 What's up you guys welcome back welcome back to another video in today's video. It's a bit of a more serious tone We've got two videos left to go guys two videos after these two. I don't know when I'm gonna be coming back to the camera I'm taking a full month off. I've decided it's gonna be at least three weeks. If not a month look we're coming into new years I mean 2020 what are your goals? I've got some goals. I'll probably tell you about them on future videos But not today today today. We're looking at a special it was made at the start of 2017 It's called well It was an Emmy winner actually and it's called life after football and it's it's a subject that I'm extremely interested in You know not just with football but with rugby any professional sport any any any career I guess that that that Produces adrenaline whilst you're at the top of your game any profession that you I guess perform in front of Thousands and thousands of people any profession that you Gain great praise from the public whilst you're obviously doing well. I'm extremely interested in how those athletes Transition to life after sport and how those athletes deal with the fact that they're not gonna get that high ever again Especially the athletes that don't necessarily have a career after football mean the guys who you know They would have been extremely awesome players They would have got amazing feedback and amazing You know a claim when they're at the top of their game, but once they stop literally that first year after retiring They're not playing. They're not in the limelight. They're not getting those messages of support. It must be extremely Extremely hard Depressing so look guys. I'm not gonna say anything else. We're gonna get into this I've been looking forward to watching this for a long time It's been sitting on my desktop for Probably about a week. I wanted to watch this with with all you guys a previous video that I watched it was a documentary. It was called By front line it was called League of denial and I really enjoyed it. It was scary, but I enjoyed it And so I think I'm gonna enjoy this too. So without further ado Let's get into it So just before we do get into this, I just want to read the description Newsday explores why so many former NFL players struggle while transitioning to life after football in the special report Here from former players including Wesley Walker Boomer is Cyson Bruce Harper and more Wesley Walker was one of my first ever reactions. I know he was a slot receiver Boomer is Cyson. I feel like he was in the top 100 greatest players of all time But I can't remember exactly who he is Bruce Harper. No idea. It's 23 minutes long Sit back relax. Let's You know sadly learn about The downfalls the pitfalls of of life after football and this Unless they're talking about the positive side of it. I'm not sure Let's go Life in football is unbelievable The excitement that is generated from knowing that you're gonna go play in front of at least 70,000 fans And if you're in a good team boomer playing against another good team in their building there he is You just know that the intensity is gonna be ratcheted up Man that reminds me of Reminds me of hard knocks. No, not hard knocks. It's some last chance you Absolutely amazing program torn ligaments in my neck and you Tony Gonzalez placement broken collarbone wrist Springs her native discs in my back ankle Springs. I broke my thumb. That's not Tony Gonzalez I'm twice. You can be my knee just like this. It could move. I played in the film in 15 season Well, maybe it is 18 years in a national football league played six years in the night that I'll tell you what I'll tell you What that guy looks like Aaron Donald's dad years in a national football league played six years in the national football league I've had a knee service on both my knees my ankles my elbows my shoulders my back I broke my leg fuck man. I just talked about the mental aspect of it What about coming out of football with no help no support and having all these physical elements as well Cannot be easy You know look guys, I'm gonna tell you right now that I feel blessed to have got through a sporting career, I guess With no major injuries touch wood So that means at age 29 even though I am just 29 a couple of weeks ago Well, actually a month ago. I feel as though my body is As healthy as that of an 18 year old, you know, I've never had any knee reconstructions No ankle surgeries. No peck tears. No bicep tears. Nothing I've had a torn adductor But that was due to my own doing and that was going way too deep on a shitty leg press with a crap Angle that wasn't suited to my body and that's one thing I will say guys is that not every leg press It's suited to your body So maybe you shouldn't use it a squat on the other hand. It's a lot more. I guess Well, it just suits a lot more people Still have a lot of work to do for former players I broke my leg in 72 the cost of trying to provide health care for every player that's ever played in the leaf trauma that comes and Does not appear until 1020 15 years later We will continue to make more efforts. There's a price to be paid playing in the film And now I'm paying the price, you know, I thought I was Superman when I play and now I discovered kryptonite It's called retirement when I was playing we did not call them We come to the sideline we get the little smelling sauce and okay get back in how many Have you guys ever tried smelling salts cuz I haven't but if they work that well, I mean, that's that's almost a small miracle I can't remember a player being taken out of a game For being concussed and I had teammates who couldn't remember plays who played who were dinged and Finally dinged so much they couldn't play anymore. It depends on how we're going to find concussion Is it just literally getting your bell wrong? Because it's a while what makes me sick is if a guy clearly is concussed and goes back into the game I saw that on last chance you believe it or not. We just talked about it. I saw it on last chance You I saw that that guy King Was it market can't remember but it was the wide receiver on the last the last season of of last chance you and I mean After he got one of his head knocks. He was sitting on the sideline. He couldn't even get up to to walk to the sheds, you know, it was Just it really made me Sick to watch and so head knocks and Guys who aren't aware of the danger of the head knocks and we'll just you know throw them back and back into the game That's just really really worrying my career. I didn't think I was playing hard enough Unless my bill. Yeah, that's fuck. That's insane, but it is football. You've got this helmet on you're gonna run straight into someone else You're gonna get your bell rung and I guess if you don't it's sort of like it's sort of like if someone Come comes off a rugby field and they don't have any dirt on their uniform. It's like did you even play? Well, it seems on a football field if you didn't get your bell rung. Did you even play? And this is not Tony Gonzalez, this is Chad Brown Or we're talking about actually being physically knocked out when you have lost consciousness Because then you know, there's six or seven or ten or a dozen times where that is happening to me as well That's a worry. I don't think anybody is Positive how many concussions they've had but I probably had two or three in my day When I would hand the ball off and I would watch a guy go into the pile What you hear and what you see you wonder how guys are coming out of that. It sounds like a car accident It was a game that when the whistle blew It was hand-to-hand combat all over the field crazy thing is is that if a player At the top of the game gets a concussion a genuine concussion. They don't want to tell anyone Why would they want to tell anybody? All that's gonna do is create media attention and Possibly have a negative effect on the rest of the career people get get concussion. They get injured They don't want anyone to know that's that's what's backwards about this whole thing. Isn't it? It's really hard Was that any man can play football, but it takes a real man to Play football when he isn't it that always was problematic to me. That's fucked up man Most people think that guys get hurt only in games. Oh my god Anyone can play football, but it takes a real man to play football when he's injured What do you guys think about that? But there's all these practices. There's way more practices There's almost five times as many practices that you have than you have games per week And a lot of things happen there and it wear and tears your body down when I injured my knee initially I Was playing at a very high level so I said to myself I don't want to get a MRI. I don't want to know exactly what it is as long as I can play and there you go Lots of people lined up to take this dangerous job Towards end of my career. I was making pretty good money Four or five times what a rookie would make and even that helps me holds me out from playing the game There's a threat to my job security when you're young bro. That's it. It's exactly what I was saying They don't want to tell anybody they want to say yep, everything's sweet. Yep, keep paying me my money all good But really they're not And you're trying to establish yourself and you want everybody to know that you're especially in those first few years If you're on your rookie contract, you ain't gonna tell nobody about nothing strong and you're tough you definitely shy away from reporting injuries because You're gonna get ridiculed gonna be called a soft guy They used to have this saying that you can't make the club and the tub things like that There's one sign in the New England Patriots training room Duraugr really is more important than ability. That's a Very slogany way of saying wow have your butt on the field every Sunday. Wow, I Think every player in the NFL Has injuries that they don't report or every NFL team Definitely has players that they know have injuries that they don't report I can't run any more of my knees have a little arthritis in them But I feel very fortunate because Some of my teammates some of the guys I played with they're no longer living or they're having chronic Problems medical problems. They're unavoidable. It's a difficult situation Newsday surveyed on the 7000 former NFL players in conjunction with the NFL PA's former players division in December It's 763 so that's just over 10% responded 11% responded and 42% of that 11% said the injuries from their playing days are the biggest challenge they face in their daily life. I Wonder if that is the same in rugby. I've got a wonder We've got a wonder. We just don't have any we don't we don't have enough documentation. We don't have documentaries such as this Looking at ex rugby players. I mean, have we had rugby players from the past donate their brains? I'm not sure NFL was It was a wonderful experience when you're playing you're exerting yourself completely even the pain and the Working with your teammates. I mean, I felt like I was really alive. I was completely running back You don't get into this game thinking safety you get into this game because you're so cocky You believe you can do it better than anybody else, you know, it's never gonna happen to me that I get hurt I think the worst part is after it's over and You have the pains and the injuries That you never thought we're gonna come So he's saying it's more physical, but I'm thinking man. It's got to be mental It has to be combined with physical injuries. Can you imagine that can you imagine that never ever being like knowing that you're Never ever going to be able to recreate that Feeling that you had as well as dealing with these physical injuries. I don't know One of the things that that is forever is The relationships with the guys and we live together Cry together lost together and I can't help but think about one of my favorite teammates Wesley Walker with jet teammates for eight years And we're we're friends forever. I really feel for him, you know, he's suffering a little bit now is he with the Is he injuries of dementia Lou Gehrig's disease? It's kind of scary as oh my god. Oh my god. I completely got this wrong. I Thought it was Wesley Welker That they were talking about but it's not it's Wesley Walker and I feel like I've actually seen this before Definitely seen this guy before my could happen. I have so much arthritis and there are some days and that I have a problem walking Functioning I'm in bears to what my body looks like now. I'd warm up for instance with 225 pound. That's my warm-up weight. I'm lucky if I could probably lift the bar right now I have this atrophy. I'm starting to look like a skeleton and it's just this right hand alone But I have this throughout my body I don't have the desire or the wherewithal to want to work out and that's that's my really goal And maybe I need to retire from teacher and just focus on just rehabbing my body But I don't even have the energy to when I come home after working To do anything. I know that I can't do certain things with my hands like even just a simple Twisted off a bottle cap that I struggle with I used to run over to my neighbors Just the button my top button because I struggle with buttoning shirts and and when you're in a hurry And you're trying to get to a function. It's very Frustrated and there's been times where I almost I'm crying I'm Sweating and just trying to get help and I've gone to the bathroom and I can't even wipe myself with my hand That's very frustrating. So something's going on Trying to figure out what it is and can it be improved. That's the big question Heroes and cool kids. We started it seems to be taking it pretty well 1998 It's like a three-tiered mentoring program. We have former professional athletes train high school students to be mentors to Fifth or sixth grade kids. It has been successful. He's working just great. It's really the best thing I have ever done in my life My memory is not good My I make my wife so mad my business partner. I feel I feel almost incapable of Really, I'm not I'm not what I used to be I have been knocked out on three occasions on the football field I remember one time I tried to Catch a very short and high punt trying to make an impression on the team And I should have called a very catch, but I caught the ball and as soon as I caught it, you know, I got smacked and just I was out for that one and I remember I had the ball tucked away And I remember when I woke up There was no ball there, but my arm was still in the position like I was holding the ball, you know It was it was just weird That is weird and that's the thing man No one no one knows exactly what's going on with this whole thing about concussion, man Now everyone's symptoms, you know post post incident are all different I mean, I heard so many stories in that documentary that I watched about certain symptoms not being able to see bright lights Headaches unable to remember what happened guaranteed. He doesn't remember that catch. There's no way I Have had concussions and did you play right after of course I have never had a concussion guys touch wood I've never had one so I honestly don't know what it feels like. Oh, yeah The first one I just got up and ran off the field came back like nothing happened. I don't think any player Makes it through playing eight years in the NFL without Getting a concussion at least once or twice. See I think you might you might get away with three maybe five Maybe even ten, but can you imagine that massive blows to the head? Time after time after time it's gonna do something certainly You don't make it through eight years without being injured some kind of way So it's a tough brutal sport. It is. I look back on my career the last three years And I really got lucky almost went paralyzed on the football field practice field and They have a club want to sign a waiver so they won't be liable. Did you shine away? Yes, I did And that's a chance that I took and I have to look at myself It's been one of the most stupidest persons on earth I'm very lucky that I'm sitting here talking to you today And not in the wheelchair or dead or from a broken neck. My wife is a nurse When she saw us playing she saw Joe Cleco with a cast on his hand She could not believe he was out there playing with a broken whatever it was on his hand and it's stupid common sense You know normal life It's stupid. It's ridiculous. You should not be out playing with a broken hand There's a whole lot of life, you know after football. There's a whole lot of life. That's much more important than football We have outgrown our Capacity to take on those kind of shots. We're just too strong too fast too big and It's just not safe. You know, they can different things with their helmets. It's not they're not gonna stop the concussions There's no way if you're running at whatever miles an hour and and another guy's coming in the same direction There's no way you're gonna stop the brain from jarring and I think about junior sale and all the guys that committed suicide People have no idea how it feels to Go through life with a constant state of confusion stuff That just won't go away It's horrible when I get up. It's bloody hard to explain in the morning and I can't even function and I feel like my legs are given out and Thinking about having more surgery and the culmination of everything together, you know You're trying to reach for answers trying to figure out. What's the best way to really attack this situation? so that's where I'm at right now and hope I can find a Cure which is not out there But at least they try to manage my pain and some of the injuries that I do have that are getting worse Fuck all I care about. I just hope he's got enough money to support this. You know what I mean? Hope he's not broke 85% feel the NFL has not adequately prepared them for life after football Hard of saying to realize when you get out of the game the fact you don't get any more freebies you don't Get any more Chucks picking up big Charles Evans people you don't know guys a big full way know who you are You don't sign any autographs Nobody wants you I Finally found a job That I really loved and it was Hurts for rental equipment. That was the only time that I was making enough money to buy a house So I bought a house a brand new house. They were done in January 18th of 02 February 18th of 02. I had a massive stroke So I had to get I had to give up my house That that was the hardest thing I ever had to do those difficult stories Is the real people real real hurt and a real opportunity to To assist a man in his family. There's so many challenges that players face then the Average fan just They don't know about and maybe they don't care my first reaction is generally sadness because I I Think of the personal torment this person has been through this crazy. How is this guy defensive end? To be on a very high mountain. Actually, no, that's not a defensive tackle It's not a guard not a tackle but a defensive end during their NFL career where we get to play You know in front of millions. That's a a long long steep slope to go down And I'm very sad for these guys. My role with the NFL now is I work to assist Current former players with resources Around professional development educational Opportunities they have a hard time reimagining themselves Outside of the uniform When you're in the NFL, you're always in the limelight the lights always shining on you whether you're The best player on the team or or just a guy on the roster Somebody out there knows who you are see you see these guys who are actually, you know absolute superstars in their own right But they do retire and they do get another career, you know presented it in front of them They may have to have a certain personality, you know what I mean if if a football player four or five years in the league No personality is no chance, but if you do have a personality you do sort of make yourself known Throughout your career. I think I guess you see these guys They're only the top players aren't they the ones that do get this, you know sports casting sort of career And you think you kind of think that's what happens to every X player, but clearly it's not You know Mark McGuire great baseball player Barry Bonds They can go to a batting cage with a stack of quarters and still feel the swing of the bat when football is over. It's over You never ever ever Play again. There's no old man games at the park You know what I mean? There's no there's no rec league football. There will be no time in the That's interesting because in rugby there is old man games at the park and there is rec leagues rest your life Unless you become like a so that's just said this or a rock star that you're gonna be able to have 65,000 people jump to their feet. That's something that you do It's a great feeling. It's awesome. There's nothing else like it in life No, man, I can't imagine they would be Diction to that feeling that takes time to wean off of that the emotional part is much more difficult to Cut off and it literally is just a cut-off process one day your football player and the next day You're not and you never get to do it again. You never strap those pads on last time you hung them up They'll never come back on again. They're done 80% of NFL players. That's hard man Doesn't matter what you say that is tough within two years of Their last season they're either bankrupt divorced or Unemployable who's this how many 80% of NFL players with 80% Are you sure about that in two years of? Their last season they're either bankrupt divorced or Unemployable that's tragic. The problem with players is that is absolutely tragic. All right that we kind of think playing is gonna last forever and You can understand why because you know when you're 22 to 29, you're not really thinking straight You're making a ton of dough. You're living the life So you think it's gonna go on forever. You really do especially when you're in those successful years when we signed that NFO contract We knew there was nothing at the end. We all knew that if You think of football as who you are opposed to What you do? Transition is tough about year Six in the league they started calling me the old dude in the locker room And so, you know when you're getting called the old dude in the locker room It's probably time to start working towards something else And it was around that same time that I started working on a master's degree in counseling from the outside Looked like I put some pieces in place You know, I had a had an additional degree was working right away out of the game But I Struggled and I struggled big time course. Well, of course and I still struggle. I'm still transitioning But I'm 12 years later guys. He's still Still in that transition period a lot more confident in my direction Where I'm going now. Oh, they just need to be a hundred and ten percent comfortable with not being a player anymore You know what I mean in a guy like prime time It's completely comfortable and not being a player anymore But that's because he's prime time Even this guy boomer. He's got his own show Killing it. He's happy. He's happy not being a player. Well, maybe he's not maybe he's just showing maybe he's just portraying that But I mean at least he's got I don't know at least he's got a bit of an identity these guys who aren't the superstars Who come and go? Fuck it to be hard. I think the NFL gets a bad rap doing large part to You know the former NFL players that aren't set up for success and said because I you know playing all those years in the league I know that I had former teammates that are not successful today And are probably and physically in some pretty bad shape because of the game that they loved and they played on the same Hand, I know of even more of my teammates that are Successful because they played in the NFL and because they handle their money right and their personal lives right and that's always the rub You know, where does the personal responsibility come in and where does the the league responsibility or the team responsibility come in? It's hard when it's a close friend of yours or a teammate and you know, there's nothing you really do to to warn them and I always say for guys that go down the wrong path on that front It's not that they make poor decisions. They make poorly former Colts quarterback Johnny You know his fled filed for bankruptcy after the city of Baltimore refused to repay a portion of an outstanding loan at guaranteed United's a member of the pro football Hall of Fame and his wife Sandra Fulb for protection from creditors Joe corporation continue operating while in bankruptcy United's did so in order to go through an orderly repayment of his creditors So Johnny United's pro football Hall of Fame bankrupt informed decisions I look at that as a big challenge to what I'm doing now is to get the right information to guys So they make well informed decisions given the right information Football players were smart enough to figure it out. Why wouldn't you want to hire a football player? Why wouldn't you want to hire somebody that has those virtues of football built within them all after all those years the responsibility of being there on time? It's just like Getting a degree. Well, most of them will have a degree from college football You know It's that degree. It's not necessarily related to the job Description but it's just showing that they have the ability to concentrate, you know to study To be part of a team to turn up on time. Just like you said You know somebody who works well with others somebody who could communicate there are a lot of reasons why you would want to hire those Football players and that's why those guys are all successful the job. I have right now Probably wouldn't hide me if I had wasn't a former NFL player Go I'm a personal trainer and I love my job. I enjoy helping people and every day. I'm helping people whether it's a 60 year old woman losing weight or a 17 year old High school Athlete getting ready for college. I get probably three emails a week. That's really cool, man. That's really cool You're doing a great job about opportunities for post NFL players Whether I reply back to those emails or whether I read those emails becomes my choice. I think every player in the NFL gets those same Opportunities post career. Unfortunately, some of the players Don't accept that help. They don't seek that help, but that the NFL itself I feel does a lot to help retire players transition Let me just look something up, man. I've wanted to look this up for a while. What is the average NFL career and length According to the NFL players association This was published last year. The average career of an NFL player is 3.3 years The players left the NFL for a variety of reasons these include injury retirement and being cut by their team 3.3 years guys and if you're in there on a rookie contract depending on your position You might get what 8 million less tax. What's that 4 million and you're done 4 million It doesn't last that long try to get them jobs try to put them in different programs try to give them other opportunities is it perfect Nothing in this world is Can it improve? Yes, has it improved it continues to improve being a former player will real life Examples for for these guys that have walked the walk worn the boots been in the locker room understand the environment understand the culture and That peer-to-peer model Can open the door To getting guys to take a look, you know, we we open the door a little bit You know more have to take a look because we look like them. We're fighting for our brothers What's this guy's name again We were the game we were everything We made it all happen when we're out there with it's us So when if the industry is going to generate that kind of money Why shouldn't the product be a part of the benefit reap the benefits? Take care of me Please if I if I end up in a nursing home, I don't want my wife and my children to be burdened with with the Bills and everything that comes with that. Well, that's just life, brother We are supposed to be taken care of Well, not always are you taken care of by an employer that you only work for for eight years? You know what I mean employer as an employer We should not have to pay one dime. I Think most of us would be well I'm gonna save my judgment I think that these fellows they earn enough money through their career if they were smart with it They really would be able to set up. You know a life after football, but I just think the education isn't there but then I also think well, they've gone through college, you know, so Surely there's some form of education there only to do it all over again and take all those risks all over again And live the life that we were afforded to live when we actually did play it Part of the game part of what you love Part of what you wanted to do and the way I look at it Okay Well came along came along. I can't do anything about that. You have no regrets. No good Good to hear brother. I have no regrets. Good to hear man. I love hearing that It was my choice and I believe you and if you walked around better, you know for choices I've made I couldn't do that. This is what I wanted to do. This is what I chose to do But the question would be if you know this what's going to happen down the road with some of these players make the choice This or do the things they did no That's a very interesting question one of the things I know now. There's no way I would do it Fuck he just summed it all up right there for me personally shit, I have no regrets I have memories trips pictures friends That will last a lifetime and even though the NFL doesn't last a lifetime. I Will always be a former NFL player That's a shitload more than most of us 89% said They would do it all over again. Well, there you go. That's that's that's a big statement, man big statement Fuck that's a big statement Damn because all these guys 762 players they actually responded out of 7,000 11% I don't know how many percent of them said that they were still that their biggest challenge in life is The injuries that they incurred through their football career, but then again 90% of those 700 people said That even with all of these elements that still do it all again and At the end of the day the glory the fame The adrenaline it's all worth it Because these other people these other mere mortals such as myself who never experienced this we don't even know what that's like You know what I mean? So I guess because we haven't had those hires We don't necessarily have those lows. I want to get this fellas name One of these guys wide receiver tight end Bernard Whittington, Cal Snowden, Patrick Kearney Areas Dwight Hollier, okay So what I wanted to see was what what is his height because guys I want to I want to give you I Want to give you you know a Little bit of it doesn't even have his height. Come on, man Dwight Hollier height six foot two Okay, well all right six to you. He's pretty big human What I was gonna say is that look it doesn't matter who you are If you're gonna walk in as an advisor to these young rookie NFL players and you're a big man Like with stature, you know with size they're gonna listen to you. They really are they're young enough They're gonna they're impressionable. They're gonna listen to you. He's six two. I thought he'd be like six six I don't know. It's a bit different But you know, maybe maybe I'm not gonna be able to say what I was gonna say, but look All of you fellas you're doing a fantastic job Fantastic and this is three years ago Right, we're gonna call it a day there guys. Um, I think we've seen enough this video is probably gonna go for about 40 minutes and I've had a whole lot of fun today, man. I've had so much fun these last four days Doing reaction after reaction after reaction watching all the stuff that I've wanted to watch over this past year And I've done it because I'm under pressure and I perform best under pressure. It is what it is You know what I mean? It is what it is. So I'm gonna have fun editing all these over the next few days This is the second to last video. We've got one more and it is Christian McCaffrey in College Christian McCaffrey's got to be one of my favorite players one of my top three players at the moment let it for net Sequin Barclay and Christian McCaffrey, so we're gonna do that in the next video. I really hope you enjoyed that video guys I certainly did I'm you know not only getting involved in in the players and their their highlights and stuff like that, but I do want to Not get involved, but at least have a grasp on on what's happening on the back end and that's exactly what we got there So that was a fantastic documentary I hope you learned something if you did let me know down in the comment section below if you want to support this channel Support me if you liked the video hit the like button That helps out a hell of a lot if you want to subscribe, please do if you don't want to subscribe. That's fine But please like the video because at the end of the day if I put up another video and you've liked it before It's probably gonna show up on your news feed. So with all that being said I want to say have a fantastic festive season and I'll see you in 2020 peace out everybody Now because it's just perfect for your smile Yeah, I swear to God I'm with it. I don't see nobody in my lane. It's quite go get it like Let me waste my time with their business I've been up and working to the morning. Yeah, they been sleeping now