First off, what have you been up to since your time playing football?
Now I’m a senior manager at a publicly traded global real estate company. I’m a tenant rep and broker here in Chicago – working on commercial real estate on behalf of my clients. It keeps me on my toes.
Was the post-NFL transition diffcult?
It was difficult. I wanted my career to be longer – I didn’t want to give it up. I was cut from a lot of tams over my three years in the NFL – but I was also one of 96 guys at my position those years. Competing after that against a bunch of kids who just graduated college for jobs was humbling. I had to show that my experience as a quarterback was valuable – all those kids did was go to school. I got a finance degree from Illinois as well – I didn’t go to Illinois for my grades. I had to work hard to compete in the classroom and win games.
Were there people who helped mentor you on and off the field?
I had a lot of good coaches along the way – Pop Warner through the NFL. I still talk to my college coach, Ron Turner. He and I are friends – he helped me make the transition from college to the NFL. And my high school coaches helped show me I had the ability to play at the college level.
I was a suburban Chicago kid who decided to stay in Illinois. The best decision I ever made was as a 17 year-old kid!
As a fifth-round pick, how do you navigate trying to get reps and prove yourself as a quarterback to battle for a spot?
It’s the luck of the draw, to be honest. You can say I was a fifth-round pick, but the year before they drafted Michael Vick. It’s different getting drafted by a team and playing behind a veteran quarterback and learning from them. Tony Romo went to Dallas and got to learn from a veteran quarterback. Plus, I couldn’t do what Michael Vick could do. You look at his 40 time alone and wonder why they drafted me – my game didn’t replicate his at all. I was also older than he was.
How did you handle that?
Atlanta was an interesting place. I came from a West Coast offense and Dan Reeves ran a completely opposite offense so I had to learn that too. I started young in college so I never learned how to be a backup. My job was to help the starter get prepared. In Chicago I helped Kyle Orton watch film. I’ve seen backups play for 10-to-12 years and throw 100 passes and make millions. I wasn’t fortunate to be one of those guys,
In the end, Atlanta draft Matt Schaub and brought in a new coach. I was released and claimed by the Bengals, then I went to New York. Then they brought in Kurt Warner – they knew that was the plan so I wondered why they wasted my time? After that I went to New England then Pittsburgh. That was just one offseason. It was a shitty offseason – mentally I was in a shitty place.
You came into camp late in Pittsburgh…
I came in late – during mini-camp. I knew Larry Foote – I roomed with him in college – and Antwaan Randle El. It was weird. I went from Vick to Manning to Brady to Roethlisberger and Maddox in one offseason. That was a tough stretch. I didn’t even play in a preseason game – they just wanted a camp arm. I was just hoping to make a good impression with the coaches. You never know – coaches are friends with one another – maybe he’d refer me to another coach. You never know.
Latrobe was an interesting place – it was unique. On the plane I saw Porter, Bettis, Ward and others playing cards and gambling – I had never seen that before. In Atlanta Dan was more of an elder statesman. Pittsburgh was looser but when the lights came on and it was gametime you were expected to be violent. But the guys were all really close.
How did you see that culture being formed while you were there?
It comes from the top. The guys they brought in were good, hard-working people. The coaches figured out how to let that blossom. You can’t be on them all the time – you need to get the most out of guys without pushing them too hard. You can let them have fun as long as they understand when it’s time to work.
In college it’s more fun – you have 100 kids all around the same age. In the NFL you have some rookies and some guys who are married with kids. Some with teenagers! They were old! There were generations you never crossed in college. I think what helped in Pittsburgh was that a lot of those guys came in at the same time – they knew each other well and were in the same spot in life.
I have a good friend – Luke Butkus – who coaches in Green Bay. He told me when you walk into that building you realize right away that pressure to win. It was similar in Pittsburgh.
How did you see Ben Roethlisberger and Tommy Maddox work together in Pittsburgh – and did they work with you at all?
Ben was a rookie – he was a different dude. Tommy was the seasoned, smart veteran who knew how to play in the system and made good decisions. Ben was more of a big-bodied guy. He had a different mentality – he wanted to throw it as hard and far as possible. I was more like Tommy. Ben was working on his craft and Tommy helped him. It was a one-sided relationship. Ben was a sponge but there wasn’t much Tommy was going to get from Ben. I think Tommy was just thinking that he had to train his fucking replacement and do it with a smile on his face. That couldn’t have been fun.
Also, Ben wasn’t everyone’s best friend. He had a different type of mentality. They had different personalities but I don’t think it made either one better. I think it’s really a scale. If you’re not a nice guy and you don’t play well you’ll be gone. But if you’re not a nice guy and you play well, what are they going to do? You’re there to win games.
Looking back on it all, any thoughts on your career?
When I look back I’m not happy about my career – I wish it was 10-to-12 years and that I didn’t have to be here in Chicago in the Winter! But 25 years later I can look back and see the mistakes I’ve made and realize I still got to live my dream for a couple of years. It’s not all I wanted it to be but it left me hungry. Now I have three kids and I enjoy watching them play and go through some of the same things I went through. No one can take away these life experiences, like seeing those guys gamble their asses off on the plane!