out there, if you're in Detroit, if you're in Kansas City, listen up. Go to that playoff game. Go to gametime Picks. They have an amazing game Time Picks deal for great seats only on game time. Just pull up your chosen event and turn on the GT pick setting at the top of the screen. Or browse the best local game Time Picks deals near you on your GameTime app homepage. What are you waiting for? Even if you want to go to the college football Playoff, the national championship, if you're in Atlanta, Game Time Picks local. Buy those college football championship tickets right now available with game Time Picks. What time is it?

[D]

Game Time.

[A]

Back to the episode.

[C]

Bill's Ravens.

[A]

Bill's Ravens.

[D]

Yeah, Bill's Ravens. Going to be a game that's going to be awesome.

[A]

MVP battle. Yeah. So the whole staff. Detroit. Couldn't happen unless it was the championship game. Got you. I'm following.

[D]

Man, that game is going to be the game to watch.

[A]

Which game?

[D]

Ravens, Bills.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

Man, that game is going to be so much fun.

[A]

They're cooking.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Do we go. Do we talk about the. The. I mean, the only fun game to watch this weekend was the Commander's Bucks.

[D]

I was gonna. I want to get your opinion on that. Being a former commander, former Redskin.

[A]

I'm fired up for him. Yeah, I'm fired up for him.

[D]

Do you think this is the end of the road? Do you think they can make a little run here?

[A]

I mean, objectively, I feel like. Or subjectively, I feel like it's the end of the road. Like, you're going to Detroit. Detroit is a monster, man.

[D]

Powerhouse.

[A]

Detroit is a monster. But if you're the Commanders, like, you're in the tournament. Who fucking knows? Jayden Daniel's been playing his ass on my so, jp, this dude ain't a rookie. Like, you're right. This dude operates at a such a high level. It's so fun to watch. And I know the city is just so fired up right now. Dude, you have a lot to look forward to in the future. Whether or not this is at the end of the road this week, because I did. I thought the Bucks would probably beat them, but yeah, fired up for the Commanders.

[D]

You and watching him run around like, he has such an awareness of the defenders around him that he, he reminds you a lot of Lamar Jackson when he's scrambling.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And he gets those 3, 4 yards and then just hits the ground real quick, pops back up like he's got a poised confidence about him. Because you see these running quarterbacks, the Redskins in recent history, you have these like, really, like, insane, major highlight running quarterbacks. And then injuries start happening. It becomes a massive issue.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

With this kid, he's got that Lamar Jackson feel where it's like, yeah, he can run. He can throw it too. And seems like a guy that knows how to stay healthy, knows how to keep the legs right. Knows not to get in those weird entanglements where his body's and, you know, doing a whole bunch of origami types popped on the sideline. Hey, yeah, that was nuts. And if you're the offensive lineman, I did. I tweeted this out like that. That hit's not bad. Like, that's just a good old fashioned highlight NFL hit. Like, you're going to put that in the promo next year going into week one. But as an offensive lineman of the commanders, you got to start belly bumping a chest. But yeah, you start barking a little bit, get up your boy's face.

[A]

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

[D]

Let them know a little bit hu.

[A]

In that third and short where 94 had him in the backfield and he just hits him with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's with that stiff arm and gets the first down. I hate that he held on to the towel. Yeah. The whole time, chasing him down.

[C]

Still. I'm like, bro, drop it.

[D]

The bro, drop it. Yeah, dude.

[A]

Does anybody know what happened to Levante at the end of the game? I saw he got rolled up on. I don't, I don't. I don't think I saw any reports on it yet. You know, I'm sitting there, it's like commanders, that's who I played for. But I'm thinking like, Levante. I know. I don't know how much longer he's gonna play. Like, this could have been his. That could have been his last game yesterday could have been his last game.

[D]

If you retire, would you cry?

[A]

Do what?

[C]

He ran down Jaden Daniels.

[D]

Which dude, bro?

[A]

I'm sitting there. I'm sitting there and I'm. I'm telling Charo. I'm like, sweetheart, I'm like, this dude was drafting the league a year before me. He started and played like a Pro bowl esque level every year of his career. Like, this dude's 35 years old.

[C]

He's like, I Think they said he's like 34, 35.

[A]

It's nuts, man. And he's had such an incredible career and to be at one place the entire time. When they were drafting a guy, they talk about the core values. They put it together. Who's the player that it embodies? It's Levante David. He said such a run, man. He started at Nebraska was because of an injury. Yeah.

[D]

Which is crazy.

[A]

No, I actually just put that together.

[B]

But I was on Twitter. They're like, people forget.

[A]

Yeah, bro. I broke my foot. I broke my foot on a. Oh, that was you? Yeah, I broke my foot.

[D]

Hey, I love how you guys are coming to it. I'm still like two steps behind on that. Like, oh, who got hurt?

[A]

Yeah, so I. I broke my foot on a Thursday or Friday walkthrough before the season opener, and it was a walkthrough. Like we had. Our helmets are like a jog to like an up tempo, yada yada. I break on this stick rod and my foot, I feel like, just blows up. Like somebody takes a shotgun to it and I go down and Levante starts that weekend, has like 13 tackles. Murder Somebody over the middle of the field. And I come back like six or seven, eight. However long later, it was like for Texas. And Job was nowhere to be. Job was nowhere to be talked about at that point anymore. You kind of knew the writing on the wall. But yeah, Levante just comes on the scene because he came from juco that year. He was a juco kid. Out of.

[D]

What did he start off as a safety?

[A]

He was like a tweener. Like, he's like a dime cat.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Playing dime. And he came in and the depth chart went like, myself, Sean Fisher. Sean Fisher breaks his leg in training camp. And yeah, Blake Lawrence. Sean Fisher breaks his leg in training camp, I break my foot. Levante is on the second field operating with the threes throughout training camp and then has to get thrusted into being a starter. And then the rest is history. He's going off that entire year. He's. He's top five all time tackle years in Nebraska history.

[D]

In two years playing two years, 27 tackles against Michigan, he might be top three.

[A]

It seems obvious without Will Compton, there is no Levante David. Will Compton, there is no Levante David.

[D]

Once again. And I'll shout out to Compton. Somehow I thought you were, like, trolling.

[A]

I wasn't. I was literally scrolling on Twitter to find out the injury and somebody tweeted.

[B]

Out, ma'am, for any, like, low rank recruit out there.

[A]

Remember, nobody even knew Levante David. It took an injury for him to get in at Nebraska. Yeah. Yeah. It's a. It's a such an awesome story like his. He's such a good dude. He's such a good soul. He's kind of like a. An Ed Reed to where he's just all football. He's undersized, know how to slips every. Know how to. Knows how to slip every block. He's played in the middle of the defense his entire career. Not as like a safety or anything else, but as an undersized backer and has all the same arguably better stats than like the Bobby Wagner's, the Luke Keakley's, because that was the same type of class, like that was the same type of generation.

[D]

Talk about Bobby Wagner. The first two series of that game against Washington. I'm sorry, against the Bucks. A menace. Yeah, a menace. You see that when he bliss up the middle and hit that running back so hard. He actually just missed Baker Mayfield. Yeah, like, that's nuts.

[A]

Bobby Wagner too. You watch him like when you're watching him on the field, like you're like, that's a middle line, but like that's a grown ass man.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Talk about like arms. His hands are like down to his knees.

[D]

Past his knees.

[A]

His arms are just looked oil and oiled and glossy. Baker put that head down on him though.

[D]

Yeah, he did give him the little shoulder that. Yeah, that dude, he. He's got that look of a linebacker and the cat too, with them traps. Yeah, he got. He's got that traps, that Mike Tyson no neck vibe, dude.

[A]

Head sits a little low.

[D]

Yeah, you can tell it's just been pounded in a little bit. Sits there in the off season, just bangs into a wall. So he shrinks in the vertebrae just a touch. But yeah too.

[A]

It's like Bucks had their chances. When Baker fumbles that ball late in the game, Bobby Wagner picks it up and they're right there to in scoring position. And then when they have. That seemed like a complex, you can, you can, you can talk about this Taylor. But there was a moment to where it was like third in inches and they're doing a hard count. And then he's like, let it roll, let it roll. Or he just says, we're good, we're good. And then turbo. But it seemed like a dummy turbo because he goes. But the center, the young center snaps it on the loud one. But it seemed like it was a dummy turbo because nobody else went. But everybody just killed him. They tackled Bucky Irving, which. Bucky Irving almost breaks every tackle in the backfield to get the first down. But that was like a third niches that they needed. They had to settle for a field goal instead of like going in for a touchdown. But it seemed like that was a very complicated hard count. Turbo. Dummy Turbo. Stick with the, you know, stick with the run, whatever play. Like they had a double call going.

[D]

Yeah. What part of the game is it? It's like a late. Is late in the game.

[A]

Late in the game.

[D]

Fourth quarter. Yeah. I mean, there. Every. Every offense has a play call, whether it's freeze, frost, frosty, like something like that. Like there's always some sort of code word where it's like we're gonna lamp in a formation, then all of a sudden we're gonna do a full cadence. Then the tight end is going to come off, he's going to go into a motion, we're going to get a couple more huts, then the guy's going to back off, get into the F and like they're in an I formation. And then, you know, hut, hut, hut, hut. If you're doing that many cadences and you have a young center, I don't know about that.

[A]

I personally see it seemed like, like, again, you know, it's like they had a double call. We're gonna do a hard count and then I'm gonna let you know if the play's still on or we're gonna check it or alert it or do something else. Then you got to remember that you're on a dummy Turbo. But Turbo, you're listening to Turbo all year long. Like as an offensive lineman.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

You're just so used to such second nature.

[D]

Yeah. Turbo. Unless it's cold in the huddle. Like a Turbo 2, which would be in the second HUD after Turbo. If you hear Turbo, it's essentially the number one. Like, your ears perk up knowing, okay, the snap is the next sound is going to be the snap. Yeah, it's like it's. It's making it for me personally, if I, like if I'm going to a third in one situation. This is also. A lot of. It's predicated on the defense and how they. If they like to shift, if they. What would Rabel call it when you guys would all start a little bit wider and then you shift down. Like Grenade or something like that.

[A]

Yeah, it was. It was something like that.

[D]

But that was a. That was like a 2012 film from the Patriots field goal. Yeah, I think it was against the Bucks, too. I think I was against the Bucks, but just depending on what people do on third and one, and if it's a team that usually stays stationary and you know they're going to bring like an ammo blitz or two up the middle or something like that, I personally, like a, like a. It's called a fast break. You get out of the huddle, you get set. First noise you hear, you're going. The first noise the ball is getting snapped because you're catching the defense off guard. It's either you want to go real late or real early in those key, like, got to have it like short yard situations. That way it's like you're just trying to find whatever you can to get upper hand because it's grown man fucking football at that point.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And to be honest with you boys, a lot of times I wasn't the grownness of the men when I was going against the boy in front of me. So I want a little bit of. I need, I. Give me a little advantage, whatever little advantage I can take. Give me a snap count that can help your boy out a little bit.

[A]

Yeah, obviously doesn't snap it. They get an off size penalty, it's gonna be a first down. That was when they were down like 2020-17. They ultimately had to settle for a field goal and make it 2020 and baking in the field goal. Anyways, to win is crazy nuts, bro. A doink win. Because when I started going over, I was like, oh, my God. I thought he was gonna miss because he kept doing this with his hair. I said, he's missing.

[D]

Apparently he's ocd, like, bad. And those are like his ticks.

[C]

And so like he's like doing that because he's like, gotta get set and get ready.

[D]

And there's another.

[A]

He's the biggest horn of the year.

[D]

There's another video cleats. He's re tying his cleats, like over and over.

[C]

So I guess he has these OCD ticks.

[D]

And so imagine being a kicker with.

[C]

OCD and in the game winning field.

[D]

Goal and you're just like, like, like 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah. Especially because there are situations where, like, what was it? Hurricane. Like there's a. There's this hurricane field goal. It's like 18 seconds on the clock, third down, no timeouts, you're in field goal range, you've got to go kick it right away. And there's this whole program of how to get guys off the field, how to get guys on the field, and how to get the Kicker set as fast as possible. If you're an OCD guy that you have to do four hair, you gotta.

[A]

Go ball and two shoelaces, you gotta be bald.

[D]

Yeah, you gotta go bald.

[A]

Dude. If I'm a kicker, I almost want more of the Hurricane. Like you're rushing to get on the field.

[D]

You don't think about it too much.

[A]

You got to think about it like. But when the offense is trying to methodically put it on the spot you're at, it's kind of like that 30, 40 yard field goal. I'm probably thinking to myself, these boys think this is just a gimme. I'm over here nervous as.

[D]

Yeah. And dude that when in Texas versus asu when start walked up to his boy, the kicker and like, giving him love. If I'm a kicker in that situation, it's like, leave me the alone.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Like, pretend like I just don't even exist on this world for a little bit and all that. Remember, like, not remember, like, like freezing kickers. Like, that would be the worst.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Calling a timeout at the end of the game and it goes right up the middle too. And you're just like, oh, my God, dude, if I could just get that one again.

[A]

Kickers, man. Snipers.

[D]

More time to think about it. Shadow Ryan, suck up. Dude did it great for Shout Out. Ryan suck up. Just a dog out there.

[A]

How about the Texans? Yeah, I mean, Doug dog walking the Chargers. Chargers beat their ass for a quarter and a half and we're sitting there and it's six to nothing. It's like this game should be. It's one of those feelings. Like as a player, it should be 14 and nothing right now. Like, if you're the charge, you're like, hey, fellas, like, we got to get seven, not settle for three because they're still in. And then if you're the Texans, you're getting destroyed. The ball's not bouncing your way either. Like they had a. I forget what it was, but it just didn't go their way. But you're sitting there, it's like, hey, fellas, like, it's only six to nothing. Like, as bad as we've played, like, we're still in this game. And sure enough, 32 unanswered points later, the Texans defense was eating, bro.

[D]

Eating Will Anderson going off.

[A]

Daniel Hunter Autry. Will. Will Anderson.

[D]

Audrey had a couple plays in a row, brother, where it's like, holy Al.

[A]

Shaheer was tattooing, folks. Then you got Stingley that's making plays. I don't Know why they're trying? They were trying Stingley all game.

[D]

Yeah, that game.

[A]

Hey, Herbert.

[D]

I know that game reminded me a lot of Packers Eagles, where it's like Houston was taking advantage of the Chargers bad football. And Eagles are taking advantage of the packers bad football. The Houston. Houston took more advantage than the Eagles did. But it's like. Yeah, Herbert had a bad day. He had a rough day. Seemed like the play calling was a little all over the place. It just seemed like they couldn't get settled and, like, grounded in the moment of, you know, where they need to be. Which is weird because you think Harbaugh culture guy, he's gonna have his guys ready to go. But then there's the old Herbert. He loves choking the playoffs.

[A]

Yeah. Dirty bubble guy. Because they know he's a spongebob fan.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

And they had his quote up. You're on the sideline. You can't call Mermaid man Barnacle Boy. He's.

[B]

He was captured.

[A]

He was cat. Were you watching that? Were you watching that? What am I saying here? Yeah, yeah. Were you watching that broadcast of Nickelodeon?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

See that spongebob up there, like, commentating with Pat. P. F. Manatee. Yeah. PF manatee and big catfish. Then you had like LeBron and Kevin Hart. I forget what their. Their fish were. LeBron. Yeah. LeBron James, dog.

[D]

It was. I feel bad for the Chargers, but shout out the. The Texans, man. I mean, good for them.

[A]

Do they make it. Do they make it interesting in Kansas City? They're dangerous.

[D]

They could.

[A]

They're dangerous.

[D]

Hard to be a team. Hard to beat a team twice. It is hard to beat a team twice. She's got to get to Pat when they. They got the tools to get there. Yeah.

[A]

Chargers are the playoff. Willie Parlay was dead in the first game. That's just the first leg gone. Hey, you're 40 something. Thousand people riding.

[D]

Your response to that too, of the captain from Titanic walking in, just going down the. Maybe the best response you could possibly have to it.

[A]

Where do we go? He's just.

[D]

Sir, Captain. Captain, sir. Your life jacket, sir, just keeps walking.

[A]

Yeah. LeBron didn't hit either. Dave's was cooking there for a second, but Corland Sutton. Dave hit four out of five of his legs. Cortland Sutton didn't score for the Broncos.

[D]

Yeah, I. The. I don't think the Texans can do it against the Chiefs. I think. I think we're gonna see the Chiefs in the AFC Championship at least.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Then we can start talking about it.

[A]

Obviously. I gotta see me out.

[D]

I Gotta see Ravens, Bills and how those games operate. I think it could be one sided, that game.

[A]

Could be. I'm bummed, like obviously being like a Chiefs hater. I'm bummed out that the Chiefs get just the winner of that game versus having to play both of them.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. Because you kind of want. I mean, man, if the Ravens could.

[A]

Have just lost one more game and maybe they slip down a seat to where they're the ones going to Kansas City.

[D]

I saw a funny clip of. You ever see like the dog who hits the basketball on the stairs and it kind of bounces in the basket of who's going to win the playoff games?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You see that? Well, there was one where a guy had a marble and it was in between like these two lines and he would roll it and these two dominoes were different colors and it was based on the teams. Whichever one fell was gonna be the loser. And every time the Chiefs won, did he like throw a flag at it and put him back up? It is. It's crazy, man. It's crazy. But yeah, I think we should get into our podcast. Yeah, I did want to talk a little college football, see if the Matthews brothers want to do it.

[A]

We can. Yeah, we can either do when they're on, we can do it after. But we, Clay Matthews, Kyle Matthews, the Matthews brothers, they're in the shop right now. So we're going to go ahead and hit that interview. If we do any more intro talk, you guys will obviously record it after that podcast. But it'll be in right after this ad read. Yeah, let's get the boys in.

[D]

Let's get the boys in.

[A]

Get the boys in right after this ad.

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[A]

I'm gonna hit the bathroom real quick, and I'll be all right.

[D]

Come get. You guys dialed in getting anything at that charity event? Dude? Yeah. It's such a fun time to go there, but it's like, we're really just there to, like, be there and be with everybody. Yeah, we had a. So we were supercross a couple of times.

[A]

All right, we got the Matthews brothers. Let's go.

[D]

Do I look like your assistant? And it was. She's like, all right, you need to start doing again. It was bad. It was bad.

[B]

What's the serious question? What's. What is the downside to her addiction?

[D]

Yeah, it's too awesome.

[B]

There are no side effects.

[D]

It's really just. You feel great all the time.

[B]

I think I want me some of that.

[D]

So nicotine is proven. It's neuroprotective. It's a stimulant. It helps with multitasking. There's a lot of benefits of it.

[B]

Do they pay you to say this?

[D]

No. No. But Lucy Breaker. Lucy does. But there are, like. It could elevate your blood pressure, shrink your veins. Like, not shrinker veins, but, like, make it more difficult for blood. I don't know. There's. There's a couple of bad things, but I would say the pros outweigh the cons. And also. Depends what's in there, too.

[B]

What they said about cigarettes in the 50s, right?

[D]

Exactly.

[C]

They make you a man is all.

[D]

Exactly.

[B]

Nice. Put some hair on your chest.

[A]

Did you.

[D]

Did you guys ever chew or anything like that?

[C]

No, I never did.

[D]

Dude, you kind of. With the jacket on and the bun on, you seem like you could have had a lip.

[C]

And I was like, we did the.

[B]

The big league chew.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah, those things popped in there.

[C]

I was. I was Mr. Straight Edge. I never, never want to taint the body.

[B]

We'll talk about this. But, yeah, my dad would have kicked her ass if we had done Any of that.

[D]

We could talk about it right now. Mitch, we rolling, baby. We've been rolling. Well, you can cut everything. Don't you worry. Don't you worry one bit.

[A]

Obviously.

[D]

Hey, you're in a safe space. Namaste. We're all good. But you said your dad would have kicked your ass if you were taking, doing anything extra. Was it like a booze or was it like, hey, we get past booze now we got a problem.

[C]

Now we were just from a family that was very. You know, our parents didn't drink. They didn't even drink wine. Naturally. Smoking is not good for you. And so I mean it just, it was just expected and coming from, you know, obviously father playing in the NFL. I mean it was common sense. And so, I mean it was just a given, you know, it wasn't like we were sneaking around and, and doing anything like that. But yeah, he probably would have kicked our ass.

[A]

I think Clay saying his head. Speak for yourself.

[C]

Yes, well, all right, go for it.

[B]

No, I don't think.

[A]

Are you the rebel of the family?

[C]

Who, me?

[A]

No, no, no, Kyle. Kyle.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that. Which is, which is interesting. What the dynamic within the family is now in my role within the family. But to your question and to piggyback on what Clay said, I don't know if it's a conversation my dad ever had with us, like, hey, if you do these things, like, you know, you're in big trouble. I think it's. I think it's a combination of, to Clay's point, knowing that they weren't good for you. My parents didn't do it. So somewhat as a kid, not often, but there's correlation like your parents behavior and modeling it. But I think also if I had to look back, I don't know if I've ever done this like in this. The way I will now is like. And tell me if I'm right. We wanted to as boys, we wanted to be our dad when we grew up. My dad's like a superhero, you know, he's this 19 year NFL star, like good looking, jacked, great person. And it still is. But like at the time, you know, he's 30, 35, 40 and just. And he didn't do any of those things. And so subconsciously I'm sure there was part of that where it's like, well, if he doesn't do it, we shouldn't do it either. We want to be that when we grow up again. I don't know if that, if that's like a specific conversation he had with us. I can't remember that. You just, you just didn't do it right.

[A]

Do you think the standard is the standard?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's all you guys kind of knew.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

When you, you guys now have kids, do you find it like you're going to want to have those conversations like, hey, we don't do these things. Or just kind of lead by, lead by example the way your father did? Because I feel like it's much easier to say, hey, don't do these things. And obviously you don't want, you don't want to like do those things yourself either. But to have it be like, it's just known can be tough. It seems like you guys got the message loud and clear. But for having kids, have you guys approached it any differently?

[B]

Well, yeah, my kids are a little older and I don't know if you're having those conversations with kids yet. But like, My oldest is 14. I got four kids. My son Brody, 14 daughters Kylie and Dixie, who are 11 and 7. And then I got three year old son Murph. And so Brody, I just, I take kind of the, the trump tack. I trump told his kids, like, no drugs, no alcohol, you know, no tobacco. And I just say those are my rules. And I'm at, you know, know, I'd like to think of myself as a principled father. You know, I don't have a lot of rules, but the rules I have, I feel confident to say my kids know where the line is. And so those are, those are some of my very few rules in the house. And so the answer to your question, I'm not, I'm not making the assumption our parents probably made with us and luckily it turned out okay. But I'm having those conversations with my children.

[C]

Yeah, I'm sure I'm gonna have to have them as well. But my youngest, how old are yours? My youngest is Colton, who's five. My daughter just turned nine, Maddie. And my oldest clay, the fourth is nine will be. Or she's. My daughter's eight, my son's nine. He'll be 10. It's like a Cromartie moment right here. Even though there's only three kids but daddy knows of. But Colton's great at getting daddy the yellow can in the, in the mini fridge, which is, you know, the pilsner. So. But we'll have those conversations. Black can for the ipa. But we'll, we'll have those conversations later.

[D]

Yeah, no doubt. Know, dude, what when you were having being in the third, when you were having a kid before you knew, did you want to. Did you want a boy? Did you want that fourth?

[C]

I didn't care if it was a boy or girl at the time. And, yeah, it was just kind of a given. I mean, I was like, I. I kind of got to keep this going. But I did kind of waver a little bit, thinking, like, do I. Do I want to name him the Fourth? Like, we're getting to English royalty over here. It is. But it's funny because I had. Through hearsay. I think my mom had said, my dad's like, I don't want the. I don't want the name to go away. And since, obviously he was junior, so I'm like, all right, we gotta name the fourth. But that was tricky out in Green Bay because there's not a lot of people named Clay out there, and they treat you. You know, the celebrity out there is unbelievable. You don't have a lot of freedom. So we had to. We called him Bubba. That was our nickname. And he's still between the family. He goes by Bubba. And now that we're out, and then he's. We're in the south now, so Bubba actually fits in. But he finally goes by Clay at school now because. Because, you know, nobody cares about me anymore.

[B]

You know, I always. I. I always. I always think it's interesting. I'm the oldest boy, and my dad didn't give me that name. And I swear to God, if he had named me clay, I'd be 6, 4, 250 pounds. This guy be sitting in a. In an office somewhere typing out TPS reports.

[A]

Yeah. Hey, along the way, did you ever. Did you ever think about that? Like, feel some type of way along the way, like you were. Or your dad's Junior, and then ultimately, Clay becomes a third. Third. No, Like, I'm the third as well. William Earl iii. And I'm the oldest.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I would. I never had to think.

[B]

Yeah. I would say. I don't know. I've never.

[C]

I.

[B]

You know, I know a lot of juniors and thirds. Maybe not as much fourth. They're always the first. I've. I haven't thought about it other than, like, the joke. Like, I'm. I've convinced myself that if I got the name, like, just the way the Dynam be, like, you know, I'd be an ex. NFL guy with a man bun. But, like, you can only get away with it if you play sports.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Or you're a yoga instructor. Yeah.

[C]

Well, the reason I Used to live in Van Nuys. So I can go a different route with that man bun. No. So the reason why I was named.

[B]

Is because I guess they ran out of names.

[C]

Well, no, from what I've heard, and maybe my parents are lying to me, is that when they had the. The ultrasound back in the day, they weren't that good. So they thought I was a girl before I was born. Came out, I was a boy, and I guess you got to leave.

[B]

Why'd they think you were a girl, though, man?

[C]

It's bad. It's medicine.

[D]

It's all good.

[C]

They couldn't. I was in.

[A]

I couldn't see the penis.

[B]

He had the man buns. Easiest layup you have ever been served.

[C]

So, yeah, so I guess my grandfather had called my father and my mom and said, you know, why don't you just name after me and my brother, who's in between Kyle and I here, his middle name is Clay because that was going to be the, you know, continuation of that Clay name. And so now my name. My middle name is actually Clay as well. It's William Clay Matthews. So we got this.

[A]

Oh, let's go.

[D]

Taylor Curtis. Huh?

[A]

A couple. William the Third sitting here, dude. I think one day I get a boy so I can carry on the.

[D]

Carry on the name. If. When you're a junior, it's so easy. I feel like when you get to the third, the fourth, the fifth, you talk about royalty. I think that's awesome. But being a junior is not the best. And you gotta have a nice name, too. William Earl's nice. William Clay is great. Taylor Curtis. I don't want to pass that down. I don't want to give that. I don't want to give that badass name to my kids. Give me something cool.

[C]

You got any boys?

[D]

No, I got two girls. Dude, I'm spitting. There's a whole. There's a. There's a war going on. There's cold.

[B]

Unless it's a hard. Yes.

[D]

We had a team meeting last week, and the team meeting turned into JP And a couple of guys being like, just have a third. Just have a third. So I'm obviously gonna bend the knee. Like, I don't know how your household works. I don't run my show. There's nothing about my house. I'm like, yeah, I'm the man.

[B]

Not if you want to.

[D]

Does not happen. Yeah, I will be having a third kid. Don't tell my wife.

[A]

Life, I don't know, has figured out that the only reason it's a nose because of him. So now we're trying to, trying to get into him to get that one.

[D]

True and tell you, you made me feel a little bit better because you said you got.

[B]

That's what I'm here.

[D]

14, 11, 9 and 3. So that big gap, that was a.

[B]

That was a covet. Like whoops. Yeah, like too much time on your hands. My wife's always like, oh gosh. She's always like, she's always like, you had one job. Stop. You couldn't even do that right.

[D]

Did you ever, did you ever dabble with the idea of going to get a little surgery?

[B]

Yeah, I did. I'm medically retired now.

[D]

Yeah, you're done?

[B]

Yeah, I'm out. I had to go medically red shirted out the baby making, getting your checks in the mail. But it was a little, you know, too little too late. So now sometimes you play that Russian roulette where it's no, but, but now we got the fourth. He's healthy. You know, like when he turns 18, I'll be like, hey, how you doing? Like what's your name? You know. No, Murph is like, you know, we get all the kids every, almost every Saturday. And he's like the little, he's like the little pet. Like he's, he's, he's fun. You know, you throw a ball and he goes and gets it and then he brings it back. It's like kind of a fetch thing.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, plus if you have an.

[D]

Affordable 11 year old, it's like you have built in babysitters.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, you know, not my kids are.

[D]

Okay, fair enough. We're going to find our way around this.

[B]

But, but now see, so it's, it's leverage. Right. And so when you have as it relates to his air hold on with.

[D]

Your kids is now I have leverage I can use.

[B]

I'm gonna come across those. No, no, I'm playing like with my 14 year old, it's like, hey, when, especially as, as the male with the air thing and you're like, when you got one, there's a lot of leverage on his. And now I'm like, you know, I got an air and a spare. Like you mess up, I got another one coming up the ranks, you know, like I got a backup who's on a cheaper contract and making plays. Like you can't sit out too many games right now, you know, like it's called I hold them accountable.

[D]

Right.

[B]

Just get a. No, it's, it's science.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Best ability is availability.

[B]

Yeah, that's right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know how that is before the.

[A]

Team or you're against with your old man. What was it like growing up? So we, last year we had on, we've had on Christian McCaffrey. We had on his dad, Ed McCaffrey. And Christian was telling us stories how he couldn't get arm tackled growing up or grabbed by the jersey, how he'd have to tape his jersey and everything else and if he'd get arm tackled, he'd get grounded. Was your. How was you.

[D]

He told, he told a story about his dad, went into the backyard, into the woods and found an empty Coke can. Can and came to the house. What's this? And they got ground up for drinking soda now.

[C]

Yeah. You, you've got an interesting story because I think you, you put on, didn't he have you put on pads and you did drills with him? Because I, I didn't have that experience.

[B]

Yeah. Here's. I'll answer your question. And then he coached you more. But I was the oldest, so like my understanding of the McCaffreys, which is very limited, but I heard, I heard that, like the stories, is my father was the total opposite. And I'll give you some examples here. Like, I didn't play football till ninth grade, right? And I played in all sports, but I played soccer as a fall sport. It just, just is what it is. He never once pushed football. We never watched a single football game in our house unless my dad was playing. And even then, it, we, we may or may not watch it, depending on the broadcast schedule. I never watched a college football game until I played in one. Never watched an NFL game unless my dad or maybe my uncle. I don't even think we watched my Uncle Bruce.

[D]

Stud.

[B]

Yeah. He was Titans legend. Yeah, Stud. So it was the total opposite. It was very, you know, kind of what we believe old school parenting is. Like, you just let kids be kids. They figure it out. Like, no involvement, nothing. When I was going down, when I was getting ready to play football in college, the only conversation my father ever had with me and you might have been different was like, hey, you know, you don't have to play football because I played football. It was like Matthew's like, emoting, which is non. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool, dude. That's.

[A]

Don't be too weird.

[B]

No.

[A]

Dude.

[B]

What just happened? You know, but we were, we were at a stoplight. He's like, hey, you know, you don't have to play football because I played. I go, yeah, yeah, Dad, I know that. He goes, okay, I just want you to know that I was like, yeah. Yeah. Whoa.

[A]

He's like, you know I love you, right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

No, you do.

[B]

The only thing. My dad retired when I was a sophomore in high school. I mean, you think about that. He played 19 years, so, like, imagine your kids being a sophomore in high school when you retired. It was. It was different. And then he started coaching. Yeah, it's wild. And then he started coaching me in high school, and that was the only involvement. By then, I had chosen to play football. He coached you a lot earlier because you were younger. And the only time was heading into my senior year in high school, they were moving me from, like, defensive back down to, like, kind of outside rush. And I think he thought I needed to truly, probably did get more physical. So he put pads on me, and, like, it was, like, 100 degrees in Agora Hills. Like, he put pads on me, and during the summer, he'd make me go down, and he would put pads on, and we'd have to do hitting drills. This is true. This is.

[D]

This is why he's still playing or just recently retired, like, a year out of the league. Yeah. So he's still got it.

[B]

No, he's jacked. He's jacked.

[A]

It's like the Rock and Gridiron game.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

So on one hand, he had no involvement whatsoever. He was just like, look, I'll let my kids figure out who they are. If they're going to be players, they're going to be players. If they're not, they're not. But, yeah, in high school, he. He put on helmets and shoulder pads, and, like, I would have to go thump them. And I remember, like. And I was not that kid who was about, like, getting best. Like, what am I doing out here right now? Like, all my friends are at the beach. And so you're thinking about TPS reports? Not yet. That would come later. Yeah, that would come later when, you know, I realized I had no options. So, you know, but that was the only thing I don't know was, was he different with you?

[C]

Well, I remember him taking me to Gold's Gym.

[B]

Nice.

[C]

In, like, sixth grade. And I was just such a. Like, I didn't want to lift, you know, he was putting the. The brown paper towel over the neck machine. I'm like, dad. And I couldn't even do, you know, like a. Like a five on each side of the, you know, the bench press. I was embarrassed, and I didn't want to. And I just want to play probably Halo at the Time. And I. I didn't really want to. It wasn't until. And my dad was like, he tried to, but, you know, in the end of the day, like Kyle said, he's like, all right, man. Like, you know, you do you, and you'll figure it out.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And so my junior year, I had a buddy, still my best friend to this day. He ended up getting drafted by The Chicago Bears in.08. Hurt his back and, you know, fell out of the league. But ultimately we pushed each other. And so I was also late to develop. So between my junior and senior year in high school, I went through puberty, and I probably grew, like 4 inches and put on, like, 40 pounds. So at that time, I was big for where I played football, and I was. I was decent, but not good enough to get a college scholarship. So ultimately, like, you know, as far as his.

[B]

Wait, what is that? Picture of my dad and my uncle with their shirts off. Go down, bottom right. I don't think I've ever seen that. Oh, that's. That sports.

[D]

That is wild. You gotta put that up. What are we doing here?

[C]

Find anything on the Internet? But, I mean, yeah, so, you know, we. Yeah, he kind of just let us just develop into our own person. And like I said, I don't think there's a right or wrong way. I, like, I developed a natural love for the game and. And appreciation for it. So, you know, unlike the McCaffrey, obviously, that's working well for the McCaffreys, you know, so there's really no right or wrong. But that's. That's how he parented us. And that's. And when he retired, he naturally jumped into coaching me as a kid. So I've had his tutelage and coaching ever since I was in, I think, third. Third grade. So I, you know, that's why I've had. I really think getting into the league as a rookie, just having immediate success was just because I grew up in that family. I knew what was expected. I knew, you know, what was going to come at me. Money, fame, women, whatever it may be. So I was. I was ready to go.

[A]

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[D]

When you. When you talk about going, not having a scholarship after high school, and then obviously, you know, your uncle, your dad, like, your entire family, just like, it's like, oh, you're a Matthews. You're.

[A]

You guys have Matthews family. Wikipedia.

[D]

Yeah, exactly. You have that. Is there anything going through your head of like, I didn't live up to the name or I didn't. I didn't, you know, exceed. I didn't meet the expectations that I'm supposed to meet? Whether it's your family putting on you or you personally put it on yourself.

[C]

Yeah, no, I never felt that at all. In fact, that's something I think about for my, you know, my son, the fourth. I'm like, oh, shoot, man. He's gonna have to live up to these expectations. But I don't know if that's how my dad felt. A lot of people asked me, oh, you know, you're gonna play in the NFL. You gonna do this? I was just kind of doing my thing. And I never felt pressure from him, much like he told Kyle to live up to the expectation of playing the NFL, playing for 19 years and. And accomplishing all that he accomplished. So mine was just natural and gradual, but I never felt that pressure. You know, the pressure that I felt was once I started ascending, got into the NFL, and wanted to maintain that standard. And the name, like you just said.

[B]

Yeah, well, I can comment on that. So I felt it tremendously. Like, it was a. It was a weight my whole life. I don't know if it's because I was the oldest or I just wired differently, and Clay's better at tuning things out than I am. It was just, you got it your whole life. And. And I was really. We both were. But me, I'd argue even more. So really small, undersized. Our whole life, we were always like the Runts. And so, you know, and we moved around a lot. Like, oftentimes we moved back and forth, but all. All told, we moved 30 plus times. You know, because my dad would play for the Browns. So we'd move to Cleveland in July, August and we'd live in Cleveland until December, January, moved back down.

[C]

There was no off season at the time. So. Yeah, lived in la.

[B]

Yeah. So it was a true off season. Which means like, like, see you later. See you in six months. So no matter where I went, I would get comments like, man, what, what happened to you? You're a Matthews. Like, you must be a disappointment. Like you're. Why are you so undersized? Like you're the wrong. Like we all were. That I would argue. But I again, I don't know if I'm wired different.

[D]

Carrying kids and wife beaters. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you're also the first one going through it too.

[B]

And I was the first one going through it and then part of it. Not to dismiss Clay's experience because that was his experience. Like he made it. Right. I mean he made it and had a phenomenal career. Now that wasn't always how it looked. Right. You know, certainly coming out of high school and what he was able to accomplish at SC and the transformation physically and and mentally in his game to be a first round pick and go on to have a brilliant career. I didn't. And so very much that in my humble opinion, led to ultimately what. And I'll let others define it, but like, if I've achieved success in business, I, I really give credit to that. That drive, that motivation was if you look at the Matthews, and again, you know, I want to be fair. It's hard for me to be impartial with my family. I love them tremendously. Like you look at the history of the Matthews, especially on the, on the male side, it's just high achievement. Going back to my great grandfather Matty played professional baseball and then ultimately was a boxing coach at the Citadel. My grandfather Clay, the first Clay senior was drafted, played for the 49ers. He played for the 49ers, then went and served in the Airborne, then went back, played for the 49ers, got out of the league. This is in 55, 56. Because he had five kids and you couldn't support a family on five. You couldn't support a family of five kids. There he is right there. Handsome guy, looks like me. And so, so this is a trip. Couldn't support a family of five on an NFL salary because it wasn't. So he goes into business. Fast forward 20 years, he's the CEO of publicly traded company. So highly successful. Then you have, there's four, four Males in the next generation. My dad and my uncle who are hall of Fame, effectively hall of Fame player. My father longest, I think most games NFL history as a linebacker. My dad. I could be wrong. And then most games NFL history as an O lineman. Bruce, I'm pretty sure that's true. Are still true. And then the two other males were mentally handicapped. So like that, that my. Where I'm getting is I'm the oldest male of the next generation. Between me, Clay, Brian, Casey on our side. So four. And then how many males on Bruce side? Six, seven. So 11, 12. I'm the oldest. And then I play football at SC and I get a letter. I play some special teams. It does. I realize I'm not going to go to the NFL. Like, I see I played the same position at the same time as Troy Polemolo. So I'm like, okay, that's an NFL guy competition. Yeah, I mean, he's okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, watching him kill that dude on that special team he's playing, you're.

[B]

Like, yeah, I was there. I was, I was there on the sidelines. No, but, but I, I very quickly, I said, okay, that's an NFL guy. That's not me. And so I go into the. I go into commercial real estate. The work, the workplace. And I'm sitting there, my first day at work, like sitting in a cube, like kind of what all athletes, you know, have dread. Like, oh, no, that nine to five, so to speak. It's. It's not that bad. It just. Just very much, you know, think of a visual representation. I said, well, I'm not going to be the first average Matthews. Like, okay, it's not going to be the NFL. If it's going to be this real estate thing, I'm going to do whatever it takes to be the greatest of all time, because I'm not going to be the first in my line to be an average and to not leave a mark for whatever that's worth. And you could say, oh, expectations, that's not fair. That's silly. That's true. That's what drove me and Fast Forward, you know, ostensibly 20 years to the position I'm in. In my industry, expectations was. Was. And to this day is the, the primary driver outside the ones we all have, which is supporting our family and, and, well, creation of wealth and things like that. So it was huge, huge for me and to this day is I, I don't want to let down that legacy. And I'm sure people listening is like, well, that's stupid. That's what I felt.

[D]

Right.

[B]

Does that make sense?

[D]

Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. What, what. How long did it take you to kind of feel like, at peace with the end, not make it to the NFL, going into more of a traditional job? Because I think a lot of people that listen to the show, we have a lot of ex NFL players on. We don't have a lot of people that are, you know, just played college and then were highly successful in the real estate world. So more people than not have to make that transition earlier than people that are usually on the show that I probably want to know. Like, how, like, how long did it take you to come to peace with, like, going to the next chapter?

[B]

Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you.

[D]

Took a minute to get that one out, but that one.

[B]

Well, here's what. Here's what I did such a good.

[A]

Job articulating the, the entire journey up until that question.

[B]

Here's. Here's what I said.

[A]

You can tell he's in the CDs. You can tell why he's.

[B]

Here's what I. Here's what I. I want to make sure I answer your question because there's, like, a couple things unpack there. So the first, I want to say that I, I have had time to think about this, and I am convinced that it was a blessing for me never really to get traction as a player into college, into the NFL. I, I, and I have, I have seen this firsthand, both within my family and outside my family, that I actually think it's harder if you play in the league four or five years. It's like a tease. Like, you actually taste and touch it and, and you get, you get paid, whether it's the minimum, 395. I don't know if that's still it, or you get paid 3 million bucks a year to do that for four or five years, and you do get some wealth and then for the career not to work out, and you're 30, and you say, okay, what do I do now? And then you start in a career, let's just say just like mine, and let's say your starting salary is 55 grand. You're like 55 grand. Like, I made that per quarter, right? And it's such, it's such a mind, right? It's. It's not. It's really hard. I never had to overcome that. And so I, I'm sensitive and I have empathy for the athletes who actually did play. They didn't play long enough. If I may to not at least financially. Ever have to work again? Whether you should or shouldn't, that's, that's opinion. But like to where financially, you know, you probably don't need to worry about money. A lot of athletes, they play a little bit and then it's taken away. So again, I want to make sure I answer your question. I think it was easier for me and it wasn't easy, but it was easier for me because I never even, I never even tasted that or touched it or experienced that. So I went straight from, from, you know, kind of a special teamer in college to like the workforce. And so the answer to your question is it, it's, it's very hard and, and gets easier over time, but you never truly get over it. And I don't know, I don't know if, if a guy who played 15 years and never has to work again and made all pro and is in the hall of Fame ever gets over it. You see it every day. I don't know if any of you guys will ever get over it. It's so hard, you know, to, to, to have that Life when you're 27 and then fast forward to 47 and you know, people care less and you make less. So it just, it was really hard early on. I'm sitting in that cube, I'm working at the time I usually get in the office at 5:45 to 6 and I work till 8:39 at night, like five days a week plus Saturdays. And all of my teammates, my close friends from sc, like I would say all, a lot of them are playing in the league, especially at that time with Pete Carroll.

[D]

Oh yeah, and I was early 2000.

[B]

Early 2000s and he came in right off. There was a 10 year run where like in any given year, you know, 10, 15 year teammates were going to the league and everyone going there was like, I'm going to the NFL. Whether that happened or not, Obviously, you know, not everybody made it. But you know, guys that I play with, Sean, Cody, Alofa, Tutupu, obviously Leonard Bush, all those guys, like they're playing and they're moving on and I'm, you know, sitting in a much less glamorous light, you know, wearing a suit and tie and, and you just, everybody handles it differently. I just again getting back to partly the, the not letting the Matthew sing now. I said I'm just not gonna, I'm just not gonna let these guys have these big lives and I'm not. And if it's real estate, I don't know How. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna figure it out. Like, I'm not gonna be the only unsuccessful teammate. I'm not gonna have my teammate say, hey, we're gonna go here and say, sorry, I can't do that, or I can't afford that. And again, one of my big driver was the family legacy, but one of many drivers you have or you hope you have when you're. When you're getting. Getting out of sports. Did I answer your question?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Knocked it out of the park.

[A]

It's kind of the.

[D]

Have you taken away.

[A]

Have you understood this about Cobble for. Is this kind of the first time you're hearing all of it in, like.

[C]

Well, as far as the legacy is concerned, that's definitely new to me. And it doesn't surprise me, though, and it doesn't the reason why he's had a success. But as to where that motivator comes from, you know, I mean, I think that. I'm not gonna say a surprise, but it's interesting to hear because obviously, as Matthews, we talk about how we're emotional but not emotive. So to have these conversations, you know, you're like, oh, okay. It's usually when it's a little. A little late. But yeah, to your point about, you know, like, us kind of you. I don't think any of us, we have to be at peace with when our career comes to an end, because I don't think any of us wanted to give it up.

[D]

Up.

[A]

No.

[C]

Highest paid, probably at one point. I know I was Pro bowls, all pros, 10 years.

[A]

Arguably. Yeah.

[C]

Arguably.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah. I'm gonna.

[C]

I'm gonna round up for you. Okay.

[B]

If you include Dynasty mode in Madden.

[C]

Yeah, well. And, you know, so. So you have to be at peace with that. You have to, you know, because it's. It's. You can't sit here because obviously I still felt like I had. I had some tread on the tires when the Rams let me go and in 2019.

[B]

But you still feel like you got tread?

[C]

Well, I do have tread. It's just, you know, it's more around my stomach right now, so.

[A]

But sure, it's not off, but you do look like you could.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

If a playoff team needed you right now.

[D]

Right. Plus the jacket.

[C]

The packers said they were looking for someone, but. Yeah, we saw how that ended, though.

[B]

But anyway, no one really ever gets over it.

[D]

No one ever gets over it. Yeah, but you're right. You gotta have. You have to have some sort of piece. You have to have some sort. Like, you have to have gratic attitude other than being like, I wish I could have done X, Y and Z. You have to look back and be like, man, I'm so lucky. I got to do whatever it is, right? Whether it was for a couple years or if you're a hall of fame type guy.

[C]

It's hard. It's hard to think like that too.

[A]

It is.

[C]

Because usually you're forced out of the league for whatever reason. Injuries, new gm, new head coach, team sucks, you know, whatever it may be. So it's always somebody else's fault. You gotta look in the mirror too and be like, whoever's fault it was, you gotta let it go and, you know, be at peace. So. And you know, obviously you're still working, but for me, me, I learned that from my father, you know, as soon as he retired. It's just, he would always say he's at peace. So I'm like, all right, well, time.

[D]

To be at peace. Well, if he's at peace, I'll be at peace now. I'll be at peace better than he's ever been at peace.

[A]

Even if you're the greatest and that ego is still there, it's only going to take, what, probably a decade for a generation to start kind of forgetting. Then you're like, dude, these guys forgot what I did. If you're so tied to that identity of being the best of all time.

[B]

Yeah. And I think your mind plays tricks on you. Like, this will sound stupid. Ice, to this day, I'm 42, I never even play in the NFL. And I'll watch a game, be like, I think I could play like today, like if I, if I really trained, like, and that's a joke. But I, I guarantee you, you and all the athletes, like, you're like, if I just wake up tomorrow and I get like, I think I could get back to it. And then you work out hard for like two days, you're like, yeah, let.

[D]

Me stop you there. I'll. I've been, we go to a lot of games during the fall and I'll watch warm ups and I'm just like, how the do people do this? The more you're removed, like the callous leaves and you're just like, like, you know, I get up and I'm like, I gotta grab. I see guys like block a little bit. I grab my knee, I'm like, yeah.

[B]

It'S, it's, it's a hard sport on everybody, but big Guys, it's really hard.

[D]

If you watch the playoffs yesterday, you see Jaden Daniels take that hit on the sidelines, it's like, what. What are we doing out here, boys?

[C]

Like, I watch my kids like jump off the coffee table. I'm like looking at his knees and I'm over there rubbing mine.

[D]

My kids like bump their like, knee or whatever and I'll kind of like, dude, let you.

[A]

All right, all right.

[B]

You're seven.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

TABLE When I was in Chicago on Friday, they played pickup basketball in the afternoon. And I you not, bro. I ran up and down the court three times and my chest for the rest of the day, I'm like hawking loogies. I'm like, man, yeah, it's. It's not that I thought it was never over, but it's for sure. And even waking up this morning, like I still have some inflammation in my knees just from run. Just from playing pickup basketball.

[D]

That's what makes it so impressive about some guys who take a year off and you never really see success other than Trent Williams. Trey Williams is the only guy I've ever seen take a year off, come back and be the same, if not better than they were before.

[B]

Yeah, he's built different.

[C]

Sorry to cut you off. That's what I felt when I was let go from the Rams. It was March of COVID Denver in Seattle called and they called it, you know, week one of that next, I guess the 2020 season. And I had let myself, like you said, that callous. I remove myself just a little bit bit, right? And deep down I started. Well, I started filling in where I wasn't in the kids lives, you know, getting into school, picking them up, homework, whatever it may be. And I felt myself gravitating towards that role and slipping, whatever you'd like to call it, pushing football further away to where they would call. And you're just like, ah, man, this ain't so bad. On the other side, those pilsners hitting hard.

[A]

The minute you get a couple weekends to yourself and you see your team like I remember it was the year I went to Oakland, but my year before that I was with the Titans. And the Titans started off, that's when that was the whole AFC championship. You started off like losing four in a row maybe, or you guys were two and four. But I'm sitting there, I'm like, thank God I don't got to go in tomorrow. Because the just the bubble that you're in football wise, you're like, thank God I'm not about to get eviscerated by variable in a team meeting.

[C]

But I thought you were coming back though, with Braves going over to New England, Right?

[A]

I might be. There's a couple calls, we're in a couple conversations. Maybe just a chemistry guy, locker room guy.

[D]

Just a strictly vibes guy.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

That stretches job. That stretches job. Take out the trash. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

What's that guy? Glenny Balls eats ice cream.

[D]

Yeah. Like you're that guy in the corner of the meeting. Yeah. Eat some food. Laughs at his jokes extra hard.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

You're the funniest man. Yo, he starts a team meeting, you get out from under the desk.

[B]

Go ahead, Coach, you just totally nailed that pregame speech. 10 out of 10, like, awesome, dude.

[D]

No one can touch you.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

The fluffer.

[A]

What was it like, Clay, for you? Like I was reading somewhere where you would have liked to have finished in Green Bay. Like the legacy that you had in Green Bay. What was it like for you going to the Rams and you were just kind of talking about the Denver and Seattle and you're kind of feeling it, you're kind of out of it, like coming to. Coming to terms with your career.

[C]

Yeah, well, I was disappointed in how my time in Green Bay ended. So my contract was up after the 2018 season. I played, you know, I played out two contracts and we. We had a defensive coordinator My first nine years I was rolling. My 10th year we had a new D coordinator. I had a career low in sacks, but I knew I could still play, you know, as well. Everybody says that, but I'm like, I know I can still play. I know I can get to the quarterback. And obviously they decided to go in a different direction.

[A]

Would you play an inside a little bit more?

[C]

Yeah, well, that was the 2015, 2016 season. And they obviously held that against me. When they say your sack numbers are down, I was like, well, I just made two pro bowls and I'll pro at inside linebacker. But of course, which is about.

[A]

We had like 60 tackles as an inside.

[C]

Yeah, but bro, did you see my impact backed?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

2014 we had our line back swinging.

[A]

At the air that you. Not that we were saying. We argued that we should have got in there, but it's like, how'd this dude Clay Matthews just off his name, getting the name, getting in again.

[B]

Maybe if you grow your hair out. It takes discipline to do that.

[C]

2014 were the 31st ranked run defense. That was the year we choked to Seattle in the playoffs. And then the second half of that season, top five when I Moved inside side. So we can't argue against it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

Stand up for yourself. You can't do that.

[A]

You're right.

[D]

You're right.

[A]

You're right, William.

[C]

I still got the ego. I still got the ego. But, no, see the impact I made?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, he hasn't memorized that or anything.

[C]

I just know it. So. So they let me go and. Or they let me, you know. Hey, we appreciate all you've done here that time.

[A]

No. Are they communicating with you a lot? Like.

[C]

No, that's. That's what I was disappointed with is, you know, they had insinuated that they. They were going to bring me back, or at least, hey, you go out, you know, field some offers. We'd like to match it. And then I find out on Twitter they signed Preston and Zadarius Smith. And I'm like, oh, well, you know. And so they call, you know, a couple minutes later. Appreciate everything you've done, you know. Yeah, we'll see you down there.

[A]

How enraged were you with that phone call?

[C]

I. I was kind of shook, you know, because I. I didn't expect that. You know, we. My wife. No, we. We were all staying back there in the off season because there was some uncertainty. We had our third child out there, and I thought I'd for sure be coming back. And so that. That was, you know, I just was in awe a little bit. And I think a lot of people, a lot of fans thought that I chose to leave to go to la, being an LA kid and whatnot. But the reality was, you know, at that point, and we're also four, five, six days into free agency, so these coaches, these teams, like, oh, man, I didn't know. So, you know, they. We thought you were going to resign there. So the Rams and the Ravens were the two teams that reached out. And I. I talked to Eric Weddle. He was with the Ravens, signed with the Rams. And Rams were coming off the super bowl from la. Baltimore was offering a little bit more money, and they just came off a season with Lamar, had just been drafted. Let's just say they were 8 and 8. I'm like, oh, man, this guy's not.

[D]

Going to be any good.

[C]

They're not. Hey, but Jared Goff and in the Rams. Yeah, McVeigh. So I opted to go to LA. We didn't even make the playoffs. They cut me loose after a year. Baltimore went 14 2. They had, like, 12 Pro bowl starters.

[A]

I'm like, Mars, the MVP?

[C]

Yeah. I'm just like, man, I'll talk about A bad decision. But I, I really though. 2011, we went 15 and one in Green Bay in 2019. My year in LA were two of my favorite years. So I can't speak disparagingly on the Rams. I, I really enjoy it. My time there and playing with Aaron Donald too freed up so much for me. I mean, it was the first time since my rookie year that I wasn't double teamed anymore. And speaking of those stats, I was top five and like rush win percentage with like Bosa and TJ Watton in year 11, so. But yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[D]

What year was that?

[C]

2019.

[D]

Yeah, we didn't play, did we?

[C]

Because you would have gone against.

[D]

Got handled.

[C]

I probably.

[A]

Unless it was the first six games.

[D]

No, 19. Oh yeah, the first six games. No, no, they didn't play the first six.

[A]

Four.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

We, we, we, we played you once. Although I didn't play. I was injured at the time. You guys trust me.

[D]

Hey, when you were injured, I was like, thank God. You say you see the starters out. You're like, was that the game?

[B]

Especially with the 90 minutes when you got kicked out.

[C]

Yeah, he got kicked out LA Troy. Guy on came across the line. He, he, he knocked over Mario.

[D]

Yeah, we did a hard count. He, he jumped and he pushed Marcus down. You can't, we're not having that.

[C]

Well, they, the refs weren't having you when they kicked you out of the game.

[B]

The refs won't make it.

[D]

About that, I will say I was in, I was in for four plays and I was a part of. We still lost 60% of DeMarco Murray's rush yards. Not a big deal. But I got ejected from that game because I'm looking at whoever that guy is.

[C]

Troy.

[D]

Yeah, and the ref had his hand on my chest. But the rest.

[C]

That's right.

[D]

You just so like moved ahead and he's like, you're gone. You're out of here, buddy. There is not a lonelier feeling you're walking in that locker room. I, I have my pants on at halftime still when they came in and I'm like in the corner. Kind of like Will would be in Vape's meeting room if he went to the Pats. And they lost, like just kind of.

[A]

Scared wild ricochet shot. We were having some fun, but now.

[B]

It'S getting a little personal.

[D]

JB knows what I'm talking about, but that was. Yeah, yeah. Thank God we won that game. Thank God. I thought we were gonna get killed that game.

[C]

I forget what Happened, but I think we, we just didn't play. What year was that? 16.

[D]

Yeah. 16.

[C]

16.

[D]

16.

[C]

16 is when we heard.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

To your own fans or to us.

[D]

It was more to the refs, but it was just a nice photo of me with one of those.

[C]

What did you, what was the. Did you get a fine for just getting ejected or did you get the.

[D]

I got a $30,000 fine for being ejected. And I think it got rescinded though because they're like, yeah, they shouldn't have ejected you for this game.

[C]

And you got the victory and you didn't. It's just like 15 game seasons plus.

[B]

You got a lot of street cred.

[C]

Yeah, he already had that going.

[D]

That was my year. I came on the scene a little bit. That's when I had like my first Pro Bowl. Things were going really well. We ended up going 9 and 7 after going 2 and 14 and 3 and 13. So that's when they really started to go for me a little bit. Short lived, but it was still a nice couple of years.

[A]

I love how recently was our pods odds? There's like a new story that we get to hear about with you.

[D]

What do you mean? Just.

[A]

Oh yeah, yeah, you got ejected. I haven't heard that one.

[D]

You haven't?

[C]

Yeah. The other good one was I, we. It was preseason game.

[D]

Not sure I was gonna bring this up. This is my, this is my welcome to the NFL moment.

[C]

No, no, no, you can you tell that one. This was a dip. This was preseason like several years later from your rookie year. Maybe it's week three, week four.

[D]

We're in, we're in Green Bay. Yeah.

[C]

Lambeau and I, I still am good friends with. With. Of course, I'm blanking on his name right now. Kyler. Kyler. Kyler Fakro. He actually had 11 sacks in 2018. But anyways, you were, you, you guys were going at it in the first. And he's a LDS member, good old boy, you know, Mormon. And you were just laying into him. He'd come to the sideline. He's like, man, he's telling me to go myself and like this type of stuff. And I was like, that guy, man, go get him. You know, I was like trying to coach him up, like just run down his face.

[D]

Yeah, preseason game. You got a, you got a bucket hat on a, a bunch of seeds in your mouth. You're gonna do fine out there, brother. Don't you worry about it.

[C]

Don't let him bully you around.

[D]

Yeah, there is nothing more enjoyable than a Fourth preseason game, just sitting with the boys. Like, dude, would they make you wear shoulder pads? They make wear shoulder pads. Which.

[C]

Yeah, they would. They would. Some. Some would take it. Like Charles Woodson would take it off, but you know, later on. Charles Woodson, right, exactly. But I, I had to keep it on. But yeah, that was funny. The story you told me when we talked about.

[D]

Yeah, we met at Thomas Rhett's charity event or his wife's Love one charity event. And I was, I literally like, hey, Clay Matthews is here. And I kind of like ran over there like a little fan. And we like talk for 30 minutes. It was a nice little bro down. And yeah, my rookie year, it was like the third preseason game and I was, I was not a starter. Was. Michael Ruse is the starter. But I was in. And that. Not the tight end, but the wing. Not. No, I'm sorry. I was the tight end on field goal.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Which is the worst position you can possibly be on ever in the history of football. You just take three dudes to the face constantly. But preseason, I'm thinking I'm going to be all right. You're lined up on Michael Roos and like kind of on his shoulder.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Ruse is down there 10 year videos. Hey, Clay, go easy. And he just, he goes get the rookie. And he literally just watched Clay in a four point stance shift over and I'm like, hey, what's going on here? Ball snap. Dude takes me and there's nothing like couple guys on me. This is just Clay drives my ass in the ground.

[B]

Doesn't.

[D]

Doesn't say a word either. And jogs off and I'm kind of like hook myself up like that.

[C]

I actually felt bad. No, not at the time. Like when I met you, I was like, I'm sorry for that. But you know, you got to think like you probably just scored. I actually. So I went home and I mean, I don't remember that, but I remember it was pouring rain. It was.

[D]

I love that it affected you enough because I kind of went. I told my wife. I was like, I hope he feels bad about.

[C]

I went home and I was like, I just didn't remember. And I was like, that's right. We played a preseason game. That's when Julius came out there to. To Green Bay. And I'm like, they must have scored. And I just took it out on him.

[D]

But no, it was Michael. It wasn't. It wasn't.

[C]

Oh, it was actually Rus's fault because I took it easy.

[D]

I remember like seeing you and I'm Very thinking to myself, those fucking forms are massive. And they were just vascular. And then all of a sudden the forms got closer to me. And by the way, a lot of hair on your arms because I remember it vividly. And you just took my ass out.

[C]

All right, well.

[D]

And put. Put me in the.

[B]

I'm glad we're working through this.

[C]

This is great.

[D]

I'm actually sweating.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I'm sorry for that. I apologize. But in a way, it kind of. Kind of built you up a little bit, you know? 2016 was the year.

[D]

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[A]

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[A]

Let's go back to usc.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You being a walk on always blows my mind. I think it blows everybody's mind that you're a walk on. When did you ever. You earned a scholarship by you? Never.

[C]

I never. In fact I lied when I got.

[A]

You're a first round pick and you never earned a scholarship?

[C]

No, I didn't get one scholarship. So when I went to, you know.

[A]

Oh, Pete Carroll.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

That was his junior year. He. You were put on scholarship. Is that what you're. No, no.

[C]

He's asking me going in. Going to s. I'm sorry, are you asking for out of high school? Was I like.

[A]

Yeah, I knew you were a walk on out of high school, but I'm saying did you ever earn your scholarship?

[C]

Yes, thanks for clarifying that. I did. Yes. My red shirt, my third year, my red shirt sophomore year. I earned a scholarship. So I apologize.

[A]

You're. You're good.

[C]

I'm about to. Yeah, I'm just going to get into it, but. Yeah, get into it. I felt like I deserved one after, so. And they had, they have this, you know, your gpa, like, I think your team gp, I don't know if this is still, you know, with the nil and whatnot. Has to be a certain, you know what a threshold. And so every year they'd give scholarships to like 5th year walk ons who bring up the GPA of the teams mostly. Well, you know, there'd be like, there'd just be some guys and I felt like after my first year, I felt like I deserved a scholarship. It was kind of crazy to think, but I felt like I earned it as opposed to the other guys who were getting it.

[A]

So in the fashion of the way you performed on team.

[C]

Well, I was red shirted, but going into that next year I was on kickoff and I think punt. So I just felt like I had, you know, but I didn't say anything. And then the next year, you know, they, they kind of gave me one, the opening.

[B]

So you guys going into your third year.

[C]

So I guess that'd be my register. Sophomore year, refresher year. Just. I was just trying to keep my head above water. I was, I was like the scout team running back where guys were tackling me. I was the pulling guard for DNS who were trying to spill it. I was like, this is, this is.

[B]

Hold up, hold up. When I got to sc, we had three practices a day. These are three days, all right. And then heading into like this was freshman, sophomore, and it was really tough. And then there were a couple athletes who passed away that summer. Off season workouts was a guy at Florida State. Then there was maybe a alignment in the Vikings. And so the NCAA switched, you know, changed their. With the regulated practice where you can't have more than two practices a day, like two days in a row. All right? So it started to get easier, but when I got in, it was brutal. This guy comes in right after me. Look, get this. So he's, he's gonna be a red shirt is what it is. Like, you know, he's a walk on. He's gonna be camp fodder, you know? Yeah, he gets down there for like the first practice, then they rule him ineligible or something. He skipped his entire red shirt camp.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What happened?

[C]

No, it was a clearinghouse. So I, I had good grades, but some paperwork didn't get submitted because I was.

[A]

You actually have good grades?

[C]

Yeah, so, yeah, I got, I got. They sent me home After a week. And like I said, that first week was brutal because, you know, you're like the man in high school no matter where you went. And, man, I just remember coming home telling my parents, like, I want to quit. I was like, I won't be closer at home. Go to UCLA and all this stuff. And fortunately, I didn't go back till after Reggie. We beat Virginia Tech and he. That was his Heisman year 2004, when we won the national championship. But, but I didn't go back to week one of practice, so that honestly saved me because I was, man, I.

[B]

Was, I'm sitting there, sitting in my cube, like, what? He doesn't have to practice the whole camp. I'm like, man, how does this guy get away with that?

[D]

Yeah. Hey, walk on. Walk on, freshman. They try to break you.

[B]

That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

[D]

Summer. You did summer workouts, though?

[B]

Yeah, I, I, you started coming down.

[C]

Yeah, you know, but I didn't have. No. Yes, I did do summer. I think I did summer. But fall camp was like, you know, and especially understand, which I'm sure as you know, being a, you know, high. Were, Were you highly recruited out of high school? I don't, I mean, I know I.

[D]

Had like a, A crazy come up my senior year, but I had no scholarship.

[A]

All American.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

So, yeah, off two football. Well, it's very, it's very clicky, as you know. And so if you're a walk on, there's a negative connotation of walk on. So you're kind of putting this bubble with the frat boys and whatnot.

[A]

That's true.

[C]

But I, what I was, I was getting at earlier is I lied to some, some of these guys. Like, what scholarships did you have? I picked the worst teams in the pack. So I was like, Arizona, Arizona State. I threw in Idaho. You know, I was like, no one's gonna check it. So I kind of, you know, I fit in there. But then. Yeah, you in the top right. Look at young Troy right there in the front left.

[B]

The only white boy.

[A]

It's a good feeling.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, it's a good feeling, but I forgot I'm on a tangent right now.

[D]

So you tell, you're telling all the guys about the scholarships you had. You picked the worst. Seems to pass. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. So no one would check me, and then I wouldn't. I, like, feel better about myself. So that's. But yeah, I didn't get any scholarship at high school, but I did obviously earn one when I was just to.

[A]

Throw this out there. And Kyle, you can help fact check me if I'm wrong here, but you thought you deserved a scholarship after your red shirt year.

[C]

I'm sorry, my red.

[A]

You didn't even go to red shirt training camp.

[C]

No, not my red shirt training. My second year. I. I apologize. The CTE is kicking in. All right, let's bull rush.

[D]

But we've got. Got it all.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

What kind of stories? Like, you play with Leiner and Bush. Like, you hear all this stuff. He got his Heisman taken away for the things that would happen.

[D]

He dates a Kardashian.

[A]

Yeah. Under. Yeah. Pete Carroll's regime. He goes off to Seattle. Do you have any stories?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, about the LA life, you guys.

[D]

That's when like USC was truly. You go on legitimate celebrities, like you were celebrities to the celebrities.

[A]

Yeah. You go on rivals, dot Common. You'd see them in their gray T shirt, cut off T shirts, working out, and you'd be like, that's the place. You see that red. That red wooden fence sitting behind her.

[D]

There were three schools I wanted to go to. USC was one of them. Just, that was. Gosh.

[C]

So what year was that? Real quick?

[D]

09. Would have been my freshman year. 09, that's what. Pete was still there.

[C]

Well, I know Tyron Smith was still there, but he might have been like a junior or sophomore year.

[D]

I think he got drafted in what, 2011, 2012.

[C]

I think my senior year was like, these tackle. It was Khalil. Khalil, not Matt Khalil. And they were so skinny and smarty. I come back and they're like first round draft picks. Yeah.

[D]

There was one guy, I can't remember who was in my class, but he was like the number five tackle. It was like, I can't. He had a family. Like, his dad also played at USC. But I was like the. I was 255. I was the weight I am right now, my senior of high school and like trying to like get scholarships on potential. This kid was like 310 already. Like, you know, this kid looks like he can play in the league. I can't remember his name. I had a huge vendetta against him my entire college career. Yeah, that's how you keep the chip on the shoulder.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Well, pick one or two guys.

[B]

Yeah, I know. And you just. You create narratives in your head, you know?

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Whatever you got to do to get yourself up in the morning. So, you know, we. I think you probably like me. We get this question, what was it like? You know, LA celebrities Paying players. Like, I hate to disappoint. At least my experience. And I can't say I was, you know, I was boys with all those guys. Like, I can't necessarily say I was running the Hollywood circuit with Liner and Reggie. Like, that wasn't necessarily my vibes at the time or ever. But it was, it was really a credit to Pete Carroll, man. And a lot of the company I run today, I founded almost a decade ago. And run I, unbeknownst to me at the time, like, I got to see a highly successful high performance organization run, in my opinion, as good as it possibly can, where Pete created this insane level of competition, like iron sharpens iron, full speed, ones versus ones every day in practice. But then he did it in a way that was so loose and so fun. Lots of pranks, lots of celebrities, and just, just the master. And. And so that's really, you know, you juxtapose that versus a Nick Saban, and both are insanely successful. They're very different, though. And Pete style, in my opinion, you know, so many people tried to replicate it, just not to the degree it was. It was a lot of fun. He was, he was very transparent about competition. I'll tell you, I'll give you a story. So I'm sitting there, I'm sitting behind Polamalu for three years, and then heading into my senior year, the way I saw it, we had the strong safety pretty much settled, and I was a safety and the safeties were interchangeable, so the other safety was open. And, you know, looking at the depth chart, like, humbly speaking, I felt good about my, my opportunity to potentially earn that spot. And then. But they, they signed a five star freshman, a Long Beach Poly Polly Darnell Bing, who'd go on to have a great career and became a good buddy of mine. But, you know, I didn't know Darnell personally when they signed him. I'm like, oh, crap. Like, here we go. So it's before spring, before the first practice you meet as a team, you're in the big team meeting room. And Pete goes, hey, guys, okay, this spring we got to get after it. We just coming off, you know, a big BCS win, like. And he goes, but I want you to understand, the opportunity you guys, as existing players have is the spring is your showcase, because in the fall, we're bringing the number one class in. They had just signed it because signing day is like February now it's March spring ball. He goes, we're bringing the number one class in and we are going to Give them the reps and give them the opportunity to beat you out. And so you need to take this time seriously because you're not going to have as big of a opportunity in the fall. And just to drive home the point, you're going to sit here and for the next hour, we're going to put their highlights on film and you have to sit here and watch all of your. All of the five star recruits are bringing in these guys. I am bringing them in to take your job and you're going to sit here and you're going to watch their high school highlights. So we had to sit there for.

[D]

An hour tight in that meeting room. Oh, my God.

[B]

So we had to sit there and you know, it's like, okay, running backs. It was coming in Reggie Lindale. We had a guy, Chauncey Washington, who was really good running back, you know, tight ends. Oh, lineman. And then it gets the safety. Like it said, five star number one in the country rivals number one in the country. This Darnell being Long Beach Poly. And I just sit there for like, you know, five to six minutes and watch you guys highlights. And I'm just sitting there like this, like, you know, like, because that, like when you're in that like alpha dog, hyper masculine society that is college football or any football, like, it's, it's kind of like a fighter's mentality. Like, I'm gonna kill this guy. And like that's, that's what he was doing. It was all. Pete was so good at the psychological part. And so, you know, the answer to your question really is like, I can't, I don't have. As far as I know, there weren't like alumni handing out money or anything. At least not to me, you know, not to you. Like, but, but, but it was the way Pete ran the program. It was so intense. It was so high speed, full speed, one verse once he would, he would like proactively tell you you are competing with him. And yet he did it in a way that there wasn't, there wasn't open animosity. I never looked at Darnell or Troy, like, I hate you. No, those are my, those are my guys. Those are my boys, you know, and I, and I do the best I can to take that and apply it to, to the company I get to run.

[C]

You had talked about, you know, celebrities and whatnot coming out. Like, I think, you know, Kyle graduated right when they were peaking us in and, you know, the celebrity was coming in. So like Snoop Dogg will come in and drop it. Like it's hot. We had a guy freestyle with him in the front. Will Ferrell come in as Ricky Bobby. You know, we had all these guys coming in on the sideline and, and whatnot. It kept a loose environment. But you know, kind of like Kyle alluded to it also that what he demanded from us as well, he made it very clear. And some of my fondest memories are, are just a stretching lines. You know, we'd have Ken Norton and Lane Kiffin and they'd be arguing at each other and, and Sark Sarkeesian was there. Why am ion Ed Oon was there. But that, you know, Ken Norton.

[B]

Because it wasn't just the players.

[C]

Ken Norton would be saying, lane, only reason why you got a job is cuz your daddy. And then Lane would be yelling back, your daddy got knocked out by Ali. And he said, my daddy, not my, my daddy broke Ali's job. And it was like, but. And then we went straight into nine on seven, straight into nine on seven. But like, like Kyle said, there was no animosity. You know, it's like you could tell there was that friction, but it was, there was, it was always competition. That's every meeting, every, you know, was all about competition.

[B]

And Pete, while he was a players coach and that he is fun like he was a killer, man. He was a businessman and like. And if you got in the way of his program, them guys would disappear, man, like they would get out. I remember because back then there was no transfer portal. There's nothing. And again, this is my opinion. I can't prove this. It's like when Pete came in because I actually my freshman year I was with Paul Hackett and then Pete came in and all of a sudden like guys started disappearing off the roster. He would go to him, he'd say hey listen, like. And this is what I heard. So I'm just. Is like, hey, you're never going to play here. And so you can do one or two things. You can transfer out, we'll sign your papers like, like see you later.

[D]

Back then you had to a year off, right?

[B]

If you transferred, you had to take. Or what he did was he went to a lot of guys like, hey, you had a shoulder injury, you had a knee injury. Like you're recovering. We'll medical you, but we'll like walk you into the grad school program.

[A]

Like.

[B]

Because like he came in, he's like, how do I turn this roster around? And I can't wait to do it. 15 to 20 scholarships at a time in my first year, 3540 guys like got cycled through the program at a time that it was, it wasn't as liquid as it is today. Like where guys can just come in and out. I mean, nowadays coaches are going like, hey, you should transfer because we're not going to play you and go somewhere else. So he's, he's a killer and you respect that. But he did it in a way that just, you know, really some of the fondest memories of my life. Like what? I don't know. I'd be interested to ask you guys a question. Like, what do you miss more? Like playing football or the locker room. Right.

[D]

Is.

[B]

I miss the locker room. That's what I really miss.

[D]

The locker room is commercials.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, I see Peyton Manning's autograph crap. There was before J.J. watt, it was me on the defensive side.

[D]

The. You you brought, you bring up Pete Carolyn how like Stern, he wasn't hardcore. He was. But how he made it fun. Like, he seemed like a guy that he like made the, like the basketball hoop in the team meeting room made that famous. Like, what were some of the things he did to keep it? Like his. My short time. I got to me, I went to a, A junior camp at usc and it was like I saw him and the first time I met him, he gives me a hug. I'm like, this guy's the. Like, he just had that energy.

[B]

So he's just built different. He has energy that I don't have and like, he just. I think he was born that way. That is not an act. Like, he is a high energy positivity guy. I'll. I'll, I'll give you some examples. And, and maybe it changed by the time Clay got there. Like, you know, it's the middle of camp and you're, you know, you're. What are the 28 days in camp? And it's day 18. Like, you're just in the right and your, your body's banged up and, and you're going hard. And Pete's like, hey, like, you know, for practice in the morning, practice in the afternoon. So at the end of the first practice, he, I don't know if he manufactured, really felt like this, but it was supposed to be full pads in the morning, like shells in the afternoon. So full pads. And you know, at the end of practice he's like, that was a bullshit. I don't like the energy. This is bs like da, da. Yeah. Just ripping us, you know. Which again, that wasn't normally his go to style. He did it more than probably the normal fans would think, but like, it was like. And maybe we were dragging ass. So we get. He's like, you know what? Because that. We're going full pads this afternoon, hitting drills, tackling live, everything. We're like, oh, no. And so he. He brings us out in the second practice, we start doing the stretch lines and he like calls us up and he goes, guys, like, I need to be able to trust you. And I'm paraphrasing here. I need to be able to trust you. Like, I was not happy with this, so I'm going to give you an option. Either we go hard and like do this the right way, or we get on some buses and go to the beach and there are buses lined out right outside practice and we all get on the bus in our full pads and go to Manhattan beach and go to the beach that day.

[C]

Like, yeah, movies. We go watch the beach volleyball. Yeah, man. And just stuff in the meeting room too. I can't remember why, but we always were shooting water up in here. Guys taking their shirts off, swinging them around. I don't know why, but like, we just. That was it. Every meeting, they always call people up to make fun of other people. Like what you did with Ray Bl. Like, I always. They called me up all. It's because I was just a walk on at the time. Like nobody. And then, you know, like, they would call people up to make fun of others. They do one on ones watching people get cooked or whatnot. So like, they always promoted that environment.

[B]

I'll get you on that team meeting. So like, we. We might have to cut this just because I like this guy. But we would come in, destroy him. No, no, no.

[D]

Having fun.

[B]

We would come in and like, to clay's point, like, there is this. It started my sophomore junior year. Like the meeting room. Coacho was getting mad about something and he. He smashes a projector with his fist. And like, these are projectors. Like, I'm getting old here. And he smashes it and throws it. And then like, we're getting hyped. So Kennedy Pola, this big Samoan running back coach, he played running back, just awesome guy. Like, he takes a chair and throws it through this window because they're like, like floor to ceiling windows, like 12ft tall. And throws it through the window. And we're sitting like, what has happened? So then that became kind of like whenever they felt like we would just start getting hyped and throwing water and. And so Kennedy polis started saying, like, what's the first thing you do before you get in a fight, you know, it's like, take your shirts off. So everyone takes their shirts off. We start, like, pushing each other and.

[D]

Like, yeah, you get me hyped up right now.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And then he's like. Then there's this chant, like, war time. It's time to go to war. Like, we're gonna take it outside. Like, what do you do? You take your shirt off. Like, let's go outside. We're about to get in a fight. That was our chant, like, back when we were. And I don't think it is anymore. You know, Lincoln might need to bring it back. But my point is, so then. So it started getting more hyped, and every. Every meeting got more and more hyped. It wasn't, you know, to eventually, like, you took your shirt off. Like, everybody's taking their shirts off. And then we had a linebacker coach. Coach Holt. Nick Holt.

[C]

Oh, yeah, he was your coach.

[B]

He ended up going to coach Idaho for a minute. He got so hyped up. One time he took his shirt off in front of the whole team. Team. Then he took his pants off. All of it. Underwear.

[A]

No.

[B]

And he's jumping around butt. Ass naked. Everyone's like, yeah, let's.

[C]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

And like, he's like, what? Too. Too much.

[D]

It's like, dog, put this.

[A]

Like.

[B]

And everyone's like, dude, what just happened?

[D]

He was a grown man. He just.

[B]

He got into that, like, manic alpha.

[D]

Where he went, 18 and older, barely legal kids.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, all right. Like, after that, we. We agreed there was. There was a limit to the height.

[D]

We gotta draw the next meeting. PKL being like, hey, we can get excited, but let's keep our underworld probably, like, his.

[B]

Pete had a great way to roll with it. But that's when I was like, all right, this place is crazy, dude. What has happened? It was just. It was just next level. And then. Then the NCAA came in and killed it.

[D]

So if you ever go to Reggie Bush's house in Malibu. Malibu in college.

[B]

No, I did not. Did he have a house in Malibu?

[D]

I think that's what he had. That he had cars, stories. Allegedly.

[C]

This is all the only thing I got. I Honestly, the only. I never. I never saw money. You know, I've never seen any of that. But I got two free Arby's roast beef sandwiches in the Valley. That was the only thing I got in my five years at sc. I got nothing. So all this stuff, like, where are these guys getting. They get Free, you know, whatever it is, hundreds of thousands of dollars. I just, maybe I was just. I had my head in the sand, but that went over my head.

[A]

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[D]

Yes.

[A]

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[D]

Freezer area.

[A]

A little freezer area.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

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[D]

You better get there faster because they might not have all the varieties because people might come there and start buying all the varieties. And you'll only have one or two varieties once you want all the varieties.

[A]

Especially when they listen to this ad read.

[D]

Go ahead.

[A]

Go shop. Go right now. Kevin's Natural Foods. That's all I got to say back to this, bro. You hit. You were part of the. I wouldn't even say arguably the best linebacker room of all time.

[D]

Of all time.

[B]

Facts, facts.

[A]

You Maluga.

[C]

Yeah, we went Keith Rivers that senior class. Yeah. And then Keith was older.

[A]

By the time Keith was a year.

[C]

He was a year older. So he went ninth, though. But I was even there there. Lofo was second round, but, yeah, my senior year was me. And Kush went first round, and Ray went second. Ray should have gone. Well, he's supposed to go first. And then Mayaba went fourth to the Browns. We had a good. I think we finished first, first, second, second, and all the postseason accolades and whatnot. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Clay had phenomenal. Chris. Ray had a great career. Even Kaluka, like, he started. He was playing, I think, seven years.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I think maybe older or something.

[B]

Yeah, that's what it was. But that was a great team.

[A]

How was. How. How was Cush in college? Because he seems like a.

[C]

He's my. He's my favorite New Jersey boy. He's my favorite.

[D]

You just have that thing when they're playing the Cleveland Browns and he runs face first in the office of lineman. Face blood full or face full blood?

[C]

Hey, we. We. We would be in, like, Coach Norton, Ken Norton would be, you know, in meetings, and it'd be like, lunchtime, and I'd be eating, like, a turkey burger with fries, trying to be healthy, and this guy, like, you know, offer some. Something, and then you see his. His little watch go off. Click it, reach underneath that, pull out his, like, customized meal and pills and whatnot. He was just. He was dialed in. But I love that guy. He's still one of my best friends. His dad. Wish we could have played again. Still keep in touch. But, yeah, he was a monster, and I think he helped elevate that room because of his Jersey tough mentality. He was about it. He was about that.

[D]

Like, he was about that action.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He. That he. And Clay knows him super well. But like I was thinking, last time I hung out with Kush, we were in Miami. Miami. And. And we're down there for the Pro Bowl. Clay's in the Pro Bowl. And so we're. Me, Clay, my brother Casey, and Kush. We're out, and we're having a good time. But it's like, you know, like, it's like midnight, 1am Like, I'm getting tired, man. We're like grown ups and coach. Like, come on. Like, we're in Fort Lauderdale, which is about an hour north of Miami. Coach, like, let's go to Miami. There's a. There's a party at a club. Miami. My teammates from the Texans. Andre Johnson is from Miami. He's throwing a party. You remember this?

[C]

We were the only white boys there.

[B]

We're outside this club. We're with. It was Ray Lewis. It was Dan Hendo Henderson. We're sitting outside, and I'm like, no, dude, let's go, dude. I'm tired. Like, go home and coach. Like, no, come on. Like, what do I got to do? And I swear to God, you look down and I don't know. In the curve, there was a $1 bill in, like a dirty cur, like, in. In, like gutter water. And I was like, you eat that $1 bill. And Kush is like, what? I was like, eat that $1 bill. We'll go to Miami. So Kush rolls up, he. He eats a gut. Like a gutter water $1 bill. And he goes, I was like, I.

[C]

Guess we're going to Miami.

[B]

So we go down to Miami.

[D]

Hold up.

[B]

It gets better. We go down. We don't really understand the context of this party. So we roll in. It's a nightclub. Andre Johnson. And the entire U is throwing it in, like, you know, like Coral Gables or Brickell or somewhere down there. And we walk into Clay's point. Look, this. No, not. You know, it's like, we're the only white dudes there. And, like, which is fine. Like, we're like, oh, this is fun. And cushing. We go up, they have a table for us. We're, you know, we're dapping up some people we know. Kush disappears.

[C]

Disappears over there. Mario Williams dapping them up in the middle of the.

[B]

In the dance floor. So listen, we have.

[A]

So they're down there. Then this.

[B]

Hold on, hold on. It gets. It gets better.

[D]

Left you.

[B]

This is a Kush story. So, like, again, like, Clay, you made the decision. If we edit this out, I think this makes. I think this makes it look. Makes them look even better.

[D]

But.

[B]

But he disappears and they're bringing bottles and bottles and bottles. We're not drinking. Like, it's. Again, now it's 2, 3am and like, the Matthews were like, let's go home. Well, anyway, all of a sudden we're like, hey, we're Gonna head out. He's like, well, who's paying for this bill? And it's like, this is $10,000. Like, well, it ain't. No, it's Cushing. So Cushing had left his credit card on the table. That's fine. Kush had like a $2,500 limit on his credit card.

[A]

Boys, I got this. Don't even worry.

[B]

Like, he's disappeared. He has his credit card. Can't pay for anything. And we're like, we're not paying for it. And like, they're like, someone's paying for it. And so finally we. We got the guy to Andre Johnson comes over. It's his party.

[C]

I think it was like, his somebody.

[B]

I got it. I got it. And then we were saying, hey to Andre Johnson. You got to go track Kush down to get the money. And he got the money. But, like, that was Cush.

[D]

Hey, where was Kush?

[C]

Oh, he just disappeared. He just disappeared. He was down there amongst the crowd. Just.

[D]

I know where we were was.

[C]

Kush told me the story. He said, like, yeah, yeah, I got you. And then, like, it was like a month later and somebody rolled up on him. He had to like, write a check or something. Hey, you got that money? Like, y.

[A]

Somebody.

[B]

That's right. Somebody rolled up on him, was like, hey, like, where's the money? Yeah, that is so, you know, Kush is. Is that guy. That's not an act. Like, he's a savage.

[D]

You know, he had to be crazy.

[C]

It was great.

[A]

I mean, it was my entire motivation and inspiration. Like in my high school days. Like, my dad. My dad was pretty psychotic with me as a kid. But you were the walk on story, Kush. I had to do all I. My dad would buy all the DeFranco tapes and I would have to do all the DeFranco method that Kush would do. I mean, because she's got that, you know, diabolical before and after photo with when he was going through labrum surgery. And then all of a sudden he's like, flexing with you. You guys are both flexing in the classroom. And then Ray Maluga was my lock screen, so I was all SC linebackers.

[B]

Why didn't you go there? There?

[A]

I wasn't good enough. I didn't get an offer. What year was that?08 was the classic. I think that was. I think that was Tyron Smith.

[C]

Is Tyron Smith what lineback who was like Chris Galipo or who were.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Because my brother, he was a five star. Yeah. My Brother came out. He might have been like a three or four star. My younger brother and. And SC Pass on. Yeah. Well, I don't know.

[D]

Pete.

[C]

Was P. Still there? Well, anyways, they passed on him, and so he went up to Oregon, and obviously Oregon had played in the national championship. Ended up losing to Cam Newton. But after, like, the first year, you really want to transfer back to usc. Like, you missed it. You missed the boat, but that's brutal.

[A]

Supposed to keep in the family. What are you guys doing?

[D]

I have a vivid memory of. It's like week six or seven. No. Probably the first couple of weeks of my rookie year, and I'm not starting, but I'm watching Ray Monologa on the Bengals, and we had a whole game plan of like, hey, we got to hit the perimeter on these guys. So we were watching a bunch of pinpole things with tackles going out, out. And there's a clip from the Ravens where Ray did not give a. About making the tackle. He was just murdering. Right then. I sat in that main room. I was like, I pray to God nobody gets hurt.

[C]

I am not playing as a. As a freshman at. At USC. They put him on kickoff like L5, R5. He'd run down there, biggest head ever to a neck, and he would just. Just lead with his head and just knock people out. And he would just get up. I mean, he was like. You would think he was just straight from the island. Like, you brought him over like. Like Maui, you know, Demigod. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He was like.

[A]

Here's why I was telling Taylor before this, like, when we were talking about Maluga, his body, like, everybody has, like, a reaction when they're making a big hit. Like Ray, his body just always stayed so compact. Yeah, his body never moved when he made a big.

[D]

There was no, like, blows back ran through people. Yeah, he was just a brick wall.

[C]

Yeah, he would. Yeah, he would have been perfect. He probably could have laughed. I mean, still plays several years, but he probably, you know, that rate, you know, late 90s, early 2000s generation of inside linebackers who just needed to run downhill.

[A]

Yeah. That game he had at the. Man, that.

[C]

That usc UCLA highlight that just popped up right there. Yeah.

[D]

Right now.

[C]

Yeah. We ended up, I think, losing this game. We would have gone to the national championship.

[B]

But that quarterback's in real estate. He reached out to me all the time.

[C]

Helmet, helmet. Every play.

[B]

I think his name murdering, so his name is Patrick Cowan. I think he's done well in real estate. So he'll reach out and it's like, man, how's your head? You know?

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

How's everything going? Killer. Is that that running back three bar face mask too?

[D]

That rivalry? Is that rivalry like true hate week type of thing?

[C]

Honestly, they haven't been that. Unlike Michigan, Ohio State. You guys, I'm going say you like, have had so much sustained success that UCLA has kind of. At least when I was there, they had fallen off completely. They weren't even a top 25. I think my first year, 2004, they were like a. Like a teens team, maybe top 10. But I think we beat him like 70 to something that was like Reggie Bush's. Like, it secured his Heisman. But it was. It was fun. But it always felt like the second tier of. Of went to ucla. Now that's obviously changed because they're both kind of around that, at least at this point, that mediocrity. But at the time, like it was more Notre Dame and. And to be honest, we SC was so good at the time. It was whatever the best team was.

[A]

National champions. Yeah.

[D]

Whoever the best team was. Like, we can't wait to see Oklahoma.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Brutal before instant replay. Vince Young. You.

[D]

You.

[A]

You were in.

[C]

I was. I was in the Vince Young one.

[A]

You were in the Vint Young one. Oh, yeah. Because that was 07.

[C]

That was like 07.05. Remember that?

[B]

It's just. It's tough.

[C]

Yeah. But I wouldn't like. Yeah, well, it wasn't that difficult for me because I was just on like two special teams. Just to. I mean be completely candid. Obviously sucked. But the next year we played Michigan. Michigan was. I'm just go ahead in the story. Michigan was. Was Roll like they had. Oh, man. Blanket on the left. Long.

[D]

Yeah. Jake Long.

[C]

Heart Manningham, Henny.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And Studs beat them up pretty good. And then the next year, yeah, Illinois, we got after them. And last year was Joe Paterno's Penn State. We played in four.

[A]

Was Illinois. Was that the Rose Bowl?

[C]

It was a Rose Bowl. Yeah.

[A]

You guys crush it. Ray had a big game on that one too.

[B]

Yeah, there was a period.

[A]

Yeah, I think he might.

[B]

There was a period there against the Big Ten and the SEC where. And I. You fact check me, I don't think we lost for like six, seven years. You know, outside of Texas and the Big 12. Like, I know my senior year we went down to Auburn and rolled Nebraska too. Auburn had Cadillac Williams, Ronnie.

[A]

My. My official visit to Nebraska is when you guys. You guys came to Nebraska, you beat us like 48 to. I remember seeing.

[C]

Was that 2008.

[A]

Yeah. 2008.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. No, I started that game. I broke my thumb and had to come out. Dude. It was because that's Nebraska.

[A]

Yeah, they, they, they, they kill us. Obviously. We had 31, but 40, 21 of them were in the fourth quarter.

[B]

So the, the guys like me, but.

[A]

I remember seeing Taylor Mays pregame. Taylor Mays just standing there, free game.

[B]

Free just a. SC won half their games before the games just because of Taylor Maze. Like what, what?

[C]

Ron was the head coach of Illinois at the time. He was our special teams coach for a few years in Green Bay. He said we, when we, when we took the field, you guys are out there.

[B]

There was over.

[A]

It was over. It was over.

[C]

Like we looked, we were just in awe, you know. And that was it.

[D]

The unis like, dude, I can't imagine walking off the bus and just feeling like that. Like we just look better, we are better. We're going to destroy every single.

[B]

But that, but that was that, that was that swag at SC for a period of seven, eight years. And like respectfully, like it's been such a long time. Like I'm just like, I'm tired of talking like hey, when we did this.

[D]

Because what's, what's missing now at sc do you think Pete Carol?

[B]

I think no. All right, I'm going to answer this question. So in my opinion, and I'm not the most educated, I, you know, I'm connected to the program. I try and help them in terms of giving athletes advice post playing days and you know, how to make sure you set yourself up not just financially and hire a good financial advisor but actually, you know, be articulate and ideally fluent in, in the financial language. You know, it's not just about hiring good people to manage your money. It's being able to manage those managers. I think the, the game of college football, the dynamic, especially with nil has changed so fast and there's some programs like Oregon or Ohio State again I'm not, I think Michigan does Michigan a great nil. Like because, because my understanding Michigan like getting there. They really did a great job with Harbaugh developing three, four, five year guys. Now other nil.

[D]

I think it's like the, like this year and last year, like the first like two years were really feeling like real, real money going into.

[B]

Okay, but, but you guys did win the natty last year. I felt like it was mostly homegrown players but the game has shifted so much and I think there are programs that have really like stayed ahead of that And I don't think SC is that. And, and I blame, if I'm going to blame it, I blame the culture of the school because there's still PTSD from the sanctions and I think they're very like, it's scared of your own shadow. They don't want to do anything without the AAA saying you can do this, which is like formal opinion letter submit. Can we do this? While other schools, it's not that they're breaking the rules and maybe not even playing by the rules. There are no rules right now. And so there's other schools like we're just gonna do this and like it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. SC up until recently has been like, no, we need to make sure we ask for permission. So we're always a year or two behind. My hope is that the administration is being more aggressive with NIL and all that. I don't, I can't say put that as a statement of fact. That's just like, from what I can tell, like quasi connected to the program. Does that make sense?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

[C]

My opinion? No, I just, I think like, I mean strictly from a football standpoint, like X's and O's. I think it's like a mentality thing. I mean obviously there's some, there was weaknesses in the O line and D line last year. When you've seen, you know, Miller Moss getting sacked so much, I don't think he was the problem. They ended up benching him like three quarters of the way through the season. But I think they need some more athletes. But you know, these guys are great, you know that they've been bringing in and you know, Lincoln Riley and, and offensively what Caleb Williams was able to do the last, I guess the previous two years.

[B]

They got a really good D coordinator now.

[C]

Yeah, it's truly remarkable. You're, you're top three. But you know that year where they lost to it, was it Utah when they should have gone to the playoffs at that time? I don't know if it's just like a. Because Pete had that, that culture, you know that, that hard ass culture. And I don't know if it's just all X's and O's and putting up 50 every game as opposed to, you know, do you want a defensive minded head coach or do you want an offensive minded head coach?

[B]

So yeah, and I think you guys.

[A]

Are closer because even though you guys lost what, five games this year, they weren't you guys Were like one score games most of the time.

[B]

Yeah, we did. I, I think they're close. Like again, Danton Lynn is the D coordinator, came from the Ravens. Like if you just look at the statistical improvement and respectfully, like me, Clay, my dad, we're on a text chain. Like sometimes when SC's playing, like we'll be like this defense. But this was the first year where like the text messages weren't about the defense. Right. So I think the defense is getting better to Clay's point. They really need bodies, they need the big guys. They always have athletes. Look at the receivers in the NFL.

[C]

Like, you know, that's why whenever they play like an SEC team or Big ten, they always get bullied a little bit in the trenches, you know, but they'll put up, like I said, 35, 42 point, whatever it is. But it's just that, you know, they'll, they'll, those teams will run it down.

[B]

And if you look at the old SC team, teams like back when Clay and I played that were, that were winning every game, the Reggies, the lineups, all those guys got the hype. But actually if you look at the guys they put in the league, it was O lineman, D line and linebackers, right. And so I think I'm very optimistic about Lincoln. I think he, he gets, he knows what he has to do. There is a reality in college football. Like you can know what you have to do. You could say, hey, I'm gonna go out and do it. But if nowadays it's money, right? And if you don't have an nil war chest, like you're just not going to be competitive. Like kids don't, most kids don't sign up for the uniform anymore, right? It's like even if they grew up in SC fan, if they have a big freshman year, they're going to get a phone call from Ohio State saying hey. Or Georgia saying like, hey, why don't you come here and I'll pay you a million bucks a year. They're not like, sorry, I'm an SC guy. They're like, they go to SC and how much you're going to pay me? I think, I think nil, nil wise, they've figured it out. But like, I don't know. Yeah, college football is better when, when sc, the Notre Dame's, the Michigan ends.

[A]

Nebraska.

[C]

Nebraska, come on now, is in the top 25.

[D]

Nebraska sneaking in that top 25.

[B]

The NCAA football is better when Nebraska is, you know, nine and four and not six and six.

[D]

Yeah, well, every year they've gotten one. One game better.

[A]

You guys only beat us because of a pass interference call at the end.

[C]

I don't think I watched that. That was a 12 o'clock game.

[A]

You know, watching that, you're only private. He only show up for the prime.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm screaming at the TV over PI calls.

[D]

You guys keep up with college or NFL? More like, as far as just enjoying it for me.

[C]

NFL?

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You're not a big SC guy. You're not a big.

[C]

Oh, no, no. I'm huge SC guy. But I'm just saying, like, it's hard to, you know, with the six, I guess the lack of success or what we're accustomed to seeing. But no, I sit down. My wife knows, like, Sundays are. Are my day. Like, I work till about 12 o'clock around the house, cleaning up, you know, making banana bread, and then I'm. Then I sit down. Yeah, that's true. And. But no, I really enjoy the NFL as far as watching it. And, and because I felt like. I don't know how it is for you at Lyman. You as well. Like, I felt like my mind at the end of my career was just so tuned in. Nash, they always tell you this. Like, I was just. Man, I was like, when I went to the Rams, I. Chris Shula, who's now the defensive coordinator, he was my linebackers coach. We might as well have been the same as far as, you know, on the same page and being peers and whatnot. And so I just felt like the way I was able to give back and teach these guys who were playing behind me at the time, like, my mind was just so far advanced. And of course, that's the time when they're pulling the plug on you. You're like, well, now all I got to do is sit at the TV and be like, I guess got to do this. But I. I enjoy the NFL still, dude.

[D]

I. I hear what you're saying with watching the games, that kind of turns me away from the NFL a little bit more because I'll watch the games and I'll get so caught up in the offensive line of what they're doing that I'm not really enjoying it.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

As opposed to. I'll watch much like college football, whether it be Michigan or any other team. It's like the offenses are so different and the, the talent level is so different and the mistakes are so much more often. So it's kind of more fun to see these massive, explosive plays, guys being out of their gaps. It's Like, I enjoy that more. I enjoy watching the mistakes.

[C]

I will say, though, like, the. The for who? I don't know if it was like, Chargers, Texans, I was. That was just a. To me, that was a background noise game. But, like, when Lamar comes on and. Yeah, Saquon, I feel like I tune into the superstar, like, Jamar Chase Burrow. Like, there's guys, ma. Who I will watch the whole game start to finish, but I feel like that's just a select, maybe, you know, eight, ten teams there.

[D]

How bad did you want the Bengals to get in?

[C]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. The Bing. The Bengals are so fun to watch. Yeah, they're super every year. They're dangerous. I. They obviously gave away too many games early on, but the way Burrow played at the end, obviously, I mean, he won't win mvp, but he, based on his stats, very well could. And Jamar Chase, it was fun to watch.

[B]

I was gonna. Yeah, he watches more football than I just obviously close to the game. But I was gonna say most of the. Most of the sports we get together and watch is ufc. Like, yeah, because again, with the four kids, the three kids. And then I got my work life during the week, there's not as much time. So for me to take a Saturday, Sunday and park it and say, like, hey, you know, it's not my job. It wasn't my career the way it is his. So I get that for him. But for me, you know, the deal I have is like, hey, you get the kids to bed on a Saturday night at 8:30, like, that's when the UFC comes on. So normally. Normally we'll get together with my brother Casey and like, we'll.

[C]

We'll talk about what we would have done differently, how Sugar Sean should have defeated Rob. You know, I told Taylor when I. When I first saw Taylor, because I was so, like, like, just, I guess envious of, like, how close you were to Dana and how you were there. I'm like, man, because in 2019, when I stayed in. In Green Bay with my contract up in the air, there was no sports on at this time. And the UFC was this only thing that came on pretty much every week. So I started tuning. Then all of a sudden, I see a fighter. I saw a fight three months ago fighting.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

I remember that guy. And so I probably haven't missed a fight night, a pay per view, you name it. And since 2019.

[D]

Did you watch this past weekend with.

[C]

Mackenzie D. Yeah, I watched it, dude.

[D]

Maybe the best slate of fights in a long time. There are like, Three knockouts.

[C]

Well, so I didn't watch it all. I watched. I watched the main car. No, I usually.

[B]

I usually fight like six years, except every single one.

[C]

When I saw. When I saw, like, who the. The main card was, I was like, all right. But then know there was. There was. There were some good. There were some good fights on it. But I'm looking forward to this weekend coming up here.

[D]

There was this one dude who was just getting pummeled on for a minute, and you thought he was about to get knocked out, and he just threw a straight right in the chest. Dude was out for like a minute.

[C]

Yeah, I saw that to the point.

[D]

Where, like, everyone's like, kind of clapping and cheering. Everyone's like, oh, is he dead?

[C]

I did see that.

[D]

What's going on here?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Was nuts.

[B]

We're like that meme. You sent me the meme the other day. Like that fat guy on a couch.

[C]

With a beer, like, point.

[B]

Why did he shoot the single layer?

[A]

That makes no sense, dude.

[D]

Those are just like Michael Chandler. He's just, what, five, six? Just built like a pit bull, right? And he is terrifying. We had a. We had a beer Olympics, and me and Will are wrestling Shane and Bert, and they call for Mike, and Mike gets a hold of my heel and I'm like, borderline drowning in the pool. Like, I'm kind of like praying to God, like, please let me up, because it's about to be over for me. He just. They're just different breeds of human beings.

[C]

Mike's fun to watch since he came on the scene. I remember because just a. Yeah, I remember him talk. He did like a. He backed up one of these fights. I don't know who it was. He was ready to go. And then he fought Dan Hooker, and I was like, man, he's good looking. He's articulated. He's a champion from whatever it was. And he came over here, had immediate success, but even in his losses, he's fun to watch.

[D]

Right. This is Mike. Take what he gets. My heel here. Watch my head over here. Panic is setting in. Wait, panic is setting in. I was freaking. Freaking out, dude.

[A]

Yeah. Even when he loses, he seems to come out on top.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

He's the only guy who can cut a promo after, you know, losing. Five round. Wow.

[D]

Four. Yeah. I mean, verify it.

[C]

Yeah. It was phenomenal that fifth round. I'm like, crazy.

[A]

He almost got him. Yeah, almost.

[B]

I mean it as a compliment. He's like a WWE guy, like, in terms of a hype man. And I think other Wrestlers, you know, are taking a vote because, like, ultimately, what are they there for? They want to win fights, and obviously, obviously, they have a passion for that. It's to make money. Right. It's to marketability. He's great in the game.

[D]

The story. That's something I think UFC does better than anybody else is, like, playing into the storylines of the beef between the two individuals. I think that is so money. We. I had to take on Michigan, Ohio State after Michigan planted the flag. And then in the post game, press the post game, like, show. They're talking about how there's no place for that in football. And it's like, don't say that because, you know, next year, going to the game, you're going to show that. To get everybody to go watch the game. Like, you want. Want these story lines to, like, you know, make everybody kind of tune in.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

There's a couple guys from sc you're like. You're not going to be like, let me go watch Michigan, Ohio State today. You'll probably go turn on you.

[B]

I want to see if Ohio State wins and plants the flag.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah. You want to see that?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And I'm thinking to myself, we got to get five in a row. And so now we're, like, diving in.

[B]

Like, I don't know, maybe I'm different. Like, if you don't want them to plant the flag, don't lose.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, that's how I see.

[D]

I love that. I love that day. Who do you think win the national championship? Notre Dame or Ohio State?

[B]

Ohio State.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I think Ohio State's rolling right now. I think since that Michigan loss.

[B]

Tell you, I don't like Notre Dame being an SC guy, generally speaking, but, like, man, I like that coach Marcus Freeman, like, he's a.

[A]

It seems like the Bears are going.

[C]

To interview him sort of her.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, that's probably just. That's probably just to create. Yeah, but again, that's probably to create leverage to get a better deal with Pete.

[C]

That's right. Fair enough.

[B]

Like, if you, like, if you're thinking, like, and you're like, we like Pete. He has success. Success. He brings energy. We have a good young quarterback. You don't just interview Pete and, like, again, Pete's got a great agent. You. You bring in some hot candidates. You don't tell them this, but you're just creating leverage to negotiate with Pete's business.

[A]

And he's. He's got it. He had to pick up books early.

[B]

At, like, 22, man. No, I remember. I got to My.

[D]

My work.

[B]

The first day I had to YouTube. This is when YouTube, like, how to tie it tie the night before. My dad was the best dad in the world, but he never had a traditional job. He was a. An NFL football player straight to being a, you know, our youth football coach. And so that transition was very painful. Man, it took. It took years for me to catch up to the, you know, I almost said, you know, stereotype the frat boys, like, who's not just in college. I never. I didn't think that I should be preparing for life after football. That was something like, after my last game, I was like, oh, crap. Like, what do I do?

[A]

Right?

[B]

And on top of that, you know, they just had more. It took me a long time to catch up. That.

[A]

That was.

[B]

That was pretty painful.

[A]

Yeah. Should we hit our tear talk?

[D]

Yeah, let's hit tier talk.

[A]

Our tear talk this week is going to be best brother athletic families of all time.

[D]

Explain them how tear talk works.

[A]

So tear talk is Basically your top three. You'll start at tier three. 3. You give a reason why or you give a little. You give a few words why. Tier two, tier one.

[C]

You're saying brothers.

[A]

If you want to give an honorable mention, that's on the table as well.

[C]

Brothers or family?

[A]

Family.

[D]

We'll go family. We'll just put.

[C]

I was saying I'll do brothers. You asked brothers. I want to do brothers. So you obviously got Peyton and Eli.

[D]

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

[A]

You got to start at 3. Now.

[D]

You gotta start. So here's it. You gotta start at three, and then you go. You can give an honorable mention if you want. You go honorable mention. 3, 2, 1. And then everyone's gonna be silent. After. After, we're going to go around the room and everyone's going to say one word to describe how they feel about your tear talk.

[C]

So, okay, so I'm going three, two, one.

[D]

Three, two.

[C]

Okay, so do we.

[B]

Are we each giving our own opinion?

[D]

No, no. Everyone's giving their own opinion.

[C]

Yeah, I think.

[B]

Sorry, real quick, time out, dude. Is there a list of, like, tough or I have to think about off topics.

[C]

I would go Manning's one. We can work the other way. Mannings one. I would say the Watts two. And then.

[A]

Any sport, too.

[C]

Oh, now we're doing that.

[D]

No, no, no, no.

[C]

I. I can't think of many other. I mean, I know the Longs had success. The Boses are obviously Nick's playing well.

[A]

If it was families, I think Mayweather's got to be in there, but it's brothers or it's siblings. Siblings. The Williams sisters.

[C]

Okay, wait, are we going just NFL?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Are we doing NFL? Come on. You brought.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. Well, all right. J.P. back there. Any sport.

[C]

Who'd you just tell you were asking? Chat. GPT.

[A]

I gave him a good one. What'd he give you? Kyle?

[B]

All right, so a couple. Oh, gosh.

[A]

Because I agree with you. I think one and two is Mannings and then what spots?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So three. Trying to figure out tier one, the best.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

We're doing two a whole different way, huh?

[A]

Yeah, this. We'll just do a collaborator.

[B]

All right, I got it. I got it.

[D]

Well, I don't. I don't agree with your tier two.

[B]

All right, here we go. Oh, you want.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Honorable mention.

[C]

That's four.

[B]

The Jones family. Arthur Jones, Chandler Jones, John Jones.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay, I guess we're doing good. Pull.

[D]

Strong pull.

[B]

Okay. The Jones. And they're tier one in terms of who I don't want to fight.

[D]

Right, Fair enough.

[B]

All right. Also honorable mention, the Gronks. The Gronkowskis. Okay. Like, they're. They had players, but I would say tier three, like, beyond honorable mention, higher than. I would say the Watt family, JJ and tj. I mean, they're studs. Right, but. There's no but to that. It's just if you want a tier one, tier two, I think you got to start talking generationally. Like, did their dads play their grandfathers? Like, you see what I'm saying? Like, and so tier 2 is the Mannings, because you had Peyton and Eli, who are incredible, and Archie and now the young arch coming up and then Arch coming up. Tier one is. I mean, it's 100% the Matthews most games in NFL history across three generations. Like, and. And what? 11 different football players who've. Who played a game in the NFL.

[C]

Some one Jake's still playing for the.

[B]

Jake's at. Jake's at a hundred.

[C]

And I think he was drafted before you, right? Taylor.

[D]

Yes, he was.

[C]

I remember.

[D]

That's the show. Thank you.

[C]

I remember you posted something a long time ago.

[D]

I was so tight about that.

[C]

Yeah, you went down to Atlanta. I don't know. You posted something. And then it was funny because my. My cousin Jake's brother had re. Posted on Instagram. Like, oh, that was a funny little bit right there. But.

[D]

Well, I mean, I thought I was a Falcon. And I literally remember talking to Jake. We were. We were like doing something during draft week, and I was like, hey, where do you want to Go. And I'm thinking. I. I don't know what I'm thinking. He's like, I want to go to the Falcons. I was like, I want to go to the Falcons, too. We kind of, kind of looked at each other and then we were cordial. Nice. I like Jake a lot. He's awesome. Great guy. Guy. But when that phone rang at six and he was two tables away from me, I was sick to myself.

[B]

Taylor, I got a question.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Looking back at the careers, if you're at the gym, how would you draft that today?

[D]

Probably take Jake before me still. I mean, he's had the longevity. He's 11 years in now. I think I had a higher ceiling. But you can't beat long. Like, the best ability is durability.

[C]

He's going to play another 80 years.

[D]

He's going to play a long time. You want that?

[A]

Like I was going to say, he's the number.

[C]

I think he's. He's. Right now he's got the streak for longest.

[D]

He's a Matthew.

[C]

He hasn't missed the game, I think, since his.

[B]

Which gets back to the first question.

[D]

But you would take.

[A]

If you go back to that, it was brothers.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, we went to family.

[B]

Brothers.

[A]

You're the one who even said brothers too. And then your brother brings in the entire family. Now it sounds good for you. So you're like, yeah, let's go.

[D]

Hey. To go back to that. Because I am pie 14. You take Jake second, second or third overall wherever the Rams picked over Greg Robbins.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And then I'd probably go six actually. Probably take Zach Martin because he's in that draft class as well. He went to the Cowboys with the Cowboys. Yeah. He's a Hall of Fame. He probably actually goes before Jake.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

So it'd be like Jake or, sorry, Zach Jake than me because I. I mean, obviously I had like a more splash and there's still more time on Jake's career to do that. I mean, I think Bruce didn't make a Pro bowl till his 11th year.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

No, no, no.

[C]

Bruce maybe made like, he made 14.

[D]

Pro Bowls, but he, like, he didn't make it for the. Like he made the back half of his career.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

So, yeah, I think. I mean, obviously you take Jake before me. For sure. For sure. Makes me sick saying it out loud. We'll delete that. We'll edit that out.

[A]

Yeah. Like how Kyle throws it in there. He's like, let's think about this. Yeah.

[D]

Well, let me ask you this question that we know is gonna Hurt.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

Come on over here.

[A]

Yeah, we kind of spun this.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Family. That's a veteran tear talk move. Veteran tear talk. Oh, he's good. He's read a few books. He talks about leverage and everything else. He knew how to spin the entire conversation on us.

[B]

I mostly chat GPT. The books then represent that. I read them.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I think when it comes to brothers, though, it's hard to beat the Mannings or the Watts.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Jones for sure. Like you had. Chandler played a high level. And then his brother Jon Jones in the ufc.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Chandler as far as the sport of football.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

But family lineage.

[D]

What about Bosa Tiki and Ronde?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Quesenberries.

[A]

The Kelsey's.

[D]

Oh, yeah, the Kelsey's.

[B]

Those guys.

[C]

Yeah, they're gonna be. Yeah, I forgot about these guys.

[D]

I mean, those are both hall of Famers. Yeah, they are both hall of Famers.

[B]

Yeah, man, there's some good brothers.

[C]

Yeah, Yeah.

[D]

I put the. I put the Kelsey's over the Watts.

[A]

I don't know, man.

[C]

The Watts impact.

[A]

That's what I'm saying.

[C]

Like Kelsey Z. You know, I'm just saying both of them, like.

[D]

Now, let me. Let me put you real quick. Swifties. Listen.

[C]

No, I will be. No, there's.

[D]

I'm looking at for you.

[B]

I remember.

[C]

I remember Jason pulling from the center position on like a. Like a toss, you know, and I'm middle linebacker, trying to get out there like, holy Smith, this guy's running 60 yards down field. Now, I'm saying there's does. But as far as impact every game, you know, like sack calls, fumbles which change the center can't do that.

[B]

A tight end which gets to the position you play. That's why it's quarterback.

[C]

Yeah. Quarterback's gonna be first no matter what.

[B]

Offensive tackles and rush, it's like quarterbacks number one. Tackles and rush players are two in terms of value to the game.

[D]

I'm with you. I hear what you're saying.

[B]

Safety dead last. Last guy that's down there. Yeah.

[D]

Take the McCourty brothers out, then they're gone.

[C]

Yeah. No, unfortunately.

[B]

There's some good brothers, though.

[D]

Yeah, good brothers.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And they're twins, too, which kind of gives them an extra little bump.

[C]

It's nice.

[A]

Now, I think the Kelsey's edge them out as far as all pros.

[C]

Yeah. But I'm talking about impact.

[A]

Just Jason and Travis both have like seven, plus JJ had five.

[C]

JJ's three time defensive player of the year.

[A]

That's. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Are we talking peak? Because his Peak was pretty high up.

[C]

Pretty good.

[A]

Yeah. Peak was a lot. Yeah.

[C]

I go Manning.

[A]

Little debate right there.

[B]

You said you didn't say football player. Athlete. If we're talking athletes, I wouldn't put the Mannings potentially in there.

[A]

Whoa. They're. I mean, they're playing. They're football players.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

They're quarterbacks.

[A]

I see what you're saying. Yeah, I see what you're saying. It's like, do you.

[C]

What's your definition of athlete?

[A]

Right.

[D]

This is a. This is going to go.

[A]

This has been such a conversational. Who was it? Michael Phelps is the greatest athlete of our generation. It's like, all right, is he.

[B]

I don't know. Something. Something tells me if the guy put his mind to it, Michael Jordan would be a good swimmer, too. So I feel like. MJ.

[D]

No.

[A]

LeBron. LeBron or Jordan.

[B]

Finish that thought.

[D]

I don't need to do what?

[C]

Sterling and Shannon.

[A]

Yeah, Sterling and Shannon Sharp.

[C]

Well, the recentism right now, we're just.

[D]

The Har balls.

[A]

Yeah, the Har balls.

[D]

Yeah. In the coaching realm was who was your biggest, like, rival in your mind from the defensive side of the ball? Like, when you're rushing the edge, like, you look at other guys and be like, I got a outdo. This guy.

[C]

You talking about, like, on the defense, like, the defensive side as well.

[D]

You would watch other people's film and be like, hey, I'm. I believe I'm the top edge rusher in the entire NFL. But some people might say this guy is edge.

[C]

Rushing was, man, it was like the all pro team shifted and Pro bowl shifted. Pro bowl stay the same, but all pro team shifted every year. You had Justin Houston have 22 sacks. You'd have Jared Allen, who have 20 sacks. You'd have DeMarcus Wear with 20. You know what I mean? It's Von Miller, 18. And so it was really difficult to be one of those first team All Pros. But honestly, to answer that question, like, I watched their game and I was like, okay, what can I take from them? And you just hoped that in bettering your game you would. Because it was all based on sacks. You know, if you could have right around 15 sacks, probably be a first. You know, first team All Pro.

[D]

But who was the guy that you were like, did you ever have a guy that you like?

[C]

Nah.

[D]

In your mind? Nothing like that?

[C]

No, I just. It was all about sacks.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And I realized, like, it's ridiculous, you know, because I could hit a quarterback and. And not get a sack all game. But the media, everybody Wants to know your sacks. You get above 10 sacks, you make a Pro Bowl.

[D]

You get.

[C]

You know, you're the highest paid athlete. So for me, you know, I had to just embrace that it was all about sex, you know, I. And to your point, when I had, like, 40, 50, 60 tackles, like, I'd get three tackles a game. You would hope that two would be TFLs, one be a sack.

[A]

Right?

[C]

And you're all pro at the end of the year.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And you gotta shut down guys like us for 60 plays.

[D]

Yeah. It's brutal. And you give it one sack, you're a bum.

[C]

I got.

[D]

Get it. Yeah.

[A]

Who's your favorite defensive player you ever played with?

[B]

Peppers.

[C]

Yeah, Peppers, Peppers. Julius. Julius was a man.

[A]

Is he the best you ever played with, too?

[C]

The best in what regard?

[A]

Just the best. Like, in your brain looking back, you're like, that's the best defensive player I ever played with.

[C]

Well, I also play with Charles Woodson, too. Charles was probably a greater playmaker, but Julius, athletically, physically, could take over game at his position because he's what we talked about, Pass R. He disrupts the quarterback every play.

[A]

How about AJ Hawk?

[C]

Hey, just love him. I remember when I first met aj.

[A]

Club in here.

[C]

I remember when I first met aj. I was doing, like, you know, I got draft, and they brought us in, and I saw him walking down the hallway. He always let his hair down, too. And I. I walked up to him, like, such a nerd.

[D]

I was like, AJ Hawk.

[C]

Clay Matthews, like, shook his hand and knowing AJ now. Get off me, bro.

[D]

What's your problem?

[B]

Subconscious, like, hey, you're a white guy, I'm a white guy. Both, long hair, like, I think we're supposed to be friends.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

The best was. Did you guys see the. The game where he gave double birds to his position coach, Winston Moss?

[B]

He thought he was being cut or he thought he wasn't being resigned. Right. He had a great year.

[C]

Well, I. Yeah, I'm not sure what happened, but he gave. He gave double middle fingers to his coach at the. He got, like, a sack on, like, a blitz. And then, like, this is when I was still involved with Twitter and social media, and everyone's like, that's so disgraceful, Matthews. You should be fine. People coming down on AJ. Dude, you got the sack. Wasn't me. Me. AJ's a man, though.

[A]

You see Clay just tweet. Hey, that wasn't me. That was aj. Hogg tags him.

[C]

No, I just filmed. I just filmed another commercial. That's all. Yeah, there you go right there. Okay. It was a single. Single bird.

[D]

Single bird. God. Something about the middle finger, dude.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Uniform goes so hard.

[B]

I think he was upset because they were taking him off of third downs. It was his contract year and we were hanging his house and he had made a comment like, yeah, I don't think they're going to bring me back. And so he's like, I'm out. Well, guess what?

[A]

He had.

[B]

He had a great year and then signed him to like another three year deal.

[D]

That's awesome.

[A]

That makes it even better for.

[D]

Unbelievable. So where do we finish on tear talk?

[A]

I think this could be one where we throw. We clip out all the brother names that we said and we let the. We let the fans decide. We let the crowd decide. Get everybody else in the picture for the clip. Yeah, yeah. We can roll with his for the clip because I thought he had a good one. I thought he had a good one. We can do our twisted questions. We have one for each of you guys. Our twisted question is brought to you by Twisted Tea. Twisted tea is a refreshing hard ice tea made with rubber tea tea and 5% alcohol. Full flavor and very refreshing. Twisted D. Go. Twisted Tea goes down smooth. So smooth that there is no carbonation, which makes it easy to drink all day long. Twisted Tea feels fun and celebrates extreme fandom on game day and is the perfect alcohol beverage for game day. Whether tailgating in the parking lot, watching a game at a bar, watching with friends at home, Twisted Tea is there to turn up your game day. Keep it twisted with the boys and grab a refreshing twisted tea tea today. I have one for Clay. I want. I. I need. I need it. I yearn for it. I need the most psychotic Raymal Luga.

[C]

Story, man, at a game. No, I mean, well, he was obviously. All his highlights and his hits. You can see, man, we had this. And I. We had this linebacker on a team. He's a five star recruit. I think he came in here the same year as Ray or after. His name was Luther Brown. Luther's all awesome and. But Ray was on the team at the time and. And something. Something popped off somewhere, you know, I wasn't privy to it. I was at home doing my homework. And so the next day at practice or meetings, this guy shows up, you know, Luther, and he's got glasses on in meetings and. And Luther's jacked. I'm talking like he's the guy who cut the frill on the bottom of his shirt. Abs always hanging out like someone you would mess with. Yeah, I Think Pete might have made him take his last stuff or he had to. Blue, just swollen eye, like all black and blue, like.

[A]

Why?

[C]

What happened? Ray. Ray happened. I don't know what happened, but you might have mixed, you know, something in there. But something happened and Luther got popped and. But was this in the locker room? No, I. This was outside of the locker room. This wasn't at the locker room at the time. It just. It just. I never.

[D]

You never did anything. You didn't.

[C]

Just didn't ask any questions. We just carried on. Ray was right. Was.

[D]

How did Pete react when he saw the glasses come off?

[B]

I mean, it was as usual in.

[D]

The corner getting jacked up. Yeah.

[C]

I think they just let him know.

[B]

Pete, he probably said, hey, you gotta bob and weave, you know?

[C]

Yeah, right. Yeah, he took everything in stride. But yeah, that was just like where it's your own teammate, your own linebacker. You're like, all right, man, this guy's crazy. He's crazy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And where nobody just says anything to him because you know how crazy he is.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's like in Nebraska and Dominican, too. We had a practice Saturday morning and he knocked. Knocks out an old lineman because I guess he was holding them. And Dominican just palm to the back of the head, drops him right there in front of everybody. Nobody says a word to Sue. We just like move it up 10 yards and continue. It was a scrimmage. No, we just move it up 10 years.

[D]

Meanwhile, ambulance is coming on the field.

[A]

Yeah. We're like sitting the back. Holy.

[D]

Am I gonna say anything new guys in the back. That's crazy.

[C]

Yeah, that's wild.

[A]

Did that linebacker stay at usc?

[C]

Yeah, he was there. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Because I know there was a guy coming out named Arthur Brown. I didn't know if he was. He stopped.

[C]

I remember Arthur Brown, but yeah, Luther Brown was still on special teams and whatnot. I think he played a little bit, but. Yeah, when you. Nobody messed with Luther. Nobody messed with Ray.

[A]

Yeah, nobody messed with Ray.

[D]

I do. I. I have like a sideways question. It's not necessarily a toys a question, but like seeing Aaron Rodgers and obviously 2020 happens. He's on his ayahuasca trip. Like, was he the same guy at the Packers? Is he. You see him as now, was he always, always like this level of like, trying to be enlightened, trying to have more in depth conversations and in depth thought?

[C]

Not as much as the time. I think he probably has embraced that more now than ever. Probably around the COVID when it seemed like everybody was coming down on him, but he's always been, you know, a free spirit, free thinker. Never went along with the norm. It's just that because he was the, you know, the franchise quarterback, you got to be the Drew Brees, the John, you know, the, the Peyton Mannings, like the rah rah guy. And, and, you know, obviously Aaron kind of marches to the beat of his own drum. I've always said he's like Kobe Bryant. There's, you know, whomever is the. The opposite of Kobe. Kobe was kind of like he was just a killer, but he's not going to help anybody who doesn't seek help. You know, he's not going to be that rah rah guy. And so I've always equated that to him. He's like Kobe, like, if you, you know, come to me if you want help. That's why Devonte, Jordy, the James Jones, these guys, these receivers who had so much success is because they bought in, they got close to him, and they were on the same page. So, man, I got nothing but love for Aaron and, And, you know, hopefully it's. I don't know if he's coming back next year or what.

[D]

Still figuring that out.

[C]

Yeah, it would. I'd like to see him come back just to end on a high Note, just because 2024 was just.

[A]

Yeah, I'd love to see. Yeah, I'd love to see him get a little bit of the revenge that, you know, he's seeking.

[D]

Come to the Titans, Aaron. Come hang out with the Titans for a little bit. Did you. You guys always get along. Did you guys ever butt heads at all? Little defensive talking at all, third down period?

[C]

Oh, yeah, well, we did all that, but no, we never. We never butted heads.

[B]

We beat him in that basketball game.

[C]

Oh, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Speaking of that, that, that Florida, that Florida Pro bowl, we played a three on three. It was. It was Kyle, my younger brother Casey and me versus Aaron. I think one of his brothers and one of his buddies at the time played 3 on 3 at the down in Miami. Miami, wherever. It was real physical. Yeah, I got real. I thought, yeah, it got real physical and we ended up winning.

[B]

Well, Clay said a pick on one of his, but his. So it was kind of like the Matthews brothers versus Rogers Bros. Now, the youngest is a Jordan. He wasn't there, but Luke Aaron. And then they had a buddy who was filling in for Jordan. You. You knocked.

[C]

I said a nice. Yeah, he got a concussion.

[B]

It was a.

[D]

He got a nice scream.

[B]

Kid was like 250 knocked out, like, eyes open, like. Like, you know that grunt sound. He finished the game, but it. It was a competitive game, obviously. Like, even though he's a quarterback, Aaron's a freakish athlete, you know, like you, I guess, especially earlier on in his career, he ran a lot more, but he's a great athlete. His brother's great athlete. Obviously, we were. We were doing okay, and it was like 211. But then, like, we got to 11, but you have to win by two. And then they got to 12, and it. It was. It was heated. And. And finally, you know, we put him away with a little jump hook in the paint. And Aaron, he. He doesn't take losses very well, it turns out. So he got. Grabbed the ball and, like, he kicked the ball into the ocean, is still sailing and walks off. And, like, I don't think he's ever talked to me since you saw him.

[C]

In New York on the streets.

[B]

But, yeah, you just got to, like.

[C]

That'S the competitor he is, though. I mean, like, that was a funny, fun, anecdotal.

[B]

So for me, I didn't have that career. So, like, beating Aaron in a game, like, I'm gonna remember that. It's cool. Like, I don't go around telling people the story, but, like, you asked. But Aaron, like, he's got a million bigger moments in his head. He should be thinking about, like, when he won the MVP of the Super Bowl. But I know he knows that, and I know he holds on to it.

[A]

He'll have that forever, and he'll always have his number.

[D]

I was like, hey, do you guys ever butt heads? Anything like that? And you did whisper, like, where's that pickup basket?

[B]

Part of it is, like, when I see Aaron, like, it's cool. So, like, if I. If we say this story, he's gonna be like, hey, man, I remember that time you went on busing and you talk.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah. He'll have it holstered.

[D]

Literally, if he ever sees this clip, he'll have a basketball on him at all times. And if he walks, he'll just roll it to you.

[B]

He's gonna hold against Clay for sure. But, like, you got him now.

[D]

You probably got the Achilles. Like, you get less mobile. You probably be able to handle them.

[B]

Respectfully. I had him back then, too. Now he's really pissed.

[A]

Where's.

[D]

There.

[A]

I love you, dog. Kyle, we have a harder, twisted question for you. You have a business opportunity to buy and build a dream stadium for a destination bowl game outside of the U.S. where are you building and why we talking college? Yeah.

[B]

Well, all right, so I gotta unpack this. So I'm building, I'm building a bowl game. Yeah, hell, you too.

[C]

Look at you best friends over there. You were asking like a destination bowl game. Who wrote this question?

[D]

First off, there's the Bahamas Bowl. There's the Bahamas Bowl. There's the Pinstripe Bowl. That Nebraska respectful.

[A]

And just say, yeah.

[D]

You can tell he caught himself though. He's like, God damn it, Best friendly. Mitch is already as red as his hoodie right now. He's terrified.

[A]

Kyle talking circles around us. We talking college football.

[C]

This is such a lame question. That's why I'm not giving up. It's a lame question.

[B]

Well, I, I, yeah, I, I saw the same question.

[D]

I was like, what?

[B]

I saw the same question. I was like, well, I don't really understand. All right, so I'll, I'll show you how I approach the question. So I go, okay, a bowl game, but I'm building a stadium for a bowl game. So what's the motivation of building a stadium for a bowl game? It's probably to turn a profit. So now I have to think about like, okay, what city has a built in fan base that likes football outside the country? So I got to do my due diligence. The NFL's probably already done it and they tend to pick London or Mexico City. So now I'm already narrowing on those two. Is it going to be London? Is it going to be Mexico city? Those are two of the biggest MSAs on the planet. They already have some built in fan base because the NFL has been laying the groundwork work. And then I would have to look at the economics, like, am I going to own the stadium? What? Can I lease it in addition to the bowl game? Can I lease it out to others? And so, hell yeah. And then, so then I'm going to get to safety and security because people won't travel unless they feel safe. Right. So I'm probably not being an expert because I've been to both those cities. I'm probably going to go London.

[D]

Okay. I like, I like the answer. I think you missed a key spot though. Cabo San Lucas. It's a genius destination spot, not very far away. Everyone wants a vacation there. You're thinking about bowl games. You're going to get teams. Fans of those teams are going to want to travel. The bowl games where you want to go? Yeah, beach location, you want to do a little marlin fishing, then we'll catch the boys, put a couple points on the board. That's what, that's where you want to go right there. Head over to Mango Deck, see a wet T shirt contest, push up competition, have a little fun, then bing, bang, boom, you had a great time.

[B]

I agree. I think I touched on that though. If it was just a bowl game, fine. But the economics of building a stadium is so expensive that you actually have to lease the stadium out all year round. This is why the Titans are getting rid of the outdoor stadium and putting an indoor. Because just leasing it in the summer to Taylor Swift and the Titans, it doesn't make money. So now.

[D]

How am I going to.

[B]

Have an event in Cabo, like four out of seven days a week, the way I could in a city the population of London or Mexico city. London being 15 million, Mexico City being 20 right now.

[A]

So me and Claire sitting there like.

[C]

Oh yeah, I thought hurricane season was over.

[A]

Yeah, boom. Roasting.

[D]

Yeah, London definitely is the move.

[B]

Right? I mean, I'd like to change my answer.

[D]

Doctor, shall we felt good about saying Cabo in the beginning.

[A]

What else do we have? How are you guys as a little league youth coaches competitive? Yeah.

[B]

So I, yeah, I'm, I'm coaching now. I coach the 8th grade team down the street football. And I would say our kids are very disciplined and they're running schemes that are, that are probably more advanced than most, most 8th grade kids. Clay, you're a little younger.

[C]

Yeah, our, our five year old.

[A]

How is he watching him as a head coach? Does he get after the parents? Does he get after the referees?

[B]

Kyle, let me. All right, so my kids are older.

[A]

I was asking Clay. Go ahead.

[B]

No, I, I got to serve it up because my kids are older and I, it, it runs in the family. There's a, there's a, there's a, a hot bloodedness. Like we're, I would argue we're not on the field. We're very quiet, very stoic, pretty reserved, like borderline social anxiety disorder disorder. And so, but when you get on the field, it changes. And so as a coach, he's come to some of my kids games to support as a good uncle and, and my brother Casey as well. And I get, I get hot. I work, I work the refs. Right. And occasionally threaten the other coaches with violence. And so there's been a lot of judgment from him to me over the years, like, dude, you're embarrassing. Like, I can't go to the game.

[C]

Really embarrassing. I sat by him one time and I had to back up in the stands because I was embarrassed. Like I, the ref the ref threatened to throw him out of a third or fourth grade girls basketball game. And I was like, it's like 12 to 10. Like one more outburst from you. I had to leave. I had to leave.

[B]

12 to 10 go. Hard to go home. So anyway, a lot of judgment to where I'm like, you know what? I really got to look at myself. Like, I got to get better. I got to be a better person. Like, I have to not comp, you know, get that fired up. And I'm like, yeah, you know, he's right. Like, I got, I gotta grow up. And then this guy, I go to his kid colton, who's probably 4 at the time, his first game, I'm there to support. And like, as soon as the game pops off, I see Clay start chirping at the other coaches, start getting real, like, aggravated jerky motion, like, kind of chippy. And I'm like, okay, I feel better about myself. Did that not happen?

[C]

That didn't. I was very cool about it, but I did throw some sarcasm and some remarks and passive remarks on him because he had a kindergarten team. We're playing with a pre K and he's blitzing every play. Like, can't have that. Have some sportsmanship. I know your team's better. You're going to win, but have some sportsmanship. I'm about sportsmanship. And I, I didn't get that. Yeah, so what do we do the next year? We just ran the table and won the, the, you know, the kindergarten championship.

[D]

So there's no losses, just lessons.

[C]

Right.

[B]

What was more satisfying, the kindergarten championship or the Super Bowl?

[C]

Well, I tell you what. No, I, I, I don't know. I don't know how, you know, how how old your guys kids are, but I finally felt that feeling that I was missing from the football field when I got to coach my kids again, kind of living through them. They talk about that because we won our first game, like 34, 31. And I just, my stomach, like, I was, I was just in knots. Like, I was, like, I was with the, I was with him. He's five years old, right? It shouldn't matter, but it does. I'm a competitor. But the super bowl was cool too. That was actually a blur. That was my second year. I, I didn't, I didn't maximize. I didn't capitalize. I was like, off the field. Like, no pictures, not with my.

[B]

We're gonna win like five or six one.

[C]

We got to lose to the Giants next year. Kaepernick runs. It was just like Ah, man, this super bowl thing's hard to do.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[D]

Tyreek Hill, he said he didn't make the playoffs for the first time in his career. He's gotta. He's got to go to a different team now.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. I didn't have that luxury.

[B]

Jake was playing for the Falcons. They were up, what, 28, three in the fourth quarter to the Patriots, and they had that collapse. It was heartbreaking. And I was talking to Clay and, you know, we were chatting and I was like, hey, you talked to Jake? And he's like, yeah, you. I was like, I'm gonna give him some time. This was like a couple days after I was like, what do you say? He's like, you know, he handled pretty well. He's like, you know, hey, it's tough loss. It breaks your heart. But, like, listen, we're a young team. Got Matt Ryan. We're gonna be back. We're gonna be at this thing multiple times. And Clay's like, no, we ain't. No, it spoke to just how hard it is to get back, even if you have the same exact team. And, you know, which really leads into just how great the Mahomes and the Brady are and all that.

[D]

Two quarters away from going to the Super Bowl.

[C]

What game was that?

[D]

2019. We missed the Chiefs because you guys.

[B]

Were taking it to the Chiefs.

[D]

And we beat him earlier that year, too.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And then Mahomes, he and I have the same 40 time. He does like some little 40 yard scamper on two minutes we can't tackle. What's going on? He just scored. They end up going up at half. Never looked back. Brutal. I. Him.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

No, I'm just kidding.

[B]

Should.

[A]

Since we have m. Should we do our pet peeves with them?

[D]

Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, you guys got time, right?

[C]

Yeah. What time is it, right? I haven't. Look at my. I don't even know where my phone is.

[A]

It's been. Hey, we say it every week, but I've had so much fun on this podcast.

[D]

Awesome.

[A]

Let me pull this out. Let me find it. Here we go. Our pet peeves brought to us by Dove Men's. As you prepare to host game day celebrations, what are some possible whole body odor related issues you may encounter that make you less confident in your hosting duties? Are you afraid to take off your shoes when you enter a friend's house?

[D]

A little bit.

[A]

Getting nervous. Your team is down at halftime. Tackle whole body odor with Dove Men plus care. Whole body do. This whole body. This whole body do. Defends against all your odor zones, from pits. Listen to this one, Kyle. To private parts to feet. And it's so long lasting with 72 hour odor protection. Fine. Dove men, whole body do at once. Walmart today I'm sweating my ass up.

[D]

I'm gonna need some of this after. I'm a sweaty boy right now.

[A]

This is ultimately just like a little complain session. We just. We talk about what a pet peeve of our has been of ours has been recently. One that's off the top of my head is my wife always tells me to turn off the light in the pantry. And it. It just. It triggers me because it's like I'm. I'm gonna go back in there at some point and snack on something. Why do I have to turn the pantry light off every time? Nate Bargazi has an incredible bit. He's like, what are we sending? We saving a nickel for? Like, how much are we actually saving turning off lights in the house.

[C]

You have a door on your pantry. Yeah, you can get one of those press button ones where you just open the door, it turns on and close it, and it'll turn it off.

[D]

Holy. Look at that.

[A]

Can I just vent right now to you?

[C]

My bad. Sorry.

[A]

God damn it.

[C]

Sound like a woman. You're not looking for advice. You're just venting.

[A]

All right, all right.

[D]

Find the solution, Will.

[A]

Yeah, it's a terrible pet peeve.

[D]

All right, who's going to go next?

[B]

I'll go.

[D]

I'm scared.

[B]

I'll go.

[D]

I'm scared to go after what Clay just did to you.

[B]

I got the opposite. I'll tell you my pet beef in a second is. Is my wife will leave the lights on. So instead of complain, I just put in Lutron lights in the house. And you could just swipe from an app, off, off, off, off. So have your wife look into that. So I'll tell you my pet peeve.

[A]

The entire.

[B]

No, no, I'll tell you my pet peeve is. Is political text messages you guys get. So. So. All right, so I got put on the Republicans, the Democrats, the radical Bernie's. Like, I'm getting 15 to 20 text messages a day from every political party. I got put on some list, and I can't unsubscribe. It says, like, first of all, it says put stop to end to take yourself off. Then it's like, do you put just stop and then is the two in the end or do I have to spell it out? But no matter how many times I do that, but I think when I actually Reply like unsubscribe or stop to end. It just, it just actually got him. It just actually says, hey, this is.

[C]

A real number, ladies and gentlemen.

[B]

And I don't know whether it's at T or these parties. If anybody knows, could you help me out? Take me off these lists, man.

[D]

You don't need the information.

[B]

And I'm, I'm getting hit from every side.

[C]

Yeah, mine's just toilet paper that's put on the roll upside down. I'm not a big fan of that. Like, political messages suck. But like, I hate when have it upside down because then you gotta hold it and then rip it as opposed to just one quick swipe like that. It's very touche.

[D]

That's facts. Really good.

[B]

You know what? I never. And now moving forward, I will notice this the rest of my life and be more aggravated.

[C]

Yeah, you should be.

[B]

Thank you.

[D]

Never want it dangling. My pet peeve is to my children who want to take every word literally. Like, if I tell them, hey, please don't do this, and then they don't. They do the thing I tell them not to do. And then I explain to them conversation they have. They say they don't remember, but when I say the words that I said and I add or subtract one word, they'll actually be like, no, no, no, you said this too. That pisses me the off. I do not like that. So, kids, you're not going to see this clip. Tell your kids to stop doing that.

[C]

That's how my kids are. Yeah, guys, it's, it's, it's, you know, 8:00, it's time to go upstairs, get ready for bed. It'd be like 7:50. Like, dad, it's 7:58. We don't need to go up. I'm like, they're like Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy.

[B]

You know, your kids remember every one time you, you commit to something, but they don't. Like, they're like, dad, if I do this, I'll clean up my room, I'll do my homework. But they never remember that. But if one time you say, hey, if you do this, you can, you know, play games or get a cookie. They're like, you said this, you said this. They memorize it, but they never remember what, what they said.

[D]

And they're like, dude, my kids will be like, I'll tell my daughter, hey, make sure you do this today. And then at the end of the day, I'm like, hey, did you do this? Like, no, I forgot. I was like, you need to remember, remember. And she's like, tell me how I remember. I don't know. Just do it, bro. Because I don't know.

[A]

My daughter's.

[D]

But I asked you to do this, right?

[A]

My daughter's two. She'll leverage the thing and then not. Do not follow up with the deal. Like, I'll have her shake my hand. I'll be like, all right, this is a deal. You got to shake my hand. She'll shake my hand. I might give her a piece of a cookie to finish her dinner. Then she won't finish the dinner.

[B]

Yeah, because they're emotional chaos. They're emotional terror. Embarrassed.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You got to hold that cookie over their head till that dinner's gone. What you got to do?

[A]

No question, dude. Now I said it. I'll just set it far enough away to where she can't get it. She can see and be like, you will get this cookie, but you've got to eat five more bites.

[D]

Another one. Another one, dude, is. We will. Like, every night before bed, it's like, hey, five minutes before bedtime, I have to give them the notice that in five minutes, we will be going to sleep. But once that five minutes is up, they also have, like, a routine of, like, having a nighttime snack or having this, this. And they know when I say five minutes, you've got five minutes. However, when I get to the end of the five minutes, I go, okay, bedtime. Then they want to put out the, oh, we got to do nighttime snack. You said we do this, you said, we do that. It's like, brother, you had five minutes.

[C]

Right?

[D]

You remember when I said that we could have got that done, and they don't, and then I end up bedding the knee.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What are the two times of the day where kids are the most difficult? It's like waking them up and putting them to bed. Like, when you work that, that's what you got. Like, I see him in the morning. I see them at night. And, like, those are the two most aggravating times on the weekend. I'm like, man, who are these kids? They're so pleasant. They're so nice. But, like, during the week, I'm like, damn it, this is frustrating.

[A]

Getting under bed is.

[B]

It's brutal.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's a war of attrition.

[A]

Like, r. You either take that dress off, or daddy's gonna have to take that dress off. And I promise you right now, you're going to be very frustrated. I know you've learned the word frustrated. You'll Be very frustrated and sad and mad if dad has got to walk over there.

[B]

Let me give you some elder advice. When you get to four kids, you let them sleep in that dress. You're like, nah, yeah, whatever you want.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, you realize you don't have unlimited energy, and there's only so many battles. And, like, I gotta win the toothbrush battle. You know, I gotta win the homework battle. So I let them. I give them the dress battle. Like, no. Sleep in that dress.

[A]

Yeah, it's a small one. Yeah.

[D]

Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you're right. It's all good because sometimes it gets ticky.

[A]

Yeah, they're older, too. That's, like, all we got to worry about right now is toothbrush. Get your clothes off. Put them in the laundry.

[B]

That's a rookie. That's rookie ball, right, Daddy?

[A]

I gotta dance. I gotta spin. And she'll start singing and just spinning.

[B]

And like, all right.

[A]

You gotta wait till the second ceremony's over.

[B]

Yeah, Taylor. I'll go back. One of the things in my line of work, you meet with a lot of. In commercial real estate, you meet with a lot of older people, and part of their decision making as it relates to real estate is. Is legacy. Like, do I want to leave these assets to my kids? Do I want to sell and do something different? And. And why this is relevant to. To. We spoke about it early on is, is they end up, like, kind of reflecting on their life often as, like, gosh, like, I, you know, oftentimes real estate. I wish I bought a different building. I wish I bought more of these or whatever. And that conversation leads to, I wish I did and. Or regrets. It's. It's a weird dynamic in commercial real estate brokerage. And I'll tell you, I have. I've been in living rooms and office buildings and conversations with people who are nearing the end of their life, and I. Hundreds, thousands of times, I say, you know, I wish I had more kids. I've never met someone who said, I wish I had less. So if you're thinking about having three, just do it, man.

[D]

Did you just 180 me. You just. You end the podcast the way it started. That was incredible.

[B]

This is just my experience. Just go for it. You're never going to regret the kids you have.

[D]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Unless they're really bad, that is.

[A]

And his face is so dire because.

[D]

You were like, it's so well worded. You speak good. I appreciate that. You speak real good.

[A]

You speak good.

[D]

Yeah. Top five. That was top five.

[A]

All right.

[D]

I'll have another kid.

[A]

You got to clip it, send it to table.

[B]

If you really are the objection, you're never going to be like, man, like, you're right.

[D]

I wish I had less, but I am. I'm so happy with where my life's at right now. I enjoy it, sure. I don't care for diapers. I don't care about the. I don't. I enjoy the beginning part, but the process. I'm not in love with the process. I need to get back in love with the process of having a kid.

[B]

Look, your family's like a business. You got to scale. You got to hire more people. Hire. Yeah, Hire someone to change the diaper.

[A]

I got.

[D]

I got. I got land that needs working. I got goats. I got.

[B]

I got 50 acres. You got, like, 200, man. Trust me, it's 13. Who's counting, though? Yeah, no, I. I'm saying I get it. Like, I, I, I, I.

[D]

That's sick, bro. Yeah, you gotta.

[C]

You gotta. You gotta orchard.

[D]

I gotta orchard state, it sounds like. That's sick. 200 acres.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Out there in leapers, aren't you?

[C]

Yeah, bro.

[D]

Oh, boy.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Nice. Nice. What's with all packers guys moving to now? Nashville? What's the deal? It's coming out of territory.

[C]

I just. I think we're just close. When we played while we had success. Now we're just. Just sticking together. Honestly, I think that's why I love it.

[A]

That is awesome.

[C]

But. And I know you want to wrap this up. I can see you taking those deep breaths a lot, but, like, the culture.

[D]

I'm sweating because it's hot in here.

[C]

But. But this is what was so. And like I said, this is what was so great about our team. Why we had so much success is that draft and developed guys played 7, 8, 9, 10 years there. It wasn't like you were. You know, Some of these teams where they're bringing in free agents, we hardly ever brought in free age. Maybe we did need to do that to get over the hump, but ultimately, we had such success because we had that core nucleus of guys and draft and develop. Yeah. And I think that's why, you see, you know, you got Mason Crosby, his family out here, Randall Cobb, Baktiari, Obviously, we moved out here, bought some land. Yeah, a Rod's got some land, but he's got. He's got land all over the world, so who knows where he's gonna, you know, cultivate. But, yeah, I mean, it's. I think we just all like being close to each Other our families are so connected from the time we spent in Green Bay. Bay.

[D]

Dude, you brought up a guy. We love him. David Baktiari. Just by the way, let's give a round of applause for Dave. Just had a new kid, actually.

[B]

Yeah, I saw that. Desmond.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

How's dude? What was he like, the ultimate locker room guy?

[C]

Dave was like from the moment he got there to where he finished. I mean, just complete 180. You talk to Corey Lindsley about this? Like, Dave, when he got there, had his head down and whatnot. Then he got got. He got a little taste of success and whatnot. And then he just became Baktiari D. Bach, you know, just like, just as, you know, 69 king dinner for two. You know, like, he became a character. But I love him. I just text him yesterday, obviously, when he had his. His boy and whatnot. But we, we stay in touch. Our parents are close with his parents and I know all his siblings and whatnot. I love him. He was a amazing player. It's such a shame that his time there and potentially in the league came to an end with I look good right there with his knee injury because I told. I, I texted him one year he had gotten his second or third all Pro. I said, you're on your way to the hall of Fame. And you know, but, but listen, that's a, that's a separate conversation about, you know, financial security and getting your money, and fans don't agree with that. But he's a stud. Love him. Still love him. But he's ridiculous.

[B]

I remember we had him at my house before the draft. He was coming out of Colorado and he wasn't a big. It's not a recruit, a big prospect in terms of like a first round guy. And we had him down. You guys came down the beach and I was just chatting with him. I was like, hey, what are you thinking? Like, how's it going? He's like, you know, I'm just really eager to get an opportunity. I hope to get drafted mid round, like, you know, make a team and prove to myself like it wasn't a first round pick. Where it's like, if you're not going number six, you're pit. You're pissed. Right? And. And incredible career. I meant. But I, I got to spend more time with his brother Eric. You guys hung out with Eric, I think.

[A]

Yeah, we've been around.

[B]

Hung out with Eric. That's a different level of energy.

[C]

Yeah, like just, just eye contact, like uninterrupted eye contact. Like, you know. Yeah. His dad, Carl. Crazy Carl. Yeah.

[D]

Dude, Dave is so awesome. Yeah, and Frankie too. Yeah, Frankie is all time. She can, she can get after it now. She is fun. Hello all you people listening on the audio version of this podcast. I want to talk to you about something very near and dear to my heart. And that's Lucy. Lucy is the obvious choice for true nicotine pouch connoisseurs. That's why they're the official nicotine pouch partner of Barstool Sports. Lucy. You hear that? That's Will Coffin just flicking a top can of a Lucy. Lucy pouches. Hey, Taylor, how high do they go up? They up to 12 milligrams in strength, boys and girls. That's some good stuff right there. And they have a great, unique, unique shape that feels amazing. In your lip. Lucy breakers. The only pouches with a hydration capsule inside. Let him hear it. What does that do? Each breaker contains a hydration capsule that you can crack open with your teeth before tossing it in your lip. The capsule releases a burst of flavor and helps release nicotine faster. For an experience that you cannot find any other pouch. I'm gonna tell you this right now. I understand. Sometimes you're at the gas station, you see a lot of things. Those nicotine pouches, they'll just. They'll get the job done for you. But once you've had Lucy, you're not going to want anything else in your pocket. If you want Lucy, Taylor, where do I find it? I'm going to tell you right now. Get Lucy shipped straight to your door.

[C]

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[D]

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[A]

A couple upper deckies disclaimer.

[D]

Lucy products are for adults of legal age. Every order is age verified. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Let's get back to this episode.

[A]

Look at him. Know the.

[C]

Yeah, baby face.

[A]

Yeah, baby face.

[C]

That was fun.

[D]

What? How did that come about? So.

[C]

So Josh. Josh sitting in T.J. lang and obviously David were huge pitch perfect fans. And I have to admit, I hadn't watched it at the time. Or maybe I had, but just, you know, just, just logged it away. And so they were always reaching out. They were DMing the actors in it and the director, and I'm forgetting their names, Right?

[B]

That was just to try and go.

[C]

On a date or something possibly. But so no, they. I think one of them had said, like, hey, if you ever need, you know, what do they call the background people? And so Elizabeth Banks is her name. She had reached out and said, hey, you know, my husband's a huge NFL fan. He's, you know, the director of this and her co director, and we want to get you guys in. So Dave came and he's like, oh. She responded like, they're gonna send over the script. So he's over the script thinking we might have, like one or two. It was like four to six pages of, like, lines, dances, choreography, and whatnot. So I think we went down to Baton Rouge or one of these Louisiana cities and filmed it over, like two or three days. And I'm telling you, it was. It was so nerve wracking just doing. Because it was. It's so out of our element. You know, we play with a helmet on and you're one of a team. But, you know, having a dance, we really had to embrace it.

[B]

Did a great job. I swear, like, more people know you from that than the.

[C]

Yeah, well, nowadays, it used to be football. Now there's like, pitch perfect. I'm like, I'll take it.

[B]

I'll tell you, like, Clay, Clay. Clay had gotten big. You know, he was all. Especially in the NFL. But when he did, I was like, damn, that guy looks big. Like, I was like, I can even go do some curls. So I was like, doing curls.

[D]

Cheeseburger, when you go into wardrobe, did you make the decision to cut your sleeves off?

[C]

Yeah, that was me. So. So they had me in it. In fact, I got a lot.

[B]

Congratulations. Now, question.

[C]

That's like. That's like June, July, like, like, yeah, prime.

[B]

Did they spray paint that?

[D]

So, you know, he had a couple push ups before.

[C]

Absolutely. Yeah. So. So I looked at the script and they had me in there, and I go, well, what if we. What if we cut off my sleeve leaves and like, what if we can rip them off? And I went. And they were. They were receptive to it. So I. I had them cut it off and they met. They had little magnets on it, and I was wearing a washer. They had me take it off and we did a couple things and they just. They just. They ripped it off and it.

[B]

How many came out?

[C]

Great.

[B]

How many curls did you do before that?

[C]

Was. This is end of the off season, so I was peak.

[B]

No, I meant, like, I pulled my.

[C]

Hamstring every year because all my.

[A]

Oh, yeah, you did.

[D]

Yeah, the. The July body compared to the January body.

[B]

Game changer.

[D]

Tans gone. Fun.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

This is brutal.

[C]

July. That's all the thirst pics for my wife were in there Now. Now I put asleep with a shirt on. You know.

[D]

You want to tell them your Delaney story?

[A]

Delaney Walker.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

So Delaney had broke his leg. Delaney was out all year long. We're going on, you know, we're at the end of the season, and it's December, and Delaney's in the hot tub fixing a rehab. And we go in, you know, to warm up for practice. So I get in there and Delaney's like, damn, comp. You. You let yourself go. You stop where? I was like, what? Damn. Why you gotta say. You got the tight. You got the tight tights on. I got the muffin top hanging up.

[D]

A little higher, too.

[A]

He's like, you stop working on. I was like, all right, I guess I'll just join you guys in the hot tub and have some good vibes before I go out to practice. Just thinking that I just wanted to kill myself in that moment.

[C]

Bro, there's nothing worse. I. We brought in, like, a free agent halfway through a season. One time, like, forgive me. He was like a nobody, you know? And he comes like, damn, Clay, I thought you were a lot bigger. I was like, I am. It's just like, week eight and I can't work out. Like, I was. I was just, like, went home, like. Because that's the one thing. If you talk to. Like, for me, I don't know how it is with you guys, but somebody says, like, man, you're looking, like, trim or skinny or when they're trying to give you a compliment, that would just mess with my head. I'm like, no, I look good. Like, what are you talking about?

[B]

I would mess with them.

[A]

People would say, damn, it is holiday season.

[B]

I mess with him in the office. Like, if somehow we were, you know, just button heads, I'd be like, hey, man, you looking good. Like, you cutting weight. Like, you're looking real thin and, like, wiry. What do you mean?

[A]

What do you mean? You know, I wish I had thin and wiry.

[D]

Oh.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Kyle's got it. He's prepped. Have you ever been hearing him talk? Yeah, he's ready to go.

[C]

What do you have?

[D]

I had a little text.

[B]

I have Nashville business journal. And then I have a. Another interview with a designer from New York. What's her name?

[A]

Rebecca.

[B]

Rebecca.

[A]

Nice. Hey, guys. Thank you. This has been so much fun.

[D]

It really has.

[C]

Thanks for having us on. This was a lot of fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

After we get some time, come to a UFC fight.

[C]

I wanna.

[D]

Let's get out there, hold up, like.

[B]

Follow up on this.

[A]

Or one UFC fight, get the boys together. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No, but you're saying. Saying, I. My fault. I thought you meant, like, go out to Vegas.

[D]

That's what I was saying.

[A]

Oh. I was thinking, like, we're here in Nashville, like, we just get.

[D]

Oh, yeah. Little UFC night.

[C]

Yeah, we could do that as well.

[D]

We'll go over to you guys. 5,000 acres. We'll. We'll all sit in different spots. We'll take our star link, we'll watch.

[B]

And we'll all have our own couch because this is, like, super close.

[D]

Yeah. This bus, we got some bigger ones. We'll figure it all out.

[C]

Okay, good.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

It'll be fun.

[A]

All right, boys. Hey. Big hugs, tiny kisses. Subscribe. Make sure you are leaving comments.

[D]

See you.

[A]

Hey. That was fun. That was awesome.