Transcript of South Beach Sessions - Andrew Whitworth New

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What is your preferred introduction? An administrator of historic violence.

Well, I don't know about violence.

The man at the center, the king of the gladiator spectacle.

Yeah, there you go. I like that. I like that.

Hell-bent on vengeance and malice.

Yeah, sure. I don't know about malice, but hell-bent for sure. There's no doubt about that.

An ominous football storm.

Ooh, I like storm.

So you like all of these, huh?

I mean, I don't know. Some of them are a little violent for me probably. Storm's probably more accurate.

An immortal among mortals.

Oof, definitely not that. I feel very mortal these days.

An assassin disguised as a teddy bear?

Ooh, now we're getting closer.

He's Andrew Whitworth, just a left tackle. An NFL left tackle. The oldest of the left tackles. Thank you for being on with us. 16 seasons in the NFL. Thrilled to talk to you for a lot of different reasons, but I think you're going to get us inside of the game a little bit. You should check out the third season of Fitz and Whit. It begins August 20th and also, obviously, Thursday Night Football. He's a part. He's a media guy now. That's a bit of a surprise to me.

I mean, now that we're in year 5 doing this, I guess I have to stop saying that I'm not a media guy because now it's official. I mean, at this point, you are actually a media guy. So, yeah, you know what? That's the hard part is calling myself a media guy. Not because it's like derogatory. It's just, I think when you get done playing, you think of yourself only as an athlete who's getting a chance to say a couple things and then you realize, "No, this is actually what I do now and I enjoy it." It's been fun. I have a lot of pride now in saying I am a media guy.

You had a decent relationship with the media though. You didn't have a combative— you had a good experience in that regard, right? Pretty rare. Essentially rare for an athlete these days.

Very rare. I think my only one run-in, which is actually— we've played with it a little bit at one of our Amazon seminars one year— is I had my cheeks on the camera one time. I remember my wife was not real excited about it. That was early in my career. It was like one of those post-game interviews where everybody's in their butt-neck and I think I was in the background of an interview. That was a fun moment. That was it, but that wasn't really the media. That was just one of those fun things we had some fun with in the locker room.

That's a weird thing, to be interviewed naked. Like, there's not a lot of places outside of sports where that's happening.

Especially when you don't intend to be. I think Pacman Jones, actually I think Adam Jones was getting interviewed and I was standing behind him just back there, just big old white cheeks, my high butt self I am, my giraffe legs. So that's my only running, but no, actually I can honestly say this. When people ask me why I'm doing media now, it was because of that relationship because as I played, I never thought of it. I literally, when I retired, it wasn't even on my mind that I would do media stuff. I didn't even really had thought about it. I think I'd done maybe 2 years out before I retired, Fox had asked me to come in and just meet with them one time. And I really didn't even leave. They actually turned down the opportunity that they offered just because I just, I didn't see myself that way. Um, but when I retired and thought, what do I do next? I had so many encounters while I played with the local TV guys or a young lady interviewing me, you know, for a, from a newspaper or with a news station that they would end it and go, "You gotta be on TV when you're done playing." And I would never really know why they would say it or anything, but it always kind of just was in my mind.

And so when I got done, I just remembered how many times somebody told me that, and I was like, "You know what? I should go take the interviews and just see what it would be like." And that's how I got here.

You married a reporter, right?

I did. I married a news anchor. Melissa started as an investigative reporter in Louisiana and then eventually made herself all the way up to being the news anchor for the local station there in North Louisiana, so she knows it all.

What did she say though about that, about the idea of you as a media person?

Mostly throughout my career, the corrections of every time she got a chance to hear me talk. The ums, the pauses, the repeating myself, the safe words that you say, just crushing me constantly. So most of the time I would always be like, do you have anything positive to say about what I said? But she kind of, I think she always saw me as somebody who could do it, and so she wanted me, I think she encouraged me to always represent myself the best when I had a chance to talk, when people had a chance to hear what you have to say, take advantage of it. And I think that's one of the things she left me with while I was playing, and then when I got done, having gotten to go watch her, those stations, you're writing, you're producing, you're doing everything yourself. And so having watched her do that and sat there and watched that whole process, I'll never forget the first time I asked her, "What the heck do you do all day? You're only on TV for 45 minutes, an hour." And she's like, "Is that really how you think it works?" And then I started going to work with her, I'm like, "Oh my gosh." all day long.

She's writing stories and producing them, going and getting the material. And so having a little bit of respect for that industry and, and what those people make, and then what the heart and passion they have for it, made me have a lot more appreciation for the media as I played, because I know the work it goes into and the passion that's behind it, um, to be great at what they do.

How good were you at the courtship there?

You know, I, I would honestly say I am not a news person, not very good at that part. —because—

I meant the courtship with your wife. I meant the courtship—

Oh, well, here's what I'd say. I'm great at the courtship. I was not good at the courtship part of loving what she did because I was really bored. So I don't like to sit still much, so sitting in there, I was not very good at that. But she made me do it a couple times and that was it. But no, I would say I was good. I was not good at the beginning. I was the arrogant NFL player that came home to our hometown and thought he was the coolest thing ever. That's probably why she ignored me the first 2 months that I asked her to go on a date, but eventually I got her, and that's through persistence and that hell-bent mentality that you described at the beginning, and maybe even the storm. I was a storm headed her way and I was not gonna stop.

And you took no for an answer, didn't take no for an answer how many times? How many times was there no?

Well, let's just say it was about 6 weeks of me asking her, maybe 8, and finally I asked her. I realized she wouldn't go on a date with me, so the worst thing that could happen to her was one of her friends ended up at a late-night diner there without a way to get home, and I said to her friend Brooke, "I'll take you home because I can tell you're in a tough bind, and I know you know Melissa. If you give me her cell phone number, I'll drop you off at your house," which I would have taken her home either way, but Brooke was a gullible soul, so she gave me her cell phone number. So I said, "Hey, listen, every time I've seen you, I've asked you if we'd go on a date. Here's how I'm going to concede. I have a boat. Can we just go out on the boat next Sunday, and we'll go ride around? Bring your friends if you want. We'll just go spend some time together." "Will you just get a chance to get to know me a little bit?" She said yes. Woke up Sunday morning, it was storming, had to cancel the boat trip, and I sent her a pitiful, "Hey, you know what?

Look, I've tried. I gotta go back to Cincinnati in the next few weeks for offseason training. Look, I gave it my best shot. I appreciate just the respect of at least admitting that you would come today. It's not gonna happen." And I think she felt so sorry for me that she was like, "You know what? Why don't you come over to my house?" She married you. She's like, why don't you come over today? I love to watch NASCAR. I mean, she's a good old Southern girl. She goes, I love to watch NASCAR on my couch on Sundays before I go back to work on Mondays, so why don't you come over and watch NASCAR with me? Which, I'd never seen a NASCAR race in my life, um, so I was like, sure. And I went and sat on her couch and watched NASCAR, and from that day on, we never— I think we've seen each other every day. So that, uh, that, that sealed the deal.

Uh, this is probably obvious. Obviously, your, uh, big enough that you have the body type and size for offensive lineman, but you mentioned the high butt cheeks, the length of your arms. You're pretty perfectly built physically for that position, correct?

Yeah, I would say probably everything outside of maybe the high part, only because you look at it, I think there's been some, you know, pretty well-known offensive linemen drafted really high. Just high cut is not usually something that a lineman would have. That's a little more of a D-lineman because that's more built for for get-off and length and speed. So being long and slim-legged, uh, is not usually the best thing. The long arms is a huge factor, right? And that's something that really helps you. But more linemen are built a little more, you know, big, strong, physical legs, um, you know, kind of that stature of athleticism, you know, be a little more explosive. But I would say for me, being high cut, what really helped me— and I always say this all the time, is— and so I'm such an advocate for playing lots of sports— is that I grew up, you know, obviously people make a lot about the joke about me growing up playing tennis, but I did. I grew tennis and soccer and basketball and baseball and everything. Football wasn't really something I put emphasis on until I was in high school and even 8th grade.

But when I was in high school, I was a starter on our basketball team. I was also the heavyweight state champion in powerlifting. So those sports go on at the same exact time. So I would go from football season to— I would be in the weight room doing, you know, 500, 600-pound squats with a squat suit and knee wraps on, beating the hell out of you, uh, deadlifting, you know, insane amounts of weight, bench press shirt cutting through your arms, you know, because in Louisiana we didn't have wrestling, we had powerlifting. So literally doing bench presses, and I would go straight from that to basketball practice and run up and down the court. My feet felt like they had cinder blocks on them. But I always say, learning to move my feet on a basketball court and learning the power that it took to become a powerlifter and the strength and control that you had to have— because powerlifting is more about can you control weight than be out of control with it. And so, um, to me, those two things combined really what led to in my career that ability, the longevity, really to be able to move my feet, be a big human with a lot of strength and power.

A lot of my career was more continuing to improve my athleticism and almost like, hey, I'm already strong enough, big enough, and athletic enough. I just got to continue to move in a better way and I'll play longer and longer. That's really what I've emphasized for the most part.

You didn't even mention golf.

Yeah, I didn't really start golf until I was— I played a little bit in college, but I really started right after my rookie year. That's another great Melissa Whitworth story. We had our twins my second or third year in the league, and I was home, you know, hanging out. I played a little golf my first 2 years, and I have an awesome mother-in-law that's a good Southern belle herself. She came over to the house and saw me at home with the baby. We just got the babies home from the NICU. I'm there every day with my wife, and she walks in and she says, Andrew, what "Are you doing here?" I was like, "Well, I'm hanging out and helping Melissa with the babies." She's like, "No, you work during football season. You know what? Men need to get out the house. You go. Get out of this house. Melissa's got this. I'll help her and you get out of here." So I always thank Cindy Clark, my mother-in-law, best mother-in-law in the world. That started my golf game. I drove to Squire Creek Country Club in Ruston, Louisiana, right outside of Ruston and Shudrent, and I joined and that started the passion.

I would go out there every day. I would train and then I'd go straight to the go to the golf course and hit golf balls. We ended up living in that neighborhood. That is where Sam Burns plays out of now, PGA player. Guy I love watching play. He plays out of there now, but that became my place where I fell in love with golf and never really looked back.

A truly absurd athlete. If you had to rank them 1 through 4, let's go 1 through 4, the sports that you were best at. Or what's number one just going through high school? Was it indeed football?

I would say in high school, I think, you know, potentially was probably the best at basketball, and then I would say football became what I became the best at towards the end. And then powerlifting was, you know, definitely I've always been somebody who was really strong. So powerlifting was something I was really successful at, especially for my build. The one that I think that if you met my high school baseball coach, he would probably— and Melissa knows this because she stopped him a million times— I was a really good left-hander. You can imagine, 6'7" lefty, threw pretty good velocity, and he was pretty upset. After my freshman year, I quit baseball. He was pretty devastated, and I think he still stops me or my family members every time he sees them to say he wished he would have seen me finish baseball. How good were you at that stuff?

Because you were also good at tennis, so you must have been really extraordinary at those other things because you charging in that.

The people make fun of you about tennis because it's terrifying. Serve and volley, baby. Serve and volley. Here's the thing. I stopped tennis when I was going into 8th grade. I used to just play it intramurally in the summers. I never really truly competed. At that time, you didn't have all this travel mess that everybody does with everything, but I didn't really compete like that. I just competed in local stuff around our country, around our neighborhood. A little country club would have a camp or some kind of tennis development because the two colleges there in North Louisiana are big in tennis. So my dad, really since he left college, has been an professional tennis player. Still competed in tournaments in his 60s all across the South. Loves it. Loved competing. I can remember coming home as a little kid and him having just freaking concrete rashes all over his face, his body from diving after tennis balls. So I grew up around tennis. So as a kid, I would say that was the sport that has influenced anywhere. My dad played tons of tennis, so I naturally played tennis. So I was a huge Andre Agassi guy.

I was a lefty. Had my Wild Thing racket. I like it. So that was my deal up until then. But the funny part of that was, is how that became such a story. When I was at LSU, the sports information director, Michael Bonnet, was like, "Hey, we need to add some things to your bio. What all have you done?" And I was like, "Well, I mean, as a kid, I won some tennis tournaments and stuff like that." And I don't know how he wrote it in the thing or whatever, but it became, when I went through the draft process, people were like, "Man, tell me this again. Just looking at you, you're 6'7", 320. You were a junior tennis champion?" I'm like, Like I won the local MAC, Monroe Athletic Club, summer camp tournament, and I won a Bigfoot pizza. It was nothing serious, but I did win a tournament. So I was like, however that got portrayed, that's the accurate part of it. I wasn't a junior tennis champion. I wasn't like a high school elite tennis player. I was a youth at 12, 13 years old, me at 6 foot already.

You were a person who made people put down the racket just when you walked out there because you were swinging.

There's no way this kid's 12. That's the reality. Serve and volley is what made me who I was at that point. Which is the sport that you love the most? Basketball's always been my favorite. I would say I spent hours shooting and getting to do those kind of things in the backyard. I didn't have an actual court surface, but we had dirt and we had a goal that was kind of put up on the side of the house off the roof. And so I would go out in the dirt, literally I can remember just playing with a mudded basketball all the time. But it was what I loved. I love to do. I would play games in my mind and envision myself shooting, and that was my favorite thing to do, is go out and hit shots when I needed to hit them and think in my mind that the clock's ticking down and I'm playing in games. Like, that was really how I envisioned myself as a hooper. Um, that's, that's was definitely probably my most passionate sport that I thought I wanted to be good at.

When did it change? Like, were you dreaming about being a professional basketball player?

Yeah, I think for me it changed when my size started to hit where it's like, all right, realistically realistically, you know, you go look at even, you know, your biggest basketball players. I mean, you start getting over 260, 270, you better be 7 foot or you better be somewhere where your height is going to dominate. And being only around 6'6", 6'7", I probably had to live in that 250 range at max. Yeah, you're not big enough to jump and do all those things, you know, because I could dunk and all that in high school. But as I started to hit 290, 300, 320, it was like, all right, like, you know, just realistically, um, I'm more built to be a lineman. And, and so I would say a lot of those other sports where I was really good at them for size and like could move well for who I was. But I was destined, you know, to play lineman. And I didn't think that. Nick Saban, I give him credit. You know, me and Marcus Spears, same draft class, you know, same situation. You know, Marcus Spears was an All-American and everything, way better than I was in basketball and everything else.

But he thought he was going to be a tight end and he thought he was going to hoop. And Nick Saban was like, man, if you'll move to defensive end, you'll go play in the NFL for years. And that's the spot for you and you need to do it. And he signed with LSU and he did it.. And I was in the same draft class. I was a tight end at West Monroe High School and thought that's what I was going to be. And Nick Saban got the job at LSU and came to my house. I thought I was going to Florida to play for Spurrier and be one of these big tight ends in his spread stuff. And he's like, man, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't think anybody's telling you this, but if you'll move to tackle, he's like, you will play in the NFL for as long as you want and you'll have an unbelievable career. But I'm just going to be honest with you, all these schools are going to sign you as a tight end in your freshman year. You're going to move to tackle. And I want to just start off you know, from the jump telling you that's what you are and why don't you come to LSU as a tackle and you'll have an unbelievable time.

It won't be a 4-year decision, it'll be a 40-year one. And boy, he couldn't have nailed it anymore.

So how did you react to that though? That's bold to recruit someone by telling them, hey, you're never going to touch the football.

Yeah, I think that, you know, that's what makes Nick Saban who he is. His ability to have a vision for his players and what they are and who they're going to be delivered in a way where you can't do anything but respect the I think that having tough conversations is probably a mark of some of the best leaders and coaches that I've ever been around, is that there's a lot that can coach well, there's a lot that can lead well, but the elite ones can have tough, hard conversations in a way where you walk out of the room with maybe not, "Hey, I loved what they said," but, "I appreciated the message and I appreciated honestly the guts it takes to have a tough conversation and tell me something I might not want to hear. That was why, like, even in Cincinnati— I mean, totally different subject— but like Mike Brown, I've always— you know what, me and Mike have— I've always had just a huge spot in my heart for him because regardless of if I loved the information I got, he always kept it 100, as the kids would say, or just— it was real and it was truth.

And it was like, man, I don't care how you take this, like, here's the reality. Like, I'm just gonna tell you the truth.

But you're a kid, you're being recruited, it seems like most of your success was linear. That is— it seems like the opposite of recruiting. I mean, that's not how to get you to come to his school.

Yeah, but I think for Nick it became, hey, you know what, like, I'm trying to get this kid to come here. I need to tell him something that moves the needle for LSU, because if a Louisiana kid is willing to leave Louisiana, which is very— I mean, that's why Lane Kiffin there, because that's the truth. I care less about NIL. Louisiana kids, it's tough to get them to leave Louisiana. Um, the truth is, is if you're willing to leave, then, then there's something that isn't drawing you to this school. And I think for him, he knew the message was, man, this might not be exactly the vision you have for yourself, but I think if you play tackle, you are going to be elite. And I think he could see somebody who, as we talked about, hellbent earlier, who I was hellbent on being really you're good. And it's like, hey, as a tight end, I think you could be okay. I think you could play college football as a tight end. I think you could be an All-American and play in the NFL as a tackle. And like, which one do you really want?

And I think that's how he kind of coined the conversation. And I think to me, um, that really created this vision and this passion for, yeah, I want to go move to this spot where somebody believes in me. Nick Saban believes in me. I'm gonna go play for him, and I'm gonna prove him right, and I'm gonna prove my, my ability to go do something if people think I can't. Uh, I'll make sure they realize I can.

Where does your hellbent come from?

You know, I think when you look at the greatest athletes and, and people who are really successful at things, you know, sometimes there's real places, and then sometimes it's like your ability to create, um, what doesn't necessarily exist, but in your mind it does. You look at like the Jordan documentary and some of the ways he would do that, and the way I think, you know, you see some of his elite guys like are like so upset, and people are like, why are they so sensitive that somebody said this about them? It's like, no, they're looking for another reason to think that somebody doubts them, because I think all of us are a little wound that way. We take some of those moments where we might remember a little bit of the 98% of things that are positive, but that 2% of things in our life that are negative, we remember every word, everything you said, the way you said it, your tone, everything else, right? And I think this in general, that's how people are wound. And so for me, Hellbent comes from always feeling like nothing's ever good enough. I've never reached a peak.

I call it a constant daily pursuit. It's one of the things I text a lot of my friends all the time is that there's this daily pursuit of searching for this better version of yourself. And I want to do everything I can to be intentional about that and have a purpose to my days. But to me, there's this constant that I always put in front of it because you're going to fail. Fail. You're gonna fall short. You're gonna like, you know, lose your temper with your kids or not do something your wife said exactly the way to do it and be frustrated with how something went. Or something's not going to go your way at work, or your workouts, you're going to forget to go do something, or you're not going to get in that— you ate something you didn't want to eat. Like, there's always going to be failure. But do you constantly choose the next morning when you wake up to go chase with that same passion, vigor, and energy to daily pursue what it is you I want to be. And so to me, there's like the daily pursuit angle, and then there's the constant, which to me is resetting the pieces.

And I'm coming back with the same hell-bent mentality every single day, uh, to go be great and to chase what it is I want to be great at. And I think that's something that's really important to me, and it's, it's how I live my life and the message I give. I don't think I knew that at that age. I think I just, uh, found that that's what drove me. You know, I can remember in college, if I had a game. I'd go to the facility on Sunday nights to go out on the stadium field, and I'll never forget Stacy Searles, let me like do that right there, it's going to make you special. My old line coach, I would go push the sled in the dark. I'd go hit it like just to do it. I'd make myself walk. So I'd walk all the way to the football field across campus, and I'd go out on the field in the dark, and I just hit the sled a few times, like in a way of like punishing myself for like, hey man, you can be better, you can play better, but also to remind my myself.

Like, that's what it's going to take. If you want to be really good, you're going to have to do stuff at hours and times when nobody else is, you know, willing to do it. And I think that's part of chasing greatness.

So where is it that you stumble on the most likely of frustrations, uh, daily these days?

I think for me, I'm somebody who— I, I set a lot of expectations. So like every day, um, there's a lot of things I want to get done, you know. And that is like, you know, obviously I want to make sure my kids feel seen. I want to make sure my wife feels seen and appreciated. And then I want to push myself to be better. So if that's reading, you know, articles and checking out websites and things about football right now, and like, you know, I've already done it, just like in football, like our first 3 games, I have our first 3 games up. I'm collecting all the articles and all the things I can to read about all 3 of those games to kind of just look for something that's, you know, I can find a passion in or something I want to talk to people about and just to keep up with what's going on. And so every day it's like, can I find all the things I want to do in life. I never want to feel like every day that there's not intention to it. So if I want to do something, I want to fulfill it.

That's why there's a lot of things I say no to, because if I don't feel like that I'm going to fulfill it, I'm going to live up to what those people want of me, then I think it's important I learn to say no. And I think that's something you learn over time, but I want people to get the best of me no matter what it is. And if they're not, then I feel like it's something I need to reevaluate. Evaluate, and I need to say, "Hey, is this something that actually fits in? People are going to get the best version of me every time I do it." And if it doesn't, then I got to have the willingness to say, "Am I going to carry a lot of pride in that?" It's not about the paychecks. It's not about the arrogance of thinking you can do a lot of things. I think it's finding that happy medium of what I do, I give all of myself to, and if I can go to bed at night and be proud of the effort I'm giving to something, then and that's what carries me on, not the arrogance of like, I can do a million things.

Do you sleep well? I do. I sleep great.

'Cause that kind of ambition, I've heard you say that one of the things that you miss most in retirement, it's not something that I've heard very much, is the greatest of challenges that you can't quite get anywhere else, the challenge that you had chasing Sundays for 20 years. It's not quite the same as that guy wants it just as much as you do, has been working just as much as you do, and you're technically fighting over money.

Yeah, exactly. And I think that's the thing you miss the most. I got buddies in town now that laugh. My gym is about 6 miles from the house. Myself and Cooper Kupp and some other people in town leased kind of a place years back when I retired, and so we have our own little gym. Gym. And, uh, you know, there'd be days I'll just wake up and decide I'm gonna, you know, I'll walk back and forth to the gym to train because I just want— instead of driving there, I want the 10, 12 miles plus the Lyft to like feel like— yeah, you're an absolute psychopath for doing that, but I want to feel like I challenged myself. Like, hey, you know what, today you're walking back and forth, and you know, today you're going to do something that nobody else would do. Just because I think that that's going to remind you that that's what it takes, no matter what it is. And so I think for me, yeah, it's like I do miss that part a lot. I miss the challenge of being 40 and standing out on the field with Chase Young, who's 23, and, you know, him sitting there looking over there like, dude, how in the world are you 39 or 40 and we're playing against each other?

And it's like, yeah, man, this is not easy, but I'm going to show you, like, I'm different. And I miss those kind of things. I miss being in the locker room and being the big brother, the big uncle. I think they basically called me grandpa at that point in my career when I was 40. But it was like those young guys coming to you and being like, "Man, I'm frustrated at home with my parents or my family or things going on with my girlfriend, or I want to get engaged, or I'm about to have a baby," or whatever it might be. But they felt like, "Man, you're somebody they can come to and lean on for those kind of things." I love that aspect of being a leader. More than anything else. I think some people see leadership and say they love being able to tell people what to do or be the loudest voice in the room. I loved being the guy people wanted to walk in a room with, and that's what I loved about leadership is I wanted to be somebody that you'd go, "Hey, man, if there's any storm in my life, if there's any moment in my life that I got to go do something, that's the cat right there that I want to go do it with me." That to me was what I missed the most about playing the game is Walking in rooms with people that believe in you and going and accomplishing a task.

What is the greatest example that you could give me toward the end of your career? You're the oldest tackle to ever win a Super Bowl. You won at the very end of your career. Uh, the greatest example that you can give me of that last season just feeling incredibly old because the people in your own locker room were behaving in a way that was a generation removed from you?

I would say my greatest story ever, we had a young guy who had a little bit of a knee issue going on. He's an edge rusher. And let's just say, like, you know, he— it's one of those things where you're like, hey man, like, you know, we can probably look at the scenarios of things you're doing and why some of this stuff's continuing to pop up. You're living on both ends and you got something you need to deal with. And I'll never forget, you know, he finally gets his opportunity where he's kind of in the starting role, playing a lot. And, uh, we come in the locker room after a Saturday walkthrough, and he's talking about heading out to the desert, you know, with his boys. And I'm like listening to the story, and I'm like, is this Monday? And it happens, you know, at this time we moved all the guys— were young guys, old guys— we were all kind of mixed in in our locker room. That was important to Sean that we were able to kind of mentor. So he's only a couple lockers from me, and so I'm like, just kind of like, hey man, I gotta ask questions.

I'm like, are you talking about on Monday, or when are we— when are you doing this? And he's like, well, me and my buddies are gonna go ride dirt bikes in the desert. I'm like, yeah, but when? He's like, like now. I'm like, wait, you mean we play tomorrow? And he's like, yeah, but I mean, we're just gonna go— we're just gonna ride on bikes. And I'm like, I, I can't even like fathom this right now. Like, this can't be a real conversation, because in my mind, like, especially as a lineman, like You want to talk about like a bear hibernating in the winter. Like, the second the Saturday walkthrough is over, I mean, I, I don't even want to know what a sweat drip droplet like looks like until the ball kicks off on Sunday. So I am literally either laying on a couch, hibernating in a bed at the coldest possible temperature I can put it at. I don't want to walk to the refrigerator for water. Like, I'm not doing a single moment of exertion, especially at that age when I was 38, 39, 40. Like, I literally— like, people like, oh man, what was your pregame plan?

My pregame plan was I sat in my underwear and I played FreeCell on my phone until the strength coach said, Whit, you are not going to make the team stretch if you don't start putting some clothes on. And I'd be like, all right, fine, I'll get up and I'll put some clothes on. Like, that was my pregame plan, all right?

Like, literally, that's my pregame plan on how I watch football.

You might as well handed cigarette. I mean, I literally, like I said, I curled up in my locker in my drawers and I'd like played freestyle up until the point where I was like, I always told people my warmup was, it's like when you get dressed for dinner or something and you're sweating when you're about to walk out the door to get in the car. I wanted to be at a sweat because I had to get dressed so fast. That was my warmup that I feel like if I could start sweating before I had to run out the tunnel and I'm like running out trying to get my sock or my shoe on my foot, then that meant I was ready to go. So that, that's what I I waited to the last possible second, no energy exerted, and then boom, run out the door.

Well, in hearing you talk about retirement and the idea of inflicting upon your family, uh, the warrior journey, the things that you had to do to get ready, uh, not a likable person or not an available person, like, what are the things that you're thinking about when you talk about, I have to get into a state in order to do this? Do I really want to put my family through that for another couple of seasons? Because I don't know if it makes you feel like a lesser father or lesser husband because you got to be all about yourself.

Yeah, I think that was probably the hardest part. I would say that, like, full transparency for me, having kids made football a lot harder for me. Um, I think when I lived in a world where it was punish myself, punish other people and just like chase the sport I'm in. Like, I get it why some guys, or women for that matter, are single and enjoy being that way while they play and compete. You sort of have to be selfish, right? You have to. I mean, Anthony Munoz and I used to talk about this all the time, but like the offseason— and that's what really makes it even more conflicted, right? If you think about like what an offseason is for somebody who's married with kids and whatever, it's really about your family and the kids, and they've not been with you. But the reality is, an offseason for anybody wants to be in a an elite performer, like, that's gonna be the most selfish times of your life. Like, it's like that— you've got to improve you like 1,000% for the next year to be better. Like, if you want to actually be better, then you selfishly have to be focused on just you.

And then in season, to go through that grind and be at your absolute best every day— like, the reality is, yes, can you balance all of those things? You can. But anytime you're balancing something, you're taking a little bit of something away, right? And so I think that it's, it's challenging And so for me, that was the hardest part is when I had kids, I started to go, "Man, my obligations to them and to my wife." And so it's like, "Man, sometimes, I don't know, this feels like going through this or playing through this, maybe this means my kids aren't going to get to play with me as much one day, or maybe my kids aren't going to get to have me help them as much in sports because I'm not going to be able to do some of the things that a normal dad could do." There was always those things that kind of gave this guilt to me because, like I said, I'm wound to be everything for everyone around me in my life. And so that I struggle with. And I think I was okay with it and did really well. I think the move to LA helped a little bit just because I got to a place that in LA, it was much different how they attacked some of the things on and off the field as far as your body and everything else.

And so that kind of gave me a new reinvigoration to be a part of something different. You're with this young head coach and with a really young team. Team. So that became fun. And like, man, I'm trying to keep up with all these people. The head coach, yeah, like by a lot. And so that became this new invigorating thing for me. Um, but my last— next to last year when I blew up my PCL and MCL, um, you know, during the COVID stuff, no fans there, my family's at home, we were playing a home game, um, you know, I got carted off. I'll never forget, my daughter was old enough that it really rocked her. And my last when I'm trying to decide, is this my last year? I'm 40. Like, you've reached these goals, you're the oldest left tackle to ever start in a game, blah blah blah. And you know, you're sitting there trying to think about, is it the last year or not? I can remember having a conversation one time, and I didn't— you know, you don't know what your family does during the game, you just see them after, right?

And somebody telling me, well, Sarah, you know, likes to just— she goes and gets in the back of the suite and she doesn't like to watch anymore. She just waits to hear, like, you know, once you're off the field, she wants where it went. And like, that just like, that resonated with me. Like, man, you know, like, if she's gotten to the point where it's not fun to watch me play, then like, why am I still playing? Like, at this point, like, we've, we've made good money. Like, we've had a great time. Like, physically, this is only at this point wearing down on me. Maybe this is the last run. Um, and so I had a couple little injury things in December, and I realized that that was probably it. So at the end of the December, you know, I sat Melissa and we talked and I was like, you know what, I just think for me it's like I'm ready to be done and I think this is the last run. Let's give it everything we got and see what happens. And listen, it worked out. The universe was on our side. God blessed us with an unbelievable run.

And, you know, to have the opportunity your last week ever to be in the NFL, to play the only other franchise you ever played for. So your two franchises, you're in the Super Bowl together, to win Walter Payton Man of the Year. Here to give the opportunity to talk about Derrick Barnes and flash back all the way back to my rookie year and realize this guy I got to play against on an NFL field was also the 7-year-old kid at the Boys and Girls Club that I got to spend time with when I was a— right before I met Melissa, a lonely, single rookie in the NFL, bored to death on Tuesdays. Like, "Man, I'm going to go hang out at this Boys and Girls Club and make friends with these kids." kids, to get to tell that story on that stage and then go out on Sunday and win a Super Bowl, man, like, just insane. Unbelievable. Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever, like, put that whole week into perspective.

Did it get you at any point? Is there— did it get— did it become a sting in your eyes at any point? Did big tough Andrew Whitworth get so moved by the gratitude of some of that, the universe working in his favor, that he couldn't keep all in?

No, I would say that I'm more somebody who I'm always living through what those moments will be like in my head and, you know, very grateful and appreciative for them. I think for me that was what, you know, the part that went viral after the game of me taking all the kids and sitting down on the ground. It was like this huge relief of what an insane run, what an amazing thing all this is. But I just want to sit in my little family circle and look at all my kids and my wife and just be grateful for the ride that I feel like I got blessed with for a minute. And to me, that was that version of that for me is like all the confetti is falling, everybody's jumping around going crazy, and I was just like, "Man, let's just sit on the ground for a second and get in the circle." And the kids are falling around in the confetti and just to be at peace for a minute for that moment. Was really cool, you know, and really special. And now to get to do what I do now and take the kids around with me at NFL stadiums on Thursday nights and stuff, it's another opportunity I never thought of, but man, I'm so grateful for.

Did I detect an undercurrent of acid in you saying got carted off? Got carted off. I got carted off. Like, is that something that feels—

if you know me well, anybody that knows me, I'll I'll put it this way, you know, my head trainer who trained me the last part of my career would tell you the worst mistake you could ever make is to reach your hand out and try to help me off the ground, uh, when I train. I do this to anybody I ever work out with, uh, players, you name it. But if you reach your hand out, I'll reach mine out, and when you go to pull, I'll let it go. Uh, because I had a rule through the back half of my career that no one was allowed to get me off the ground. So whether I played in the game, whether it was in a workout, whether whatever we doing. Nobody touches me. I get myself off the ground. And the reason I have that— and people like, man, that's silly or whatever— but for me it was, all right, when I went from Cincinnati to LA, I was 35 years old. No team in history had ever given somebody a free agency deal like I got at that age to go play somewhere. And I made a commitment like, hey man, if you're going to play at this age, um, there's a mentality it's going to take that you're not going to feel feel great.

You're not going to feel awesome all the time, but you signed up for it and you're going to have to go live it through. And so I was like, at that point, I was like, nobody gets me off the ground. Um, I gotta get myself— I'm going to be hurting. I'm gonna— my knees are gonna be throbbing, my back's gonna be hurting, I'm gonna be exhausted. But the reality of life is, sure, you are blessed with moments where people come by and help you, but you've always got to be prepared to Nobody gets yourself off the mat. And I think for me, it became a mantra that nobody gets me off the mat ever, no matter what. And so, sure, I'm grateful when there's moments where life gives you some help, but the basics I can handle myself. And so I started those years, you know, and, you know, the coaches have highlighted over the years, but I would— first thing I would do, nobody ever gets me off the ground. And every single series, I sprinted to the hash to be the first guy on the field because I wanted those guys to know at my age, even then, Man, like, nobody's more excited to hit this field than I am.

And I thought it was a message that I could send those guys and a mentality they could see in me that they go, man, if this dude at 37 can always get himself off the ground, he can always be the first one to hit the field, then what am I doing? You know? And I think that's the little message. I always tell people this story, but I'll never forget Tyler Higbee and Cooper Kupp one year racing me to the hash. Like beat me, and they're like so excited about it. And I'm like, you guys are— I'm laughing because I'm like, y'all are missing the point. Like, the whole point is, is like, you have to do this one-off. I'm gonna do this every freaking week. So like, it never changes. Every play, every snap, we're down 14, we're up 14, I'm still gonna be the first one of the hash. And the consistency of that is what I wanted them to see, is like, that's the truth. It's not about about who won to the hash. It's about that every single week I'll be here and you can count on it. Because I believe that the truest measurement of performance in anything is consistency.

Uh, if you want to be a great parent, a great leader, a great anything, um, you know, the ability you have to consistently be what it is you are and people to be able to count on that, um, that's what we all really want, something we can count on. And so that to me, with things that I was like, man, I want I want these guys to see they can count on me to be a bunch of things, tough and committed.

I think Shaq called himself the Big Aristotle because he said, he was quoting Aristotle as saying, "You are what you consistently do." Amen. Can you explain to somebody who doesn't understand what your pain threshold is, how absurd your pain threshold is?

You know, I would say that the best example I could give is that trainers would know, would be able to say this. This, but when I was in Cincinnati up until about my 7th year in the league, probably right at 7 or 8, like anybody else, I took the Toradol shots, all the ibuprofen, everything. It felt like I just swallowed ibuprofens all day every day for practices, for you name what. I remember being in the locker room and there being guys who were ordering their own Toradol off the market and black market or whatever, or in their own pain meds and their own anti-inflammatories. I was sitting there and it's one of my favorite movies of all time is Roadhouse. I love that movie. When Patrick Swayze is sitting there as character and he's getting stapled in the hospital and he starts talking about pain, it just something about it, something about that moment and his quote really made me think to my mind. I go, all right, if I'm reading all this literature about the reason people are addicted to pain pills, the reason people are stuck on anti-inflammatories and all this stuff is the more you take, the more you need.

Um, I was like, man, why wouldn't it work the other way too? Like, the, the less I could possibly take, wouldn't I, wouldn't I get more effect when I have to take it? And so I started at that moment, like, I wouldn't accept anything. So if I got an injury and they gave you ibuprofen, like, I would toss it in the trash can. And so the last half of my career um, like my wife tell you this, it doesn't matter what— no Advil, no Tylenol, no pills. Like, I didn't take jack. Uh, on game day, I would take an anti-inflammatory on those mornings my last, like, 2 years. Um, and that was the only meds I took for the last 8 years of my career because for me it was about— I don't want the effects after I, I want to build a pain tolerance to where no matter what I do in life, I'm okay. And at the end of my career, it became— I had hit an age where you couldn't control swelling and how your body reacted to the week. And so some Sundays I started waking up and it's like, oh my God, I can't move.

And so I was like, all right, these, you know, for these last couple years, I'll allow myself— I'll take like a couple ibuprofen before playing a game, or Advil, or whatever it may be. And that's it. Like, that's all I'm allowed. And so I played the last 8 years of my career through PCL tear, MCL tears, patella tendon surgery, all this stuff. Uh, no meds, no anti-inflammatories, no Tylenol, no Advil. And that's just in everyday life too. So forget just football, like, ever. So no medic— no medicine whatsoever. Now, it made me where I, like, am anti, like, going anywhere and taking any meds from any doc or anything, you know. But it, you know, I've finally kind of given into some of that stuff. But it was really a passion of mine to like prove that my pain tolerance could work the other way. And, and so that was something that I was a big advocate of, um, is like I was going to prove how much pain I could endure rather than needing something to make me feel better.

I would imagine though that in retirement you would get some sort of clarity on, holy shit, I have no idea how numb numb I had become to the kind of pain I was actually in. I'd gotten so used to living in some form of discomfort that not having to do this shows me I was, I was crazy.

Uh, yeah, my wife will tell you our, our, my favorite story ever. My first year retired, I'm doing Thursday Night Football, you know, traveling the country or whatever, and maybe like I would say it was a solid, probably, let's see, a game was last play was in February, I would say probably 9 9 months, uh, maybe 10, 8 months, because it was probably like mid-October, would be my guess, mid to late October. I never forget this morning. I like wake up in the morning, I'm doing the whole guy routine, I'm stumbling, you know, through to the bathroom. I go to pee and I start like giggling as I'm walking to my closet to get dressed. And like my wife is like, what in the hell are you making so much noise for? And what are you so excited about? And I go Babe, no joke, I realized I just stood up out of the bed, I walked straight to the toilet, I peed, I didn't touch a wall, I didn't like hold on to the bed to push me up, like I didn't have to hold on to the wall while I was peeing. I was like, I actually feel like normal.

And she thought that was like the crazy, like you've lost, you've actually, you've actually finally lost it. Like this is it, you've lost your mind. I'm like, no, you don't understand. This is the first time that I can literally fathom in my mind to think about that I just got up freely, walked to the bathroom and then walked to my closet and I didn't think about my knee, I didn't think about my hip or my ankle, I didn't have to hold onto the wall for a minute, I didn't have to slide my feet just because everything was aching so bad. And I was like, "I don't know the last time I've ever had this feeling." It was almost like euphoria. I was just like, "What in the hell? This is awesome." Lo and behold, that December, if you remember, Cincinnati has a great end of their season. They get into January, they lose their tackle, their right tackle, and they're trying to figure out what to do. I'll never forget people texting me like, "Hey, Cincinnati's about to make this run and they're really good." If you remember, they ended up losing, I think, in the AFC Championship.

Chris Jones beats the right tackle that they had in there as a backup who was playing right tackle. And hits Burrow, and that kind of ends the season there at the end of that game. And I can— I'll never forget, there was a lot of just like, hey, would you go back? Would you go back? And I was like, man, you know what, if you'd asked me 4 months ago, hell yeah, I would have tried to go make a run or something. But man, that feeling in October, like, I'll never forget it. And it's always what I think about anytime somebody says, would you go back? Would you go back? I'm like, I— man, that feeling and the feeling I have now, like, I I just, I don't think I could ever go back to how it felt day in and day out at the end of being 40 and playing in the NFL. I just, you know, never want that feeling again. And I feel great now. And so that one always sticks in my mind as the reason that's no chance I'm going back out there. I'd love to be in that locker room.

I'd love to be in the building. No chance I'm hitting anybody.

I didn't think there was a way that we would have this conversation and I would feel superior to you, but I get up and pee without touching touching a wall all the time, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.

Damn it, you should. I, I, uh, I, I had a lot of like horrific, uh, feel like you're 95 moments when I was playing, uh, trying to get to the toilet in the morning, that's for sure. That O-lineman, that's, that's their least favorite thing to do is have to get up to pee.

Give me an example, uh, the best you can for a layman though, of when it physically felt worse. Like, what's the articulation of what is happening in your body. When you're getting to a Sunday, I imagine it was the worst toward the end because it just age, I would assume. But you're getting up on a Sunday and you're like, "My body is not equipped to do this today." Yeah, I think that weather matters too.

I mean, I remember in Cincinnati a lot of those years when it gets real cold, end of the year, as a lineman, your knuckles are so swollen, you're just everything. Feet, you name it, that what you really don't realize, I think, if you had trackers and everything else, is how static you get. Like, outside of, like I just said about a Saturday morning walkthrough, I don't want to move to the game, like, outside of the moments you're practicing, like, you are in a chair or in a bed, or like, you're just not moving. And, and like, you just, you don't realize how, how much inflammation's in your body. For me, being a golfer You know, I would get to January or February and be like, all right, I'm going to start playing again. And like, I couldn't hold a club for the first month because like my hands couldn't close to hold a golf club. And I'd just be like, man, I can't hold it like for a little while. Like, I'm gonna have to wait till I get some of this out of my body and feel a little better and those kind of things.

And, um, in LA, I think that was also one thing. The good weather helped too. I mean, that, that helped. Um, the warmer temperatures helped a lot with some of that late in the year, but you still just don't realize it's my favorite thing. If you watch some NFL practice tape of what it looks like in September when they start a season and they're out there practicing, and then you flip on a late December tape, the guys just don't even realize, like, dude, you are not moving like you were. It is crazy. It looks like slow motion. And you're like, no way we're practicing that slow. And in your mind it's the same speed, um, but it's not. It's not even close. Um, so I think for me it was always how hard the road was to go from Monday to being able to play on Sunday late in my career. Like, just everything you do, it gave you a real appreciation for you better have a process. I think quarterbacks are probably a position where those guys from jump, there's a process because there's just so much they have to do to get ready for a game mentally and physically and all that, that it's a little more built like that.

But I think as other players get older, they realize Man, what I do on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday, like all those things equate to how well I'm equipped to play on Sunday. It's not just practice and film on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday that gets me ready and Saturday walkthrough. It's like all the things encompassing those 24 hours of each day. And so I had to have an exact plan week in and week out that regardless of how I felt, what, how the game went, any of those things, all these things need to be executed. You could be livid with yourself and the result of the game on Sunday, but Monday morning I better be on a leg press and there better be 500, 600, £700 on there and I better be pressing it. And then after that workout and after the mobility I've done, I would go— for me, I wanted foot time because I want to be on my feet enough. So I, you know, go walk for a couple hours around the practice field, like I would drag a sled, like, uh, You know, just the things where it's like, man, on Monday, regardless of like the emotions of the day or how good or bad yesterday went, I've got a task list of things that get me ready for the next week and they've got to be executed.

And on Tuesday, the same thing. And on Wednesday, the same thing. So that's how you had to kind of live. You're a robot and you had to become a robot to stay successful.

Does it make sense to you that Aaron Donald would want to take a crack at it at his age after 2 years off?

Yeah, I do. I think when you really think about, like I just said, you get away from that year, you get some of that information and some of just the, you know, some of that's just all in your body all the time from year in, year out playing. You get some of that out, you feel a little better. Then you sit around and you go, all right, you know, you look at where he's at. Like, I think if even some of us are in the media space or whatever, like, you're always kind of looking for the next thing yet, right? And it's like, all right, huh, there's these options, like like, I know he played around with some of the podcast stuff last year, did that, you know. I think he enjoyed that. And it's like, man, I could do that, or man, I still physically feel good enough. And now, like, man, Miles Garrett's in town. This Rams defense has really put a lot of— like, man, I could go make one more run because I have the energy to do that too at his age. Like, man, I mean, you think about it, he's younger than I was when I signed up to be a Ram.

So even before my 5 years in LA started. So it's like, man, he's got plenty in the tank if he wants to do it. Now the question is going to be, uh, there's also with that inflammation comes your tendons and your muscles. And like, handling— you know, listen, he plays a position. This ain't playing quarterback. This ain't playing receiver where you're gonna hit sometimes. Even where Eric Weddle, where you can run around the field and, you know, play with your mind a little bit and be where you're supposed to be and those type of things and just be ready for the contact and the tackling. I mean, AD plays a position where down in and out regardless, like he's going to take on £600 on a double team. He's going to take on some big huge athletic humans and have to brace his feet and do all that. Like, it's a challenging position physically, uh, you know, if not one of the most that, you know, right? Either that or— I think when you include that they do powerful things like alignment and the ability to stop people from moving them and Then when you include the burst and the explosion and then there's other big guys they got to get through, physically, like the actual demand on their body, I think it's the most.

Not hits, but the actual demand for being able to explode and push against force. I think it's a challenge. I think A.D.'s the right guy with the right tools and the right abilities to do it, but the body's the body. So I mean, I'm hoping that it it with holds. I'm hoping he doesn't, and I think it'd be a blast to watch. Um, and I also think, man, listen, we're all competitors at the end of the day, and I think that whether he'd admit it or not, like, Miles Garrett's there and he considers himself Aaron Donald. And you know what, like, hey, you can come to LA, but let me— like, I'm gonna make sure, like, I'm, I'm still a dog and this is still my team. I'm a Defensive Player of the Year too. Yeah. And, and this is my team, right? So it's like that, and I don't mean that in a competitive mean way. I mean that in like a, like, hey, LA's mine. And like, I, you know, this Rams group and all that, like, I'm the guy. And so I think that he's going to enter that locker room and him and Miles, man, chasing it together will be fun because there will be some fun-spirited, like, hey man, we both want to prove that we are the best of the best.

And it's going to be a lot of fun to go out there and compete and chase it together. I think there's like a little bit of like, man, that'd be awesome. Like, if you told me, you know, I don't know, Joe Thomas was going to sign somewhere and they also want you to come there, like, it's not from a competitor trying to be better than him, but it's like, yeah, if I could go play with another legend, like, and we get to do it together, like, we're gonna be damn good. Like, I just think that that's kind of one of those things that like kind of drives you a little bit too. Like, not in a way that you want him to do bad, but in a way where you're like, I want to go run side by side with another badass car, and like, let's, let's go show how fast we are.

You won 3 high school state championships. You started the second most games in college than anyone started. You beat every NFL team. You're one of only 12 players to beat NFL— every NFL team. Do you feel like your success was linear, that it just kept going up, that the setbacks didn't feel like you weren't going to always keep climbing? Successfully?

Yeah, I think when I talk about my career, Tony Gonzalez always say winners win when he talks about me because it always blows him away, like when I kind of give him that trajectory. I think the only one that like eats at me still, and it's what a legend Marvin Lewis was and what an unbelievable guy, somebody that I have so much respect for, never making excuses and always, always Hey, I'm going back to work. We're going to work harder. We're going to push more and we're going to find a way to be successful. I look at those years and I go, man, to think about they'd only been to one playoff in 20 years when we got there. Like, I think they still think there's an amount of success that if I'm being honest, I'm very happy and proud of, you know, to have gone to 6 playoff appearances in 11 years and to win 3 division championships and really be one of the most successful runs there outside of getting getting to a Super Bowl and winning some playoff games. When I look at that though, I still am just disappointed we didn't get him that playoff win because he deserved it.

You know, that team deserved it. That franchise deserved it because we were really good. We just had a lot of scenarios where we either dropped the ball or were given some tough scenarios in the playoffs and didn't overcome them. And I think to me, that's the only part of it where I go like, dang, like we had an awesome run. That was sick. But then when I look at LA and it's like, man, you get there and I'll never forget, like, they hadn't been to the playoffs. They hadn't had a winning season in 15 years, much less the playoffs. And like my first year, Sean always joke about this, we were explaining to guys how you make the playoffs because they were literally like, how does that work? You know, because they hadn't even had a winning season. They hadn't won more— like Roger Sapp would have been there forever. He hadn't won more than 8 games. So it's like when you get there and you go, we came to this place and then we turn it around and you go to 2 Super Bowls and you win multiple division championships and end up winning a Super Bowl.

I think that's something I do take a lot of pride in, like the opportunity to have won 3 state championships in high school, go 58-2, win 40-something games at LSU, a national championship, to win in Cincinnati, to go to LA and win again and end up in your career in a Super Bowl. I really do look at it and have a lot of pride of everywhere I went. I feel like I made I made a positive impact and I feel like I was a part of us having success and made the people around me better. And that's something that I think about a lot. I think the other part that I always tell people that's so cool to me, a Louisiana kid, growing up in Louisiana, the state championships are played in the Dome. So I won a state championship, 3 of them in Louisiana Superdome. 2 national championships.

Sports really if you pay attention to how those things were ran.

Yeah, in high school. Right. So in the Superdome, I won the national championship with LSU in the Sugar Bowl in the Superdome, and then I won the NFC championship against the Saints, no call or not. I won the NFC championship. So to win a championship at all three levels of sports in my home state in the Superdome, the place we have so much pride and joy in, in the city of New Orleans, just epic. I always think about that. That's the coolest part. Every time I walk in that city, I'm like, man, if I just did my sports career here alone and talked about nothing else, what an awesome run. What a sick— as a kid, I'm 9 years old and thinking about what I want to do in life, how epic it could be to say, man, in this building right here, you're going to win it at every level of sport that you choose to play. It always blows me away to think about.

I'm gonna speed you up here because we're gonna do a little bit of rapid-fire questions all over the place. Are you ready?

I guess. What is your earliest memory? Oh, earliest memory. I would say, actually, I thought I'd be a kicker when I was about 5 years, 4 years old, in my grandmother's house. They had some posts in their garden that I thought of as field goal poles, and I would always go out and I would put the ball up in the grass and try to kick them through there.

Big-ass kicker. Kicker you would have been. The poster on your wall growing up.

Oh man, you know what, I was just with them the other day at our seminar, the Jerry Jones Cowboys. I had Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith were my jerseys, and I always wanted to be Jay Novacek growing up. I wanted to be a tight end for the Cowboys. So I had a Cowboys bedspread and poster above my bed.

The movie you stop on every time in a hotel not named Roadhouse.

Oh man, I would probably say Number one, going to rewatch is Remember the Titans. That's always one of my favorites. It can't end that way though.

That play is ridiculous. It can't be an 80-yard double reverse that surprises the district champion legendary coach.

I hate the ending. I love the movie.

One TV show for the rest of your life?

Oh man. Well, I'll say this. Every single night since I've been married to Melissa, we watch, before we fall asleep— are we fall asleep to, Frasier. So we watch Frasier every single night. Now, if it was fun, I'd say Entourage, because I could— I've watched every episode of Entourage 5,062 times. I can quote the entire show. But Frasier is one, you know, listen, we just on repeat, we repeat it every night, go all the way through, all those, start back over, and that's our show.

Would you be surprised to learn that Kelsey Grammer was 29 when he was on Cheers? I'm not making that up.

Really? Yes. I would not have known that.

Cliff was 35. The mailmen, they were prenatually old people that looked very old. What's the most recent thing that made you cry?

Oh man, that made me cry. Man, I would probably say I got pretty emotional, I'm trying to remember what, here recently. You know, for me, I think honestly, Honestly, the most thing— and this is not to say that I was there— I got a little emotional watching Travis and Taylor share their vows at their wedding. Is that right? Yeah, it was cool. I thought my biggest takeaway from that moment was just two people that were absolutely who they are and themselves in front of all these people, no holding back, and just like, "We're not trying to put on for anybody. This is us talking to each other, and all these people happen to be in the room." I thought it was fun. They were literally themselves. To me, I thought it was beautiful.

What's a song that you're embarrassed to admit you know all of the lyrics to?

You know, man, I'm trying to think. I wouldn't say that I really— listen, I'm a music— I love music. So I don't know if there's a single song that I would say that I like embarrassing other music to, because I think— here's my thing. It's like food. Genres have a place everywhere. Certain kinds of food, they're not always— sometimes you're a little embarrassed to say you ate them, but they all have a place and a time that they're needed and they fit the right mold.

What's the strangest combination of foods that you like together? Like a weird combo that perhaps—

I mean, I'm a Louisiana guy, so if you're going to fry it, stuff it with cheese, smother it with queso, anything, bacon wrap it. I was just telling people yesterday, If you go to Louisiana, you're not just getting a double cheeseburger. You're going to get a double cheeseburger chimichanga topped with some kind of Velveeta-style queso with some Cajun seasoning on it. You've got to combine all the bad things into one to have our kind of food. So you're a clean eater, though.

So what's something that on your bad day that you could really crush?

Oh, right now, chili cheese dog. That's it. That's my happy place. You give me a good chili dog, oh man, that's like Dr Pepper, root beer, chili cheese dog. Closest you came to calling it quits? 2013, patella surgery. Tried to come back in training camp and it just didn't respond the right way. Ended up having to get injections. I missed the season opener. It's a fun Marvin Lewis story. My wife called him like, you're gonna have to talk him off the ledge on this one because he's gonna lose his mind when y'all tell him he's not playing in the opener. Opener, but that was it. That was that year.

A thing that your wife would say you do that most annoys her?

Oh man, listen, every guy that's being honest that's married, it's the end of the season, and I do it now with Thursday nights because I travel so much I might as well be playing. You come home in January and you start critiquing how we're doing, like the pro— wait a minute, why do we do it like this? Or why don't you do this? Or what? You And she's just like, "Listen, your ass been gone for 6 months. Don't walk in this house and start telling me how we're gonna do drop-offs or how we should order the groceries or how we should put this up. Just go on somewhere." She kicks me right back out to the golf course and says, "Get outta here. Come back for dinner and be here for family time, but don't come in here and start trying to tell me how we should improve our process when you've been gone for 6 months." So that one right there. Right there. She's ready to kill me every January, on record, for about the last 20 years.

Uh, what would you regard as the least masculine thing you do? Probably I trim the eyebrows a little bit.

I like to trim the eyebrows. Like, here's my thing, I don't have any hair, so I feel like this is all the hair I got. So I gotta, I gotta make sure the eyebrows look right.

Uh, do you have any irrational fears?

Um, I don't love heights. I'm a little shaky on heights. Seems reasonable though. I'll give you an example. Most times, you talk at something, you get a little nervous. I had to do the speech right before a Vikings-Rams game about the fires. They were like, "Hey, would you like to make a public comment right before the game goes on air on Monday Night Football for the playoffs?" So I flew from our TNF game to Phoenix for this, and I'm like, this is gonna be fun. Going to be intense. They're telling me you got so many seconds and then the national anthem starts and the guy's going to tell you in your ear, go, and you got to stop by this point. Like, it's just like, wow, this is intense. I got there and they let me know, we've decided you're going to stand on this like single stage while you do it. And that was like the biggest— I'm like, oh no, like I hate heights. So now I'm like up on this thing all by myself with a microphone and like my— I like my legs didn't work. That was probably the most nervous I've ever been for anything ever, just because they added an element of now I'm up on a like height and like it's a little shaky.

I was— dude, I was about to lose my mind on that one.

The most memorable fight story of your career, whether it involves you or not?

Oh, that one's easy. It's, you know, the Fitz and Wit podcast. You listen to that, you'll hear that story a million times, but it's how me and Ryan Fitzpatrick Patrick's friendship started. Jacksonville Jaguars, 2008. We were 0-8 for the Cincinnati Bengals, and we played Jacksonville, who was really good at that time. They had John Henderson and Marcus Stroud in the middle, two monsters. Everybody remembers the John Henderson commercials and videos, him getting slapped in the face by the trainer. Big Bad John. Me and Big Bad John, because TJ Guzmanzada and Chad were talking trash crashed him during a TV timeout. We were up 21-0, I believe it was, you know, playing out of our minds. And me and him got in a huge fight all the way across field, a brawl. We come in on Tuesday, we get thrown out of the game, but I have this epic moment. You know, I had called out the guys on Saturday about us being 0-8. I'd never been a loser in my life, and this just— we're never gonna accept being the doormat for people. And so I have this moment, have to stand up, fight Big Bad John, get thrown out of the game.

We win the game and everyone all over me after the game, just the teammates. I become the captain from then on, the rest of my time in Cincinnati. That started my reign as the captain of the team. But on Tuesday, or Wednesday I should say, we come in and if you remember, the league used to do in fights, they had a halo rule. Basically, they could throw throw out this ever-how-big circle around the fight, and if you were in it, you were fined. You were supposed to leave the area of a fight. Well, all 11 of the offense, only 10 of us were fined. There was only one guy not fined during this fight because everyone entered the fray. The one guy was my podcast partner, Ryan Fitzpatrick. He had— was playing quarterback as Carson Palmer had gotten injured. He started that game and we won it. But during the fight, you can see Ryan running off the field. He's just pulling a pure Harvard move, and he's sprinting off the field to get away. He categorized it as he wasn't going to be any help, so he was getting out of the way. But sheer cowardice.

Yes, running off the field. He was the only player not fined on the entire team. So that's how our relationship got started. That's why I still think it's the Witt and Fitz podcast. It should be. I actually have a coffee mug, if you ever watch the podcast, that's the opposite, just on purpose. Uh, but it is the Fitz and Witt podcast, and, uh, you'll get to hear that story plenty because I make sure I remind him of it when I can.

Season 3 of what should be the Witt and Fitz podcast, uh, August 20th he returns with Amazon Football. He's been extraordinary. Real quick on the way out, I'm just going to give you some football questions. The toughest teammate I ever had was blank.

Oh, Justin Smith, bad man.

The opponent who surprised me the most with his strength was blank.

Oh man, you know what, there's a guy named Paul Spicer, used to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think I'm saying his last name correctly. He was defensive end. That's one of the most powerful bull rushes I've ever had to take on.

The guy I'm willing to admit now in retirement caused me to sleep I would sleep a little less well the night before the game when I had to face him was blank.

That's an easy one. Any left tackle that says any difference, Lion. That's Dwight Freeney. Anytime you had to play Freeney in a game, whew, that was one of those weeks where it was not a lot of fun.

The best leader I've ever known is blank.

You know, that one's pretty easy. I think, you know, probably right now for me, you know, Nick Saban's still probably the best, but I would put Sean McVay as becoming one of the best leaders that I've ever gotten to know. And I think as his story gets written, people realize amazing young head coach, but he will be— he will go down as one of the best leaders ever.

The time that I looked across from me and said, yeah, this person's probably just as tough as I am, is blank.

Oh man, there's a ton of those guys. I would say, you know, for me, honestly, you know, I mentioned Justin as being one of the toughest teammates, but you I got to start my career as that's who I went against every single day in practice. And we beat the ever-living eff out of each other. And I would say though, in a game, I realized that playing Jared Allen. I played Jared Allen. I was a guard. I got moved out there in the middle of a game my second year in the league. And it was my first time getting to go against him. And it felt more like every snap we just started bar fighting than playing football. Football because I think both of us were kind of wound to be tough and it was like, whoa, who are you and who are you? And like, you know, it was just like, it felt like it's just a physical fight every snap. I loved it. Loved every second. I think he did too. But, you know, that was one where I was like, all right, I like playing this guy.

This is fun. The best football player I've ever seen is blank.

I mean, Aaron Donald's probably the top of that list. I think that he is without question one of the best players ever in the history of the game of football, but I always say the mixture of the effort, the work ethic, and the talent, I've never been around anything that special in my life. I've never seen anybody that works harder. I've never seen anybody that's more talented when it comes to how strong and powerful and fast and smart he is and the work he puts into it. He literally is 99 on all the categories. Uh, it's extremely rare.

You've mentioned Cooper Kupp a couple of times here, and I'll let you go on this question. Thank you so much for the time. Uh, but because of where you were playing, you would have had no idea in the Super Bowl that your quarterback threw a no-look pass to Cooper Kupp in a very important moment because you guys had arrived at a space in harmony. Everyone knew the ball was going to Cooper Kupp, and yet he threw a no-look pass to Cooper Kupp. When did you first know and see that? Because you couldn't have seen it during the game.

Honestly, I didn't see it till the next day, you know, when it became such a— when everyone made a big deal about it. And I'm like, unbelievable by Matthew. And, and, you know, he's another guy that I'd put on that top of that list of some of the rarest people I've ever gotten to play with, you know. Stafford and Cooper Kupp as well, you know. Listen, I don't think enough is made, you know, about last year. Mike McDonald and the Seahawks had had a lot of success. But, uh, Cooper Kupp was instrumental in being someone who always was looking for how to be better and a better version of himself his entire life. When he was a Los Angeles Ram, uh, you know, you knew from his rookie year he was going to be special and rare. His ability to, to really be a voice in that way, um, you know, last year chasing edges, whatever Seattle's mantra— like, Cooper Kupp's been doing that his entire life. Like, I would imagine Mike McDonald would say that there's been some pretty, pretty strong wisdom conversations that he's had with Cooper Kupp that helped him come up with some of the things they do and the edges they chase, because that's a really rare dude who, you know, has shown right now that he has an ability to make every room he's in better.

Appreciate you, appreciate the work for 20 years. I'm including the media work and the pride that you take take in it. Thank you so much for spending this time with us.

Hey, appreciate it, man. Anytime. It's an honor.