From Super Bowl to Startup: TJ Ward's Journey | TJ Ward DSH #814

A bunch of guys that were older, so I feel like I was able to learn a lot.

Whereas they're coming in now when there's few guys over the age of 30 in the locker room.

That's crazy.

Yeah, it is crazy.

It's a bunch of kids, basically.

Yeah, this is like the kids teaching.

I wouldn't say the blind leading the blind, but it's definitely kids learning from other kids.

Yeah, they're lacking that experience because when I was growing up, it was common to have people in their 30s playing.

Guys, we got a former NFL player here today, TJ Ward.

Thanks for coming on, man.

Oh, No problem.

Yeah, we met at Damon's event.

It was a cool event.

Yeah, very cool, man.

A pleasure being there.

Yeah,

I got a lot of value from last.

Were you at the event last night, too?

Yes, sir.

Yeah, I met some good people there, man.

Damon, super connected.

Man, super connected.

Great networking, and a lot of great spirits in there, man.

So it was good to meet a lot of new people.

Yeah, how'd you get in touch with Damon?

My PR,

Miss Leela Christine.

She told me about the event.

She has some friends that's within his team and told me to come on out.

And I'm glad I did.

Nice.

It was a great night.

Yeah, it's cool to see you transition into the business space from being an NFL athlete for eight years, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's not an easy transition, but

it's definitely challenging.

And it's something I always wanted to do, even from a younger age, is to be involved in business, own my own business.

after

I retired and hoped for a long career and I played eight years, so I'm very blessed to have done that and won a Super Bowl.

So

transitioning to new goals and

achievements.

Nice.

Did you have a dream business you wanted to start growing up?

No, I didn't know exactly, but always wanted to be involved in real estate somehow.

My mom was a real estate agent growing up.

So, you know, I've seen the work she put in in that lane.

And my dad also was an entrepreneur.

He owned his own custodial company.

Oh, nice.

So, you know, I've always

saw that entrepreneur spirit from my parents and you know what it takes to be an entrepreneur from them and

want to put it in place myself.

That's sick man.

Yeah eight years in the league.

The average career I looked up is three and a third years.

Why do you think it's so short?

You know there's so much turnover every year.

There's so many guys in the league and

they're coming in younger, stronger, faster.

So, you know, the older guys got to kind of make way.

But at the same time, i think it's kind of doing a this a this um concern to the younger players because they really don't have as many veterans in the league when they come in opposed to when i was playing i had a bunch of guys that were older so i feel like i was able to learn a lot right whereas they're coming in now when there's few guys over the age of 30 in the locker room that's crazy yeah it is crazy it's a bunch of kids basically yeah it's like the kids teaching i wouldn't say the blind leading the blind but um it's definitely kids learning from other kids.

Yeah, they're lacking that experience because when I was growing up, it was common to have people in their 30s playing.

Yeah, for sure.

Like, when I came in the league, we probably had, maybe I thought some guys were older than they were, but that was, you know, the energy, you know, that we had, it felt like

10 to 15 guys over the age of 30 at least.

At least it felt like that.

Yeah, I remember on Sports Center, they would always say when people hit 30, that was like a big deal in the NFL.

Yeah, and I think every year as the years go by,

that number may be even getting lower damn like especially for certain positions like running back it's almost like 26.

holy crap that's so young no yeah because they're coming in at 29 yeah i came in at 23 i think 22 may have been the average age back in 2010.

damn for money right now no just in general oh in general like coming in i think now the age is probably closer to um

21.

Holy crap.

Yeah, so as a safety, if you're in your 30s, you can't really keep up, right?

Because you're not as quick as your 20s.

No, no, you can.

It's just the

taboo of it, you know, of being 30.

It's kind of just, you know, an unsaid,

you know, negative

thing that goes with being that, you know, I mean, some players may lose something at that age, but not everyone.

Wow.

You know, some guys get better.

Yeah.

So when you felt...

like in your last year or two, did you feel like you were still...

Honestly, I felt towards the end, i was in some of the best shape of my life wow you know my last year in tampa i was in great shape coming out of camp with denver because i got released right after camp i had pulled my hamstring but um that was something that was chronic every year i started yeah i pulled my hamstring in cleveland one year i was I think it was 20, maybe 25, 26.

And every year after that, I pulled it during camp just because of the stress of camp.

Damn.

But it never, you know, hindered me me during the season.

And that camp, it got pulled again.

But during the season, when I went to Tampa, I was in great shape.

Wow.

So it's just politics got involved, I guess.

Pretty much.

Damn.

I wonder how many athletes that happens to.

More than that.

That's scary, man.

Because it should be just skill, right?

Shouldn't be that.

You know what I mean?

That's why I quit basketball, dude, because the coach's son was on the team.

He was trash.

Yeah, most, yeah.

Well, you know how it is.

Most sports aren't what they should be.

Like, yeah.

Those instances when you're like,

you know when things seem obvious and they aren't yeah yeah then it's for a good reason that must be so annoying in sports though because you literally know you're better than the guy starting and you're not playing yeah they had me alternating with um a couple guys that year in tampa that was uh

really when i i felt the full grunt of football politics it was like in the nfl at least yeah because you're coming off a super bowl win you were the starting safety and yeah now you're second

about a year removed or or so.

That's pretty crazy.

I want to talk about that Super Bowl run.

Yeah, for sure.

Did you have a good idea when the playoffs started that that was going to happen?

Or was it?

Yeah, man, when the playoffs started,

we knew we were going to be hard to stop.

Yeah.

Or, you know,

hard to get by because defensively, you know, that was our mindset.

Like, we could stop anybody.

And,

you know, for one game, four quarters, we could beat anybody

with the guys we had.

And that was our mindset.

Nice.

You know,

every game of the playoffs.

Were you guys number one in defense that year?

Yep.

Nice.

What was the team you played in the finals?

We played Pittsburgh the first

conference.

And then

we played...

Oh, yeah, we only played two because we had homefield.

We played Pittsburgh in New England.

So Big Ben and then Brady?

Yep.

Wow.

Going against Brady, that must have been, that's an iconic matchup, right?

Yeah,

we had them in the regular season, and

that game almost went to OT, I believe.

It was snowing.

I got injured that game, actually.

I got

like the first series.

I mean, if you're playing in the snow, I'd imagine.

Yeah, man.

I got a high ankle sprain.

Jeez.

Under the pile doing dirty work.

And,

yes, somebody landed on it.

I don't know what happened, but me and another guy on my team got hurt the same play.

We both got carted to the the locker geez what are they doing in that dogpile man man i don't know man probably some chief shots you know knowing the patriots so i missed most of all that game and then it was a high angle spring so i was out you know a few weeks and i came back right around the time we

like the end of the season going into the playoffs i got healthy and

um

edelman comes down later in the game and cracks me and the ball was like a way and it re-injured my angle so I missed the back end of that game too.

So

we went into

man we went to overtime got a last minute stop and

pulled it out.

Pulled it off.

That's dope.

Were the Patriots the toughest matchup you've ever had to go against?

No, I mean,

because we beat them both times, it was tough, but like we lost to a lot of teams that, or not a lot of teams, certain teams that I think were a little bit more challenging.

But in the grand scheme of things, there was more on a line with the Patriots.

Do you still think about any games or plays that haunt you?

Yeah, the play I got injured on

the wish.

I wouldn't have delved in that pal or certain things like that.

But

nah, man.

You've accepted it.

Yeah, I've accepted it.

It is what it is.

I always look at it as certain things, you know, if you change them, doesn't mean they're going to have a positive outcome.

I feel like so you might as well just take it how it is.

Yeah, because you can't hear

you, you know, it's right here right now.

Yeah, there's always that debate about what the hardest position is to play.

Do you think safety is?

It's definitely one of them.

I wouldn't say the, but

it's definitely one of them.

I think it's top three.

You know, you have quarterback, corner, and I think safety is right up there.

Just because of the cerebralness you have to have, along with

the ability to play the the run game and the pass.

You're guarding receivers and tight ends and tackling running backs, you know, at any moment, you know, on any play.

You're doing so many things.

So

I think that's why it's one of the hardest positions.

And you got to read the offense, right?

Yeah, for sure, man.

You're playing mind games with the quarterback.

You know, you're disguising.

You're trying to hold the integrity of the defense.

but still holding your responsibilities as well.

Right.

So, you know, communicating with the entire entire back end, linebackers, D-line,

corners.

You know, if I'm blitzing, I got to be talking to the D-line.

If I'm doing a certain other thing, I'm talking to the linebackers, corners.

So you're really communicating with everybody.

You're the quarterback of the defense.

Wow.

That's interesting.

And are you memorizing the plays of the offense so you know what's going to happen?

Yeah, we all are.

You know, we all are.

But like you say, safety, you're relaying things in the pass game and in the run game.

Wow.

You played on quite a few teams.

Do you have a favorite?

My favorite team was Denver for sure.

You know, win the championship there,

the best experience.

Yeah.

That was with Peyton?

Yep.

What were your conversations like with him in the locker room?

You know, I'd like to pick Peyton's brain, you know, because he's seen it all.

Yeah.

And

more feedback on what I'm doing and what I could do better, what he sees, what are, you know, some tendencies that I'm giving away.

Am I disguised in a certain way?

Can he tell what I'm doing?

You know, things like that.

Ways to get better, you know, help the rest of the team.

That's actually interesting because he's talking to you.

You're a defensive player on the team.

And he comes vice versa.

You know, Payton asked me, you know, TJ, what did you see?

Did I give this away?

Was my check too early?

You know, certain things like that.

So having him to bounce those questions off of and to have him even.

Ask me those same questions was cool.

Yeah, that's dope because in my head, I'm just watching the game and I don't even think the offense talks to the defense.

You know what I mean?

I feel like they're just separate units.

Oh, nah, man.

We're super cool.

You got to be.

It's a whole team.

So, you know, just because you guys have different responsibilities, different

tasks, you still have to come together and make it one.

So that makes sense.

You know, the knowledge is to be shared and make everyone better.

Yeah.

Were you always a safety growing up?

I played corner, actually.

I play corner and safety.

So I played corner in high school.

Actually, no, I played safety in high school.

I played corner when I first got to college.

Had some injuries in my knee, tore my meniscus a couple times.

And that's really what made me move back to safety was

it was less stress on my knee.

Yeah, meniscus are nasty ones.

Yeah, man.

That was, you know what?

I broke my knee in high school, my senior year, and that's why I didn't get a scholarship and I ended up walking on at Oregon.

But the meniscus tears were the most like

the lingering injuries that I had.

Like they just, I just felt like they took so long to get better and for the atrophy of my leg to recover.

It was just, it was more of a nuisance injury just for so long.

It was just irritating.

Yeah, my mom tore hers playing tennis and she still feels it 10 years later, man.

Yeah, I still feel it too.

Definitely.

Crazy.

Yeah, that's a nasty one because you don't ever grow it back, right?

Yeah, that cartilage.

It's gone.

It's gone.

Damn.

On your Wikipedia, it said you never lost a game in high school.

Is that true?

That's true.

That's nuts, man.

Yeah, it was

151 games.

Of course, I didn't play all 151, but

until the end of my senior year, was the last team to keep the streak alive.

That's what it was called.

The streak.

Dela Saw High School.

That's nuts.

And they lost the next year when you left?

Yeah, first night.

First game.

You must have given them in the group chat.

First game.

We were like, yeah.

They had so much pressure, right?

Man, you know what?

They had so much pressure.

I'm not going to lie, that team, they had so much pressure on them just because they weren't as talented as we were in the past.

And it was kind of like a foreseen thing that this team would lose.

Yeah, it was going to happen.

It was first game.

Did they get smacked?

Like, was it close?

Oh, man, they got beat up.

Oh, they got beat.

I think the other team scored on the first play.

Jeez.

Yeah, like the opening kickoff.

Like, he ran it back or oh, that's that's a tough way to come back.

Opening kickoff, I think it was a touchdown, but yeah.

Damn.

From there, you went to Oregon.

Did you play all four years?

I was on the team all four years.

So you didn't start the first?

I didn't start the first.

Well, actually, it's a, whoo.

You know what?

It's a pretty up-and-down story.

I came in, you know, walked on, like I said, and I was playing a little bit entering camp as a walk-on freshman.

So it was kind of like

a teeter of if I I was going to play as a true, like get some time, maybe on special teams, back up at corner.

Then I had

a minor knee injury that set me down a few weeks.

So it was like, nah, now that he's injured, he's too far behind the curve.

Red shirt.

So came in red shirt, still

trying to get my scholarship.

And

I figured if I'm starting, there's no way I could not have a scholarship, right?

I'm starting.

So that was my goal to that camp um was to earn that starting position so

i was battling um another guy another two guys for that position end up kind of

winning leaving spring ball it was kind of one i wouldn't say it was my position yet but going into camp um that fall camp it was it was pretty much my position then that's when i tore my meniscus damn so that set me down pretty much my rest or freshman year going into my redshirt sophomore year,

and I was dealing with that injury for two years.

Fast forward to my junior year,

safety positions open.

I win the position, have a great junior season.

You know, have

an outstanding junior season, if you ask me.

And I was going to leave that year, but I didn't feel the NFL was going to give me credit for just one year.

You know, I was going to say, oh, he was hurt two years.

He played one year.

So I figured I'd come back and take the chance of going first round.

That was my goal was to go first round, win the Pac-10, win the Rose Bowl, possibly natty.

I had goals for my senior year and

I came back and I'm glad I came back.

Even though I got hurt first game of my senior year, high ankle spring,

I finished the year strong, had a great pre-draft period.

Did well at the combine, did well at my pro day,

and I got drafted 38 overall,

missing half my senior year that's impressive yeah did you know you were gonna how does the draft because i know nba they invite you to train and stuff is it like that football same thing yeah i did a few workouts i did a workout with the browns the chiefs the rams

took a visit to baltimore see the ravens the chiefs as well and browns and um

you know the browns were pretty much the favorite the whole time and showed the most interest in me and you know at the end of the day were the team to draft me nice so do they tell you they're going to do it, or are you just going to think?

Oh, they do it.

Yeah, I mean, if you're there, the Browns tell you, like,

well, they told me, like, we're going to come get you.

Because I had Rob Ryan, man.

Shout out to Rob Ryan, the coordinator.

He was cool as hell.

He's a real one?

Man, he's a real one.

He's like, man, I'm going to come get you in the second round.

He's like, I will come get you in the first, but they won't let me.

So, you know, and to his word, man, they came and got me in the second round.

Even Kansas City, they were like,

took the visit.

You know, if we don't take Eric Berry with our first pick, if he's gone, we're going to take you in the second.

And they took Eric Berry.

So

what a story, dude.

So you got to pay your own tuition in college the first few years?

For the first year.

That shit ain't cheap.

No, it's not cheap.

Damn.

So, you know, I had to hurry up and get this scholarship.

Yeah.

No time to waste.

Wow.

I did not know that.

Oh, yeah.

That was the first thing actually I paid off.

With the scholarship loan.

That's probably smart.

Because if you're still at it right now, it'd be like, dude, the interest on that shit.

Well, it's i always hear like you know what is the first thing you bought with your check little houses cars whatever yeah it's like man i don't never hear nobody say loan yeah a lot of players blow their money right i heard that i mean most of them they come in on scholarships so no loans oh after yeah oh i wouldn't say most players i i think there's a a handful of players that blow their money but

I think the statistics are pretty on this to pretty much on the size of guys yeah um handling their money pretty decent that first big contract you had what's going through your head did your life change

you know what no the money is not even really that hit me first it's the

the um achievement of you know reaching my lifetime lifelong goal of being drafted like that's the first thing that hits you honestly i didn't even think about the money initially wow like till later much later

um so that's impressive man because i feel like most people would see that dollar on paper and be like, holy crap.

Yeah, I mean, that definitely comes later.

But the initial response is, you know, I've been drafted.

I guess you are thinking I'm in a better place.

I'm in a position where, you know, we aren't struggling.

We don't have to struggle.

You know,

depending on your situation,

there's going to be very less struggle

with the situation I'm in.

So, but no, it's definitely achieving that goal.

I love it.

I want to dive into your sports agency and why you started that and what the mission is with that company.

Yeah, I started that because coming off, you know, being a player, I felt that player, you know, representation is very important from the standpoint of an ex-player and being in

those seats, those, those shoes.

And,

you know, trying to maximize guys' potential, making sure that they're doing every and all the things that they need to do to become the best pros

during their careers and post-retirement.

Yeah, a lot of people need guidance because

there's a lot of people coming from you from a lot of different angles.

Even retiring is a lot to deal with.

Like I'm dealing with things that

I could use coaching on,

dealing with this.

So no matter where you are in your career, there's going to be things that you're going to need help with, guidance with, and you're just going to be inexperienced.

Yeah, I bet retiring is people don't really talk about it, but your whole life was dedicated to football.

So, when you retired, you must have felt kind of lost for a bit, right?

Yeah, it was,

you know, I had a child right in the middle of retirement, so I was dealing with

two, you know, pretty

drastically new things in my life.

So,

that was

something that put me in a space kind of

just

wanting to be isolated for a little bit.

Wow.

Yeah, because your whole life, like I said, you're committed to football and that's what brought in the money and everything.

So then you retire and you want to provide for the family, but you don't know how, right?

Yeah, yeah.

It's just a lot of thinking.

No, I was well off.

I was good, you know, but I'm not a stagnant person.

So sitting around something I knew I wasn't going to be able to do.

So what do I want to do?

Do I want to get into coaching?

You know, do I want to sit down for a while and just kick back and be retired or don't do nothing, raise my son?

You know, do I want to get in the front office?

Do I want to be on TV?

You know, do I want to get away from the sport entirely and get in a whole nother field and do that?

You know, so there's a lot of things that cross your mind and thinking about what you want to do in your future.

But I'm always being a person of giving back to those coming behind me in all aspects, whether it's professionally,

monetarily,

with my foundation,

time.

So I think just helping those that come

without

the knowledge and the experience that you already

have had or have gone through

is very important.

Absolutely.

I want to talk about the foundation.

What exactly do you provide with that?

Our foundation, the Warboy Project, I say ours, me and my brother, Teran.

It's really a family organization.

Everyone's involved, my mom, my dad, sister.

But it's all about youth empowerment, youth development.

just making sure that the youth is guided in a direction and, you know,

allowed access to things that

they wouldn't otherwise.

So

we have programs, mentorship program.

We have a scholarship for private schools in high school in the name of Terrence Kelly, which was

My close friend from high school that got killed our senior year

and who was supposed to go to Oregon as well.

So this scholarship is in his name.

Camps, you know, football camps, barbecues,

symposiums, things like that, just to

educate them on

different

life goals and challenges.

Yeah, so cool, man.

Having pursued the path of a professional athlete with your kids, is that something you want them to pursue?

Yeah, definitely.

And definitely get them involved in other things that aren't the typical sports for them.

Or sports from where they come from.

It's not football, basketball.

I'm involved in golf.

It's a big hobby of mine right now.

So, you know, educating them on different areas that they can be successful than the typical things that are put in front of them.

Nice.

What about boxing?

You ever get an offer there?

Nah, I haven't gotten into boxing.

I got hands, though.

Yeah?

My boy runs those celebrities.

No, I do.

Boxing is definitely something as far as training and

exercise, nutrition that I'm interested in.

I've done it training-wise, but never competitive.

Dude, we'll get you a fight, man.

Just don't end up like Nate Robinson.

Oh, man.

Man.

I promise

you won't end up like that.

Dude, I looked up to him so much, man.

He was such an athletic person in the NBA and then knocked out.

You know, sometimes it happens to the best of us.

You get in a lot of fights growing up?

I got my fair share.

Damn, for sure.

So you had some temper stuff?

Nah, not necessarily.

I'm more of an in-defense fighter.

Oh.

Yeah.

So you would protect your boys, step in there?

Yeah,

protect either my loved ones or myself.

Yeah, I'm not really the starting a fight type of person, but I'll definitely finish it.

I've never been in one, man.

No?

To be honest, yeah.

Yeah, man.

You don't need to.

You look like a nice guy.

I don't think anybody come up bothering you.

Yeah, just a podcaster, man, doing my thing.

It's

the guys that be talking trash on the podcast that usually seem to get themselves in trouble.

Oh, yeah.

I had one on the Mond yesterday, man.

That was an interesting one.

He tried to get you in his drama.

Yeah.

I'm like, keep me out of this shit, bro.

I brought you in his beef, man.

I don't do that drama now.

Nah, dude.

I don't do the drama.

I know people love that social media drama, but I just stay out of it.

Yeah, man.

I'm cool with the drama.

Drama-free.

Yeah.

Go the other way.

I'm cool.

I love that, man.

Well, anything you want to close off with or promote?

No, man.

Just the Player Above Sports Group is the name of the agency.

Just check us out: warboyproject.org.

You can find us there on Instagram as well, Twitter, you know, all the social platforms.

Yeah, that's it.

Delta.

Thanks for coming on, man.

Yeah, appreciate you having me.

Yeah, thanks for watching, guys.

See you tomorrow.