John Denney: It All Happens So Fast

00:00:00 Speaker 1: You're now diving. I'm gonna have been that pich tank who being down with Seth Living Oh Jay, And this is strictly for I'm true fins number one of course, y'all. This ain't the other never sports talk now mighta been that pitch tank. Welcome back to the fish tank right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the toughest podcaster the Dan Marino ever played with OJ mcduffey Juice. Are you ready for a fun one today? You know, I am big Seth Man. This is gonna be a lot of fun. Man. It's always good to get these guys that I always watched and you know, admired on the football field, man, but also you know as a fan myself, you know what I mean. It was out there cheering for man. So it's gonna be a fun bro. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Without further ado, John Danny dives back into the fish tank all the way from Utah, our second guy in like the last month that we've had from Utah. How you feeling, man, I'm good. Thanks for having me. I'm about He's good, he said, Look how good he looks? Man? He looks. Come on, man, I feel like I'm under dressed. I feel like he's good. He's like got this big corporate thing, you know, like we're with this. This is this is a jacket. I got a dry fit shirt on. It just came from the gym. So this is this nice thing. Like it's the dark black jacket. It looks like a like a suit or something. But it's just a right, it's not. It's just a little it's it's getting cold here. We're down in the forties now, so jacket on. I thought that was t shirt weathering. It was last week. But winter's coming, no doubt, no doubt. Well, we got a lot to get into the career that is rich and as long as John's was. But before we get too deep into the tank with all of that, I want to cover two things. I just want to get these two things out of way. And the first is, and we were talking a little bit about it before we got this thing started, John, but this is actually your second appearance on the Fish Tank. You were you made history on this show because when we started, before they would let us in the building that you know, we had we had to get retired guys. We had to pull Tony Aguis. You know, on the show we had to drag in the reporters and everybody else. We couldn't get active guys. And we did a training camp special in twenty nineteen with a few guys and you were the first on deck. You actually made a joke about it that like, they didn't want to put anybody that could be dangerous as the first active guy on this show, so they went with the safe bet. Unfortunately, it was indeed your fifteenth and final training camp, So I don't know if you're holding us accountable for any of that. I was kind of waiting a few years to see if you would even come back on. No, not at all. I was. I was on borrowed time as it was, man, I was. I was stealing and I finally got caught and my time was up. Well you were doing anything but stealing, I notice. Yeah, shame on you for saying that I'm the one that stole John. I'm gonna tell you that right now my last year and a half. Now, I didn't touch the field. You You didn't steal a damn thing, bro. You touched the field like just outside of the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, more up. You know I was playing catch with some of the guys. Yeah, no doubt. And so the second thing that I do want to discuss is that it totally the opposite of stealing juice. It is I'm taking a stance today. It is my opinion that there is no player ever other than the great Damn Marino. There is no player ever in the history of the Miami Dolphins who is more Miami Dolphin than John Denny. I'm saying, not Larry Zanka, not Bob Greasy, not my own boss, Jason Taylor. I hope he doesn't listen to is that Well. I do want him to listen to the episode, but hopefully he doesn't get mad at me. Not even you o J mcduffey. He most dolphin of dolphins that isn't named Dan Marino is right here in the fish tank with us. It's John Denny, and we're going to talk about why. But that's how I feel, John, Well, it's an honor. It sounds like a little bit of a stretch. You know, you go survey the general population and my name is not going to be the first one that comes to mind or second. I didn't say first one to come to mindor more's popular. I'm just saying the most dolphin of dolphins. And we'll talk about why. Well, tell us how you tell us how you really feel? I mean I can tell man, and I can't wait to hear more about you know your theory, big seth. But but before we get too excited, can we learned a little bit about you John before you became a dolphin? I mean you grew up in Thornton, Colorado. Is that just outside of Denver? Yeah, it's just north, just north of Denver. Okay, all right, standout career at Thornton High Horizon, UH High. You're recruited by a handful of schools, but you choose and roll in what's then called Rix Colleague. Do you explain Rix College to me? It's a junior college or it doesn't exist. Now they've changed to BYU Idaho and they got rid of their their sports programs. But as fun as far as an opportunity to play, there was Shattering State. Nebraska was offering a scholarship and uh Rix College came in late and they offered a scholarship, and so I ended up going to Ris. But I was playing offensive line in high school. I was a bigger body, you know. I was six four to forty and they needed a guy to fill a spot on offensive line. So I was playing offensive line and I didn't like it, Like I wanted to play defense. I was, you know, more defensive minded guy, and so they wouldn't let anybody go two ways and so I couldn't play defense, and I kept asking the coach you know, you know, I want to play some defense. After every game it was like, you know, just let me go two ways. And so it was frustrating. But I played offensive line. It wasn't my passion, but did good enough, you know, to get an offer to a couple of small colleges and ended up going to Ricks where my first year there, I was five deep on the offensive line and they didn't have enough guys to run scout D and so like, hey, doesn't want to play SCOUTD. And I was like, I'd rather play scout D then string offensive line. So things went well enough. After one season with them, I got offered to b YU and transferred to b YU. Was by now that it's called Brigham Young University. Was it like a I don't want to say like a farm system there, but I mean, what were the two schools affiliated even at that time. Yeah, yeah, they're both church owned schools for the Church of Jesus Christ latterday Saints, and so yeah, they just turned into a university BYU Idaho and the major sports programs, you know, the junior college sports programs. You were playing smaller colleges in Arizona in Utah. But yeah, definitely there was a lot of guys that fed from Rick's College into BYU SAT. I played at BYU one time and we played a game in Provo, and man, it was rough, man, I mean I couldn't breathe. They kicked our butt first and foremost. Really couldn't breathe up there, you know, I mean Penn State. We struggled up there, man, and so and we acted. You know, it's one of those rare times you stay in extra night. We traveled so far, we stayed over night Saturday. I just wanted to get home, man, our tales between our legs. Man, couldn't breathe still, you know. So, yeah, it was it was a rough planning. Want to BYU that they whipped you like that? Who was you know what I want to say? Well, we lost to ty Deptber and we beat Ty Deptber But I think right before, I don't know Ty because we played a home and home and we also played him in a bowl game. So we played by you three times when I was at Penn State. Wow, yeah, yeah, and we we we won two out of three. But the one up there, boy'll get to you like playing in dene My High exactly right. It sounds like John so talk. I want to go back to this idea that you were playing on line and you didn't like it. Your your older brother Ryan was uh, you know, we're going to talk about him a little bit, but he was certainly a defensive lineman. Why did you know that you wanted to get on the defensive side of the ball. Was it just you didn't like the position, or was there something about playing defense that was of interest to you. That's where I started. I started a linebacker in what was that ninth grade, and then I started to develop more. I was getting bigger, so I moved to defensive line and then, uh, just my senior year in high school, it was just a coach decision. It was uh, you know, personnel. They just needed guys to you know, they didn't want guys to go in two ways. They wanted guys fresh, and so that was just where I ended up. You sound it sounds like it really left It left an impression on you. Well, no doubt, I didn't hate it. I mean I still love playing football, but it was not like that wasn't the reason I got into it, And neither was long snapping, to be honest, I mean that wasn't. No one goes out to the field with their boys after school and I want to be the long snapper, you know, and give me the football. They do now I almost think they do it. I definitely want to talk about that. But so when you do get to be to by you your brother had a great career there. Did you guys cross over at all or did he? Was he gone your first year at b YU? No, we did. We crossed over one year and then I also had the opportunity to cross over with my little brother. Oh wow, So we had had this long stress there where my parents were going to be YU football games for over a decade. Yeah, they should have just keep giving you guys the same number, so your parents didn't have to get multiple jerseys. They could just have they that's pretty cool man. And so so Ryan, well, Seth, how could they do that staff when they crossed over? Well, you know, they give you everybody the same damn number. I see these guys now, the kick returners, they take put one jersey on and then they catch the punt and then they take the jersey off, and I don't understand what the heck's going on over there. That's a whole other story. So you get to BYU Ryan, I guess he's the big dog on campus at that point. He's the second round pick by the Bills, and you kind of pick up right where he left off. You have twenty nine starts at for a guy who couldn't even get on, you know, defensive side of the ball a senior year. Obviously coach's decision, not because of talent. But you start twenty nine games in three years, get you know, you rack up some sacks, You're all Mountain West selection multiple times. At what point you just brought it up? No one goes out there to be a long snapper. At what point does long snapping become part of the equation? Like, was it part of the equation in college? Was your goal to be an NFL player on the defensive side of the ball or did you say, hey, I think long snapping is the route. My number one goal is to try to make it as a defensive player. But to answer your question, it goes all the way back to West Lake Junior High my first year of football. They were trying to see if they had enough guys because we had a soccer player who could kick a ball, and you know, they wanted to try and put together an operation to see if we could even in a situation where we needed to get just one point, do we even have that option because a lot of times you just go for two at that level of football. So they had a tire hanging from the uprights, and whoever wanted to lined up and gave it their shot at trying to hit this tire. And I hit the tire. I didn't lace it through the middle of the tire, but I hit the tire at the top of the tire where the chain was holding it, and it knocked the chain off and the tire fell. You know, everyone whipped through no a frenzy and you knocked the tire off. I was like, so that was the catalyst. I was like, Oh, maybe I'll try this thing, you know, snapping and so I started snapping way back then, and I was always kind of just kind of like a side gig. I could always do it. I was learning how to do it. When I got to high school, the senior had just graduated. They needed a snapper, and I was like, I can kind of snap, and so it was like I can kind of do it. And by kind of doing it all the time, I got a little better at it. And I was always coming into a position where the current snapper was leaving. Same thing happened when I got to b YU, their their guy graduated. I was red shirting, so I wasn't playing my first year and he graduated and I stepped onto the scene and they needed a guy to fill this spot. And back then, kind of like you guys mentioned, it's changed today, there's you know, snapping camps. There's kids growing up kind of looking for this. You know, they're going to these camps. That's all they've ever done. They're trying to make it as a snapper. But it was, you know, I was kind of the last of a dying breed where it was a position player who could snap. So I always filled that position. So it was towards end my senior year at BYU. That my special Teams coach was like, you know, you're pretty good. You got the size, you got the frame. You don't work at it a ton and it's it's it's it's good. Like if you even putting more you know, effort and time into this, you can make it at the professional level. So that's where ended up a natural gift, ju gift to knock a damn tire off the chain. That divine intervention. I don't know what you want to call it, but it was so John, was because of the accuracy or because of the velocity that knocked that thing it was. I don't have film on it, but I'm sure it was an ugly ball that just happened to catch the little caravinger right on the chain and knocked it off. I mean, John, you gotta, you know, step into our world as a podcaster here and I don't know that that's on your long list of things you got to accomplish here in life. But you gotta pump that story up a little bit more like you snapped that thing, the tire went flying back. Yeah, you gotta put it in slow motions. Gotta be a chosen one man. You were the chosen one. So John, so you you travel from Provo, Utah to South Florida to be part of Nick Saban's first training camp. But while you run drafted, you you joined a class of rookies probably second and none really, which included Ronnie Brown Matt Roth. All take appearance. Isn't chain crowd? Yeah, Ronnie, you know, Ronnie's a laid back kind of dude. But we have to know what was it like to be a part of the same rookie class with Crowder and Matt Roth? And that was that'd be very interesting? Oh no, it definitely was. Uh, you know, I was able to be that fly on the wall for a lot of entertaining conversations and interactions between those guys. My memory stinks, but there's a few stories that do stick out, and I don't know if they're allowed to be told in public. You know, if you want to tell them, we can, we can accept them. You guys, you guys got to get Matt Roth. I don't know if you've had them. You got to get met on the We have been trying to find Matt Roth. There have been no more popular stories ever told on this podcast than anything Matt Roth related whether it was Channing telling some stories. Uh. Jeff Darlington told a couple of matth Wroth stories. I think Ronnie Holliday talked about the one he remember he ate the lizard office. Yeah, yeah, wait, so you're that that's true? You you were there for that one too. Yeah. No, I wasn't there when he consumed the lizard, but was I was there for the aftermath? Yeah? John, were there any stories they were telling you? You know, fell uncomfortable and just wanted to walk away and just let the and he's doing what the hell they were doing? Oh yeah, many times. I mean just just shake your head and disbelief and mind your mind your business and keep on. I crossed paths. I saw Matt a couple of years ago at random in the airport. We were, uh I think spring break, taking our families on separate vacations, and we just kind of a double take. But because it's been you know, twenty years forever, yeah, he he Uh. You know, I did speak with him, and he I think I caught him like it was one of those unknown nanswers, you know how you get those calls, you know, recognize the number and typically you let him go to voicemail, but for whatever reason, he took a shot on it. It was me and he's like, oh, hey, Seth, he called me Zeth hit him and Mike west off he'eth. But and how you doing? We were catching up and it's, oh, man, you're like the most popular guy that nobody knows on the on the fish tank. They all hear the stories. And he goes, yeah, you know, I'd like to come on, let me get back to you. And he he hasn't returned of a single call since Ghost He's gone underground. I was gonna say he'd be like Channing, he'd be one of your repeats. I think he'd have a lot of guys want to hear more of his stories and requesting him to come back. Too fun. But it does kind of like juice you and I were talking about. It kind of leads us to maybe a bigger picture question about all that. Yeah, it really does, man, I mean we talked a little bit about it. But you know, with with your faith and these guys, I mean, was there any conflict for you with these guys. I know they're your teammates, and I know I had teammates that I was okay with but not all. I mean we got fifty three, fifty eight sixty three people in the locker room. Sometimes, you know, guys just go a little bit over the top. Was there any conflict for you, Nah? I mean I got thick skin, and I've been around you know, enough locker rooms and enough banter that uh, and I know never took anything personal. And it was all in good fun. Well, you know it's and we're going to get to him in a minute here. But obviously we make some calls, just like I called you about you know, Jay Feely, and so I had to call Brandon Fields, and we're going to talk about brand a lot. But I called Brandon and he mentioned he said, you know, John really was like he he was steadfast in his beliefs and he lives his life the way he lives his life. And but but he still was one of the guys. He wasn't ever afraid to come out with us. He was you know, he didn't necessarily when he was out, he didn't necessarily enjoy himself in the way that we enjoyed ourselves. He had have found a different way to enjoy that moment. But we never felt like he didn't come hang out, he didn't fit in. So you know, I thought that that was really kind of interesting how he said you might have even and I have played this role many of times, you might have even had to drive a guy home or two that perhaps you know, you know, had one or two cocktails too many. And I just always find that remarkable because a locker room has so many different personalities in it. And again, you got a bunch of young guys who have this unique position making good money and playing a sport that requires you to be a little bit different. It just wired a little bit differently to this sport. And so you do get some wild dudes. And then you have some folks that you know that carry themselves a different way and have a different path in their life and so not necessarily taking anything personally. But I always do wonder, like how much you're able to separate. Hey, this is my job. These are some fun guys. Outside of this these walls, they maybe live life differently than me, But inside of these walls we can collectively kind of share a mission and have a good time. No, yeah, I mean we all have different beliefs, and I mean that doesn't mean we still can't you know, enjoy each other's company. And we I became really good friends with all the guys that I played with, you know, specifically in the in the special teams room between you know, my wife and their wives and girlfriends, and we'd go out all the time. And you know, I just I didn't drink, so I wasn't partaking in an alcohol. But that didn't mean you couldn't go out and enjoy each other's company, you know, and get to know each other's families, and you know, make memories. There's a lot of memories and so and so we're gonna you know, you said your memory is terrible, but I'm going to go back to that first going back to that two thousand and five year there and when you were on the show previously because it was our Training Camp special, we were talking about that and you reflected back to your first ever training camp, your first ever preseason game, which was at the Hall of Fame game in Chicago, and not in Chicago, in Canton, but a Hall of Game game against Chicago. And obviously the reason the Dolphins were playing there that particular year is because one day before that game, Dan Marino was enshrined in Canton, his forever football home, right, So that was Danny's year that he goes in And I know you had set how you were just so nervous. Here you are, you're a free agent, and you know you're trying to make the team as a long snapper. The guy who you're competing with, Ed Perry, had been there I think seven or eight years beforehand, and I remember you talking about how nervous you were. But I'm going to go back to what I said at the top of this show and proclaiming you the second most Miami Dolphin of Miami Dolphins after Dan Marino, because I think this is pretty cool. Here you are, first time you've ever been on an NFL field outside of practice, preseason game. You're in Canton, Ohio football heaven, and Dan Marino has just been enshrine Dan Marino forty two times he suited up in a Miami Dolphins uniform. Two hundred and forty two times. Forty two. Yeah, No, two hundred and forty two times he suits up in orange and Aqua puts on those awesome uniforms. John, you end up doing it two hundred and twenty four times. You play in two hundred and twenty four games. The only person who played more games is a Miami Dolphin than you is Dan Marino. Is there any way in the world that in that moment, as a nervous rookie in your first game on that field that cool? Was it Fawcett Stadium? I think they called it at that point in time. It had the little hill on the one side. People would sit in there as a high school stadium. Is there any way that you're sitting there and like, are you aware at all that just dam Marino going in? Are you even thinking about the Hall of Fame? And there can't be any way in the world that you're thinking about the fact that that you're gonna play in two hundred and twenty four games after that. No, You're you're thinking, I'm trying to make this team, Like, so I'm playing, I'm trying to play defense, but I'm obviously you got Jason Taylor, you got Vonnie Holliday, Kevin Carter, Keith Trailer. It's like you got this amazing line. So then you're starting to figure out, Okay, well, you know, can I get a backup job? Can I maybe just make you know, practice squad get my foot in the door. You know, maybe the snapping thing will work out. So you're just you're just thinking, like what can I do? Like the more I can do, I want to try and make the team. You know, that's You're not thinking I'm gonna play a couple of hundred games for these guys, No way. I just think I think it's remarkable. It's remarkable in and of itself, right, just in general, it's incredible, but the fact that it and I didn't think about this, but that your first ever game was when this guy Dann Marino's going into the Hall of Fame and right, and it's the only other person to even play two hundred games for the Dolphins was JT and then after that everybody's under two hundred. So it's just fascinating to me that you were able to do it. But you just said you're still trying to play defense there. So when you come into camp, did they say to you, Hey, we're going to give you a shot at d line, But we really want to focus on, like like what was the conversation and how did that long snapping piece come in? Because you know we see now long snappers Blake Fergston got drafted. You know, you see some of that happen every now and then. How much I guess wrestling between wanting to play d line versus what were they telling you when they signed you? No, it was both. I was having a chance of both. I know, I was. I was with the defensive line. I was, I was in meetings, I was in drrills. They're giving me a couple of reps in practice, but throughout the whole time they would pull me out aside, and you know, I mean it would take some snaps with the with the punters and the kickers. And first preseason game they said, hey, we're you know, we're going to give you a couple of punts, maybe at the end of the at the end of the game, depending on the situation. We'll give you a couple of reps. And then the second preseason game was like, hey, we're going to give you a couple more. And then it's slowly it gravituated, you know, towards more reps at snapping. You know, obviously I'm a better long snapper than I am a defensive end. And in hindsight, we don't know who knows who knows. We'll never find out all right, we will never find out. Yeah, who really knows? Well, we know you're a pretty damn good long snapper, that's for sure. Yeah. No, I had a you know, i'd go out to defensive line dinners. And I remember my rookie year going to one of those with them and my very first dinner, and they told us all to you know, throw your card in the hat for credit card to Roulette dinner. And I remember thinking at first, I was like, no way, Like I can't afford this. And I was like, actually, like my credit cards got like an eight hundred dollars credit limit on it. I just came from college. I mean like, even if it does get picked, it's not gonna get cleared. You're good. Luckily, my mind got you know, pulled out earlier, so I didn't have to face that. But who ended up with the bill? I gotta know, I can't I can't recall. You just knew it wasn't you. That's all. I cared about John as much as Seth and I. We try to get a little dramatic with some of the things we do. Man, I think here's but I think he's spot on. You know, your place in history, just in terms of service is remarkable. You know, I know firsthand how hard as to playing this league, and then you talk about two hundred and twenty four games. That's absolutely ridiculous, no matter what position you're in. And I'm sure some people say, well, yeah, of course we expect that he's a long snapper. Yeah, I've heard you say. I've heard you say that. Actually, Juice, Yes, I I love it. I love it. Tell us more. I did a little homework. I was, you know, I was, you know, I'm coming onto the show. I went back and I was looking at some of the I listened to some of the interviews you guys did with some of the guys I played with, and I was listening to you talk with Kevin Carter because he's got you know, he's got two hundred twenty four games under his belt. And you said, yeah, but that's different. That's not like you're a kicker or a long snapper. That's I didn't say, you though, I'm not. You know what, I'm not taking in any offense. I'll be the first guy to tell you that that the nature of this position allows for some longevity. So I'm not I'm not salted, you know, I think once again, John, I think my partner Stef set me up again. Man. That was good, though, Broda. You know, if memory serves me right, which I don't have a good memory, like you said, I mean I might have said that. I don't know. I gott to look back, do some research. But it's the truth. It's true. It's the truth. He said, Hey, Seth, he caught me quick. I didn't get to you. He got me like, oh, I'm waiting at this moment, Juice. No, it is, it is. It is different though. I mean a guy like Kevin Carter, where you're on the D line, you're in the trenches banging your head against other guys every down, two hundred and twenty four games, it is different. It is physiologically completely different. So I mean the facts are the facts. Yeah, you didn't miss one either though. Man. That's I mean, that's that's how I doing. But look at that list, though, me you go, we go seven. The Dolphins go like seventeen deep in this rec book, John, as you know, and on this list they had five offensive linemen, three quarterbacks, two d linemen, three pass catchers, a linebacker, one kicker, and only you as a noe long snapper. So I mean, no matter what we see, how anytime, you know, you see guys I think there was aef there was like a running back or something kicking the other day, you know, I did you got for you? Yeah, there's some always happens. And you know, John how we always have emergency field goal kickers, emergency snappers that we work with to see who's going to be. And you never gave up your position for anybody, Thank goodness, because it could have been disasters for some other guys being out there. No, there a lot, there's a lot that comes into the play that you can't control. You know, I got lucky, you know, I had to be good enough to get my foot in the door. But there's so many things. There's other variables. You know, the guys you're playing with, you know, you your kicker, your punter. You know, if they're playing well, no one's gonna carry. No one's looking at the long snapper. You know, your special teams coach. I had a couple of good special teams coach. It was Darren Rizzy for a long time, and he was always posting, you know, top five units in the league every year. And then you know surround myself with with kickers and punters that are going to the Pro Bowl. That's really gonna help me, you know, stay in the position like I did. And that's a great point right there, because you think about I mean we talked about your two inred and twenty four games, but consecutive as well, which is as you know, it's hard to do. And I always talk about the best ability is availability, and you're always there, but you have to think that. You know, if you've got these guys that are going to Pro Bowls, I mean, you're the You're the one that gets it started. You're the one that gets the party started from the snap, from the beginning. So I mean some of these guys, a bad snap lead to a tough hole to be lead to a bad kick, which means mostly if you do that a lot, you probably won't be in the league. But these guys won't be going to Pro Bowls. Yeah, I mean I was lucky. Yeah it started with me, so I didn't have to rely on anybody else to do my job. So the kicker, you know, he's got two other guys that execute their job before they can get their foot on the ball. So what I'm saying, give yourself a little credit here. Yeah, he doesn't that much. I'm gonna take it a step further, John, When you as a long snapper, you're like, look, wide receiver and quarterback footballs are nice and taken care of it and done. You know, done up. You guys, your balls got like what an hour to get prepped? Yeh. And you got all these different climates. You have to deal with the heat down here, the freezing cold up in Buffalo. That ball is like a brick. I hate to catch it as a punt, as a pump returner. So as a long snapper, that's kind of like you're acting a quarterback to throw a kicking ball, which they probably can't do. But for you men, you that's a special talent in itself. Now you had to get used to it. There was definitely you know, it was tack here in the humidity, yet you got you know, naturally you had a better grip. But you get to those dryer, colder climates like up in Buffalo, and you know, you had to figure out how to get a good grip on the ball. The worst was the hands down, the worst ball you can possibly get was one that was it's a brand new ball broken in, but it starts to rain, not where they get water logged and like soaking wet, because those of you can still get a little bit of grip on, but they had that, you know, that waxy film on them, even though when they break them down they get that. They're shiny. If you look on you know, TV, you can see there and a glossy and so just that little misty, like just a little bit of rain on a fresh ball was like a watermelon seed. It was the worst. Oh man, Yeah, I mean I can only imagine that. And then also like the technique now and I know you you probably were doing this as well, whereas you can actually do you do the rev rates where the ball's already pretty much laces out once the time it gets to the holder. Yeah, you figure out with your grip, you know, with your natural snap, where your ball is going to group basically, and then you just adjust your grip. You know, you can rotate the laces in your hand. You don't have to necessarily snap the ball with the lacers in your fingertips. So if you're a quarter turn off, you can change your snap. You can work on your you know, your follow through you can work on speed and that'll help change your rotations. But once you kind of settle down into a comfortable snap, you can just rotate the ball in your hands before you snap it so that the holders catching them the laces right there in his fingertips, so when he puts it down, it's lined out. Yeah, there's also well there's also this too, bigs happen. We talked about the two hundred and twenty four games. They were consecutive fourteenth straight years. John, You were you ever close to missing the game? Yeah? My last season, I want to say, what was the longest game in NFL history? It was our first game. I think it was twenty eighteen maybe or we had that we had we had a rain delay and right game started at one o'clock and like ended at eight o'clock. But uh, first game of the season, and I covered down on a kick. Guy tried to come in and blindside me. I caught him, you know, last second, dropped my shoulder, but I got a third degree separation on my shoulder. And I want to see like the first punt of the game. So I go in and they're looking at it and we it still functions. It was my left shoulder, so it wasn't my dominant hand, so I could still I could still snap. So I'm in the locker room for however long that those delays were trying to keep it warm, snapping balls like and so once that game was over, you know, the next day was it seemed to bleak, Like I woke up and can't even as your arm and go into the training room and they start doing a rehab and they bring in, you know, the snapper from camp just to have on hand. And so that whole week, I don't snap at all. And then it wasn't until Saturday walk through. I went out and you know, taped it up and kind of gave it a shot and I could still snap. It wasn't great, but I could still snap. And it's good enough that you know, Riz trusted me to handle my business in the game. And it's just the thing was not you didn't want the other teams to know that you were like you were just like if you hit me right here, like after I'm done it, as say, as I snapped the ball, if everyone just runs up and hits me my shoulder, it'd be game over. But wow, so is when that when you're in a situation like that, John, especially at that stage of your career. If that's your you know, twenty eighteen, you're in your fourteenth season, do you are you thinking about the game's played streak at that point? Is that Are you concerned that if you can't if you can't play, is it simply about Okay, I can't be out there for the game and I want to be there, or do you start to think about your foot all mortality at that point, yes, say, man, if I miss one, they're going to bring someone in and I played. That's more what you're not thinking about. The streak is kind of secondary. That's a byproduct of plan. But the first thing you're thinking is if I'm not playing, they're bringing another guy in. And as soon as another guy gets in here, he's putting, you know, film out there that he can snap. And you know, I'm already on borrow time. I'm in my forties. It's like, you can't give them a single reason to want to get rid of you. And so that's that's the first thing you're thinking, is I got to stay on the field to keep my job, no doubt. Man, even fourteen years into it, that's yeah, yeah, wild Well. I mentioned earlier that we spoke with Brandon Fields talking about you know, you talked about the holder and all the guys, how fortunate you were. You guys were together for a long time, better part of eight seasons. Uh, it was cool. He talked about you being almost like a big brother to him. He actually said maybe a little strange, but he said he essentially spent his whole career staring at your ass. Which if somebody was listening to this now and they didn't certainly no football, that might feel feel a little bit awkward. But we understand what he meant by that as a as a as a punter and as a holder. But one of the things that and and this speaks to the longevity. He mentioned that right away he noticed he's like John Denny was a fitness nut. And it's funny. I love that you're wearing your you know, you said you went out for the run. You got to drive still absolutely, but he said you were a fitness and that it was really good for him because you pushed him in ways that helped him, uh, you know, stay in shape that maybe he needed. And uh, he said, you guys had all these little competitions. He goes, I know you've been to camp and saws running up and down the field throwing the ball back and forth each other. He said, you guys had cardio competitions, and that you go into the weight room and had all these different cardio competitions to stay in shape. What do you remember from those days? Was there were you always that kind of a guy, like were you always a workout nut, or was there a point in your career where you said, okay, there, I can make some changes to my life to extend this. It was definitely. It was a progression. Like when you're younger, you get away with everything, You eat whatever you want, and your body's were more resilient. And as I started to, you know, get older, and aches and pains kind of linger a little longer, and you start looking into how you can kind of manage these things. And it was actually the lockout year when we were spending you know, the off season. You're basically on your own with your own program, and I started looking into nutrition, and uh really changed my diet. So that's where that started. So I changed my diet. I've always been, you know, a fan of working out. My dad grew up. I watched him, you know, wake up every morning at at six o'clock and go to the gym. So that was kind of like ingrained in me, just a daily workout of some sort. But it progressed, So that was probably what it was that twenty ten is that the lockout here, So that's but that's also I mean that's also when brand was coming on to the scene, and so yeah, it was you want to keep your job, and so you didn't want to leave any stone unturned, and you didn't want to have any regrets, you know, be like you're not I got cut and maybe if I'd have worked out harder, maybe if i'd have trained a little harder, maybe if I had ate a little cleaner, or you know, you didn't want to have any of that. So in my mind, it was like this was the greatest gig in the world, you know, dream dream playing in the NFL. So I was gonna do everything I could to keep that as long as I could. And then once it was over, you know, I can I can hang my hat up and be proud of that effore I put into it. It looks like it was twenty eleven. By the way, the lock that was out. I'll tell you what, Man, you better man than me. Man, cause my workouts. You're still working out. My workouts stopped the last time. John Gambo told me I didn't have to run anything. So was it? I was, man, I was tired of I was so tired of working out. Man. I tried to bike every once in a while now, John, But that's about it, man, you know, that's about it. No, that's whatever you'll do. I mean, whatever you like. That's you just got to stay moving. You know. It's there's no perfect workout or training regimen. It's just whatever. I'll keep you active. Just motion is something, yeah, you know, John. Something else. Brandon told us this really, this really stuck in my mind. Here is that he told us that you snap blind. You know. I was really surprised to hear that because most long snappers, I thought, at least, you know, would want to you know, when they get over the ball, they want to see their target and deliver it to their target. But not you. Apparently, how did you develop that technique? Is that a common practice for long snappers. It's not. It's definitely the minority. If you look at all the guys that snap in the NFL, the majority they look when they snap. It was just I was more comfortable. I felt like I could get more velocity on the ball because I could sit down, you know, kind of lock into my hips and my legs a little more. And then on top of that, I liked being able to see the defense, you know, whatever the scheme they were going to run, whatever, you know, the rush that they were trying to bring, there's a lot of movement and a lot of motion and snappers who are looking down you got to you got to rely on the guards and the tackles next to you to communicate what the look is and what the look's doing and where you got to where you got to block. But I was just more comfortable. One I feel like I could get more velocity on it, and two I liked being able to see live like what was going on, how the rush was coming. And it's just it's just one of those things that if you practice it enough, you know, if you rapid enough, you create that muscle memory and just trust you know all that training and John, you know, I know that also that when I was playing, which is way before you obviously I'm old man, at some point that the long snappers weren't protected. Now were they always protected when you when you were No, it was slow. It was like my first couple of years there was there was no protections at all. And then they started implementing you know, you can't line up directly on his head, you know, so they had to move outside the shade, and they slowly just it got more and more, and then they started calling it more and there's definitely now it's they're really looking out, you know, for player safety, and so snappers got a lot of protection now like the quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean they needed too, And I think that lends to the where some of these guys don't have to be you know, d lineman to play or big tight ends to play long snapper because they have that protection. Right, Yeah, I know they could. They could line up right on the top of your neck with your you know, your head down if you're looking. That was another reason probably why I ended up being a no look guy, so you can see, so can get your head out and protect yourself. Some guy teeing off on the back of your neck and is the ball moves. Do you think that as those rules started to evolve that that also helped contribute to your longevity, John, that if you had played, if you had played earlier, Obviously you took great care of yourself, all the things we just talked about, But if those rules hadn't changed, and you know, the position was even more physically demanding than it was, do you think that maybe fifteen years wouldn't have been for sure? Like I like just another variable. He just brought up that, you know, things you can't control that come into play, and in my success, that things are out of my hands. You know, I just got lucky. Yeah, well yeah, yeah, pretty prepared and good in shape and all that other good stuff. Man, all that stuff. Now the blind staff is fascinating. When when Brandon told us that, I was kind of blown away, and especially not only that you did it, but that you look, you were two time Pro Bowl guy. The consistency of the snap, the accuracy, all of those things. But there was a moment between the two of you that didn't go quite as planned, and it was he knows where I'm going with it. I knew you were talking to Brandon. You told me you were calling Jay. You guys are going to talk to Jay Feely And wondered if I had anything on him, and I was like, ah, if he talks to Brandon, I know this is coming up. Oh I love it. I love it so well. I had enough calling him back, and so yes, December fifteenth. The funny thing is he knew the date apparently two days after his daughter was born or what have you. So we knew the date. We're hosting the Patriots here in South Florida. I think it was sunlight at the time, but what is now hard Rock Stadium. It's a three to nothing game. We're in the second quarter, fourth and one from the twenty four yard line, and here go two guys juds that have done this a thousand times with this like almost perfect operation, and so we just expected, right as fans, as observers of the game, we've seen this happen a million times. One thing we don't ever worry about is John Danny not getting that ball back to the Brandon fields, whatever that might look like, or Brandon drop in one. I mean, it just doesn't happen. And that ballfires off, It hits off his face mask. He looks surprised the whole thing. We did get Brandon's perspective from this, but I want to hear from you what the real story was. Well, it was a fake. We were running a fake. And so it was the timing and the cadence that threw the whole thing off. And you know, I can tell you what happened one way, and he'll tell you what happened another way. And I really believe it happened my way, and I know he believes it happened his way. And I'm not going to argue against him. But for me, in my you know, I felt like the cadence from the way we practiced it, something was off, like when he looked when he gives me his hand and he goes back to Dan Carpenter when he gave me his hand, and the cadence with the set set call just in my brain just I mean, And it could have been I'm just so wired to that set call every time he snapped a thousand balls with him, and it's the same thing over and over and over. So like I mentioned before, that muscle memory, So it could have been, you know, it could have just been my brain firing off on John, Are you confessing right now? I'm just saying I'm just being honest. I could have swore I could have swore he went back to Dan an extra time to make sure Dan was ready. Or was it It was Caleb. It was Caleb Start. Yeah, it wasn't. That's right, it was Caleb Sturge. Just so he gave me this set set and went back to double check, and my ball was already coming out, and so he turned back and mac him right in the face and great accuracy. I mean I almost jammed the thing right there in his face mask. But I mean he's got his own brewery now, he's making money off of it. That's right, that's right. So I love that. So he says he actually he's got a snap to the face beer, which is he sent us? I'll have to I'm sure you've seen it. I'm not getting any royalties from this though. I don't know what's going on there. That's my right. If he's saying that's a good point, John, If he's saying that it was on you, you're a contributor to this. You should be getting you should have an investment in that that beer. I absolutely love it. But so Juice, what he said, what he told it was a fake. That's that is consistent. Everything you just said was consistent with what Brandon said, He just in his mind was pretty clear as to who was responsible for this thing. But it was gonna be one of those where he throws it over his shoulder where stur just kind of instead of a kick, it runs around and he does a little over the shoulder tossed juice. It would have been sweet fourth to one. I would have loved to have seen it. I've tried to forget this whole thing. I couldn't remember who the kicker. We don't forget anything. He gave me all the details. John. He was like red red is a fake or the fake is off green green, the fake is on and and uh yeah, he said, yeah, well we'll leave it at that. I think I think you are a good man here and oh man, just too good. Yeah we did. We just saw each other a couple of weeks ago during the alumni weekend. You know, we were celebrating our main man, Zach Thomas, and there's a Hall of Fame ring ceremony, and you know, when you go to an event like that, do you ever think about, like all the different guys you played with, you know, over the course of the fourteen years, from like Zach to j T. Wes Welker and Sam Madison, who are both coaches now on the team, and Ricky Waives and Ronnie talked a little bit about them, Ryan Tannehill Cam Wait, even guys who are still on the team, like ex, you know, Xavin Howard and Jeron Baker. I mean, it's really remarkable how many players in Miami Dolphins's history you play with, and how many different eras of Miami Dolphins football you were a part of. I mean I had a couple, I mean you had multiple What do you think about all that? You know, now, a few years after you've been into retirement, how do you feel about all that that went on in your fourteen year career here now, it's still kind of surreal. I mean at the time while I'm playing, I still I always felt like that rookie in my first year just starstruck, you know, walking in the locker room my first week and looking at all the name plaques on top of the lockers, know Junior says Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, and just being like, this is these guys, this is really lither locker, Like they're going to be in here in a couple of weeks when when the whole team meets together. And so that whole time, my mindset was very i don't know, ignorant or young, and so I always felt like the little brother throughout my whole career. And I was kind of kind of like I was just lucky to be there, Like I was kind of like riding around everyone else's coattails and just be having a first row seat to this, this whole thing, watching you know, Hall of Fame talent take place. So and yeah, no, it's crazy to kind of step outside of that and be like, you know, I was. I was there with him, I was with a lot of you know, I was able to rub elbows with a lot of great talent. Yeah, honestly, you got a chance to be more Hall of Fame ceremonies with some of these guys you played with. I mean, there's a chance that some of these guys might make it eventually, man. And to be a part of all that, man, it's that that's a testament to your longevity being a great teammate with those guys too. Man. But that had to be a lot of fun to be able to sit back and say, you know, I played with that guy, I play with that guy I played with that guy. That's pretty cool stuff. It is fun. It's childhood dream for sure. So you know what, And I'm going off script here, and we're gonna wrap this thing up in a second, John, because you probably have another workout schedule to what have you. But I'm going off script a little bit. But as you and I didn't think about this, I don't know why it didn't. But again, going back to that first ever game in Campton Hall of Fame game, and then you mentioned when JT went in in twenty seventeen, Obviously you were still playing, Dolphins were in camp, but they flew a plane up, just like they did for Zach, but they flew but the difference here was there were still guys on the roster that JT had played with, and you were on that plane. It was you, it was cam Wake, I think it was Mike Pouncy, and then like Joey and Charlie and Charlie Troy, Troy, and you got like, what was that like for you to have that arc in your career to be the rookie when Dan Marino's going in to now going in to see your teammate while you're still playing and to have that experience. It all happens like so fast. Like I mentioned, just the whole my whole career. I just felt like the young guy. But to be able to be you know, a link between those two Hall of Fame careers. No, I was definitely an experience. Yea, that was cool. I know I meant a lot to j T two. I think he was really anybody who showed up. It was a big deal to him. But you know, to have guys that he played with that were still playing, I know it meant a lot that the Dolphins did that. Oh yeah, that's off to our owner, you know, being able to put us you know, like you said, it was in the middle of it of training camp. So for us to be able to hop on a plane and get out there and make that happen, and you know, allowing us to be able to participate in a memory with JT was was awesome. Well, you talk about it all happened so quickly, and we're going to talk about the quickest moment in the football game is the two minute drill. John. We know that throughout your fourteen year career there were countless times where you essentially were part of the conclusion of a good two minute drill where you guys run out there to get the winning kick. Oh yeah, deliver that per snap almost every time as we as. We just talked about that, But this is going to be your toughest two minute experience ever. I don't know if you started listening to some of the old episodes I got. I love that he pulled tapes on you juice. In fact, oh man, that one of my favorite moments. And it wasn't necessarily on the juice. It was just I was curious to hear with some of the guys I played records it talked about. Oh, it was so good. It was so good. But and please do keep listening. I love that. That's been one of the fun things for us, is when guys hear what other guys have said. And obviously we love anybody who listens to the podcast, but the guys who are a part of it to hear other people and tell these stories are awesome. But we now do this two minute drill. We've done it for a couple of years now, and so what we're going to do is we're putting two minutes up here on a kind of a proverbial clock and we're going to fire off some quick questions and see what kind of quick responses you have, and then we'll get you out of here. All right, ready, John, Ready, all right, here we go. I was a Cub Scout as a kid, but you were not only a boy Scout, you actually achieved the elite rank of Eagle Scout. This John Denny, still know the Boy Scouts oath man on my honor, do my best to do my duty to God in my country, and obey the Scout law to keep mentally help other people at all times, to help other people at all times, stay mentally awake and morley straight and physically clean, and something like that. Why don't you pick? Why don't you pick the other one? It's easier to be prepared, as the scout motto. Well, that's why we didn't take it. That's that's exactly why all right, clock is running. That was pretty good, though. That sounds like you're still living that oath. Okay, you learn to play the violin at age five? Do you still play the violin? And if so, what's your favorite song? I do play intermittently, as you know, ironically, just got invited to play for a Christmas thing at the church next next month. So that's it usually takes a wedding or or a church him or something to get and get me out. And maybe you know two or three times a year. And what's your go to song? Oh, there's whatever. You know, it's Christmas music this time. But I don't have a go to all right. You played for seven different head coaches during your record two hundred twenty four consecutive games. Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sperano, May you rest in peace, Todd Bowles, Joe Filman, Dan Campbell, and Adam Gase. If one of them could be cast as John Dinn in a movie about your life, who would it be? I'll go with Adam Gaze, just because we were the same age there is okay, we like it. That's a good word. And I thought you didn't have me rip off all those names off the top of my head. We're tough, We're not that tough. Okay. But here's another one for you, all right, Jay Phely, And you heard it. He just told us that if he had to trust any non kicker to make a game winning kick, you would be the guy. He picked it. He didn't even think twice about it, and maybe it was because there was a two minute situations. He chose you. We're gonna build upon that. So if you're called to make that kick, and now you need somebody else, one of your former teammates to step up and be the long snapper because you're now not available, who could deliver the ball exactly the way that you need It's JT. JT was our backup snapper there. He is, the Hall of Famer steps in for John Denny and he gets the perfect snap. John's gonna hit it there. Two minute drill for the that's the too minute drill for the fish tank. John, You're a good sport man. So good John Man. Thank that's so good Man, Thank you so much. Man. That was so much fun. You guys are more than welcome, glad to come on. You know what, JC, that wasn't far off. I was the backup kicker d Yu. So no, I don't think he knew that. I don't think anybody knows that. But it was Wait a second, so were you ever a backup kicker though for the Dolphins? John? Uh? No. I mean, RIG knew I could kick a ball, but there was never a situation that I'd have to have to do that. But it was I know you're gonna add is puzzled at how I could back up kick if someone's got to snap it, right, That's what I'm trying to figure out. No, it's uh so you got a backup kicker, you got a backup snapper, So there was someone who could gets snap so that I could kick it in and the chances of that being a good operation, which is slim. That's what I want. So, like, if you're the snapper, and so they have to make a decision like is there a backup backup kicker, But I guess they'll sacrifice and go to the backup snapper because they have to have somebody to line up there and kit. Yeah, this is a desperate situation where it's like, you know, no time left on the clock. It's all you just need the extra point, I mean something. Yeah, there's no there's no risk, you know. It's well, we're used to desperate situations here in the fish tank, so that's why I'm so intrigued by That's so good. Yeah, thanks, I just went sideways there a little bit, and you're trying to wrap up the podcast and I love it. Oh good, man, that was so good man. Thanks for diving in JO appreciate it. Guys. Thanks again, you're diving just like JUW said. 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. 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