Best of the Bus: Rob Gronkowski On Mike Vrabel's Patriots, Belichick At UNC & Joining Brady On Bucs

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Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, we're good. It'd be like, uh... Busting with the boys Hanging with the fellas betting on a game. No woman's gonna tell us what to do. And I'll be over here just drinking beer and making that noise. Baby, I'm hanging with the fellas. Bussing with the boys. Bro. Are we rolling, Mitchie? Yeah. All right, we're rolling right now. Let's give a round of applause for Rob Gronkowski, finally making it on the bus. Yes. It's been a long time for three years. We've been trying for three years. It's a pleasure to finally be on bus with the boys. The first time we met was at my house. You were doing about 2,000 of NAD. Just sat there and stared at the wall for three hours, just dying for a little bit. The next time, tight end you. Yep. We were putting the full court press on him, and then we almost made it happen. But then I had to go to the town for something. I can't remember what it was. We tried several times. We've tried several times. Like Rock said, the perfect moment's going to strike, and that perfect moment is now. Right. Do you know why? Because of FanDuel. Because of FanDuel Sportsbook. FanDuel's brought all the boys together. Number one sportsbook in all of America. Yeah, if you're watching right now, make sure you are subscribed to the channel. It's easy for you. It helps the boys out a lot. Boston with the Boys is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. FanDuel's America's number one sportsbook. We just finished up the PGA Championship. The NBA and NHL Conference Finals are underway. The NFL schedule dropped last week. And FanDuel's here for all of it. The matchups are set. The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. The Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks in the East. Who are we riding with for the rest of the postseason, boys? I'm going to give you the Knicks. Give me the Knicks. Look, I don't know shit about basketball. But I'm going to ride with the Knicks because I feel like they've created the most chaos on social media. Yeah. Taking down the Celtics. I was actually just at game, I think it was game four. It was in New York. I was there actually with FanDuel. I was up in their suite, you know, shooting some content, making some bets in the game. And that atmosphere in New York at Madison Square Garden was absolutely electric, my man. I'm talking, I've never seen a basketball game like that. The Garden in Boston is always electric, but it was like another level, you know, in New York City, I feel like, because they haven't been in the playoffs or that far in so long, and they're also facing the reigning champs. And they did win that game as well. So New York is popping, but I'm not a Knicks fan. I'm a Celtics fan, actually. Not really. I don't really have a true NBA team because I grew up in Buffalo. But I'm cheering for Oklahoma Thunder right now. I just watched Game 7 versus them. I thought you were going Knicks. No, I'm not going Knicks. I was just giving them credit for their atmosphere in the stadium. And it does. It feels like their fan base is psychotic and incredible. Psychotic, man. Yeah, the last game they just played, they beat the shit out of the Celtics. I know. It's like 118 to like 84 or something like that. Well, I mean, the Celtics' stadium was down. Brown has like a torn MCL. A couple other guys. They're getting football injuries. They just have like an illness. Yeah, football injuries. They just don't know how to work, dude, because they're not football. Got to get that soft finish. Get that soft finish figured out, baby. And also, Timothee Chalamet. You see that guy sitting outside the SUV? Yeah. That guy. I was going to say, the videos after the game, like outside Timothee Chalamet, and then like there's some... What is that? What did I say? I think you said it nice. Charlamet? Yeah, Charlamet. Charlamet. That's a hard name to say. It's a hard name to say. You don't want me to try to say it. And I saw some other fans were throwing trash bags at him. Who was that? Was that a Celtics fan? That was an Indiana Pacers fan. And he was wearing the star player's name. What's that? Hal Burton? Sure. Yeah, Hal Burton's jersey. And they were throwing trash cans and everything at him. Everybody just videoing it. Dude, the Northeast. Which is wild. That's too much, man. Just because he's wearing the jersey around the city and you're attacking him. I mean, it was one versus like a thousand. The guy just had to walk away in shame. But I think that's too much to start throwing trash at, like, a random fan that's just wearing another jersey. Can I tell you something? In the middle of the streets. That's a lot. I kind of love it. You do? I do because it just, like, it adds to me. For the entertainment. For the entertainment. I don't think we should ever hurt somebody. We should never be hateful. Checkbox, checkbox, checkbox. But I also think, like, when fan bases are that nasty, you talk about, like, the Philadelphia Eagles. Like, that adds to the storyline of all the teams playing. And the last time they played, X, Y, and Z happened. Like, I think it's good for sports. and the culture and everything like that. There's a place for it. Just as long as it doesn't lead to, you know, aggressiveness and stabbing people. And fights and, yeah, people getting stabbed. But that's usually what it leads to eventually. Right, right. If we can just throw a nice bag of trash at somebody, and they maybe bump chests a couple times, push each other, move on. Yeah, we'll take that every day of the week. Maybe throw a couple of fists. Yeah, just a couple. Yeah, just a couple. Keep it classy. Since we're showing the basketball thing, Cate and Clark, Angel Reese, where do you stand on that? I'm a Cate and Clark fan. Are you really? Where do you stand on that? Do you see this past weekend? I see how the internet's blowing up about it and making it something way more than what it actually is. I really do think that Angel Reese does not like Cate and Clark. She probably doesn't. She definitely doesn't. They have probably a competitive rivalry, but everybody tries to make it about some race thing. Storyline. Oh, yeah. But the first time, I'm a Cate and Clark fan because I'm actually just hearing a lot about her when she was at Iowa. what was it, I think her second last year when she was playing in all the games? No, I think it was her last year, and I haven't seen her play yet, and then she was in the tournament, and I finally watched a game in the tournament, and she was just shooting threes up like she was Steph Curry, and she was just sinking them from like five feet past the three-point line. That's when I became a big fan, just watching her first game in the tournament, and I was just thrilled watching her, and I was in shock just how smooth she was too with all her passes, the way she dribbled and the way she shot, And then ever since then, I became a big fan of her game. And now I follow her through the WNBA, and I follow that whole beef, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark. And I think Caitlin Clark is on the pedestal of being top dog in the WNBA. And Angel Reese, I feel like, is just a little bit jealous. We talk about storylines. Yeah, that too. It goes way back to them. Caitlin Clark being as good as she is is one thing. She comes in as a big jump in the viewership in WNBA. but that wouldn't be sustainable if there wasn't the Angel Reese's adding to the hate. Now we have this big rivalry going on, so next time they play, the seats were filled for that game. And I just think it's fucking awesome. It brought a lot of attention to the league. Yeah, I agree. You need Angel Reese to have this hatred to Caitlin Clark and all these other players to keep getting that attention that the WNBA actually deserves as well, and it's working. If they were all for Caitlin Clark, oh, she's such a good player. She's so sweet to play, guys. I'm going to let her shoot her three-pointer. I'm not going to contest it. No, since she's getting elbows thrown at her, people are loving that. People love physicality in sports. That's what fans love. That's why hockey's back, all the fighting with the four nations, everyone throwing elbows at each other, the checks. That's why the NBA is kind of back in the playoffs right now because the referees are letting all that physicality just go on. They're getting physical again in the paint, and they're throwing elbows. They're playing hard, and fans love to see that, and that's why football is the greatest sport. Because every play is physical. You don't know what's going to happen. You're getting dirty every single play. Before we go any further, can we just get a quick moment of silence from my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs? Thank you very much for your time. You know, that was tough for me because I'm from Buffalo. I'm a big Buffalo Sabres fan. Toronto Maple Leafs was our rival. Really? You know, throughout my whole childhood. Especially Ty Domi versus Rob Ray. all those fights back in the day. I love both of them just getting after it yesterday, but I didn't really want to give that moment of silence. I will say this, if we can be nasty about Toronto now, they're in Game 7 in the biggest game in your franchise's history since 1967 when you actually won the Cup. Disgusting display of effort. The boys did not want it yesterday. In the first period, 0-0. Then all of a sudden, I go to start putting my kids down. I pop up the YouTube TV as I'm laying on the ground as they're falling asleep, and they're just getting throbbled. It was like three goals within ten minutes. Buddy, and they just got after them over and over and over again. I mean, they killed a great penalty after the first period, and then he was a goalie, correct? He became a sieve in those last two periods, and it was just tough, dude, tough. Well, I know history repeats itself, and I think the Toronto Maple Leafs have folded in basically every game seven in the last five, six years, right, in the playoffs. So I actually did my first NHL bet on FanDuel Sportsbook last night. I bet $200 on the Florida Panthers just beating the Toronto Maple Leafs straight up. And I won. Let me pull it up, man. I'm not telling you. It's my first bet I've ever made in the NHL world. Taylor put five grand on the Maple Leafs. That must have not worked so well. No, it didn't hit. It didn't hit. It did bet one. Yeah, I bet the Florida Panthers. Yeah, yeah. I kind of wish you won now, and then we could have, like, you know, won more money. Taylor bet a lot more and got an athlete. Let me go. I love how Gronk bet. It was actually my first bet in the state of Tennessee, too, which is really cool. All right, right here, Tennessee settled. Look at that, Florida Panthers. Total wager, $200, won 340. I love that. Yeah, look at that. You know, I just kind of wanted to show it off. Check it out. I did see that. I saw that on Twitter last night, and I'm just thinking to myself, God damn it. Well, I was just watching. I was doing the same thing. I'm batting 1,000% right now. My last four bets with the Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten murdered, and I had Toronto, a futures bet on them, winning the Eastern Conference Finals, and obviously that's not going to come together anymore. That's now dead. Biz has been such a voice for the Leafs, and then you've obviously been riding with the Leafs too, so knowing that they were in a Game 7 when I was just watching it last night, just as like a non-hockey guy just watching as a fan of Game 7. For the love of the game. We've got a Game 7 going on. It did seem like Florida was just playing at a different speed, just bullying, bullying the Maple Leafs. I had Klump on the phone with a bunch of people from FanDuel setting up something. When they won this game, I was going to go to a game in Toronto, check it out, get the environment, see what that's all about. Sure enough, man, they shit the bed. And everyone told me Toronto is like the Dallas Cowboys of hockey. Like they're like the biggest, most well-known franchise. They sell the most jerseys. They make the most money. Blah, blah, blah. And I thought, that's great. I'll get behind them. It'll be a fun fan base to play with. Little did I know, if they really are the Dallas Cowboys, they'll shit the bed in the playoffs. And that's what just happened. Yeah. Tough. Tough slap. It was one too, like when it was 0-0 after the first period. I was like, I wonder if it were. Because you could notice that Florida was just out playing them the whole time, even though it was 0-0. It was like 17 or 13 shots. I'm like, are they going to let them hang around? And the Leafs might just pull something off. But then they just started to put their face in the pillow. Austin Matthews, the Scottsdale, Arizona guy, captain. I was like, man, I need an Arizona boy to run it for us. But now we've got Kachuk. Kachuk for the Panthers. I mean, my favorite player in the NHL, though, is the Edmonton Oilers. I'm going blank. Yeah, McDavid. I mean, I love the way that he plays, how he skates around. He's incredible. Ice to ice, you know, line to line, and just goes around everyone. I'm cheering for him. I'm hoping the Edmonton Oilers win it all. Plus, I feel like the NHL needs a Canada team to, you know, win it. It's been so long, and I think that will bring hockey back in a way, even though, you know. The four nations. Yeah, even though we're beefing a little bit. Even though we're beefing hard right now. In the hockey world. Yeah. Canada's beefing with the U.S. Real world. I think it would be, yeah, I think it would be really good if Edmonton Oilers win it for the NHL. Just for the sport, the attention and everything. Yeah, exactly. And on top of it, on top of speaking about hockey, my brother texted me this morning. He goes, you have to let, because I was like, I'm going on with Bussin with the Boys, and I didn't really know. I don't think he really knew. That's truly – you guys are like more of a football podcast. And he goes, you have to let them know you're going to be in the hockey world soon with all your nephews. So I just want to give a shout-out to all my nephews. They're up and coming in the hockey world right now. They're playing on the Buffalo Junior Sabres. They're ballers, and you'll be hearing a lot about them in the future. He's about eight years older. Shout-out to my nephews. Ralphie didn't like that. Ralphie was not a fan of that play. I told my brother I would get it in if somehow the hockey subject gets brought up. So there you go, brother. And Jace Grayson, keep dominating, boys. You guys are going to be lethal out there on the ice. You play it all? You on the skates? Be in New York? I love playing hockey, man. I grew up and played until ninth grade, and I stopped playing hockey because hockey and basketball were at the same time. And I just thought basketball was a better fit for me, and I kind of liked basketball more at that time. But hockey was my favorite sport growing up. Yeah, I mean, you're massive. So many damn stories, bro. That's probably the right call with basketball. Yeah, but think about this guy's defenseman in hockey. I was like Chara, but left wing. Do you know who Chara is? No. That's your wife, number one. Number two is Adainio Charo. He was a guy who played for the Boston Bruins. He's like 6'7". He's like 6'11 on skates. He was Russian, right? This Russian guy who just beat the fuck out of people. He was not from the U.S. I don't know exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was not from here. He wasn't from here. But the guy had like a hundred. I think he did like a hundred and ten mile an hour slap shot. Because he used to do that at like the All-Star games. they would do all the little challenges. His slap shot was insane. He played literally like 23 years in the NHL. And just body bagged people. I was in the best defenseman of all time. Yeah. And that could have been Gronk. He's 6'9". Could have been Gronk. 6'9". Were you nice up until you stopped playing? Yeah, I was nice. I was nice. If I get on skates now, I'm pretty slappy because it's been so long and you've got to be able to skate all the time in order to keep up with it. But I was nice, man. I only played up a level. I played with all my friends that were older than me. I loved playing hockey. It was by far my favorite sport, and I was in Buffalo, too, with all the ice rinks around. It was so good. I had one time scored 10 goals in a game. It was house hockey. We were down 10-1, and I ended up scoring 10 goals in a row and tied it up and made it 11-11, and then we ended up losing 12-11. That was, I think, squirts. You scored 10 goals? 10 goals. It was ridiculous. It was one of the best performances of all time. I know it was just house hockey. And another time, there was this chick. This was travel hockey. There was this chick on the Cheektawaga team, I think it was. And this is a pretty good story. And she was vicious. She was strong. And she always came after me to try and just deck me. And it was always the joke, oh, Rob, we're playing the chick. Like, don't get leveled. And she came at me, and I absolutely destroyed her. I'm talking like she would go flying back like three feet. But she would get up, and the next shift, she would come full speed and try to deck me. One time, she hit me pretty hard. She went flying back. Still, though, but my helmet broke, and my face mask went flying off me. So still to this day, my friends punked me about the time the chick absolutely rocked me, and my face mask went flying off me. But then, like, literally, like, 10 years later, when I got to the NFL, whatever, eight years later, however long it was, I'm a rookie, and she DMs me on Facebook. She was like, hey, Rob, remember? I'm the girl that always attacks you in hockey, and I lost my mind. I was showing all my friends that she's writing me messages. It was just cool. Big respect to her, too. Even though she got debt, she tried to slot in the DMs after. Oh, he made it to the league? You're our rival. She was your Angel Reese, and then all of a sudden you make it to the league. I just want to give her a shout out for just having the staff to just come at me. Yeah. I'm sure you were an absolute unit at this time, too, still. Oh, yeah, I was. No, back in the day when I was playing hockey. Oh, fearless. Fearless. We had a bunch of different stories. I played hockey when I was eight or whatever, like mites, and it was right before checking. And the house got a hat trick. We won it. The next year, Pee Wees were doing tryouts for a travel team, and I did not know checking was starting. Right as the whistle was blowing, some guy who I believe in my head is still to this day, he was 6'7", at eight years old, knocks me down. I got off the ice. I was done. Wanted nothing to do with it. Really? Wanted nothing to do with it. Was that the last time you skate? That was the last time. You know they say get back on the horse? No. I went in that locker room. I took my pads off. I retired that day. Dude, I was such a pussy growing up. Well, then what got you into football? If you couldn't handle hockey hits. No idea. How the fuck did you get into football? I was the kid that was like tall. He even hated baseball. I think he got hit with the ball. Yeah. I got to step by a pitch. Dude, I would step when he was done. Oh, no. I never played. That was me. Yes. Dude, I would step out of the batter's box and kind of swing like this. Oh, you were one of those kids. One of those kids. Oh, those are the bats, too. That bats up when the pitch is coming. He bats up three feet in the swings. That was me. Yeah. That was you because he's so scared. He's so scared. Oh, those kids drove me crazy. Yeah, yeah. You would have hated my guts. That was really you. You would have hated my guts. Like, when did that switch get? Probably puberty. Probably like, yeah. I got a little hair on my sack, and I was like, you know what? This physicality thing is not bad. I, like, went from doing sports, like, from 5 to 11. And 12, 13, I did my whole like X Games, like Meta Militia, Travis Pastrana, Nitro Circuits Life. And then I got in a little bit of trouble. My dad's like, you got to play football. And we went and played football one state my sophomore year at Nose Tackle. And from then on, I was like, yo, I'm obsessed with football. I loved it. Is that the dog? Yeah, that's Ralphie. If people are able to see Ralphie down here, we got a little friend. He's making squirrel noises in the corner over here. He's a good boy. He's actually been on TV before. He was in a USAA commercial with me. Oh, yeah? So this guy's a superstar. You know who else is a superstar? Our interview, who is brought to us by Bud Light. Bud Light is always brewed with four simple ingredients for clean, crisp taste. Bud Light is the official beer sponsor of the NFL, the NFL Draft. Tied in University, the UFC, and Shane Gillis' 2025 tour. Bud Light partners include Peyton Manning, Will Compton, George Kittle, Taylor LeJuan, Baker Mayfield, Emmett Smith, Shane Gillis, Post Malone, and Dustin Poirier. Go to www.budlight.com forward slash locator to find something near you. I don't know what the other thing is, though. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. That's it. There are some French Bulldog haters on this bus. Really? Yeah. Who would that be? Sniff them out. Are you talking about yourself? No. You look like a Frenchie a little bit. I have an English Bulldog. Yeah, you do. I got a Bulldog. Yeah, you look like one of those white Frenchies. Yeah. I got an English Bulldog at home. Oh, you do? Yeah. All right. That's like a French Bulldog. That's the grandfather's French Bulldogs. Yeah, we're part of the Bulldog world. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, yeah, you do. You look like more of a French Bulldog. But go ahead and sniff him out. I'm an English Bulldog. That's tough. It's tough. Taylor, you can't. I can't let you guys be talking up. I don't hate Frenchies. Yeah, you're not opposed to them. I'm a little bit opposed to them. Really? Oh, so it's him. Yeah. Taylor, he's one. He's one of them. So this is good. He's one of them. You're not a Frenchie guy. I'm not a Frenchie guy. I think he's got a good coat on him. He's got good broad shoulders. He's got a nice coat on. The boy looks good. He's got a piece on him, too. Mm-hmm. What about these balls that are hanging back there? I haven't seen those yet. I haven't seen those. Turn around, Ralphie. I mean, they're right there. His nickname's Ralph Nuts. I'll take a peek later. I don't want to make him uncomfortable right now. You still got those. But, yeah, yeah. Good-looking dog. I just... Wow. Yeah. That's a good boy right now. This is a tough start to me in this podcast. Yeah. This is a tough start for me. You know, walk off the bus. No, no, no. Bus driver, open up the door. Ralph and I getting off. We're going for a walk. We're going to have to think about this. We need to take a couple deep breaths. Aren't these guys, like, made in the lab? Like, aren't they, like, not... I know. That is one thing that they say about them. I just kind of plug my ears when people start talking about that. They got a lot of health issues, too, right? A lot of health issues. But this guy, he stays in top shape. But he's pretty healthy. That's crazy. But a majority of them, I mean, for how healthy he is, It's still like a full-time job just making sure that he's healthy. But, you know, you've got to keep him active. If you don't keep him active, then that's when all the health problems definitely really start. You put him on the treadmill, get a hot job in front of him. Their personalities are through their roof. They're like human beings. They're the best to be one-on-one with them. They're just so entertaining and loving. That's awesome, man. I'm happy for you. Thank you, man. Thank you for being happy for me. As long as you're happy for me. I'm happy. That's it, brother. That's all I can do. I won't get off the bus, though. Right? All right. Good deal. Dude, let's talk about growing up. So you grew up in Buffalo. I don't like Taylor. He ran over to the French Bulldog bathroom. Yeah, he went to go dance to Bobo. Yeah, Bobo the... So you grew up in Buffalo. I mean, guy. Yeah. Shout out to Erte. Erte. Shout out to Erte. Tell him I'll give him a shout out. You know, a good guy like that. He gave me an IV this morning. He was always sturgeon. I had some, you know, vitamins this morning, some NAD to make sure I'm clear of my eyes. So thank you to Erte. Yeah. Shout out to Erte. And Erte. Erte. Got it in. Dude, Buffalo. You grew up in Buffalo. How do you head to Tucson, Arizona? Was it dirtbags? It wasn't dirtbags, but it should have been dirtbags. Actually, I'd never been to dirtbags before until I actually went to the NFL, and then I was old enough when I came back on a visit after my rookie year. I was 21, so I finally got to go to dirtbags. I didn't hit any bars when I was. Great thing. No, no. Couldn't. You weren't allowed to. I mean, I would admit it. Like, no big deal. I didn't hit any bars when I was at the University of Arizona. It was literally all house parties or going to a frat party or having our own. house party or just running around the streets, just trying to get into a bar, but not getting into the bar because I was, you know, never of age. But so my brothers were getting recruited out of high school. And my brother, Chris, who's two years older than me. Well, first off, my dad's in the business of selling fitness equipment. He's been in the business for 35 years now. And then he became best friends with a guy named Donnie who did the same thing as him that was an alumni at the University of Arizona but sold all his equipment in Arizona. So then, you know, they go on a work trip where Life Fitness brings everyone because they both sell Life Fitness products. And then what is it, like a fitness convention? And then that's where they met, and they became best friends. And then when we were all just kids, so the alumni of Arizona was like, bring your kids out to Arizona. I know the coaches. I'll get them, you know, I'll try to get them a scholarship, show them the film, bring them out on a trip. Come on, we got to get it done. so I went on a trip with my brother when he was a senior uh when he went to the University of Arizona my dad was like hey you're up next in line like come on the trip see what it's all about to get recruited uh and then the University of Arizona was the very first school I've basically ever seen in my life and I fell in love with the place my sophomore year in high school I was like this is a college this is this is ridiculous I mean it's 90 degrees palm trees we went by a pool party and like as a sophomore here you know in high school you're like oh my god out in Arizona this is ridiculous yeah those Arizona schools ASU U of A is nuts exactly and then that's how I that's how I got to University of Arizona I fell in love with it when I just um tagged along with my brother on his recruiting trip and then they started recruiting me from there um after my brother chose to go to the University of Maryland then he actually transferred to the University of Arizona and played with me there for uh two years and he was the fullback and I was the tight end and we were on the field at the same time for a year which was just super cool to have and uh just ball out with my brother so that's how i got there long story short you were were you highly recruited coming out of high school yeah i was a four star i was uh in the rivals top 250 i was like the fifth tight end um on the board hernandez was actually number one really yeah we were in the same class he was number one and then there's a couple in between i forgot who they were but they never made it to the nfl i don't think but uh it was it was you know it was uh you know the whole entire recruiting process I went through. It was, you know, enjoyable because my top four, you know, were Ohio State, Clemson, Syracuse, and Arizona. And everyone was just so surprised that I, you know, chose Arizona to go all the way out west. But I just fell in love with that place from the very beginning. Loved Clemson, almost went there. That was definitely number two. Ohio State, you know, they were recruiting me. I kind of just took a visit there because it was the Ohio State University. I could definitely see myself fitting in there. I could see myself being a Buckeye. That's when Jim Trestle was the head coach too. The facilities were insane as well. And then Syracuse, my dad went too, but the program was just so down low at the time. And I just kind of wanted to get out of the state of New York. I didn't want to go back to basically home where I grew up in Buffalo. Arizona was just the right thing. Don't you have a legendary story from your Ohio State visit? Yes, I do. To where you were. What was it? You were hungover? I was super hungover. So I was a senior. I moved to Pittsburgh my senior year in high school, so it was an easy trip to go over, you know, to Ohio State when they were recruiting me. And then all my friends from Buffalo, they were all older than me, and some of them went to the Ohio State University. So I took my official visit there, and I went out with my friends the night before the game, and they showed me around. We actually got in a fight, which wasn't surprising. That was my last time I basically brought. I used to fight all the time when I was a senior in high school because I was visiting my brothers at the University of Maryland. And they were just badass motherfuckers, him and his roommates. And they would just brawl every weekend. And I would show up and just join the brawls with them. Just a fight club in the University of Maryland. Just join the brawls with them. Hey, Rob, you want to go get this one in? We would literally walk from the bar and just try to pick a fight on the way home. I was running into people on purpose. And then next thing you know, it was a five-on-five brawl. I was getting thrown down a hill. My brother kicked the guy in the face. Next thing I know, I look up the hill, and the guy's falling down the hill. That threw me down the hill. But I got in a little fight. It wasn't that big of a fight at the Ohio State. It was just a little, you know, scuffle. But we had a good time. And the next morning, went to a game. I think that was Ohio State versus – I forgot who they were playing, but I was hurting. Look at this guy, the guy in the bottom right there. You were hurting. All the waters that I had. All the waters that I had. Did Ohio State, did any of the staff know that you had gotten in a fight the night before? No, no, no clue. No clue. It wasn't that big of a fight. It wasn't worth, you know, being in the news either. It wasn't newsworthy. Oh, that water I tried to get me feeling like that. It wasn't really that much news. Like, there was no, like, phones back then or something, which was the best time. I'm so glad none of that shit existed, like, when I was in college. Like, it was the era of, like, the camera phones were just beginning when I was in college. But, like, that absolutely sucks to be a superstar in college right now. you can't like really live a college life because everyone has those camera phones. If you go out, you know, to a house party, you're just going to be filmed. Like that's not cool at that age. You really can't have that true college experience. And I feel like I was that last era to be able to do all the crazy shit without ever being on like a cell phone or being like reported to Twitter. Plus I wasn't as good as, you know, I was in the NFL as I was in college. I was a good player, but it's not like, you know, people knew me like that. I could run around college campus. Yeah, but you chose to leave early, right? Yeah, I left early as well. You've got to be pretty damn good to be able to enter your name into the draft. Yeah, which sucked because I didn't even play my junior year. Really? Yeah, which sucked. I was about to ball out, man. I was ready to go my junior year. Nick Foles was our quarterback. We had a solid team. We went 8-4 that year. My brother was the fullback as well, so it sucked. I couldn't play with my brother and my friends with Foles. We were balling in the spring game as well. I had like eight catches for like 100 in the spring game, and that was the first time that we even played together, Foles and I. And then I just blew out my back, bro. I had that microdyspectomy surgery where I think it was just going to ham in college, lifting doing all the other extra activities as well and then I just had a major bulging disc and I just kept going harder and harder on it and the harder I went on it the more numb it would get at that moment and I was able to go out to practice and lift and then that night I wouldn't be able to move and the next day I would just go hard on it again and eventually I blew it out totally I couldn't even feel my legs anymore when I was 19 years old and that it sucked because I had to get the surgery. And then finally I was like, yo, my back's fucked up. And then I even went out to training camp and got open on an in route, ran so slow, but it opened up, the defense opened up, and I caught the pass, turned around like one mile per hour, and I walked off the field. I was like, yo, I'm fucked. And then we were finally like, all right, let's get an MRI. And my back was blown out. The disc was so herniated on the spinal cord. And then eventually I got the surgery and missed my junior year, which, you know, if I could go back, that's one thing I would do is if I wish I could replay my junior year and play at the University of Arizona. But I still left early. Still left early. Yes, you must have had a good couple of first years then. I did. What was crazy is my freshman year going in, I had six touchdowns, you know, like 500-something yards. I was balling. But then going into my sophomore year, I was like, I'm ready to dominate. You know, it's kind of like the NFL. You know, you're getting your feet wet. I didn't really know the playbook that well. Adjusting to life, trying to do the dumb shit off the field as well. That was more important to me. Burn the candle at both ends. It was. It was really more important to me. It was probably just as important as football was to me, was going out and acting like an idiot. Rookie year in the NFL and freshman year at college. You can't blame me. 18 years old, 21 years old. Yeah, at a place like U of A too. And then going into my sophomore year, I'm ready to dominate. I get mono. I get mono somehow. And I'm sleeping. Yeah, I get mono somehow. And I had to miss the first three games because it's like, oh, your spleen's blown up. You know, you got to miss. So I missed three games my sophomore year, true sophomore year. Came back and played like, what is it? You missed three, what is it, 12 games? And the season played nine games, had like 10 touchdowns and balled out. And then we went to the Las Vegas Bowl, which was my last game. I played at the University of Arizona. and that was the year my brother and I played together, and he had a great game. I only had like 20 yards at that bowl game, but we won. It was the first bowl game that the University of Arizona even went to in 10 years, and we won it. And then that was my last game as a Wildcat. But overall, I played 16 games in college and had 16 touchdowns as an 18-year-old and 19-year-old. That is awesome. So I had enough film to get me drafted in the second round. When you had the bulging discs and you got the MRI and you can't even feel your legs, did you think at any point that your career was over? Yeah, I sure did, actually. I went and actually I was lucky enough I had an insurance policy. My dad got me an insurance policy going into my junior year because I was kind of highly rated, that I could get drafted that year in the top three rounds. So I had an insurance policy. And I could have cashed out on it, actually, because they were saying I had spinal diagnosis. What is it, spinal? I wouldn't know. Spinal, what's that word? Stenosis. I'm saying stenosis. Spinal stenosis. And, like, my spine's curved. And there's a lot of question marks on my back. And they were like, oh, like, the insurance company was like, hey, you can never play football again if you get that policy. And I was like, fuck that. I'm playing football. That was my ultimate dream. I always wanted to be in the NFL. I'll just work through this. But at some points, trying to come back because that was my first surgery, like, I couldn't really get that pop back because you lose that pop because the spinal cord is completely shut down. and like to get that pop to get that explosiveness back i was training i left early i was training for the combine and right before the combine i didn't participate in the combine because at that time i didn't even have that pop still like i couldn't even broad jump because you just played high school football basically and then with the nfl and then finally boom i got it back and then uh you know i kind of understood the recovery process and all that and then i i was finally like all right i can play again i got this but there was a little point like man i might not ever be able to play again because, like, you know, you've never been through that experience, you know? So I'm glad I got over that fear and over that stage because everything worked out. You didn't even play your junior year? No, not one snap. You know the last game of him officially, like, as a Wildcat? Nebraska. Las Vegas Bowl? No, that was the year I didn't play, brother. Was that for you? Were you on that team? I was a freshman. You were a freshman, so that was the year I didn't play. That was a Holiday Bowl, right? The Holiday Bowl. We got smacked by you guys. You had Ndamukong Su. At the time, he went, what, number two overall that year. But that was the year I got hurt. And if I didn't get hurt, we would have whacked your ass, brother. Actually, we would have been in the Rose Bowl. Yeah, you know. Dude. Oh, that was in San Diego. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated. And Black America is at a breaking point. Wriving and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution. I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper in the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff, identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore, loss that changes you, purpose when success isn't enough, peace when your mind won't slow down, faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chat, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's, a unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to the Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level that the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 33 to nothing. Always chilling. Chilling. You guys were chilling. I mean, I was young because I was young. You guys whamped us. You were redshirting. This was my freshman redshirt year. Not my redshirt year, but my second year. Yeah, your redshirt freshman year. Dude, that was bad. We got whamped. I was there, though. I didn't play that whole year, man. It sucked. It sucks not playing, dude. Didn't you just stand there on the sideline? I was. I was standing on the sidelines. Just brutal. It's fascinating to me that he got drafted in the second round, and he only played 16 games in college, and he had back surgery and had all these question marks about his back. Didn't put his thing going up to the combine. Yeah. Like in the pre-draft process. Didn't even participate at the combine. I did the bench press. Got 23. Didn't you fall asleep in a draft interview? Yes, with the Patriots. With Bill? Yeah, Bill told this story plenty of times. This story's been talked about plenty. But I was so tired, man, because you know that draft process. I think it's the stupidest process as well. Like, you go from team to team, it's like you're on 15 flights in, like, 15 days getting interviewed by all these teams. And the Patriots were my last one. And I was exhausted. I fell asleep, like, the first 10 minutes I got there in the room that they put me in. They're like, hey, we'll be right back. And I fell asleep on the spot when they came back in to check on me. And then I also bombed the interview process, but, like, bombed it in the best way possible. How do you bomb something in the best way possible? All right. Like, for example, they drew a play on the board, Billy O. and then he erased it. He's like, draw the play. What do you got? What does everyone have? And it was one of the hardest plays. It's still a route that I still don't even understand. OPEC. It's like the receiver goes up and down back, like a comeback, and then he takes off again, and he makes another comeback. Something, you know, way above. The longest progressing play of all time. Way above my, you know, my skill set. I don't run routes like that. I don't stop, go, stop. It's too big to stop and go. And I was like, whatever. So he's like, redraw the whole play, and I was like, brother, I'm stuck. Ground zero I'm at. And I was like, you know something, though? Just throw me the fucking ball still. I was like that. That type of interview. You were just saying this is a bummer. I was so bummed that I would just come up with an insane answer like that. Yeah, just throw me the ball still. That's all I know. Were you ever nervous for these coaches? Because to have that kind of, hey, just throw me the ball anyway, it just screams confidence. I was never really nervous. because are you standing up at the whiteboard with the marker in hand trying to think like shit what was the play drew and then you just like hey He had a double comeback he just talking about I going to be honest I don remember but just throw me the ball Throw me the ball. I was cashed out, though. It was like my 15 visit in, like, the last 15 days. I was cashed out. You said you had 15 visits. Of all the visits, which one did go the best? It was probably about, like, eight visits or so. 15 was a little exaggerated. That's okay. But 15, including the combine. I met with 15 teams there but I felt like they all went really smooth I was on point with them all the Cincinnati Bengals one I really wanted to be on point because we all knew that they were going to draft a tight end first round and then they took Jermaine Gresham but they were interviewing me like crazy they had the 21st pick I felt like I smacked everything right on the money with all the questions, my interviews at the combine I felt like I did a great job and everything but just overall just bombed the New of the Patriots one. Like, bombed it like in the worst way possible, like I said. I like when Billy O and Bill describe how the official visit went. It's not the official visit, that's in high school how the interview visit went. And also at the time there were so many players getting in trouble in the NFL. And I remember I called my brother, I was like, fuck this, I'm going to act like a complete idiot. I feel like it gets you like more chances you know because there's like five guys that were just arrested then they were signing big deals in the nfl yeah they're like oh that's a good way to think about it and look at it yeah use that theory rob go and i did and it worked it worked patman jones was getting arrested all the time yeah i mean it was a crazy time yeah and then he signed a big deal and i was like yeah i was like if you freaking act like a fucking insane motherfucker you're going to get picked up. It's crazy. I went into the interview process like that and it worked. That is wild. You got to be nuts. You got to be tapped in order to play in the NFL as well. I think it depends on the position. It depends on the position. If they're a D-end, a tight end, wide receivers in corners, they have their own cocky personalities or stereotypical cocky personalities. Quarterbacks, I feel like, have to be composed, calm, confident individuals. but yeah. A little weird, too. The psychotic tight end, yeah. The psychotic tight end is you made a name for the brand. You walked so the George Kittles could run. Because you've got a whole bunch of different guys now out there. He's still running, bro. Crushing. He's got paid big time. Yeah. What is he, 31, 32? He's got paid. That's the highest tight end. He's 31 years old. Well-deserved, man. Yeah. 31 getting paid like that. Well-deserved. He's got a lot left. So when you're at the draft, first round goes by, were you upset at all or were you like, we knew this was a possibility? No, I was upset. My mom says that there's two times in my life that she's ever seen me upset. I forgot the second time. We've got to give her a call. If she told me, I would remember. It would be like that. And the other time was not getting drafted in the first round while I was at the draft in New York City. Did you have all the cameras around you and everything? Not really. You know, it wasn't really expected for me to go in the first round. It was the first time. I like to say this. I was infamously, you know, drafted as the first player going to New York as the first player getting drafted at the draft in the second round. So that's how I look at it is I started that trend. If you go to the draft, it's fine that you get drafted in the second round. Yeah. I was the first player to ever have that happen to. but there was also other ones after me as well that year that got drafted in the second and third round but I you know I was ticked off I felt like I deserved to go in the first I was always a goal of mine but after I got picked by the New England Patriots in the second round and they traded up for me I thought that was really cool getting traded up for like you know it's unique and like you feel special about that situation but once I got drafted man I didn't care one single bit anymore that you know I wasn't a first rounder it was it was a blessing it was one of the best feelings of all time that you know could ever happen to you knowing that the expectation wasn't necessarily for you to go in the first round what made you decide to still go to like new york and be potentially around the cameras and everything when it's it's a possibility that you might not go in the first round uh well i didn't really look at it as like oh i gotta be a first rounder because they draft they they actually brought in a lot of other players as well that were expected to go in the second round so it wasn't like i was gonna you know feel uncomfortable there gotcha so there was like five other players that didn't get drafted yet and it was its first year like hey we want first rounders and second rounders at the draft we want to expand it we want to show the inside you know for both rounds not just the top 10 picks so they expanded how many players they invited to the draft and it was about like 25 guys there so like 25 guys aren't going in the first round like that's too hard to be able to balance that to know who's going where uh so i didn't care i thought it was cool and being you know 20 years old you know you look for the spotlight then you know and whenever you get an invite you take it you know at that age now these days you pick and choose like oh i gotta go do that in front of the camera you're like ah whatever you know but when you're 20 years old you love all those moments you're never saying no at 20 years old so uh i was definitely not going to say no to that situation and you know being at the drafts you know that as a kid that's all you look forward to you know watching all the players get drafted, like, that could be me. I just got the invite. You know, I was not going to do that. Guys standing up there holding the jersey, shaking Goodell's hand. Exactly. That's badass. It is. It's awesome. It really is. Did you plan a celebration that you did with your family? Because it's got to be number one. It is epic. And, you know, it's still talked about to this day, definitely. But that's just how we were, you know. That's how we party. That's the University of Arizona. We got around. Hoorah, jump up and down, get rowdy, all that good stuff. And whenever we get together as a family, it was just bringing all the energy and juice to the table. So we knew we were going to be celebrating, but not to the extent of like putting the helmets on, putting my hand down versus my brother, you know, getting in a circle and hooing all over the place. So that was just on the spot right there. God, that's so awesome, man. That was cool. It was good, man. You talked about comparing, like saying that your off the field life was just as important to you as on the field. Was that, how long did that carry into your NFL career? I would say just a couple of years. I mean, I started realizing that football, you know, is definitely number one in my life and that football, you know, needs to be number one. Like, I can't be putting football aside. I can't be putting the training aside just because I want to go out, hang out with the friends, be busing with the boys at, you know, at whatever college I'm visiting my buddies at because I left college early. So after my rookie year, all my friends were still in college, you know. So I'm visiting Miami, Ohio, which, oh, my gosh, going out there. I think that place is crazy. Oh, rocking, bro. I got my jersey up at Brick Street still. I mean, I'm a legend there. I'm visiting pool parties. Look at those pictures. So I'm going ham. At least I'm going so ham. I was getting exercise while I was going ham. I was staying in shape. I was burning at least 1,000 to 2,000 calories. Just dancing. The three, four-hour period of going out. But I realize that football has to be number one, though. And football is going to sustain that extra activities as well. And so if I keep the football activities and football skills at the highest level, everything else is always going to be there. I learned that about two, three years into the league. What made you come to this realization? Was it a conversation with a teammate, family member? true experience of showing up to football and being deteriorated and sucking. Yeah. And being out of shape and wanting to puke and feeling like every single one of your muscles are going to spasm out there on the field or pull. And, like, yeah, it's, like, miserable. And you're like, yeah, I shouldn't be out here right now. And you've got to work your way through it because you've got to show that, you know, you're doing the proper things, you know. Yeah. But when you hit, you know, real life, when you hit that realization on the field of of it's not going well, you know, that's when you know you've got to tune things up and you've got to change whatever you're doing. I mean, I'm sure you've experienced that before, at least once or twice. The realization that football has to be the main thing? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, everyone has. Pretty young for me because, you know, the hearing about the stories that you have, I think in my head, like, I don't know how I would function as an athlete in college if my nightlife was just right there. I put as much into my nightlife as I did football. So I feel like it just wouldn't, I don't know, I feel like genetically it wouldn't have worked for me. Yeah. Hearing the way you talk about it, it sounds like you were like practicing, and then after practice you're like, okay, what are we going to do tonight? And for me, like I partied a lot in college in my first couple years in the NFL, but it was always to me like I'd act like in my brain, I'd be like, I'm not going to go out this weekend. Then accidentally all of a sudden it'd be 2 a.m. on a Saturday, and I'd be up at Losers or Rick's American Cafe in Ann Arbor. It seemed like you were like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to work really hard at football so I can go party and get the most out of that. There we go. That's exactly how it went, no doubt about it. And also, going out and the partying, it wasn't, you know, throughout the week. It was only one night a week or maybe possibly two nights a week during the offseason. It wasn't an everyday thing. If it was an every night thing, then I would definitely never be where I am right now. So I always put that work in too. And then sometimes we're in the weight room and we would work harder. we would be pushing each other harder because we'd be like, hey, you got to look jacked tonight, you know. You got to look good. Yeah, you got to look good. Extra, you know, 20 crunches, extra minute on the plank, you know, extra set of the bench press. So that motivated you. That got you to where you needed to get to because then you felt like you deserved to go out that night too. So, you know, it was always in back of the mind. But it wasn't like, you know, a daily thing. If it was a daily thing, I've seen players go through the daily thing where they're going out, you know, throughout the week too. And I always knew, too, as a kid, even in college, I'm like, no, I ain't touching that during the week. I ain't going out during the week. I need my sleep. You know, I need to go to classes, obviously. I need to be ready for practice. And then I always actually did it when I always knew I had basically had off the next day as well. Yeah, sometimes in the younger generation era, you know, you would do it with practice till the next day at like 10 a.m. or 11. And you would just fight your, you know, fight your life through it. but majority of the time I would know I would have off next day as well to recover, rehydrate and all the good stuff. So I was, I did all the, all the stupid shit, the smartest way possible. I feel that. You grind it through it, even in workout. It's like, if I would be hung over, like I remember a couple of times where I'd be hung over, you try to have a late night and you work out the next day. And when I felt like I was on the verge of throwing up or my body feeling the way it did, it'd be like when you're on a knee, listen to your coach talk. And I'm just thinking in my head, I got it. I can't do this. Yeah. I can't like continue. I can't. Yeah. That's always a second guess. Because when you go out, you're like, this is going to be awesome. And then when you're drunk, you're like, I'm going to power through tomorrow. I'm going to absolutely crush it. And the minute you wake up the next day, you're like, I can never do that again. But then it goes like, it's Monday. You're like, I'm not drinking. I'm living my life like a saint now. Tuesday comes by. You're like, just a good old boy. Wednesday, it's like, you know, Friday is right around the corner. And it is a lot of fun. Thursday's like, all right, one more weekend. And then we're solid. and then all of a sudden it's Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday you're like, all right, we did it. You just hit that timeline perfectly. Dude, because that's what it is. You always have like the Sunday scariest. You're like you've rethought your entire life, and you're like, this is it. This is the day I've changed who I really am. And then by Friday you're back to being the same fucking person over and over again. I can't imagine that first offseason you had after your first year in the NFL. Because in college it's like back when you played, you have like a week off at most, right, two weeks if you don't make a bowl game. Well, the best thing about it too was it was the lockout. So we weren't even allowed to have an offseason that year. So I had a true six months of just doing whatever I wanted to do. So I was going to have to do. I bet Bill Belichick was shooting his pants. He really was. And that's when, like, kind of, like, videos were starting to surface on the Internet of me. I was back at the University of Arizona with the basketball players at a pool party just going apeshit. I was visiting my friends, like you said, in college, Miami, Ohio. I got to bring that place up again. I'm telling you, it's a spectacular place if you're a young buck. Just the atmosphere that's presented there is just phenomenal. And just everything else, I learned what Vegas was that year as well after my rookie year. But this is like I never had the responsibility of going back and training, you know, up in New England because we were locked out. We weren't allowed back there for the whole six months. And then I ended up, though, showing up and absolutely balling in training camp and having my breakout season where I scored like 21 touchdowns, including the playoffs, and like broke every record as a tight end. And so I guess I can contribute to all my dancing and all my partying because I was moving. Staying loose. I'm talking. My stamina was up there. I was staying loose, you know, just jiggling everything on my body. Every type of motion you could possibly think of twerking to the extreme powers. Like, I swear, that's what got me through was just nonstop movement. You know, you do the lifting. You know, they say you got to have that base, like, you know, foundation of like your core. of being loose, flexibility, and stamina of the little muscles firing. And that's what got me to keep everything firing at a proper rate was all the dancing and all the movements, throwing your friends up in the air on top of lifting as well. Yeah, it's pretty nuts, right? I swear, though. I swear. I mean, I don't really do that, really. I try to go out, and I dance for like five minutes, and I'm like, how the fuck was I dancing for three hours straight? I can dance for five minutes now. I'm like, all right, like, I can't dance any longer anymore. When did you realize that your parting and your antics could become, like, a massive brand? Because now you have, like, Gronk Beach, your brother, you and your brothers, you did the cruise. So you have so many things that are revolved around a lot of things that used to get you in trouble. When did that transition happen where you're like, oh, I can actually make money doing this? You know, it kind of just happened naturally as well. It wasn't like I was doing it as like a scheme or a play or, you know, to get like notoriety from it. Not at all, man. I was just being myself. What I've been doing since, you know, my college days and going into the NFL wasn't like, you know, anything was planned ever. I was just doing me. And then it just kept blowing up sometimes. And that's why I just kept doing me because I'm like, I'm just doing me. Like, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just having fun, you know. and then I really noticed a couple years into it like all right like this is starting to become something because wherever I went people expected it you know and it was cool it was cool as shit it was like all right I'm going out it's going to be so turned up you have the energy when you're in the 20s as well to turn up the whole entire place get on the bar give everyone shots all that good stuff and I noticed that you know it could possibly be a brand like it's working even though I'm just being myself it's working it's blowing up you know at the same time though I always knew that balling on the field was what the real accelerator was, was what the engine was, was balling on the field. Cause you're like, this guy's absolutely fucking balling on the field, but he's going out with all the fans as well. And just having a good time, um, and going ham. Uh, and then, you know, eventually though, I kind of got over that kind of stigma, you know, because it was hard, you know, in your mid twenties, easily with the energy to keep up with it. But when I was starting to fade on the football field, that was becoming hard off the field too, because I was starting to back away from it big time because football was, you know, starting to get away from me and I didn't want football to get away from me. So I knew I had to start changing my lifestyle big time. So I would start picking and choosing when I'm going out, how much I'm going out then and all that good stuff because I wanted, you know, to be on top of my game for football. And now to this day, you know, it is a brand, you know, like a party brand. It really is. but I'm not even close to partying how I was partying back in the day. That 20-year-old me, you know, got that brand to sustain all the way to this day. That's how ham I was going, though, back then. Yeah, and that's how much I was balling in the field. So, you know, it's cool, like, throwing gronk beets. I just pick and choose now. Like, gronk beets, I'll go ham, but not like how I used to, you know. I don't want to drink as much as I used to either. It's not good for you. It is poison, you know. I can't work out the next day. It takes three days to recover. I'm really into health now and fitness, obviously. I've been my whole life. I'm always in for a good time, but I'm more of the guy now that likes to lay back and watch what's going on and join a little bit of the action, but not go too crazy. Not like your young self. Yeah, exactly. What were the coaching moments like with somebody like Bill Belichick? You talk about how the Patriot way, how strict he was, how meetings could run. In the early days, before it becomes a brand, are there any moments you're having in the facility with Coach Belichick before it becomes a distraction of, hey, your brand or being more than the team? Was there a transition there? Because obviously when you become Gronk and you're the man, you guys are winning Super Bowls, it's a lot more accepted because you're the man. The Patriots are, you guys are winning football games. But in the early years when you're coming back and these videos are surfacing, is there anything happening in team meetings with Coach Bill? Uh, here's the thing. I always knew if I showed up and balled, I would be in good hands still. I'd be in good faith with the coaching staffing. Coach Belichick let a lot of things go if you were balling on the field. He didn't care if you were out all night and showing up. As long as you produce on that football field, he let everything go. It was fine. But the second you started dropping off, oh, shit, you didn't want to be there. You didn't want to be in that meeting. You're getting called out. You're going to have a one-on-one meeting like, hey, what the fuck are you doing? I see you out. You can't even come out to practice and get open versus our undrafted free agent. So he would let you know, and he would eventually let you know in front of the team, too. He would call you out. So that's why you always had to be on point when you entered that facility, and that's why I believe that going to that destination kept me on the grind, too. Yeah, the nightlife and whatever you were doing outside of football, But the second you stepped in that building, like, you had that motivation and that grind, like, oh, fuck. Like, I got to absolutely dominate because I was out. Everyone saw it. And if I don't produce on this field, oh, fuck, it's going to be a bad day for me. So that kind of got you to that level of mindset, like, that you got a ball. Did you ever have a moment with Bill where he had to check you in a one-on-one or a team meeting? Not really. So Julian and I, we went out Memorial Day weekend to Narragansett. No, not Narragansett. Nantucket, Narragansett, and Rhode Island. We went out to Nantucket for Fogawi weekend. We got absolutely hammered. We were at a golf cart. We were in the back. Julian and I doing our thing, and the golf cart lifted up in the air, the front tires, and we landed on the ground. It was a video that surfaced the internet. It was classic. I remember the next day or three days later, we go to whatever, OTAs, running routes, and Bill came up to us, and we were sweating all over, because he said, get all that fucking shit out of your system. I saw you two idiots this weekend. You guys are fucking fools. Keep running. Get it all out of you. So we were balling, though. We were out there, but coach always got you to that mindset, hungover, not feeling so good. When you hit that field, just the aura in New England, that got you to that mindset of Whatever the fuck is in your system, however you feel, you better not feel that way. It's going to get you over it when you hit that field. You talk about the aura of the ring? Right there. Is that it? Is that the golf cart? Yeah, right there. There we are. Oh, the back of the golf cart broke. That's not good. This is like two months before the season. Is it really? Yeah, but Justin Timberlake loved it because that was the same night. Yeah, right there. We were dancing to a song. This was the same night. we were dancing to his song, Gotta Feel It. What is it? Gotta Feeling? Yeah, Gotta Feeling. That's that, uh... And we were rocking out, and then he tweeted that the same night. That is... Ladies, the Gronk, get it, playboy. So shout out to Justin Timberlake. That's when I knew, all right, I gotta keep going. Yeah. I gotta keep going. But you see those dance moves. Now you see why I was getting over. You're staying loose out there. Yeah, you're staying loose. Look at it. Shimmening all over the place. Look at that. What is it, the shuffle? You got something going there for sure. Shimming. You talk about the aura of New England. Those first couple of years, what was it like for you picking up the playbook, understanding everything, and knowing what Tom won? How demanding was Tom on you when it came to the playbook and stuff like that? Bro, that's why I didn't play my first eight games, because I didn't really know the playbook like that. I had the skills. I had the talent. But they didn't trust me. I even had some great highlights in the preseason that year. I had three touchdowns, dragged Lauren Nytis into the end zone. I showed some talent. Like, I showed some bursts. I showed, like, what the type of player I could be. But then, like, practice would come still, and I would be fucking up tremendously. Like, I would have five great plays, and I would have five terrible plays. I'd be blocking the wrong guy. I'd be running the wrong route. And when you're at that level, no matter how good you are, if they can't trust in you doing the right thing, well, you're not going to play in New England. They don't give a fuck how good you are. They're not going to play you. And they let me know that. And the first eight games, I only had about 15 to 20 snaps per game I was playing. And it would only be the true plays that they would trust in me. They'd say, hey, here's the 20 plays that you know. We trust in you with these 20 plays. We'll call you in personnel when we're going to call these plays. I do like 20 plays a game. And then all of a sudden, I'm balling though. I'm still showing that potential. You know, and they're like, we're not putting you out on that fucking field until like we can truly trust in you. Same with Tom, you know. coaching staff, Billy O, Bill. And then finally, like I was struggling because the playbook was totally different from college. At college, I lined up on the right every single play. I had like five routes. You know, we had like five blocking plays, run plays and kaboom. Like I learned the playbook in one day. I mean, you get to New England, you got a playbook like that. You got 55 different formations. I got a lineup on the left. I got a lineup in slot. There's 50 different calls in the run game. I'm like 50 different calls in the run game. Arizona, we had five different run calls you know yeah so I couldn't get up the pace and then finally like week eight week nine all of a sudden just everything clicked you know that feeling when you're like okay I got this I know everything in the playbook not everything but like I know enough now and then I was showing them on the practice field like hey I'm consistent now I'm balling like I'm doing the right things and then uh a play you know I talked about plenty of times there's there's a play versus Chicago Bears versus Erlacher that I had to body him up and I did it in practice on Friday and they're like we're gonna call this play and you got you better be ready for it and then uh it was versus Erlacher I had to you know get big on him in the end zone one yard into the into the end zone turn on him use my body and then boom there's the ball did it in practice replicate it in the game versus Erlacher box box him out uh Tom put the ball right there and I caught it and ever since then the trust just went through the roof and I played every single play after that so the playbook you know if two you rookies out there get in the playbook that's the first thing it doesn't matter how good you are if you don't know the plays if you're thinking on the field you're not going to play you're not going to be the best player that you can possibly be so get in the playbook and know those plays right from the beginning what was Tom Brady like through these growing pains your rookie year he was an asshole my rookie year. He really was. He was like Mr. Bill Belichick's son at that time. I swear he was Mr. Patriot at that time. And he was on my ass though. I see why though. I really see why. He saw the potential in me too. I remember one time I ran a flag route and he always wanted me to go outside of the defender. And I didn't have the fluidity to get outside of him when he was like two yards outside of me and try to get open. So I always try to go right inside of him, make a little move, and try to get open on the flag route even though he's playing outside. And he's like, I'm never going to throw you the fucking ball. Actually, I'm never throwing you the ball ever again. He said that in the meeting room after I went inside on the flag route. But he told me five times already to get outside. At least show that I'm trying to get outside. But I'm like, it was too hard for me at that time. I couldn't comprehend it. The way that my body was moving, I just couldn't do it. and then after he said that then that kind of clicked in me too like oh fuck I gotta really try to show him that I'm getting outside uh and just just to have a quarterback to be that hard on you at the beginning though as a young buck you know it can definitely deteriorate you a little bit but he saw all that potential because then right after he would say something like that he'd go stay after me with practice let's fucking let's let's run this route 20 times let's get you on the same page you have to finally click I'm going to keep going until you click so he was really really hard on me, but I see why and I respect it to the highest tee and I'm so glad that he was that hard on me as well because we would have never gotten to the page and the chemistry that we were at if he wasn't that hard on me and that's what makes him probably the greatest player of all time because it wasn't his skill set, it wasn't his ability to do what he does on the football field, it was also the ability to bring the best out of his teammates around him. With Tom, it seems like his two main guys throughout his career were like you and Edelman or just like kind of like his core guys all the time. At what point did you feel like, all right, I'm really in Tom's pack? Because a guy like that, of that superstardom, dating models, marrying the models, like he seems like he's like one of the first guys in the NFL to be like above the NFL. And for you to be like in that group with him, was there like a moment where you're like, okay, I know I'm Tom's guy now? Kind of that moment, you know, my rookie year. You know, I felt like I got in the pack, like, after that play versus Urlacher. But I wasn't truly in it yet. You know, we had Wes Welker as well. I mean. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been as fascinated. And Black America is at a breaking point. Writing and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's Alma Mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protests. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to The A Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper in the polished story. 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It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Randy Moss, you know, just got traded in my rookie year, So he was in that pack as well. DM Branch got traded back. Like he was in that pack, even though he left for a little bit with the Seahawks. We had a couple other players as well that I could see that he truly trusted and that he truly looked to. And I would say I truly entered that was my second year when I blossomed. And that was my absolute goal as well. We talked about, yeah, having that lockout and me going ham for six months straight. But also in back of my mind, football was always there, and I always wanted to be the greatest. And I remember calling my agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and I said, I'm going to be the greatest fucking tight end this season. Watch. And he's like, oh, okay. I mean, he's like, you got Antonio Gage, you got Jason Wynn. I'm like, no, I'm telling you, I'm going to be the greatest tight end this year. Like, I had that as a mindset, and I'm going to be on the same page as Brady. I get what he wants now. And then going into that training camp, everything was just clicking, and I entered that pack of that trust. Because to get that trust from Brady and the coaching staff, You have to be a consistent fucking player. I don't care. You can show a burst of going deep and making an amazing play, but if you can do that one out of every ten, I mean, you're not in that pack. You're not going to have that trust. So I showed that trust going into my second year, and then that's when it just all truly started clicking, and it lasted for ten more years straight. How did that – was it always respect from Tom when he's hard on you in those moments like your rookie year? Or are you thinking like, yo, this dude's a fucking asshole? I thought he was where you're kind of resistant to like, hey, let's stay up to practice and do 20 reps. You're just like, fuck, man. All right. No, I thought he was an asshole for sure at first. You know, I'm telling you, he was Mr. Patriot my rookie year. Like, like he was he was Bill 2.0. I swear, like, I'm like, man, this guy's zero fun. Zero fun. Like zero. Like, but but I kind of understood it at the same time. Not to the full extent. you know? But once you're in the, like once you're in, you're growing, you're progressing, you're getting better. You're thinking, all right, this is the, this is where I need to kind of buy. Yes. And then once I bought in too, he loosened up as well. Like he just wanted me to buy in and get rid of all that bullshit that was going on on the outside or, or me not paying attention to the meetings or me not doing what I need to do out on the football field. Cause he saw it in me. Like he sees, he sees potential in players. He knows players inside and out. Like he can watch film time. He can break down a player's strength. He can break down their weakness. He can break down how to get open versus what you've got to do. He can even break down a defensive lineman and know their strengths and how to block a defensive lineman. He knows the game of football like that. And that's what made him so great, obviously. So he knew what I needed to do out on the football field. And when I started finally doing it, when it started clicking to me and I was starting to truly understand, that's when that relationship really blossomed. And, you know, he was less hard on me. I mean, still, to this day, he's hard on his players. I mean, even once you get that relationship going, because he wants that relationship to keep building, you know. But it wasn't like my rookie year, you know. The rookie year was tough at some points. But I saw why, and I'm so blessed, and I'm so thankful that he was like that. I needed it. Put it that way, I needed it. How hard were they on Julian Edelman? I just listened to Bill Belichick on the pivot, and it seems like they were extremely hard, or Coach Belichick was extremely hard on Julian when he got to New England. Well, he was a year before me, so I didn't really see his rookie year like that. That dog is not sleep apnea. He's a good boy, though. He knows we're working. He's a good boy. He knows we're working. He feels safe. Yeah, he feels safe. He's just relaxing. That's a good boy right there. But later on, if we keep going, he'll eventually let us know, like, hey, hey, motherfucker humans. Hey, motherfucking humans. It's my turn. Throw me the ball. But he's a good boy. But Julian was an absolute dog. And they loved getting under his skin. If you got under Julian's skin, it brought the best out of him. And I would say the same with myself, you know. And that's why they're hard on players there. Coach Belichick knew how to get into players' minds, even if it was in the most asshole way. You know, that's why we respect it so much, and we appreciate it, you know, to this day, because he was really trying to make you the best fucking player that you could possibly be. And he was trying to bring the best out of you, and he sure did it. Even though whatever way he was doing it, it could have been vicious. It could have been like, yo, I'm about to trade you. He could have just been making it up. And then you would go absolutely balls out on the practice field and in games. So he knew how to bring the best out of players, especially the ones that he knew wanted it. And Julian was a guy that wanted it, and he brought the best out of Julian in whatever techniques he was doing to get under Julian's skin. Dude, you, I mean, obviously, receiving-wise, that's where you get paid. It's probably the most fun for you, but from a blocking standpoint, you see so many clips of you, like, throwing a chipmunk on Terrell Suggs and, like, sending him into the bleachers, the safety from the Colts, on the goal line, sending him all the way to the sidelines to play, telling him no white T-shirts in the club. Where did the mindset come with the blocking? Was it always really important to you, or did you learn early, like, this is how you become, like, a complete tight end? No, it was always important to me. ever since my high school days playing football. I always just took pride in the blocking game. I really did. I remember in high school, it was before, like, all the blindside blocks, you know, got banned, which was a good thing, you know. When I'm talking about those crack back blocks, you took more pride in high school when you absolutely leveled someone than, say, scoring a touchdown. I'm talking the touchdown was cool, you celebrated, but the whole sideline would go absolutely bonkers if you took someone up and just planted them on the ground or you blindsided someone and just flat blacked them and basically put them in the hospital. So that mindset was always there to just be the biggest dog, to be the strongest dog out on the field and to be tossing people around. Tossing people around felt like the manly thing to be in the game of football. Yeah, catching touchdowns was cool. That came with it, but that wasn't what you wanted to showcase. It was how far can you take someone and just embarrass them and just show them who the fuck is boss. So that started, you know, in high school. I maybe would say as a kid, though, that toughness, because I was getting beat the shit out of from my three older brothers and their friends at all times, and they would pick on me, and I would just come right back at them. So that mindset started then. And then in high school, my senior year, I only had eight catches my senior year in high school as a tight end, and we ran the ball 52 out of 52 plays one time. And it didn't matter because we were dominating. We won the game like 30-0. I would just take guys, drive them back five yards, plan them. At one time in high school, I picked up a guy, brought him off the sidelines 10 yards, and threw him over the fence. It was kind of like the play, the Sergio Brown play, but instead I took the guy up in the air at 10 yards and threw him over the fence. This one right here. No, yeah, just like that one. But then I took the guy and threw him over the fence in high school. And we just took so much pride in that. Like, it wasn't about catches. It wasn't about touchdowns. So that translated into college, and everyone respected it. Everyone respected me a lot more because I wasn't the guy just looking for touchdowns. I was the guy when it came to whatever, seven-on-seven. What's it called? Nine-on-seven. Nine-on-seven run period that I'd be showing up, and it was all about how badass can you be in the run game and how hard can you block the DN and make a hole for your running back. Dude, there is something about having a tight end that knows how to do a tray block or a triple block and knows where the right fit is, where to put his hands. it makes your life so much easier. It's the best feeling, dude. And to this day, you know, when people show my highlights, I don't give a fuck. Like the catching highlights and touchdowns, I'm like, cool, whatever. I won't even look. I'll be like, that's cool. But when I see a blocking play of mine, I fucking rewind that thing every time. Yeah. I remember Stephen Ridley. He was running back, my good friend. He beat Kevin Hart in a race like two years ago, and Kevin Hart blew out his hamstring. so the NFL do you guys remember that a little bit? no he blew out his abdominal and then the NFL showed oh ex-player Stephen Ridley blows away Kevin Hart in a race Kevin Hart blows abdominal so then what did they do? the NFL took all of Stephen Ridley's highlights and they put them up on NFL.com or whatever their Instagram page and guess what there I was blocking and I sent it to Ridley I said look at that motherfucker block for you I'm like I love the blocking highlights and I'm like surprised with myself because I don't really remember like it was just a natural thing I would do you know and I didn't really notice how important it really was it was just part of my personality like that's what I did I blocked but when I go back and I watch me block like when I was in my heyday like the first four years man I was fucking tossing motherfuckers dude and I didn't really realize it that I was really doing it like that like I was doing it like that so I'll always rewind to block and I'll always always make sure that people see all the blacks when they're up on the tv screen just whatever with the with the game wait were you a guy that like talked shit during a game or you kind of just keep to yourself and if somebody talks shit to you you turn it up on them a little there we go i love when people talk shit to me it like brought me to a whole another level and that's what happened with the sergio that's what i was gonna ask the whole entire game just yapping at me we're friends like we're friends like in new england my bro like i'm getting open on you guys too and we're dominating you but just kept going and going and going and finally he just triggered me and I just was like the next blocking play I get I'm going to just fucking keep going and going and going. How long was that? I'm going to get him when I get the chance. There he goes. He was chirping. He was chirping the whole time. And there was Dable. You saw Dable there. He loved it too. There he is. Right there. Dable. Oh, he was. He was. How many plays? This guy's chirping at you, getting after you, saying whatever. How long after was that block for you? Where you're like, okay, I'm going to take this kid to the absolute sideline. Oh, I was going. I didn't care. I knew the play was over, too. Like, I saw the running back score a touchdown. Oh, shit. What's his name again? He had three touchdowns that came in, like, 250 yards. You just had, like, 50 running backs. Yeah. No. Yeah. And then we caught him, like, two weeks later. Jonas? Yeah, Jonas. Love him, though. Jonas Gray. I love, like, so many running backs. I just couldn't think of who it was. You guys had a short run of running backs. I saw him score right behind me, too. And I was like fuck this I still going I was just over him He was just talking all the time And I just was like I just going to go until he collapses And then boom finally God that juice is great The guy right there is why I never wanted to talk shit. Yeah? Just to, like, if you're going against a good player, you're just, I'm always, like, complimenting. I'm complimenting the route. Hey, great day. Great day. Yeah, I hated that. I'm like, this guy's too nice. Like, I don't want to get over it. It's not always you're playing in the rules. Yeah, it's when you have a lax. It's just like, hey, you're playing a hell of a game out here. Just to, like, you never want that trigger to go off on somebody because you just never fucking know. You ain't trying to be on a highlight. No, I feel you. I mean, you're wrong. How do you feel about this? Oh, man, look at that. That's a slow. That's you 51, correct? Yeah, you got me. Solo tackle. But that's a nice flat route, though. Look at the speed I had back then. I wish I had that speed still, though, man. Look at me coming out of the back. Was that coming out of the backfield, or was that just a flat route at the tight end position? or did I, yeah, I'm flying right there. See, I out-angled you. That's how fast I was back then. That should have been, if you were playing true technique football as a linebacker, that should have been a two-yard catch. You're 100% right. I just beat the zone. Beat the zone. I think we were a man there. Yeah. That's what makes it even worse. It's the worst. But you made up for it. You made up. Oh, right there. Look it. Should have only been four yards, but Will couldn't close the gap fast. Holy shit. I'm on the same page still. And that was June 23, 2023. All right. So that wasn't that long ago, but still. But he made it up for it. That was a nice tackle. He got me one-on-one. There's a lot of other men have failed trying to do that. Oh, 100%. And there's a photo where it's captured from Rob's angle to where it looks like he just, I mean, he does stiff-arm me. But it looks like they have a great angle to where that should, you get like posterized for getting stiff-armed. Now, I know Gronk's a guest on our show, but if you're in man coverage, are you fearful of this man? because he wasn't the shiftiest guy in the world. And you had some speed back then. He's massive. He's long. You know he uses the stiff arm well. So, yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah, there it is. Look at that pick. Oh, man. You still got me. You still got me, though. I see that pick. You still got me. You got to break that down. You got to break that down. And I got to chop. I really want to chop. Yeah. I was on the sideline, so I knew that you had sideline help, so I didn't really try in my heart. I mean, you had sideline. I wanted you. I wanted you to catch the ball because I wanted to pad my stats. It worked for both of us. First down, but you got to tackle. Solo tackle, too. Right, pull on the film. We got to fix the angle here a little bit. But, hey, way to get him down when he got him. A lot of guys fail on this. A lot of guys fail. I want to ask. I got to ask. You were the same position group, same age. What was it like around Aaron Hernandez? I was just going to get into that. Oh, really? Like, in your mind, are you like, all the stuff that comes out about him now, Like going back to those moments around him, are you kind of thinking in your head, like, I'm not in this world too much, but there's like some, there's like some shit that this guy's into off the field that I don't necessarily even want to know. Because there was, we, we heard stories about like him being in the team meeting room, like beating off and like doing crazy shit. I mean. And honestly, if, if you don't want to talk about, we don't have to. That's a possibility, that one. I may or may have not seen it live. No shit. Yeah. I'm not going to complain. At the time, you were just thinking to yourself, man, this guy really loves ball. Nor deny. I mean, I love crazy shit, though. So I didn't mind things like that. I was like, wow, that was pretty epic. I was a wild man myself. So I was like, nothing fazed me. I was like, I encouraged it. But never, I mean, first off, unbelievable football player, man. You're talking about the playbook, me struggling with the playbook. That guy knew the plays inside and out, the run game and pass game, and like the first two weeks being in New England. While I struggled with it all the way until like week eight, you know, and he was balling right from the beginning. He was a basketball player out on the football field. That's what he was with his size. He could run. At one point he was lining up at running back and having 30-plus yard runs while I was black. I mean, you guys could be a slow personnel and be in any type of formation. Yes, you're the best combination at the tight end position of all time. And that second year proves it. I mean, we had like, what, 2,300 yards combined and like 28 touchdowns between just him and I, including playoffs and regular season. That's unheard of. Like, there ain't no other tight end combo ever going to have 1,500 yards combined, like ever again possibly. Or maybe like 1,600 yards. So we went like 2,800 and like 28 touchdowns, which is just absurd. But there's a lot of craziness, definitely. But I didn't mind it, like I said. I loved it. And then I didn't see, you know, it going to a level that it went to. I didn't see that happening. Like, that was a surprise. It was a surprise to everyone because you would never expect anyone, you know, especially being in that position, to have it go to the level that it went to. And you're learning about this stuff when all the, whether it's documentary shows coming out about it, you're learning that then and you're like fuck I didn't really know it was that bad uh I didn't know it was that bad I mean I I knew that you know there was definitely some wild sides to him but uh with everything coming out this there's some that I would say is true in the documentaries that come out there's some that's probably exaggerated a little bit but there's some that's not exaggerated at all either I'm not going to talk about like what topics it was and everything but uh uh i mean it was wild man i i i was the guy that was truly there throughout his whole career right in the same room the whole entire time as him but uh it's unfortunate though what happened because the talent was just just through the roof man through the roof and if we could have kept our tandem going yeah we would have been just truly unstoppable but uh yeah that's really all I got on that saw some of it but didn't know it was like to that extreme and not surprised either now either like it's like okay that makes sense now when you guys were at practice he got charged when you guys were at practice or like you guys practiced that day correct? no it was an off season it was during the summer when no one was actually at the facility and when you found out were you like at first like there's no way this is possible or were you like i said that that's a tough question to ask what was your thought process when you heard he was charged well he didn't get charged until like after the fact that it all came out correct yeah so like when i first kind of like what was the thought process when i first heard about you know the situation the real situation where it was like all right this is trouble uh you know surprise shocked uh big time uh sad a little bit like no like no way like also disappointed you know like like why would you do that like like why like what's going on we got the whole world in front of us we got the world by the balls especially you know you and i as the tandem like we got the best team out there everything so it was it was shocking you know it was sad as well you know once once you really realize what truly happened. Yeah. Yeah, man. How was Bill Belichick, aside from what you get to see, whether he's in press conferences, the coaching side, the art of winning book, like what's he like kind of off the field or away? Because I think there's a story where he showed up hammered to Randy Moss's, one of his costume parties or like a Halloween party. Yeah, like what's a fun side of Bill Belichick? All right. Here's something that a lot of people really don't know is that he never really cracks jokes. And he's always got that serious face in team meetings. But every once in a while, like once every two weeks, he would just come in with an absolute fucking banger, bro. I'm talking banger. And he would actually have a smile on his face right after. He would just drop some knowledge or some over-the-top joke that just landed every time with the team. And everyone would just be on the ground, just fucking dying laughing. I mean, it was always vicious, too. The Joker or whatever, the knowledge was always vicious. But when he came in with that, it always lightened the mood. It was once in a blue moon. But when he did do that, man, it was good shit. We all appreciated it. You ever party with Bill? He ever partake in the Gronkowski dances? Actually, he showed up to the first Gronk Beach ever when I first retired. It was in Miami. It was at that Super Bowl like five, six years ago. He showed up to that Gronk Beach, which was really cool. But other than that, he was there for like five minutes. He's like, yeah, this isn't really for me. Yeah. We were going to have him. Just him showing face, that meant a lot. Him showing face really did mean a lot. Get the shirt off. Let's go. Yeah. He's great, but I think he loves the party scene more than ever right now, actually. Yeah. He's good. He's at parties. I mean, he's not like he's rocking out. I mean, but he's there. You know, he's doing his thing. And, you know, he's loosened up big time ever since he left being a head coach in the NFL, which is cool to see. Were you surprised about that, him loosing up after he became a head coach, after he left the NFL? Definitely. Definitely surprised. I thought he would keep that mantra even going on to whatever he was going to do next after the NFL. I'm sure he probably has that mantra while coaching the Tar Heels. But on the outside of everything else, I was definitely surprised when he started joining social media. He joined the media game, and he was more loose, cracking more jokes, smiling more when he was making all his appearances on all the shows that he was on. But it was really good to see. I was happy for him. It was a different side that everyone got to see too. But the knowledge he drops as well is always accurate too. Knows the game of football inside and out better than anyone else out there. What's it like seeing all the headlines with the Jordan stuff with knowing Coach Belichick as this no-nonsense coach and seeing all the theatrics that have kind of came with on the outside looking in, like with him at North Carolina. A guy that's all about eliminating distractions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. So that's a little surprising to me because he was all about eliminating distractions. And, like, it's kind of, I mean, we can't really say if it's a distraction yet or not because, well, no, in the win-loss column this year, if he wins every game or puts up eight wins this year at UNC, well, then there was no distractions at all. The distractions. He might actually, yeah, he's a true go-to. Sometimes it fuels him. I mean, how much crazy shit did he deal with in New England from Tom's things to Hernandez to me in some situations to just a lot of other things that were going on? And we would just go out there and win constantly at a rate that's never been seen before and win Super Bowls, even though there was things going on the outside that were trying to distract us but wouldn't get to us because we would block it all out. But still, if there was something going on and it was just bickering at the team and everyone had to deal with it, he would kind of say something. Like, hey, kind of amp it down a little bit. You have the one-on-one media. Yeah, like, hey, this is going on. Can you just kind of diffuse the situation? So I kind of feel like he's not diffusing the situation at all when it could be diffused a little bit more. And it's becoming a distraction to the whole entire program at the University of North Carolina a little bit. So it kind of goes against that. But like we said, he's also loosened up tremendously. And he's kind of a change personality since being a coach in the NFL. But just overall, I think, like, football needs to come. Once football comes, you know, I'm excited to see how all that goes. You know, I'm kind of getting annoyed about all these other things I've talked about with Bill right now. It's like, let's see this guy coach, you know, if this guy dominates, well, then let it be. Yeah. And if he loses out right from the beginning and he's one in three, that could be a serious problem. Yeah. If he starts out one in three, you need to fly to North Carolina and have a one on one meeting with him. We got to eliminate these distractions. I'll have University of North Carolina hire me as like the president of all sports. Just so I can be a boss. Don't tell Bill, hey, the president wants to meet you. You're in there and be like, I'm your boss. I'm sorry, brother. Gronk, Tom, and Edelman all fly in. All above them, too. They all have to be above them. Bring them to the meeting room. Eliminate the distractions. Come on now. What are we doing out here? Do you want to win or not? That's what we've got to focus on, Bill. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. One in three. I'm going for them. I'm pulling for them to win. It'll be great for football. It'll be great for college football. It would be like the Dion effect, you know? Like how much better? No one watched Colorado. It's like no one watched UNC. Like everyone tuned in. Everyone will be tuned into UNC for sure. When Tom and Bill end up breaking up, you go with Tom to Tampa Bay. From your vantage point, what did you see happening there on the inside? Between their relationship? Because you were saying in the beginning of your career, Tom's sitting there as baby Bill Belichick. He's Bill Belichick's son essentially. and then they get to the end you hear about how they're not really getting along culturally they think that they're going different directions Tom inevitably you guys lose to the Titans in 2019 ending your dynasty and then we retired you're right that's why I did the dynasty do you think so you think you were the one next thing what do you what did you see happening between them and that breakup well yeah like like I said I mean I was surprised I mean if you go all the way way back to my rookie year it was definitely like a different mindset or positioning that Tom was in. Like I said, he was like Bill Belichick's son my rookie year. But I would say, I mean, I really can't talk for Tom or Bill, like on how the relationship, but I would just say what kind of really happened was that Tom was probably growing older, you know, and was like, you know, wanting to freelance more, I would say. it doesn't have to be treated like a rookie, and it was still going on. And I would say he was getting over that situation, even though it was kind of like that, you know, my rookie year. And he was, you know, guy's 35 years old now, 36, and doesn't need to be treated like. Arguably the GOAT. Yeah, probably already the greatest of all time. He doesn't need to be treated like a rookie, you know. And I would say the tension started feuding over things, like in that situation between them two. So that's kind of like how I saw it in a way. And then eventually neither of them were going to, you know, twitch. Yeah, like bend the knee. Or bend the knee. Yeah, bend the knee. So the tension just started heating up, I would say. And eventually, you know, the divorce happened. But for details or what they were truly thinking, you would have to ask one of them. but from an outside perspective like player, I would say that's kind of how the case, you know, kind of started and ended. When those topics are getting talked about in the media, is it when we're like, oh, yeah, this is going to come to the surface sooner or later? Yeah. And then it's also like, wow, it took that long for it to come to the surface as well. Yeah. Sometimes the media is right. It's like, wow, it took them that long. But then sometimes it's like, wait, they're already way ahead of the game. How do they already know that it was that that was already coming to the surface? or they would come up with something that wasn't even up to the surface and was never going to come up to the surface. But there's some things where it's like, whoa, it took them that long, and you're surprised. Now with media these days, when media doesn't catch on to something and it takes a while to get out, you're surprised with that. Yeah. What were the conversations that took place to get you out of retirement and into Tampa? Well, everything had to check out for me. It wasn't just one situation that was going to get me out of retirement. First off, I had to be feeling good again. I was really beat up. you know, those last two years in New England, and it was getting tough on me, you know, playing on a weekly basis. Like the Sunday game, I couldn't recover until like Saturday, the following Saturday, and then the practice and all that. It was just becoming miserable. I mean, everyone experiences that, and that's why everyone retires eventually because if you weren't experiencing that and you were experiencing the joy of like playing like when you were in 23, why the fuck would you retire? You know what I mean? So when it starts getting miserable and hard, you know, that's when you want to walk away from the game, and that's what I did. but uh i was really beat up too but i was like you know you're kind of evolving you know throughout your whole career i evolved found different situations you know to recover uh also different workouts you know that can keep me on top of my game also kind of needed a different scenario you know different program uh you know so when tom went to tampa we just talked about it a little bit uh my mom lived down there i love florida totally different organization felt more laid back, definitely put the work in, but still more laid back like a country club. They wanted me as well, Tampa. It wasn't just Tom wanted me. The organization called me up too, and they're like, yeah, we definitely want you to be a part of the Buccaneers family. I was feeling good as well and felt like I had more left in the tank. So every box checked off. And then obviously with Tom going down there to have that chemistry and just keep it going in the new program. So everything just, you know, you know, pled my way and I pulled the trigger to do it. And it seems it sounds like they're willing to, like, cater around your expectation, what you wanted physically to like what your body needed, what you needed as. How old are you at this time? I was 30 years old. Yes, like a 30 year old tight, tight end was back in New England when you decided to retire. You talk about the joy and it just you hated showing up to work. was a lot of it to the expectation and the stress that would come with the organization of the Patriots. Like the standard that had lived and they expected you to live by. When you're like, hey, I feel like my body would respond better doing this, or I feel like I should be doing this work. Because a lot of times you butt heads with those third-party sources that we all use outside of the facility, and then you try to implement them inside, and the whole ego battle kind of like butts heads. Yeah, you hit it right on the money, bro. I mean, like you said, you played for a while, so you understand that. And every player kind of goes through that experience, too. But in a way, like I like. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been as fascinated. And Black America is at a breaking point. Writing and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you. Purpose when success isn't enough. Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict? A villain? A nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level that the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security. is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to the Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In New England, like, coaches never gave off anyone from practice, but like, at the end of my career, I was like, I can't be playing in a game on Sunday and practice full speed Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Like, I'm blocking guys. Think about what I'm doing. I'm running 35 routes a game as well, like a wide receiver, and I'm trying to block 300-pounders sometimes, DNs that are 260 pounds, linebackers that are running all over the place on a continuous basis every single play. So my energy and effort and output is higher than anyone else out there on the football field, if you really think about it, because of the routes I got to run and also the being shaped blocking. And I just couldn't recover anymore. Like, Wednesday would come, and I wouldn't even want to hit anyone in the 997. I'd be like, yo, like, I'm just going to put my hand in front of you, you know? Like, I didn't even want to hit. Like, that's a bad feeling. You don't want to get hit, and you're playing the game of football. But, like, if I took off, like, by, like, Thursday or Friday, like, I was able to do it again, like, have that mindset, like, oh, I'm ready to hit. But, like, no one would get off and practice or anything. So it was getting tough, like that mentality, that aura in New England. Like I wanted a day off of practice and all that. But it was just tough, and it was tough to ask for it too because of the expectations. Right. So when I got to Tampa. It's like you're letting the team down. You're feeling it. Exactly. But when I got to Tampa, they were kind of known, like, hey, we give vets a day off. Like you've got to be truly proven, though. And I was proven at that time, and I was like, can I at least get one day off a week in training camp every three days I get off too? and they were down for it. I bet you could have probably negotiated more coming out of retirement. Yeah. I didn't need more, though. But also with the mindset of coming from New England, you kind of feel like you're letting the team down as well if you're taking off too much, especially if you're not injured or rehabbing an injury. But I was cool with it, with my mindset, because I truly knew that I couldn't practice every single day and then be fully ready for a game on Sunday. And they gave me off every Friday, my two years in Tampa, which I'm thankful for, which, you know, I put the work in, you know, Wednesday, Thursday. But I truly believe that's what got me to play and got me, you know, to be able to play at the level I play. It wasn't the highest level of football that I could possibly play at like I was. But, like, to play at the highest level at that age and where I was taking off that Friday to at least make an impact on the field. Right. Well, it got you that incentive, too. Yeah. Because there was that clip that came out of you going up to Tom being like, hey, I need one more. Yes. And so you guys were pulled out of that game, correct? And you're like, I need to go back in? Yeah, well, we were whapping them. It was like the third quarter. We were up like 35-0 or 35-7. So they pulled all the starters. But Tampa's cool, you know. They're cool like that. They want you to make all the possible money that you can make. Our offensive coordinator, Byron Leftwich, always said in the meeting, there's two things that you take away from football in the end. He goes, it's your relationships and it's the money that you make. That's the two things that stick with you forever. And he says, so going in, he goes, if we're up, obviously the most important thing is to win the game. But if we're up and you need an extra catch, we're going to get you that extra catch. We're going to get you that money. That's awesome. So we were winning. They pulled all the starters. But Tom was like, hey, we got to get one more catch. We drew a play right on the sideline. Hey, Rob, motion across. You're just going to run a diagonal. I'm going to hit you. And boom. Motion across. I actually false started, but they didn't get called. Were you leaning forward a little bit? Yes. What's that called again? What's the penalty? A legal motion? Yeah, but you accidentally move forward a little bit on the motion. That's a penalty. You're not allowed to move forward. Yeah, is that just a false start then? It is a false start, but there's a name for it. I can't think about it right now. I did that actually, but they didn't call it because the game was just way out of reach. Ran that diagonal, boom. Tom hit me. Was that 700? It was my – I needed I think like 55 catches or something. That was my 55th catch to hit my last incentive in my contract. Yeah, so Tampa was cool. Cool like that. Yeah. Did you ever have incentive-based stuff in your contracts in New England? Yes. Did you ever miss one? My last year in New England, I basically missed them all. But my second last year in New England, I hit them all. Did you really? Yeah. I bet myself again going into that last year. But halfway through, I didn't even care about them anymore. I was just like, I got to survive, dude. I'm just trying to survive here. Yeah. What was hitting the most on you towards the end? Like. From your body standpoint, I got to survive this. Was it shoulder? Was your back acting at the end? It was inflammation in my body, bro. Insert Adam Bobo. Yeah. Inflammation, dude. Like, it wasn't anything nagging. Well, my back was nagging a lot, but I was inflamed. But, like, I still have it to this day a little bit. Like, if I go ham one day, two days later, like, I can't move. Like I'm inflamed. Like I'm slow. I kind of actually have it a little bit today. I haven't worked down like two weeks. I did a hardcore yoga like 48 hours ago exactly. And like I didn't go too hard in it because I knew I was coming out. But when I get inflamed, like I'm slower. Like I can't run as fast. And I was like I couldn't recover fast enough and get rid of that inflammation. Even though I started finding ways to do it, it's just at that rapid rate. And I was so far behind that just that slowness, just that not that burst anymore. You don't have that quickness either anymore. It just doesn't want to make you get hit either. Everything hurts then too. So inflammation was, you know, my biggest killer, I would say. Is there a story outside of what you've already talked about in past conversations where you were going to get traded to Detroit, you threatened to retire, they don't trade you. But was there a story behind the scenes about how the organization was kind of handling your situation that isn't known or that you haven't kind of talked about? Because everybody's aware that you did the whole threaten to retire, they don't trade you. you're back in New England. Well, that was a tough year. We lost to the Philadelphia Eagles that year, actually, in the Super Bowl after the comeback versus the Falcons. So we went back-to-back Super Bowls. We were actually almost three-peated. We went to three Super Bowls in a row, but we just lost the middle one versus the Eagles. But that year was tough, man. I'm talking just the aura of the organization. I don't think anyone really enjoyed that season. I'm talking like any player. It was just weird, but we were dominating. We were still winning, and we went to the Super Bowl. But just overall, it was tough. And what was the question again? About when they were going to trade you to Detroit. There we go. And then you threatened to retire. That's why I was bringing that up. So that whole year, so then I was being an asshole after that year. They were trying to get a hold of me. I wasn't answering anything. I was saying shit in the media. I was just being a complete asshole. And then I'm with Monster Energy. and Monster Energy has Monster Jam in New England at Gillette Stadium. And I still haven't talked to anyone in the organization. I was kind of vocal in the media, like, this year sucked, like kind of shit like that, like miserable here. I was one of those guys. And that was like the oral when everyone was saying it sucks to play in New England. There was those that one or two years. That was when the Eagles players were going to the parade and ripping on the organization. I was one of the guys saying it sucks to play there that year. It was just a tough year just overall. So then I was being an asshole. I go to Monster Jam, and I have to have a press conference there. And it's all the football. Monster's like, hey, you've got to do the appearance at Monster Jam. And I was like, oh, shit. I was like, this ain't going to go over so well. So I show up to the press conference in the whole uniform. I'm a freaking dirt bike rider with the helmet on. And I go up to the press conference, and they just start asking me football questions right away. And I'm just giving fucking blatant, like, asshole answers back. And then a week later is when I get the phone call, and finally I answer, hey, we're going to trade you. And I never wanted to get traded, actually. I knew it was going to come down to this, though, because of what I was doing. That was the counterreaction, you know, the organization was doing back to me. Like, oh, he wants to be an asshole. Well, we're going to get rid of him. And that's when Patricia was the head coach at the Lions, too. and he's like, all right, well, I'm going to grab Gronk then. I'm going to trade for him. I got the call. I got traded, but I was prepared. I was fucking prepared. I knew the phone call was going to come. I knew I was going to get traded. I was prepared. Hey, Rob, we're going to trade you to the Lions. I said, you can't trade a retired player. Yeah, right on the spot. I was like, you can't trade me. I'm retired. I just retired. You can't trade my agents. You're a genius, Drew. He's like, I've never been in this situation before. and then finally Bill was like well then what the fuck's the problem I went in we hashed everything out I was like the trade never went through then it got axed it would have been through if I said no problem but I ended up playing one more year knowing I was like business isn't done like I'm just being an asshole a little bit business not done let's do one more year I'm so glad I went back I was actually about to retire though too I was really thinking about it but I didn't feel right going to another team not at all I was like I'm not going to end it with another team I'll do it another year in New England, and we ended up winning the Super Bowl, and that was my last game in New England, winning that Super Bowl, I think, 53 in Atlanta versus Los Angeles Rams. And with that catch up the middle, the 28-yard bomb up the seam to the two-yard line, and then Sonny Michel ran the ball right behind me in for the only touchdown of the game. So it all worked out in the end. Yeah, man. What made that year with Philadelphia so hard? Was the expectation coming off the prior Super Bowl? No, I was beat up a little bit still. My body wasn't responding how I wanted it to. But just the aura. Yeah. Yeah. No, last year going in was a lot better than that Philadelphia season. I remember everyone just was pissed. Yeah. I remember. I mean, it's just hard to explain, like, why. You just had to be a part of it. Yeah, yeah. Dude, off the field. Let's go. I like off the field. You've done a lot of cameos. Yes, I have. Entourage, family guy, the clapper. It sounds like a venereal disease. The clapper. That's what Will had when he was a clapper. That's why they beat us so bad in the Hollywood Bowl. We were staying away from them. These guys have to clap. But, dude, you've done all of these different SpongeBob SquarePants. SpongeBob SquarePants still gives me residual checks for, like, two grand. No shit. Every, like, four months. I mean, the show is unbelievable. I love it. And I'm like, when did I do SpongeBob SquarePants? I remember I sang the, like, birthday song in one of the episodes. and I still get residual checks from it. That is fucking awesome. Of all these cameos that you've done, what was the thing you were most excited for? Now, do people call you and be like, hey, we want Gronk to do this cameo? Or were you ever calling your age and being like, I heard this movie's coming out. I heard this show. I love this show. How I Met Your Mother. I want to be a part of this. Kind of both. Especially at first, I wanted to be a part of cameos. I wanted to live that lifestyle. Like I said, I wasn't saying no going through the draft. That movie with Jamie Foxx was Any Given Sunday. or right I love that movie like I'm like I want to live like that they were part in the locker room after doing all that good shit you know I wanted to live like a movie so I was just telling my people like I'll do any appearance in whatever movie and then my very first one actually basically was the Entourage movie loved Entourage growing up as a kid wanted to live my life like that when I was in high school and I told my friends in high school too I'm gonna be on that show one fucking day watch and then I ended up getting in the movie which was really, really cool and definitely I would say that was one of my favorite appearances because what's funny is I was right in my prime of partying so I actually got to this set and I started taking shots with everyone because it was like 11.30 p.m. at night and I was going out that night so I started getting hammered on the spot and in the scene I'm partying in the scene so it worked out perfect. I was actually hammered for that scene right there. Was that line ad-libbed when you stood up and screamed? No, no, they gave it to me but i took it to another level yeah yeah with the shoulder too in a sling oh yeah i was super handicapped i was actually coming off the knee injury so i was actually at a you know acl surgery three months prior to that but then we also put the arm brace on like my arm was still freaking broken yeah i always had a cane as well it just just went along well what was it like seeing vinnie chase and johnny drama and all those boys after watching that show for so long and being able to see them. It was the best, dude. I love him to this day. I see him at charity events and everything and seeing drama. I love drama. His character and just drama as well as a person, dude. Great, dude. It was the best to be a part of it, you know? The dream come true. Yeah. Dream come true, dude. There we are. There we are. Wow, what pictures right there. I know, right? There's the set. There's the set. That's so fucking awesome. Young Rob. Entourage really was that show that if you watched it, you wanted to be Vinny Chase. You'd be like, how do I have the ability to live this life? Well, Vinny Chase was too pretty, and I knew I couldn't be Vinny Chase. I was kind of like, I just wanted to have a group like that. A group of boys that ripped around. A group of boys like that, because I was kind of like Vinny Chase, but I was more of like Johnny Drama in a way. I was like them combined, you know? Yeah, I got you. Dude, that show, you've got to watch that show. I know. You've never seen that show? movie I haven't seen. You've never seen the show? No, bro. Oh, man. You're crazy. You see the movie, too. There's so many callbacks. The show blows away the movie, though. Absolutely blows it away. I know. Is he maybe the best character of all time? Best character, dude. God. By far. Drama competes with it, but Ari is just phenomenal. Dude, I don't think anybody touches Ari in this show. He is so outstanding. Is that Drama Taylor? He's alright. I saw you looking at me, too. I got the Frenchie. He's pissed off as I step out of the batter's box in baseball. We can't. Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of drumming. You're not. It wasn't a huge fan, no. No, no, no. Well, that's why I like you a lot more, man. That's why I'm on the show for you, Will. Fuck yeah, dude. All the stuff that you've done off the field, it's rumored that you never spent a dollar of your NFL earnings. Is that true? Technically, it's not true. Well, it actually started working because Drew gave me a $50,000. Technically, it's not true. Technically, it is true. Technically, it is true. Okay. Yes. Did I say it's not true? Yeah, you said technically. Oh, well, technically, I was wrong there. But technically, it's true. I mean, it's true. Drew Rosehouse actually gave me a $50,000 upfront marketing budget at the beginning, and you got to pay them back over the time, the first 50 grand you made. So I actually took that 50 grand. I bought me a car. I paid for my spot up in New England, actually, with it. And then as I was getting a couple of deals, I paid them off. But just overall, you know, I actually I'm very frugal, you know, and live, you know, with a roommate my first couple of years. I didn't know how long the NFL was going to last. I was a second round pick. So it was like a four year, four million dollar deal. And I was like, if I play this contract out, I'll be set for life. I got two million dollars in my bank. I can make a hundred, hundred, two hundred thousand dollars of interest. I was like, if I only play three, four years, I'm good. And I wanted that situation for me, too, that I could be good as well. Like, hey, if I don't ball, if I'm not the player that I think I could be, whatever, I'm still set for life because $2 million in the bank is set for life to me at that time. So I just always wanted to save it, and I just used my money that I was getting off the field to just spend it on whatever I needed to spend it on. And then, therefore, it just kept continuing. And to this day, technically, I have not spent any of my NFL money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't it crazy how when you're young, you have the mindset, like, if I'll have $2 million, I'll be set for life. And I know, obviously, $2 million is a lot of money. But as time goes and you get older, in your lifestyle that you do have, you're like, oh, fuck, $2 million. $2 million wouldn't get me very far if I continue to, like, live the way you think you can live. Right. When you first sign a deal for, like, four years, $4 million. Yeah, it's scary how there's, like, always a new level to it. Like you think if I can get to this point, that's all I need, blah, blah, blah. But then you get to that point and you're like, what is this? What's going on here? There's a private aviation you can get on a plane and just kind of go where you want. That's pretty crazy. It always is. It's always changing. It's always. Yeah. I told you he's going to be quiet the whole entire time. He's going to let us know when it's his turn. And now he's letting us know it's his turn. All right. But buddy, buddy, we still got a little bit longer. Just a little, just a little bit longer. We'll give you. Give us 10, buddy. Give us a little bit longer. buddy. I told you though. I call him. I know this guy way too well. Yeah. See? Come up here. What do you think about old Rage in New England? I think that's I mean, I was waiting for this subject to come up actually because you guys know Rage. You guys both played for him. But I think that's the perfect fit for New England overall. Just for the organization, for the fan base, for the Kraft family. I just love his mantra. I love what he stands for. I never really met Vrabel before, just for a quick second. I've heard plenty of stories of him because he was that first era of being a patriot and winning all the Super Bowls. But just to see the way he progressed as a coach too, that's why he's such a good fit too for New England because he's established. He put his time in as a player, put his time in as a coach going to Ohio State, working his way up, going to Houston as like what, D.C. or whatever. Then getting the heck, so he took a step every single way to get to where he is. And I think he just has the personality just from just seeing it and just hearing from other players that I think he's the truest perfect fit possible for the second era after Bill Belichick. What they're doing so far in New England, you can't really argue with any of the moves that they have made so far. I think they have made every move correctly with the draft, with who they took all the way from free agency. They had all that money. They went and got the guys they need to get for the positions they need to get. You never know, though, when you make a team out of free agency, you never know how it's going to be. But with a guy like Grable, I feel like he can gel them because he's a guy that can gel people. He played offense before, special teams, defense. Those guys know how to gel. He'll tell you. He'll tell you he's done it all, too. 14 years in the NFL and he's been a guy on every part of the entire roster. If you look at the Titans in 2021 I think they set a record for the most players played because of all the injuries and we were the number one seed going into the playoffs Obviously we lost the first round we played but that shows a guy that can gel his team Really, I think it just depends on Drake May. If Drake May can show up in a big way and take a step from year one to year two, the Patriots could be good, actually good with all the free agency acquisitions. I'm going on record to say that they're making the playoffs this year as well. I don't think You know, they have a chance at the division, but the Bills are going to be established. But it's AFC. Dolphins are going to dolphin, you know. They're going to look beautiful real quick out of the water, and then they're going to sink back down, you know. The Jets, you know, I mean. We know. They're just too far away still, I mean. And then the Bills are going to, you know, the Bills are good. They're established. They're going to obviously be the dominant. But I think the Patriots, they can sneak into the playoffs this year. I can see that. I don't think they're going to compete for a Super Bowl, but I think in the two, three years possibly, yes, but this year they're going to be making a big impact. I mean, if you go from, what, the fourth overall pick this year to the playoffs the next year, that's a huge jump. Speaking of, since we're all team fan duel, we should get a little futures parlay going. I want to say the Commanders over-unders 9.5, Titans are 5.5, and Patriots are 7.5 wins. Get a little combine them all, futures bet. Hit the overs? Yeah. Hit the overs on them all. Well, what is it? Why are we hitting the overs with the Titans? Why can't we each do the over and then the Titans, we do the under? You think the Titans will struggle and not win over? You think the Titans are not going to get six games? I don't think so. No. How many did they get last year? Three. Four? Three. I think they got four or five in them this year. No, it wasn't five. I know. Oh, this year. What's the improvement? Yeah, they got the quarterback number one overall pick, but I'm just saying overall, what else did they get? This is a good piece. They paid a left tackle $80 million, and they're going to move their left tackle from last three, but all 17 games, he was the top 10 pick over to the right side. They got Zeitler at right guard now. They got Cushenberry at center. And then you have a guy going into his third year that was an 11th overall pick. Peter Skarovsky at left guard. So we have a good offensive line. Alright. You got Calvin Ridley and you got two great backs in Spears and Pollard. It really depends on Cam Ward. If Cam Ward can be who we've kind of seen him be, then they are going to easily win over five and a half games. So it's all on Cam Ward. It is. As a rookie quarterback. Just like the Patriots, it's all on Drake May. Mm-hmm. Because you got seven and a half. We got five and a half. With that breakdown, you know, I feel more comfortable taking the over. I will say, well, let me play that. I was going to say, this is a good team meeting. Good team meeting. Maybe we go both options. Over one and an under one. Well, what's the Patriots over under? Seven and a half. Oh, yeah. We got to go over. If I say they're making the playoffs, it's going to be over. Yeah. And that's a weak division as well, you know? Yeah, you have won the monster. You have a monster. Yeah, with the Bills. But I'm going over big time. I'm going over big time. We're all just going to be so biased. And what's the Commanders, 9 1⁄2? 9 1⁄2, which is a big one. That is big. But I said, Jane Daniels in his second year. And they only upgraded their team as well. They went out and got some more talent. You know, you've got Cliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator. He's established. He knows how to handle players, and he knows how to break down players' talent as well and use it. So I like the over. We've got to do a parlay where it's just all over there. Let's go big, too. Let's go big. Go up to September 14th. That's the first game or September 7th? September 7th, the Raiders. Dub. But Pete Carroll, you have the new running back in there. Geno Smith is there. They're going to run the ball. They're going to play good football. Toss-up. You said the Dolphins come out of the water early in the season and look really pretty? That one's in Miami. And that one's in Miami. And it's in Miami. But did you see Pornoi break down the Patriots schedule? Yeah, I thought he did a great job. I mean, they're going 17-0. So he did do a great job. He did a good job. He did a good job of that. I looked. I was like five and a half minutes, like the first 30 seconds, the first breakdown of the first game. I was like, all right. I was like, maybe I can watch five and a half minutes. But he was so good at entertaining the first, you know, breakdown of the Las Vegas game. I was like, all right, I got to watch every single one. I watched the whole entire video. and I literally walked away like that was good. You walked away and I was going to go 17-0. They might be 17-0. Yeah, they might be. There's a reason why Dave is where Dave's at. He can talk. Steelers. We're not breaking down the whole schedule. I was looking at seven games. They're going above seven. I mean, we got the Steelers number. The Patriots always take down the Steelers no matter what. We just do. You got the Panthers. It's very favorable. The Titans, Saints, Browns, Falcons. Yeah, we feel good about seven and a half there. Jets. We feel good about that. Yeah, we're going over 7.5. Yeah. The Titans, I know I talked big about their offense, but they are going to have holes on defense. They're going to have their quarterback, their secondary is going to be in a tough position. And that's going to be tough on a rookie quarterback then too because a rookie quarterback needs help from the defense in order to get truly established and understand everything going on. And you're not playing from behind all the time. Exactly. And when you're playing from behind as a rookie, it's tough to get over that hump then. It's tough to win games. I mean, you've got to be truly established as a quarterback in order to understand, like, all right, this is what we've got to do from behind. This is what we've got to do with a shitty defense. That's hard to understand your rookie year, you know, in the NFL at that position. But I'm down. I'm down to do – I'm down to parlay. Actually, I've got my phone right here. I'm up with the parlay in right now. At least build it so we know what the odds are. I won that bet. I won that bet last night. Florida Panthers taking down, you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7. do you need another moment of silence for that? No, no, I appreciate you. Thank you for thinking about my feelings, but we don't need to. We're going to go to Tear Talk while you're putting that in. And Tear Talk is sponsored by Roe. Roe Sparks are a 2-1 prescription treatment for guys who need a secret weapon against softness. Roe Sparks can give you guys bigger, thicker, longer erections because they get fuller. After Roe Sparks dissolve, they work in 15 minutes on average. If prescribed new sexual health patients get $15 off their first order on Sparks on a recurring plan, connect with the provider at roe.co slash bustin to find out if a prescription Roe Sparks are right for you. That's roe.co slash bustin for $15 off your first order. So you're saying it will give me an erection? No, we're saying it will give you a thicker, longer, bigger erection. Well, then it's for me. Yeah. There you go. Let me go. Let's fucking go. All right, here we go. I got the odds for the Tennessee Titans regular season wins, but they give plenty of odds. You can do over 3.5 wins or over 5.5 wins or over 7.5 wins. So you're saying the standard odds, though, are over 5.5 wins. What does it say straight up? I don't know. It's minus 130 for 5.5 wins. Yeah, then that's the one that they'll be running. All right, so that's the one we want right there. So how do I parlay that? Do I go to another bet? All right. I'll go to the New England Patriots. All right. They're Washington Commanders. Click that. So what we want, over 9.5 wins. That's minus 110. That's the one we want then. All right. All right. There we go. That parlay, same game parlay. And now we're going with the New England Patriots. Where are you guys? Right there. Over, under 7.5, minus 150. That's it. Just clicked it. All right. Now it's plus 473 overall. Plus 473 for that. So how much should I put in? So this is a future bet. I'm going to do it. Don't do it yet. We could get a little juice from FanDuel. Yeah. Like we tell them we get done with the bus. We hit up FanDuel. Hey, we want to put this. Rock and the boys parlay. Rock and the boys parlay. Yeah, but I'm going to put a little something on it now, and then I'm going to go big when they give us that little juice. Yeah. So I'm going to do 300. There we go. 300 right there. 300, I'm going to win 1,400. Okay. That's the bet right there. I'm feeling good. We're all feeling good about our teams. Yeah, we're worried about that. I'm thinking about this tier talk right now. Our tier talk today is going to be best movie couples. That's what I'm hearing? Yeah, best movie couples, which is tough. I've thought about it. It's very hard. I love, like, the outside football talk. I thrive. Football is great to talk about, but I can't talk too much football. Right. I really can't. If the players are hanging out, you're going to talk about more than just football. I love talking more than football. I love off-the-field type conversations. So what's this one? I'll kick it off with Tier Talk. All right. Explain. Tier Talk is what I live for. Tier 3, Tier 2, Tier 1. You're ranking them three all the way up. Do we got an honorable mention as well? You can throw in an honorable mention. All right. And for an honorable mention, my first honorable mention is going to be Noah and Ali from The Notebook. It's a movie that will stand the test of time. Great love story. I do enjoy love. And sticking on the theme of love. I do enjoy love. I do enjoy love. I love a good tearjerker. Love is the greatest drug out there. Amen. Amen. My tier three is going to be Jerry and Holly from P.S. I Love You. Great tearjerker movie. Welcome to the A-Building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Anilak Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had both been assassinated. And black America was at a breaking point. Rioting and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, it's where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper in the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you. Purpose when success isn't enough. peace when your mind won't slow down, faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chat, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knott and in the new podcast Doubt the Case of Lucy Letby we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was No voicing of any skepticism or doubt It'll cause so much harm at every single level that the British establishment of this is wrong Listen to Doubt the Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts be right there great tearjerker movie where jerry knows he's gonna die and he writes these little p.s i love you notes all throughout her life she finds them it is a very great love story my tier two is going to be rocky and adrian one of the best proposals of all time where he says hey what are you doing for the next 40 50 years and she's like i don't know why and he's like you you wouldn't mind uh marrying me too much or anything right and she's like huh he's like you with my marry me too much. She says, yes, Rocky, Adrian, great love story. That is my tier two. My tier one is none other than Shrek and Fiona. Oh, that's a good one. Great one. Yes. Oh, man, that's a good one. I finally watched it. It turns into the ogre. It gets into the end. She loves Shrek. She doesn't want to be with the prince. She doesn't care to be the queen. And that is all-time love story. That is my tier one. I watched that with Camille last year for the first time, and I'm in love. I'm in love with Shrek Shrek is a great movie Have you watched all of them? I kind of like Shrek in some comparisons I can't believe you didn't say that No homo, I think you're no paws really too, I think you're a good looking cat Shrek is too I'm an ogre in a way You got some ogre tendencies Yeah, there we go Shrunk Shrunk Kind of looks like me a little bit So now we give one word to describe how we feel about Will's cheer talk. I'll go first. Hyphenated saved it. What was your one word? Saved it. That's two. Hyphenated. Oh, that's one. Spectacular. Oh. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Voice? Voice? Yeah. Shrunk. Lovely. Buzzer beater. Emotional. Money. Strong. Touching. Wow. Thank you, boys. Thank you. Wow. I was getting turned on from all those descriptions. It's because you got that rose spark in your chest. I really did feel it back there. The emotions. The boys' emotions. Taylor, would you like to go second, or do we want to throw it to Gronk? Go to the Gronk. All right. So just best movie couples? Yeah. All right, my honorable mention, I'm going to go with my girlfriend and Channing Tatum in the movie. Oh, shit, what was that movie that she was in? In Free Guy, it was the opening scene. Yeah, it was really touching. So it's honorable mention because they weren't really dating, but it was like going on a date, like the opening scene. Was it kind of the best senior girl with Channing Tatum? Yeah, it was, but I've got to give it honorable mention. Like he's a rocket. Yeah, I know, he is. And he's got moves, bro. You talk about dancing. I know. I wonder what happened behind the scenes. So that's honorable mention. You got to see it. Free Guy. It's a great movie. She's a hot chick in the beginning in the car with Channing. Yeah. Yeah, there they are right there. And that's a good scene. He's badass. Yeah, that's a good one. It was a badass scene. So I got to give her some credit there. She did very well throughout that whole movie. And then I'll go with number three. I'll go with Justin Baldini and Blake Lively, and it ends with us. Yeah, I still haven't seen the movie, but it's talked about so much that I've got to put them in that ballgame of being top three. I mean, when you're talking about it that much, it's got to be a power couple throughout the movie. It ends with us. So that's number three. number two, tier two I'll go with Shia LaBeouf is that how you say his first name? Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox in Transformers 1 Transformers 1 that was excellent dude, who doesn't love Transformers 1 and they were like an ultra power couple in that movie number one you know it was a real life relationship at the time too and also they made one of the best movies of all time i'm a big action guy mr and mrs smith but angela jolie and brad pitt yes all aspects of that category because i they're a real life relationship it was a relationship in the movie and it's also an action movie and i love action movies so that's number one by far for me. My word? Fireworks. Is that two words? Is that fireworks combined? Or with a little dash? Like fire dash words? Fireworks is one word. It is one word. You're right. It depends how you're using it. The way you're using it. Just testing it. I'm making sure. My one word? Amazing. Boys? Shrunk. Shrunk again. Perfect. Incredible. Strong. Hyphenated Gronk Spike. Okay, that's one word. Solid. Elite. Buddy, that was a good word. That was a great deal. And Mr. Bissie Smith is one that's not on my list. If I could redo it, I probably would because it's so great, but I'm not going to take it. My tier three is going to go to Tess and Finn from Fool's Gold. that's played by Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Now, at the beginning of the movie, they're getting divorced. The whole movie, they're getting divorced. Towards the end, you'll have to watch it. Spoiler alert, they get back together. It's a beautiful one of Matthew McConaughey. Looks phenomenal, that movie. Not to mention... I actually just read his book, Greenlight. I just finished it. Was it solid? Oh, very solid. Yeah, he's got a lot of... Any chance, if you like to read books, read Matthew McConaughey's book, Greenlight. Shout out, Matthew McConaughey. My tier two is going to go to Vanessa and Deadpool in the first movie. The Passion. that those two have with each other. Trying to outdo each other on how bad their childhoods are. They get engaged with a, what is it, a ring pop? And then all of a sudden the big C word comes and obviously we know how the whole entire movie goes. My tier one is going to go to Jeremy Gray and John Beckwith from Wedding Crashers. You'd probably say, Taylor, those two guys, they weren't married. Life and business is like a marriage with your best friends. Those two working together tirelessly during wedding season to grab and stab all these other beautiful women is something that takes a lifelong friendship to achieve, which is a marriage and that is why they are my tier one. Alright, I'll go first. I'll say creative because of your tier one. Thank you. Wham! Greatest hits. Mazel tov. Ring pop. Silver medal. Those are both two words. You need hyphenated. Got to say hyphenated. Yeah, you got to. Hyphenated third place. Boom. Boom. Boom. How many? Three booms. Okay. Okay. Boom, boom, boom. Great tear tone. Great tear talk. And you understood. You understood the assignment. Like I said, man, outside of football, I love conversation. Like football can, you know, go for so long. Right. We're going to have this episode to bring you True Classic. Now, listen, you're going to find True Classic at Costco, Nashville, June 13th. That's what you're going to find. Also, Sam's Club Target or online at trueclassic.com forward slash bussin. They've done so well, they're doing a kids and women's line launch later this year. Now, you might see me wearing the all black, my usual cartoon uniform right now. Grabs the shoulders, holds the chest in real nice. Can we get a wide, Mitch? I want to show them a little how flexible this is. So I got the left leg up here. I'm going to bring that down. I'm just going to bring that all the way there, right there. The only thing that holds me back is my own flexibility. That's the only thing holding me back. You see that cheek back there, Will? That's very good mobility. Thank you. Very good range by True Classic. Great job, True Classic. They look good, so you can play good. Let's get back to this episode. Here's a question in the football world. However, I think it involves you being a student of the game and giving game to the fellow young ones out there. During the COVID year, when a lot of things were virtual, there's a story about you potentially wearing different T-shirts while you're doing a sprint workout to send it in. Give some game to the young cats out there on how you gain access. Yeah, you've got to work smarter, not harder, boys. That's what it's all about, and that's what keeps you around a lot longer. is you can work as hard as you want, but if you're doing something that's making you insane and you just keep working harder, you're going to get more insane. Yeah. You know, but you got to work smarter. So you're supposed to, you know, during COVID you were doing all the workouts at home and you had to send it into an app to prove that you were doing the workouts. So you actually had to film yourself like benching and film yourself, you know, running the routes or running the sprints. But you didn't have to do the whole entire bench. Like it was like your last set or you would have to, you know, show like two of the runs that you were doing. So instead of filming myself running every time, I just film my, so that day you have 12 runs. So you got to show two of them. So instead of filming myself every single time to submit the runs, I brought out six different T-shirts. And every two runs, I would switch my T-shirt up and then film the whole entire run that day. And then I would submit those two runs with a different T-shirt on every single time that those moments came up that I had to submit it. And so I tricked them. but I tricked him so technically maybe I didn't run that day then because I was like oh I'll just use the video yeah yeah I hit the band show I tricked him did you tell on yourself or did somebody ever find out I told on myself told the story to the reporters actually that year that is so funny like once the head coach was like what the fuck I got everyone hitting me up you're an asshole he loved it though he thought it was great That is a funny piece of game. Last question. The Bud Light question. Everybody knows he would do anything for a Bud Light. What is one thing that Rob Gronkowski would do anything for Can't Say Family? Oh. Well, my dog's technically family, right? Yeah. Yeah. Girl is technically family. Yeah. Yeah. So what would I do anything for? Dang, that's a really good question. I would do anything to be happy at all times, 24-7. That would be something special. You can't go against that, right? No, I don't think so. Yeah, to be happy at all times. What about playing your junior year of college? Okay. All right. Physically, that's mentally. So now physically, I would go back. I would love to play my junior year in college. And also, I transferred my senior year in high school. If I could somehow play that year that I played in Pittsburgh, but also play the year at my old high school as well. Yeah, so if I could do double senior seasons in high school and play the year, my junior year in college at Arizona. because you do you like when you leave like you miss your boy like i left my boys like in high school you know i went to a different school i was getting in trouble and stuff there's a lot more to it but then i went to pittsburgh my senior year but like you know i i'm still friends with all those guys like to this day and like you're leaving them you know uh i mean it's for the better in the end like it worked out for sure but like still like you wish you could you know you watch all the high school movies and everything like friday night lights and like you wish you could finish strong with the people you started with right but it just didn't work that way and same with you know my third year you know at the university of arizona so i would do anything you're right mentally to be happy at all times so it's being happy is great like and energized and energized and then physically go back and play those years i love it what's something you weren't uh necessarily prepared for kind of came as a surprise like during retirement like you're a guy hall of fame career one of the best to ever do it and you obviously tasted retirement that one year and then you came back to Tampa Bay, but now you're like officially retired. What's something you feel like you didn't necessarily see coming with retirement? You know, being on a routine, you know, when you're playing ball and you're an athlete your whole life, you always have a routine. You got to be at practice. You got to, you know, be in the film room. Like it's there, like it's handed to you like a, you know, a schedule every single day, that routine, you know what to do and get prepared for. And then once you retire, that routine is totally thrown out the window. It's kind of up to you now to schedule when you're going to work out, when you're going to do this, when you're going to study, all that good stuff. So just getting on a routine. And when you totally get off of it as well, it fucks with you. You're kind of mentally weak. Sometimes you're flying all over the place. You're not doing the right things. You're not getting your workouts in and all that good stuff. And you're just so used to doing all that on a continuous basis. Even if you don't feel like it, you have to do it when you're an athlete because everyone else is doing it. you don't have that push around you. So that's the tough spot is getting that push, you know, to get to the next level and also that routine of always, you know, being on the grind and getting things done. Yeah, because when it snowballs, you're just laying there and you just get so mad at yourself from falling out of a routine. Then you start talking to yourself like in ways, like you said, like, oh, I'm mentally weak, like I'm fucking falling off. Look what's happened to you. Look at an old photo of yourself, like that guy worked hard. But you guys got it down, though. Like, look at you guys that keep each other accountable, I bet, you know, doing the show you got to get a routine and you know get prepared for it you know study up same thing with myself and julian uh we got our podcast welcome to the a building i'm hans charles i'm in a little limba it's 1969 malcolm x and martin luther king jr have both been as fascinated that black america is at a breaking point writing and protest broke out on an unprecedented scale in atlanta georgia at martin's alma mater morehouse college the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution, I mean, people were dying. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should and it will blow your mind listen to the a building on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts what do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you i'm ben higgins and if you can hear me is where culture meets the soul a place for real conversation each episode I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go deeper in the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you. Purpose when success isn't enough. Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. no voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level that the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Lettie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Dudes on dudes, so you got to prepare for that, get mentally ready, kind of physically ready too, because you want to be physically feeling good at all times. It keeps your mental game sharp. So you just got to find the guys out there that want to get on the same page with you and want to do that as well. What is it like diving into the podcast world with Jules? Yeah, it's great. And what's great about it, Julian already had his podcast, Games With Names. So Julian was experienced. The podcast, I never thought it was really for me. I always liked going on people's podcasts. But I said no forever. I was like, I don't want to start my own podcast. But then once I went on Julian's and we had the chemistry, and then I saw that Julian can carry the load of the podcast too. the load we were just talking about that on Sunday conversations he's like oh Julian takes the whole load of the podcast I was like yeah so that just brought you know kind of triggered my mind but I was like alright so he's going to be there to help me along and everything and it's just great to have a teammate so I was like this is perfect and his team around him was already experienced everything set up ready to go right when you walk in so I was like I can do it now and it was just the right fit it's kind of like going to Tampa had to be the right fit Yeah. Do you travel out there to do it each time you guys do the pod? Well, I'm in L.A. all the time for the pregame for the Fox show. So we usually just knock out an episode or two on, like, that Monday or Friday or something. And now that it's offseason, we get together. Like, we were just in Boston last week. We knocked out two episodes. But if we're not, we just do it over Zoom. Gotcha. Yeah, so half of them right now in the offseason are over Zoom. The other half are when we can get in person whenever we can. That's awesome. We've got to get all the boys together. Yeah, if we can get the four of us in one room, that'd be awesome. It really would be, man. The boys, the dudes. It would be good stuff. Gosh. You guys basically, you guys are like football with a little, all football with a little everything else as well? Yeah, I'd say we're probably 70% football. 70%. In the off-season, too, like, I mean, we have, like, comedians, musicians, like, coaches, players, all these different things. Yeah, that's what we were. We were basically all football in the first couple, though, and I was like, bro, I'm not all football. Like, I can't. So now we're switching up with, like, fan questions that are, like, or that like tear talk that we just did with the movie couples like we come up with segments like that now too and i'm like this is way better like football is great for half of it but the other half i wanted for this freelance what's going on what you're doing at the moment like what you learn like new technique new trick in life or whatever with new hack just whatever just go off so not just all about football now we're kind of blossoming more uh like because of it hot topics whatever he's talking about right there so football is great i mean but it's like to do it 24 7 i like I like abroad of everything. I'm with you on that. Absolutely with you. Before we let Mr. Gronkowski go, does anybody have a question back there they'd like to ask? Anybody? Feel free. I thought that guy in the middle would ask me where I get my IVs from, even though we already brought it up. Where you guys get your IVs from, too? Are you talking about Airtay, Nashville? Yeah, Airtay, Nashville. So, yeah, he does do a good job. I don't want to give him the credit, but he's good at speaking to you. You know he's seeking the credit. He's seeking. Yeah, seeking it. And he does rehydrate you well. So these unbelievable nurses there that work really hard. Yes. And they actually deserve all the credit, all the women nurses that he has hired. Absolutely. So, yeah, Arritate in Nashville, they do get you hydrated and fills you up with the best vitamins in the game. It is. It's pretty solid stuff. Yeah, the nurses, you run that company. Run it. Run it. They really do. Without the nurses. Bubba, they didn't see all the work in the beginning, bro. They didn't see where it started. They didn't see where it started. Yeah. And Bubba, we do appreciate it. Before the show, you were talking about giving us all free IVs for like next two months. so I appreciate you saying that. I agree. If you're going to possible, Bobo, give us all free IVs. Thank you, Bobo. For the next couple months, then that is awesome. Thank you, sir. And if you're listening and you hear this, just walk in and say, hey, I heard you're giving out free IVs. Yeah. Code Bussin. Just come to the other code Bussin. Yes. On the Gronk episode, it's free IVs. So that is big time, Bobo. You have to give out free IVs. You have to give it out. Got you, man. We're not saying NAD, a vitamin bag, the athlete bag, you have to give out if someone comes in. But, Gronk, you remember he was saying that he was giving all of us NAD for free. Yeah, we're giving NAD for free. Yeah, yeah. But if you hear this, you can get a vitamin bag for free. Yeah, for free. We don't want to go bankrupt now. No, no, no. Just a big bag, get in there. Small bag, too. Put it all robbed again. No, small bag, big bag. That is no real price difference. It's just fluid. Fluid's five cents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even though you get charged $100. Got to make a profit. Got to make a profit. Margins are healthier. Yeah. It's like ice cream. Ice cream margins. Ice cream margins. Did you have a question? When do ice cream companies make their most amount of money? When do they? What month? July. June? See, that's what you think. It's actually May. It's like right when the weather blossoms because everyone wants to hurry up and get there. I heard they make all their money for the whole year. Yes, June, July, and August are great, but when it's truly packed, it's the first month that the sun comes out. I learned that. That's what I've been told. No shit. That's crazy. Because everyone goes crazy. It's like when the weather is nice outside. How bazonkers is it outside? It's wild. Wild the first week, right? People walking around, yeah. Later in the summertime, you go out on Saturday, it's like, ah, people are like, ah, we've seen the sun every single day now. Yeah, right. Everyone goes apeshit when it's the first week of nice weather. Same with ice cream world. When it comes to ice cream, I don't discriminate on weather. I'll take down an ice cream in the middle of January. I love that stuff. Love it. Go ahead, Jackie. Was the Steve Harvey Lego head spike scripted? Damn. Damn, that's a good question. And everyone wants to know that, actually. It's still talked about to this day. That was a legendary moment by far. We were hosting New Year's Eve on Fox, and I spiked the Steve Harvey Lego set of his head, of his face. But what was scripted was that I was going to spike it. Like, I knew I was spiking it. They had me in the script. Hey, Gronk, you're going to spike the Steve Harvey Legos. Not Steve Harvey. Steve. My names are all over the place. Steve. No, you're right. Steve Harvey. I'm getting confused with another Steve I know. But the Steve Harvey Legos said, hey, you're going to spike it. So when I spiked it, that was kind of, you know. Understood. Understood. That was kind of scripted. Did he know it and Steve know it? But his reaction was not scripted at all. and I'm not sure either if he knew I was going to spike it or not I knew I was going to from the beginning I'm not sure if he knew but his reaction was priceless man it felt like he was truly pissed if he truly was how was the dynamic after? it was fine he didn't bring it up after he was like nice spike but he wasn't out to scream like why the fuck did you do that no no he acted like that when it happened And, I mean, he kind of got me scared. I was like, oh, shit. Like, was I really supposed to do that or not? Like, he's pissed. But it was good. It was TV. It was one of my best moments, one of my best moments on TV of all time. I love it. I love it. Boys, we feel good? Any other questions back there? I know, but I don't like telling anyone that scripted. Because everyone truly believes it was, like, right on the spot. Like, I decided to do that. Steve sells it. Yeah. And he sells it big time. Yeah. He sold it that good. So, yeah, it was scripted. but it was unscripted scripted. Unscripted scripted. Let's give Rob a round of applause, boys. Thank you for coming on the bus. Thank you guys for having me, man. Busting with the boys. That's what's up, man. Thank you. We finally made it happen. Yes. Oh, yeah. Fan duel is the best, man. This fall is going to be awesome. I can't wait for it. Can we get a photo of you guys? Yeah, big hugs, tiny kisses. Subscribe. I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him. If I could press a button and rewind it, all I would. That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one-night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. At a Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protest and rebellion in black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lamumba. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and If You Can Hear Me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers, most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on my iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? I just made the fit. The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed. What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh, my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubts, The Case of Lucy Lettby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.