First, can you let us know what you’ve been doing since your time in the NFL – and how hard was the post-NFL transition for you?
Well, I’m currently coaching. I started off as a teacher’s assistant – and I’m now coaching basketball and football for my old high school.
It wasn’t really that hard. I always knew I wanted to get into coaching. So it wasn’t really a big culture shock. And I managed my money well – I’m in good financial shape.
As a coach, where there any coaches or lessons that influenced you most in your approach to coaching?
Oh there have been a lot of them. I’ve taken a little bit from everyone. From Tomlin and Sciano to Olmstead and Coughlin. I take a few from each and put my own style on there too.
It’s hard to pinpoint one coach or lesson really. Every coach I gained knowledge from – whether I played for them for six weeks or three years.
You came to Pittsburgh as a free agent in 2011. Why Pittsburgh?
I had a tryout for Pittsburgh after Willie Colon was hurt and got placed on IR. I was unemployed for a week and Sean Kugler was in Pittsburgh at the time, so I was reunited with him. I played for him in Buffalo and he knew I could play and help the team.
As a free agent I didn’t get many offers – so I took the one-year offer to replace Colon.
Anyone help show you the ropes in Pittsburgh?
I hung out with Ramon Foster and Pouncey. I clicked with them. But the whole offensive line group was tight and they all brought me in.
How hard did the team take that loss to Denver in the playoffs?
It was as tough of a loss as any I had ever been a part of. Obviously, they didn’t get too down because they came back the next year with a good season. But that’s just part of playing football. You lose some tough games sometimes.
You played for seven teams over your career. How hard is that – how do you handle that stress and do you think fans understand how hard it is for most players?
I don’t know if they don’t understand it. I just think they know the big names – but they don’t realize that only the top 15 players or so are guaranteed to make a roster. The rest are all just trying to make the team. They may be cut and move around a lot.
It was stressful more when I was younger. But I got used to it. The first time I was cut – in Green Bay – that really hurt. But after that you realize it’s just part of the business.
Who was the hardest guy you lined up against in practice in Pittsburgh?
I only played on special teams so only can really talk about practices, yeah. James Harrison was rough. He was so short he could get up under you and rip that arm. Thank God I didn’t have to play against him a lot or I would have been cut sooner!
Any fun memories of your time in Pittsburgh you can share?
Yeah. I used to make Powerpoint slides for the team every Friday. They’d have pictures poking fun of Tomlin and some of the players. I did it every Friday.
I had pictures of Tomlin as a young guy in Tampa Bay – comparing him to Omar Epps, who everyone said he looked like. Pictures of him being GQ – with new suits on. Just different pictures with skits about them for fun.
How hard was it to leave the Steelers after that season?
Well, my only real offer was from Tampa Bay. Teams weren’t beating down my door, to be honest. Tampa Bay is the only team that gave me a two-year deal with some money upfront. So it was a no-brainer.
What are your thoughts on the way the NFL is changing?
They are more concerned about player safety now which I like. They care about the guys – not treating them like pieces of meat. Treating them like real people. That’s a blessing. Some people say football is getting soft. I say it’s getting safe. There’s no reason to slam a quarterback down just to hurt them.
I played in the NFL for seven years and had no injuries. But not everyone is blessed like I was.
Any last thoughts for fans?
I enjoyed my time there. I like Tomlin as a coach. He should retire in Pittsburgh as an old man. I know the media likes to point fingers at him, but he’s a good coach. Players play hard for him. He’s a real good coach.
Why do you think the media had turned for a while?
Well, when you have a few losses everyone wants to find fault and point fingers. AB and Ben disagreed all the time. But now that they’ve lost some games the media wants to look for a reason and they blame Tomlin for it.
I tell the kids I coach, they do the same things in high school that we did. We just didn’t have pictures and videos and social media. I’m sure Jerry Rice and Joe Montana had disagreements. But they didn’t have video. So no one blew it out of proportion and blamed the head coach. And people always like to point fingers at the head coach.
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