Jermon Bushrod: Supersize

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're now diving.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have been straight.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Who then.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: Sitting down with Seth living there? Oh Jay Juice, Well, and this is strictly for I'm.

00:00:18
Speaker 3: True fans number one one of course, y'all just ain't the other ners boys talk?

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Speaker 1: That might been that pitch Tank.

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Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Lovitt and the man with the best hands in the podcast business, O J McDuffie.

00:00:35
Speaker 2: Juice, how you feeling on this Tuesday morning?

00:00:37
Speaker 3: Feeling great? Man, I'm feeling great, big Seth once again. Now we get to the correct not just right correct side of the football today, and I am definitely looking forward to hearing from this big fella, that's for sure.

00:00:51
Speaker 2: He is indeed a big fella.

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Speaker 4: His name is Jermon bush Rod was with the Dolphins from twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: Is that right, dramon down? Yeah, yep, yeah. Well, welcome to the fish Tank.

00:01:02
Speaker 5: Man, man, it's good to be here. You know, I appreciate you guys having me on.

00:01:06
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I was going to take every advantage I had you. I had him kind of captive Juice for like five hours on Sunday. So I was like, we need to get him to dive in, but I have to start with this story. We want to talk about your career, but I have to start with this story. So Juice was traveling and unavailable for game day this past Sunday. So Jaman, you joined Travis and I at the iHeart Studios. You knocked out pregame with Goldie, and then you sat with us. We gave him your on the left side there, Juice, he got that front row seat there. He sat next to us, heard Travis and I and all of our madness throughout the game, and you know, watched the whole thing with us. Then we obviously went right to the studio as the clock was ticking down and we were all a little bit frustrated with what we had seen. And you fit right in. Man, you killed it. You gave great analysis. But this was also his first time working with us Jews, so there's always gonna be the learning curve, Like you don't have all of the passwords and the secret handshakes to get into the treehouse and all that kind of stuff. So everything was running smoothly like he was he was fitting in. You never would have known it was his first time working with us until we hit the press conference segment. So for anybody who listens to the postgame show, or if you don't listen to the postgame show, you don't know the beat. We always have to hear what coach McDaniel has to say. And then Travis calls me. The press conference can SICKLIERI because of the pr background. So I'm taking my notes, I'm writing feverishly, and we go to break and we told Jaman like, yo, I'm gonna I'm gonna react after the break and then we can all.

00:02:40
Speaker 2: Have this discussion.

00:02:41
Speaker 4: That's all we told them. So we come out of the break, Jeff, you know, is on the board. He presses the magic button and then those those haunting bells start to ring.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: Man, my theme music kicks in. It's the Undertaker and it's one of those Dusty Off moments. Jam on your face. Your face was priceless.

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Speaker 5: Eighties nineties baby man, So listen, you know, we didn't we didn't have what these kids have now, you know, just an endless amount of entertainment at their fingertips. So when we were great, when we were growing up. What did we have to look at? It was sports wrestling or some cartoons, right, and everybody knows wrestling.

00:03:15
Speaker 6: That Undertaker music comes on.

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Speaker 5: It came out of nowhere and I started like, I looked at him, like, what the hell was going on?

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Speaker 2: I think you would wait for the Undertaker to jump out.

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Speaker 5: I had to take a peek behind myself, man, just to make sure y'all wouldn't trying to spoof me or something like that. But it was no.

00:03:33
Speaker 6: Just going back to the day it was. It was a long day at the station, but it was fun. Man.

00:03:37
Speaker 5: You know, anytime you get a chance to talk ball, and you guys are great dudes, and it's really cool opportunity just to get in front of you guys and talk ball. So anytime I had that opportunity, it's cool. So, oh, Jay, I'm sorry you weren't there, but I appreciate you. You know, whoever made the call to get me up there, it was cool, So I appreciate that.

00:03:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, he kept the sea one ue, he kept the see.

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Speaker 5: I can't believe you did him like that. Man, give a fair warning, bro, no heads up at all. You know, I got I got the scripts for pregame. I got, you know, details about different parts of the segment, but they definitely left that it's not.

00:04:16
Speaker 3: It's not always being the new guy man in town. Man, you know, even for seasons vests like ourselves.

00:04:20
Speaker 1: Man.

00:04:21
Speaker 3: Speaking of that, we're gonna jump around a little bit today, But I want to start with the time period, you know, to really introduce you to Dolphins Nation. So you follow a six year run in New Orleans with a three year stint Chicago, the final year of which your you know, your offense is run by none other than our own Adam Gase. Gays leave Chicago, comes to Miami to become the head coach of the Dolphins in twenty sixteen, and then your face with a decision to make. I mean that would make it probably your tenth year for you at that point. But can you talk about your motivation for not only to continue playing, to move your family as well, but the sign with a team that you know is going to move you from the tackle position where you play your entire career and done so at a Pro Bowl level to a guard position that you've never played in the NFL.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I've never played in the NFL. I never played in college. I never played guard or center even in high school, so I was always a tackle. But see, here's the thing about me. I enjoyed playing football. I enjoyed playing football, and then you know, when you get an opportunity to start and to really add value to a team, it's infectious. And it was something that I got addicted to. And you know, I know Adam Gase's departure from Miami wasn't the easiest one, but this was a guy in Chicago who turned that offense around, got Jay Cutler and that offense really playing well. And when he came down just to share this kind of insight, Yeah, listen, that year, not many people know you could probably you know, if somebody wanted to dig on my social media, you could see that. During the free agency time period around that time, I'm about a month from laborum surge laboram and bicep tender surgery from Chicago, and he says, I want you to come and compete at one of our guard positions. He said, I know you've never played it, but the type of offense that we're going to run, the outside zone scheme, feels like I'd be a perfect fit for that. You know, if you look at my scouting report, I wasn't the strongest player. I had some good strength, but my feet in my athleticism was probably how I got my opportunity in the league. So he wanted to come in and run style of offense that he felt like I could be able to move from inside or outside to inside, and he felt that somebody like me would have the understanding the patients and the drive to move from the left side to the right side of the line. So that year was a huge transition for me. You know, not only am I moving my family from one of the coldest places in America down here to the warmest places place in America, but I'm transitioning from tackle to guard, and I'm also transitioning from the left side to the right side. And I knew that I had a long road ahead of me. You're talking to labor injuries so you can try to be at your full strength, and you got to practice against the dominquance sou Jordan Phillips every single day. It was my right shoulder. So I'm playing right guard, right shoulder, and my body has to relearn not only how to play a much stronger position at guard, but I have to go from left to right. You look at my hips now, if I went and got evaluated, one of my pelvis is tilted. One of my legs comes off is longer or shorter than the other one. Because I've been in the left tackle stands since two thousand and two when I graduated high school. You know, once I went to college, I played left tackle every single day. And I did that every single day in New Orleans, even as a backup in New Orleans. They never saw me but just straight left tack. And I did that for years upon years upon years until Adam Gas. He really, he really kind of ignited my career. And I know he may get a buy a bad rap, but this is a guy who you know, I got benched in Chicago because you know, after I got hurt, they wanted to move in a different direction. Gace just really appreciated the way that I handled that situation like a pro. He just thought that, you know, when he comes down to Miami, he wants to bring some people that kind of had that mindset. And I was going in New year ten and that was a difficult situation for me in Miami. But when he came down there, He had a vision for me to provide value for that team as a big tight end.

00:08:36
Speaker 6: I think we might have talked about this, Seth.

00:08:39
Speaker 5: He was the one that provided a lot of value for me and helped me out, you know, because I think I ain't gonna throw no numbers out there, but I'm making pretty decent money in my ninth season and I'm sitting on the sideline, and you know, me being a competitor, I should have gotten his shoulder worked on the week it happened, right, But I like to play. I wanted to I wanted to contribute. So I sucked it up and I dealt with it. And when I came back, they decided that they wanted to move in a different direction, which is a whole which is a whole nother story. But what Gas did for me in my last year in Chicago, and I didn't tell you this, Seth, but I think we were talking about this. He created a package for me called I was like, I don't know what you call. He called it like the supersize package, you know, you know, obviously super yeah, obviously yeah, obviously like a play on words, you know what I'm saying. But like he was very open to hear what I had to say because at that time, we weren't using a big man as a tight end in that system. And man, he came in and he gave me a role, and I was like a kid.

00:09:42
Speaker 6: Dude.

00:09:42
Speaker 5: I was like thirty one, thirty two years old at this time, and I was like a kid when I went out to practice. Now, when I went out to practice and I didn't have a role, when I wasn't starting, and I was, you know, making all this money being a scout team center. Yeah, listen, I wasn't very happy, but I didn't voice that and I didn't show that in a way. And I brought a certain level of professionalism to the organization. And so when he came down here, I mean, this guy signed me and I was still in the splint, you know, So that means he saw something in me. He appreciated how I dealt with that situation. He thought that I had to make up that I could come in and I could add value to this team. So I'm forever, you know, I really appreciate Adam Gas and him doing that for me and believing in me. And man, what a year that was, because you know, I ended up did winning that spot. And I played ninety nine point nine percent of the plays that year going into my tenth year. And that's that's the kind of stuff I hang my head on.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: That's a lot of plays.

00:10:39
Speaker 5: That's some serious I miss I missed two plays And it was funny. I missed two plays that year, and that was that that damn Pittsburgh Steelers game when we ran for all them yards.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: Well we're gonna talk about that, yeah we are.

00:10:51
Speaker 5: But just to give you a little just to kind of set that up, all of our guys were going out with cramps like and we were getting the i's and trying to come back. So I remember in that game, should I went from right guard to right tackle when Juwan had to go get an IV. So I'm like, I'm out here playing positions I've never played before. But you know, we went for two hundred and forty yards, so I would have played for back at the action.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you guys figured all of that out. That's great stuff.

00:11:17
Speaker 4: This also going off script a little bit juice, But one of the things that I think is pretty cool about this show is there's certain narratives that are prevalent across Dolphin's nation. Or even ones that we may have like one of my You know, I wasn't the biggest Nick Saban fan. I'm still not, even though my boss is like his other son. But every player that came on here other than Zach talked about how much they loved playing for Nick Saban. And so, you know, to hear a different viewpoint with regards to Adam Gase, whether it's what I want to hear, don't want to hear, what have you? And I'm indifferent here. I just want to hear the truth. I think it's kind of cool. So so thank you for sharing that. I want to talk about the makeup of that offensive line. You just mentioned a couple names there, but if you look at the resumes before that season began, so this is a line that really had the potential to be a formidable one. When the season was getting ready to start, even though you were coming off of a ninjury, you were bringing two Pro Bowls to the table. Brandon Albert is at the left tackle spot, which is why you moved, and he had just had his second Pro Bowl birth. Mike Pouncy at that point was a perennial Pro Bowl performer. I think he had gone to three straight heading into that season. And then you know, the first round draft pick is Laramie Tunzel, who a lot of people felt could have been the number one overall pick if you know, he didn't have an epic draft a Twitter scandal, and plummets to the Dolphins at thirteen, Which if you plummet and you end up at thirteen, it just shows you how.

00:12:48
Speaker 2: Highly graded you were, right.

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Speaker 4: And then you just mentioned Juan James, who was a first round draft pick just a couple years earlier as well. Now he was entering his third season, so there was great potential to be a real solid offensive line. And then ultimately, I think you guys finished that way, But can you talk about some of the personalities that were in that room, the talent level with the guys that were around you, and then what it took for you all to gel and become the line that you finished as.

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Speaker 5: Listen, that was that was a fun group. That was a fun group of guys, right, and I think it was the right group of guys for the system that we were running. You know, you got somebody, let's start from the middle. You know, you got somebody like Palcy. He was extremely smart, you know, a very dedicated player to this game. And obviously his resume speaks for itself. But he's athletic and he can make the plays on the first level and the second level, he can make those reach blocks. And then you got a guy like Tunsil. He's young. I remember I had a conversation with gays like, like, man, listen, Like I went from left tackle, why are you switching me to right guard? Like I spent months trying to retool my body to play on the right side of the line.

00:13:58
Speaker 6: Why wouldn't you put me right there?

00:14:00
Speaker 5: Well, you know, like, you know, that was me just being a little salty, right But you know, he was a young guy and he didn't want to make him too really uncomfortable, so he was just like, you know, obviously he's going to be a left tackle for us, but they slid him into left guard. And the thing about Tunsu is he's strong, he's athletic, and.

00:14:17
Speaker 6: He moves really, really well.

00:14:19
Speaker 5: So it was an easy transition for what we were trying to do with the offense, you know, the type of offense that we were trying to run. He really fit that mode. Well, you know what exactly, you know what Brandon Albert was capable of doing. And listen, Juwan James's athletic as hell as well, you know, and this was a guy that was still figuring out his way in this league. And you know that was again from what I was dealing, what I had to deal with just personally leaving Chicago. That group of men like really helped resurrect my career.

00:14:49
Speaker 6: You know.

00:14:50
Speaker 5: I came to Miami thinking my goal from year one and year two was like, man, if I could play ten years in this league, what a blessing that is?

00:14:58
Speaker 6: Right?

00:14:59
Speaker 5: And I knew going to to my tenth year like this is probably it. This is probably the last place on the last year that I'm gonna have. I'll give it another good run. But that group and that run that we went on was so inspiring. And having a chance to block for Jay and Jai and the way he ran like an absolute mad man that year, and that shit sparks something in us when we saw like, Okay, if we get this guy three yards and he breaks through the first two tackles every time, what is that gonna do for us? Like what do we need to do? So that pushed us. That pushed us, and then once we started to figure out who we were right, we created that identity. We started the season so bad, so terrible, and I remember just sitting there looking at Juwan James one time and I'm like, bro, we ain't doing this. We're not going down this road. Like, we got to figure this thing out. Whatever it is, we got to do our best to figure it out. And it starts with us up front, you know, and just collectively, Man, we just found a way to come out and get it done. But yeah, that was a very interesting group that we had, a very unique group that we had, and I don't you know, I don't know if it's something that ever happened again. Man, we just had a very unique group of guys that came together and it was fun. It was a fun year, you know. I think with the turning point for us, even though we had success the Steelers Bills, we had a bye week, came back and played the Jets, put one forty five up on them on the ground when we took that trip out to California and we played the Chargers and we were together that whole week and playing the Rams and we had that come from behind when that that was like a huge piece or That was like a huge spark for our team because we really felt like, you know, we really believe in each other. Man, we can come back and we can win games, and we can do this thing together. And we stayed, you know, relatively healthy for the most part. But yeah, man, I needed I really needed those.

00:16:53
Speaker 6: Guys for me personally and professionally that year.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: I love that, man.

00:16:58
Speaker 3: I didn't realize until we started doing on this how how standing that offensive line was. Man, But there was some uncertainty, like you talked about, maybe in the backfield, you know, you think about that. You know, the Jaya Jayi was looking really good in his preseason as a rookie, but then you bring in Arian Foster, you know, and Jaya Jii wasn't very happy about that, seems like to me because you know, he and Adam James kind of got into it. He got left back the first week in Seattle, you know, because he's a little disgruntled. And then, like you said, you gotta start off one and four, but you did figure out a way to get it done.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: What changed?

00:17:29
Speaker 3: I know the offensive line had that mindset you just talked about, but it seemed like Jaa Jayi's mindset might have changed too that. You know, once he started running that way, you're all wing like kind of sync with what you guys are trying to do to make it happen.

00:17:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know, the message has to come from the top, right, and then it has to get trickled down to your position coaches, and we understood that running the ball and being committed to the run was gonna was had the potential to keep us in games. We knew that he actually got like a little glampse from JAYAJII that year in the Cleveland game when he was running the ball pretty hard.

00:18:07
Speaker 6: And I understand why you bringing Arian Foster for.

00:18:10
Speaker 5: What we're looking to do, because he made a lot of money in this league running the outside zone and he took perfection. He was patient, he was fast, had good vision. For whatever reason, it didn't work out here, but I think that opened up an opportunity for Jake and I believe that it was something that we again really.

00:18:29
Speaker 6: We hung our hat on it, Ojay.

00:18:31
Speaker 5: Like we really hung our hat on running the ball and staying committed, and that's all we would practice when we did individual time during practice as a unit. After we stretched it was twenty five minutes of outside zone one on one blocks, two on two blocks, first level, second level. What happens if the guy slants in where your eye is supposed to go, if the guy slants out where your eye is supposed to go. So it was just about breaking down online individually and then as a whole being able to go out and execute what we were looking for because we understood that. All right, man, if we can get three to four yards, this play will get to the score the next play, and then we'll be in manageable positions and Tannehill can make the throws he had he throw. He threw one of the better d balls I've ever been a part of. I've seen it right. He can run when he needs to. But what we can do is continue to drop back five step seven step drops that wasn't in his wheelhouse and Adam snuget and then he put that He kind.

00:19:35
Speaker 6: Of pissed us off too.

00:19:36
Speaker 5: I'm not even gonna lie because when we ran that, uh, because you know, they give out game balls, right, and everybody loves to everybody loves.

00:19:43
Speaker 6: To get recognized for a game ball.

00:19:44
Speaker 5: Do you know this guy did not give us a game ball after we he didn't get the offensive line as a whole a game ball after Perk Steelers game and Mike in Pouncy he ain't gonna hold nothing back, Mike.

00:19:57
Speaker 6: Like, because you know how it is.

00:19:59
Speaker 5: You know, when you're in that meeting, juice is like you get the game ball and you get an adda boy, and then you break the meeting, right, you get your game balls. I think the offensive line got an add a boy that week, So it kind of sparked that kind of like I don't know if games did that on purpose, but it kind of it kind of sparks something inn utes and we're like, all right, yeah, you and're gonna get us a game ball, okay, wash And then we came back against the Bills. I mean, what an incredible game that was. But Jgi had a good game that week, and we got our game ball.

00:20:27
Speaker 6: Yeah we got our game ball. There, we got it.

00:20:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, we got it that way, And that was really the momentum. That was a spark we needed going into the bye week. And we honestly we wish we didn't have a bye week because we knew we were playing the Jets afterwards and they had a stout defense. But again we still put one forty five on them. And the one thing that I appreciate is the fact that coaching staff just stayed persistent with it. You know, they had a couple of nice stops in TFLs and things like that, but we just kept plugging away, kept plugging away, and that opened up our play action game in our past game as well.

00:20:57
Speaker 3: You know, Jami, you talk about and like I said, I keep going back to the offensive line because we all know that's where everything starts, you know, in the trenches right there, especially on the offensive line.

00:21:05
Speaker 6: I appreciate that.

00:21:06
Speaker 3: That mean, and I think that that's what's more important and more prevalent nowadays.

00:21:11
Speaker 1: Right like this.

00:21:12
Speaker 3: You can't be just big mallers at offensive line anymore. You have to have the footwork you talked about, the mount of strength that you have to have. And I look at this Defhense team now and that seems like that. You know, they've got guys that are more athletic than than powerful, you know, and I think that's the way the game has changed. But you guys are doing that, you know, I mean close to a decade ago.

00:21:32
Speaker 5: It all depends on your offensive philosophy, you know, what do you want your run game to look like, are you going to be a power run team, are you going to be a gap scheme run team, or you're going to try to displace guys by moving side to side, staying on your tracks being smart Like that's the Mike McDaniel offense.

00:21:50
Speaker 6: That was Adam Gase's offense.

00:21:53
Speaker 5: And then you know, you bring in the offensive line coach that he had, and he was a heavy outside zone guy. So you know when you're going into the draft and you're figuring out, well, why did this team draft this low lineman when we probably should have got this this guy, or why did we get this quarterback? Or why do we get this running back with It's all depending on the type of offense or whatever your philosophy is. So, you know, for us to have a you know, a six six, three hundred and fifty pound guard, that's a guy who can you know, really push guys off the line, maybe that wasn't fitting for us. And I think that we ran into some issues in that twenty seventeen season when we had to change our running scheme because we you know, we had to bring in a different philosophy with a different coach and tried to turn us into something that we weren't. Like I'm not I'm not a big power guy, you know, like if you read the book on me, like I had some power. But you know you're gonna stick me in there guard and think that I'm gonna be able to do some of the scheme that you would want in a different system.

00:22:53
Speaker 6: It doesn't work that way, unfortune.

00:22:55
Speaker 3: And Seth this this come from guy just came from the gym. He's still in the gym working out and stuff.

00:23:00
Speaker 2: I just sat with him for two hours.

00:23:03
Speaker 4: Juice. Yeah, you know, if that's not power, I don't know. That's that's pretty funny. And I also had to laugh when you're talking about the game ball thing. Unfortunately, because of what the result of the game was against the Colts, we didn't do our game ball segment. When the Dolphins win, we do a game ball segment in post game and it's fun and everybody gets to give out a game ball.

00:23:23
Speaker 2: But Travis, you know, Travis is a younger dude.

00:23:25
Speaker 4: Travis is that everybody gets a trophy thing, you know, like I nine, everybody gets the word of the week trophy. Travis tries to give out like eighteen game balls a game he told us pret going into this season, and this is there are a lot of good guys on this Dolphins roster, really good guys. He told Jus and I that. There he goes, I don't know how they're gonna pick team captains. There's got to be twenty six, twenty eight captains on this team. I'm like, Travis, everybody can't be a damn captain. So he you know, all I'm trying to get to is if Travis would have been the head coach that day, you guys would have got a game ball.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: Everybody would have got.

00:23:58
Speaker 6: A game ball.

00:23:59
Speaker 4: So I just know that Travis had your back when it comes to that. We're going to talk about that twenty seventeen season in a moment, but I do want to back up to the beginning of the twenty sixteen season because it wasn't only memorable for what happened on the field, but there was a social impact as well during that time period, and it was extended far beyond Miami. This was the year, you know, historically, this was the year where Colin Kaepernick forced a national conversation about race. First, because he was sitting during the national anthem and then ultimately kneeling and that took on a life of its own. And then you had teammates. You had guys on the team like the aforementioned Arion Foster, Michael Thomas, Kenny Stills, Jolannie Jenkins was on the team at that point in time, and some of those guys were kneeling and they actually worked with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross his nonprofit rise and set up this town hall really.

00:24:52
Speaker 2: Early in the season.

00:24:53
Speaker 4: I think there were members of law enforcement there, there were community leaders there. And what I'm getting at is just for somebody who was with the Dolphins during that time period when there was this huge shift in conversation, I'm wondering if any of these conversations extended to the locker room.

00:25:14
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, of course, you know, this is something everybody was talking about and it was you know, and it's really about using your voice and whatever way you see fit and whatever actions that you know you decide to put on display is meaningful. And some of those guys, a lot of guys around the league sacrifice, you know, they probably you know when they did Neil or they were very voicious. It may have taken some opportunities away from some people. Some people didn't you know. Obviously Colin Kaepernick he stood for something and that's what he believed, and you have to deal with those, you know, the ramifications that come from that. But you know, you got to be very appreciative of a guy using his voice and not caring about the outcome of what it's going to be, or not care about the backlash of what people are going to say.

00:26:03
Speaker 6: You know, individuals in the media are just the general public.

00:26:06
Speaker 5: So there was a lot of you know, there was a couple of team discussions that year about are we who's kneeling who's not. You know, like if you felt like you wanted to kneel or wanted to talk about it, where we're going to do it as individuals, what we're going to do it as a whole team. You know, it was a very sensitive time, but a very needed time, you know, not just in our game but in the world in general. You know, just to have people understanding like people have a voice and they want to be heard. And again, some people use their platform and it might have taken away some opportunities for them, and some people it opened up the doors you know for a lot of individuals. So you know, the thing I think that I really took from that year is, no matter how you feel about that situation moving forward, you have to do with what you're comfortable doing. Was it was kneeling, speaking out, or just doing things in private. Like I said, it was a much needed topic. It was a much needed admonistration that was that happened from a lot of guys. But it had to happen. It had to happen. And you know, the NFL, I think they did a solid job of responding and communicating on a team level in international level.

00:27:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought Jiwan, I thought it was very powerful.

00:27:18
Speaker 3: And you said, you know, a lot of people in history have taking stances, you know what I mean. Yeah, and they've they've suffered the repercussions a lot of times because of that. But no matter what the conversation has had and it was a really good conversation, I think a lot of good has happened, you know, from from the league. You know, the country might not have was not accepting obviously, but you know a lot of times when there's some people that are making taking a stance, the country is not accepting of it either, right, you know, Right, And So for the guys that made that decision, I do. I do feel it like I always put myself and you know, put myself out there, Like if I was playing right now, what would I be doing if this were the situation, and me, you know, being as proud as I am, I probably would have stood up for the national anthem.

00:28:01
Speaker 1: But I do not.

00:28:02
Speaker 3: Take anything away from those guys that took a stance and did what they did, and they would still be my brothers. And now I love what they did because of what has happened since. And I think the awareness is out there. You see the you know, the signs on the hat, you know, stop hate all the other things that are going on, because these guys made the stance to a stand and now you know, now everybody else recognized. And then ever since then, people are starting to recognize a lot of things, all the injustice that's out there. You know, that happens to people that they don't unless it hits home to them, they don't understand it, you know. And so I think that was just the beginning. And if that football be, football's done, they start doing this, football is going to be, you know, it's over. But I think more people starting to recognize that there are a lot of injustice out there that need to be at least addressed, if not corrected.

00:28:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, And I just think it was it opened up the conversation, right and now during that time, we had to see and hear about horrific things that happened to individuals, whether it's with or without law enforcement. But what that does is it creates a conversation, sometimes an uncomfortable conversation. Sometimes you don't even know how people feel in certain situations. Like you know, Seth, your interactions or your encounters with the police may be different than what they are from me, a guy from Virginia, you know, who have to deal with the police. You know, when I was sixteen, seventeen years old, me illegally getting my car search, right, but me having you know, for no reason, just because I might have been speeding fifteen miles power over to speed them? Yeah, okay, that was that a that break the law? Yes, but that doesn't give you the right to search my car like all in it. But the good thing is I had a foundation, right, my parents has taught me different ways that you need to deal with.

00:29:50
Speaker 6: People, especially people, especially law enforcement.

00:29:53
Speaker 5: Right because I'm a black kid in a small town in Virginia, which I man, I'm so grateful for my community and how I was raised. But at the end of the day, you treat people with respect. If you have nothing to hide and you don't want to make a situation worse, you communicate and you use respect and how you're trying to navigate situations like that, And I think that what that does is again it opens up the conversation to like why I do things the way that I do things, or why some people get in certain situations in their mouth can get them in trouble. Like at the end of the day, I'm trying to get home and I'm not trying to deal with any extracurricular activities, especially if I can avoid something, you know, and you know, again, it's very uncomfortable, but it's needed. And I think that's kind of where the world is now. Just like you said, just now, people different groups of people feel like I can use my voice and I have people who can come up and step up for me and they use that voice, and that's kind of how you're supposed to do things.

00:30:59
Speaker 3: That's great stuff, man, I'm glad were able to have this conversation because you know, I think it's the first time we've had somebody in the tank that was there that year when it was such a you know, historic Yeah.

00:31:10
Speaker 2: And then the leadership, you know, man.

00:31:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that's just great stuff, man, and we love your perspective on that. But we'll get back to more about you know, about football right now as well that on the field stuff, man, because we talked about it. That twenty sixteen was so outstanding the way you guys put it together, and excitement was high headed the camp the following year, but you know, things just you know, just didn't turn out the way that we all hope for, you know. And I'm a super fan. I don't know if you know that, Jrmond, I'm.

00:31:36
Speaker 6: A super It's bad.

00:31:39
Speaker 3: It's so bad, bro, after playing with a super doll fin you know, Ryan Tannehill tears his knee up in camp, and on a personal level, you have a few injuries too that forced you to miss a few games that year, even though you started.

00:31:50
Speaker 1: All sixteen games the year before.

00:31:52
Speaker 3: And then you know, the team trudges through a six and ten season in the j Cutler experience, I know, you know, Jay, the experiment as an offensive line, and we can't forget that you lose your position coach as well, Chris Furster. You know, you lose him midway through the season and scans fast. And how much did all these factors prevent you, guys, you know, for ever getting things rolling in twenty seventeen.

00:32:14
Speaker 1: So much going on from the beginning to the end of that season.

00:32:17
Speaker 6: Man, listen, I was.

00:32:18
Speaker 5: I was so excited to sign back that year. I remember free agency came and I'm like, I'm texting my agent, I'm texting Gay So hey, man, it's been a week.

00:32:28
Speaker 6: Like you told me, I was one of your guys. Don't have me out here waiting, you know.

00:32:33
Speaker 5: And when I just played all sixteen regular season and I gave you, you know, gave you what I had, you know.

00:32:40
Speaker 6: For that playoff game, like I played seventeen.

00:32:43
Speaker 5: Like for me that year, I was like, I could I couldn't wait to come back, and I couldn't wait to come back and play again that year. It was year eleven again. That's why I said. I think that year like really ignited something in me. And I was like, man, like this was fun. I needed this. And we come back in seventeen and We're like, you know what, We're going to run this ball quarterbacks. Feeling good. I feel like we made the right the right moves on defense. I feel good about this, like like, let's do this, Let's do it again and again. This is football, and this is how do you deal with adversity. Tannehill goes down on some fluke play and then you got to bring in Jay Cutler, who was familiar with Gas. But you know, you got to get in, get familiar with the team. You got to get familiar with your receivers, and then you know, were already touched on it earlier. But when we made this, well, we didn't make the switch. The switch was made, you know when when the whole issue with Forrester happened, which was really which was it was a real blow. It was a real blow for me personally and as a unit, because this guy had a way of coaching and putting us in the right position and really being extremely upfront with us about whether you're getting the job done, how you need to get the job done, what it needs to look like moving forward. So when we brought in the I can't even call the guy's name, but he brought in a whole different system to what we weren't used to and what we weren't built for, and long story short, we just didn't get it done that year. We had a lot of hype, but again, when you're able to win games and create that identity, everything else kind of falls into place. But yeah, that was a disappointing season for us, you know, and me personally. I think I went out that game because we lost our bye week. I believe we lost our bye week. So we went played eleven straight games. We played the Bucks. I ended up tearing my toe on my foot up on the play and I never stepped on the field for the Dolphins again. But yeah, listen, man, the Dolphins resurrected my career. They gave me a different perspective. I ended up playing another year after that, you know, chasing the playoffs again and chasing that ring. I went back to New Orleans in twenty eighteen. They put another fire up under. It made me feel like, you know, I can still play this game at what age? Was it thirty three, thirty four years old at that time?

00:35:07
Speaker 1: So I love that.

00:35:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, sixteen seventeen straight games a year before and then going right into eleven. So I missed the last five games. So that was tough on me, but you know, gosh, it was fun. I had a lot of fun. I mean, I'm sitting here in my house in South Florida, now, I mean I didn't think I was going anywhere, like going from sixty. I got a story too about going into the seventeen year. I didn't tell you, Seth, but you know I went because because they finally they finally brought me in, gave me a little bit of change, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go buy a house here. I really can't see me playing after year eleven, you know. But just to give you a little story, I almost almost got traded and like really yeah, and.

00:35:49
Speaker 6: I don't know. I don't know why I didn't get traded because I got a call.

00:35:54
Speaker 5: On like the second or third day of the draft, and Gains was like, then Carolina Panthers called me they were going to give up a fourth or fifth rounder to get me. I'm in my eleventh season. I'm like wow, and I'm like hold on now. I was like, I told him myself, I'm so glad you didn't. You did not do this because I just bought a house and I don't want to sell it, you know, and I really want to be here. But Carolina was actually a place kind of like on my list, Like that's kind of close to home. You know, you get a lot of bang for your buck real estate wise. I'm like, Carolina could be the perfect place for me. But this was like early on in my career. But I had already signed here and said, you know what, we can raise our family for a few years here in Miami. But but yeah, man, I wanted seventeen to work out so bad, you know, I missed it so much.

00:36:38
Speaker 6: I tried to come back for another year.

00:36:40
Speaker 4: Well you started talking about bang for your buck. If you bought your house in twenty seventeen and you're still in that house, and.

00:36:45
Speaker 2: Then you got plenty of bang for your buck. You got some equity in that ye.

00:36:48
Speaker 5: Now purchase now. At first, I was like, why did I spend all this money on this house? But now you know, I'm.

00:36:55
Speaker 4: Oh, man, yeah, whole other conversation. Well, well you just you just mentioned it. You finished your career out in twenty eighteen in New Orleans. This is a Dolphins podcast. That's where our focus lies. But that year, which was year twelve, is just something that we cannot ignore in telling your story, first of all, and this is just kind of a fun footnote in that the left tackle position is no longer waiting for you in New Orleans because there was a guy that Dolphins are now very familiar with in Toron Armstead, who I think your last year was twenty twelve in New Orleans. Twenty thirteen, they draft Iran, so by twenty eighteen he's solidified as a perennial Pro Bowl guy himself left tackle, So you're there in more of a swing position. But as I said, that's kind of a cliff note there. Your decision to go back to New Orleans was, if not as much, maybe even more of a family decision, a life decision than it was a football one, and all of that became magnified really an unimaginable way. He's damon that October, and you and your wife were faced with circumstances that no parent should ever have to endure. You know, if you want, if you're willing to discuss kinda what what led you to go back to New Orleans and how being there really was a support system in one of the most difficult times in your life.

00:38:18
Speaker 6: So let me let me I'm going to backtrack you a little bit. Okay.

00:38:21
Speaker 5: So after that twenty seventeen season, free agency comes right and I get a call from a close friend of mine in New Orleans and he's like, man, what you're gonna do? I said, Man, I'm probably either gonna hang it up. I said, the only two teams that I would play for is I would go back to the Dolphins. And I talked to uh talk to that was a GM at that time, Thanky, Tannebaum and Greer and you know, yeah, they didn't have a you know, they didn't have a vision for me.

00:38:51
Speaker 6: I get it. I understand.

00:38:52
Speaker 5: I got hurt the year before. I said I'd either go back to Miami or I take take my wife back home in New Orleans for a year. I'd like to play with Drew one more, Yeah, if I could. If not, I'm not stressing us. I could care less about playing again. Like I so right behind me, I have like a it's not this anymore, but I have a recovery room. And so I was having a discussion with my agent and I didn't even tell my wife at the time, but I knew they wanted me to be a backup. I took low money. I was like, it is what it is, man Like, let me get one more year here, let me get one more one more real run at this to see if we can go to the super Bowl and win another one, because I'm, you know, desperately trying to get back. And I told my agent on the phone. I was like, you know what, I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna take it. Just give me my vet minimum you can slide in and send them in there. I'll take that as well, right, I told her, I didn't even tell my wife yet. So I'm going downstairs and tell my wife the news. I'm i might be in a little bit of too much of detail, but for some reason, she was downstairs taking the pregnancy tests at the same time. So I'm going down here to give her the news, and lo and behold, she had some news to tell me. That pregnant.

00:39:55
Speaker 6: So I'm like, I'm excited to go tell her.

00:39:58
Speaker 5: And then she's like telling so I'm like, damn, we got to move again. New baby. I'm like, okay, all right. So I'm kind of like trying to sit there and process it. But you know, Seth, what you're you know, what you're talking about is that year we had lost a child that year and it all actually started at the end of August. So I remember, right after training camp, you get three days off, and during those three days I took like one of the longest naps I ever had. My my wife had a doctor's appointment, and during the doctor's appointment, they found an issue, right, and I was like, I had missed ten miss calls and like twenty text messages. So I'm like sleeping through everything because I usually never knaw, but for some odd reason this time I did. And they come back and they said that there's an issue with the baby in her stomach. And I'm like, okay, and this is not like an issue like you know, something's gonna happen while in there. It's like when the baby's born, there's going to be some defects, or there's going to be some learning curve issues, some development issues, just based off of a couple of markers that they saw. So that was really hard for us to process because it's like, we have these two healthy babies and now the Lord is putting this on us, right, And that was hard to deal with you know what I'm saying. It was hard to hear, but you know, as a man and as the head of the household, you know, we we'll figure it out, we'll make it happen. So we just go back to work and everything's good. And then in October, out of nowhere, she's time for her to have a baby. So the baby comes and you know, she's alive for a week and we know that there is a potential laundry list of issues that she's going to have to deal with, not just mentally, physically, emotionally. So she had this syndrome called w hersh On syndrome, and that syndrome is a partial or complete deletion of one of the arms of the fourth chromosome. So the lower the chromosome number, the bigger it is. The higher the chromosoone number, the smaller it is. So your fourth chromosome is, uh, it's pretty big. So she's gonna have to have multiple surgeries because of deformity. She was very low birth weight, and this was something that we were like, Okay, we gotta deal with it. And I remember, you know, having a conversation with my wife like just distraught, just really just you know, just upset and like just not understanding like what life is gonna look like for us. But then I remember having a having this moment. I was like, well, you know, if she's gonna be born into a family and she's gonna have these issues, these needs, you know, we're gonna love her and this is the best place for her to be because like, look what the Lord, Look who God has blessed me with. So at the end of the day, we're gonna surround her with love, surround her with the best doctors, and we're gonna do the best that we can. And after a week she was born, I remember being at practice on a Thursday. Good friend pulls me out of practice that you know, you need to go, and so I just I might've been still half my practice stuff and I'm gone and I get to the hospital. Long story short, she doesn't make it. So, you know, it was a very difficult situation for us. And as much as I loved being in Miami, you know, at that time we were still fairly new two years here. You know, most of our friends were in there around the organization. So when you're not a part of that team, OJ you know, this if you're not in that locker room. You're out of sight, out of mind, you know what I'm saying. And I think it was fortunate that, like I didn't retire that year, or I didn't come back to play here. I went to New Orleans, well, where my wife is born and raised. I went to a city that a support system, not just for me, but for my wife. You know, she was in some women's Bible study classes and you know, not because of this issue, but just because she was around that environment, and it was really helping us deal with everything leading up to it. And then when it all happened, like when our world came crashing down, it was like they really really wrapped their arms around us. You know, the organization was so helpful. Sean Payton, I have the utmost respect and in love for this guy, just because he said, take as much time as you want. I have a place you can go get away if you need to. I know it's difficult, so you know he understood it. The GM understood it. All our guys did a great job of taking care of us, you know that year. I mean, obviously, being sensitive to the situation, they they released me, but I was still coming back because I know, you know, it's a job. You know, they got to they have a need and I wouldn't able to fulfill that need, so they brought somebody in if needed. But at the end of the day, it's like they told me to take us all the time that I needed to come back. And I think because of that response, I was I wanted. I wanted to finish out that year for sure, you know, just because these people showed up a lot of love to me and my wife and my kids that year, like really really really special group of individuals that I still hold, you know, near and dear to my heart. That's why I love that city. I loved that place so much, just because you know, we had the white cast of support around us with the staff of people, but the white support cast around us, and it was pretty special for us to deal with it in that way around them. So yeah, and then I ended up coming back to play probably about a month and a half after that. You know, I did some dressing out and onen't really needed and then I ended up having to play like literally the month to the day.

00:45:37
Speaker 6: She passed.

00:45:38
Speaker 5: That next day in November, Tehran. It went down in normal Tehran fashion, he's out there finishing somebody from the Bengals to the ground. He ended up tearing his pack a little bit, and I ended up having it out there and get a few starts, and yeah, it was. It was a tough year for sure. It was a tough year for sure, but man, I was able to do the thing that I love and give it one more go.

00:46:01
Speaker 1: Man, Benjamin Man, you know that's that's tough, man.

00:46:04
Speaker 3: And as a father, man, it's like I can't even imagine you know what you what you went through there.

00:46:08
Speaker 1: Man, I'm so sorry for your loss.

00:46:10
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was. It was a tough situation.

00:46:12
Speaker 5: And you know I've had I've had, you know, I have two kids, two more kids after that that incident. So like you know, everybody knows that year, what happened to the Saints, the whole no call. You know that that was my that was my last NFL game, and I could and the NF what what are we working? We're working to go back to the Super Bowl, right And as tough as that year was, we are a millisecond from getting back there, you know, because we were you called it, you throw that flag. What's gonna happen? We're either going to score. Most likely then at that time we would have scored on them and we would have we would have won. We went back to this, it would have been like this super Bowl, this this storybook ending, right, But you know it wasn't for our team.

00:47:02
Speaker 1: It wasn't.

00:47:02
Speaker 6: And then I remember that offseason I was like, you know, I ain't got it.

00:47:06
Speaker 5: I don't have it anymore because I had to muster up a lot of strength physically, mentally and emotionally to go out there and finish that season. And those guys asked me to start, they needed me to start. I still did the best that I could, and I remember just reflecting, like, you know, at the end of the day, what does it do se If I told you it's a great story, everybody's like, oh, when'd you stop playing? Well, you remember that no call game. This is going to be in the history of the NFL. So like that's just part of the story. And but you know, the beautiful thing about it is like my perspective was so clear. I'm going in the year thirteen and I had the most active free agent opportunities come at me, And going into year thirteen, well, six teams call me. I got another story. Damn, I forget. You know, I'm sitting here thinking about that.

00:47:57
Speaker 6: But like.

00:47:59
Speaker 5: I had another chance to go back to the super Bowl. This is how, this is how, this is how funny the world is. Sometimes I'm actually sitting out. I'm at a Dolphins tailgate and the Dolphins are playing the Browns. That yeah, I want to stay. It's twenty eighteen. I think the Browns was the first game. And my parents, my people, they drove the RV down from Virginia and we came down. We had a bunch of people with us, and I'm outside of the tailgate, my first NFL tailgate. I'm enjoying it from my parents. They're cooking, drinking. I got a Mason jar with I ain't gonna say what I got in it.

00:48:34
Speaker 6: But.

00:48:36
Speaker 1: Virginia.

00:48:36
Speaker 2: Who you got from Virginia?

00:48:38
Speaker 6: Dog?

00:48:40
Speaker 5: So you know, I got a Mason jar with some with some contents in it. Let's just call it juice. And I got and I got another cup. So I'm actually just like really enjoying my time. And I remember getting this call and I'm like it was it was a California number, and I'm like, who hell is this? So you know, I'm like double fishing in one hand and I'm taking this call on the other hand, and he's like, And I answered the call and said, hey, jamionman, how you how you doing? This is John Lynch GM from the San Francisco forty nine ers. I'm like, he said, we just lost Joe Staley. We lost our second, our backup tackle a couple of weeks ago, because actually they called me two weeks prior to come out to come do a tryout when their backup tackle went down. But then week one, I believe Joe Staley went down. And so I'm looking at the like I'm looking at the phone, and I'm looking at what I got in my other hand. I phone Mason. I'm like, listen, I said, when would you need me out there? He said, I put you on the flight tonight. And I said, honestly, I'm not even gonna waste your time. I'm retired. I'm done, like I'm done with it. Like I'm literally wasting your time right now. I'd rather you go find somebody who wants this opportunity. And then these guys ended up going to the Super Bowl. I mean they lost, but I mean, you know, I could have had another chance, but you know, again, my perspective was clear, and I was really just ready to kind of start this journey.

00:50:05
Speaker 6: Uh, you know, with my kids.

00:50:06
Speaker 5: Like I said, we didn't lose our third one, but we were fortunate to have a fourth and the fifth after that, so I had four kids at home. We were coming back to South Florida. Well, actually we were back in South Florida at this time, and I was like, you know, I'm good, Like I'm good.

00:50:21
Speaker 6: I don't, I don't. I don't have it in me to play anymore.

00:50:25
Speaker 5: But yeah, you know, my my perspective was very clear after that, and what's what's kind of important to me.

00:50:31
Speaker 2: That's beautiful stuff, Joe Jama.

00:50:33
Speaker 3: Not to make light of it, man, but once you get a taste of the tailgate, there's no turning back.

00:50:43
Speaker 6: Like I'm like, this is what you guys would come and do.

00:50:46
Speaker 5: Well, Like I'm sitting in the locker room three hours before the game, like figuring out how the hell am I going to block this person play in play out and they're just out here having a good time eating fish, checking red, like having a good time drinking, and I'm like, this is this is how y'all used to.

00:51:03
Speaker 2: Do that is funny.

00:51:06
Speaker 4: Oh man, that is pretty good, and and all the listeners like, that's exactly come out to our tail gate.

00:51:13
Speaker 1: Hey, come to the twelve.

00:51:15
Speaker 6: I'm open.

00:51:16
Speaker 5: I'm open for all invites, you know, and he's gonna bring his own Mason.

00:51:22
Speaker 6: Don't don't.

00:51:23
Speaker 5: Don't come half stepping now, because I would judge you based on your tailgate.

00:51:26
Speaker 2: Now, okay, don't, I don't.

00:51:28
Speaker 5: I don't play around, but that like so that same r V, that RV used to come to my college back up in TUSA, so they would drive that RV every single week. So this tailgate thing in the bush Rocks family has been going strong since.

00:51:41
Speaker 2: Pretty serious.

00:51:42
Speaker 4: It's a supersized tailgate, So we're going back to the supersized package.

00:51:46
Speaker 2: You better have the supercize package tail game. Don't expect bush Ride to show up.

00:51:51
Speaker 6: I'm I'm not coming unless you gotta spread and some refreshments for me, you know.

00:51:56
Speaker 2: Oh too good, spoken like an offensive lineman. All right.

00:51:59
Speaker 4: So, so you have been unbelievably gracious with your time and your openness, which we can't thank you enough for. But we are going to end this podcast the way we end every fish Tank episode. And that's what the fish tank two minute drill, and so played a lot of years on that line. You know everything about the two minute drill. You got two minutes on the clock. We're gonna hit you with a few fast paced questions, hopefully some fun questions, and then we'll take this thing home.

00:52:22
Speaker 2: Sound good, yep? All right, juice, all right, kick it on.

00:52:25
Speaker 1: Here we go. All right.

00:52:26
Speaker 3: You spent seven of your twelve NFL seasons in New Orleans. Where is the one spot you have to go to the grab dinner if you're back in town. And I'm gonna write this down, so I'm me in New Orleans soon.

00:52:37
Speaker 6: All right, listen, you gotta you gotta go to Emeralds. Emeralds.

00:52:40
Speaker 5: It's a little it's a little bougie, but you will get you will get a culinary experience. His son, Emu Lagassi's son. I'm actually pretty close with him. Uh he runs it now, they've redone it. It is a tremendous experience.

00:52:55
Speaker 2: Okay, culinary experience, jess, I love it. Okay.

00:52:58
Speaker 4: You alluded to it early or you are a King George, Virginia native, and you attended nearby Thowsand University, which is a well known hotbed for NFL talent.

00:53:08
Speaker 2: Not only not.

00:53:10
Speaker 4: Only are you one of the rare players from Towsend to matriculate to the National Football League, you are also one of only three thousand Tigers to have been selected to an NFL Pro Bowl.

00:53:20
Speaker 2: Can you name either of the other two.

00:53:22
Speaker 6: Guys, Sean Lendetta and Dave Meggant Man. That was a layoup for him.

00:53:33
Speaker 2: I mean, that was a dunk, two hands, good stuff. All right, we'll keep moving all right.

00:53:39
Speaker 3: Back when I played, we had epic full court basketball games in my house, and there was some outstanding big men, starting with Jason Taylor and Mark Dixon. If you have played during our era, what do we expect when big Jeron bush Rod walked on the court.

00:53:56
Speaker 5: Hey, listen, you put you put me in the paint. You're talking about back then in the paint. I'm in the paint. I'm physical. You're not gonna you know, like I started to really come into my own later in high school, you know, in this whole, this whole basketball thing. Put me in the paint. But now I want nothing to do with the paint all behind arc. Yeah, listen, Steph Curry and got he influenced me as well.

00:54:21
Speaker 2: It's the Curry effect. Oh, I love it.

00:54:24
Speaker 4: The Curry effects even extended to three hundred pound off and that's fabulous. All right, last question, what is tougher? What is tougher? Is it more difficult to play left tackle in the National Football League against some of the greatest athletes on the planet, or to do a post game radio show with myself and Travis Wingfield.

00:54:42
Speaker 5: Hey, listen, it's a little difficult to get through that radio show with you too.

00:54:50
Speaker 2: There it is. That's the two minute drill. So good?

00:54:55
Speaker 4: Oh he is Jamal bush Rod and uh, I don't expect Juice to miss too many more games. But you gotta just come out and hang out with us anyway.

00:55:02
Speaker 2: Man, we'll get it. We'll get our gate right at the radio station.

00:55:05
Speaker 5: Listen. I can't let him take my job. Man, I told you it was great. I got I have one stipulation. One stipulation. I said, you want me, I'll come and do it. But we gotta have we gotta have lunch. I got I gotta have some eat that that. How many times does that happen? Is this the person?

00:55:21
Speaker 4: It usually great? So Grace takes great care of us. Grace Plazer she you know, she's the program director and takes great care of us. If we ever have to work late, she makes sure that we're fed or She'll usually celebrate this start of a season anytime we started in the season, but it is not a regular thing. It's usually kind of a bring your own lunch. So I walked in. We had pizza. She tried a new pizza place. It was, and you know, we had to make sure that Jamans I didn't realize it was actually right.

00:55:46
Speaker 2: It was written into his contract, right, I.

00:55:50
Speaker 1: Need a new agent myself. I gotta fire myself and hire myself back.

00:55:54
Speaker 2: Bro Oh god, that.

00:55:56
Speaker 5: Was honestly, no, that's funny, but that was one of the things I was thinking about. I'm like, I know, what's you know doing pregame? We're gonna be there for the whole game and postgame. But honestly, I never had that conversation with her. But I'm kind of glad she was reading reading my mind a little bit, because the first thing I thought about it, what the hell.

00:56:12
Speaker 6: Am I going to eat? Yeah? I between these shows.

00:56:15
Speaker 5: So whatever whatever epiphany she had, I'm glad she had it because we.

00:56:18
Speaker 2: Needed We all were so thank you very much that.

00:56:22
Speaker 1: Game day gets long Man, Tom on Man, thanks for diving in bro. That was awesome.

00:56:26
Speaker 3: Man.

00:56:27
Speaker 5: I appreciate the opportunity. Man, Man, I talk to you guys soon. Man, look forward to it.

00:56:31
Speaker 1: You're now diving.

00:56:35
Speaker 2: Just like JUW said.

00:56:37
Speaker 4: Thanks for diving into the fish Tank presented by iHeartRadio. Be sure to follow us on whatever streaming platform you're using, and don't be afraid to rate the show or leave us a comment. We love your feedback and remember you can find us as well as Drive Time with Travis Wingfield and all of our international partners on Miami Dolphins dot com this time