C.J. Gardner-Johnson Super Bowl Champion responds to recent backlash towards Eagles, issues a specific apology, talks misunderstood reputation, unexpected heartbreak, surprising trade to Houston, call from DeMeco Ryans and future as a Texan.

“My son said, so we can’t wear green anymore? And that killed me.” -C. J. Gardner-Johnson In this humbling and unfiltered episode of The Pivot, Super Bowl Champion C. J. Gardner-Johnson sits down with Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder to open up like never before and sets record straight on many questions and rumors surrounding his name and image. The outspoken safety gets real about the highs and lows of his NFL journey — from being traded and dealing with the label of having a “bad reputation,” to playing a key role in Philadelphia's Super Bowl run and the lessons he’s learned along the way. Off the bat, he addresses a recent rumor involving him and NY Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers and leaves no gray area on his side which leads into a deeper discussion around how C. J. is viewed in the NFL. He talks about what it felt like to be misunderstood in the league, how his passion is often mistaken for arrogance, and how those perceptions have impacted his career. C. J. reflects on his time with the Saints and then Lions and finally feeling at home in Philadelphia after winning a championship this past season only to be faced with his biggest pivot yet. Dealing with major heartbreak and trying to sort through confusion, C. J. shares how the darkest times have taught him most about leadership, ,maturity, and accountability. Struggling with things out of his control, his voice full of emotion as he shares to Ryan, Fred and Channing how hard it was on his kids to experience the recent ups and downs of his career. Despite the anguish he felt, C. J. expresses his respect and gratitude for veterans like Lane Johnson in Philly and Malcom Jenkins in New Orleans, holding on to invaluable life lessons. With rare vulnerability and honesty, CJ shares a powerful moment of remorse — expressing what he's sorry for and how he's grown from it. Now entering a new chapter with the Houston Texans, CJ talks about the delayed excitement of joining his new team and building a strong relationship with head coach DeMeco Ryans. He speaks candidly about the trust DeMeco has already shown in him in one unexpected phone call. CJ talks about how he's ready to win and be a part of a young, hungry team with a fierce competitor as the team's leader in Quarterback CJ Stroud. Looking forward to his fresh start to help him mature further both as a player and as a man, CJ tells Ryan, Channing and Fred he's ready for this next chance to be the one where the noise around who he is on and off the field is finally quieted. This isn’t just about football — it’s about growth, redemption, and the journey of a man who’s still writing his story. Tap in for a conversation that’s raw, real, and full of heart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior-like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  New Texans safety CJ Gardner-Johnson is a Pro Bowl caliber player. So why is he on his fourth team? And why is his ex spreading rumors that he put a hit out on the league neighbors? You know, we made him address the latter as soon as he sat down. But he also shared the hurt of being traded from the Philadelphia Eagles, the shock he was in during his first phone call with D'Amico Ryans, and how therapy has helped him grow. His reputation precedes him, but he promises us, "You can't believe everything you hear." He clears the air about Darius Slay and some of his on-the-field dust-ups. But he's just ready to move on. He's trying to take another team to the chip with his new quarterback CJ Stroud. But before the cameras cut off, he apologized to his old Eagles teammate. Now that's something you don't want to miss. Get ready to be surprised.

• 1:15Ryan Clark?

  This convo had common sense, sanity, and awareness, not something they normally associate with Gardner-Johnson. It's the pivot with three Gators and a Tiger. Tap in with me, Chan, and Freddie T as CJ Gardner-Johnson sheds the layers of toughness and gets real.

• 1:31Fred Taylor?

  So we in the gym now, huh, Chan?

• 1:33Channing Crowder?

  I worked out two days in a row.

• 1:34Fred Taylor?

  I'm proud of you. I am so proud of you, bro.

• 1:38Channing Crowder?

  There he is. There you go. Hold up, bruh.

• 1:43Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 1:43Speaker 04

  Hold up with it. Good, bruh. What's happening?

• 1:46Fred Taylor?

  Respect. You got it?

• 1:48Channing Crowder?

  I don't know, Fred. I think he got you. Huh? I think he got you in the neck. I think he got you in the neck.

• 1:52Fred Taylor?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

• 1:56Fred Taylor?

  He definitely, hey.

• 2:00Fred Taylor?

  He got that.

• 2:01Channing Crowder?

  We in Florida, boy. Look at y'all.

• 2:03Fred Taylor?

  Coco, Coco in his bed.

• 2:04Channing Crowder?

  Oh, wait, I forgot.

• 2:05Fred Taylor?

  Hey, T was out there when you was there.

• 2:07Channing Crowder?

  Three Gators, huh?

• 2:08Fred Taylor?

  Oh, yeah, just left.

• 2:09Speaker 04

  He was hosting, he had just left.

• 2:11Fred Taylor?

  In 2016.

• 2:11Speaker 04

  I was trying to graduate early so I could play with him.

• 2:13Fred Taylor?

  Right, okay.

• 2:14Speaker 04

  But they were... Michael Wayne will let me.

• 2:17Fred Taylor?

  Uh huh, yeah, Mac, Mac. This is nasty.

• 2:22Ryan Clark?

  Three Gators. Just the best of the best.

• 2:25Speaker 04

  I was watching the Midget team that was holding the banner when they ran out against Kelvin.

• 2:30Fred Taylor?

  Okay, got it, got it, wow, that's crazy. Yeah, we got our C out number today. Yeah, this ain't cool. I don't like it.

• 2:40Ryan Clark?

  I feel like we have more LSU guys on the show than Florida, so this is a rare feeling. Yeah, y'all got a couple of them. Y'all do football okay out there. The problem is this though, even when I have one, it's just 2-2. This is the only time I think it's been 3-1. So get out of line, we gonna jump on your ass. I respect it, I'm done.

• 3:02Channing Crowder?

  You know he'll fight.

• 3:03Ryan Clark?

  You know, exactly.

• 3:05Channing Crowder?

  No, you know CJ is fighting.

• 3:07Ryan Clark?

  Hey, CJ walked in here and started storming outside.

• 3:11Fred Taylor?

  Lightning, soon as you said that, it started lightning.

• 3:14Ryan Clark?

  Hey, shoot, that what happen when you come to Houston, man. You know what I'm saying?

• 3:37Ryan Clark?

  So what do we call you on the show? Is it CD, is it CJ Gardner-Johnson? I mean, is Chauncey totally gone?

• 3:44Speaker 04

  Oh, my dad still here, so it's not totally gone, it's not totally. People call me CJ all the time, but CD, but CJ is fine, I'm cool with that.

• 3:51Ryan Clark?

  We'll go with CJ. CJ Gardner-Johnson, Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor, Ryan Clark. Pivot fam, thank you for pivoting with us. We had a conversation recently, and I just kind of want to get this out the way for you, because I think it's important. There's some rumors swirling that, and I think it's just so silly that it's even a thing, that you put a hit out on Malik Neighbors. You know, I reached out to him. How would you want, just to address him, so he knows what's going on, but also so the people don't see your character in a way that's not you?

• 4:24Speaker 04

  Respectfully, I'm the one who I know the guy, the kid who played against each other. And like I was telling my agent, like, the kid was in high school when I was in New Orleans. So like, I don't even know his family, respectfully, I don't even... There's nothing on the football field to indicate we have like any little... Football be for off the field. Like I said, I don't know who his crew is. So the first person I hit was Jameis because I played with Jameis. If you can give me a contact with him because I don't want your agent or your people being brought to me that you don't have nothing to part of. That's respectfully. So there's nothing to it, his family. Like I said, I don't kick out a great future. Played against each other, but it was like, I shook hands and kept it going. So there's nothing to it.

• 5:06Ryan Clark?

  Have you talked to Summer? I guess that's her name.

• 5:10Speaker 04

  To be honest with you, through the court, there's no communication. I'm just keeping it through the court like I'm supposed to. So like that.

• 5:17Channing Crowder?

  And Brad, do you think you got a bad rap? Because even that, like when you look, when you type your name in now, it ain't talking about Super Bowl champion. It ain't talking about interceptions. It ain't talking about knocking, you know what I'm saying? What you do. Do you dislike how you're painted?

• 5:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think it's starting when I got drafted. I think it's starting when I got drafted. I went to a team that was already scrutinized as like a villain. The Saints. Sean P, the missed calls and all the players that they're drafting, the culture being in New Orleans. So it was like, the moment I got that call, I already knew what I was taking on. So it was like, what can I do to stay out of that? Like, I just play football. I was a, first day at camp, I got called out by Sean P. And I've never been called out like that before. He was like, I know where you're going to be here if you toe the line, but don't cross it. Got plenty clips from Super Bowl. Velma clips, Malcolm Jenkins clips.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  Even Reggie got, Bush got clips of him toeing the line. But it's like, that's what he's preaching. There's nothing against the game. That's just how New Orleans play football. That's what I brought into. I'm a rookie, so I can't say nothing. What you want me to say like, oh, I'm not going to go, I can't. I got, I brought into a room was Marshawn, a three-time Pro Bowler already, All-Pro. Marcus was there, the defense was. So I think that's where it started. Because in college, I never had issue.

• 6:47Fred Taylor?

  Right. But and you said you knew what you was up against.

• 6:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 6:51Fred Taylor?

  When you got to New Orleans. In the Super Bowl parade, I'm sure you knew you were up against when you pulled out the shirt.

• 6:58Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 6:59Fred Taylor?

  The Swifties. That's an army, bro. Who designed it? When that thought come up and why?

• 7:07Speaker 04

  So.

• 7:07Fred Taylor?

  Because the Swifties don't play.

• 7:09Speaker 04

  All right. In Eagles building, if you've been in there, there's no disrespect, people coming and out. It's a celebrity filled building. You meet the rappers, the athletes. And I think one of Dom's guys came in.

• 7:24Speaker 04

  Hey, I got someone in your locker because we know nobody else is going to do it. I don't know these people that's walking in and out. We meet so many different people, meeting Dom, being completely honest. I'm like, all right, cool. I met Pete Davis in nowhere randomly come out of practice. So you gotta understand, I'm seeing people from TV in the office. So they said, we got something for you, equipment, people joking with me. So I look at them like, all right. But people don't understand. Before all of that, this man's ex-girlfriend was at the game courtesy of one of the members. Like, that has nothing to do with me. So I'm just, all right, y'all want me to do it? All right, cool. Y'all cool with it? Y'all, everybody joking around. I'm like, all right, whatever, cool. But at the end of the day, it's like, I made that decision to put it on. But it was nothing.

• 8:08Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, nah.

• 8:09Speaker 04

  Nothing towards nobody, just going to Super Bowl, like, riding off a Super Bowl high, you still probably champagne, cigar, whatever off the party. But it's like, there's nothing to it.

• 8:19Fred Taylor?

  Have you, have you gone places where one of her fans kind of called you out for it? Like in fun or maybe too serious with it?

• 8:27Speaker 04

  Because a couple of her fans said they've been following me since I was at Florida. So it was like, we don't like what you did, but I'm a fan of you. Take a picture, go about our days, nothing malicious. Like, I ran into a lot of them in Target. Like, just going to get some toiletry stuff and just running into them.

• 8:45Ryan Clark?

  CJ, I've known you for a while. I remember me and Jordan still talking about the speech at the opening, when you came in and you talked to the boys and just kind of shared your story. Shared the reason you competed the way you do, how much you wanted to be the best. I said repeatedly on TV, I think you're one of the best safeties in football.

• 9:07Speaker 04

  Respect.

• 9:07Ryan Clark?

  When you were in the nickel in New Orleans, you were one of the best nickels in football. And you played man dang near every snap. You don't get that respect. And I do think a lot of times it's because of the perception of you being a wild card or crazy or uncontrollable, whatever it is. But your play says pro bowl caliber, all pro caliber play. Why aren't you, after winning a championship, two times in Philadelphia, bro? Six picks each of those years. Why are you now a Houston Texan and not a Philadelphia Eagle?

• 9:47Speaker 04

  Scared of a competitor.

• 9:49Ryan Clark?

  You said they're scared of a competitor?

• 9:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, simple as that.

• 9:52Ryan Clark?

  What you mean?

• 9:54Speaker 04

  You can't, you can't program a dog. Certain dogs, you can't say, if you're a dog and then it's time to go out there. Hey, we need to, look at the Washington commanders game. I got kicked out. I was nowhere near the play. Nowhere near the play. Everybody was fed up with me and I'm like, if you go back to that play, I celebrated with Reid Blankenship. And I'm getting cursed from head to toe on the sideline and looked at, Vic even get on me, I'm like, what did I do? So, you know, people in the box, they called down and they trying to figure out why am I getting, cause they was trying to reverse the call. Cause guys come off the sideline, do, if you watch that game, the game was already like

• 10:37Speaker 04

  heavily, that's what sparked it. Then we had like a little scrum between at practice, nothing, it's just offense versus defense. But who's the culprit of it? Me, I guess, because I guess we're competing. When you telling the period is live, you telling us not to compete during the live period, but it's a live period, we competing to get ready for a playoff game. All right, cool. It's like little antique things that, okay, so how you want to play football? You want to be a leader and outspoken, but then you want me to sit back and just, I'm cool with taking the backseat, but I'm not cool with little things like, okay, I'm misled, I'm confused, I don't understand what you, what you want me to do.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  So being in Philly is like, I would actually now go to front office like, what's my role? Like you guys say, I want to be a captain and we. But decisions are made, I'm looked at like, oh, we're just gonna call your agent. If I don't say, play this, if I come in smiling, happy, enjoy, oh, he's too much. If I come in there just quiet, nice to meet you, how you doing, yes, sir, no, sir, oh, something wrong with him. And so that's two faces. Well, I don't know how to play it, because even when I'm mellow tone, it's just a problem. I don't cause no problems.

• 11:56Speaker 04

  There's nowhere been in the locker room where I had a single issue with a teammate.

• 12:02Speaker 04

  Reece, blinking shit, wanna be in his wedding. That's, you know, be honest with you, those type, that's my safety. Since his rookie year, you don't get those type of calls from people that think you're a problem.

• 12:13Ryan Clark?

  True statement. That's real.

• 12:16Speaker 04

  I just got traded, and I just met the owner, the GM was there, all the assistant coaches. You don't get called to a wedding if I was a problem. So it kind of leave me a little confusing, like, okay, I'm just like, all right, what I gotta do? He had an outburst, so I'm like, all right. That's easy to tone back. Just don't say nothing, just, like, some people say, sometimes I don't say nothing.

• 12:37Ryan Clark?

  But then you do that, though, you're not being yourself.

• 12:41Ryan Clark?

  So now, how I get the best player?

• 12:43Channing Crowder?

  It remind me of something that Draymond Green said, almost like the Hulk and Bruce banner. Where like, you, off the field, you can be a good dude, cool guy, like, you sitting here chilling, cool, whatever. I done heard about you all the way back to Florida. But it seem like you get on that field, and it's that switch, that I think athletes need that switch. But do you know when to turn it off and when not to turn it off? Are you, it's funny about your name change.

• 13:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:13Channing Crowder?

  That's the thing with the name change, I read about it, and you were like, I'm, there's a different, you know.

• 13:18Speaker 04

  It's deeper than that, too.

• 13:20Channing Crowder?

  Explain it to me.

• 13:21Speaker 04

  I got two dads. And it was always hard to balance, where's your real dad? What'd your stepdad do? I got tired of answering the question, because it's like. People, where I'm from, people will get this wrong image and always build up their own story. I didn't like publicizing my family or private life. So I said, alright, I was gonna take that off my family and just put it on me. That's the deeper, like, not to copy nobody, I just wanted to take my family, like, because everybody was getting picked at. Every little thing I did, my family getting picked at. I'm like, my family is harmless, man. They ain't worried, they're not worried about none of this thing, you know? So I just try to, like, alleviate a lot of problems.

• 14:06Speaker 04

  And there's no problems to alleviate when I really sit back and think about, I'm like, well, never had a criminal record. That's the biggest thing. Like, never had no serious allegations, so I sit back and like, what am I doing wrong? Am I doing too much?

• 14:24Speaker 04

  And if I do too less, is it gonna be enough to still be able to go, go places I wanna go and do what I need to do to feed my family?

• 14:30Ryan Clark?

  He talked about Draymond Green. I asked him this question. Especially in the world I'm in now, my family takes a lot of heat or feels a lot of heat for things I say. And then it's the social media, so they think they have to defend me and this and that. And I'm always like, nah, I'm straight. Like, I, I understand how to deal with this. How much pressure, though, is it to know that because of your behavior or because of your perception, let me say that? Because of your perception, there is all of these narratives that you now have to defend your family against or protect your family from that are all about you?

• 15:08Speaker 04

  I'll be honest with you. I try to, I try to go get help as much as I can.

• 15:14Ryan Clark?

  What you mean?

• 15:15Speaker 04

  I try to talk to coaches that actually can relate. I try to ask some therapists that they know. I was, sometimes I just call my grandmother and just talking to her. Because nobody, you know, out of all the people that's going to my grandma, she just, you know, she tell me like, you know what got you where you at? By being you.

• 15:36Speaker 04

  So all the problems, I try to figure out, I think, I don't put no pressure on myself anymore. I think that's what it is. I got all this pressure, pressure, pressure. I wanna release it, but I don't got no pressure on myself. And I think the more, like I said, I go open up and actually go in the building and be a friendly, a friendly coworker or a coachable player for coaches, because it's like... One man, bro, there's not too many people you can go talk to, bro. You can't trust them because there's always something and they want something from you or it's a catch. So being what, 27 and just now figuring out how to express my feelings without being angry. I think I'm still trying to figure it, you know, kind of lost.

• 16:21Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 16:21Speaker 04

  But my navigation telling me like, all right, got to open up more, got to go ask for help, got to go. Sometimes I gotta cry.

• 16:29Speaker 04

  You know, I don't, I don't cry as much, but I go pray.

• 16:34Speaker 04

  I'm like, if I can't crack it, I'm gonna go pray. I'm gonna go send a shot while I go pray. Because sometimes a simple prayer, it, it helped me. I think that's why I won a Super Bowl. I was quiet all year. I was really quiet all year. Minus this, me and Slade, you know, we have nothing. That's my, he had a fat head on my wall as a kid. Come on, man. I ain't got no, I ain't got no, no, no intimacy with you, bro. I watched you from the line with Calvin. I like, I played with you on the game queue. I went quiet, bro. I was just praying with them. Like, man, I gotta, help me help my teammates.

• 17:10Speaker 04

  And my coaches and people that hired me here. And I think that's, I think praying, bro, has just been helping me. It's just been helping me.

• 17:16Fred Taylor?

  From your time at Florida, you know, to the NFL, playing in two Super Bowls, leading the league in picks, being misunderstood at times and trying to find the answer so you can be the best you can possibly be. Is there anything in there that you would change about your journey to this point?

• 17:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, I would change how I would model my role models, like how I looked up to them and.

• 17:39Ryan Clark?

  You saying the, the people you looked up to?

• 17:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, how, how they went about things. Like, like you said, like, for example, Reggie was the first safety I seen. Coming from Palm Bay. So you gotta think about it.

• 17:50Ryan Clark?

  Reggie Nelson was a baller.

• 17:52Speaker 04

  And then on the field, I would see like everything. I'm like, okay, I gotta be just like that. And then literally your coach is like, you want to be like that? Well, you know, you hear those, I'm like, I gotta be just like him. And then like as a kid, I would see.

• 18:07Speaker 04

  You guys, Ryan Clark, Troy, Charles, I see all the little highlights, like, oh, I gotta do just, I gotta do exactly those things. I think if I would go back and change how I would do certain things, like my outbursts of when I'm being attacked when I was younger, I think that's where it started. The four or five star, y'all know how that go. That's where it start. I think me not caring about what other people think when I was younger, I think affected me. And that outburst carried and spurred moments in my life because it reverted back to my childhood, I would do it in my childhood. I think if I could go back, I would change how I would do some of my outbursts, how I approach it

• 18:49Speaker 04

  instead of always being aggressive, like I said, by watching. But it's not, I never knew what it was like, those type of people.

• 18:57Fred Taylor?

  So can you be the great player, RC just said it, how great you were. Can you be that player? If, you know, you pipe down a little bit, or if you change your approach?

• 19:10Speaker 04

  I feel like the past two years, I have. I feel like the past couple, two years, I've been going from Philly, Detroit, Philly. I felt like I made a complete change because I would allow people to help me and understand what was the, so I can be a great safety. I would go ask questions. What do I need to do so I could satisfy you, like respectfully satisfy your needs so I could still be here and have a job respectfully? And those responses would be, let's keep doing what you're doing. Bro, you're fine. You're here to catch picks and bring energy. I'm like, alright.

• 19:58Channing Crowder?

  I honestly, I honestly think, and you way better than I ever was, but between the whistles, you cover so much goddamn ground. We were talking about it, you was coming, I was like, bro, from Florida, you cover so much ground. I think that's your greatness, like your fast twitch is stupid. It's between, it's when the whistle blows to when the whistle starts. It's more to it, like it's, like, to Fred's question, like, it's almost a, let me know if I'm wrong. Like, do you have to have a hatred towards your opponents?

• 20:32Speaker 04

  No.

• 20:33Channing Crowder?

  Because it seems as if like you, like, it, it's not like, okay, good catch. It's, you caught the ball, bitch, you didn't catch the ball again, you motherfucker. Like, you, like, do you have, like, watching you, it seems that way.

• 20:46Speaker 04

  Also, you can ask team members I play with, it's not like that. People say it's like, because we're celebrating, but it's never negative towards the person or the game. Because like I said, I can't name a single person that I seen off the field that I did a antique tours or over that we have a personal problem with. There's no intent to like be that villain.

• 21:11Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 21:12Speaker 04

  It's just tr- true joy of playing the game and doing what I love, like. I've been in games where I ain't said nothing. And I'm still like, oh, he's out there, I ain't said nothing. I just hit a guy the wrong, hit a guy the wrong way. Or, I don't know, I'm near a pile or something, or it's, it's been games where I haven't said nothing. It's been games where, yeah, it's, it's not because I go out there with a hedge, no. I'm going off the, based off the game, it's a rivalry game. It's a big game. Like San Fran, the first San Fran game, the Eagles game, that was, forget the media. There was nothing on the field, there was no switch to get, it's nothing, it's none of that going on.

• 21:55Speaker 04

  So I get to, on the field, I don't got no vendetta, I'm, there's no energy, no negative energy out there. It's just playing with passion from guys I looked up to, how they played the game, I'm just playing ball, man.

• 22:06Channing Crowder?

  What was it, Williams? Javon Mims. Mims. From Chicago.

• 22:10Speaker 04

  That was a, alright.

• 22:11Channing Crowder?

  You snatched a man mouthpiece out his mouth.

• 22:13Speaker 04

  It started deeper than that. So that's a whole situation I can give you, it's cold. He got hit the wrong way on the sideline, he felt the way, and it went from there. But nothing else, like, respect when we saw, we saw each other that summer and laughed, because he's a Georgia Bulldog, a Florida Gator. And we just, we just catch each other.

• 22:35Ryan Clark?

  He did steal off for you though.

• 22:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, but it was his line.

• 22:39Speaker 04

  And then, and then he was like, no. Bruh, I can't forget the picture with this, he had his little. I was like, cause I'm like, did you really take it that far? Like, come on, man, like, it's a hit, like. You had, you had them things loaded.

• 22:50Ryan Clark?

  It was a total Florida boy incident too, though.

• 22:53Speaker 04

  Cause I'm like, I'm trying to remember what's the Florida. I know he was biting his lip.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  Cause I was, I was like, this is my thing, and this is what clicked. Like you said, that switch. If I swing, that image that y'all talking about is everywhere still to this day. You know it's so crazy? And no, not taking away nothing from the guy.

• 23:14Speaker 04

  But, you, come on now, I would, I would be in the same position.

• 23:19Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, right.

• 23:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 23:21Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 23:21Speaker 04

  You would? I'd be in the same position. I took the high roll many times. When I could have been that, oh, he's the, cool, but why he didn't swing?

• 23:34Ryan Clark?

  That's, that's not a crazy person thought.

• 23:36Speaker 04

  Cause I read that rule book, y'all said, fighting for how much? Oh, no, y'all, you're crazy.

• 23:42Speaker 04

  I heard you, I heard you, Coach.

• 23:45Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 24:14Ryan Clark?

  Like, everybody has an alpha. Your, your defense this year in Philadelphia, the rush was crazy. Obviously, Jalen is amazing. Zach played amazing at back. I mean, just on every level, y'all had a tone setter. But you, to me, were the energy, the, the personality of the defense. I was at the Super Bowl, and I'm watching it. They throw a ball to Travis Kelsey over the middle. He doesn't catch it, but you give him a little chicken wing. Right? When you get into a game like the Super Bowl, and you know. That's a future Hall of Famer. The quarterback's a future Hall of Famer. Do you turn up the energy so the rest of your team?

• 24:57Speaker 04

  I calm down.

• 24:57Ryan Clark?

  Follows that?

• 24:58Speaker 04

  I calm down.

• 24:59Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 25:00Speaker 04

  You can ask the film team. This is the third quarter, six minutes left. Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Because I know if I get out my body or get too up, we get out of control. It's been the biggest games we done played and I just, I can't do what I do. I, I can't do what I do. Super Bowl, I was fine being the safety valve and understand I just don't let the ball go over my head. I don't care about no tackle right now. I don't care about knocking somebody in the head. That's not my job right now. Like, I calm down. Because I don't watch big games on TV so much.

• 25:45Speaker 04

  I'm like, why not me?

• 25:48Speaker 04

  I don't watch the NBA Finals. I don't watch NHL. I'm like, I ain't be the last team standing.

• 25:57Speaker 04

  And when we lost the first Super Bowl, it just hit even more. I'm like, I was on the stage and just the top of the mountain.

• 26:06Speaker 04

  And you got to think about only what, 59 teams won a Super Bowl? 53 players exactly? I want to be one of them. I was one of them. And that's why I had to calm down. Kickback, don't, even the whole week, I didn't leave a room.

• 26:21Ryan Clark?

  You know, you sound like an incredibly sane person. When you have a helmet on and Javon Mims swings on you or Ray Ray McLeod gets upset with you, the perception is, right? Or the thought is CJ had to do something to them people to make those people punch him. Or to, to get him or to get them in that, in that space. I knew you, like I said, I met you in college, right? I knew you were intelligent, right? I knew you had good sense. But even me watching it was like, oh wait, he's, he's changed from that young man I met that told that group of high school players how to be the best you could possibly be.

• 27:07Ryan Clark?

  How do you now overcome the narrative that's been created throughout the first six years of your career?

• 27:17Speaker 04

  Just win here?

• 27:19Speaker 04

  Just keep winning. Just keep winning and don't take away from what's already there. I think that's the biggest thing, just keep winning. Then when you talk about football and your career, it's winning football games. You can't talk about losing.

• 27:39Speaker 04

  Winning is staying out the way and making sure that you're doing the best thing you can do for the organization, yourself and your family, I think, like you said, and not even making outbursts. Not even doing, like you said, antics on the field, things happen. Like I said, take the high road like you've been doing.

• 27:56Ryan Clark?

  You keep talking about outbursts and you said you had outbursts as a kid. Tell me about what life was for you growing up then? Like what, because you keep saying, I always had these outbursts, I had these outbursts. It started when I was young.

• 28:09Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:10Ryan Clark?

  What were the outbursts for when you were younger?

• 28:14Speaker 04

  I'm battling against older kids, trying to tough, trying to solidify myself as the best kid in the county. Tarien Folsen was the best running back in our county. And everybody was, oh, you can't be better than him, can't be better than him. So you can't, you can't, you can't. I'm not hearing that. So I was, I always go against these kids and I'm the person that go against them. And I think when things would go against me in Little League, I, you know, I'm not having that. There was no fights. It's just I would use my athletic ability to make it, like, my outbursts come from my athletic ability. I'm always trying to defend that. I'm better than you. That's what the outbursts come from. I'm better than this person, I'm better than this person.

• 28:57Speaker 04

  And that's what I'm referring to is like, not nothing personal. It was like, I always was trying to get the outbursts, I'm better than this next person. Don't say it no more, just do it. And that's where it started. I think if I was just doing it back then. I'm the biggest brother out of all my brothers, just two of us. So I got to learn on my own. You know, one month, single month, my stepdad came. So going out against older kids and, you know, seeing how they played and then watching it on and then I'm like, I'm gonna beat that to him. And then let them know about it. Young guys do that sometimes. And I think if I'd have learned at a younger age, it would have helped me even more. You know, people, okay, I could play with this kid or I could, you know, work with him or something like that. So.

• 29:41Fred Taylor?

  CJ, you was talking about running backs, the best running back in the county. I'm gonna go back to your Super Bowl run this year. Your defense amazing, one of the best in league history. Your offense just turned up a notch when Saquon pulled up. The first time in practice, when he ran through the hole,

• 30:02Fred Taylor?

  did you turn that down or what was your mindset like? Let me go see what this looked like or what was that matchup like?

• 30:09Speaker 04

  You can't go hit the money.

• 30:10Fred Taylor?

  I just want to know.

• 30:14Speaker 04

  This will happen. This is, okay, you asked me while I'm in Houston.

• 30:19Speaker 04

  We do a two-minute drill.

• 30:21Fred Taylor?

  Uh-oh.

• 30:22Speaker 04

  And Nick say, it's thud tempo. This is in, I think, many, uh, first beginning part of practice, we get our pads. I say, you show Nick. And he say, just thud him up. Chauncey says, I got you. The first play, guard turn out, shoot the gap. They immediately blow the whistle. Cause they know like, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. They were like, oh, no. Hold the D-line, they would O-line say, oh, you weren't gonna hit him, Saquon, he gonna shake you, he gonna. Saquon said, all right, Chauncey.

• 30:56Speaker 04

  You got it. We competitive, you got, cause he, he walked up to me before practice, before camp. Hey, if I break, that's seven points. If you stop me, that's six points. I say, bet. I say, but if, well, if I smack you, like, well, if I hit you, like, Chauncey, come on, all right, we was talking, we was talking. So, cause I had Wolfco say thud tempo. Like, what I get for that? He was like, just take care of, I'm gonna take care of you.

• 31:20Speaker 04

  They doing, you know how often they do, they look, get mixed on two minute. Nick go empty and I know what's coming and Jalen Hurts quarterback draw. I run straight down the middle, I supposed to be in the middle third, run right down the middle. I ain't even hit him, but I got.

• 31:39Speaker 04

  Drill over defense one, whatever. I got cussed out so bad. I got cussed out so bad and that, but that.

• 31:45Ryan Clark?

  You got too close?

• 31:47Speaker 04

  I got close to Jalen to Warren Saquon, like this can happen to you on fourth and one.

• 31:54Speaker 04

  And you, you not gonna fill the gap like that in the game. Bijon Robertson play happen.

• 32:01Speaker 04

  No, no disrespect to the kid. He's dope.

• 32:03Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 32:03Speaker 04

  He's good.

• 32:04Ryan Clark?

  He can go.

• 32:06Speaker 04

  They make a crazy call in the huddle and it's me and him and I'm like, oh. And it triggered back to what Saquon said, I, I saw Saquon in the back, I didn't see Bijon Robertson.

• 32:19Speaker 04

  And it went from there, I go to the sideline, I say, Saquon, that was you. And he just laughed and we lost, but it was like, that was. Right.

• 32:27Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 32:27Speaker 04

  That was that moment.

• 32:28Ryan Clark?

  Man, I love that, man. You, you know, you mentioned Jalen, you've had the fortune of playing with a lot of good quarterbacks. You go and win the Super Bowl with Jalen, now you're with CJ Stroud. I know it's just been the off season, he was kind of banged up. Are there any similarities or what things do you see in CJ when you say, you know, I could come here and win? What things do you see in CJ Stroud that could help you win a championship here as well?

• 32:55Speaker 04

  A competitor. A dog like, and willing to lead. I, I played a lot of like Drew was one of those quarterbacks, willing to lead us. And getting shipped to Philly was kind of a blessing. Cause you know, being in New Orleans, you know, the court, the situation was hard, so we're looking for a leader. It's easy when you gravitate around there like Jalen, so when coming to another team is like, you don't gotta say much, you just sit back and just encourage them. It's the only thing you can do with those type of quarterbacks, cause you can't put them on their plate. You already, they already got.

• 33:30Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 04

  They got a lot going on, so I could just be that teammate like, bro, you him. Don't.

• 33:38Speaker 04

  We've been doing this since we were seven years old, six years old, bro. Don't change. If I could just be that teammate, because I think Brandon Graham said something to me. You can be on a teammate with somebody for ten years and I know that. I don't want to be that person. I want to know something about you. Even I know your favorite color, shoe, because that's what type of person I am. You can ask everybody in Philly. I'm getting the kitchen staff and equipping people with shoes. Because these people come up six, five o'clock in the morning cooking us breakfast.

• 34:04Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 34:04Speaker 04

  Cleaning our lockers. So if coming to this team, like I say, is encourage him. Because everybody got negative around him and now with old. Encourage him in a way where he want to do it.

• 34:16Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 34:17Speaker 04

  Not just, oh, you good, but you got to be better than him. Nah, bro. You good where you at? Just let's keep going and let's keep building.

• 34:25Channing Crowder?

  And bro, with D'Amico, we played with him. We old, we were puppies. We played with him like. He played with D'Amico daddy. Yeah, he played daddy. He got to talk about Dick Butkus.

• 34:40Speaker 04

  My bro like.

• 34:41Channing Crowder?

  I just smiled at him. Hey, Mike's secretary told Freddie. He gave him hell. Forty-six man. Shit, Fred, you will run through that forty-six man. But, but the way you, the way.

• 34:58Channing Crowder?

  See, the way you talk, I, I know guys that think like you. I kind of think like you look, you, you might be further off the diving board than I am. But is it, is it, how is you and Miko's relationship? Because I think he could understand where you coming from more. And I'm not no bad mouth to anybody, any other coaches, any Nick, y'all won a Super Bowl together. But like, does he, does, does, does he understand where you're coming from more? Do y'all talk?

• 35:27Speaker 04

  You know what's so crazy? When I got traded here, I was in shock. Now, I told him I couldn't even come in, I, I couldn't come in the building because I was like confused. I got like, I didn't, I didn't know what to turn to.

• 35:41Channing Crowder?

  How did you find out? How did you find out?

• 35:43Speaker 04

  At a clock, at night. I'm just, what I was doing, trying to stream on Twitch. If I get a phone call, hey, buddy. Oh, man. I don't think I done did something crazy. But you know when you ain't do nothing, you just trying to like, okay. We haven't signed nobody free agency.

• 36:05Speaker 04

  What that got to do with me? This is the Eagles? Yeah, what that got to do with me?

• 36:09Speaker 04

  Yeah, and the team's on a younger slate right now. I'm 27. What that got to do with me? I'm like, I'm going work for work. Yeah, so I'm gonna let you know in the morning where we're gonna send you or we're gonna cut you. Whoa, I said, if you cut me, you gotta clean it up, like, with nothing going on. I said, if the slate situation affected this, this ain't got nothing to do with that. I say, please let me know why I'm getting cut or like, clarify, because this ain't no, this is out of, it's out of the blue.

• 36:39Speaker 04

  10 o'clock the next day, they'll send you to Houston.

• 36:44Speaker 04

  What?

• 36:47Speaker 04

  I said, hold on. I just called Nick, Nick don't answer. I called Dom, Dom don't answer. Howie calling.

• 36:57Speaker 04

  Your contract way too much? I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, it's bullshit. I'm on an incentive-based contract.

• 37:05Speaker 04

  I only play, I'm building a million dollars this year.

• 37:09Speaker 04

  How am I weighing too much? If you want to just, if you want to protect and bring more, just say, because I had the option to take my salary and turn it or to a sign of owners or whatever it may be, and reconstruct pretty much so be guys can get paid. I said that. Yeah, but we still need more money. I said, Howie, do what you need to do best for this organization. I said, I just want to go somewhere where I can win. That's simple. I said, I just want to go somewhere where I can win. I don't have to struggle. I said, because if I can struggle, if I struggle, I'm gonna struggle as a player. I told him that straight out of my mouth. He said, all right. And my agent called me at 10 o'clock, you're going to Houston. That next morning. So I'm like, damn. I'm happy, but I'm like, damn.

• 37:52Speaker 04

  I gotta start all over again with a group of guys who got a narrative of,

• 38:00Speaker 04

  and I just want to super.

• 38:03Speaker 04

  So I'm like, damn. I'm battling now, like, okay. Do I go quiet? Do I don't show up? Do I send a text to Stingling like, yo, bro, like, I don't know who to text. I don't know who to call on this team. I don't want, D'Amico say, welcome to Houston. I say, D'Amico, bro, I'm shook right now. I had to tell him.

• 38:27Speaker 04

  And he knew what it felt like being traded. He was like, take your time. I went and signed. I was like, just don't post me signing. I was broke.

• 38:37Ryan Clark?

  What hurt you so much about it?

• 38:40Speaker 04

  I built my home there in Philly.

• 38:45Speaker 04

  If I knew the contract was gonna be a one-year, I'd have signed a one-year deal.

• 38:51Speaker 04

  Not a three-year, thirty-three million dollar deal, fifteen million dollar signing bonus to be shipped out with no problems.

• 39:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev. Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 39:30Ryan Clark?

  So like,

• 39:32Ryan Clark?

  you, you say you don't cry. You say when you feel something, you pray. If you don't know if you want to go in the building. If you're telling the new team you're going to, and we see it all the time, right? The guys sign, they smile, the thing in the back, it says signed, all that. We see like, that's part of, that's part of the celebration of the process. If you don't want that, then you have to have feelings and emotions that are extremely real for you. What were those feelings and emotions in that moment? That couldn't allow you to be like, wait, I'm going to a playoff team that's really good, really young, really good head coach with another opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

• 40:16Ryan Clark?

  Why couldn't you be present in that moment?

• 40:22Speaker 04

  I was still, put it like that, I was still holding on to the memory I was making. I was trying to make history in Philly. Like, I done moved, my kids was moving to school, I'm like, okay, I was really trying to not get traded again or moved again to change the narrative. Like, the conversations we was having, that's why I was hurt.

• 40:47Speaker 04

  Like, you having, these people on the phone, my kids, you don't play with people's kids. You don't play with people's kids. Like, y'all know what's going on, y'all, say that. That's when, that's why I was crying, because you playing with my kids, my family, and you smiling on our face and then you saying, nah, bro, don't get down like that. But I wasn't gonna allow my outbursts to even, that's why I was quiet when I got traded. Like, you had the episode when you training and flawed, but I ain't got nothing to say about it. Them people ain't do me no type of bad doing there. They paid me, helped me take care of my family, and they provided me a job. I was just hurt because my kids was hurt, my family was transitioning, yeah, that was a lot for me. And I was by myself.

• 41:31Speaker 04

  Well, I was just starting to get everybody in my family back. Like, that Super Bowl moment brought everything, like, I got people in New Orleans, people in Florida, so, so we went to Super Bowl in New Orleans with my grandmother, auntie there, it was like, damn.

• 41:48Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:50Speaker 04

  So I'm like, and you just saw these people hugging, and I'm like, I'm just thinking about those memories.

• 41:57Speaker 04

  I'm like, you know, my son saying, so we can't wear green anymore, that would kill me.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  Red is nice here, capital. It's nice, but a six-year-old kid? Yeah, I know.

• 42:11Speaker 04

  It's a me all over, yeah, man.

• 42:13Channing Crowder?

  Right, being that, being that family patriarch is something I think a lot of young players don't. You know what I'm saying, you the patriarch of your family now.

• 42:21Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:22Channing Crowder?

  Because financially, you can support people, now you, they, everybody gonna ask you your opinion on stuff and all.

• 42:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:29Channing Crowder?

  Were you ready for that when it happened? And?

• 42:33Channing Crowder?

  The, the, the mental state, because you can't be tough with that. That's what gets me, like, that whole tough.

• 42:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:39Channing Crowder?

  Shit, put it on me, put it on me. But nah, you can't put other people's problems on you, and you have to solve problems for other people.

• 42:47Speaker 04

  I wasn't ready for it. I wasn't ready to be the icon of my family yet. I'm telling you, because my dad had a chance, my mom had a chance. So it was like, when they got thrown on him, and I knew I had to, like, to make it out, I'm like, oh.

• 43:03Speaker 04

  Ooh.

• 43:05Speaker 04

  When I ma- when I got drafted, that's when it felt like, okay, it's sinking in. That offseason, that very first offseason, that's when it hit.

• 43:17Speaker 04

  I went broke, boy. I went crazy broke. Trying to feed mom, make sure dad stay straight. And I'm like, I wasn't ready to do all that stuff, because I wasn't, I wasn't putting myself in position to be ready for it. I was just seeing things and just going off what I saw. Hearing how the NFL is supposed to be and how, how we going off what I heard. Because I wasn't ready for it. I wasn't actually sitting back and analyzing my actions and asking questions. I had great vets. I wouldn't have asked him a question.

• 43:50Speaker 04

  When I got Malcolm Jenkins, that's when shit clicked. It clicked.

• 43:57Speaker 04

  Wasn't having that.

• 43:58Channing Crowder?

  How did Malcolm help you?

• 44:00Speaker 04

  He saw through the bullshit. He was like, I was just like you a couple of years ago, coming out of Ohio State, and realized when I went from corner to state, that's when I realized, I'm like, wait, he was a corner?

• 44:14Speaker 04

  My favorite player, I didn't know he was a corner? That's when I knew I had to, like, really tighten up. First, me, I couldn't even sit in the back no more.

• 44:25Speaker 04

  Like, you know, as a, I'm back here taking, nah, Malcolm was really, no, this, if you want to make it out, this is what you need to do. And not make out, make out your rookie contract.

• 44:39Speaker 04

  I said, dang, all right. I was trying to be like Marshall. I can't be like Marshall. He done already established himself. I can't fuck, and nothing against him. He's a great player. I just can't, that's his role.

• 44:49Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 44:49Speaker 04

  I can't be like Januar Jenkins. That was another Florida. I got him in a room, I can't be like him, okay. No disrespect. I gotta follow what's really gonna help me. Get in the building at 6:30 where they can see that you're here taking your workout serious. Doing the extra workout after practice, doing the tackling. Sometimes just going to Malcolm and just, alright, what do I need to do on film? Or as a man off the field in this building, you know what he told me? He said, now I say to trainers, and make sure you speak to the coach every time you see him. No matter what coach. And it got me through a lot of things.

• 45:28Speaker 04

  And just, don't, like he said, don't take away from the organization. Like he said, you see all the stuff I do, yeah, standing up for our peoples and... He said, but I'm never taking away from the organization. I'm always gonna ask them, like, how do you feel about this? You can see it. It's very, it's evident.

• 45:49Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 45:50Speaker 04

  So I'm like, alright. And that's, when I got Malcolm, that's when I really like, alright. When I lost him, when he retired, I kinda was like, damn. But we went out with a bang, so I take, I took everything I learned from him and I try to like, translate it.

• 46:05Ryan Clark?

  He did that on this show, actually. He retired here with us. You respect the vets, I can tell. Can you kinda take us through why the whole back and forth with you, Slay? With you and Slay happened? Cause he, cause it seemed like, it didn't seem like he was saying anything about you?

• 46:27Speaker 04

  Yeah. He wasn't. That's the thing, he wasn't. Everybody blew it up around us.

• 46:34Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 46:35Speaker 04

  Let's just get, let's just clear that out of the way. I, I think I quoted Michael Parsons, one of his tweets or something. He said something on his podcast, and Slay go on it. But everybody said, well, Slay shouldn't have said anything about your teammate. Alright, he got asked a question, he can't control that. Let's just be honest with you. We go on the next day because they think I gotta... Okay, let's go back. When I got traded to Philly, I was actually happy to play with him. I didn't know how to like... Say Big Bro, look, I get into it with a rookie in the weight room. I don't know how you treat rookies, but I remember in the weight room in the Saints, if there's a weight on the ground, they pick it up. You pick it up. And I say, hey, rookie, hey, make sure y'all pick these weights up. And one of them felt the weight, and they went to slay.

• 47:20Speaker 04

  It was my first day, and I wasn't coming at him like on, and we're from Florida. I think it was, no disrespect, me and Joe, Josh Joe. And I think Joe missed, thought I was coming at him with music loud. I'm like, nah, Joe, make sure you pick that up after you done. Like, hey, little bro. He go to slay, and slay come to me, and I'm like, nah, like, I didn't mean it, like. But how the rookie went to me, probably, like you said.

• 47:44Speaker 04

  I look at this, like, what, what? What you talking about? Then the coaches get involved. Don't talk to the rookies like that. Whoa, what?

• 47:57Speaker 04

  And that's what, it took off from there.

• 48:00Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 48:02Speaker 04

  First year, it was C D versus the D B coaches, and the D Bs. I had got traded a week before the season. I don't know their playbook, and they start me from the guys who was fighting for the safety spot. That's a slap in the face.

• 48:16Speaker 04

  That ain't my decision. That's why I started getting hated at. I'm in practice that week, not knowing the playbook. And they just throw me a star on safety versus Detroit Lions. And every other star on safety that was practicing in camp was mad at me.

• 48:33Speaker 04

  I didn't ask for this trade. I was trying to get paid that nickel. That's a.

• 48:38Ryan Clark?

  No bread.

• 48:41Speaker 04

  That's what started.

• 48:42Ryan Clark?

  When it, when it became public, though, the back and forth with slay, how did you guys sort of come to a resolution? Because we had him on the show, he coolest cat ever, bro.

• 48:53Speaker 04

  We, you know what's so crazy? Me and Big Bro would really just like still have our daily conversations. People would like, why are you slay beefing? We're not beefing. We play on the same side of the field. He would say, "Look, bro, you got me in the post. I got you." "If you beef with somebody, you not gonna ask them that." "You finna try to take the post in the third, in the half, in a quarter flat."

• 49:20Speaker 04

  It was... And then when everybody around it kept, kept picking at it. So I, as a fan, you probably get aggravated. And when he addressed it to me in the locker room, everybody wanna make a scene. Like, "We finna fight." "No." So I just like, "Bro, no, I ain't got time for this right now." Everybody blew it up as in, I'm mad at him. "We in the locker room, bro. We gonna be coworkers. Let's just go talk about this." "Or you call me." Which what he did after, we talked on the phone, "Let's win Super Bowl this year," and that's what we did.

• 49:54Fred Taylor?

  Speaking of the, uh, the Super Bowl, right? The ceremony, the rings ceremony coming up. Have you gotten that out of your system? You gonna go up to the thing?

• 50:06Speaker 04

  I'm going. 'Cause that's the moment that respectfully, if I never get it again, I'm getting that moment. It's like, candy shop. I gotta show, out of all the chains we done bought, you can't buy that one. You can't buy that one.

• 50:21Ryan Clark?

  They don't know. They don't know. Only, only you and I. Only, only you and I know what it's like to go to two Super Bowls. You gonna win one. They don't know nothing about that, dawg.

• 50:33Speaker 04

  I gotta go to the ceremony because, like I said, they didn't, yeah, they traded me. But they didn't do anything personally. They didn't... I got, I, I can celebrate this last moment with y'all. I went to the wedding for Joe Castro, our safety's coach. A-Mo was there, Alec was assistant GM. We all shook hands, we dancing. I got one more, that's... I had another memory with him. So I'm finna make it last, so when you try to paint this narrative, you saw me and shook my hand, was laughing with me at this rings ceremony and this wedding. How crazy can I be?

• 51:08Channing Crowder?

  You have any animosity towards anybody? Because you been, when you keep getting traded, it's like, goddamn, goddamn. Like you saying, you surprised? I don't know what a twitch is. You was twitching.

• 51:20Speaker 04

  That's like the streaming.

• 51:21Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, man, I'm old as [BLEEP]. Man, I don't think no video games, man.

• 51:25Speaker 04

  He thought it was twitching?

• 51:26Channing Crowder?

  I stay at my 401K. I look at my Morgan Stanley app all night. But like, no animosity towards any of those transitions, anything that happened through your career?

• 51:38Speaker 04

  Not from Jim in New Orleans, Mickey, to Howie, Brad in Detroit. Brad told me straight up, we might not have room for you because Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph are evolving. I gotta respect that.

• 51:52Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 51:53Speaker 04

  Yep. We went to NFC Championship together. We made history in Detroit. Why would I be upset? Because every place I've been, I made some sort of history. So I can never hate these people. You paid me, I got my name in the history books. I mean, if you don't bring me back to retire here, if I get to pick up plays, if you don't bring me back, I'm kind of mad. But I'm gonna retire at one of the teams I played for at least. At least, because y'all gave me a chance, so I'm gonna at least give you, you know.

• 52:23Channing Crowder?

  I don't want to kiss your ass, but do you ever tell them like, bitch, have you seen the defenses I play on?

• 52:28Speaker 04

  No.

• 52:29Channing Crowder?

  Like Detroit, you just said it, the Super Bowl, first time in Eagles, y'all was balling on defense. Detroit was balling on defense, then Eagles balling on defense.

• 52:37Speaker 04

  They didn't expect it in Detroit. We lost a Super Bowl, I just lost against the Chiefs with Eagles.

• 52:42Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 52:45Speaker 04

  Jacksonville come to a joint practice. And I told them, I say, it's gonna be different, y'all come up here, because they was woo. Crazy practice getting to it. Dan come in and say, I need you to have that same energy, first game against KC. I said, oh, it's gonna matter all year. We walk into KC.

• 53:06Speaker 04

  I told him in the locker room, I say, "Don't let that red fool you." I said, "Let the big red dog fool you." Because it lay down sometimes. I told him that in the locker room. I told him that. That's why I put out the ski mask.

• 53:20Speaker 04

  The blue ski mask. I say, "If you wanted, you gotta go take it." I say, "I was..." And them boys, they were... Because Brian Branch was on my hip, like, "You sure?" I'm like, "Bro." I like him. "You gotta do what you want to do to these boys if you want to get your point across." We beat them. Big Branch had to pick six? Hush going crazy. JG was going sto... No, Gibby emerged. That's where everybody heard of Jameer Gibbs. I'm like, "Okay, okay, we got a chance." We played Seattle, lose to Geno them. But how we played that game, I tore my pick first quarter.

• 53:57Speaker 04

  I'm thinking, I'm getting bit by ass. I'm like, "But this is real spicy." I talk about it because I want to make a statement in Detroit about winning with these young guys.

• 54:08Speaker 04

  "Oh, you didn't change nothing? Go watch that practice, training camp, all camp." Giants came up there for joint practice, they knew what time it was. They coach say, "Yeah, we can't, we can't. Y'all defense, C.D.'s going crazy." Jamal Agnew, Jacksonville come up there, live practice.

• 54:26Speaker 04

  Philly's old coach, he was at Jacksonville. Peterson. Peterson. Doug Peterson. Doug say, "We gonna go live." Hitler Agnew, he fumble helmet come off. They stopped joint practice. This is true statement.

• 54:43Speaker 04

  Dan say, "We gonna have a live one versus ones in Detroit." Gibby get his issue, but it wasn't on... I hit Jameer Gibbs in practice, Coach Shep Gibby.

• 54:55Speaker 04

  Everybody going... Kelvin? Yeah. Yeah. They going crazy because in Detroit, we do Oklahoma drills, so you know how it is up in Detroit, man. They knew what time it was. When I tore my pick, I felt bad for him, but I was happy for him because I was still there. If he had came into himself. Tracy was still... Me and Tracy was... Tracy Walker? Trying to like, figure, okay, I'm like, "Big bro, you know, like, we the older ones, so we got the..." When we saw Kirby and Brian go crazy, that's when we was like, "All right." We can't say nothing no more. They got it.

• 55:26Ryan Clark?

  Can I talk about one of my favorite CJ Seedy plays?

• 55:32Speaker 04

  What's up?

• 55:33Ryan Clark?

  The hit on Pacheco in the Super Bowl, the first one.

• 55:37Ryan Clark?

  When you hit him in the chest and he couldn't figure out how to alleviate it. He tried to hunch over first and that didn't work. And then he went here and then there was another play in that same quarter where you chop somebody down on the sideline. When you were approaching Isaiah Pacheco on that one hit, where you hit him in his chest. Talk about your mindset for the young safeties and the young defenders that watch this show. When you're approaching him into the contact and then what you felt after you hit

• 56:10Ryan Clark?

  one of the better backs in the league in the biggest game in the world.

• 56:14Speaker 04

  You gotta know when it's coming. You gotta really study it. There's what, six, eight minutes, or eight minutes left in the game? They gotta feed him. And the only way you go at these type of backs, you can't have no fear. And when you say no fear, man, no fear to go hurt the guy. Not to go fear to go try to go crazy. No, just do your job. If you do what you've been taught and what you practice.

• 56:41Speaker 04

  That's my first time I made a legitimate hit like I hit the dummy in practice. I was so shocked because it shocked me. Like I finally did something right for him not to fumble.

• 56:54Speaker 04

  Like we do a lot of crazy, we do a lot of crazy type we practice for him not to fumble. It still shows there's people out there working harder than you. People working harder than you.

• 57:05Speaker 04

  Like, most guys fumble that ball. That showed me like, I gotta keep practicing my technique because there's people out there that's practicing and working harder than you. He fumbled, we changed, we won the game. I might have two Super Bowls. But it taught me, all right, when I wake up in the morning, ah, I gotta go to work. No, I gotta go to work and feed my fam. I gotta go work because it's a young safety behind me that's getting ready to play. There's guys in colleges that's seeing me that want to be just like me but better. And for any young safety, just keep working.

• 57:37Channing Crowder?

  I love it.

• 57:37Fred Taylor?

  But you, you, you seem like you might yell bitch when you hit somebody.

• 57:42Speaker 04

  Nah. Bitch? You don't do nothing? I got the Brian Dawkins in me.

• 57:48Fred Taylor?

  What's that?

• 57:50Speaker 04

  Yo, yo, yo, hallelujah. No, I just, no, I just scream like, Superman scream like, they're like, what, you good? Nah, my fault, I twitch.

• 58:01Speaker 04

  So you, ah! It's, Reed Blankenshaw, he'll tell you, he'll have to like, see, snap out of it because I'll just go black. Like, they're straight red dots. I just.

• 58:14Speaker 04

  I know the feelings, I can't even tell you. I know the feelings, dawg.

• 58:18Fred Taylor?

  Them fines you was talking about earlier, you can thank this OG right here for that.

• 58:22Speaker 04

  Hey, I know the feeling, dawg.

• 58:23Fred Taylor?

  I, I, I actually have two questions. I know we're gonna wrap in a second. The first one, uh, cause you've mentioned family, you mentioned your kids, and that hurt you the most with the, the move from Philly. How has fatherhood changed your perspective, you know, on the game? And when people come at you with this, these allegations that you are this type of player or that type of player, this type of person?

• 58:46Speaker 04

  I just, okay, seeing my oldest son, I'm like, alright.

• 58:52Speaker 04

  How can I really lead him? It was, you gotta teach, you gotta teach, you gotta teach. And I just wanna lead him in the right way. Cause you gonna learn a lot of things, get taught a lot of different things. And it's always a, like, uh, when teammates I play with in college, like your son, how nephew doing? I'm like, damn, okay, he doing good. I could tell somebody like, how my kid doing? Or I can always like, I just look at their life and reflect like, everybody was asking how my kid doing? I'm like, they doing good. Cause I wanna lead them in the right light, like, I don't wanna always teach them something. Cause they, like I said, like, it's hard, this world change is difficult, it's evil and it's hard to get a grasp on it.

• 59:35Speaker 04

  So if I could just keep this path clear for him. And my daughter and my other son Saint, man, it's you can do what you want to do. Like I said, hey, no outbursts. This is what daddy did. This is what, this is the good effect, it's the bad effect. That's what I'm gonna teach. But like, I just want to keep this path clear and keep everything away from them, not everything, not. So they can walk in the world and like, alright, I can do something, whether it's football, scientists, or whatever it may want to do, I just want to be proud, because when people ask, like I said, me and your son got a great relationship. You know, so he saw me one time, he was like, he gonna be, he gonna be crazy good. I say, nah, he gonna be better than me,

• 1:00:19Speaker 04

  because I'm gonna teach him to just be in the right crowds. That's something I'm gonna teach him. Be around the right people. When you're around success, you're gonna be successful.

• 1:00:30Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, that's what it looks like.

• 1:00:31Ryan Clark?

  At least footprints.

• 1:00:33Fred Taylor?

  Right, and the other question is one of our favorite questions, your biggest pivot in life? That's the moment you can look back on and say, because of this happening, I am the person I am today.

• 1:00:46Speaker 04

  I look myself in America, be real. I think like I traded the first time to Philly.

• 1:00:53Speaker 04

  I actually had to sit back and realize like, this is my rookie contract, it could end. I actually had to make a phone call to the, to the Howie and ask him, and I apologized to the GM like a grown man for the little things. I had to apologize and understand, like, that was a pivot in my life, because I never knew how to apologize. And I apologized to Mickey Louie, because I feel like I let him down for trading me. And I think that's what helped me, like, express a lot of gratitude to people. That's what's helping me.

• 1:01:23Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 1:01:24Speaker 04

  It's just helping me, but like, thanking and being forgiven to everybody in my life, because like you say, I've been traded, but I can forgive them for, like you said, helping me. That's the pivot. Being able to forgive people and just move on and not hold on to nothing. You can't hope, gotta be able to, God forgives, so why can't I?

• 1:01:46Ryan Clark?

  Jesus was brought here specifically for that. My last question would be this, you're talking about apologizing, forgiving. In the, sort of the heated moment, the statement was made, "The Eagles won't win another ring without me." And you see what happened when I was gone for a year.

• 1:02:07Ryan Clark?

  Looking back at those statements, how do you feel about those now?

• 1:02:12Speaker 04

  I retract them.

• 1:02:15Speaker 04

  And I wouldn't even say it because I played with those guys. And I know how they will feel, like, Johnson, you tripping.

• 1:02:23Speaker 04

  It's a disrespect to Jalen Carter. A.J. Brown, I can name all those guys on that team. Lane Johnson.

• 1:02:33Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 1:02:34Speaker 04

  Respectfully, because Lane is my big vet. And Lane would tell me, hey, Choms, I got your back, but when you do too much, I don't got your back. And that's one of those moments, that's too much.

• 1:02:46Speaker 04

  Because it's taken away from his career. He done it before me. So I think, apologize to the guys in Philly, like, I got nothing against them. And if they win six more rings without me, they deserve it because that's the type of players they are. If I don't win, if I do win, like you said, I will apologize to them like a grown man. That's why I'm going to the ceremony. Because I know how to approach it. Even if somebody asks me about it, bro, I apologize. That wasn't nothing towards you. I respect you. Like I said, I give all my respect to Lane being the oldest guy on the team, the veteran team, because he will be owed apologizing more. Because that comment would be more hurtful to him. Because he decided to keep playing.

• 1:03:31Speaker 04

  So.

• 1:03:33Ryan Clark?

  Nah, that's how we end the pivot, man. That was dope.

• 1:03:36Speaker 04

  Appreciate you, bro.

• 1:03:37Fred Taylor?

  That was real, dawg.

• 1:03:38Speaker 04

  Appreciate you.

• 1:03:38Fred Taylor?

  Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That was damn good. You got Ocho in you, CJ. They take you the wrong way because you're more aggressive than Ocho. You know what I mean? They see you for like, I'll knock your head off if I got to. But nah, that's always good, though. You know what I'm saying? But nah, man, congrats on everything, bruh. And it's good that you're trying to sort all that shit out. You know what I'm saying? Because you're understanding the business more and more and more. Right? And you gotta always keep your face clean. Because they all talk. And they see this, like, oh, he can be this. But he's a great player. This is liability. This is an asset. You know, he can do this. And then, you know, this can probably bring him down here. But it's good that you identify with everything that you've done from change to change. So keep going, bruh.

• 1:04:23Speaker 04

  Appreciate you.

• 1:04:24Fred Taylor?

  I get to see you when y'all come down to Jacksonville and then when they come over here. Yeah, I know, right? And then that division is nothing like where you just left.

• 1:04:32Ryan Clark?

  It'd be hot in Jacksonville, though.

• 1:04:33Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, here.

• 1:04:35Speaker 04

  I'll be on with you.

• 1:04:36Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 1:04:37Speaker 04

  Nice. No, he's phenomenal.

• 1:04:40Ryan Clark?

  I just trained him this weekend.

• 1:04:42Speaker 04

  I talked to him. I was like, I don't know how you didn't have 12-plus picks last year.

• 1:04:46Ryan Clark?

  Wow. He dropped, he dropped four.

• 1:04:49Ryan Clark?

  Kalen Bullock, he was out there this weekend. Talk here from you. What'd you guys see?

• 1:04:54Speaker 04

  All right, this is Petry.

• 1:04:55Ryan Clark?

  He can go, too.

• 1:04:56Speaker 04

  You know what's so crazy? I see him being like our linebacker, because like...

• 1:05:00Ryan Clark?

  That's what he do, he play Sam.

• 1:05:01Speaker 04

  Man, the way he run the gap.

• 1:05:03Fred Taylor?

  And what's the other guy that...

• 1:05:04Ryan Clark?

  He basically play Sam because he play nickel.

• 1:05:05Fred Taylor?

  That knocked Trevor Herd off. Uh, Al, Akir, Ajeem.

• 1:05:09Speaker 04

  Oh, he a monster.

• 1:05:10Fred Taylor?

  Aziz.

• 1:05:11Speaker 04

  Aziz. Hey, I love him.

• 1:05:12Fred Taylor?

  And that's why your coach, the real one.

• 1:05:14Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:05:15Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, your coach, he gonna, he gonna rock with y'all.