Mahomes Bromance, Stumping Caitlin Clark, Hurts' Snaps, LeBron Gets Paid, "Edelnut" & MORE | Best Of

0:00my rookie year or my rookie contract. I'm coming up, I'm redoing my rookie contract. And I decide, potentially, I'm like, okay, I think I might do this myself. I might forego and just be my own agent and negotiate my own contract. And thankfully, my agents were like, they talked me into like, no, no, no. We need to, you're going to want an agent. Trust me. They sent over the first offer. And I was like, all right, where do we sign? They're like, no, no, no, no. What did I do? We can do that. We can go high. We can go high. Nice. Oh, man. That's funny as shit.

0:35Welcome back to New Heights. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a Wondery Show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by DraftKings. That's right. The crown is yours. All right. We've got an incredible best of episode for you guys today. We put together some of our favorite moments from the conversation with some of the best athletes we've had on the podcast. You'll hear from Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Caitlin Clark, Cronk, Shaq, LeBron James, Matt Stafford, and more. Remember, we'll be back with new episodes of New Heights just in time for the NFL season on August 27th.

1:09You won't want to miss it. Our guest is Super Bowl MVP, Mr. Julian Edelman, baby. What an intro. What an intro. Wolk was like one of the best route runners I've ever seen. Like the first couple of years when I was with him, I was like, this dude's a fucking monster. He was so small and so quick. Even on a press coverage, he could get like four steps in and he'd be doing his head shit. He could get guys to turn their hips and just and get in. Like his release came and his routes, they were fucking sick. And, you know, honestly, it was a huge part of, you know, how I got to learn the position. You know, I came in playing quarterback.

1:50You know, so like I got to watch him and I got to take tidbits from fucking Randy Moss, Joey Galloway, like all these guys. and even if they're - What's Randy telling you? Just be bigger and faster than everybody and jump up and catch them? I just remember Randy how he - Hey, Jules. Hey, Jules. He used to call me Edelnut. Edelnut? Hey, Edelnut, get my hot tub about 103 and get my Gatorade. That's where we used to have the metal tubs. Yes. You know you have metal tubs and hot tub? Yes. He never wanted to go on the regular hot tub. He had to have his own shit with the little - He had to have this - It was like menthol rubbing alcohol in there.

2:26Fucking - And he go, Edelnut, go get my towel, my Gatorade, make that hot tub about 103, 102. Don't fuck it up. This one time. What a legend. Yes, sir. This one time, Randy, it was like the day before Christmas and we had to work. We had a game on Christmas or something and Randy was talking to his mom. And I just walked by. I was like, hey, Randy, tell Mama Moss. I said, you know, Merry Christmas. He goes, Edelnut, when I'm talking to my motherfucking mom, you shut the fuck up.

3:00I literally went like this. I looked at, and I fucking just, I walked away. I got contact. I was so scared. I was a rookie. He's like, don't you fucking talk to me when I'm talking to my mom. But he'd always love me up too, you know? Of course, yeah. But like, you could learn things from him, like how he tracked the ball. Like, in one-on-ones, he would sit and run, and it looked like he wasn't running. And the ball would come. and we all know that the DBs play hands. When you throw your hands out there, DBs are going to try to come through. He would just run and the ball would come right there and he'd just boop and just pop his little hands out at the last second.

3:36So you could take things from anyone, especially as a route runner. Was Welker, did he help you out with the route running? Or was it more just watching him do it? Watching. I love Welk to death, but he was kind of like the asshole older brother. You know what I mean? I was there to take his job and he was there to... that ended up happening when he got hurt, right? Then you kind of got out of duty. I know what an asshole older brother is, man. That is, it's a tough position to be in as the younger brother. I feel like I could be way more of an asshole. Oh, you thought I was talking about you.

4:07Did you actually take Jerry Rice's daughter to prom and try on the Super Bowl ring? Was that real? She took me to her prom. And yes, I did wear those Super Bowl rings. That's awesome. Sorry, Jerry. I used to go into his office all the time. He was never home. So I'd be over there playing with balls. I saw a jersey. It was crazy. Jerry Rice, bro. I was a buried kid. He was a fucking legend. The record setter himself. It was so crazy. And they had such a cool house. Man.

4:43I remember the first time. You're in a flashback right now. First time I met him, dude came out, yoked up, six-packed up with his chain on. He had his fucking dreads that are starting back here. He was the old Jerry by then. Oakland Jerry? Oakland Jerry. He intimidated the fuck out of me. Yeah. Yeah. He wasn't having it. Which I understand. I have a daughter. I have a daughter. I'm a father of one. Number 95 Chiefs defensive tackle, Chris Stone Cole Jones. Where are we at here? If we're sticking to it, it's the combine. Nice combine. Man, I'll tell you what. about it you had one of the most electric combine moments i think uh has ever has ever uh gone on national television man yes let's just talk about it you know yeah let's talk about it big guy how'd that 40 yard dash i'll be honest with you bro i was i was so big on being different from everyone everybody was wearing the fucking long tights i was like you know what i ain't not going out there and copying everybody i'm gonna wear the short tights i didn't realize they was boxers, bro.

5:50I didn't realize they was boxers, bro. Honest to God. You know they put you in the trains when you're standing in the combat. The rooms are like little train cabins that I could barely see. So I'm just grabbing them. I'm like, I'm going to put these on. I'm going to run in these. Fucking get out there. Everybody is looking crazy. I'm like, let's do it. Oh my gosh. Well, it made you faster, man. It made you so fast. You tripped over your feet. Oh my gosh. I tripped over that third lane.

6:26tripped over it just jumped out man that shit is so funny man i'm not gonna lie we were dying laughing what like what you first the face you had when the camera came up to you i believe you said it right there in quotes like my dick fell out i i think that's what you said right exactly what I said I didn't even believe it I was running well I'm looking at the 40 and all of a sudden I feel it I feel it touching my leg and I'm like oh shit so I try to I try to puff it and take the dive you know what I mean because I know little kids watching and I'm like god put your dick away Chris I gotta say how blessed you are to even be able to describe it as though your dick fell out.

7:11Because I don't even think I could describe that adjective of mine. I don't think you can fall anywhere.

7:23Oh, man. We got to get those things. That's some good shit, man. Oh, that's some good shit. Hey, man, what are you thinking about the kids, man? Put that shit away. That shit was fucking hilarious. I mean, that is crazy. Like, what would be going – I mean, I guess that is what's going through your head. You're like, oh, my gosh. There's kids watching. There's families here. I mean, that had to be crazy. Quoted to Sports Illustrated, too. That's the 17th. My dick came out. I looked down, and the Hummer is out. The Hummer. Man. Oh, Stone Cold. You're the greatest man. Yeah, man. It was the last fight.

7:58We got the man, the myth, Mr. Rob Gronkowski, baby. Woo-hoo. what was it like me and tom do you remember the first time you met him like no i guess i do so i was in the training room getting my uh my foot taped and uh my ankles taped or whatever and uh he comes up he's like hey i'm tom and i was like no way i was like i gotta play it cool too i was like i'm just gonna introduce myself i'm not gonna call big fan or anything i was like hey i'm rob man but it was just hilarious like yeah tom like i know you're tom dude like i'm in it's not like i'm meeting you somewhere else either like i'm in the football facility and then what was funny is like a couple years later new rookies came in and he still did it to new rookies and i was just sitting there watching like their reaction and they're like they all get confused you're like he just introduced himself as top

8:57that was a good scene to see yeah that's how you know you're a next level superstar when you introduce yourself by your name and everybody's like yeah uh we we know who you are man you don't gotta say that anymore uh yeah is there so i don't know what led to you guys having like such great chemistry is it was it just you know you were you guys on the same wavelength was it practice was it all the above yeah oh yeah i mean definitely not the same wavelength at first i mean at first i thought he was out of control man i was like this dude this dude crazy like like i just know really yeah i never seen anyone in what way like i like like a dickhead like kind of i was like he's like a coach like like this isn't like my buddy you know like you're going into yeah you're expecting it to be that what's that movie with uh jamie fox as a quarterback um sunday any given sunday baby sunday like that's in my mind that's what i was expecting that's that's what i was expecting yeah i'm right there with you like that's how i lived my first couple years in the nfl too like that's what i wanted like the movie's tricky like you think every time so i'm like this isn't anything like any given sunday like i'm like this guy this guy's fucking yelling at me i mess up just a tad bit and the dude's yelling at me like get over there like a coach.

10:17He's yelling at me more. And, um, and then it took me a little bit, you know, to, to realize like what, where it was coming from and, and, and what the love was for. And I, I kind of felt like he was more hard on me at first. Cause I think he saw some talent in me, man. I think he saw the opportunity that I had that was presented in front of me. And, uh, every single day, man, after practice, he would make me stay. He would make me and like two other rookies stay. And he'd be like, we're getting on the same page. And, uh, he'd be throwing pass after pass route after route. I'm like, man, I just took first team.

10:48I took second team and I took that. What's that one? And they keep everyone after the rookies and the second year players. What's that called again? The mini camp? The rookie mini camp? Oh, yeah. The rookie mini camp. No, no, no. After practice, they bring over the guy to the other side of the field. Say it's joint training camp. That might be the Patriot way. It was like fundamentals or something. It was called like that. Yeah, we call it developmental. Yeah, that's what we call it. That one or something. And I did all that too. And then he'd be like, no, you're staying after. And then boom, I'd be running 10 routes with him after the practice too.

11:24And then he would be calling me in the meetings. This is how I want you to run the route. I don't ever want you to go around the guy here. Like it's a flag route. He goes, get outside of the guy when you run a corner. If you go inside, guess what? I'm never throwing you the ball. He was just always telling me the place where he wanted me to be. but I had so much going on that I freaking I freaking couldn't get it all down like I'm like okay I get I get it you want me there but like I can't get there like I just I'm thinking way too much when you're thinking you're losing already and I'm just thinking like right ties the feet up but uh and then after that it kind of clicked he caught you up to speed yeah he caught me up to speed his speed was ridiculous when you when I first got there and then after a couple more practices you know going throughout the year training camp about halfway through my rookie season everything started clicking i was like oh all right like this is what he wants uh this is where he wants me to be uh this is how he wants me to run the route and everything and then going into my second year i was ready for it i was like oh shit i got this game down to a science now i like but i got it down and then we worked in the off season and then going into training camp just after practice every day yo let's go let's get on the same page you were getting on you were getting to throw yeah no no no i never said that the day he forgot i said oh i was like oh i was like oh thank you his kids are here because then he would run over to his kids i'm like oh thank you kids

12:49please welcome mr matthew stafford thank you very much thank you for having me that's a hell of an intro i need you uh in game you played with two of the best d tackles in this decade plus a football and Aaron Donald and Dominic and Sue. Yeah. Who frightens you more as a quarterback? You know, spent more, I probably played more, I don't know, it might be kind of close. I was going to say I played more games against Aaron Donald than I did Sue, but I played quite a few against Sue there kind of at the end. I would say having, you know, experience with both ADs, it was a different deal. I agree.

13:28Because there was like, the get off was crazy. I mean, he just wrecked practices. Sue was that way too in a lot of instances and was a great player for us in Detroit. And then, you know, bounced around and had some unbelievable seasons at other places too. But AD was, that was something different. Just watching him go about his job every single day. I remember like the third practice I was there in training camp. We have no pads on. And we're in a quick game. I'm throwing a hitch to the field. And I smash my thumb on his helmet. And I'm like, yo, I just caught the ball. It's like catch, throw, bang.

13:58And I'm like, and next thing you know, everybody had the guardian caps on. They're like, yeah. That was something, you know. But he was crazy in his ability. And I would say the respect that he got from offensive lines and other offenses was something I've never seen before. Yeah, I would agree with that. I mean, we treated him differently than any other defensive tackle that we ever played. And Sue was, I think Sue was like almost, he like wanted to kill somebody. Yeah. Where AD wanted to kill somebody too, but it was like a different level of intensity. I agree. AD though his like motor it was every single snap every single play you could not take a playoff he never took a playoff he was running I don't know how he had that kind of conditioning it was to this day yeah well you the combinedness of like his athleticism is like explosive in strength and then he just never stopped yeah he's a smart player like I mean he knew like you talk to him like I get in the you know cafeteria and you sit down you talk to him and he's like yeah I knew if I wasn't doubled if the center didn't come to me it's run away yeah because the center comes to me every pass play yeah it's and if it center comes to me it's pass or it's run to yeah center goes away like you're not not blocking me with two so he knew it was run away and then he's shooting a backside gap i mean like he was just like could make decisions and go like that that quickly for sure it was uh it was impressive to be around him and and watch him work i mean the way he worked out we had a uh um i'll never forget and he's crazy in the weight room oh i know like the rock came in and worked out with him one time and there's a night fighting yeah i mean he's like He's a maniac in the weight room, right?

15:31And I'll never forget, this was 21 or 22 maybe. We had a Make-A-Wish kid who a year before had been like, hey, my dream is to go be with Aaron Adonable for a day kind of thing. And thankfully this kid at that point had kind of beaten the odds and had beaten the cancer that he had, I believe, and was really on the mend. And it was really cool. He came in and you're like, oh man, this guy's doing good, right? high school kid like bigger kid uh like love to play football and ad was like cool come work out with me right and i'm like i'm walking by i'm like yo what is about to go down yeah right and i look over and like i'm over there doing like banded something like 30 minutes in and ad's just ripping curls out and this and this next thing you know this kid is puking in the trash can you please like have a little kooth a little understanding like You got what he wanted.

16:23You want to be AD? You want to be AD. It was unbelievable for months, AD. I'm like, God, can we just relax on the bicep curls for a little bit? It's like, how many do we do until we throw up? You know what I mean? It was just like unbelievable. I was like, this guy has no – I mean, the motor just never stops, man. It was incredible. I remember it was my first time playing in L.A. against the Rams, and it was a preseason game. and I'm number three closest to the line. We're running all go special. It's cover two or at least I see two high. And I'm thinking I'm just right at the hash. And I take off and I'm like, man, I'm just going to fucking dig for my first like five to ten yards.

17:01And by the time I got to the five yards downfield, I felt something throw me to the numbers. And I got out of that play like fucking little dazed. I'm like, what in the fuck was that? And I watched it on film and it was AD coming from the backside B gap and just fucking smoked me. I believe it. Because there was a blitz from the other side. And I was just like, what the fuck? I had never felt like more of like the lightest thing. I had never moved that fast before ever in my life by anybody. I remember I was in Detroit. We were playing a game against the Rams, and they were in St. Louis still at that point.

17:38Jim Bob was our coordinator. And I dropped back to pass late in the game. We need to play. And Aaron, I have two hands on the ball, right, like this. and Aaron just comes up from behind me and just rips both my biceps apart. The ball falls down the ground. And I'm like, I'm looking at him and I'm like, I come over to the sideline. I'm like, I mean, I'm pissed. And I'm like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do there. He's like, you got to find a way to hold onto it. I'm like, go fuck yourself, man. You think I'm going to be able to hold onto this? Thanks for the tip, Jim Ball. He just went like this and like kindly separated my arms.

18:07He's like, I'll take the ball. And I was just like, what do I do? Oh, is that what I was supposed to do? Hold onto it. Got it. Thanks for this. That's how this works. dude i was with jim bob i'll never forget when he came up i we will probably cut this bro gotta tell it anyway so i'm sitting there we had just hired nick sirianne and shane steikin and jim bob was on the staff i had never met jim bob oh yeah i didn't know about him in detroit really yeah he comes up and he says hey jason my name's jim bob cooter and i just like fucking laugh

18:43like audibly like a giggle yeah and i'm like oh oh that's fucking real

18:53awesome fucking dude he's a great dude all-time name

19:00the time magazine athlete of the year miss caitlin clark please welcome everyone we're gonna try the segment we've never done it it's probably gonna be very short-lived um it's called name a person we're gonna go around the horn and each name an athlete from iowa until we can't anymore oh gosh i feel like you're probably not gonna struggle can you name current players no no they just have to be an athlete former players can they be no they can be former they have to be for have to be former you know current no they can be they They could be current. I'm going to try to do NFL current players, see if I can do.

19:39Okay. You might beat us in that too. Travis has the... Actually, we both really have the positions. So let's see how it happens. All right. Who's starting? I'll start. George Kittle. I knew that was going to be the first person he was going to say. I'm going to say Sam Laporta just to take Travis's answers away from him before. I'm going to go Tyler Linderbaum on the rave. No. Nice. Nice. I'm going to go Claire Kittle. tristan worse that's right solid answer that's true the eagles actually rookie cooper de jean nice nej what about a little for us tj hakasan oh that's right i always forget about him what he's on the vikings right yes yes he's finally back healthy doing his thing that's awesome i'm gonna get a throwback here i'm gonna get a throwback throwback robert gallery His wife actually played basketball at Iowa, too.

20:31What? There we go. Look at that. That's where they did it. Yeah. They actually came to quite a few of our games the last couple of years. Great people. Cool people. Oh, gosh. Okay. Let's see. Hmm. Hmm. This is tough. We stumped her. We stumped her. I'm thinking about NFL. She's still thinking of NFL. She knew all day. I'm going to go Geno Stone. I think he's on the Bengals now. I'm pretty sure he had to pick six this past week. Ooh. All right. All right. I'll take you, Gino. All right. We respect Gino. I'm going to go a little Chiefs tight end when I first got to Kansas City, Tony Mowiaki, my dog, my Chi-Town brother.

21:10Shout out to T-Mo, man. I'm going to go another former teammate, Julian Vanderbilt. Julian Vanderbilt. Did anybody say Dallas Clark? No, the legend. I was holding on to that one. No gloves. No gloves. The man. I'll stay in the tight end world over there. Noah Fant. That's right. The Seahawks, I think? Yes. Yeah. 8-7 over there in Seattle. All right. I'm going to go Marshall Yanda. This dude is pulling out this random name. I'm pulling up the old schools. I'm going to go Riley Moss on the Broncos. I'm going with the younger players. They're in school with me. Well, I'll show my age and Jason's as well because he was the same recruiting class.

21:57He was also a Kansas City Chief when I got to Kansas City. Ricky Stanzi, quarterback, Iowa. Oh, man, this might be where I – This is where it ends? This might be – That was pretty good. I'm pretty sure Matt Tobin – I'm pretty sure Matt Tobin played for Iowa. Pretty sure? I'm next to positive. That's – Then you lost. If you're pretty sure, you lost. All right, we'll end it there. I think we all did very respectful. We did great. I'm impressed. That was fun. That was fun. an eye with who? Tobes with the eye. I knew a tobe. All right, there we go. That was a fun one. We welcome number 15, Patrick Mahomes, everyone.

22:35Wow. Let's fucking go. That was impressive. What a break to truth, baby. You and Travis are known for having quite the bromance, Pat. I see you guys hanging out all the place. I got to make it out there with Tahoe with you guys one year, but it's such a big bromance that even Britney is jealous. tweeted out how jealous she was of your guys relationship a few weeks ago um what were your honest first impressions of travis and vice versa what were how did this bromance come together should i should i tell him the story dude the story that's your call that's my call it's a bad look on me but uh so obviously i get here um at the beginning of the beginning of the year and i'm still a rookie so you know i'm just kind of going through the motions trying to figure out the best way to kind of fit in.

23:20And I think the first time that I thought, I was like, me and Travis, we're going to be connected throughout this my entire career was, you remember when we had the fourth preseason game, we used to have a little off time. You had like a little weekend. You played on Thursday. You kind of had a little bit. Well, you know, Coach Reed always would give you the walkthrough the day before the actual walkthrough. And me being a kid fresh out of college, I had a couple buddies that were rookies with me, and they were like, let's go out. Saturday, man. Let's go out. We'll have the walkthrough on Sunday.

23:51We're done with preseason. Just got back from St. Joe's. We had a great preseason. So we go out, and Coach Rita told us the next day at like 8 o 'clock, we're going to have a 15-minute walkthrough done. That's all you have on Sunday. So I set eight alarms on my phone. I have them all. I go out with the rookies. Of course, I get out there, and I see old Travis Kelsey out at the same spot as I'm at, and I'm like, hey, listen. Travis's like, come on. All y 'all come over here to the table. Let's do this. Let's have a great time. So I have a great night. Get home. Have all my alarms set. I made sure of that.

24:24Go to sleep. Wake up. Not to an alarm. Wake up. Look at the TV. And I see 815 on my TV screen on the resting thing. I didn't put my phone in the charger, so my phone died. I've done that. Rookie mistake. Too many times. So I obviously drove to the facility extremely fast. dangerous. You can't overlook that initial feeling of understanding that you're not going to make it there on time. Your heart just drops. No, no, no, no, no, this isn't happening. This isn't happening. Am I dreaming? And then immediately you just start telling yourself how uselessly you're stupid. How could you do this? You suck.

25:09You're an idiot. You're so unaccountable, man. Get it together, man. And then to complete the story i i get there and i get to the facility and we're they're already in the walkthrough obviously already going and i walk up to the door and like how the chief's facility is built the defense does on the first side of the field and the offense is on the other side and i was like there is no chance i'm walking through the defense late to get to the offensive side of the walkthrough meanwhile we're playing the super bowl champs uh the the patriots like on opening night that week um and And so I sit in the locker room and I'm just sitting there shaking my head and they call me up to the office.

25:47And I get like the max fine, all this different stuff, feel like an idiot. And I just I thought it was so weird that the first question they asked me was, were you a Travis? And I was like, no, no, not at all. Why would you even ask that? And long story short, Travis was also late. He got there five minutes before. Oh, fuck, dude. I'm sitting here. Dude, I'm coming into the building like, fuck, man. I can't believe I fucking screwed this up again, man. Because I'm not going to say I'm notorious for late, but I screwed up a few times before and have been late. So I'm in my head about it. I'm like, man, Coach Reed is going to kill me, man.

26:24I can't even look at this guy in his eyes. I'm going to just be looking down at the ground while he tells me I'm the worst teammate ever, man. And I walk into the building and they're like, were you with Pat last night? Where's Pat at? I was just like. my dog man i'm not alone let's go man at that point and i knew we were teammates man i knew that guy was gonna have super bowl i will say since then though i believe me and travis have never been late again so uh we have been on the straight and arrow since then so i i won't be late again i don't know about travis i can't i can't i don't think i don't think coach reed will stand me ever being late again so i have to i'd make sure i'd get my ass up and going early man i was late one time in college do you remember the college rule and in cincinnati if you were late for the friday morning lift they would make you the whole team do stadium steps oh yeah oh yeah until the guy showed up and they would take somebody oh my gosh i woke up same thing realized i was late in my street clothes went straight into the stadium and just started doing stadiums this is how bad your teammates can respect that though your teammates were like this guy cares no he's he feels bad about it he's doing it in timberlands just sweet i was uh i remember i used to i used to do uh what is it i used to have like a psychological like yeah man i mean time is time you know back in back in college like time like i wasn't really pressed about being late so i would show up late or something like that and i would get told i gotta be at that five five o 'clock stadium step run and i would fuck i would be ready like i would be that was the only thing i was on time for it just like rocky balboa that shit just like sprint the fuck out of them and just be like i'm getting better today baby so they stopped making me run stadium steps and started making me push pennies on like the the weight room floor which is not a slippery surface you know what i mean yeah i had to push pennies my finger and i wasn't allowed i've heard of plate pushes no i've never heard of penny pennies pennies against a weight room floor and i had to do it in a figure eight and i wasn't allowed to be on like my knees or like your knees yeah you're like bear crawling essentially yeah i had to stand up that sounds terrible dude couldn't get hyped for that one so they they beat me on the sickest thing i've done in college was we yeah have you done like the rolls where you like you have to get like this this barrel roll across the field everybody's just throwing that the entire time terrible well my first punishment it was a team punishment for everybody was missing class that uh kingsbury had us do that but he played uh get your roll on which like everybody get your roll on he played it for like 30 minutes straight everybody's just rolling and throwing up i'm like this is just psychological warfare by coach kingsbury out here at texas tech that's good stuff when you hear that song to this day do you have like pavlov's dog like are you like immediately no i hate it i hate it immediately all i think about is how sick I was that Wednesday morning at 4.30 before class.