First off, what have you been up to since your time in the NFL?
I’m raising my two kids here in Texas – a 13 year-old daughter and 12 year-old son. My daughter is the oldest and is amazing – she plays volleyball and is an artist and is doing amazing at school. She gets upset when she gets anything under a 97 and still believes everything her dad says is gold!
My son plays football and basketball and also excels in school. He plays quarterback like his dad – imagine that! He’s an encyclopedia of football knowledge – we play golf together and get to spend a lot of good time together that way.
Work-wise, I’ve been in the corporate-business world for the past 15 years. That’s my day job. I also moonlight as a part business owner of a franchise – D1 Training. We’re celebrating our six-year anniversary of our first franchise soon and opening up a second soon in Idaho.
But it’s been a lot of traveling and golf – and I just got engaged on Christmas day! So lots going on!
Was the post-NFL transition difficult for you with all of those new ventures?
It wasn’t a difficult transition. You miss some of it especially right after you retire. I played for a few years in Canada – for Edmonton. I tried to orchestrate a trade after that to Toronto or Montreal but that didn’t happen and I was released the day before camp started. At that point I had a daughter on the way so decided it weas time to stop playing.
When I was in Canada my intent was always to go back to the NFL. When I was with Edmonton that last season we went 6-12 and missed the playoffs. I played weeks 16 and 17 when the starting quarterback Ricky Ray got hurt and we won those two games. Ricky was a CFL legend – he came back for the last game and we lost again. At that point the locker room was divided – many thought I should have played that last game. The front office didn’t like what was going on and they brought in a new staff and you know how that goes – they brought in new people and I was gone. There was no XFL or USFL then – I knew that was my time.
I’ve seen a lot of former players introduced as “Football Player So and So”. I always knew I was Jared Zabransky first, football I think that helped me transition the right way. I’m not sure why I grew up knowing that, but that helped me to transition instead of affixing my identity to the sport I played.
How did you end up in Pittsburgh after Houston?
After I was released by Houston I signed with them in 2008. Pittsburgh was one of the franchises that showed interest in me before thew draft and wanted to being me in as a free agent after the draft, I watched the draft in 2007 and was told I’d be a middle round pick. After day one Chris Berman announced that I was the best player left on the b board. But I never got picked. Houston was the one team that brought me in before the draft – I had good conversations with Shanahan. Houston only kept two active quarterbacks though so I was cut and signed to the practice squad. I played really well in Fall camp and was listed as the third quarterback. But in week three Andre Johnson was hurt and they needed to make room on the practice squad for a receiver, so they released me and told me to stick around – that they’d call back in a few weeks.
Well, they did. But back then I was immature and jaded by the business side of things. They asked me to come back and told me they really liked me. So I asked for the money they would have paid me if they didn’t release me from the practice squad, since they really liked me. That was like $26,000 – not a lot for them but a lot to me. The owner – Rick Smith – he said “No.” That they had never done that and won’t do that here. Shanahan called me and asked me what the hell I was doing? I told him they all said they liked me – that this would show me that they felt I had a future there.
Well, after they said “No” I decided to work out for other teams and worked out for Tampa Bay, Miami and Pittsburgh.
How did the Pittsburgh workout go?
Kevin Colbert worked me out and said “Man, that was impressive!” I threw 50 passes and not one hit the turf. He told me it was a great workout and we got the contract signed.
Did anyone take you under their wing there?
It was a good group of guys. I hung out with Matt Spaeth, Jeff Reed, Jeff Hartwig, Dan Sepulveda, Scott Paxson, Jason Capizzi – we all hung out together. Hartwig’s buddy was a road manager for Hank Williams Jr. -we went to a concert and got to hang out with him for a while.
At the time I had no idea I had a broken clavicle. I thought I just had a soft tissue injury. It was a process learning the system there and I didn’t tell anyone about my shoulder. I was in the training room every day. Practices were tough – there was a lot of pain everyday.
Any moments stand out most to you of your time there?
I remember the antics on the locker room. When Ryan Clark was coming off of his shoulder injury and was working out. James Harrison jumped on the machine and threw his legs around Clark’s shoulders. Clark was yelling “What the hell are you doing?!”
I also remember when Gie {Garrett Giemont – Steelers Senior Conditioning Coordinator} was in his office – back then Harrison did his own thing but came in and did OTAs with us. He hadn’t lifted weights all day. Capizzi was on the bench press when Gie yelled out to Harrison and asked if he was working out today. Well Silverback (Harrison) walked over to the bench and ripped Capizzi off and just threw the weights up six times like it was nothing then walked out!
I’ve been around a lot of big guys in locker rooms, but I was deadly scared of Harrison!
Any fun moments involving you?
Oh yeah – guess this one is sort of funny. Someone had interviewed a player and asked them if they had ever seen anyone get ripped by Bruce Arians. They guy said “Oh yeah. One time Jared Zabransky threw a ball and Arians screamed at him – “What the hell was that Zabransky?” Arians ripped my ass for a while because of that throw. That was at the end of OTAs and my shoulder was gone at that point. I made a good read and threw the ball, but it exploded out of my hand like the worst wounded duck you’d ever seen and was underthrown by 15 yards and intercepted.
Did you ever let them know about the shoulder?
They knew I was in the treatment room every day but I never complained to them. I wanted to make the team. Hindsight is 20-20 – I should have had x-rays done and had the shoulder taken care of. I probably would have gotten a Super Bowl ring!
What advice would you give guys today trying to make it in the NFL?
Enjoy the process and don’t get caught up in the goal. Take it day-by-day. If you improve 1% every day that’s a lot – especially at the NFL level.
And befriend everyone. Get close to teammates and everyone on staff. Those relationships can get you through a lot and help elongate your career.