The Bobby Bones Show – “Lots to Say”: Super Bowl Champion Ryan Succop

Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Bobby Bones, with Matt Cassel
Guest: Ryan Succop (NFL Placekicker, Super Bowl Champion)

Overview

This lively episode features Ryan Succop, veteran NFL kicker, Super Bowl Champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and “Mr. Irrelevant” from the 2009 NFL Draft. Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel (Succop’s former teammate) explore Succop’s unique path through football, including his underdog draft status, pressures of kicking in high-stakes moments, life after football, and hilarious behind-the-scenes locker room stories. The conversation is genuine, humorous, and candid—shedding light on what it means to be a kicker in the NFL and a competitor far beyond the field.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ryan Succop’s NFL Journey & Mr. Irrelevant Experience

• Drafted as Mr. Irrelevant:

  • Succop recalls not understanding the “Mr. Irrelevant” tradition at first, but learning quickly as he was “the very last pick of the seventh round.”
  • The Newport Beach “celebration” is more like a roast:

    “I'm already a place kicker. My last name’s Succop…like, they didn't need any more ammunition.” (07:01)

  • Embarrassing parade entrance in a tiny canoe, full headdress, in front of hundreds:

    “I’m coming up into the beach in a canoe. It was really embarrassing.” (07:01–07:44)

• Draft vs. Free Agency:

  • Succop sometimes wondered if it would have been better to go undrafted so he could choose his team, but appreciated the underdog status.

    “America loves the underdog…anytime they hear Mr. Irrelevant…they wanna cheer.” (08:12)

• Weighing Opportunities:

  • Considered location and roster needs when teams called as the draft wound down:

    “You’re kind of sizing up…what’s their kicker situation look like?...You’re 21, 22, just trying to guess.” (09:18)

2. Career-defining Highs and Challenges: Pressure & Recovery

• Super Bowl Season and the Pressure to Perform

  • Succop was cut by the Titans after a knee injury, unsure of his football future. He landed with Tampa Bay just before the season—and they promptly went on a run to win the Super Bowl.

    “I got cut in the 2019 season in Tennessee…sure enough, end up in Tampa, two weeks before the season started…that’s the year we won the Super Bowl.” (03:00)

  • Playing with Tom Brady heightened expectations:

    “I saw the way Tom was working…you don’t want to disappoint your dad. I didn’t want to be the reason we lost a game.” (04:03)

• Playoff Perfection & “Prove-it” Year:

  • Succop didn’t miss a single kick (field goal or PAT) during the playoff run:

    “It certainly was pressure, Cass, for sure…but it made you better.” (04:03)

• Comeback from Injury:

  • Challenging mental and physical hurdles after knee surgery.

    “I had the worst game of my career…just wasn’t where I needed to be. That was how I ended up in Tampa…was like, ‘can I still do this?’” (44:06)

3. Athletic Background & Multi-Sport Foundation

• High School Standout – But Not in Football at First

  • Soccer, basketball, baseball, golf—only ended up playing football after persistent requests from soccer coach and trying out days before the first game:

    “I played everything except football. I played…basketball, baseball, soccer, golf…My soccer coach made me try out…week of the first game.” (10:08–10:57)

  • Managed soccer and football simultaneously, usually just one football practice a week.

• Golf and Soccer Recruitment:

  • Succop was an all-state soccer player and had college golf opportunities:

    “I had some chances to play college golf…My wife would sit me down like, ‘Ryan, don’t you dare…you are in the NFL!’” (13:04)

4. Kicking: Art, Science & Psychology

• Kicking & Golf – Parallel Mindsets

  “Kicking, golf—you’re out there on an island. It’s an individual sport…There’s a lot that goes together mechanically, too, with rotation and timing.” (19:22)

• Pressure & Resilience:

  “What’s going to determine how long you play is how do you respond after the missed kick.” (20:24) “You have to go out there with the mentality of: I’m not allowing [a miss] to affect my mentality on the next kick.” (20:24)

• Superstitions:

  “I know a lot of guys were superstitious…that never—I was never that way. I’d just say a little prayer before the game.” (50:59)

5. Game Day, Weather, and the Kicker’s Unique Experience

• Kicking in the Cold:

  • Kansas City’s frozen fields, no heating coils, “rock-hard” footballs in December:

    “You’d have to figure out what kind of plant shoe to wear…kicking a ball that is a rock…” (22:21)

  • Staying warm on the sideline:

    “I’d go get one of those big parka jackets…stand right in front of the heater.” (23:26)

• Make or Break Moments:

  • Thrill of the fourth quarter game-winner:

    “That’s probably the one thing I miss…It’s a rush I haven’t been able to replicate anywhere else.” (24:54)

• Famous Game-Winning Kick:

  “Coldest game in Arrowhead history…had a 53 yarder with no time left to beat [the Chiefs]…just the perfect one, man.” (26:09)

• Icing the Kicker:

  • Prefers being “iced”—more time to prepare:

    “It allowed me time to go out and visualize…wasn’t going to make me more nervous.” (27:24)

6. Locker Room Life & Pranks

• Mountain Lion Hoax (Kansas City):

  • Succop and Dustin Colquitt pranked teammates with a mountain lion photo from a random trail cam, sparking real alarm and eventually making local news:

    “They opened up sports talk radio like, ‘If things aren’t bad enough in the locker room, now there’s a mountain lion roaming Arrowhead Stadium…’” (34:28)

  • Even had to clarify with the Department of Wildlife.

    “That was probably one of my prouder pranks.” (36:19)

• Locker Room Culture:

  “There’s nothing like the locker room…doing it with your boys, you’re working hard together…especially on an away game, game-winner…just can’t really create that anywhere else.” (29:06)

7. Life After Football: Golf, Competition & Identity

• Post-NFL Competition – Celebrity Tour:

  • Competes in a new pro athlete golf series with other former athletes (e.g. Tony Romo, Marty Fish, Joe Pavelski, Greg Maddux).

    “It’s like a true tour…if you play well enough, you qualify for the final event…guys are grinding, we’re trying to win.” (14:48)

• Golf Handicap:

  “I’m probably about a plus two and a half right now.” (14:35)

• The Need for Competition:

  “It gives you something to chase…scratches that competitive itch.” (16:48)

8. Fun & Memorable Moments

• Steve Spurrier Golf Story (South Carolina):

  • Coach Spurrier lured him to campus with a challenge to beat him in golf, then ultimately defeated Succop in their match on Spurrier’s 63rd birthday.

    “He beats me…he was competitive, great player…that was cool to get to play with him.” (31:29)

• On Being a Kicker in Football Culture:

  “We think of kickers unfairly as the least athletic…most kickers I know were dominant athletes until they got to college.” (09:47)

• Kicker Stereotypes and Respect:

  “A lot of times you only get credit when you have a game-winning kick…otherwise, that damn kicker got one job.” (28:49)

9. Specialist Life, Kicking Science & Changes in the Game

• Evolution of Kicking, Equipment, and Rules:

  • Modern preparation means better-trained, younger kickers, and improved equipment:

    “The guys coming up, they’re better athletes. The NFL just switched the rule this year…kickers now get to break in all 60 balls all season instead of six new ones right before the game.” (48:16)

• Blocked Fields Goals – Who’s at Fault?

  “My mentality was always hey, it’s on me. I wanted my linemen to know I appreciate them…last thing you ever want is to blame those guys.” (52:21)

Notable Quotes

• “NFL…we always say doesn’t stand for National Football League, but ‘not for long.’” —Ryan Succop (03:00)
• “America loves the underdog…any time they hear ‘Mr. Irrelevant’…they wanna cheer.” —Ryan Succop (08:12)
• “Your heart rate gets up too high…you have to stay steady through big moments.” —Ryan Succop (24:54)
• “If you can be that guy…they can count on you, you can stick around a long time. But…it does not take much, one or two games, and…they’re moving on.” —Ryan Succop (45:10)
• “That was probably one of my prouder pranks.” —Ryan Succop (36:19) (about the mountain lion hoax)
• “There’s nothing like the locker room…getting to celebrate with your boys.” —Ryan Succop (29:06)
• “If there was one person I’d let marry my daughters…not at your age…but the type of person, it’s Ryan Succop.” —Matt Cassel (55:30)

Timestamped Segment Highlights

| Timestamp | Topic | |---------------|-----------| | 01:21 | Matt Cassel introduces Ryan Succop and his career highlights | | 03:00 | Succop recounts getting cut from the Titans and joining the Bucs before the Super Bowl win | | 04:03 | Discussing pressure of a “prove-it” year and playing alongside Tom Brady | | 07:01 | Hilarious Mr. Irrelevant parade story | | 10:08 | How Succop, a multi-sport athlete, stumbled into kicking days before his first game | | 14:35 | Succop reveals his golf handicap (plus 2.5) and talks about the pro athlete golf series | | 19:22 | Similarities between golf and kicking, the mental side of both | | 24:54 | Succop describes the unique adrenaline of the game-winning kick | | 26:09 | Most memorable game-winner: 53-yarder vs. the Chiefs in subzero Kansas City | | 27:24 | Thoughts on “icing” the kicker; says it can be helpful to refocus | | 34:28 | Detailed mountain lion locker room prank story and its fallout | | 38:46 | Playing in the cold: “Cold is cold, you do not get used to it.” | | 41:03 | Tom Brady story about sharing treatment time and personal humility | | 44:06 | Struggles returning from injury; worst game of career after surgery | | 45:10 | Explaining the pressure that comes from being one of just 32 NFL kickers | | 48:16 | How rule changes and better equipment have led to longer kicks in the NFL | | 50:59 | Superstitions: Succop’s routine before games (prayer, no quirky superstitions) | | 52:21 | Who’s to blame on blocked field goals? Succop says: “It’s on me.” | | 55:30 | Matt Cassel showers Succop with praise for his playing ability and character |

Tone and Style

The tone throughout is playful, friendly, and honest. Bobby, Matt, and Ryan balance NFL insight with personal anecdotes, self-deprecating humor, and a warmth that highlights their genuine camaraderie. The banter is natural and easygoing, punctuated by moments of heartfelt respect and reflection, especially when discussing high-pressure situations, locker room culture, and life transitions.

For New Listeners

This episode gives a behind-the-scenes look at the mental and physical demands placed on NFL specialists, explores what it’s like to be an underdog turned champion, and reminds us that professional athletes—especially kickers—are far more than their snap-through-the-goal stats. Fans will enjoy the stories, laughs, and humility of a man who’s kicked through the highs and lows of the most pressure-filled position in football.