First off, let’s ease into this with some football talk- do you follow the Browns – any thoughts on the team now?
I definitely follow the game – I will always love the game. I like the players – I don’t root for teams. I just follow the players I like and stay up-to-date on what’s going on.
I have followed Shedeur Sanders’s story there. Ken Dorsey is the Offensive Coordinator in Cleveland and he was my quarterback at Miami. I respect him a lot. I think Stefanski is a good head coach. But the whole Sanders thing…. I think Gabriel was just more ready. You could see when he was at Oregon that he would be able to make a quick adjustment to the NFL. He was more ready than Sanders. I think Flacco wasn’t working and Stefanski needed to make a decision to win now to maybe save his job. So that’s why Gabriel is there with Flacco as the backup.
You need a scapegoat when you are losing. First it’s the quarterback then it’s the head coach. And there’s nothing wrong with Sanders being a third-string guy until he’s ready to be the backup. He takes a lot of flak for who his father is -and the way he is perceived. I’d like to talk more about that.
I know we’ll get into more of that shortly- are there moments in the Steelers-Browns rivalry that stand out most for you?
Unfortunately at the time, the Steelers were just loaded. At Miami we knew we were going to win the game before we stepped onto the field – we were that good. I think that’s how the Steelers felt with us.
It is what it is – I was drafted by Cleveland – that wasn’t good or bad. But we didn’t have enough guys to win consistently against defenses like Pittsburgh and Baltimore – and against an offense like Cincinnati’s. We didn’t have enough alphas. That’s what it comes down to.
LeBeau was there at the time with his zone pressures and overloads. And Troy Polamalu was so good too.
I enjoyed most going against Polamalu. I wanted to be manned up against him – I enjoyed that matchup. He, Ed Reed and Charles Woodson….those were the guys I liked to go up against. It’s like being a UFC fighter – alpha versus alpha. We had good matchups but in-between the whistles it was all respect. At the time it was just me, Braylon Edwards and Jamal Lewis – we were the alphas on offense.
Were there mentors throughout your career that helped you the most- and how?
My college Wide Receivers Coach Curtis Johnson – he was the one who recruited me. He was the reason I went there. Andreu Swasey was my Strength Coach – he showed me discipline and the importance of hard work.
Don Soldinger, Art Kehoe and Ron Chudzinski had big impacts on me as well. Chudzinski went to coach for Cleveland and was a big reason they drafted me. Jeremy Shockey was like my big brother in Miami. He’s the one who showed me the ropes as a tight end.
In the NFL, Steve Heiden had the biggest impact on me – showing me how to be a professional. Even as a backup to me, he helped mentor me. He was a pro’s pro – tough as nails. Ask James Harrison if he remembers him – he was a bad dude.
Willie McGinist when he came to Cleveland from New England helped me too. Terry Robiskey and Raheem Morris all were leaders. They led by example and showed me how to be a pro. There were a lot of young guys there who needed that.
So let’s jump into your legal issues – the multiple rape cases. What do you think led to your incarceration? What started you down that path?
I have three years left here in prison – I can speak more about them when I get out.
But a lot of people struggle when the game is gone. There’s no outlet – no backup plan for many after being an athlete since they were very young. Not everyone becomes a broadcaster. So, what about the guys you don’t hear about – the ones who have no backup plan? They are thrown back into society and have identity crisis’. Dealing with all of that when the game is gone is tough.
What/how did Cleveland and the NFL do to help work with you on off field issues – did they?
I don’t think they noticed anything while I was playing, which is ok. It’s a business. When I was out of the league in 2013 I got no calls, no.
I wanted to dive deeper into what drove you to your incarceration. Many former players haven’t had the legal issues you’ve experienced right? Are you saying you were unfairly proven guilty?
I can’t answer all of that. But I know race did affect my case. It’s an uncomfortable topic but it needs to be brought up. Racism is submerged in our society – it’s a cancer. The stuff you see from the 60s – it’s still here. It still applies big-picture wise. My public defender, Gretchen von Helms, was White, but she pointed that out. I was a Black man who lived in a White neighborhood in San Diego. I was seen as a threat from the beginning.
The story has been about this dangerous Black man – that was how I was described in court. It was encoded in the language in my case. They used that language to create bias in the jury. The jury pool was mostly White and the prosecution was allowed to strike down the Black jurors. I had no Black jurors on my case.
The Prosecutor also did not interview or charge two key witnesses and did not interview or charge Matt Vaughn who was also accused of sexual assault. Why wasn’t he? It’s because the prosecutor knew Matt Vaughn could exonerate me.
So, are you saying you weren’t guilty then, or that race played a heavier hand in the sentence you received…?
I’m saying that I had to plead guilty. I had no choice due to the system. Either I took the plea deal or I’d get life in prison. The jury was White. The judge was White. That’s how many cases there have gone.
What do you think the women would say to that?
I can’t speak to that.
How are you now – what is life like for you now in prison?
I’m doing well. I’m getting my degree – taking classes here via community college. I was studying Sociology but will change and get a degree in Business.
What do you feel is different about you now – how do you explain that to others?
I think you have to be different – there’s no way you can spend time in prison and be the same person. People have no clue what’s it like if you haven’t been to prison – we are hidden from the ones who are free. Malcolm X said that prison is the devil’s playground or the greatest university. I treated it like the latter. I treated it as an opportunity to educate myself – in college my focus was really about football.
You make a decision here – do you want to stay the same, give up, or progress. Who do you want to become? For me it’s been about bettering myself. I’m definitely not the same person. God’s got my back – He has a plan for me. I’m in prison now but it’s what you make of it. I’ll be out soon and will be able to tell my full story and help a lot of people.
You wanted to talk more about Shedeur Sanders…
Yes – I wanted to talk about why there was so much media coverage. I do think it’s because of Deion. He’s been very successful – one of the most successful NFL players ever and now as a coach. A lot of people attack him because he doesn’t represent what they represent. He’s different. Some of that is the race thing. People aren’t used to this way of thinking – a vocal Black man as a leader is not welcomed by everyone. People aren’t used to vocal Black coaches. Racism is still here that way. I just want everyone to see that. It’s uncomfortable but it is what it is. So when I see Shedeur I’m rooting for him. Now, I’m not in meetings with him. I think it will be beneficial for him to sit and learn so he has a better chance to succeed.