admin What’s also happening, in terms of defensive linemen, is now there’s all these incredible athletes. But because they don’t do enough in high school and college, offensive linemen aren’t developing like that. So it’s really just how development has happened, so now I feel like those defensive players are so far ahead, from a talent, development, and work level, that they dominate. And it’s fun to watch those individual matchups, but we’re also seeing what happens when people are freakishly talented. Tyreek (Hill)? Freakishly talented; nothing you can do. AJ Brown? Freakishly talented; nothing you can do. Ja’Marr (Chase), too.
You want to know some of the strange outliers? Justin Jefferson. Davante Adams. It’s almost like when a girl falls for a guy but she doesn’t know why. These guys just do the right things: master their craft and compete.
Was there ever a period of post-retirement existential drift where you wondered, even briefly, what was next for you?
I don’t love TV, so yeah, all the time. And you have to realize: I started working in 2013. I’m the first active player to have a TV contract, which seems like forever ago because now everyone has a podcast. For me, it was, “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re going to work and play football” or “Isn’t that a problem?” All I’ve ever wanted to do is coach football. I’m probably never going to do that unless I do it in high school. But when I retired, my son was starting high school and told me he wanted to play college football. I told him I could help with that. So I just poured my life into my family and needed a job that would give me the flexibility to do that, and pursue certain passions. But there’s a lot of times where I’ve thought TV is not for me.
It’s a subjective, opinion-based business, both in the way you do it and the way you’re critiqued. One person might think I’m excellent, but another might think I’m terrible, and those are the people making the decisions. But I’m going to be a GM one day; that’s my next job. I prepare every day by talking to former GMs, putting together my list of priorities, and writing down what sort of coach I want to work with. What alignments are necessary in order to go out and pick players. What’s the physicality level of my offense? How do I want to play defense?
When I watch college ball now, I don’t think, “Oh, this team is great.” I think, “This is the best quarterback, now let me watch him.” I looked at the draft and thought there were three guys, then a fourth. Those three guys went first, second, and fourth. I thought C.J. (Stroud) was the best of them, but Bryce (Young) went first, then C.J., then Anthony (Richardson), and I thought Will (Levis) was a little bit off from there. In that sense, I was right because people saw it like me. Now you watch Will play through two games and maybe he belongs in that conversation as well. So I file away how I evaluated him, because maybe it helps me get that job.
