Enclave & Key, Playing in the NFL, & Toughest Players to Tackle | Hayes Pullard DSH #299

I first got to the NFL, I'm drafted to the Cleveland Browns.

Coach going to give us signals?

He didn't tell us in meetings, like any signals, like

what's the play.

All of a sudden, I hear something in my helmet.

Oh, snap, coach, like, you can talk in my helmet.

Didn't hear me one thing.

Get into practice, call to play, and literally busted a touchdown.

Just come to the sideline.

He's like, you know, you can't talk in this, right?

Oh, my gosh.

Welcome back, guys.

digital social hour got a special guest for you guys today former nfl player haze prolard how's it going everything good bro appreciate you having me here absolutely man it's exciting getting to interview athletes man you guys are different try to be try to be built different i mean cut from a different call uh thankful for mom thank you for the coacher and everything that comes with it yeah so was football like your whole life basically growing up bro surprisingly i was a basketball player oh yeah i mean it wasn't until my older brother saw that i was so much bigger than every single kid around me where he he was like, no, you're strapped on pads.

You got to get out here.

And I mean, day one, day two, day three, I hated it.

Hate putting no pads, hate running around, doing conditioning week.

And then it was finally when I made that first hit against somebody and just literally splat it.

And I was like, oh, yep, I'm playing football.

Like, this is 100% in.

Yeah.

So were you the same position like the whole season?

So I bounced around a little bit, was offensive lineman at first, then went to receiver because I had some hands.

And then it was like, okay, like, we got to just start handing handing you the ball off and just seeing what you can do.

So then I went to running back.

And as the size grew and grew more, they was like, no, you're going to play running back and you're going to play linebacker.

And then that's where it went from high school to college.

And then as you, you know, go on to the NFL, you have to make a decision.

Like, you got to play one side or the other.

It can't be both.

Yeah.

So having played all those positions, what do you think the hardest position in football is?

Oh, I would say corners.

I give corners so much more respect.

You know, now that I see it in the NFL, you're talking about guarding some of the best receivers in the world, and they're able to do whatever they want.

I mean, you're talking about a quarter or I guess a third of the grass is pretty much you versus another man, and you got to stop them from the best quarterbacks, best receivers, and you're going backwards while doing it.

Yeah, so like, that's where I'm like, bro, how is that even possible?

I can't even imagine that.

I mean, there's certain people I can't even guard in basketball.

Tell me that.

That's in like an enclosed area.

So imagine a whole field.

Bro, and with basketball, you actually have the ball.

So you can only go as far as where the ball is, Whereas if you're in football, you're literally chasing somebody.

You can go wherever you want.

Cut one way, look back, spin around.

I'm like, oh my gosh, like this dude's elusive.

I like that take, man, because most people say like quarterback or running back or something, but corner, yeah, they need more respect.

Absolutely.

I mean, going backwards and trying to chase somebody running is different.

Yeah.

So how many years did you play in college?

In college, I was a four-year starter.

I ended up

redshirting my first year due to a tournamentiscus that happened in high school that I did not know about until I got to college, unfortunately.

Didn't even feel it.

Didn't even feel it.

Like, I mean, you know, like just normal pains that you get, you know, I mean, in football, like, you're always in some type of low pain.

Um, but it wasn't until like college, I'm running every single day, two a days actually start.

But getting, I'm like, wow, like it's starting to get a real tight pain in my head.

End up getting it x-rayed and MRI.

And it was like, nope, you tour something.

You're going to have to sit out this season.

I was just like, wow.

Damn, the whole season?

The whole entire season.

And granted, it was

an eight-week recovery, recovery, but I mean, as you're a freshman at USC, like you got a bunch of five-star recruits, a bunch of, you know, at the time, it was Malcolm Smith who went on to win, you know, Super Bowl MVP, who was a starter in front of me.

Right.

I was just like, granted, I want to compete against him, but I'm like, it's no shot to actually be on this field today.

Yeah.

Damn.

So what's it like fighting for like just roster spots?

Are you like anxious?

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, when you...

It's way different from when you look at it in college and then when you get to the NFL.

College is much more of best player plays.

Like, obviously, you got to work better than the sophomore, you got to work better than the junior, then the senior, then eventually you can, you know, go out there.

For me, it was like I had to outdo the sophomore in spring ball.

I had to outdo the junior in fall camp.

And then throughout the season, I had to work better than the senior to actually earn a starting spot as a freshman.

Wow.

When I got to the NFL, like that's where a little bit more politics kicks in, where you can be the best player, but for example, if you only pay me $300,000, but you just paid a linebacker $10 million, he's going to be out there.

They just invested into that Lamborghini.

They're going to use that Lamborghini until the wheels fall off.

Even though I may be better, I'm just waiting for, I guess, I hate to say it, an injury to happen,

which you never want, you know, a feller brother to actually get hurt out there.

So you're just waiting for the opportunity that you can go out there and showcase your talents.

Dude, that makes a lot of sense because there's backup quarterbacks that come in when the main one gets injured and they're sometimes better.

Absolutely.

And I'm like, why wouldn't they play them earlier?

True, true, true statement.

I mean, I think the best example I had when I was playing playing was watching Jimmy G sit behind Tom Brady all those years.

Right.

And when I was in Jacksonville, we used to go up to New England and practice against them.

And we would play practice against Tom Brady all week.

And then we got to the game.

It was preseason one.

And they was like, Tom Brady's not playing this week.

I'm like, who's playing?

Oh, Jimmy G.

I'm like, he's the backup.

Like, I got this.

Like, nope, four quarters.

He played the entire game, probably through like 500 yards, three touchdowns.

I'm like, wow.

And are you going all out in these games?

I'm going all out.

I mean, I wasn't a starter, so I'm sure you got to prove yourself.

Yeah, I got to still prove myself because I didn't get paid $10 million.

I'm still a rookie.

I'm trying to get to that second contract.

So, like, let's go.

Like, you're going to put somebody out here.

I'm trying to pick them off.

Nope.

He threw four touchdowns, 500 yards.

And then I think a year later was when he signed with the 49ers and shoot.

They went to the Super Bowl that year, right?

To the Super Bowl.

These quarterbacks is out there.

And I think that's...

That's pretty much all across the board at every single position.

Like, you got those hitting gems on every single team.

That's crazy.

It must be tough on those people mentally because they know they're better, but they're not playing.

Absolutely.

I think a lot of individuals or even the youth that's coming up, I tell everybody, like, it's not so much the talent, it's the mental that you got to overcome.

Because somebody can tell you, you're so great, but we've paid this individual X amount of dollars.

Like, you have to wait your turn.

Yeah.

So, like, you have to go in there, practice better, get better, not get as many reps as the starter, and still maintain your, you know, mental that I'm an alpha.

I've been a dog since, you know, yay high.

Like, I got to continue to practice that

dominance every single day.

So

the game is more mental than it is physical, truthfully.

Wow.

And that's a statement right there because it's literally football.

Yeah, for real.

Yeah, man.

As a fan, I want to see the best people out there.

So I'm just wondering if there's a way to even fix this.

I've sat back, I've thought about it and tried to figure out if it's a way.

And

it's so hard because

you think about it.

If you bought a Lamborghini and you spent, let's just say a million dollars,

you're going to drive that Lamborghini for sure no matter what.

But if you decide to, hey, I want an everyday car and I want to buy a Honda Civic, you bought that Honda Civic and you want to go to the club, are you going to drive the Honda Civic?

Are you going to drive Lamborghini?

Nope, you're going to drive the Lamborghini because that's game time to them.

That's your time to showcase the best players.

And if you invested that money, you're going to.

you know, get that return on that investment.

And that's how I think as an overall business in the NFL, that's how they're going to think.

So trying to fix that problem,

is kind of hard on their point because, I mean, you got Justin Jefferson, highest paid player, Joe Burrow, highest player.

Like, you got to go play those guys.

It's not that they're terrible.

They're really good at what they do and they're, you know, Super Bowl contenders every single year.

But I really do not know how to fix that problem besides taking the money out, which you can't.

Because, I mean, when you get to the league, it's entertainment at the end of the day.

Yeah.

Walk me through that first contract process.

As a rookie, do you have any negotiation power at all?

Bro, so the crazy part is when I'm in college, like everybody had negotiation power, like everybody from a free agent to, you know, a drafted rookie, second, third year guys.

But when I came in, the CBA had just changed where once you came in, you have no negotiation power.

The year you came in?

The year I came in.

I'm like, bro, you said it's like, nope, like.

You could be drafted in the seventh round.

You could be drafted the first pick overall.

The only thing that changes the difference between me and that individual was our signing bonus.

Wow.

So the first pick overall got, let's just say, $20 million.

And I went seventh round, I got $70,000 in the sign-in bonus.

Yeah.

But our contract is all the same.

Oh, really?

$500,000 a year.

Year two, it goes up a little bit.

Year three, it goes up.

Yeah.

Even if you're in the last round.

Even if you're in the last round.

Even if you went free agency and you made the 53 man roster, you make the exact same amount yearly than that first number on all.

Damn, I didn't know that.

The only thing different is that signing bonus, which is a big difference.

Wow.

So on a 53-man roster, most people are making the same amount, but the only difference is that signing bonus.

Absolutely.

Interesting.

And I've heard like crazy stats where most of the money goes to the quarterback.

And what was it, the wide receiver or something?

When you're looking at these teams, a lot of the salary cap is to, I would say, the left tackles, the defensive ends, the corners.

And then they'd probably be the quarterback.

Just from the standpoint, like

the most expensive person person is that quarterback so you have to pay for somebody to go get the other opponent's quarterback and to protect that quarterback and then you need to have a dominant corner in today's game right because you have the cee d lambs the jesse jeffersons the cooper cups you got to slow them guys down the tyreek hills if you don't got nobody like a jalen ramsey you know shutting them down or um um slay out there like it's gonna be a problem

a long game

which coaches don't want because you know a lot of these coaches are on short lists like you know two years of a bad season

out of there they go through those coaches like crazy.

Oh, my God.

Like, I would not want to be a coach.

Bro, I mean,

I've done it.

I did it for a year, and I see the tension that it brings every single coach.

It's stressful, right?

Absolutely.

Like, you have to be on your A game every single day.

It's almost like a player.

And I give them so much more respect.

I give my teachers back in the day so much more respect on the planning that they have to do, the development side of, you know, growing a player to what they see themselves and how you see see them right how they can you know continue to grow over the years and even

the the relationships they have to build and cut players to it's just so many things that people don't see behind closed doors and i i give them so much more respect yeah so you've played on quite a few teams which ones were were your favorite uh by far it was the jacksonville jaguars jaguars yes just the good culture i mean the good culture was it was ran by gus bradley he was a super amazing coach i mean you're talking about the definition of a player's coach Like, he really leaned into that.

I mean, day before the game, like, he ate, he would bring out six to seven food trucks where we would go out there and, you know, have

things like Bull Dogi over there.

You'll have, you know,

Korean barbecue.

You'll have tacos.

You'll have kettle cakes.

I'm like, bro, it's no way.

Like, you're ordering from every ice cream.

It's just like, what the hell?

The day before a game?

Two days before the game.

You're talking about Fridays, like

as we cap the week of

practices.

And right after that, he'll have us signed up for massages, cold tubs, Cairo.

I'm like, bro, like, you can't win with this.

The day, and we would get two days off after a game.

Mind you, we went three and 13 at the time, but

you don't see the growth until year three or year four, you know, as a lot of these teams that you see.

Like, you'll see a coach get fired and then they end up making the playoffs.

That's the same team.

It's just they didn't give the coach that much time.

So the crazy part is we went three and 13, and then the next year we went to the AFC championship.

Lost to Tom Brady, but without Gus Bradley, end up getting fired and going to the Chargers.

But it was like, you've seen the growth in that team that he's built and put together over the years.

And then it started to, you know, actually show on the back end.

Yeah.

How much influence do the players have on the coaches firing?

I would say none.

None.

None.

Oh, I always assume they like put in a word or something.

It's kind of hard because it's like

the coaches call the plays.

You already know it's our jobs to go out there and exploit the plays.

Granted, if we don't win, we don't stay consistent at what we're supposed to do.

At the end of the day, it's between the GM and it's between the owners that make that final decision.

Is it as a teacher, as a mentor, as a coach, are you developing these players?

Are you putting them in the best position to win?

Are you handling how to grow the bottom end of your roster?

If your top roster is nice, can you reel in that bottom roster to the roster or the bottom side of the roster?

Because if anybody gets hurt, can you do it?

That's why the second string and third string is so valuable in NFL because you're talking about 22 starters, and after that, you got to make sure that backup is really good.

That's why we always talk about like, who's the backups of all these teams?

It's like the scenario with Nick Chubb.

We like, wow, this was a crazy injury.

Um, um, feel sorry for the kid, and I pray for you know his speedy recovery.

But the backup came in the game and balled out.

I don't know if you watched the game that

one balled out.

I'm talking about like came in second quarter and just balled out 100 yards, touchdown, like was just yeah, you got to be deep because there's so many injuries.

Absolutely.

So, like, that's where it's like, as a coach, are you filling all those gaps?

Like, you're not just looking at, like, oh, I'm just managing a team.

I hired an offensive coordinator, hired a defense coordinator.

I'm gonna let y'all do.

Like, that's where I respect Robert Sala, who was my position coach in Jacksonville.

Yeah, and now he's the head coach for the Jets.

That he's really hands-on on both sides of the ball.

And he wants to make sure that everything is in tune.

That's cool.

How strict are like, like, is there a curfew, diet restrictions?

Like, how strict are they on that?

Uh, for certain individuals, yes.

Like,

if you're very underweight, like, it's your job to obviously gain some weight.

Like,

for example, he's my bro, Keelan Cole, he was, like, probably soaking wet 160 pounds.

That's it.

When we was in Jacksonville, soaking wet.

We was like, bro, like, you have to get wet.

Like, if somebody's less than me, bro, if somebody, mind you, he's like 6'2 ⁇ , 6'3 ⁇ .

I'm like, if somebody hits you, you're going to vanish.

It's going to be bad.

So, like, he ended up getting with the nutritionist.

And it's a little bit of accountability accountability as well.

Like a lot of those players, like, I want to gain weight.

So they go to nutritionists, figure out if you got to eat two breakfasts in the morning, a massive lunch, like what am I supposed to eat?

Or what are the best things I'm supposed to eat for dinner?

And then obviously you got these huge, like massive O-linemen that are just, you know, six, seven, 30.

I'm like, bro, like this, this is not even real.

Some of them want to, you know, lose body fat.

Like, it's not so much of, I want to lose weight.

It's like, I'm trying to lose the bad stuff off my body so I can move better, you know, transition better and actually become a Pro Bowler.

Like that may be, you know, that step from being good to great.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Who are some of the players that stand out to you as like insanely hard to stop when you were playing?

Oh, my gosh.

I think when I was playing, Marshawn Lynch was definitely one of them.

Do you ever have to tackle him?

Oh, my God.

You're talking about tackling a refrigerator.

Moving refrigerator.

Like, everybody thinks I'm joking.

I'm like, bro, like.

I could just imagine like his mom's giving him a hug.

Like, bro, it's literally stuck like this.

Like, you can't tackle tackle that man like and if you try and go low he'll juke you out your shoes and if you try and like let him go by you he's gonna run by you so like he was one of those elusive uh power backs that it was just like you got to bring your lunch pill and your hard hat to tackle him wow that's scary man yeah i can't imagine trying to tackle him bro because he was fast and strong which was like rare at the time exactly i mean

I didn't have fear, but it was just like when you had guys like that, Adrian Peterson, Shady McCoy's, like even even Andrew Luck as a quarterback, like those were like a problem to linebackers like us because we was like, you were dropping in coverage, you know, looking at the zones, like, where's everybody?

Yeah, like, okay, Tyreek Hills right there.

Like, okay, Kelsey, this is when the Chiefs was balling.

You got Kelsey right here.

And then you had somebody where one week you were playing Andrew Luck and now he's tucking and running.

He's not sliding.

Where, you know, in today's game, like, oh, no, slide, like, get down.

Like, you know,

uh, preserve your body.

Like, no, that quarterback was going to run through you.

And I promise you, he gave me one of the biggest stingers till this day.

And I was just like, oh, coach.

Like, oh, man.

The scouting report definitely said he was going to slide.

And he did not slide.

Oh, so you went low?

Yeah, I went low.

Just like, oh, I'm going to just make sure because I'm anticipating that he's going to slide with his feet and I'm going to just, you know, hover over.

This is his luck.

Yes.

Yeah, he used to slide all the time, right?

Oh, my gosh.

I'm like, oh, I'm going to just hover over him.

Nope.

He just decided to tuck in and just lean into me.

I'm like, oh, it would happen on third and three.

Obviously, we get meetings and that shit.

Like, hey, you're supposed to hit him.

He's a runner.

I'm like, the scouting report you gave me, coach, said he was a slider.

Yeah.

It's just, all right, like, I'll take that one on the head.

Yeah, man.

He's one of those players where if he didn't get those injuries or concussions, he would have been Hall of Famer, I think.

Absolutely.

I mean, and I was playing against him every single year when I was at SE, when he was at Stanford.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, you knew about him.

I already knew about it.

Like, he would literally walk up to the line, like, ready.

Alert, alert.

I'm like, oh, God, like, he's about to drop back and he's going to take off running.

Say, go, I'm backpedaling.

I see him just, like I said, draw back and he'll take off running.

He'll just run it through.

I'm like, this is just a Josh Allen in the early 2000s.

Yeah.

This is a problem.

Man.

Do you get to choose your jersey number, NFL?

Yes, and no.

I think the individuals that are able to really choose their numbers, guys that get drafted in like the first three or four rounds, after that, you're pretty much given a number.

Okay.

Once they make those cuts, if a number is available, they'll give you the opportunity.

That's when you can grab some numbers.

Can you pick any number?

Like zero.

So remember, that number change didn't happen until about three years ago.

So like linebackers had to wear like numbers 50 through 60 and then like 90 to

10 years.

Yeah, receivers had to be in the 80s, right?

Absolutely.

So now like players are able to walk in by I want number zero.

Wow.

I won number six.

Like granted, I was in college and I was wearing number 10.

I was like, oh, that'd be dope if a linebacker can wear this.

Now linebackers just run around with zero, number one.

I'm like, oh, this is awesome.

Yeah.

I'm hyped for them.

That's dope.

Is it true the helmets have radios in them?

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

Oh, I always thought that, but I never knew.

Bro, I have an actual really funny story about that.

So when I first got to the FL, I'm drafted to the Cleveland Browns.

Like I'm first day, like literally first day.

I throw my helmet on and I run into the huddle.

I'm like, is Coach going to give us signals?

He didn't tell us in meetings, like any signals.

Like,

what's the play?

All of a sudden, I hear something in my helmet.

Hey,

I'm like, oh, snap, coach, like, you can talk in my helmet.

Mind you, it's a one-way radio, so he can only talk to me.

I'm like, I'm getting, I'm having a full conversation.

Yeah, coach, this is awesome.

Like, oh, yeah, I'm about to catch a pick on this play.

Didn't hear me one thing.

Get into practice, call to play, and literally busted a touchdown.

Like, I want to say it was, who was Josh Gordon catches a slant to the house.

I'm just like, oh my gosh.

I look to him.

I'm like, my bad coach.

Like, I'm pressing like a fake like button on my side.

I'm like, oh, my bad coach.

Come to the sideline.

He's like, you know, you can't talk in this, right?

Oh, my gosh.

All right.

That's funny.

It's helmets.

It's definitely radios in the helmets, and it's only active for about

six seconds before the play.

Oh, so it's not on during the play.

No, so like once the ball, once the referees blow the whistle, you have six seconds to call the play or for the coach to give you the play, and then it cuts off.

Got it.

And is it in every helmet or just the quarterback?

Each side of the ball gets one.

So it's typically the quarterback on offense and then the middle linebacker on defense got it and then they have to relay okay interesting what was it like guarding uh josh gordon in practice oh my god well the crazy part is i was in zone so like i couldn't you know josh gordon was one of the top receivers at that time he was filthy man oh my gosh like he i was supposed to drop into pretty much the hook where that's the slant window and josh gordon does a slant i've dropped to the opposite you know hook and he ended up catching it taking it 80 yards and coach like hey what are you doing like i literally told you on the internet what's going on and oh that's my bad like he was like we drafted you for a reason go out there and act like that and that literally was the sign that you know i gotta prepare and play extremely hard every single day man i i remember having him in fantasy dude he went off that year when i was in high school oh yeah and cleveland was like seven and oh at a point you know they hit that slump they were balling that year

i was hyped to get drafted to cleveland and then I don't know, the Cleveland curse happened and we just the marijuana thing happened, right?

Yeah, well, yeah, I was just talking about over the whole organization.

Josh Gordon

was dealing with the marijuana stuff.

Jenny Menzel was dealing with, you know, a lot of exterior stuff.

And, yeah, we just couldn't get out the slum.

Our coach got fired.

I'm like, yeah, this is a tough year.

You played with Menzel?

Yeah.

What was that like?

It was amazing.

I mean, he was a tremendous individual.

I mean, he was cool as heck when we were in the locker room.

Yeah.

Very supportive and active when we were on the field.

So I was like, you know what?

This is just a different college kid, just like myself, just went to a different university.

Obviously, he was a quarterback, way more known.

I was just like, bro, like, I'm not looking at you no different.

Like, I'm happy to be a part of your team.

And, you know, he was the leader of the team.

So, I was just trying to make sure I was able to contribute as much as possible.

Yeah, I think his documentary just came out, right?

Yeah, yeah, I got to watch that.

Did you watch it?

Not yet.

I mean, I've heard great comments about it, and I was like, you know what?

I got to lock in.

Yeah, check it out.

Sure.

I want to dive into the post-NFL stuff because now you're doing some cool business ventures.

You joined Enclave and Key, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

So the crazy part is back in 2017, Blake Wynn actually reached out to me and was like, hey, I want to sign you and hire you as our president of athlete marketing.

I mean, at this time, I didn't know anything about marketing.

I didn't know anything about like the intricacies that come, you know, outside of business.

I was strictly football for, let's just say, 22 years.

So to be able to dive into that and was given that opportunity was truly a blessing.

Yeah.

What was that transition like just in general?

Because your career ended shorter than you wanted, right?

Were you sort of like depressed, or like, where were you at during that time?

I wouldn't say depressed.

It was much more of like, I can mentally, like I said, trying to still play in the league.

I knew I had the speed.

I knew I had the physicality, and I knew my mind was really strong to be able to still play.

So I stayed working out for an entire year, went on maybe 15 to 20 tryouts with teams for a year.

I'm talking about fly to Arizona,

try out for six hours, come back.

Did they pay for the flights a week?

Yeah, they pay for everything, but I was literally for 16 weeks, like just flying into these different teams.

And it wasn't until three months after that year, I was like, you know what?

I'm going to go work for Ron Clave.

And the crazy part is, Robert Salah calls me a month after I tell Blake I'm moving to Vegas.

And that's when I made the decision.

He was like, I want you to be my linebackers coach in New York Jets.

Wow.

Like, really?

I'm like.

Well, I'm going to go be a coach for the New York Jets.

After a year of realizing that, you know, the quality of life for me,

the determination, and the way of life for a coach was just so different.

And I think me at the time having a newborn son just wasn't, I wasn't able to be there for my son and to be able to be there for those players because I wanted to be able to give them everything, but I wasn't able to give that to my son as well.

So I had to make the decision selfishly, unselfishly, to be able to just, you know, what, I'm going to just make this leap of faith and go into the business realm.

Even though I know nothing about it, it was more of, you know, what

pressure either burst pipes or make diamonds.

And I felt like, for me, like, to be extremely uncomfortable is the only way for you to grow.

For sure.

So I made that decision to just jump over there to Enclave and Key, where, you know, Blake at that time was, you know, we were, what, four years strong of just our communication, being best, for instance, the first time we met.

And it was just like, you know, what, like, I trust him, I trust in what he was going to do.

Yeah.

I told him, like, hey, I don't know too much about this, but if you teach me and you coach me, I'm a fast learner and I have the desire to learn.

So that was just exactly that step that got me here today.

Man, I love to see that mindset because a lot of these pro-athletes, they're the best at what they do for so long.

So it's sort of hard for them after to take a step back, kind of humble themselves and try to take it in business in business.

Oh, for sure.

And I think for athletes, and I can speak from

experience,

that same athlete mindset that you have, that you're a dog, you're out there working hard every single day,

you persevered through all the trials and tribulations.

If you just take all of that and you just put it back into that box and was like, you know what?

I'm a

transition this to real estate or becoming a doctor or become an entrepreneur.

That same mindset will get you exactly where you was.

It took you what, 10, 12, maybe 15 years to get to the NFL.

Just take that same approach to whatever you want to do after that.

Because you're not going to get that same, like we all pray for that, that overnight success, but it doesn't happen like that.

It almost takes that five to 10 year period of constant grind to be able to get what you want.

And even then, sometimes longer.

You're talking about Warren Buffett.

You're talking about Donald Trump and all these great business owners that's, you know, billionaires at 78, 58.

Like we're just in our 20s and we've, you know, didn't have the careers that we wanted, but you can still become a billionaire, millionaire at 30, 35, and you're still light years ahead of what you are.

And the crazy part is you already had a jumpstart being in NFL.

You know, 500,000, 70,000, whatever the case may be.

Yeah.

So was that always in the back of your head, the money stuff?

Because a lot of NFL players end up going broke, right?

So was that a thought when you were playing?

Absolutely.

I mean, my mom kind of instilled it into me a little bit.

She's an executive banker down in Beverly Hills, and she was like, you need to figure out what you want to do after football.

And I ended up getting my degree in USC for real estate.

And I was during that time trying out for different teams.

I was like, you know what?

I'm going to just get my real estate license.

And I ended up getting that because I applied all of those things that I've done throughout my whole entire football career.

It's just like, just put it into real estate.

Like, yeah, it's going to be a learning curve, but that's how you get better.

That's how you realize that, you know what, if you just don't quit, I think it'll pay off in the long run.

So for me, it was just like, battle every single emotion you're going to go through and just do not quit.

Like you will persevere.

I love that.

Trust me.

So I did that and just realized, like, you know what?

I don't really want to do real estate.

Like, this is not what I'm passionate about.

So that's when I decided to go into coaching and realize that wasn't my passion.

Then I finally got to a place where after learning from Blake, you know, him teaching me the different things of strategy, how to help individuals more than just sell to individuals.

And I feel like that's where the power of, you know, being a president of talent at Enclave and Key is today.

Because a lot of people like to

be more transactional than, you know, providing value.

And that's where I'm just like, you know what?

Like if you put all that stuff aside, the transactional stuff will come naturally.

And if you try and just not even try, if you be a good person and genuine, people want to work with other genuine, good people.

And I believe that.

Absolutely, man.

Whenever you guys have me in the suite, I just think of ways to provide value back to you guys.

Absolutely.

You guys don't ask me for anything and you're paying all this money to have me and other people there.

You know, I really appreciate it.

Oh, it's, it's love both ways, bro.

And I, and, and

that's where it's like, these relationships, we want to last forever.

Like, I want to be able to call Oshad, you know, whenever the case may be.

And let's go to Greece.

Let's go hang out because we have that relationship and we've never, you know, asked each other for, you know, the different stuff.

Like, I never was like, hey, I need you to spend $50,000 to do this event with me.

I never asked you to, hey, can you, you know, do me XYZ favor?

Like, because it's all been, you know, relationship-based.

We've always tried to figure out how to provide value to one another.

And it's all,

we all win at the end of the team.

Yeah, it shows, man.

You guys just had the biggest celebrity poker tournament like ever.

Oh, it was amazing.

72 people, amazing event.

And now you're going on a tour with it, right?

Absolutely.

I mean, shoot, now we're really going to lean into it.

I mean, with the talent pool that we had and believing that it was just going to be one of the most watched poker events ever, including the WSOP, like, we really want to lean in on that and believe that.

And that's where we was just like, you know what?

We're going to really take advantage of this opportunity and do our next one in Super Bowl weekend.

And now we're looking for all the different types of talent that want to be a part of it, whether it's football players, chess, you know, champions.

I mean, I don't know if you know Nemo, the chess champion that literally learned how to play poker overnight or, you know, a couple of weeks before, end up winning the whole thing.

I saw that.

I was like, she plays poker.

I'm like, wow, like this is, this just tells you that you don't really need to be the best basketball player or the best football player or the best poker tournament because we even have poker pros there that didn't even crack the top 25.

Yeah.

And it's just like, you know what,

this is more than poker.

This is entertainment with networking involved into it.

And I think that's where our generation, the generation

below us, is going to continue to grow this whole thing even more than it was in the past.

Absolutely love it, man.

Hayes, it's been fun, man.

Anything you want to close off with?

Man, just appreciate you for having me the opportunity to, you know, invite me on.

And yeah, shout out to everybody out there.

It's all love.

Let's go.

Where can people find you, man?

You can go on Instagram.

My ad is Pilard, P-U-L-L-A-R-D.

Let's go.

Thanks for watching, guys.

I'll see you guys next time.