The Downside of Being in The NFL

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3:44Late April this year. So, yeah, no, I mean, you're pretty much working all year. All year, right? I mean, you know, the only, even when you're not, even when you're away from the facility, you know, you can't take, you can only take so much time off. There's some guys who find a way to take off a couple months and all that stuff. But, like, by the time you didn't let your body get out of shape and all that type of stuff. So, I mean, even when you're not, quote, unquote, working, you're working, right? Because, I mean, your body is your asset. And we all, I mean, even if you're not an exercise enthusiast, you know how quickly you can get out of shape.

4:19It only takes a week. It takes you a whole year to get in shape. You take a week off and you go. I brought that up because you had an injury while you were in Detroit, and it kind of changed the forecast. We'll probably get into that in the next segment. But what was it, a torn? Torn peck. Torn peck. Yeah. And during that time it was like, you know what, let me focus on some other things. Because I think you went to the veteran combine and you impressed some people, and they were like, wait, this guy was a 4-5. I was like, oh, we need to bring him in. But you had to – Detroit brought you in, but you got hurt.

4:53Yeah. So, yeah, let me go ahead and just attack the story. So year one, rookie practice squad. Like I said, we had said earlier, I got cut after week four. A few weeks later with the Tennessee Titans got cut. They picked me up, back up the next week and let me through the season. But you're like, dang, this is kind of fickle. So then year two, I'm going into it. I'm like, okay, hey, I got my foot in the door. Now I know what to expect. This should be not a walk in the park, but I know what to expect. I was a long shot last year. Now I'm not a vet, but I know what I'm going into this year. Make the team, make the practice squad.

5:38I'm there for two weeks. We had new coaching staff and all that stuff. Two weeks, and then after that I get cut. So I'm like, okay, it'll be similar to last year. Somebody will call me next week or something. no call nothing going on right this is my second year i'm like what's going on man you know okay so i'm working out working out working out changing my body i'm working out working out working out and just keep staying focused staying on the on the on task i remember sunday nights watching other people play and just like just running on the treadmill right um so during that time though you know so you're going september 14th 15th through january no no call no check, no anything, right?

6:17And so I'm like, all right, during that time, I'm like, you know, you got to figure out what your life is going to look like. For me, that was a big slap in the face of like, I mean, I always knew it, but that was a big shaking of like, this, you really can never put yourself in a position where you're dependent on the Tennessee Titans, the Baltimore Ravens at that time to give me a check, right? Like, I got to provide, right? So I gave myself a year at that point because I knew I could play in the NFL. It would be one thing if I went up there and I was like, man, I'm getting tossed around like a little school boy, right?

6:48I'm like, no, I can play in the NFL and I can be good. So I'm going to give myself one year and I'm going to do everything in my power to make it. And that March, there was a Veterans Combine. The way God works, there was a Veterans Combine. That was the only year they ever did it. They didn't have it before. They stopped it after. It was 1 ,000 or like 1 ,000 people, over 1 ,000 guys tried to get in. Do you pay to do that? You pay to be part of it? I didn't pay. Invitation, right? Yeah, invitation. You pay to fly out there and do all that type of stuff. But over 1 ,000 guys tried to get in, and they only accepted 100.

7:28I didn't get in at first. And I remember signing up to play arena football, giving myself a year to do it. I could have went and played CFL, but that's a two-year agreement. That's against the agreement I made to myself, right? I'm giving myself a year to get this thing back. If not, then I've got to go hustle up on Wall Street to do something else, right? I fly down to Orlando Predators Arena football team. I literally unpack my suitcase, literally get everything in the drawers. I'm ready to do this, right? I lay down on the bed and then the boom, whatever the male sound comes through. I look at it.

8:05You've been invited to the Veterans Combine. What? Okay. So I call the coach, get all that stuff worked out from there, and then I go and do the Veterans Combine, and I literally had the best day at the office I've ever had. I ran a 4-5-1 laser. Actually, the day before, we were supposed to do the whole combine, the bench press and all that type of stuff. A guy gets up and says, hey, basically, these scouts don't want to waste their time being here with y 'all, so we're going to cut out all of that stuff. They basically said that if y 'all were good, you'd already be in the league right we've seen you guys we've seen other stuff so we sit there eating dinner oh my god like you took all my money to get out here though right oh well i guess you know chips are stacked against us so anyway i do i do my workout and i go from literally no offers you know sitting unemployed the whole year to seven teams lined up to talk to me and then after that combine having 16 teams have the nfl giving me an offer an invite to one of their camps And again, you still haven't made it yet.

9:09Right. So I keep that in perspective. Got to go with Detroit. And then I'm playing. I make the 53-man roster finally. Right. First year making 53-man. I play with them a whole year. Go another year. Play with them. And then I'm going into year three. And in year three, I'm in this position where I'm finally at the point where it's like you're about to start. I remember going to – we practiced against the Indianapolis Colts. So now you're in July of 2017. We practice against the Indianapolis Colts. We have them joint practices. And, you know, my coach comes up to me the night before the game. Earners, what's up?

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14:22It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at brex.com slash AF. We practice against them for two days, and then we play them in a preseason game. It blows my mind, but that's what we do. Now this dude knows I'm a good move. So now the coach comes up to me, my linebacker coach. He's like, Hope, listen, I want to let you know you've done a great job this week. You've really impressed myself, the GM, the head coach. You're going to be our starting linebacker. So go out there tomorrow, get you a few reps. Nothing too crazy, get you a few reps. But, like, I'm very proud of you, kid. Like, good job, right?

15:07So I'm like, dang, like, you know, this has been a rollercoaster ride, and wow. Okay, cool. Like, I've been working for this, you know? I think I called my – she was – I don't even know if she was my fiancée at the time, 2017. She was my fiancée at the time. So I called my fiancée at the time and, you know, told her, but, you know, I'm going to get ready for the game. Go out there the next day. I'm doing my special teams reps. I do a few of my reps. And then, of course, on one play, it's just a lead. Running back comes with the ball, making a tackle, and I wrap and roll. My arm gets caught in the pile, and his body just goes back, goes back, goes back.

15:48And, like, his body, the weight of his body, I just feel a push. And I just remember just being like, oh, no. And so I tried to do a push-up on the field, and I barely could, but I did it. So I'm like, okay, cool. It was probably a partial tear, so I just run off the field. Like, all right, cool. Like, you know, somebody else can do this. They take me in the back, and the trainer comes to me. He's like, yeah, you tore your pec. I'm like, you know, it's probably partial. Like, I don't know if you saw me out there, but I kind of push-up, bro. Like, you know, and if anybody knows, the NFL guys and trainers usually are conservative.

16:24Like, they usually try to force you back too quick. He was like, nah, kiddo, like, I'm sorry to tell you. Like, I can feel it. Like, you tore your pec tendon, right? He was like, I'm like, okay, what was that? Like, a month, you know, a few weeks. Like, nah, that's like six months. Huh? So that's my story. That's that, dang, like, you know, you get that out-of-body experience. Like, you don't know what you're talking about. I need to know. You know, I'm in the booby miles mode. Like, nah, man, nah, you know. No, I can't. I'm supposed to start. I don't know if you heard the conversation. So we end up, I have surgery.

17:03And for me, that was a big time of like, you know, you have two paths. You can go into that. What was me? That depression. You have that mini moment of the. Well, for me, you have that moment of depression of like, are you kidding me? Right. Like you got to be kidding me. Like, seriously. and you know but you got to get yourself one you got to get yourself out of it and then two you know I'm a big believer in everything happening for a reason and whether it's good or bad right it's a lot of people look at the bad and they just they don't they don't look back at their lives and see all the bad things or the moments they thought were bad and how that ended up leading to something that they didn't never expect it to happen right so for me it was an opportunity I'm like okay well When I came into the NFL, my dream was to be in the NFL.

17:51This is my dream. My dream was, because it's evolved ever since then, but my dream was to be in the NFL, be making a great salary, and then it be nothing compared to what I'm doing and making off the field. My dream wasn't to be an NFL player. It's part of the dream. You had to be an NFL player to have this dream, but it was layers and levels to my dream. That's important. So for me, I'm like, okay. And it took a week and a half or so. You know, you're in the sling, you ain't doing stuff. So, you know, it took a little while, but I'm like, maybe this is God giving me that opportunity to set up what is going to make me actually or allow me to accomplish my dream.

18:34Right? So for me, that's when I dove into real estate. My wife has a video. I remember she posted it to her Instagram or her Snap or whatever. and you know literally the day after surgery or hours after surgery we're in Best Buy and I'm slinged up and I'm looking at um they got the little blood thing like still circulating blood from the surgery or whatever and I'm looking at appliances and I didn't at the time I didn't realize Best Buy had like appliances and dope discounts like that but I'm just looking at different washers and drives because I'm I'm I had an apartment um I bought a house in Detroit going into that that I was going to live in in the season and then at the end of the season I was going to rent out right so I was already thinking like okay this is going to be a rental part of the portfolio all that type of stuff but um but and then I was I was flipping houses and stuff like that at the time so I'm looking at appliances and looking at different prices and stuff like that but like for me it was like okay this need to be detrimental to me or it's going to be an opportunity and for me that's when the real estate stuff just turned up tenfold because it was just like i mean i don't have i really don't have anything else to do when you're rehabbing a peck yeah if you hold your arm up like this after a week that's like a big that's that's a perfect segue because now we're going to go into the business side thing but before we go into the next segment best buy i hope you're listening yeah we have sponsorship opportunities so earners what's up look building wealth isn't just about making money it's about knowing where your money is working for you that's why we partner with empower empower is all about helping you invest well so you can go out and live a little their free empower personal dashboard gives you a complete view of your financial life in one place track your net worth monitor your budget analyze your investments set retirement goals and more you've worked hard for your money now make sure it's working hard for you.

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