All right, boys. Massive talk today. We got bronk. Last one of the year. Going into 2024, Hot, and we're going to be firing on Prize Picks, boys. So you guys know, I have tried every single app when it comes to firing on sports. Prize Picks is by far the best app to fire on sports. Instead of choosing teams, you're choosing individual players. Each player has a set projection, and you either get to choose more or less than that set projection. So if you guys are smart with sports, if you know what players are going to perform on what nights, no brainer, download the Pricepicks app, try it out. Trust me, all my friends are blowing me up about it. We love using it. Pricepicks is available in 70 % of the United States. It's available in Florida, California, Texas. And we got you boys on a code for first time users, Codenelk. Plug that in on your first time. It's going to be a 100 % deposit bonus. So that's where you boys to take advantage of. Use Codenelk. So much sports. We got the bowl games on. We got hockey. We got basketball, football.

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It's good, boys? What's good? Another episode of Fullsend Podcast. We got a legend coming in, Grunk. We're at a shoutout to Dave Grutman. We're at Cassadona, a brand new spot in Miami. The spot's.

Fire, right? Yeah, I love it here. Big terrace right on the water.

It's beautiful. You party here or no?

I have. How was it? I was sick. -that was sick.

-really sick. -a lot of sexy chicks.

Yeah. One of the better nights I've had in Miami, to be honest.

Yeah. If you guys know, we party in Miami a lot, so you guys got to check out Cassadona if you come here. Any of Grutman spots, getgo, is Fire. What else is Lit? Obviously, the other ones, -Popic Steak, Kimoto. -popic Steak, Kimoto, Gecko, Cassadona. -oh, strawberry Moon. -swan. -strawy Moon.

-he fucking has a lot of spots.

A lot of strawberry moon.

Just search up group hospitality. Just hit only those spots when you come to Miami. But what's good? How's the dial going?

It's great. Day eight.

Day eight.

I'm impressed. We announced on our stories we're doing a Nelk Boys classic physique challenge. Basically March ninth, which is U-F-C Miami, we're all going to do a Nelk Boys bodybuilding show. We'll make it on brand like Nelk and shit. Wait, what do you mean?

What do you mean?

We're going to.

Be stepping onto the scale.

Who has the best? Yeah, but we're going to make it content too.

Oh, we're doing all that? Yeah. I thought it was just a sure reveal on the scale, bro.

No matter how you look. Pretty much, yeah. But we'll make it entertaining and shit.

Oh, fuck. Okay.

Yeah.

Fuck. March ninth?

March ninth, which is the day of U. F. C. Miami.

I didn't know we were doing all that.

What do you mean?

We're doing a show. I thought it was just like a shirt off. You win.

Well, fans vote. I mean, we got to make it somewhat entertaining and funny.

Yeah, we got to step.

Onto the scale. Basically, all of us, whoever makes the best transformation, all of us are doing it. Us three, cousin, Jay, Jimmy, I think, Gabe, Steve, whoever makes the best transformation. You guys will vote. We'll figure out how we do it. But winner is going to get 100K, which is pretty nuts.

Yeah, that's fun. What would you do with your money?

I'd just save it. I mean, I really want to win. I'm impressed, brother. I'm really trying to get one of them.

I'm really trying to get one of them.

You haven't drank in a minute. I feel great.

Eight days straight.

Like 10, 11. I don't even really want to go out. Not that much. I mean, next year, New Year's definitely going out.

Next year or next week?

No, next week. Next week, my bad. Yeah, that's definitely a send. But regular Saturday nights, depends. If there's chicks out there, you know what I mean?

Who do you think is the favorites to win?

I don't know, honestly.

I know. It's pretty crazy. I think it's in between, Gael. It's whoever really dials in. Jimmy could do it, but I know he's not going to dial in on his diet. That's the thing. You could work out as hard as you want, but if you don't diet, you're not going to do it. Who's going to really stick to that diet? I can't see you doing that. I can't.

I don't know. I woke up feeling different this morning, bro. Good. I've been watching inspirational shit.

What?

David Gaudon? Shout out to The Trend Twins, bro. I love you guys. Have you ever watched them? The Trend Twins? They're my.

Favorite guys ever. I've seen their channels. Oh, yeah, I.

Met one of them. Yeah, I just woke up this morning and wanted to fucking take steroids and blast anime, music, and I'm ready to go. Yeah.

Those guys are cool. I remember me and them at Pricefix.

Yeah. No, it is diet, though.

That's key, bro. But it's also what's in right now. Being fit and being healthy is so in, and being that douchebag at the club, wearing chains, getting drunk is not that. What's not necessarily.

Being a douchebag? You're healthy. You look good.

Yeah, but I just think the vibe is now like that's what's in and cool and probably a better life decision. Yeah, of course.

No shit. We're both. We're still going to rip the club, man.

We're probably going to a.

Healthy balance. But it's better now because when you only go those one, or let's say you go once a week or once a month, that experience is probably going to be 10.

Times more fun. Yeah, you're looking forward to it instead of going out all the time.

You just have to fucking not think about chicks, bro.

That's fucking hard, man.

That's really hard.

I told you.

That's what it is, bro. -become a tech fan.

No, it's hard not to think about chicks.

Because, dude, the dial is a full-time job.

It is.

There's so much that goes into it. The one thing that you got to do is you got to sleep good. Because if you're doing two a days and you're working as hard as you're working, you got to sleep good. That's why I had a chick over this week. Threw me off. What's up, baby?

It's good.

How's it going, Rob? I'm good. How are you, man?

Rob Gronkowski in the house. We appreciate you coming.

Through, bro. Yeah, man, not a problem. It worked out perfect, man. I've been on a freaking world war. World war of a tour. Not a war, but a whirlwind of a tour. What have you been doing? That's better. I've been on the road for 22 days right now. Yesterday was my first day off, but I was traveling still. But I've been shooting. I've had seven days of commercial shoots, 12 hours each day. Usaa, I had to go to Army-Navy game. I had three flights across country over the last 20 days as well. Landing, going right to work. Man, I'm excited for the freaking holidays. That's for sure. This is my last thing I got doing the podcast with you guys. Then I have off till January seventh when I go back out to L. A. To do the Fox Analyst stuff for the last season of the week. I'm excited for it, but this is a bang. This is how you finish it off right now. This is how you're fucking going to the holidays. This is how you're going to finish it off. Celebration right here. You saved the best for fucking last, baby.

Let's go. Let's go.

How is the anthem shit?

Oh, yeah, the anthem. That was pretty cool, man. What was cool was we were in SoFi about a couple of months ago and we were at the Travis Scott concert and we were there with all the SoFi people, all the Hollywood Park people who put on the Bull game. I'm sitting there and I'm like, Hey, what do you want to do at the Bull game? We need something. You need to do something. Jimmy Kimmel hosted it and he played the clarinet with the bands. I was like, All right, what can I bring to the table? I was like, How about I sing the national anthem? I sang it right there on the spot. Julian Edelman was with us at the Travis Scott concert, a couple other people. I started singing and everyone stopped me right on the spot. They were like, We need like 10 more shots to keep listening to your ass, Rob. I was like, All right. I was like, But I still want to do it. They're like, We're going to get a choir for you. Then I was like, That's perfect. I don't have to study as much, try and tune my voice to perfection.

Then I studied the night before for two hours, got it down and pulled it off right at the end. That was huge. I have four singers with me. What was cool about it was a national choir of, I forgot the exact name of it, but it was military members and veterans that went homeless. Then they take them off to streets and they give them opportunity to build their life back up, do the national anthem, get their life back on track. It was really cool singing with them. I pulled it off, man. It was really fun. I blacked out right before. I literally did. I forgot all the words. I was nervous. I started sweating. My face got all red, but I.

Pulled it off. How many people was that in front of you now?

It was about 32,000, 34,000 people there. Damn. Yeah, it was sweet. It was cool. Once I got going, it was like a football game. The first three plays, no matter what, no matterhow many games I played the first three plays, I'm like, Oh, he's like, Damn, I'm nervous, shaking a little bit. You get a couple of hits and you get a catch and you're like, Man, I can play the rest of the game all day long. I'm not nervous anymore. It was the same thing with the national anthem. Once I hit, Oh, say, I was like, I.

Got this. Yeah, dude, it's crazy seeing you on Fox and just not on the field anymore for us. Makes me feel like I'm getting older. You know what I mean?

I do know what you mean a little bit because that was the transition of a player. How's that transition for you, bro? Like, was I the guy that you watched? Dude, you were the guy. You and Tom. Now and you're not playing anymore and you're like, Damn, I'm getting old. The guy that I watched growing up is on TV. Yeah. Yes. It's fun, though, man. It's a lot of fun. I'm learning from the best as well. I got Michael Strayhand, who is unbelievable off the field. I mean, he does Good Morning America. He's so witty at any time. He can talk about any subject and just bring a great point up to the table at any time. You got Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, who's been with Fox Sports with that TV show since the day it started about 30 years ago, bro. 30 years ago, they've been doing that for- Wow, that's crazy. -and then we also got Jimmy Johnson, Hall of Fame, Football Coach just went into the Hall of Fame with the Dallas Cowboys as well. And then we got Kurt Menifie, who's the smoothest, salient guy of all times at the end of the table leading us.

They're legit, man. They're great to learn with. I'm the youngest by 15 years. Michael Strayhans is 15 years older than me, and he's the second youngest on the squad. So it's really cool just being with them and just learning from them. They have such a good time and such a great bond.

Yeah, dude, you're a great addition. But how many days a week are you watching football? I could still play.

I could definitely still play. There's for sure about that. I feel like I'm in better shape now than when I was when I was playing, especially when I was younger. Really? Yeah, because I was a maniac when I was younger. You didn't really know what I was doing. I would just show up partying on the weekends, get out of shape over the weekends. I literally probably about 30 times in my life got out of shape over the weekends with my teammates.

As well. What was the cycle like.

During- It was a cycle. It was a cycle. It was exactly what it was.

Walk us through that week.

Yeah. So during the season, we're talking when I was young, 20s, right? Like 21, 22, 23, 24. I was still supposed to be in college. I left early my junior year. So it was in the off-season. During the season, man, I was really focused. You would have a couple of beers after the game and then get back on track during the week. You couldn't really party during the week, but off-season, man, it was just a rotation every single week. And it was like you were in college again. Friday night comes, you're going out, you're freaking partying till 4:00 AM. You're brown out basically every night, no matter what, because you're pounding about 10-20 drinks as a football player. But you still went out there and performed. Yes, still went out there and performed. Then Saturday would come, same thing. You keep partying, maybe Saturday during the day as well. And then Sunday comes and you're like, Damn, I feel like ass. How am I going to run tomorrow? So you pound literally 200 fluid ounces of water. You go in the sauna, you put all the electrolytes in the water, go in the sauna for an hour, sweat everything out.

And then somehow since we were so young and so... What is? So used to running, so when we start running again, it just comes right back to us that on Monday we just pulled off. The first 10 minutes always sucked, but then, bam, we always got going again.

Working out is the best fucking hangover cure.

It is, man.

It's tough the first 10 minutes, but once you get that sweat in, I feel like that's the best hangover cure.

It is. It depends how hungover you are. Sometimes you can't work out if you're hungover. But a really good way to get back into working out after being hungover, I found out because you can't really just hit it right away. When you're young, how old are you guys? I'm 29.

You're 29? Oh, you look like you're freaking 21, dude. Actually, you look like you're 19, bro. I don't know, I usually.

Get that. Cillian is young, he's 22.

All right, so when you're a young man, you can party, you can wake up and you can go freaking do a max out on the bench or squat at like 22 years old. And then when you start getting older, you start feeling you can't wake up anymore and just hit the weights. But the technique now is, I figured out is that if you're partying and you want to get that workout and still it's hot yoga, just sweat it all out, but it's not too much pressure on your muscles and joints. Then the next day or two, then you can start lifting again.

Damn, hot yoga. Yeah. I had to try that.

You went to U of A, right?

Yeah, University of Arizona.

How the hell was that? Because that's one of the most top.

Party schools. Yeah, it was awesome, dude. I loved it so much. Everyone always asked me like, How the heck did you get out to the University of Arizona? To make the story short, my dad sells fitness equipment. He's been in the business for 30 years now. He went on a road trip. Those conventions were all the fitness people, all the same people that do the same thing. They met up in Vegas, and then he met a friend there that does the same exact thing as him who went to the University of Arizona. He has stores in Arizona. He kept telling my dad, Bring your kids out to University of Arizona. I'm an alumni. I'm a booster there. Then we wanted to get recruited. He got us in the door. We went there, took a visit, and I was like, Damn, this place is dope. The campus, the weather, the pools, the- The women. Yeah, the chicks. Just everything, man. It was 90 degrees out every single day. The weather was just legit. It was my type of atmosphere. I asked the football program was up and coming. They just got Mike Stoops as a head coach.

But let me tell you, it was meant to be the go there. I knew the football program was average, and I knew that no matter where you go, you're going to get looked at no matter what. If you're good enough to make it to the pros, you're good enough to make it to the pros. That's how I got to the University of Arizona. My brother then transfer from the University of Maryland, met me at the University of Arizona, bro. We had a great time, man. It was the two and a half best years of my life.

You guys must have been a fucking threat there.

Yeah, we were a threat. That's for sure.

Because I've party with Gordy, too.

Oh, you've party with.

Gordy before Gordy? Yeah, the.

Fucking muscle-chunk. Gordy is an absolute monster, bro. He's 40 years old and still partying like he's in college, bro. He's an absolute monster. I don't know how he does it. I got to give him absolutely a ton of credit for doing it and just going like an animal still to this day, man. I don't know how he does it.

Does he go the hardest out.

Of all you guys? Yes, he goes the hardest out of all of us. But if I really needed to, I could out-party him.

Who's like the rank?

I don't want him to think like he's the number one party. I could out-party him in a second. What's like the rankings? He's the number one most consistent partier. That's what he is. And it's impressive. He can get his work done the next day, wake up and just go after you. I mean, the guys are absolute machine, that's for sure. Okay, what's the ranking? I like doing the rankings. Yeah, what's the rankings here? All right, for my brothers and I? Yeah. Actually, if you get Chris G going, he lives in Dallas and he's the one who actually created I'shaker, started that business. So he's super busy. But if you get Chris G going, he's number one on the list. And then I would say, I mean, it's hard because we all take turns. There's sometimes my brother Dan, absolute animal, we're somewhere at an event and he's just the one going off partying and just taking over wherever we're at with the comments, with his moves, just everything. I mean, it's hard to make a list. I would say consistent party or Gord's number one, for sure. Then I would say my brother Dan's number two.

Then you're throwing Glenn at number three, Chris at number four, then I would go with myself number five. But if I needed to out-party all of them, I can put myself right up at top of that list, that's for sure.

Dude, I always think about just your guys' team with you, Edelman, and even Edelman, and even Amendola. You have three guys who all like to party, but you have the most disciplined coach and quarterback. How does that How do you balance that? Did they let you live your life or did they get involved?

No, they definitely let us live our life. But we always showed up, man. We are still super disciplined. People were getting fooled a little bit like, Oh, they're always out. But we weren't always out. It was just like once a week when we knew we had the next day off as well, when we knew we had enough time to recover and get after. I would say it helped us be the players that we were. You got to be a maniac off the field to be an absolute maniac on the field. Imagine just every day going home and not having fun. I feel like we wouldn't have brought that type of attitude to the field without going out at night as well. We knew that that was a treat to be able to go out and have a good time and be the big man on campus going out in the city of Boston. But just overall, Danny and Iman, Dole and Julian Edelman, man, they're absolute dogs on the field, off the field. I love them to death man. They're absolute maniacs too. It's just incredible just for their size, just how much power that they have.

It's just incredible. I mean, Julian andDanny. They're both like 180, 170, or maybe Julian is like 195. He's absolutely shredded. But how much power they bring to the table and how much strength that they have is just pretty impressive.

Dude, U3 plus Tom is the scariest group.

At the club. Out of the four titles, what was your favorite title you.

Guys won together? I'll go with the first one versus Seattle. Really? Why? The Seattle Seahawks, because that entered us into the Super Bowl Club, baby. Winning a Super Bowl. I mean, you just wanted to get in that Super Bowl winning club. When we beat the Seattle Seahawks, we got in. That was our first ring. It was one of the most memorable ones because it was one of the best Super Bowl games in the history of the Super Bowl as well. There's no doubt about that. The Seahawks were up twice by 14 or by 10 points, and then we came back. They went up again by 10, then we came back. Then Malcolm Butler, the seal of the deal on the interception with 30 seconds left in the game on the one-yardline is just incredible story, man. Just overall, it was such a team win too. Brandon LaFell scored a touchdown, Amandola scored a touchdown, I scored a touchdown, and Julian scored the game-wining touchdown as well. So it was a team contribution overall, and Shane Vareen had about 12 catches for 140 yards out of the backfield. So everyone contributed. It was a team win, and it was the most memorable.

One as well. I wonder what was going on in your mind when Malcolm Butler intercepted? Because that was just like crazy to me. It was- The very last second. I mean, it's like one-year-long- You.

Guys thought you lost, right? Yeah, I didn't think we lost yet, man. I knew I had some confidence in the defense. I knew something was going to go down. They had a miracle once again with a catch that one crazy catch they had on the drive for like 30 yards. It was a miracle, that's for sure. But I just had some faith. I knew something was going to go down. I was praying for an interception or a fumble. I was thinking of a fumble recovery that we're going to have within the 10-yard line when they got down there. But I mean, it was saddening. It was heartbreaking when they were driving and then they were in field goal range and I was like, Oh, crap, they're about to score a touchdown. But then Malcolm Butler came through, man. I was just sitting on the bench and I never felt my body just jump so fast up out of my chair, out of my seat. So just what a play by Malcolm Butler, man. He put us right back up on the map with a Super Bowl victory.

What about the Super Bow you won with the Bucks? How does that compare to the.

Ones that- Yeah, that one is legit too. I'm going to put that one as number two, that's for sure. Really? Yeah, because number two, when we beat Atlanta, I actually didn't play in that game, which is cool, man, because I was having a good season that year. I would actually say I was having the best season of my career that year. I had the best camp of my career, and I pulled my hamstring. It was my first muscle like I've ever pulled playing football. I was dominating camp man. You were putting three guys on me. I was trucking three guys at once. No DB, no linebacker could cover me that year in camp. I pulled my hammy. Tom was suspended those four games as well because of the deflate gate. So then I came back like the fourth game. My hammy was still aggravating. We lost to the bills, like 13 to three. They finally beat us. The whole city of Buffalo was going crazy. I'm from Buffalo. I'm like, You guys beat us. We have no one. Tom wasn't there. My hamstring wasn't there. Our other two-star players were out as well. Then boom, Tom came back.

My hamstring healed as well. It was about eight weeks in Louis, so I was ready to go. We had Martellus, Bennett, as well as other Title M. The five games I played that year, actually, I played four. I had 550 yards in those four games. I had three touchdowns. Marty B had 300 yards and six touchdowns. So we were going to be the best tight-down combination out there since my second year in the League. And we were absolutely dominating. And then I got hit up the middle. I was going up the middle. Tom threw me a pass versus Seahawks. Earl Thomas, absolute rocket, the hardest hitter in the game, I would say at that time. I was looking at the ball right when I hit my fingers. He came running full speed, and I was running full speed up the seam, and he drilled me right in my chest. I punctured my lung and popped a disk in my back, and then I was out for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, I didn't play that game, that Super Bowl game, but I showed them the way in training camp and I showed him the way how it's done and the five games I played.

That's Super Bowl was cool, but I didn't play, so I can't rank it number one or number two. Rank right to championship. Okay, so Tampa is number two by far. First one was First Seattle because it was such a good game. It was and how it ended and all that. It was the first one got me in the Super Bowl Club. Then the Tampa Bay one was definitely number two by far. I mean, going down to Tampa, they haven't been to the playoffs in 10-12 years or however long it was. They had a good team. They just needed to get over the hump. Tom going down there got them over the hump and adding myself to just another target to get them over the hump. And then we had a season. We were seven and five at one point, won eight games in a row. Went on the road to New Orleans to Washington and to Green Bay won three games on the road, which we were, I think, not favored to win any of them. And then we had a home game. It was the first home Super Bowl game ever in history that someone has ever won.

The game was at home after winning three on the road, and we beat the Chiefs who were about to go back to back as well. I'm glad we beat their ass or else they would have like three or four rings by now. That was the second best one by far. Then the third Super Bowl ring, I would say, was my last game with the Patriots when we beat the... What were they? They weren't the St. Louis, Rams. They were finally the Los Angeles, Rams at the time. We beat them 13 to three in that Super Bowl. Then that's the ranking right there, baby.

Talking about Tom, what was your thoughts on him saying the league is like soft now, like the coaching, the player development?

So the only person that can say this is Tom. He's saying how the talent is right now. Teams are mediocre and all that. I agree with him a little bit, but he's the only one that can say that because I'm telling you, a motherfucker, every time he hit the field, if it was practice or if it was a game field or if it was a walkthrough, he was on another level than everyone else. So he can look down and he knows when the talent isn't there because his talent was all the way up here. His focus was always up here. Every single time he hit that field and he elevated the play around everyone else, elevated the play of me, elevated the play of Julian, elevated the play of the offense of line, elevated the play of the defense, all because Tom was presence. You could just feel his presence because he was so focused and determined every single time he hit that field.

That's awesome. Wait, but why do you think he feels that way? Because I feel like the level of competition now, like the league is high scoring.

Yeah, I would say he feels that way because he can see the game of football better than anyone else. He's the only one that really knows that. I would say outside of 2-3 teams in the NFL like yeah, you got to San Francisco 49ers. Actually, probably them. They're the only one that's truly consistent right now. But all the other teams, man, they're so up and down. And I would say that's what he's truly talking about, is that Tom played at such a high level and a consistent level at the high level. These other teams, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, they're going 70 points the next week. 10 points, five points, or two points, or getting just a safety. Which isn't happening, but it sounds funny. Then 14 points only, then all of a sudden they're scoring 50 again and then winning by 30 and then they're losing again. I think that's what he's talking truly talking about, is the consistency of these players. No one's playing at a high level at a.

Consistent rate. I saw Cam Newton did some podcast and he threw shade at Brock Purdy and was like, This guy is not even a quarterback. He's a game manager. What are your thoughts on that? Because that guy's having a pretty good season and he's looking at all these new quarterbacks as just game managers to a Brock.

It hurts. I would say Brock Purdy is a game manager, but he's such a good game manager that it makes him a game changer. That's how I look at Brock Purdy. And he's got such great players around him, so you can't really ever tell until he's dealing with a wide receiver corp that is like all fifth rounders. I mean, he's got talent everywhere from the running back position to the wide receiver position. But he's so great at that it's making him a game changer as well, and he's using it to his advantage. I would say some of the other quarterbacks you named, I would say are system players. I never really thought of what a system player was until you see them in college and you see them that they're so good throwing 60 touchdowns a game, then they get to the NFL where it's a lot more challenging and they can't do what they need to do like they were doing in college. But Brock Purdy, I think he's legit and I think he's really good at adapting to his situation around him, no doubt.

Yeah, also you don't have that many natural pocket passes anymore. You know what I mean?

Yeah, you really don't. I mean, the league's changing a little bit with the quarterback position. It's a lot of the guys that can rush the ball as well, that can run on the fly, that can scramble out of the pocket to the left or right, Deke, the defender that's about to sack them. That's what you want to see with a quarterback, but you want to see with a quarterback as well. That's why I love Josh Allen because he's a pocket presence. He can throw the ball in the pocket and then he can just zip it out whenever he can. And that's what makes Patrick Mohom so great as well. And I would say those are the really only two that have a true, true, true pocket presence that can throw the ball when they need to, but can also scramble. That's what makes them so lethal. If Tom could run the ball at all and had some speed, he would have been the most lethal player of all time. He would have been 99 on Madden all over the place in every category.

What made the chemistry between you guys so great?

I would say the work ethic that we had, man, there's no doubt about that. Tom led the way. He showed us the work ethic. Same with Coach Belichick, same with the coaching staff. Imean, I got there like ten years into the dynasty, about not eight to ten years into it. So the work ethic was already established. But we would go out to the practice field and we just went practice. We would make sure all the details and the fine points were hit. You know what I mean? You can go out there, run a route and you can be faster than everyone, but you can be covered by someone that's not as fast as you because you're not really running the route how you're supposed to. So it's all about the details. It's all about being on the same page as well, the chemistry with each other, Tom throwing the ball, knowing where it's going to be knowing when to turn around, him knowing when I'm going to go out on my break, when I'm going to do a little move so he knows when to throw the ball as well. So all of that happened because of the chemistry of our work ethic and staying after practice every single day and making sure we're on the same page every single time we hit the field.

Do you remember your first interaction with Bill Belichick and Tom? Do you.

Have a story on that? I mean, with Tom, I remember I was getting my ankles taped. I was in the training room and he came up to me. He's like, What's up, Rob Grankowski? I'm Tom braided. And I was like, Yeah, I know. Hi, Tom braided. I was just starstruck at the moment. Just put my hand out and shook his hand. I remember the first time I was in the huddle with him, his just knowledge of football is so fast and he doesn't slow down for you. If you're not up to his speed, it's like you got to get out of the huddle. You got to catch up. Yeah, you got to catch up until you can get into the huddle. He said the first play I was ever in the huddle and I was like, Yo. It's like hearing a language for the first time. You're like, Yo, I don't know what the heck. Or you just said. Were you confused? Yeah, I was confused. I looked over at my coach and he's like, Over there. I was like, Oh, man, I got to catch up, that's for sure.

Do you think more of that discipline came from Tom? Because if you like, then Bill, you look at the Patriots this year, they're having a shitty season. Bill is taking a little heat. What do you think about that?

Yeah, Bill is taking a little heat, that's for sure. I mean, he's having his worst year. I was saying his career, but he is the best coach of all time. If not the best coach, the top three then. I played with this guy my first nine years. I wouldn't change a thing either. If I had to go back and redo it, I would not redo any of the situations I was in. And also going there was great for me being under a program, the way that Bill Belichick runs it is just so good for a lot of young guys. It's a lot of discipline and a lot of action that you got to take and a lot of sustainability of being reliable to the guy next to you. And that's huge to have and just the game of life as well. You take what you learned from Coach Battlecheck and the New England Patriots organization and you can apply it to your life as well, which I sure am. Being disciplined, the way you got to be disciplined, being there for the teammate, being there for the company that you're working with, being here for you guys now saying, Hey, here I come, making sure that you're on time, that you show up and do the right things.

Coach Battlecheck also knows the game of football better than anyone else I've ever seen know the game of football as well. He knows every coverage, he knows every pass play, he knows every route, he knows every little trick and technique to get around the guy. He knows when a little guy can be the big guy. He knows when a big guy should be able to wamp a little guy. He just has the it factor as a coach. I would say what's going on, that's why it's such a tough situation to be like, Coach, Belichick, we're going to fire you because it's like, Damn, who's going to get Coach Belichick then? That's a lethal weapon. That's why it's a tough situation right now. I think they should definitely give them another year or two in New England.

Was there a time where Tom or Bill had to check you?

Make sure, you know.

Just like your dog fucking a little bit.

Oh, yeah, man. Is there a story with that? Yeah, they checked me a couple of times, that's for sure. I remember one time, Tom braided always wanted me to run a corner route to get outside of the defender. If he's playing like 10 yards off of me and I'm running a corner, a flag route, he's like, Get outside leverage every time you break it to the flag. I just wasn't capable of getting outside leverage. I was just too stiff sometimes, too lazy. I would say, Actually, that's probably the better answer. I kept going inside because then when you go inside, the guy's just going to seal you off and then you make the break and he's right there on you. But I always felt like for myself, I had a better chance of still getting a turbo boost and getting around the guy even if I went inside him. But braided always wants the guy to go outside. So I went outside again and then in the meeting, practice meeting right after he's like, Yo, I ain't going to throw you the ball no more. He's like, You just keep throwing outside. What the fuck?

I don't throw to anyone that goes outside on the flag. And then he said it like I was a rookie. It was like, damn, hurt. But I just really noticed he was really hard on myself as well out there, out in the football field because he saw greatness in me, I would say. I didn't really realize why he was so hard on me at first because I'm 21, I want to have fun. I want to go out there, run my route. I don't really... I care about some coaching points, but I never really cared so much about the details. Then from there, from that day on, I was like, All right, I got to show this guy up now. I'm glad he yelled at me. I took it the wrong way at first, but then the next day I finally realized he's just trying to wake me up. He's trying to get me in the right position so I can be able to go out there and make a play for the team. Then from there, we just hit it off halfway through my rookie year. He was hard on me a little bit more throughout my rookie year, but then it all clicked.

Then we just went off from there, man, and the rest is history.

Was there a bonding moment when you're like, you know what? I'm actually fucking friends with this.

Guy now. Yeah, the bonding moment, I would say, was when we were playing to Chicago Bears in Chicago. So Coach O'Brien, offensive coordinator now, just always on top of me, yelling at me no matter what, because they wanted me to be great. That's the understanding I have now is that they saw in me as a rookie. I could take it as well. You can come at me, you yell at me, whatever. Put me as an example, that's fine. Which they did. And I liked it because it disciplined me. It got me to be where I am now to this day. So we're repeating this route in practice, and it's a goal line route. So you got to get big. I'm a big guy. You got to be physical. So in practice, they harp on me. You got to hit this route right on the money. It's basically you're at the 12-yard line run in like you're running an over route in the end zone, right in the middle. And then put the brakes on, put your shoulder into the linebacker, get big on him, box them out. And then Tom is going to throw the ball right there, lower more so the guy can't reach over and you're boxing the guy out like a basketball play.

So we finally hit it in practice and everyone's flipping out, Coach is flipping out. They're starting the game that trust in me. This is about week 10, my rookie year. And then we go to the game and we're facing Chicago bears, negative 20 degrees, freaking snowfall coming down. You can barely see anything. And we're absolutely putting a whooping on them. And it's about to be the end of the second half where there's like four minutes left that play gets called. And Tom looks at me, goes, This is it. And I line up and I'm like, This is make or break for me, my rookie year. So I got to see who the linebacker is I'm going one on one with. Brian, yeah, Brian Erlacquare, the best linebacker, most physical linebacker in the League. I go down three yards into the end zone, boom. I'd post up Brian Erlacquare, put my shoulder down, turn around. Boom. The ball is right there, make the catch. And we just started going crazy. And that's when I gained the trust of Tom braided. And then from there on out, I played every single play with the New England Patriots.

That's sick. Yeah. And Bryan, or I was trying to complain that it was a flagger push-off, but it wasn't. He was a beast to me. I mean, I have much respect to him, man. He was the most feared linebacker. It was just a blessing to be able to just have a big moment like that with such a great player.

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Who are the most, I guess, fearful or guys you've played against the linebackers that you say, like the blacker-.

Who's your biggest matchup?

Yeah, your biggest matchup.

Oh, man. Oh, man. This was when I was younger. Clip it. Tarrell Sugs, man. Tarrell Sugs was a maniac, bro. Just absolute maniac. Back. I mean, guy had arms that were like this size. He was fucking huge. Like, huge. I mean, strong, mean looking, came with some attitude every single game, talk shit in the media the week prior, every single week as well, saying he's going to rip off Tom's heads saying he's going to rip our offensive alignment apart, rip our helmets off, just whatever he could possibly say to get into your skin. And every time I face some... I mean, I was young, so I'm 22 years old. So when you're facing like a vet like that, you're shaking a little bit. But he was a maniac man. And then we started battling it off. I mean, you build up that confidence once you go versus him. And then I probably had about 15 chances one-on-ones with him in my career at a younger stage. And he got me a couple of times. But I remember this one time in the playoffs, I had to chip block him. And he's right there right next to me.

And the chip block is you just hit the guy to help out the offense alignment so he can't rush full speed. And then I go out to my route because I have a shorter route and I'm like the last reach. I chipped him and I sent him flying like five yards and he went flying on the ground. It was one of my most accomplished blocks of all time. I felt proud about it. But he got me back. He got me back. I forgot what play. He got me back. Then he told me he got you back and he let me know. You said you were to talk. He said a little bit more than that, but yeah, it was good stuff.

Talking gets you fired up. Got you fired up on.

The field. Yeah, I love when people should talk me. I love it.

How are you in the field? How are you in the field?

I don't really jerk, man. I jerk once I really get into it. Like once someone puts me over the edge, and then that's when I start chirping.

I feel like it'd be pretty hard to get in.

Your head. It might be pretty.

Stupid to piss you off.

Yeah, that's what Julian always said. Don't piss them off. Then you piss me off, and then it's game over. It's game over, baby.

People always want to talk about greatness and stuff when it comes to you, Tom Edelman. What are some of the stuff that people didn't see that you guys were doing that nobody.

Else was? I would just say I work ethic just in and out, man.

We would go into- Dive into that.

Yeah, we would go into the weight room. We make sure we'd be stronger than our opponent. We would absolutely be beasting whatever we had a beast in the weight room, making sure that we were powerful enough, just working on our craft 24-7. And then going out on the field and just finetuning everything that we need to finetune. Just making sure everyone was on the same page, 24-7 all the way up to game time. And then making sure we understood each other out on the game field because communication is huge in the NFL. If you can't communicate, it doesn't matter what type of players you have on the field, you're never going to get the job done. If you missed a signal out there and Tom thinks you're going to run that route that he just signaled, but the wide receiver missed it, guess what, bro? That's a broken down play. That could be a 10-yard sack then instead of a 40-yard gain and boom. So the mental game of the NFL is just as crucial as the physical game. There's no doubt about that. But we are always making sure that we're on the same page.

And everyone picked up each other's slack. If I was tired, Julian would pick me up. If Tom was tired, which he was never, which is impressive, of we would pick him up or he would pick myself up or Danny Amadola would pick us up or Slater would pick us up or the defense would pick us up. So we all were accountable for each other. We were all a true team every single time we hit the field. And that's what made us great.

Did the pressure ever get to you or mental health ever? People talk about that in the NFL, but did that ever affect you?

A little bit later in my career. That's why I actually retired, man. I was beat up, man. I was feeling slow, like real slow at some points, man. I didn't want to go in to work. Going out to practice was tough, playing games was tough. That's when I knew that had to be my last year. No doubt about that. I mean, it happens too. The grind of the NFL, man. It's vicious, man. You don't really know what's going on with a player. You're getting hit. You're getting beat up. If you have a big, huge bruise on your body from that game and you're trying to practice that week, your body is trying to focus on healing that bruise or that bump or that contusion or whatever it is. Therefore, your brain is shut down because it's trying to heal it. It was just a grind at times, that's for sure. You had to find ways to fight through it. That's why it's great to have great teammates around you because they can pick up the slack and understand if you're hurt. And that's why we are such a great team as well. Like if I was beat down and Julian was or Amandola or Chris Hogan or whoever we had at Wiredeceiver knew it, they would pick up the slack for me.

And then if I knew they were beat down, I'd beg, Yo, boys, chill out. I'm going to get every pass this game or I'm going to take over for us because I'm feeling fresh. So it's all about the teamwork, man. It literally is. It's all about understanding each other out there. It's picking each other up as well. But the mental grind, man, you can see it in football, man. You see some guys just lose their shit, man. It's been happening way too much. It's been happening way too often. It's not good to see. It's not a good product of the NFL when you see these guys just go bat shit after or even while they're playing football, they don't even show up and they're missing. There are some points in my career where I was like, I don't want to go to practice. I don't even want to show up. I actually pulled it off once I went in, said I was sick. I was pretending the fake cough. I talked like I was sick. This was with the Pachus, one of my last years. Literally he sent me home and I literally went home and I was just like, Thank you, Lord.

I was like, I need you the day off. I was so beat. I couldn't think at all. I was so slow. That day off also helps tremendously. Crucially, man, it's crucial. It's hard to get a day off too because you got to be accountable. But I did that, man. I did it for the benefit of the team. Yeah, it looks selfish, but I swear it was for the benefit of the team to get me feeling better.

I mean, you guys are... When it comes to you guys as whole, I've never seen a group that close ever. I don't think maybe in sports. Between you, Tom, and Edelman, just like lack of no one's selfish. Everyone's for each other. What did you guys do off the field, if anything, to build that bond even stronger?

Well, for Tom, he just got married to Gisele. He was like 33 when... He's like my age right now actually, one year older than when I met him. I met him when he was 33, so he was married with kids. He was focused. He's a family man, one of the best family man I've ever seen in my life. Great parent. Then obviously, you don't really hang out with the vets either. I mean, different age. You're 30 as a vet. You're not hanging with a 21-year-old. So we had a good group of young guys. We had Stephen Riddley, Shane Vareen, Julian, Amandola when he came over. We had a lot of other guys as well, and we always just hang out after. We're in Foxborough, so there wasn't much to do. So we would have ping-pong tournaments. We would have cornhole tournaments. We would go out and hit the city of Boston and have some dinners together. So we always had a true bond. We always stuck together. We would go out and do things together when we were off the field as well. So that's actually what builds the relationships as well when you got guys that are sticking together off the field too.

What are you most competitive.

About.

Off the field?

I would just basically say all the little activities like cornhole, ping-pong, we're always going at it, that's for sure. Video games, not so much. There's some guys on the team that go absolutely nuts for video games, but most competitive. It's just those little niches. We also play... What's that? The paddle game now? What's that call again? Pickleball? Yeah, Pickleball. Everyone's playing right now. Yeah, we would do all that. So we would just compete at everything. We'd shoot hoops. We didn't really play real basketball, like five on five or one on one. We would just be shooting competitions, like three-point games, and we were just competing at all times. It was just in our to compete. Going out, we would compete who can chug a beer fastest, who can take more shots, or we would be out to dinner, who can eat the freaking steak the fastest. So it was just in our genes to just always compete and it makes you a better football player. It really does.

What was the best post-game party and where?

Oh, man. The best postgame party I would say was actually at my house. We call it Ratio. That's the only details we can get into. We made a pack that we can never talk about it, but we can only give glimpses of details. I was just on Julian's podcast, Names with Games, and we brought that- Ratio.

Sounds.

Pretty self-explanatory. Yeah, Ratio. So that's what it was called. So that's all we got. I'm just picturing it. I was 22. My second year in the League. It was a good one. That was probably the best one. But we had a lot of good times. Just being with the players after the games, we would always go up to Patriot Place. There was like Scorpion Bar. There's Toby Keith's Bar. We just all have a lot of laughs and get the back room and just enjoy our time after a game, after a nice win.

What was it like when Randy Moss came and joined?

Yeah, so Moss was on the team my rookie year. I only played three games with him, but he's an absolute legend. So my rookie year, I was just finding my mold, but he loved imitating me. After big play, I always did that, laughed a little bit. And then he scored a couple of touchdowns in those first three games that we had on him. And he do that after just to mock me a little bit, which was awesome. Which is great. I was like, Randy Moss is pretending he's me in the end zone. No one knew it. It was just an inside joke between all of us. But what an absolute legend he was, man. And it was unfortunate I only got to play three games with him before he got traded.

What was practice like? Seeing Randy in practice, like making crazy catches and stuff?

Yeah, it was unreal, man. I had Randy Moss, West Walker, and Tom braided. Put it that way. That's the offense I walked into as a rookie. Just watching them go was just poetry. It was art, man. Just seeing the way that they practiced, just seeing the way that they went about their business, just seeing the way that they handle themselves. I mean, it was a professional level at the top of the top and just walking in and being in awe of them. Just knowing that you're so far behind, just feeling like you're never going to catch up and be on their level. Wes Wilker, Randy Moss, Tom braided, the offensive line that they had at the time, just the impact that they made on history already just is ridiculous. So just being in awe of them, it was a surreal moment, just being in that huddle with them and just learning a lot from them as well, that's for sure. And Moss, though, he's ridiculous. He's a freak of nature as an athlete, that's for sure.

One-hand catcher's man.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. I think the Go to wide receiver, I would say probably top three, right? Yeah. Top three or four.

Who would.

Be your top three? I would say the only thing that Moss didn't have as a wide receiver, and it's not a knock to him at all, is that he was so big and long is that he just didn't have the underneath game. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, he's a deep threat. He had to be on the run. It wasn't like he's a Julian Edelman in the slot going back and forth, cutting back and forth. If Moss could do that too, I mean, look, I couldn't do that. He really never went inside the pocket. No, he was a good guy. But he didn't need to. He was a guy that was just an absolute deep threat.

He was as fast.

As fuck too. And fast as fuck. Fast as fuck. He would just glide and you'd be like, Are you.

Even trying? Everybody.

Yeah, I'd noticed-You're not trying.

-he wasn't even trying.

Yeah. That's what they call it. You got Most.

How tall is he? Like, six, four? Exactly. He Most at Revis, my rookie year. Second game of the season. That one-hander in the end zone was about a 50-yard bomb. That was ridiculous.

So who's your other two? Jerry Rice?

Yeah, Jerry Rice by far. If you look at his stats, dude, they're ridiculous. I'm always hearing about Jerry Rice. And then finally I was like, because he was young. I mean, I was young when he was playing. So I was like, all right, let me check out the stats. I was like, bro, this guy played like 20 years, has like 20,000 receiving yards and has 200 touchdowns. Ridiculous, dude. To be at that level for so long, ridiculous. I would say he's a goat.

Yeah. What about tight ends?

Top three. Oh, top three of all time? Yeah. Oh, man. That's a- You can put yourself.

In there. How about.

That you've seen?

That I've seen? You got to put yourself in. I got to put myself in. I'll put top three. We won't do the order. You're not through the order. Kelsie is obviously in there. I mean, the stats he's putting up year in and year out. Then I got to go with Tony Gonzales.

I thought you were going to say that but people sleep on Antonio Gates.

Antonio Gates is probably my favorite tight-on to tell you the truth. I love his game, just his niftiness out on the field. Just how much swag he had. He brought the basketball style of playing to the football field, and he led the way in that category. I didn't have the bat. I wasn't like a basketball-style type player, but I appreciate it. I was like a guy that I was like an offensive line in playing tight end. But Antonio Gates brought that position to another level by being the first guy that... Actually, Tony Gonzales too, is a basketball player. But Antonio Gates put it to another level, especially the amount of touchdowns he was scoring, man.

Speaking of Kelsey, what do you think about all the people complaining about NFL showing T-Swiff too much?

I think it's great for business. I think it's great for the NFL 100 %, that's for sure. It's actually impressive. She's the only person in the world that I would say can go to the NFL game.

And have and.

Sell out the NFL game. Yeah, fucking crazy. Or just being in the stadium, which is ridiculous. So props or her, that's for sure. I think it's great for the NFL, man. Probably so.

Many more females watching NFL.

It's probably pretty cool for.

Travis too. Yeah, very cool for Travis, that's for sure. I mean, I can see some of the fans, like true NFL fans that want a replay every single time. That want to see if the guy caught it, kept his foot in bounds. Wants to see the family celebrating. I get it. They're like, Oh, get Taylor off the screen. Because they're true football fans. They want to see football twenty-four-seven.

They're going to have her on RedZone too.

If you have big action on the game and you just keep seeing Taylor Swift, you're probably pissed.

Yes, exactly. Those are the guys that are getting mad about it that are just diehard football fans. You're right. They probably have eight TVs, every game on at once, every Red Zone channel on at once. And the second they show, they're like, What happened with that game? There's a Red Zone going on. Why is she on? That's probably the scenario right there, people getting mad.

I know what that just reminded me of is when fucking Tony Romo dated Jessica Simpson. That's like the closest thing that this has ever been to the situation.

Yeah, I would say so. I don't really recall that. I was younger, but I do recall that he was dating Jessica Simpson, but were they showing her on TV every single time? A little.

Bit, but it was like a big deal.

On the Jumbotron.

And something.

But it was a big deal. Because they always blame like, Oh, it's because he's in this relationship. But they haven't said that about Travis yet.

Yeah, but no, they haven't. But that's also because you're in the Dallas market as well. It all depends on what team you're on, what market you're in, what type of media market you're in as well. It all depends on what you can get away with, man. In Tony Romos' case, he's playing for America's team. They're going to find every niche to say whatever it takes to get clicks. Saying that it was because of Jessica Simpson. Even if it wasn't because of her, they were going to say it no matter what.

Speaking of that, the atmosphere, what was the difference? The atmosphere is what was the difference with the Patriots versus the Bucks like Tampa.

Yeah, it was a total learning.

Is it less pressure?

Yeah, way less pressure. Definitely. We went to a team, an organization that hasn't been to the playoffs in 12 years, so the expectations were whatever. If we went to the playoffs, that was a successful season already. No doubt about it, totally successful. Making the playoffs was huge. Definitely a lot of less pressure than New England. You lose a game, you feel it from the media, you feel it from the fans. We lost a couple of games in Tampa, and you didn't feel it as much as you would in New England. And just overall, 180. It was the perfect way to end my career in Tampa. I love the coaches, love my career just overall, how I had nine years in New England and then the last two in Tampa. I love the situations I was both in. But for where I was in my career at the time, I needed a place like Tampa, and it was just unreal that we won the Super Bowl in the first year as well.

Is that a tough decision, though, going there? What was that like?

I felt like I had more football on me. Yeah, I know. I felt like I had more football on me when I retired. I was beat up. My mental health wasn't great when I first retired. Therefore, I took that year off and I was like, I could still do it. I could still play. I wanted a new situation as well. I wanted to feel like what it would be like on another team in the NFL. Also my mom was living in Fort Myers. I love Florida. I love the weather. I love T-shirts, sandals, shorts to just go out. The weather is huge, bro. Yes, exactly. The weather is huge. So it just felt like it was the right situation for me. So it was an easy call when it happened when it went down. But I know this. You're from Toronto or or Ontario or whatever. You're a big Maypolis fan. Pretty much right beside you, yeah. I grew up in Buffalo, man, so I'm a Canadian a little bit. You can hear it in the accent. I'm a Buffalo Sabers fan, man. We used to go at it. Rob Ray, Tie, Domi. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, you guys used to beef. We were beefing back in the day. They beefed back in the day, and now we're beefing right now because you're a.

Maypolis fan. I think you guys just kicked our ass last.

Night, actually. Yeah, the Sabers won that game last night? Yeah, like 8-3 or something. Oh, I knew they were playing. Okay. It was bad. All right.

Do you pay attention to NBA, NHL stuff, or did you focus on NFL?

You played hockey though, right?

Yeah, I played hockey growing up all the way till my freshman year in high school, and then I was just playing so many sports I had to give up one.

So I gave up on it. You're going to get out on.

The ice. I would love to get out on the ice, man. Love hockey still to this day. You play roller, ever? Roller hockey I played growing up as well. I still got some roller blades, size 16. Roller's fun. They're like boots, bro. They're like ski boots. They're actually like skis. But hockey is the best man. I'll get out on the ice, let me know.

I love it. It's scary, dude.

It is scary. If you ever- It's really scary. Yeah, I was a.

Scary player. I thought you were Net Stani?

Yeah, you're playing that. As long as I don't get hit, I'm cool. Put all the pads on. Yeah, no, I'll do that.

Yeah, the buck won't hurt you. You got enough.

Equipment on it. Yeah. What's your prediction for MVP?

I'm going to go. I want McAfrey to win it. I don't think there's any- He's having a great-.

Yeah, he's having a great season.

He's just blessing us on prize picks every time I win.

Yeah, man, I think the Niners got it.

I think McAfrey should win it. There's no quarterback that's been consistent enough.

Okay, but what about Tyree Kills having an insane season, but they don't even really consider him.

Yeah, I would say Tyreke Hill, but the reason why he's not considered anymore is because two games ago, he only had like 40 yards, right? And he got hurt during the game. And then last week he didn't play. If he played in order to get the MVP, you got to be available every single week as well. And you got to put up a ridiculous amount of stats and you got to hit something like as a skill play. You got to hit it like a legendary mark, like 2,000 yards. No one ever hit 2,000 yards before. Ap was the last person to win the MVP that wasn't a quarterback. I think he had a record breaking season that year with yards. I think he was over 2K or something. There was something, I can't exactly pinpoint it, but there was something that made him like, Okay, we got to give him the MVP. With Tyreeke Hill, if he reached 2K, you got to give him the MVP. But with Christian McAfrey, I mean, he's just taking it to a whole other level, man. And he's throwing touchdowns left.

Right. I think San Francisco is a perfect place for him, man.

Perfect place for him.

You think they're the favorite to win?

Yeah, they're the favorite to win for sure as well. No doubt about that.

They're fucking good.

They're freaking.

Real good. Did the Panthers trade.

Christian McAfrey? Yeah, they traded Christian McAfrey. I still think that might have been one of the best trades in history for the San Francisco 49ers. They hit big time, man. What did they trade them for? I think it was like Peanuts. Really? Yeah.

They got Debo Samuel out there too. I think they had a great team to win it this year.

Yeah, 49ers should. Mcafrey got traded for Peanuts though because he kept getting hurt, remember? Yeah, that's what it was. So then they finally got rid of him because he's not even out on the field and boom, he's healthy now and he's just absolutely dominated like no other. Yeah, he is.

What's the biggest difference now in your daily life?

Oh, man.

Do you just feel way more.

Chilled out, relaxed? No, man, I'm actually more busy than I was playing. I said the other day I might go back to playing because I'm so busy right now. But I make my own schedule, actually, so that's my fault. But everything that I'm doing is great. I love what I'm doing. The only problem is that it's a lot of travel. I got to travel across the country a lot. So I got to find the niches of being ready to go off a plane after a six-hour flight. And you do that back to back in two days. The flights can kill you. One flight, whatever. You can do that. But when you keep going up in the air, going to airports, it gets tough. So that's the only challenge in my way is flying. Other than that, loving what I'm doing, man. Commercial shoots, going on Fox on Sundays, loving it. Just traveling all over to places is the only aspect that I got to stick up, keep up with and is in my way.

Yeah. What are you been up to with the charity stuff that you're doing? I know you're doing something crazy. We saw with the sweepstakes and the...

Yeah, so I started the Grunk Nation Youth Foundation actually about five, six years ago. I had such a great childhood growing up with my brothers. We had so many friends in our neighborhood. I had someone to play with 24-7. I had access equipment at all times, fields, whatever. And I truly believe I got to where I'm at now because of my childhood growing up. And I love giving back to the community, I love giving back to charities as well. And my girlfriend and I, we just co-founded a virtual sweepstakes company called Vomirang. And we're giving away right now the first sweepstakes where there's actually two going on at vomirang. Com. You can go there to enter for them. And Camille, she has a giveaway package right now and she's raising awareness for a Peter Fradys, family foundation of ALS. Peter Fradie's is a huge icon up in the city of Boston. And she's raising money for that with her package deal that she's doing right now, giving away. And that's two Corvettes, a brand new 2023 Corvette and a 1974 Corvette. So you can go to thevomering. Com, enter. And we're raising a ton of awareness for that charity.

And on top of a lot of the proceeds are going to that charity as well. That we raised through the sweepstakes as well. And then my package I'm giving away is $140,000 dream vacation package, $50,000 in Delta- Holy shit. Yeah, and Delta gift cards, $50,000 in an Airbnb gift cards and $40,000 in the Visa gift cards. So you got straight cash to go out.

40k in Airbnb?

Yeah. So if you win this package, man, you got $140,000 in vacation money to go out there and just have a dream vacation. And I'm raising... My charity that I'm raising awareness for is the Grunk Nation Youth Foundation, which I was just talking about that I started about six years ago with my family because I just want to give the kids the opportunity to succeed the same opportunity that I had growing up. I mean, friends around me, places to play 24-7, all that good stuff. So yeah, man, it's going good. The sweepstake ends January first. We're picking the winner. The New Year is next year, about I think, at 12:01, we'll be picking the winners. So just overall, man, it's great. It's great awareness for Charies. It's great to be doing business with my girlfriend as well. She's wonderful. She does a great job with everything. And what's cool about the Corvettes is that we're going to be driving the Corvettes to the winners' house as well. Camille and I will be showing up and it's just super cool, man.

You go to the website, you enter, get tickets, and then the winners get drawn on.

January first? Yes, that is correct, my man.

That is correct. We'll put the link at the top of the description. I'm going to enter. I want that 40K Airbnb. What would you do with the 40K Airbnb study?

Yeah, what would you do?

Fuck, that's one night for sure.

Obviously, you.

Have to- That's one night. What are you renting, man?

That's the biggest Airbnb you.

Can get. Yeah, the biggest Airbnb. You're just going all out for one night.

You obviously have a ratio. That's why I'm.

Going to say ratio. There you go. Now we're talking. Where would you go?

Probably here. Probably Star Island.

Star Island you would go to.

Or a little ratio in Saint Barts or.

Some shit. Yeah, Saint Bars.

For New Year's. Then you got to get everybody there. Fuck, it's expensive. I wonder if you.

Can run a yacht. Can you run a yacht with that?

With.

Airbnb? Yeah, with an Airbnb.

Gift card? Damn, that'd be a splash, actually.

Yeah.

Dude, do you ever think hypothetical what your career would have been if you just didn't go to the Patriots?

Yes, a little bit, man. I was ready, though. I was ready to take over. My second year in the league, I told everyone that I was going to be the best titan in the league. I told everyone I was about to take over, break some records. I just had that confidence, that great feeling just going into the season. But if I didn't go to the New England Patriots, man, I was ready, though, to make a mark, that's for sure. I always told my brother in college, I'm going to beat Jeremy Schacke 2.0. That was my favorite tight end growing up. I loved what he was doing on the field. Unstoppable on the field and also unstoppable off the field at that time. He was getting carried out of pool parties and stuff. I was like, That's my man. He brought that attitude off the field. That's why I felt like we are great players at that time. Julian and I and myself just going out because we were bringing the attitude around with us 24-7. We would bring that attitude of you're not stopping us when we go out. We're going crazy when we go out.

We're all in, just like when we're on the football field. So we had that persona around us 24-7. That's dope. You're not going to stop us. That's how it factored in to how we got away with what we were doing off the field. And we weren't doing anything bad. I mean, it's just an athlete shouldn't be going out and drinking and being able to go out two days later and dominate. But it was our mindset that was getting us to that level of domination. And we knew we had to show up every time too if we got caught out partying and everything. So that's what's up, man. That's what's up.

You think you guys would have a little tougher time now with social media and shit?

Yeah, big time, because we were right in the era of when it was just starting. So we got away with it a little bit. And it's just annoying, man. I mean, you're not even doing anything wrong. It's just annoying with the social media era, the cameras all over the place. If I could go back, man, if I had a say in this world, I would just cancel all those cameras out at all times. There's a lot of great things that come out of it, but it's just annoying to go out in the public and it's just 24/7. You got to.

Watch your six.

Anything.

That happens, you might as well just consider it's on the internet. If you're out in public, someone could be.

Fucking filming you. And then your standards for girls has to be higher too.

Yes, exactly. That's a good point right there.

You don't want to be seen with a dirty.

Yeah. I'm just speaking.

From.

Personal experience? Yeah. Did that happen.

To you? Yeah, and then I could hear about it from them too. I saw this.

That's true. That is true. I love when I caught my buddy with someone.

You might have gotten caught.

Back in the day. I would have been caught back in the day for sure. Not even knowing. You're just blacked out, just running around, not even knowing what you're doing.

We're in the locker room. Fuck that.

We don't need that. No, you don't need that. That's a good point.

One thing I wanted to ask about too is, well, I know it's a crazy situation, but what was it like being there with the whole AB situation when he took his shirt off on the field? I was going through your head when you saw that happen.

I didn't see it happen. I was on the field and we were calling a play in the huddle. So everyone on the field didn't even see it go down. I actually heard about it at half-time and O. J. Howard, he came up to me in the locker room. He's like, Yo, you see AB? He just went off. He just took his pads off, ran out, ran off the field into the locker room. He's gone now. And I was like, What are you talking about? Actually, no, I was wrong. That happened after half-time. It happened after half-time. So it was the third quarter, O. J. Howard came up. I came from the sideline after a drive. He's like, Yo, AB just went crazy, man. He just took his pads off, ran away. And I was like, All right, whatever that means. I wasn't thinking like he actually took his pads off, his jersey off and ran off the field with a shirt off. So I didn't see all that until after the game, until after I got on the bus and saw it online. I was like, Man, that crazy man. I think it was unnecessary for sure.

The narration, the stories that he puts out there, I think he makes up in his head a little bit. I mean, it's a team game. The ball is always not going to go your way. I'm out there as well. You got Mike Evans out there, Chris Godwin. And to tell you the truth, man, he's such a great player as well as such a great athlete. I would say he would have possibly been the best wide receiver of all time if he was still playing. And he's a freak of nature, man. I looked up to him in the locker room with his athletic abilities. I mean, he was ready to go at all times, man, to go out there on the football field, run full speed at all times, whatever it is, practice, game. It was like, wow, I wish I was like that. I'm a big guy, though. It's hard to carry myself and be ready to go at full speed every single day at 260. But just the way he worked out on the field, his work ethic, man, it was something special to see. It's just unfortunate just how it ended.

Yeah.

Should we try to plug in the sweepstakes thing one more time just to make sure?

Just the link.

Yeah, that's fine.

What is it?

How do I say the website again?

Vomirang. It's Boomerang, but with a V. Vomirang. Yeah.

All right, well, I think this is a great episode. Guys, make sure we're going to put the link at the top of the description. Go to vomirang. Com.

Yes.

Vomirang. Com. Enter. There's two different sweepstakes packages going on right now. I'm going for the fucking Airbnb gift card.

Straight up. You guys going for the Corvettes? I feel like you like fast cars. Yeah, I'm going for the Corvettes. Yeah, down here in Miami, I hope you guys win. Yeah.

That'd be crazy to rent them out in Miami.

That would be crazy. Can we go out one time?

We'll go out. If you win, we're going out in the Corvettes. Actually, if you win the Corvettes and you win the Airbnb package, the Dream vacation package, we're all going out for a couple of nights together.

Can you get unlimited tickets? Can you get as much as you want?

Yeah, you can buy as many as you want as well.

All right, let's ball it. Let's get the fucking link. Let's go. I don't care of a legend. Thank you, bro. Thank you guys.

For coming, bro. Yeah, Nug, boys baby. Let's go.

It's good to sit down and sound like you're fucking.

Transpired and shit. You got us all motivated. Yes. We're going to work on our fucking bonding.

I think you guys got it. I think.

We've bonded on that. Yeah, you guys got that. We got to work on the discipline shit now. We have the bonding down there.

What type of discipline you guys need? What are you looking for?

We just announced this thing. So all of us, like Steve, everyone, we've all been trying to work out a little more. March ninth, we're going to do a bodybuilding show. There you go. Whoever makes the best transformation is going.

To win the award of the K. You guys need some discipline. I think Steve is lacking right now. He's been drinking a lot of beers, it looks like, right?

He's been drinking. He's dialing in though.

Yeah, he's dialing in. Yeah, you definitely need that discipline. What's some tips? And some tips are, if you're working out hard, man, you need that recovery. I'm telling you, I don't work out if I get five, six hours of sleep only or like four. Sleep is key. Sleep is key in order to work out the next day as well in order to hit it. If you don't get to sleep, you might as well just walk that day or something because the inflammation in your body is going to hurt, man. It's not going to be able to flush out in time. That's what I've learned throughout my career, is that if I don't get to sleep, everything else goes. And then also I would fast, man. Fasting is huge too. It gets you ripped. Fasting eats up all that- How long? All that junk, the intermittent fasting? Yeah, intermittent fasting. It eats up all the junk that's inside your body and I eat a lot of protein, a lot more protein than carbs. I've actually been doing that lately because I've been on the road so much I haven't been able to rip my workouts like how I wanted to.

So I've been eating a lot more protein and less than the carbs. And it's been actually getting me stronger, bro.

How about discipline? How about saying no?

Yeah, saying no is huge too. Saying no is huge. You know you got to work out the next day and someone wants to have five, six beers with you, you got to be able to say no. In order to say no too, you got to bring the fucking juice too, to the table sober. If you can bring the juice sober, then no one's going to try to force you to have six beers. It's when you show up to somewhere and you're beat down, that's when everyone tries to force you to drink because they want you up to that level. So you got to bring that energy still. Bring that energy still when you want to say no. You got to, with determination, like fuck, you're not having that. Yeah, something like that.

What about if a chick hits this guy up and says, come out for dinner and drinks tonight.

All right, now we're in a different situation. We're in a very difficult situation.

I don't.

Get laid that often too. You're going to have to sacrifice yourself then for that night, that's for sure.

So you don't say discipline for that?

Yeah, it's not for that. But also the happiness that can be brought to the table from that can.

Outweigh- Yeah, confidence and stuff for the following week.

But what if that.

Can happen.

Every night? Every night? No, it's not going to happen every night. You can't do it every night. Healthy balance. What if some hot chick is like- You can't.

Say no to.

That, bro. Yo, brother, let's go out, bring me out to dinner. Let's have some drinks. I mean, you got to do that. You have to. Yeah, you got to. And also-.

That's what I've been doing.

How much juice she will bring to you if you can close the deal, you'll be ready to go the next morning no matter what, even if you get four hours of sleep then. All right.

I'm doing that way. You'll be stoked.

I'm going by those rules. All right, good luck, bro. All right, thank you, Rob. Thanks, Rob. Yeah, great episode.

Thank you, guys.

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