First, tell me about your post-NFL work and how you got started in that?
I’m a police officer. I used to work for the Tampa Bay Police Department and now work for the public school system.
I figured I’d give it a try. We were all about helping others when we played football so it was something I wanted to do when I was done as well.
Was the post-NFL transition difficult?
Not for me. I was always thinking about life after football. I wasn’t what you’d call an elite player and wasn’t being given a big tv contract after I was done. I knew I had to find something to do after football eventually and was prepared for it.
What brought you to Pittsburgh, looking back on it?
I was in New York for one year when I pulled my abdominal muscle – I could only play for half the season. The next season I had to prove myself again and the Jets decided to go in a different direction and released me. They let the NFL know before they told me.
Well, when they released me Pittsburgh had me come down for a tryout. Tony Dungy and Chuck Noll told me then that they knew I was going to be released and were just waiting for me. I guess they saw me in college and when I came down I ran a 4.4 for them at the tryout.
So basically they expected to sign you unless you screwed up the tryout?
Exactly!
Did anyone help take you under their wing a bit when you got there?
I wasn’t a rookie but the guys in the secondary wanted to treat me like I was one. They wanted to do that rookie hazing stuff with me and I said no way. They already did that when I was with the Jets.
I don’t think they liked me much after that. Rick Woods led the charge on that and everyone else kind of fell in line except for Donnie Shell. He was pretty cool. He was the guy I watched and admired.
So no one helped?
No one helped. I had to basically learn to fit in and do my part. That was my approach anyway. It wasn’t a brotherhood then there at the time either. It wasn’t like that. It didn’t help that I came in after camp so I was the oddball there. They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. I just didn’t want to be the weak link.
What was your role there?
I was the nickel back and return guy.
Back then the secondary had a habit of making excuses to the media when things went wrong. I didn’t do that and it got me in trouble.
We were playing the Browns and lost in overtime. Donnie signaled “vice” to me, which meant I was to jam my guy – Webster Slaughter – then take the guy in the flat with the safety help over top. Well, I released my guy to jump Ozzie Newsome in the flat – I saw Kosar looking his way at first. Then he threw it to Slaughter for the touchdown with no safety help there for some reason.
I asked Donnie what happened and he said not to worry about it – it would be ok. But then the media said it was my fault and no one said anything. I took the blame for it in the media though even though I did what I was told to do. I didn’t make excuses.
What happened then?
That next Friday I was released. They told me they were bringing back Dwayne Woodruff. I lasted 13 games. Imagine this. You work out all week with the team. That Friday you watch film, get lunch, go on the field with the team. Then Chuck and Tony called me over to tell me I was released because Woodruff was back.
I was like “Huh?” Was I upset? Probably. This was what they had to be plotting all along. They didn’t just bring Woodruff back on the spur of the moment. I was there Monday, off Tuesday – in meetings the rest of the week and I was on the field when they called me back off the field to tell me.
That’s how I learned it was a business. I learned it twice – baptism by bullshit!
Any good moments there you can recall?
There were some cool guys on the team. We didn’t hang out much though – it wasn’t that type of team then. Maybe because I didn’t go to camp then – but I didn’t seem to fit in.
Brister, Edmund Nelson, Terry Long – they were cool guys. Terry was a short guy but strong – ripped! We all played with attitudes. And lining up against Lipps and Stallworth – they were both tough.
What was it like first getting there?
I remember practicing on that hard-ass Astroturf and those hot and heavy uniforms they had. I was like the little brother then just learning how to adapt to the NFL. It wasn’t what I expected. I just didn’t know. I was hurt my first year and was just adjusting and learning how to be a pro for those first two years. I had no idea how to be a pro then.
What happened after you were released?
I matured after that – my first three years really were a baptism into the NFL. I lasted eight years so I must have done something right.
In fact, the next week after I was released Detroit picked me up again and we played the Steelers that week. I downed a punt on the one, had a 40-yard or so kickoff return and no one caught the rock against me.
A bit of revenge?
It was gratifying for sure!
Any other thoughts on your time there?
I still have respect for the Steelers. I just didn’t like the way I was treated.
And I played, I realized, with five guys that ended up committing suicide. Long, Webster, Seau, Duerson, and Latrell. I experienced some of those concussions that make your eyes roll in your head. People want to pretend that shit isn’t real, but it for sure is.
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