 Naim Hines, spokesperson for MDA. We're in a t-shirt, we see all the social media coverage, raising money, doing the right thing, and we can't wait to get into it. But first, almost five seasons in one place, middle of the country, Indianapolis, those colds. Talk me through landing in Buffalo and joining the Bills. I think it really just starts from that Tuesday, that Tuesday at 3.55 when... Naim Hines is going to the Buffalo Bills. Wow, wow. With a shot clock expiring trade on the books made official. I get the call from Chris Ballard and they're telling me I'm being sent to Buffalo and then at four o'clock the Bills are calling me and then their next question is, they tell me they're happy, they have me excited. They tried to get me the past couple of years and their next question was, can you get on this seven o'clock flight? So I was in Buffalo at 12 a.m. the next morning. So what are the feelings you're feeling about leaving India and then being in this new spot? You know, there was some tears shed when I went in there and I turned my iPad. It was, you know, I've built a lot of relationships with my coaches, a lot of guys, the equipment guys over the past five years. And you know, that's a hard place. It was like home. But you know, sometimes, you know, they take some steps forward in life, you gotta take some steps back. So it was really hard to leave but ever since I've been to Buffalo, I've been super happy, even though other hasn't been that bad. So it was bad, but honestly, when you go somewhere where you feel like you're wanted and loved and it just makes it easier. I mean, you were there for about three minutes, dude. And then all of a sudden, you are the air guitar, the karaoke, the karaoke stuff is amazing. What was that like? It was just great. I'm told they tried to pull me on there. And honestly, I just said a play a song I like. And I was actually in the equipment room, in the back of the equipment room, I'm packing my stuff from Indy. And then I heard I write since not tragedies come on. And I had to run in there and, you know, get my two cents. I was gonna say, it didn't really look like they were trying to get you to do it. It looked like you were like, oh, let me do that. Yeah, I mean, they could try to give me like 10 or 15 minutes to go. And I guess the right song was the plan. Then I heard one of my favorite rock band songs came on. And I guess I just had to go out there and rock out. What's the energy like? Give me, you know, lots of expectations on this bill squad. They look like they're having fun, but the pressure is thick. What's it really like in there? Like you said, we're having fun, but we know the pressure that comes with this. You know, they're trying to be suitable contenders. They're trying to get over the hump, get past the AMC championship game. The only way you can really get through all that pressure is kind of keep it a little bit loose. Lab joke and honestly, all that looseness makes you become closer as a team. Who's like the class clown that you've already noticed? A few four weeks. Like everybody, Josh Allen stuff on digs and probably Isaiah McKenzie. All those guys are funny and everybody else is funny too, but I think those are like the leaders of making everybody laugh. What do you want fans to know? And even, you know, pundits, people who have shows like me about how challenging it is to go from a place, the only place you know, to a new place, mid-season and trying to learn a playbook. I think what I want people to know is with this process, everything in life that we want, we normally want it in instant gratification, but unfortunately in life and in football, it's not like that. So really just got to start from scratch, start from zero and try to learn and get in where you fit in and just have some great helping hands along the way. I cannot wait to see the nine hinds breakout game. Like I know there's a new win. Just if you touch it on offense so far, what is the plan and when is that game coming? I don't really know the plan. I know that they're trying to get me going and I want to come here and have 10, 15, 20 touches offense, but it doesn't work like that. I have to know what I'm doing when I've learned those guys trust. And that's really where I'm at. I've had to play a special team and do some things I've never done before. But that's what it takes sometimes to get to where you want to be and what it takes to be great. Pines, it's a foot race and they're not going to get them. Here's a quote you had before I go back there. I say, I don't care about my life. And my question to you is, how can you possibly enjoy returning pups? Honestly, I mean, punts are better than kickoffs. I mean, at least a punch, you can fair catch it. I mean, but honestly, it's just, it's a skill. Like I tell a lot of people, either you can do it or you can't do it. It takes a special skill to be able to read the ball and be able to look up and down and catch a ball where there's 10 or 11 other guys trying to kill you. So really, I think it's just the type of player I am. It's just like how I run across the middle and catch slants. You just kind of have to be fearless back there, trust your teammates and trust your technique. So what do you tell yourself when you're back there in the second before it happened? Honestly, excuse my language when I say this, like, that's exactly what I say. And I mean, not on a bad way and not a reckless way, but you kind of have to just be like, screw it. What do you mean, not a reckless way? Because, I mean, you can't just go back there and just be like, oh, what happens if the kicks are, oh, what happened to somebody's in my face? You kind of can't think about that. You don't know what's going to happen. You know what type of kick is going to be and you don't know who's going to be there when you catch it. So you really just have to go out there and really be as fearless as possible and be ready for anything to happen. You have a big game against the New England Patriots. But what do you think? It's Josh Allen. I mean, when you get to practice them every day, you get to see what makes them really great. And Josh is very, very smart. I mean, I don't think people really talk about how smart of a guy he is. They just talk about how incredible of an athlete he is, how great his right arm is, which are also very, very great, but he has an answer and when those answers to the test aren't there, he can pick it up with his legs. How do you sort of break down that wall when he has chemistry with these guys during your app? To start with, I'm on Josh's good side. I remember we were at the rookie premiere together the first time I met him and I remember he was just over there and we were all dancing in front of the camera. So each guy had their own dance. And for whatever reason, they played Shake It Off by Taylor Swift. And you know, most guys aren't gonna do with that. So I remember him not knowing what to do and I came over there immediately to start dancing while we had videos of it. So that's a great icebreaker. Outside of that, you can just kind of go with them, joke to them. We talk about Call of Duty Warzone and stuff like that. So it's really easy to talk to Josh. So this game against New England, I got sidetracked. You're gonna have a little extra motivation out there because you'll be wearing custom cleats for my costume, my cleats and you're repping muscular dystrophy association. You are the spokesperson and you've been raising awareness all over social media and through charity events, raising money. How did you first get involved? A long time ago, my grandmother passed away with it in 2004, my mom and uncle currently have it. And ever since about college, I've had a platform. So I've been just trying to raise awareness for something that's very, very rare. And the muscular dystrophy association has done a great job of helping me raise awareness. They cover a lot of things that people don't even realize. Like ALS is a form of muscular dystrophy. So if you actually look into muscular dystrophy of this rare genetic disease, there's a lot of people who might be affected and they just don't know it's that type of muscular dystrophy. And your mom, you were only 14 when she was diagnosed. And she, as I understand it, telling me you're wrong, she spent a lot of time in the hospital in the past couple of years and you sort of have grown up watching her battle. How has her strength affected you? Yeah, like you said, my mom, in 2021, in 2020, she was in the hospital over 100 days. The past two years, I watched my mom. She's lived by herself. She's fallen and broken both of her hips. It's two separate times. So it's been definitely tough, but I think the easiest thing for me to just remind myself is how watching my mom wake up every day, she has to struggle to brush her teeth. I have to help her with her hair sometimes. And it puts things in perspective that life is not as bad as you ever think it is. It can always be worse. And obviously, I play a sport that's very, very physical. So there's days where times, even in a game, where I'm like, I'm not even your legs are tired. Like, what can you do? And I think about my mom. My mom's legs are tired every day when she wakes up. She just doesn't have it like she used to. I used to race my mom and now she can't hardly walk. I think the biggest thing with all this is just hearing my mom and my uncle's story is of everybody telling them they can't do something. And just thinking about me as a 5995 running back and people telling me things that I can't do and still can't do. And I'll probably try to prove them wrong the rest of my career. But I think just seeing a lot of my loved ones struggle like that has been really hard, but it's been made me a stronger man. It has. Now you're going to be wearing those cleats on Thursday and you're helping raise money. And the money is so important, I think especially, in particularly with Muscular District Association, which you know I work closely with as well and strongly support. And it's a really easy cause to support because there is progress and they are close and there's hope. And the fact that there is hope is such a powerful and beautiful thing. And so the money matters, the time matters, the awareness matters. Like I've learned in life, like hope is a very, very positive and contagious thing. And even as athletes, when you have hope, you can do a lot of things that you can't, that you can never imagine. How can people help? Well, the first thing to do to help is you can just go to mda.org, forward slash donate. And that's just for donating. But after that, you can just go to mda.org and look up and just really brush up on your research on it because I feel like if you just Google what Muscular District is, you will learn a lot about it and there's probably somebody within your family or friends that is affected by it. There's over 40 types. So if you can just brush up and really just raise awareness of it and just figure out what it is, you can help out and change a lot of lives. And there's probably somebody who is closely affected to you. You excited to wear those cleats? Oh, I'm super excited. They're blue, they got a little bit of gold and I haven't seen it. Like Ironi Jackson's done well. I'm super excited to wear it. We're in all white. I'll have the blue on. So this week I'll have a little bit extra motivation. I can look down and see the people who motivate me every day to play well. So I'm super excited. And you know, it's Thursday night game. So I'm excited for prime time. It's prime time. It's MDA on those cleats. Your family's names on them. It's such a beautiful thing and a powerful thing. And I'm just, I really hope that you score that touchdown. I need that. Now that we've had this chat, I just feel like it all kind of makes sense that you get in the end zone and then everything can just sort of come full circle. What do you think? Like we talked about hope is a great thing. And I'm hopeful that that is a real thing. And I think it'll be a great day for us. MDA.org is where to go. Bill's fans, NFL fans to help support this incredible cause. Good luck against Belichick Thursday. Thank you. Thank you for having me on. I hope to talk to you again soon.