He Barely Played in College. Then Played 14 NFL Seasons.

Matt Cassel1:16

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Matt Cassel1:31

We're on the same baseball team as well. It's crazy because as you start to get older and you get out of football cuz you have your nest egg, right?

The familiar faces, the locker room, the wives know each other, and then once you're done,

You kind of have to restart, right? And your social circles change, and it really gravitates toward the school you go to and the kids who they're hanging out with. And it just so happens a ton of my buddies are at the school with kids our age. So it makes for a great environment. But now after football, yeah, probably more of a dad than anything else.

Matt Cassel2:33

Yeah. And I grew up in LA so I know exactly what you're saying cuz it's very pretentious. You could see somebody in driving around in a Lamborghini and a suit on but goes home to a thousand foot studio apartment and it's all a facade. We're here. That's kind of why we ended up staying because I got here in 16 to play for the Titans 16 17 and just the values, the community, the people, how you can kind of slow that process of growing up for the kids down a little bit.

And originally we said we'll do the three-year plan, see if we still like it cuz the kids are still young enough to where if we wanted to move back to where family was in LA, we could. But it just kind of checked all the boxes and it's been amazing. So we've been here for for 10 years now.

Matt Cassel3:57

You can't really substitute the weather out.

Matt Cassel4:01

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

Matt Cassel4:03

So, I grew up in Granada Hills. So, the San Fernando Valley. Yep.

And then went to school at USC. Um, so I was Granada Hills, Northridge area, went to Chatsworth High, went to USC, and then from there kind of was all over just based on my career. You know, you didn't have a choice.

Matt Cassel4:20

LA Unified. We were probably in the middle of pack. We won the 3A championship, which was the lower division my junior year. And we were pretty competitive, but I wouldn't say that we were one of the top dogs out there because you've got schools, especially when you go to like division one with the modern days and the de la and the Long Beach Paulies, Bishop Montgomery, all these schools now you're sitting there going, man, they're they're stacking dudes. But you know, we were we were public school.

We had I think 25 30 guys on our team. I played both ways.

Was I played quarterback, played safety, played a little linebacker when I was younger. I kicked I was a punter. I mean, so I did as much as possible. We we had um a lot of guys that worked tremendously hard and we were able to kind of put it together.

Matt Cassel5:27

Yeah.

Matt Cassel5:52

I believe that the jump from high school to college is probably the biggest jump you make. And it probably depends on if you've played up in that division one because you've got a lot of division one players playing there. But coming from LA Unified where you're as a quarterback, I was about as big as most of the linemen on my team and stuff like that. It's competitive, but it's the speed of the game.

Matt Cassel6:15

I'll never forget I was at USC and we go out and it's we're in camp and it was blitz drill. Blitz drill, if you have ever played football, what they do is it's a structured segment in practice, but they're bringing all different types of pressure. You got to know where your hots are. You're either changing protection, you got to know where your hots are, all these different things. And I remember sitting there and we had Zeke Marino, Marcus Steel, all these guys have played in the league for a while.

In my mind, when the f first team stepped up for the first three plays, I was like, "Oh, wow." Like, it happens immediately. You don't have time to second guessess yourself. You've got to know your keys, know where you're going with the ball. If you're redirecting protection, you got to understand, hey, turn this guy off on the hot. All those different elements of playing the quarterback position. But it was that jump where everybody's now become somewhat of a grown man versus you're still playing with somewhat kids at that point.

Coaching steps up, scheme steps up. So, it takes a while to adapt to the speed of that game. And once you understand it, there's still that different difference when you go from college cuz now you're talking about the speed of the game is not as overwhelming for me at least making the jump from high school to college. But then all of a sudden, you get to the pros and those windows close even smaller. If you're a split second late on a comeback, that gives that guy an opportunity at the quarterback position because he's a great athlete to recover and get step in front of your guy.

This and then also it becomes your job when you get to the pros. You're talking about 5 days a week you're grinded on film. Every situation you're aware of whether it's first and second down, third down, third and three to six, what do they like to do in third? Are they a pressure team? Are they a man team? Six to nine, same kind of deal. So it's based on these elements. Then you get into the red zone. So you're spending a tremendous amount of time trying to figure out how to go out and attack a specific weakness on a defense, but at the same time your game plan could change dramatically from one week to the next.

Cuz one week you play be playing four down up front. Next week you play three, four front. Next week you got a guy that they like to run a ton of nickel and scheme you up that way and have disguise. So it's uh I think it's a time on task when you get to the NFL, but it's also you're playing against the best in the world.

Matt Cassel10:48

Jeffy. Jeff Byers. Yes, he was a center when I was there for sure. Yeah, he's a great dude, man.

Matt Cassel10:54

Yeah, Momentous. And he came in, I think it was my third year, and he was one of the top recruits in the country, the center position. He played a little center, little guard. We had a guy in front of him, Ryan Kalil, who's my roommate that went on to play 12 years in the NFL. Um, and so he was battling, but once Ryan left, I think Jeff took over that position, but he's been tremendously successful. Yeah. after

Matt Cassel11:47

I'll tell you what, the the big uglies, they complain about that more than anybody because you've got DBs and and wide receivers battling on the outside on one-on- ones and stuff like that, but you know, these veterans that are a little bit salty. They've been in the league for a while and then all of a sudden you have a young guy come in and just go balls to the wall and they're like, "Bro, I I get it. You're trying to make the team." I was always respected those guys.

But I saw more fights because of those situations that take place where somebody's just doing their job, giving the best look they possibly can, but the the older guys aren't having it on that day and there's like, dude, if you go hard and hit me like that one more time, and then next thing you know, full scrums going on, and I was just laughing.

Matt Cassel12:43

There's there's guys that take different approaches, right? There there's those guys that understand this is their livelihood. And the minute you become a mentor to somebody and step up, then that guy is younger, he's cheaper, and he's here to take your job, and they take offense to that, and they're like, "No, I'm not help I'm not helping this guy." I was obviously never a threat to Tom Brady when I got drafted by the Patriots. and I was just trying to make the team, you know, ear earn my keep and do all those things.

He couldn't have been a better mentor, a better person, a better leader. He was one of those guys that immediately within the first month that we started working out, he recognized that I worked hard, too. Yeah. And he was he was one of those guys that got after it every day in the gym. And he knew that he was probably limited in a physical ability. I'm saying running, speed, fast twitch, all those things. But he worked his ass off.

Yeah. to put himself in a position to be in the best physical condition that he could possibly be. And so he he invited me to come start working out with him just right off the bat. I'm really,

You know, and I'm sitting here with a guy that just came off his third Super Bowl in four years. And from that point on, I just, you know, I I sat there and tried to soak up every single second of learning how he led. He didn't speak to just speak. He spoke with purpose. Guys listened. And then his meticulous attention to detail. was a master class in playing quarterback.

Matt Cassel14:13

Yes, I did. Yes, I did. When I got to USC, Carson was supposed to be a true junior. So, that would put me to like I'd red shirt and then I I was hoping like red shirt sophomore at the very least.

He bangs up. I think he broke his collar bone, set him back. He was allowed a red shirt. He's barb bone. So now everybody though anticipated this guy. I mean

Carson Palmer is one of the most gifted quarterbacks I've ever been around. He's 6'5. He's 250. He ran a 45 coming out.

Matt Cassel14:41

To give you an indication of the type of athlete. He was a basketball player. Crazy. One of the most beautiful deep balls you've ever seen. So everybody just anticipated that he was going to league early. So I was like, "Yes, please."

Well, he ended up saying all five years.

Matt Cassel14:54

So I red shirt. I'm his backup. my freshman sophomore year and then it's my it's going to be my red shirt junior year. In the meantime, Carroll comes in, he brings in a recruiting class with Matt Leinart, Billy Hart, um Brandon Hance. We had a collection of quarterbacks in this room that we all thought could probably play or start, go through spring, do all that. And uh that was the year after Carson was a number one pick. Yeah.

And Heisman Trophy winner. It was magical season. And we get through halfway through spring ball. Um Norm Chow, the coordinator at the time, calls me into his office, says, "Matt, you've been having a great off season. I'm telling you, you're going to be our starter going into camp, but if you told any tell anybody outside this room, I'm going to deny it." I was like, "Well, that's a what kind of

Matt Cassel15:39

That's a weird comment to make to somebody that you just said has done a great job and yeah, I'm going to be starting quarterback." Just so happens we don't even have spring practice that next week. He calls me back in and says, "Maddie, we're going to just keep the competition rolling because we think it's good for both of you." I was like, I don't know what just happened. But nonetheless, week before season, Carroll calls us in. We're playing um Auburn at Auburn and literally a week before that season, he calls me in and says, "Hey, we're going to start Matt Leinart, and you've done a great job, but be prepared cuz if there's any falter whatsoever on his sake, you're going in." Well, he goes out and dominates it up.

And I'm sitting there going, "Oh, boy.

Matt Cassel16:26

You're locked in because at that point in my career, if you left, you'd have to sit out a year to go division one. If you went within conference, it was two years. So, you're sitting there and I'm I'm go, man, I'm stuck. Like, I don't have And so, I took a lot of pride in my education. So, I would I graduated in four, got a minor as well, but I would do some mop-up duty. And then halfway through that season, my junior year, we had some injuries at tight end.

I went over and played tight end. I was on the kickoff team. You

Matt Cassel16:55

Oh my god. I was on the kickoff team. The worst thing ever is the witch. They're running 40 m hour down the field and they're just looking to blow you up and you've got no head of steam. I mean, I've got so much respect for these lifetime special teamers that go down and just to be able to mentally get in a headsp space to know that you're battering Ram and your one job is to go blow up two dudes in a wedge or take on that block.

It's unbelievable. So, yeah. So, I played some tight end and finally I went back my senior year and I was like, "Coach, look, here's the deal. I want to end my career how I started. I don't want to play tight end. I want to play quarterback." And this was after I took a spring off and went and played baseball at USC because

Matt Cassel17:38

No, because I I've been to spring ball and I was so frustrated. I needed to reset. I mean, I was in a bad headsp space because I just I wanted it bad and I knew that my opportunity might have

It might never come. Yeah.

You know, for years they'd be saying you're a play away this that and the other. Well, these none of these guys ever got hurt.

Matt Cassel17:57

And so, u

Matt Cassel17:59

They both won the Heisman. I was like, "Could you just give me a little one?" I was super I was super supportive.

Um, but we won I think it was three Heisman in three years. It was, it was Reggie, it was line art or it was Carson maybe line art Reggie. It was something some one of those combinations.

And so, um, yeah, I went back my senior year and got we went in in blowouts and had some throws. I think I threw 32, um, passes in all.

Matt Cassel18:32

He was.

Matt Cassel18:34

You know, he was a he was a walk-on.

Matt Cassel18:37

He's a role player. And I don't know how much time he actually got to play.

Matt Cassel18:40

He was a part of the team, but not a pivotal part of the team by any means, but his story is fascinating.

Matt Cassel18:49

Uh, you always knew he had a screw loose for sure. And but he was a good dude. Like, he he was s SoCal Beach. like he he was one of those surfer dudes and he came in with a tats and he was super jacked, but at the same time he didn't

He wasn't a real tight end, right? You could tell by his even story when he tells it. He's like he literally went there on a volleyball scholarship and they saw him in the gym and we're going who is this nut? Like he could, you know, 225 20 something times, you know, one of those, well, yeah, come out, try out, see if he can help us. Um, but never in a million years did I think that he was into the [ __ ] like he was. He was like a serious drug dealer.

How it was whatever it was 10 12 years ago when he got indicted on the federal RICO charges or whatever it was and my buddy sends me the article and like dude have you seen this? And I was like Owen Owen Hansen indicted. I was like what? My mind just went

Matt Cassel20:15

I know. And that's one thing that I would I don't I don't know if he's hit on a podcast. I would love to hear about that because that that's a different type of intimidation. You can be the baddest dude out on the street and you know he was a pawn in the whole grand scheme of things, but at the end of the day when you go to federal prison prison [ __ ] gets real.

Matt Cassel20:49

Yeah. You're you're with us or it's not going to be good for you.

Matt Cassel21:04

He went to Tennessee.

Matt Cassel21:23

But we had pro days and that was a blessing for me because

Matt Cassel21:26

in very similar to what the combine is, right? You you run a 40, you do the three cone drill. You do the shuttle drill. I think it's the 20 yard shuttle. So it's 5, 10, five. Um

Matt Cassel21:41

Yeah. It it tests your quickness. It tests agility. You're testing speed. Then you go into the weight room. You do a broad jump. Explosiveness. you do you can do um 225 you do the vertical jump all those different things and then they take your measurements right hand size height weight all those deal but when I first got in there they said it started at 9:00 so I I got there at like 8:30 and little did I know that they're taking that test the wonder test so I come in and I said hey I'm Matt Cassel I'm a senior I'm going to come in try out he's like we don't even have you on the list I was like well [ __ ] I'm trying out cuz they said I could come to this combine and I've been training my ass off and all this

Matt Cassel22:40

Typically. And we were loaded coming out,

Matt Cassel22:55

You didn't even start a game, bro. I played tight end a little bit last year. Like what are you doing?

Matt Cassel23:01

So I go through all the testing. Do well. I uh the Wonderlick. They said we we've only got 15 minutes late. I mean left. So why don't you try to get as many questions in? So I go into this little room, take the Wonderlick in like 15 minutes. I have no idea how. What was that test like?

You know, it's word problems. Some of it's mathematical. Some of it it's more testing just your general knowledge and insights on can you can you go into a program I mean to a problem, figure that problem out and make make an answer. Now, some of it is ridiculous, right? Questions. And I can't even tell you half the questions that were on there. But at the end of the day, I think that they're just trying to see where you're at mentally and if you can figure things out.

And there's been guys in the league who've gone on to be really successful and probably absolutely bombed the Wonder League.

Matt Cassel23:56

It's like signing your name.

Yeah.

Matt Cassel24:34

Well it it's amazing because you it's definitely a progression of steps, right? defensively. And I think one of my biggest growth factors was when I was in New England and Josh McDaniels, my first offse there, we didn't even spend time on the offense side of the ball. He showed me every type of structure defense, the different adjustments that they make to bunch sets. So when you get in like three three guys, but they're bunched up here, they can do they can box it, they can lock and triangle, they can do all these different specific things.

But I learned,

Okay, so if we're going up against this structure of defense, where are the holes? where are we trying to attack?

Um getting it down to your check down early because you know they're in zone. They're dropping deep. Hey, if you get them here, we're staying on track. We're getting seven yards.

So, it's definitely it's one of the most challenging positions I think in any sport. Definitely.

Because so much of it, you have to understand the why behind the the purpose of the play, but then at the same time identify what they're doing defensively, which is not always easy with special.

They're trying to disguise. trying to disguise roll people late do all these and so you have your keys but um I learned a lot about that in my time in New England and that's why I think that they were so successful because even Bichc would bring us in on Tuesdays the quarterbacks only it was a quarterback's only meeting and I'd get to sit in there and Bill Bichc would go through their personnel he'd break down their two corners this guy he's long he's rangy he's good on the deep ball but he struggles in trans transitions so we want to throw comebacks we want to throw stop routes We want to throw any breaking routes where we're breaking out.

That's a guy you want to attack. This guy, he's undersized. But he's very good. Can transition. He can recover. But look, if we get one-on-one and you want to throw that 50/50 ball, do it all day long cuz he struggles. He doesn't have the best hands and he doesn't have the height. So, we got a guy like Randy Moss. Anytime they're matched up and they want to do that, hey, throw it out there.

Matt Cassel26:29

I was there when Randy was there.

Matt Cassel26:31

Unbelievable. I mean,

I [ __ ] love Randy Moss. One of the most spectacular talents you've ever seen. I mean, for a guy that's 6'4, can run a 4-3. The threat of him running by you at any given moment was something that scared every corner. Right.

Matt Cassel26:50

I said hands of Jesus, baby. Hands of Jesus. Cuz you could just throw the ball in his vicinity and he'd go out and out out compete anybody. He was also 6'4. The other most amazing part about him is when he's running those vertical routes, you know, a lot of these guys that are shorter, in order to turn back and see that ball, their body has to turn. So, what does that do? It slows them down.

He was he had this long ass neck and he could track a ball over his shoulder while staying full speed and just show hands.

It was uh talk about a weapon. I mean, he's uniquely special. He's one of the top, if not the top wide receiver, one of the top three wide receivers of all time just because you don't see those freaks of nature.

Matt Cassel27:37

Straight cash."

Matt Cassel28:39

I got to stand.

Matt Cassel28:39

Yeah, it was such a feel thing when you get into the pocket because you understand after years of playing the position, you're going to take hits

And and a lot of it for us in our training is staying in rhythm, right? We have our footwork. We know that our route concepts might take us one way or another way. Now, even when you're on rhythm, sometimes guy breaks free, three technique, gets around our guard, and you feel that guy breathing down, and it's all about timing, anticipation. We talk about timing, anticipation, right? So you could see this guy starting to break on an end cut and you know he's not there. But if I don't let this ball go now,

I'm going to get absolutely limbbased and and so so much of it is just that feel of understanding when to get rid of the ball. Like you're saying, you know that somebody's coming. If I can hold on and let that window clear for just an extra second, take the hit, it's going to be a big play. Yeah.

And when those happen, you get blasted, but you're sitting there on the ground and you're listening. And if you're at home, it's whether or not the crowd cheers

Or if they go, "Oh." Then you know something bad happened.

And then if you're and vice versa, if you're on the road and their their crowd stays silent, you go, "Ah." You're like, "Yes, what happened?" Like it's And a lot of times you don't even know where the ball went, if the catch happened, if he's still running. You just you you you don't know until you get up off the ground. But um you know every week I think that there was the part of that that you had to overcome in your own mind like you know you're going to get hit and some days are harder than others like

Matt Cassel30:26

I mean, and you talk about Ray was a centerpiece of that, but they also had Ed Reed on the No, that's what I mean.

They had Suggs here. They had Hello just as crazy.

Nagata was a 65 350 lb man that you would block out the sun and I was like, what the hell? So, there are days though where any quarterback, look, you you can get rattled, you start throwing the ball with too much anticipation and you see it when you're saying a little bit of happy feet where it's like,

Blow the whistle. Blow the whistle. This is crazy. You know, you've been hit. you've been hit your first four out of seven drop backs and you're going man you I mean we're getting the ball out but man it takes a mental toll on you so you know you hear the rumors of oh you feel ghost all of us has probably been through it where we feel

Like we're about to get hit we don't get hit and we look like idiots cuz we stepped up too quick or anything so and part of that goes with trust and the cohesiveness with your offensive line trusting what what type of protection scheme you're in when I was in New England quarterbacks would handle the protection scheme so I had to know where my problems were.

Matt Cassel31:51

It is a job. And the best coordinators that I've been around are ones that help simplify it for the quarterback. And what I mean by that is formationally a lot of times, you know, you talked about Romo and you talked about Brady and how they can have the foresight to say, "Oh, well, look at this one-on-one match. This is where they're going to go."

Because when you formation somebody, say you start

Three wide receivers on the same side with one tight end to the backside.

Matt Cassel32:13

Well, if all the cornerbacks are over, you know, it's manto man.

Matt Cassel32:16

Right. They're not playing zone over there with all their corners on the same side.

So then you're going to motion back to a 2x two formation. And what we used to do in for instance a play in New England would be like you're gonna call two plays in the huddle zone beater and man beater.

Matt Cassel32:30

We start formationally here but we're gonna end up in a two by two and we're going to call our best man beater because I know it's man. I'm not checking it. The minute those guys are over I'm going hey alert alert alert alert. Come on. And then we're going to go that alert sent us to our best zone play.

Matt Cassel32:45

So now you got the best of both worlds when you have that type of chess match but you have the upper hand because we formation the right way and already I know what they're doing. Yeah,

That was a huge benefit playing the quarterback position. You talk about confidence.

Matt Cassel33:12

When we'd get in slots? So, we'd play San Diego and Wade Phillips did a great job. What he he would do a lot of times is if they're playing zone in a slot formation, when I mean two receivers, one side, you maybe have two backs in the back field and you formation it that way, they leave a nub corner over here with the tight end.

Matt Cassel33:27

Right. And that's typically if you're playing zone in most most defensive structures that there's going to be a backside corner over on the the nub side to the tight end.

Now, what Wade would do was screw that. We're going to throw him off a little bit. We're going to put the corners over here and that corner would play zone like a nickel.

Yeah. So you're sitting there going, "Wait, is this man?" Because you wouldn't always get the indication indicator that you would The only way to do that then is combat that by putting that F. So you have two tight ends. Yeah.

You put the tight end out wide.

Matt Cassel33:59

Well, if a linebacker goes out there or safety, once again, you know, it's man. Yeah.

Right. So it was just different ways in which you would look at the game plan and I was blessed to have great coaches to understand structure defense and so when when you start game plan it's just that back and forth like I said chess match they might blitz the guy off a corner. It's all the different disguises and the evolution too of defense.

Matt Cassel36:10

You know, I I always had a firm belief that I could go out there and compete at that level. Yeah.

And just didn't have the opportunity. So, what unfortunately you just don't know. But the combine

Tested well in all the different physical skills and all this stuff. But the big part for me was throwing, right? I had to go out and rip it around. And it happened to be one of those days. The ball was coming off great. Didn't miss a throw. I mean, I was on rhythm.

Matt Cassel36:34

It was one of those magical moments where, you know, the ball didn't flutter. came out, ball spiraling all over all over the place. And after I got done with the workout, which I probably had anywhere from

40 to 60 different types of throws to both sides of the field, throwing to the right, throwing to the left, movement drills, all that stuff. And I didn't have one of these professional coaches like you see now that have rehearsed

Uh a full script for these guys and all that. No, there was a coach that came up and said, "Hey, let's do this, this, and the other." And he walked me through the workout. Well, after that, all of a sudden, there was just this convergence on me by all these different scouts, and they're asking me questions. What What's your story? Like, hold on.

Matt Cassel38:05

That was it. And I and again you said that the two Heisman Trophies being in front of me was huge cuz if I'm at any other school and I'm just playing behind, you know, Joe Blow or this guy and

What happened? Well, we can

Matt Cassel38:21

Yeah. number one overall pick and then the number seven pick in the draft the a year after I left.

Matt Cassel38:31

Yeah. I mean Carson went on to have a great career and Matt Matt had seven eight years but I mean for me to go 14 years coming from a position but I mean they so they converge on they wanted to hear my story. What tell me a little bit about yourself. I said look what you're saying use it to my advantage. I backed up two Heisman Trophy winners. Matt and I battled it out. my junior year and then Pete went a different direction the week before season.

Matt Cassel38:58

Well, that's the thing that Pete Carroll did such a great job of if he preached competition and he wanted to make it as hard as possible during practice because once you got into the game, things could slow down. So, the competition was always at the forefront of what we did at USC and that was just another factor in it and we pushed each other for sure. But at that moment, I started getting interest and I didn't have an agent, you know, anybody wanted to pick me up, anything like that.

Matt Cassel39:26

Guess who I call? My old roommate Carson Palmer. I said, "Hey, Carson, I'm starting to get a little bit of interest, maybe some workouts and stuff. Is there uh could you call your agent and see if he'd represent me?" So, Dave Dunn was his agent, Athletes First. And uh Dave called me the next day, said, "Hey, I'd love you to come down." He said, "This is what we did with AJ Phy." Now AJ Phy was an Oregon quarterback was a backup but he got an opportunity to play a little bit

But he was like

We'd love to represent you and again

Matt Cassel41:37

It was incredible cuz I I knew it was going to be probably a weird situation. At least I felt like it was because again I at this point was a nobody.

Matt Cassel41:45

But I never felt that way. They brought me in Athletes First with open arms, Dave Dunn, Brian Murphy. They treated me like family as if I was like a dude in the draft. And I always will appreciate that because look, the the fact is I was just hoping to get on a practice squad to prove myself. My that was a realization that I had. But I I felt like if I got into a camp, I could earn myself a position on a team somehow someway.

So at that point had workouts with Cincinnati, Oakland, San Diego.

Matt Cassel42:16

So you get into a room and honestly the co it's usually the quarterback coach. quarterback coach will come in, throw up some film, tell me what this play is, talk to me about this structure.

Matt Cassel42:25

Yeah. They they want to know what what's your knowledge of football. Like, we saw you throw. You can throw. Like, I get that, but do you know the game?

Matt Cassel42:34

What are you what are you calling this play? What's this formation? What's this run? Do you have any checks? You know, and so they're trying to challenge you mentally to see where you're at from just your your overall understanding.

Matt Cassel42:51

He did and we had great coaching. I mean uh Steve Sarkeesian coach was there. He was a young young coach played at BYU under coach Chow. So he was there. Lane Keifin was there.

Matt Cassel43:07

The most incredible staff you will ever imagine.

Matt Cassel43:12

Pete Carroll the mix. I mean we and there's a number more but I mean our staff Ken Norton Jr. was there a linebacker. I mean, we had some dudes now.

Matt Cassel43:21

So, I mean, it was a professionally run college team. There's no doubt about that. And that's where the recruiting started, but it I was prepared for those. But I hadn't spoken with uh New England at all.

Matt Cassel43:33

So, I was sitting there, they weren't even on my register cuz a lot of West Coast teams, I was like, "Well, if I'm a free agent, might as well stay West Coast. San Diego would be sweet."

Unbelievable. So my agent said, "Hey, we're getting to the why don't you come down around the fifth, sixth round cuz this is going to happen quickly." You know, with with the free agency banter. Norm Chow obviously was in Tennessee. He was calling too.

And um we get to about the beginning of the seventh round. I get a phone call before earlier in that day from Scott Pi who's the head of player personnel in New England.

And I saw this 508 area code. I was like, "What is this?" Hello. And it was Scott. and he's like, "Hey, Matt, I just want to let you know you're big on our list. I want you to consider New England for to come in and be a free agent, but if we do take a quarterback late, we're going to take you." And I was like, "Okay." So, free agent, but that's huge. Like, I'm just looking for Exactly.

So, next thing I know, we're getting there. I'm feeling calls from some teams. We're getting a little bit late. Mi middle of the seventh. Next thing I know, hey, somebody's on the phone for you. It's Coach Belch. Hello. And he goes, "Matt, this coach Bichc from the New England Patriots." I said, "Are you are you messing with me right now?" Because I I didn't believe it. He's like, "How?" He's like, "Yes, it's coach Bichc. How are you?" I was like, "I'm doing well." He's like, "Well, I just want to congratulate you.

Welcome to the Patriots. We're going to make you the next pick in the NFL draft." And I said, "Holy shit." So, it was uh I still get goosebumps talking about it because

Matt Cassel45:06

I just It was such a surreal moment, right? because I've been through so much adversity and uh being told no get your opportunity is going to come, not going to come, whatever it might be. But to trust my own instincts and my own self and say I'm going because I had a quarterback coach Carl who said I said, "Coach, I think I'm going to go out for this combo." He said, "Matt, I think it's time to look for another uh profession." And I said,

Matt Cassel45:33

And it was one of those that I was like, "You know what? Screw this. I'm going I'm going to do it." And

Matt Cassel45:40

Yeah.

Matt Cassel45:43

Why not? What's the worst thing that

Matt Cassel45:52

And then regret it for the rest of your life. Like, uh,

Matt Cassel45:57

Yeah. If the reality is, you never know what direction life's going to take you, man. And I could have never in a million years drawn up the path that I took. But at that moment, it was one of those things that you felt validated a little bit.

Matt Cassel46:10

Because I I knew I've been working my ass off just to try to get on the field. And for somebody to recognize and give me an opportunity, especially a team like New England who just won, like I said, they Super Bowl in four years and they get drafted of all things.

Matt Cassel46:23

And so I walk in and u my girlfriend at the time, she's my been my wife for almost 20 years. She's sitting there and she came down. She's sitting on the couch and the draft's on. She was looking through a magazine. I was like, "Honey, look." I They said, "I'm on hold." They're like I said, "Look." And she looks up. She goes, "You you haven't come up yet." I said, "Look at the board." And ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Next pick, NFL draft, New England Patriots sake, USC quarterback Matt Cassel.

And even the commentators are like, "I don't have any information on this guy." He didn't know what to say.

I love it, dude. That's so awesome. Um, it was one of those special moments and the fact that

I didn't have anything planned. You know, you see these guys and they've got a party,

They've rented out space. No, I went back to my mom's house. We had a barbecue. My coaches came over, my friends came over, our family friends came over and got to celebrate with them because that's part of your journey, right? You're only as good as the people that you surround yourself with and the people that supported you. And so, that was a special day. And then soon thereafter, I was on a flight out to New England, not knowing where the hell I was going. could be further away from Southern California.

Matt Cassel47:59

Right,

Matt Cassel49:01

Well, it's it's also I think now society's changed, right? The norms have changed. Kids are getting paid

Unbelievable amounts of money in college. Some of them are actually taking a step back to come to the pros, right?

I know. And so it's it's this new era of social media and Instagram and jewelry and this that and the other and it's a brand that they try to create and like you're saying where do you align what are your goals?

What brand wants want to align with that other than jewelry? There's a lot of them

But it's I I think it's the times we live in for sure that it's become much more popular to wear all the big jewelry and this that and the other and you know it is what it is. everybody's as long as you're going out on Sundays and performing. That's right.

Found out that that usually takes care of the rest. But um so I get drafted, get there.

And um

Matt Cassel51:36

Every part of it was, you know, you get get off, there's somebody there picking you up. You get on a bus with a bunch of strangers, all rookie class. You know, a lot of them come in around the same time.

We take that long track out cuz Foxboro is not necessarily every Boston. No. Hell no. It's like an hour out.

And so, you know, all you're seeing is the tree and the landscape and then you come up on Foxboro Stadium. They just completed the new stadium.

Matt Cassel52:13

Then we walk in and

You know, you're starting to be friendly with some of these guys. as you're talking to some of them, but then at the same time you get there and they walk you through the halls and you go into the locker room and it's the first time you're in the NFL, this is the New England Patriots locker room and you're kind of pinching yourself a little bit. And the way that they did it for rookies is they'd put

The lockers, but they were temporary lockers, like old school metal, you know, like a high school gym.

Yeah. You see these luxurious lockers down here and you're seeing, you know, everybody from Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Tom Brady, Matt Light. I mean, you can go down the list of just studs that are all over this locker room, but we're just condensed and all it has is

Your number up there, 16. And I didn't even pick 16. I And so the trainer's like, "No, you're wearing 16." I was like, "Perfect." And it became my number for the rest of my career, basically.

That's funny. But you get there and you see the helmet and that's I was like I kind of took a picture and showed it to my family and I was like this is crazy

And you know you when you put that helmet on for the first time you got a lot of pride and we went in

And I think we started the next day we we came in Belichick holds a meeting and I'll never forget he would say I don't care where you've been drafted what you've done if you're a firstrounder if you're a free agent you make your path on this team you earn your path on this team and I wanted to hear that right

Because for every I know that there's politics involved in some organizations probably more so than others. If you're a first round, they're going to give you every opportunity, second, second, third, and so on. Um, you don't have a lot of leeway

As a seventh rounder, right? You either get your job done, prove yourself, or you might they're going to probably move on because you don't cost much.

And so,

Um, but I love the introduction there. He talked about the standard, what what we're trying to achieve. Rookie should be seen, not heard, all the all the Oh, yeah. Belich, he did not want to hear from any rookie. He's like, "Look, you're going to have questions with all the media and this that and the other. Best thing you do is shut the f up."

Matt Cassel54:14

Yeah. So, I was already scared to death. Don't say anything wrong in the media. But then we go right out and we hit the ground running. We do

I think the first day they made us run gassers. They wanted to find out who was in shape, who wasn't. Some guys are throwing up.

Then from there, we go and we're doing individual drills, team drills. Now, we didn't have a full squad there, so we had coaches out there taking on blocks and doing this stuff. But you were just generally getting acclimated. And then the next week is when the vet showed up and that's when things got real because you start to recognize this team collectively put together is the best team in football

Matt Cassel54:55

That was my third year.

Matt Cassel54:57

So they went three out of four before I got there. Next year we lose to the Broncos in the divisional round which was

Matt Cassel55:24

Yeah, that was a tough one. So divisional round next year AFC championship against the Colts which we were up like 216 and then they you know then all of a sudden Payton comes storming back and ended up I think it was a 35 32 game something crazy. They go on to win the Super Bowl that year and the next year was with 18 and0 and lost to the

Giants who we actually played

Matt Cassel55:48

Week 16

And you realize that hey that's a good football team and we were the plan was not to play Brady and all these guys throughout the game undefeated season right

Brady knew what was on the line historically and I think it was midway through the first quarter I thought I was going to start warming up cuz he said castle be ready to go

And he's like I'm not coming out of this effing And I was like, "Fuck, this is awesome." Like, I was like, "This is awesome." But at the same time, kind of wanted to get a little little film on there.

Um, yes. And then, uh, so that was 2017, 2008 was when I actually ended up playing.

Matt Cassel56:23

I think it's so basically I did get a signing bonus. I don't I don't know how, but my I had a really good agent.

Got a signing bonus in a four-year deal on rookie minimum. Which rookie minimum?

Matt Cassel56:51

Oh, you have to make the team. Like,

Matt Cassel56:59

You sign the contract first and then it's definitely based on whether or not you make the team at that point. It's done before you get to camp.

Matt Cassel57:11

I think that um league minimum back then was probably 165 175 something like that. It was

Matt Cassel57:21

Oh these guys these guys nowadays I think the league minimum is damn near a million dollars. But

Matt Cassel57:44

Oh yeah. That's the dynamics of the locker room cuz you've just like anything, right? You've got your say your one to 5enters up at the top of the chain. Then you got the guys that are veterans that have contracts that aren't aren't killing it but they're making money couple million. And then as you get down that down that pay structure, then you got your a lot of the rookies, maybe some veteran players they brought in on one-year contracts, and the league minimum goes up based on I think your tenure.

Matt Cassel58:09

So, you're going to make a little bit more if you're an eight-year player versus a rookie. But at the same time,

It wasn't what it is, what today's game is with a $300 million salary cap, right? It was I I don't even know what the number was back then. But I at the same time, I was like, this is awesome. I never had, you know, I didn't grow up where we had a ton. We had,

We had a good childhood. My mom worked her ass off. And I'm not sitting here saying we were from the slums or anything like that. We were just good suburb family. My mom worked her ass off, did well. We had everything that we needed. But first time I ever made money, I didn't even have a car through in college or even in the pros. Thank God I knew Tom Brady cuz he got me a car deal with one of his buddies that he did a car deal with.

Matt Cassel59:05

Yeah. You can give them tickets you could go to an appearance anything like that. It's it's super easy and super structured whenever they needed tickets or something like that. And you become friends with these guys too.

Matt Cassel59:45

For me, I'm not I'm not doing the economics of it all. I'm just going Wait, you're gonna give me a car to drive? Perfect. I'll take the car to drive. So,

Matt Cassel59:55

I did grow up with my mom and dad and then they divorced when I was finalized when I was 12. So, was separated when I was 10.

Matt Cassel1:00:04

Yeah, it it was a tough time for sure. I I think

Well, I've got three siblings, an older brother, younger brother, younger sister.

The dynamics were my mom my mom and dad met in Chicago. Yeah. Married in New York.

Moved to LA. My dad was from Leach, Texas. My mom was from Cincinnati, Ohio. They both went out to LA to pursue their dreams in television. My mom still works in television. She's been an Emmy awardwinning set decorator. She's still working at 71. She's incredible. Awesome. My dad went out there. He wanted to be a screenwriter and an actor. That never really came to fruition.

Um, and unfortunately there was, you know, that time where my dad hit a rough spot. He he had a knee he had a knee injury jumping on a trampoline with us at one point. And but that that went into like you know as the recovery started he got a little bit addicted to the pain pain meds stuff like that and just kind of spiraled and then it became a tough situation and my mom had to make a decision and so that's what it ultimately led to.

Now, it was it was rough on all of us. But

I think it in the beginning, you don't always understand it as a kid, right? Sometimes it's just,

Wait, what do you mean? Why why can't you guys do this, that, and the other, but when you look back, my mom was strong to make the decision that she did because it was probably the best thing for us as kids to from an environment standpoint.

Matt Cassel1:01:22

Yeah.

Matt Cassel1:01:25

I do. Well, I did. He passed away actually 2008. Um, so my dad was awesome and I I take a lot of pride in the fact that I take a lot of the qualities that he had as a dad like fun, energetic, bring it like and have childlike humor, all those different things, you know, that um my older brother and I probably got to experience a little bit more of the good stuff.

Matt Cassel1:01:49

Whereas my younger siblings were maybe a little bit younger and experienced more of the chaos. Yeah.

If that makes sense. But um we we had a great relationship and he was an old cowboy from Texas and like our childhood when growing up we had horses up in Granada Hills. We had five horses. We go trail rides. Great memories. Right.

Matt Cassel1:02:09

He did. And it actually was the first year

Um in 2008 that I took over for Tom. Yeah. And when he passed away during season actually it was we were up in Seattle. We had a backtoback West Coast trip. We were playing Seattle staying out there and going to the Raiders. And I remember talking to him after the game in Seattle. It was a huge huge win for us up in Seattle and um he didn't sound good. I was like, "What the hell's the matter with you?" And he goes, "I don't know. I got like some kind of flu, a stomach bug, something going on." And it just so happened it was literally the next day I was sitting in watching some film by myself cuz we had some time off and I got a call from my brother and there was this weird feeling in my gut.

I was like, "Why is he calling me so early?" But like at the same time, I just felt something was off. And he told me they found dad and he passed. And like I just I just remember walking in and I uh went into Bellich's office. He was actually with my offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, and I just remember just breaking down just cuz I I didn't know how to

Digest it all. Yeah. Like it just was just the shock to the system. And then my wife flew out. And then from that point I I literally left the team and went down Tuesday, Wednesday and helped kind of get the funeral arrangements ready and this that and the other and flew back for Friday practice. Practiced that night and then played on Sunday.

Matt Cassel1:03:31

It was up in the air. Yeah. Whether I was going to play I thought,

You know, I needed a distraction.

Matt Cassel1:03:36

And we uh we were late in the season and it felt like I I want to go do this. Yeah.

And so came back up, practiced, and it happened to be one of those crazy rainy days up in Oakland.

Matt Cassel1:03:48

I remember going out on the field and this this guy, he's got this full Raider, you know, the Raiders fans are not tired. Raider stuff

Beanie on and he's holding up this sign, Rip Greg Castle as my dad. And I was just like,

Man, like it was got emotional for

And then it it was one of those crazy days where everything slowed down.

Matt Cassel1:04:06

Threw four touchdown passes.

Matt Cassel1:04:09

Couldn't do anything wrong. and just and then came off and got pulled out and probably in the beginning of the fourth quarter we were drumming them and I just remember sitting there next to Welker going this this is crazy

Raining could kind of hide the tears a little bit just coming in

And being with the team after that victory was something I'll never forget cuz Bellich was like

Hand me the game ball but the hugs and the um emotion of the moment was pretty big.

Matt Cassel1:04:50

Man, they couldn't have been cooler. I mean, cooler in the sense that supportive anything you need Yeah.

Will get you to where you got to go. I know you probably got to head down to LA. It wasn't there wasn't a moment that you felt um pressure to stay with the team, handle it after the fact. They understood

What family is, what it means, especially in that circumstance. And we've been, you know, there's players that go through stuff all the time, whether it's losing a parent or something like that that a lot of people might not even understand what goes on in a locker room all the time. But

He understood the dynamics and they couldn't have been more supportive. And it was touch and go whether I was even going to play.

Matt Cassel1:05:28

Sure. because they understood like damn middle of season.

Yeah.

And uh Yeah. And then right after the game, Mr. Craft, he flew myself and my wife down to LA on the jet. I didn't go back on the team plane and I went to the funeral on Monday and then came back on Tuesday to start the next week.

Matt Cassel1:05:49

Yeah. And it happened quick. But the

The turnout for the funeral the Monday,

Incredible. People that I haven't seen for God knows how long were all there. And that goes back to community and people and everything else too. So

Matt Cassel1:06:19

Yeah, you know, you had to earn your keep as a rookie, right? And a lot of times even in the in the wait room to give you a great example you rookies were separated from veterans for the first however long right yeah and we would have to listen Mike old school incredible trainer and uh he'd put on like Merl Haggard and all this old school country that are telling stories and all that stuff and he cuz the vets got to control the music.

Matt Cassel1:06:48

Right. And they'd go back and forth. We just had to listen to his playlist. Yeah.

All day long while we worked out. So there's a clear defined separation of you're still a rookie and these are the vets and this is where you want to get to. Eventually they integrate you and do all that stuff. But in terms of practices and all that, um you always would carry the pads. If any veteran wants you to carry the pads, you're carrying the pads. Um

Meaning they would just leave the helmet shoulder pads as all get out. You might have three pads at a time. Now Brady was pretty good about it. like he didn't always do it unless he had a media obligation that he had to go speak to the media or something. He's like, "Take my pads in." I was like, "Yes, all right, no problem." But the linemen are the ones that really love that

Matt Cassel1:07:33

To the rookie lineman, I mean, they they get after those guys like anytime they wanted food on say we got an early Friday morning, they're picking up whatever food orders they want and it could be from multiple spots. They better be there on time. They had a fine jar. They had all these things. A big big part of it was they'd come in before our big night scrimmage, right before we actually kick off preseason. We'd have this big night scrimmage, shave all the rookies heads, guys that didn't want to get their braids or anything shaved, shave their eyebrow.

Like there were some serious arguments going on there and we had some and there was certain guys that really enjoyed like the tormenting. Yeah. Tormenting. But

Other than that, it wasn't you didn't feel that constant hazing or anything like that. It was. But then the rookie dinner comes along. That's when they really get you.

Matt Cassel1:08:20

So you go out and we take the whole team to I forget what steak restaurant we we go to.

Matt Cassel1:08:26

Highend.

Yeah.

Matt Cassel1:08:29

Yeah. Capital I think it was Capital Grill. And I'm not talking about your position group. I'm talking about the entire team. And guys are

Matt Cassel1:08:38

Uh everybody. They've got bottles of Crystalall. They got wine. They got whatever they want, right? And some guys get after it. Some guys are taking bottles with them home to their wife or in a second thing.

Matt Cassel1:09:01

And luckily it was prrated. So first rounder Logan, he's taking a he's taking a big hit. And then it prorates down through the draft pick. So, I was fortunate enough to be down at the lower lower end of that totem pool, but it's still a hit for somebody that's not used to spending that type of money. It was probably $25,000 or something.

Matt Cassel1:09:53

Nice dinner I'm good

Matt Cassel1:10:01

Yeah and that was just

Matt Cassel1:10:04

Yeah that's the tradition of it all and there's certain guys I remember Vince Wolf got showed up hot, ready to ready to bang heads.

Matt Cassel1:10:13

Oh, because of the same thing. He was a firstrounder and he didn't even go he refused to even go to the dinner.

Matt Cassel1:10:19

Yeah.

Matt Cassel1:10:25

So, the shave your head thing, there was a few different altercations in that because I mean, I get it. You've been growing your hair out forever long and that's part of your identity. No, you don't. You're not shaving my head. Take something else. And so there was definitely some maybe some give and take there, but for the most part the the vets got what they wanted in terms of shaving heads. Like I they cut me out of frier tuck. Yeah.

They just looked like the biggest idiot ever. But they really weren't bad in terms of rookie hazing by any means. I think that dinner, but that's usually middle of the season or something like that.

Matt Cassel1:10:57

Everybody's on the team. Probably made a little money at that point. But at the same time, it's it's one of those like really guys, do we need Crystal or

And everyone goes Brady goes everyone it's called. Huh.

Matt Cassel1:11:10

The whole team. And but it is definitely a bonding experience. I mean, when you get to go out with the whole team and the laughs are going, the tables are going and you're just having, you know, you have a few drinks or something like that, loosen up, and then all of a sudden you start to look around though as the rookies and you're going, "Man, that's a what are they ordering? Why are they ordering?"

Matt Cassel1:11:53

It was unbelievable. You know, Brady,

He was one of those guys that would definitely come out and be part of part of the group, but I think it gets harder and harder with the fame that comes along with who he is. He was a superstar, right?

Matt Cassel1:12:05

And he's good-looking guy. Then he marries Jazelle and everything like that. And so, every time you go out now, everybody's trying to take a picture of you, do that. So, you have to pick and choose. And let me tell you, he was super regiment in terms of diet. Yeah.

Of nutrition during season in particular. It wasn't like he was one of those guys that you get a night off and some of the guys would go out and have drinks and after a little bit. He wasn't one of those guys. Like he knew his limits. If he would go out, it was always be pretty tempered for the most part.

Um but he was definitely one of those guys that knew what he needed to do and put into his body and was disciplined about it.

Matt Cassel1:13:05

Yeah, there's so many things I picked up from Tom. Um again, he was always the first guy in the building, right? He he he set a standard by he set an example by the standard that he set for himself. So nobody was going to outwork him. Nobody was going to spend more time on task. He was always going to be prepared. And he was one of those guys that would when you get into a meeting room with him and the questions that he'd ask. Like if he didn't understand something, he was respectful of the coach and but he would say, "Hey, explain this to me one more time.

What are we looking to do? What are we looking to achieve?" And get a clear example of maybe a new play that's going in, why we might be doing that. And then there was that constant conversation between him and the coordinator because he told me at the end of the day, you're the one out there pulling the trigger. You got to be comfortable with what you're doing. Yeah.

If there's something that you don't like, we've got 50 other plays.

Make sure you get to that.

Matt Cassel1:13:56

Um, another great example was I was on the field one day and we're running drill. Oh, no. We're doing team period. I forgot to do a little short motion out here, but I complete this ball down the field, crossing around. I'm like, boom. Right. And he goes, Castle, what the hell are you doing? I was like, what? He's like, "You forgot the motion." I was like, "Yeah, that's my bad." He's like, "Dude, you can't do that." And I was like, "Okay." He's like, "The reason I'm telling you this is because if you're missing motions and it could be very," and that was a very small example, right?

I was like, "Well, I mean, I completed the ball for 30 yards. Give me some grace here." He's like, "No, but if you're doing that and you're missing motions and that's part of our stuff, well then how the hell are you going to yell at an offensive lineman or a tight end or a receiver when you want them at a different depth or they were short on their route when they can look at you and say, "Dude, you forgot the [ __ ] motion team two plays ago."

Matt Cassel1:14:50

Yeah. Or you're not making the call. Same thing with getting in and out of the huddle. He's always like, "You got to have command of the huddle. You got to look them in their eyes. You got to be able to say the play precisely, clearly. that gives them confidence when they break the huddle.

Matt Cassel1:15:01

You have command at the line of scrimmage. Um,

You know, there are so many of these things that I took away from Tom and then it was just the ability to sit there behind and watch.

Matt Cassel1:15:12

How he operated at the line of scrimmage, how he called out the mic and was demonstrative and made sure everybody knew. But then from there, hey, you no hot, you're locked or recall here. Hey, you're you're good. You don't have to side adjust. All these little dynamics that happen at the line of scrimmage. It was awesome to watch this dude go because between the years,

There's nobody that I I've ever been around that is as special as he is at understanding, anticipating, realizing what the defense is going to do and having an answer.

Yeah.

Matt Cassel1:15:49

It was 2008. So,

Matt Cassel1:15:52

Very beginning of the season. So, 2007 was the year he was MVP. Threw 50ome touchdowns.

Matt Cassel1:15:58

The Giants year. H

We come back and as you can only imagine expectation levels

Matt Cassel1:16:06

And we had the same returning team basically it was Super Bowl or bust so there was high expectations going this season Tom had a little bit of a foot injury throughout preseason so I played a little bit probably more than I normally would

But we get to the first game of the season we're playing Kansas City home opener

It's the first quarter he throws the ball down the sideline to Moss and I'm following the Moss catches it, then gets stripped. So, it's a turnover.

Matt Cassel1:16:32

Right. And all of a sudden, like I thought the crowd would normally like, "Ah, what the heck?" They went silent and I was like, "The heck." I look back and there's Ray. He's down with his knee.

He's down holding his knee. And I'm sitting there going, "Cuz I've seen this dude's tough as nails, right?

He's been banged up. He's played through injuries. I've been there for four years and I've seen it firsthand. I mean, if he can go, he's going to go."

Yeah. So, but the fact that the trainers, the medical staff are out there testing knee, doing all that stuff, I was like, "This doesn't look good." And then he hobbles off. They take him underneath the stadium. I've I don't think I've ever seen him leave the field.

Matt Cassel1:17:10

And Bellich, like pure Bellich fashion, comes up totally nonchalant, stoic. Castle, grab your helmet, warm up. You're going in. I was like, "Really?" And you know, and at that moment, the reality of what I've been waiting for for so long was about to happen. And you don't realize it like you think about it, how it's going to go, this, that, and the other. But I'm telling you, I could hear my heart in my ears, the adrenaline rush,

The reality that you're about to go in in the an actual meaningful time in a game and get this opportunity.

It was like I had to try to

All right, calm it down a little bit. calm it down. Um, and of course they ended up hunting and they ended up hunting. They down it at the one yard line. So I run onto the field with my group for the first time in meaningful action. And I'll tell you the crowd got up and gave me a standing out like

Matt Cassel1:18:12

Yeah. You got to earn their respect though.

Matt Cassel1:18:27

Dude, they'll crap all over you. The brutal honesty of it is what I appreciate

Cuz you're never going to know if you're in the gray area. They say, "Castle, what the hell you doing throwing that pig the other day?"

Yeah. I like screw you.

Matt Cassel1:18:42

So, we're just trying to get off that the one yard line. We We have some backed up plays. So we ran two straight plays. Stuffed. Stuffed. Call play. Jab 126. Zpop X prick. Ry's the Z.

Matt Cassel1:18:55

So Zpop is like a a short post, right? Patrick Certain, veteran quarter uh quarterback is on the opposite side. He's a savvy vet, right?

And so as as I'm starting to make the snap, he's moving in, but he jumps inside of Moss, right? He's got to somehow cross face. Moss being the instinctive player he is, I come off the fake cuz I'm blind at this point and all of a sudden I see Moss instead of running that post, he just takes off down the sideline. He's got a few steps and out of out of the grace of God, dude, I literally just launched this thing somehow with anticipation hits him in stride.

He goes 50 60 yards before being tackled on their side.

And I was just like,

I'm doing it. What happened? It was wild. So, uh, that was the start and we went on to win that game. I mean, that was the start of me playing for New England. We went on to win that game and then the next week was my first start in the NFL. First start since high school.

Matt Cassel1:20:11

It changed really just overnight because again I do an interview in the offseason when we're in mini camp because somebody wanted to talk to the backup quarterback to fill a story.

Matt Cassel1:20:23

Now I'm front and center of an organization that is h that has ambitions of going to the Super Bowl where their superstar quarterback the face of the league just went down.

Matt Cassel1:20:33

And the attention I was not prepared for. I remember coming in that day and I wore we were at the time NFL was sponsored by Reebok, right? But the Olympics were going on. So I had rocked the Nike Olympic hat cuz they don't care what I wear, right? Course in the locker room when the media come in, if you're doing interviews, you have to wear the apparel that's sponsored by the NFL. I had no idea. So they tell me I got to go to the podium.

Well, I got my Nike hat on. I got this. I go and talk to them after the game

And fielding questions for the first time up on the big stage. I get a letter in the mail the next week goes, "Uh, yeah, you you got fined $10,000 for wearing the inappropriate apparel that's not sponsored by the league

Matt Cassel1:21:14

Yeah. And I was like, "Guy, I came to the stadium that day anticipating what I've done for the last three years is watch Tom play. Nobody's ever I've worn Nike stuff in here all the time and nobody's ever said a word to me." And now uh I didn't anticipate going speaking to the media. It just so happened that Tom went down. I I'm pretty sure that you guys should should resend this fine. And they said, I got it. And from that point on, I was like, dude, are you serious?

You tried to find me? First opportunity you got that I got on the screen. But speaking of media, it was overwhelming. There was so much pressure involved because I knew it wasn't just the outside pressure of knowing that you're taking over and you're the quarterback in New England. It was the internal pressure that you felt that this is my opportunity.

Matt Cassel1:21:59

Because if I screw this up, I might be out of league. Yeah, of course.

Like that that's in the back of your mind like and I was in the fourth year of my rookie deal. There was no guaranteed contract coming up. There wasn't even a negotiation happening.

Matt Cassel1:22:11

Right. And so

It was fighting those demons of staying on task and focusing and not allowing all the outside noise because everybody wanted a piece of you. every every whether it's ESPN, CBS, NBC, whatever it might be, they all wanted to just sit down one-on-one, get to know the Matt Cassel behind the

Matt Cassel1:22:34

It's It's not our It was Leslie. Um uh what's Leslie's last name? Uh he was our PR director in New England. He did a remarkable job of protecting me and doing all those things. And so, um you lean on those guys.

Matt Cassel1:22:51

You could, but I mean, being in that position, I think that you piss more people off in that sense.

Matt Cassel1:22:58

And there's you have your day that you do the media, and then from there, you might do some sit down interviews throughout the week, particularly a network that's covering the game that they want to get some,

You know, content for the broadcast. But for the most part, I mean, he did a really good job of protecting me and understanding, hey, we can only do this many, say no to plenty of people. Yeah.

And go from there.

But it changed overnight. Like the going, man, I've got media. I've got to know what I say. I got to protect my words. I got to protect the team. And I got You become the face and you're not prepared for it.

Matt Cassel1:24:16

So, I have a Nike deal even as a rookie. Okay. Like, and I think a lot of that had to do with

The success that the agency had had with big names. They represented everybody from Carson to Hasselback to a ton of

Matt Cassel1:24:32

Right. Exactly. So, I already had a Nike deal and that was the cleat that I'd wear and they give you, you know, they give you money for shoes and this that and the other, but

Um it was really an apparel deal that you get and then

They still there was so much unknown about me. Yeah.

Right. That there was it it still was in the early stages of proving it

And I didn't need any outside distraction at that point, trust me.

Um but I'm as the agents as the season wore on, you know, there's people that come and do you want to be a brand ambassador? Do you want to do this thing?

Um, sign, you know, sign cards, which I, you know, signing rookie deal cards for me, I was like, "Oh, well, I'll sign them, but I don't know how much I'm going to get out of this where now those become a little bit more valuable than those things." Um, but I didn't I I tried as much as possible to limit all that stuff, especially because the season was so important to not only the team, just to me in general to try to prove myself because I've been asking for this opportunity and now that opportunity finally came.

But, uh, the first start that I had was in the Meadowlands and we're playing the Jets and it just so happened Jets quarterback at that time, Brett Favre, childhood hero.

Yeah. And it was pretty surreal to be stand up on my first start across the field from Brett Favre. Go down and the stadium is rocking.

Matt Cassel1:25:53

Screaming you break your leg castle and all the different stuff.

You know, you're hearing it all. But they legitimately thought, "Oh no, Brady, we're going to stomp these."

And we uh we went down there and it was

Matt Cassel1:26:14

Right. Rex lives over I saw him the other day. FedEx. He he uh I was with him for a small bit in Buffalo.

Matt Cassel1:26:20

Great coach. Um but nonetheless, we end up winning the game and uh first person to run across the field is Brett Favre. Puts his big paw out there, shakes my hand, says, "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you."

Matt Cassel1:26:35

And I was like, "That is badass."

Matt Cassel1:26:38

It was before the time. Like everybody's like, "Did you get jerseys?" I said, "That kind of came about a little bit later in my career where people started swapping jerseys." I love that. I would have loved to get Brett Favre jersey.

Matt Cassel1:26:55

That's probably one of my biggest regrets or I wish I would have thought of that is just go out there and jersey swap and do that stuff because there's so many

Incredible people that I've not only played with but at the same time played against. Yeah,

To have those walls. And I think a lot of these guys now, they hit the nail on the head because to be able to pass that down.

Matt Cassel1:28:13

Absolutely. you know, despite his fame and all the stuff that comes along with that, he was the most humble person.

Yeah.

And genuinely cared about people, would go out of his way to go talk to somebody that needed, you know, a talking to. And I'm not saying in a stern way, like look, he's going to be a leader on the field.

Matt Cassel1:28:36

But

Every time that Christmas came around, he gave incredible gifts to all the quarterback room. He didn't have to do any of that.

Matt Cassel1:28:49

Oh, man. I got a badass Mavado watch one year. He gave us a PlayStation probably thinking that we were still kids or one of those things, you know. He gave us another year was some other nice extravagant thing that I don't even remember. But he would always just take care of us and he didn't need to. And then anytime we went out to dinner,

He's always picking it up.

Yeah. You know, it's like the it's like the dad with the kids and he's been successful and then the rest of the family, like the extended family come in. Yeah. He's always picking up. That was Brady. And he never asked for anything. And every time anybody would offer to pay, he'd pay for it. He'd take care of anybody that was in his circle

10 times over what he ever had to. But just a really, really incredible person. So, if I went up and said, "Hey, bud. Can you sign this?" I'm He would sign it without a problem. I remember after I was done, I had a good friend of ours who a son was going through cancer and all that stuff and I asked Tom, I said, "Hey, dude, got explain the situation." And I said, "Could you send him a voicemail?" Like, and he literally sat there and got on his phone and sent the nicest note.

But I just asked him and he easily could have been busy and said, "No, I can't do it right now."

He did it right away. So that's just one small tiny example of the type of person he is.

Matt Cassel1:30:24

Yeah, it's all public. I mean,

Matt Cassel1:30:27

We get through that season and we ended up going 11 and five.

Matt Cassel1:30:34

It's like a three-way tie between Miami Jets and us. And for some reason, the tiebreaker went to those two. So, at 11 and five, and we were playing our best football, we we had rattled off four straight, probably won five out of the last six. Like,

Matt Cassel1:30:53

Right? And that's what we felt. The momentum was there cuz so much of it is momentum building the playoffs and if you get off into the right start. Um, but nonetheless, there's a lot of uncertainty going into that off seasonason. Number one, I'm going to be a free agent

Matt Cassel1:31:17

And that that was the crazy part for me. It didn't really strike me until after the season like what just took place. I was not only able to go out and play well and win games, but it set me up for the next part of my career, which I there was so much uncertainty as you all know.

And so we get in that off season and Brady's still recovering from his ACL surgery cuz he had a few different complications I think in the knee. I don't know if it was an infection or what it was that kind of set it back a little bit.

So next thing I know, Bellich and the New England uh Patriots decided to franchise him.

Matt Cassel1:31:56

Franchise means you get an average of the top three h highest paid players at your position.

Matt Cassel1:32:06

It was top three or top five, whatever it is.

Matt Cassel1:32:11

I had no idea. I was like, "What do you mean they franchise me?" He's like, "Well, they sent over they're going to franchise you, which means I who whatever it was."

Matt Cassel1:32:22

Number and all you have to do is sign the paper and that's that number's locked in. It's guaranteed.

Matt Cassel1:32:48

3% is typical.

Matt Cassel1:32:54

Bro, it was the craziest thing. So, he's like, "Hey, they're going to franchise you." I was like, "What does that mean?" I just just what I described to you in a very layman's terms. This is what this means. That means they have your rights for a year, but it's, you know, it was whatever it was, 16, something like that. And I was like, "So, what do I have to do?" They're like, "All you have to do is sign that." And then they it's it's ironclad.

Matt Cassel1:33:19

I was like, "Give me the paper. Sign it." Cuz it was

Matt Cassel1:33:27

So the crazy part about it is they franchise me. Boom.

Matt Cassel1:33:30

Freddy's starting to come back. They trade me

Matt Cassel1:33:34

To Casey.

Matt Cassel1:33:38

One year one-year deal.

Matt Cassel1:33:41

So they now we've got a bargaining chip right in our back pocket because no matter what you have to start there.

Yeah. And so then we worked out a six-year deal over six for 60 something and uh

Matt Cassel1:33:59

First first two and then they had an option after three that they pick up because they add a whole another chunk onto that one because again they gave them back in the day when I played you know you see these sixear contracts but really what you're guaranteed

How long does that last because that's up to the discretion of the team it didn't matter

A lot of these a lot of these contracts that you'd see would look so astronomical but they were backloaded knowing that the team at some point would move on.

Matt Cassel1:34:26

Right. And then they could cut you at any time. So,

Matt Cassel1:34:34

Guaranteed money. And it's changed dramatically now.

Matt Cassel1:34:39

Yes.

Matt Cassel1:34:39

Um, it usually was you get your signing bonus, whatever that was, and then it was over. Yeah, it's every however they're

Matt Cassel1:34:57

I've never been one of those guys that just like

I I'm very simple, right? Like I know that some guys go, "Man, I got this. I'm going to go buy this. I'm going to do this." it. My first purchase after I got a contract was a restoration hardware couch. That's the type of dude.

Matt Cassel1:35:30

I'm like, "Oh my god." Um, but it it was crazy because it was a moment that you realize you're able to set yourself and your family up for

Matt Cassel1:35:44

Yeah. And it was a pretty cool moment once it was all said and done because you're trying to get to that point and you want some longevity in the league. And then to finally get that opportunity, it was awesome. And then it then it the reality strikes that you're going to a new organization that had won four four to six games in the last two years.

Matt Cassel1:36:05

It was massive. I mean, from a player standpoint, I had such good relationships over four years with all the guys in the New England team, but you're starting over, but you're also coming in with a different status. Yep.

You're the guy that just got you're the quarterback

And you've got to build the trust of the new teammates and that can be challenging at times. And I say that, but it's one of those things. perform and everything's good and at the same time you can show your qualities and workouts and leadership and mini camp, but it's not until the real real bullets start flying that you have to now

Prove to yourself to these guys that you're worthy of what you're doing. So, you're trying to make sure that

You're doing everything in your power to do it. And the one thing about football is it's a collective sport, man. One person's not doing their job or

More so than any other sport, I think. So you're you're so codependent on all the guys to be on the same page and doing the right things that if one guy's off or you're not off if you're you're not in the right play the whole thing gets blown up, right? So there's so much of that and you've got to build those relationships, especially with those offensive linemen. But

Um coaching was definitely different. Chan Gayy, who was our coordinator when I first got there, ran a different type of system alto together. Um, how they went about the off season was much different. They were very diligent in New England and everything was calculated in terms of this is how we're doing it and this is what we're going to go through. This is the offseason review. This is what we want to work on where you're getting to know your new offensive coordinator. And it was a little bit more relaxed.

Everybody does things differently, but I was so used to being in that New England system that I was at times fighting fighting the system, if that makes sense.

Matt Cassel1:37:46

Because if I was told for so long, hey, this is not where we go with this ball. And somebody else says they see it differently and go, no, we're going to rip this whole shot and go from there. I was like, man, that's so opposite of what I've been told. But so you're you're relearning terminology, relearning that. But um and then the team itself was different, right? We had a bunch of veteran leaders on that team in New England. I mean, you've heard some of those names.

You go up and down where we had a lot of good talent in Kansas City. Um but we weren't there yet, right? We were a few players away. And so we ended up going, well, it didn't help. Chan, a week before season, we get done with preseason. He and Todd Haley, our head coach, don't really see eye to eye. Chan quits a week before season.

Matt Cassel1:38:32

Offensive coordinator. So, we go through a damn off seasonason, we're learning a whole new terminology, playbook, go running that in preseason. Next thing I know, week before season, Todd takes over play calling responsibility and changes the terminology back to something, which I get, you got to know what you're calling, right? If you don't completely understand one, then go back. But now, we've got new terminology going into week one of season.

Matt Cassel1:39:45

And it was difficult. I mean, and I don't know if it was a joint decision between the two of them cuz I I I think that they had different philosophies and it was brewing for a while, right? It was two different philosophy. Chan Chan Gill has been a hell of an offensive coordinator for a long period of time

And uh I think that it just hit a head.

Matt Cassel1:40:03

Where Chan's like I can't do this. Like it's not it's there's no way we're going to get through a season with this working with the dynamics the way it's set up.

So

He takes over and it was I think for the entire team it took the offense games. I'm not talking about practices. We're talking about four or five games getting into the season to try to figure out everybody cuz I was familiar a little bit with Todd's system. There was some subtle changes, but more of the terminology was more similar to what I was used to. So, it wasn't a huge adjustment for me. But the other guys that played in different systems, that's trying to learn a new system in two weeks and say go play in an NFL game and go and second guess yourself and be like, "Oh [ __ ] I don't know what I'm doing." You know?

So, there was some fall out there. We It was a a seasonough season

That I couldn't have anticipated because number one, you're the new guy coming in supposed to be able to bring some juice. You go four and 12.

Matt Cassel1:41:00

And everybody's on you. Like the media, the fans, this that, and the other, and you're going, "Holy goodness, what did I sign up for?" Cuz I for from USC to New England, all winning, right?

Matt Cassel1:41:13

I mean, my first year in college, my second year, we struggled, right? But then it was Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl. Then go to New England, it was perennial playoffs every single year, success, always, always double digit wins. And then you go to an organization

Like Kansas City

Matt Cassel1:41:30

And you're the man and you struggle. Man, it's it's a heavy burden to carry.

Matt Cassel1:41:45

Oh yeah. Anytime they pick it off, I'm trying to run it. And you know, I had a little I mean, I had a little screw loose where I was trying to actually try to

Matt Cassel1:41:54

Try to hit him cuz you're pissed. You're more pissed at yourself. But maybe I could take it out on somebody.

Matt Cassel1:42:02

That's it. You better have your head on a swivel because I'll tell you, as soon as you put your guard down and you you're not looking around to make sure cuz

They're going to line back. Defensive linemen, they'll come and try to light you up because guess what? Now you're on the defensive side of the ball. like, "Okay, you want me to come hit you?"

Matt Cassel1:42:26

Oh yeah. Especially in especially today where they protect the quarterback, crack back blocks, all those different things that

Matt Cassel1:42:53

And I'll tell you what, there's enough guys out there that just don't give a [ __ ] Yeah, that's true.

And they're going to come light you up and they'll take the repercussions however they come because they know that they'll be public enemy number one. They don't care. It's just crazy.

I mean,

Matt Cassel1:43:13

Right? Well, that's what these dudes do. They get paid to get after the quarterback. Not just get after the quarterback, to

Really punish the quarterback, right? Or anybody that has the ball. So that's what they're being told in their meetings. That's what they are on the field to do is to wreak havoc and punish people and make them say mercy.

Matt Cassel1:43:33

And so you just like you said, you just always have to have your head on a swivel and do all that stuff. But

Yeah, Kansas City that first year was very challenging and it it challenged me physically, it challenged me mentally. It was one of those that I really got into sports psychology.

Um

Because I needed a I needed an outlet. I need to have perspective.

Matt Cassel1:43:55

And sometimes perspective when you're in that bubble and you're grinding, the stress is mounting up. You don't know which way to turn. Some people like, of course, I always had a religious background and go to chapel and do that. that that's one factor of it.

But then it's

The insight that you have to jump into to really

Change that fear that you have of failing because I think that's eminent in any athlete and turn that into I get an opportunity to do something that I love.

Matt Cassel1:44:25

Change that fear to love and have that perspective. I love the opportunity. I I love the fact that I have an opportunity to go out and compete on the stage today. And that something was a switch that really helped turn things for me instead of being like, man, what if I do this? What if that? At the end of the day, I'm playing in the NFL. I'm part of a 1% of 0001% of anybody. And there's plenty of people that love to be in my position feeling the stress.

Matt Cassel1:45:33

Yeah.

Matt Cassel1:45:43

What do you mean?

Matt Cassel1:45:51

He's lying for sure.

Matt Cassel1:46:12

Yeah that that actually take the perspective right yeah I remember Kirk Ference the longtime legendary coach at Iowa he came and spoke to our team one time and his big message was be comfortable in the uncomfortable

Matt Cassel1:46:24

And I don't think you understand it until you're put in that position

Matt Cassel1:46:27

Because the words resonate right comfortable and the uncomfortable if we

Get outside your comfort zone do all that but then

When you're actually put in that uncomfortable situation it's hard to say be comfortable like here when I'm sitting there and there's 75,000 people here and my ears are ringing cuz because I'm feeling my heartbeat and I'm trying to calm myself down then I've got to go out and execute there's a moment where you do become comfortable in the uncomfortable But at the same time, you've officially got to get to that point

To be like, man, I'm uncomfortable right now.

Matt Cassel1:47:05

We did. Um, we brought in some great leadership. Thomas Thomas Jones was a running back. Jamal Charles had just broken the surface the year before and that dude is an absolute stud. Um, we brought in Tony Milwaukee at tight end, Dexter McCcluster, Dwayne Bo came back and was ready with vengeance to get after it. Steve Breston. So, we had some dudes now.

Matt Cassel1:47:25

And our defense had always been really good with Derek Johnson, Bee Flo, um, a bunch of guys, uh, Eric Barry came in and biggest change I think that offseason we brought in Charlie Weiss. Charlie Weiss was part of the early New England runs

And also was the head coach at Notre Dame. Just got let go. So,

We spoke the same language and he was he's one of those coaches that is going to challenge you. He challenged me with leadership. He challenged me with having command at the line of scrimmage. He He didn't know what he was getting into because we had never actually worked together. He just knew the background between myself and the Patriots. But

He's one of those guys that's going to be New Jersey hard ass.

Matt Cassel1:48:14

Not your friend, not your coach. would definitely have a sense of humor, but one of those dry sense of humors that you're just like, "Oh [ __ ] is he laughing or is he got a great coach and great play caller?" And so we start out the season and we start out 3 and 0.

Matt Cassel1:48:31

Right. Which is some of the biggest I say this to every or any organization, fast starts in the NFL matter.

Yeah. Now, it doesn't mean that at the end you're not going to fizzle out for whatever reason, injury, this that and the other, but fast starts because especially for a team that won four games the year before. We had almost matched in the first three games the total win total from the year before.

But there's this slow and steady confidence building. And we ended up continuing to play well. Even the games that we lost, we could have easily won. And

I think we went 10 and six. I missed one game that year because midway through the season, it was probably game 10 or something like that. I was having terrible stomach pain like throughout the night, it was Tuesday, we start on Wednesday, we're getting ready for San Diego, our big rivalry within the conference.

And uh I'm up all night and I don't know if it's I ate something. I'm going in. I'm even trying to like

Get it out in the toilet like throw up or anything. I can't. Nothing's moving. But I am in I mean I'm telling you excruciating pain. drive myself into the facility, see our trainer, and he said, "The doctor will be here in a minute. Go in." And I was like, "Man, I couldn't sleep. Sweating, pain." He did the little test. He gets down here, pushes. He goes, "Okay, get your stuff. You're coming with me. We're going to emergency." I said, "What are you talking about?" He's like, "Your appendix is about to burst."

Matt Cassel1:49:53

So this He pushes right here. Cuz most of it was radiating pain throughout the rest of my stomach. Not Not really so much here. He pushes there. I go, "Oh." He goes, "Okay." I drive with the doctor to the hospital. I call my wife on the way and I'm like, "Honey, I'm not trying to concern you, but I've got to go in for emergency appendix surgery right now. Um, I'm at this hospital, that and the other." By the time I get in there, they get me right on the table, go take out my appendix.

It was about to burst.

Matt Cassel1:50:23

And this is on a Wednesday.

Matt Cassel1:50:25

Right. Well, I'm supposed to be in the game.

Matt Cassel1:50:27

Sunday. So now I don't know what what the repercussions are going to be for having a surgery cuz you know you hear

It takes a month you should really not do anything for two months. I'm in the middle of season trying to win a division

Go to playoffs

And uh so I sit out that week and they actually said they get did a few extra stitches which I was happy for. But um the next week at Thursday I went out and I was feeling good. I was probably about what, eight days out of surgery.

Matt Cassel1:50:59

I went out and practiced.

Matt Cassel1:51:01

And just tried to see how it felt. Felt all right. So, I convinced the doctors to let me play that next weekend.

And uh we went to St. Louis. We're playing the Rams.

And I'm wearing like this girdle that they tucked in here all tight and everything like I get hit early on um and picked up and body slammed on a boot. I'm like, "Oh god." And it was all in, dude. It was all in. We ended up going down there and winning, which was awesome. But I could It was 10 days after my surgery. So, I went and finished that entire season, but I never really had any problems with it after that. But that was a crazy moment cuz I didn't know if my season was over there talking about like it might be over.

But I had to I had to sign a medical waiver release cuz they didn't want me to play, right?

Matt Cassel1:51:47

No. But I had to make sure that they weren't liable cuz they the you know they said you should not be playing 10 days after an appendix

Matt Cassel1:51:55

And so I had to make sure that I signed that waiver to say they're not liable and I can't sue them because even though they told me I shouldn't be playing.

Matt Cassel1:52:03

Um but that was a crazy year. Yeah. We went on

We went 10 and six. We we went to the playoffs, got beat by Baltimore, but the turnaround, we won a division, went 10 and six from a team that went 4 and 12 the year before. It was one of those really incredible moments for the team, the organization, and just the commitment to everybody to kind of stay course and and go out there and execute at a high level, play at a high level. But it took everybody for sure.

Matt Cassel1:52:36

I did. Bernard actually lives here in

Matt Cassel1:52:42

He's a great guy.

Matt Cassel1:52:44

Animal.

Matt Cassel1:53:24

I love it.

I love it. Yeah. But Bernard, talk about coincidence. I mean, he's the one that took Brady's knee out.

Matt Cassel1:53:35

And then I get traded to Kansas City and he's on the team.

Matt Cassel1:53:38

So, we played I think that

I don't know if he was there the whole first year or he got traded, but he ended up getting traded at some point, but we play we were teammates in Kansas City and then full circle he comes and he's living here and his wife coaches my daughter in volleyball and it's

Matt Cassel1:54:43

Oh, Dave. That's awesome.

Matt Cassel1:54:46

Yeah. So, I've known Brian forever. He was with me for three out of my four years and then went to the Jets.

Matt Cassel1:54:53

Then he was our my coordinator my last year in Kansas City.

Matt Cassel1:54:58

So, I've known him forever. I've got to hook up with him, dude. Cuz I've been calling him and all that stuff.

Matt Cassel1:55:19

You'd be dominating. He definitely draw some plays.

Matt Cassel1:55:24

I went four years in Kansas City.

Matt Cassel1:55:26

Four years. Four years in Kansas City. And then after that signed with Minnesota, went two years in Minnesota, which Minnesota was great. I went there. Chris Shaper was a quarterback. Leslie Frasier was the head coach. I went there really to be a a backup, maybe bridge guy, depending on how, which you never know. He was a young quarterback. He still was trying to prove himself, but I knew what my role was.

Matt Cassel1:55:50

And went there.

So I backed him up, but then he got banged up a little bit um throughout that year. The I remember my first start we were on the London trip.

Matt Cassel1:55:59

And which is a kick-ass week, right? We stay at the Grove and I don't even know where the hell it is, but it's out in the countryside. Yeah. You go through this little area. It looks like these these lines of trees and then you come through. It looks like the field of dream. They set up this beautiful plush football field in the middle.

Matt Cassel1:56:15

So you spend a week out there, then you go down into London the few nights before the game and you get to do some touristy things. They hold a big ceremony. But then I think we played, where did we play? Was it Wimbley? Wimbley, which is a kick-ass stadium.

Matt Cassel1:56:30

So cool. And plus being the Vikings over there in Europe, they don't know football that it was. Vikings were Steelers. Yeah.

And you know, they can relate to a Viking in Europe. And so you got a ton of Vikings fans. Um but that week, Ponder cracked his rib the week before.

Matt Cassel1:56:47

We split we split reps throughout that week.

Matt Cassel1:56:50

But I didn't I thought he was going to go because he looked like he was throwing the ball and all this stuff. Well, I'm walking out to practice and this was on our Friday final final tuneup before Saturday walkthrough and he goes, "Did they tell you yet, Cass?" And I was like, "Tell me what?" He's like, "Oh, you're starting. I'm not going to go this week." I was like, "Well, whoop effing do." Like, why didn't anybody tell me? None of the coaches told me. They told Christian before they told me.

So, I go to practice. I see Coach Frasier. I was like, "Coach, you plan on telling me that I was going to start this week at any point?" He's like, "They didn't tell you yet?" I was like, "Okay, no big deal. I'm I'm good to go. I'm starting." But I mean, I was having a ball, though. I went out and played played some golf, took the boys out to the pubs. Like, cuz I mean, it's a pretty cool experience. But it gets real when all of a sudden they go, "Hey, you're starting."

Luckily, we went out, had a great game, played well, and it was such a cool experience to be there in London. But so I played I probably started four or five games that year and then they I actually had an option to opt out because I thought my value went up after playing well.

Matt Cassel1:57:55

But they had the first option to pick it up.

Matt Cassel1:57:58

So opted out. They picked it back up for my second year.

Matt Cassel1:58:01

So then that year they bring in they drafted a young kid named Teddy Bridgewwater.

Matt Cassel1:58:07

And he was a firstrounder. And so I win the job throughout camp. It it was good. It pushed me. Competition was great. But um

Matt Cassel1:58:26

And that that's the thing. I mean, anytime you're a rookie and you're coming in like to get caught up to speed and be ready to play, that's why a lot of these young guys that you see that get thrust into to playing early is a disservice to them. They haven't learned the game yet. the speed of the game. Cuz going through off season and you're in shorts and helmets, it's different than when some dude's breathing down your neck and hitting you in your chin and you got to get back up and go.

And so, um, but because of the mentorship that I had from Tom, yeah,

I was always one of those guys with any young quarterback, I'm going to try to put you in the best possible situation for you to be successful because I'm going to try to pay it back.

Matt Cassel1:59:06

Right. I'm never one of those guys where I know you're here to take my job. I get it.

Yeah. I'm like, any questions you have, let me know. This is why I check to this. This is what this structure is. And so, I was lucky enough to have somebody impart that knowledge on me. And I would always try to help those guys out and at the same time compete my ass off when I'm on the field. But if the best man wins, the best man wins. So, I ended up winning that job. But it was like the third game of the season. We're in Where were we?

Well, we were actually in New Orleans and I'm took off running on a third down. I think it was the start of the second quarter. Guy hits me high. Big dude lands on my foot, snaps my foot.

Um, I get up. I know the burning sensation's there.

Matt Cassel1:59:52

But I was like, man, what the hell did I do to my foot cuz adrenaline was still there, right? So, I hobble off to the side

And my trainer, he's like, "Come on, they're about to kick a field goal." I was like, "Get out here and help me now." So, they kind of help I hobble over to the the train table. They take off my shoe. My pinky toad's completely dislocated this way.

And I was really hoping that it was just a full dislocation

Cuz you pop. So the doctor says, "This is going to hurt, but pops it back in." Boom. I was like, "Okay." And then they're like, "Can you stand up?"

So I'm thinking, "If the pain's isolated there, that's great. Let's go shoot it up." And I'm going right back out.

I started to stand up and I mean immediate radiating pain throughout my foot and it didn't feel like I could put any pressure on it. go in find out snap the second third and second third fourth meta mettors. The only reason my fifth and I didn't get a full is Frank I had a partial was cuz I already had a screw in my fifth metators from the stress fracture that I had in college.

But that was probably a saving grace cuz I think my whole foot would have just collapsed

And that would that's that's a six seven month even though this was a brutal recovery because they had to pin the foot and they had actual pins coming out of the bottom of the foot.

Yeah. Yeah. you know, and you're on the little scooter thing.

It was nonweightbearing for 6 weeks. Then I got an infection in the foot and Oh, yeah. Where just the whole every part of the skin peeled off.

Matt Cassel2:01:17

It was just like this. And it just so happened that when I was supposed to get these pins out, we were on a by week. So, we were going to wait until the next Monday, which was whatever four or five days

Over what when when they were supposed to come out. So, I sent a picture during the by-week to my doctor that did it, Dr. Anderson down in North Carolina. He goes, "You got to go either to the emergency right now, get those taken out. I'll call an abiotic, antibiotic, or you can go into your bathroom and just take them out yourself." And my wife was sitting there. She's like, "Honey, he's kidding." I was like, "I don't think he is. I don't think he was kid." So I text him back.

I said, "Did you say I could take him out myself? And if so, what do I have to do?" He's like, "Just get a pair of pliers, pull them out, and then put some peroxide on there and just hold it on there." So I was so miserable. So, I go into my bathroom, get a pair of pliers, and I yank two of these things. I filmed it. I yanked two of these things out of the base of my foot, and they're about this long.

Matt Cassel2:02:09

It was I was sitting there going, but immediate relief. The one I could not get out. So, I sent it to the trainer and I said, "Hey, because we didn't get these out, I had to take them out myself, but I can't get the third one out." He's like, "You are absolutely out of your mind. What are you doing?" I was like, "Can you please get somebody to the facility to take it out?" And he's like, "Yes." So, finally get up there. Doctor shows up, goes, "Uh, let me just see if this will wiggle." Instead, he just went, took the third one out, no problems after that.

Matt Cassel2:04:04

Just do whatever you got to do. Just distract me for a second.

Matt Cassel2:04:17

She thought I was insane, too. No, dude. I I cranked on that thing. And then then it became one of those things where, you know, it's got those nerve endings, too. Cranking you and then all of a sudden you're breaking that sweat and I was like,

"All right,

I'm not going to do this one. I'm going to get somebody else to do this one."

Matt Cassel2:04:33

But that was a tough end to that uh season. Then the next year

It was wild. got traded to Buffalo and I'm coming off of the foot surgery, still kind of recovering a little bit, but that had nothing to do with that. Get traded to Buffalo. They named Tyrod Taylor the starter. I'm two weeks in. Then I get traded to Dallas

Matt Cassel2:04:54

Like week two when Roma goes down.

Matt Cassel2:04:56

And my wife's 34 weeks pregnant with their fourth. And I was like, the kids just started like school there. You know, it's maybe it was first grade. It might not even

Matt Cassel2:05:09

No. And that was the issue. But thank God, and I say this all the time because um Jerry Jones was incredible cuz he knew that my wife was pregnant and he's like, "Look, I'm going to send a plane out to get your family and bring them down to Dallas, but just don't tell anybody." Well, Lauren shows up. My wife shows up with the kids and there's He didn't want us to tell anybody, but in the Buffalo airport, there's a huge private plane with a Dallas Cowboy star on it.

And I was like, well, yeah, I think I mean,

Matt Cassel2:05:38

No, it wasn't the whole team. It was like his private plane.

Matt Cassel2:05:43

He didn't send a doctor, but it's he allowed her to get to Dallas and then check down and then go and we're on a mad scramble trying to find a doctor, where we're going to deliver, all the different things, trying to find a house to live. It was wild.

Matt Cassel2:06:00

They'll get usually they will help with travel plan, especially if you're traded. all your moving costs and all that built in.

Matt Cassel2:06:12

No, no, they don't. So, I stayed in a hotel for about 2 weeks and then we finally found a place and moved in on the one weekend we could. The next weekend my son's born. Then I get my first started in Dallas and I was just like, what is going on?

Matt Cassel2:06:36

And trying to learn a brand new playbook.

Matt Cassel2:06:38

It's like there's a lot going on and my capacity is getting smaller and smaller by the day cuz it's just all these dynamics of real life happening.

Matt Cassel2:06:48

And at the same time, your job is calling you to do your duty, which is learn the playbook, be the quarterback, do all that stuff. So that was probably the most wild of all the situations I've been a part of in terms of what the other side of football is. The business side.

Matt Cassel2:07:04

Of Hey, you got to trade here. You're there all off season. Week two, Romo goes down. Oh, I'm traded here. Moving family. What? Meanwhile, in Buffalo, I had signed a six-month lease. The guy won't let me out of my lease. Right. I've moved furniture into this place, shipped cars, put the kids in school, and then all of a sudden you're in a new city within I left I found out on Monday. I left Tuesday morning and of course I took Southwest. I had to go through Atlanta or something like that.

Matt Cassel2:07:32

Yeah, cuz I had to get there.

Matt Cassel2:07:39

I know. It was the only flight out. So, I leave first thing smoking and then the family leaves about a day or so after when they send out the plane. So I was like, man, couldn't you guys have let me wait maybe?

Matt Cassel2:08:08

Dallas was incredible. I mean, because of the rich history. And I was, my dad grew up in Texas, so we grew up

Through the '90s and all that stuff when they were in their heyday with Aman and EMTT Smith and Michael Irvin and Dion and Jay Nova. I mean, I knew that was my team. I remember getting for Christmas one here jacket with the with the star on the back. So, it was

When you got in there and you just see that logo, it it holds some serious weight. and where the facilities were, it was it was not in Frisco. This was like the ranch. It was pretty old school,

Right? And um so everything was a little bit older. It wasn't one of these nice new facilities. But at the same time,

You know, the legends would come around all the time and you're meeting all these incredible ex Cowboys. But that new stadium that they have, I got to go in there for the first time and that's that's kickass, dude. They they it's one of the best stadiums in America. And then I know now that the Frisco part of it though

Matt Cassel2:09:12

Is a whole brings a whole another dynamic because their facilities are second to none.

Matt Cassel2:09:23

I'm trying

Matt Cassel2:09:25

They get ranked every year. Um, let's see. Between

Kansas Cities, they did upgrades of that. So, it became a lot nicer once I got there.

Matt Cassel2:09:38

Um, New England. I know that they every every one of these organizations have redone their their stuff. I've been up to Minnesota. I'm like, "Oh my god, what is this?" They used to have like a dungeon. There was no lights, anything. There was all downstairs and it was broken up into rooms. So, it was there was no flow to it. Kansas City was pretty wide open. beautiful. The indoor was right there. So, they did a really good job there. Um, Patriots had their weight room. It wasn't a massive weight room by any chance, but it was it had everything that you needed.

They did a really good job with nutrition and all the different things to give you. They fed the players extremely well. I mean, Mr. Craft, they were first class organization in that standpoint.

Buffalo, the Pagula family did a really good job. Like, in the locker room, they set up these huge screens. You got pool tables. You got all these different elements. You know, that's as you start to get to these new new offers and stuff. They look completely They looks like a damn nightclub.

Matt Cassel2:10:35

And I was like, what I grew up on is a lot of that. You're going here to work. Get it in. There's not a lot of flash. It's just iron being thrown around and, you know, getting after it. But,

Let's see. Tennessee, they uh they redid. They were all pretty similar. I wasn't I'm not sitting there going, "This one was so much better than the rest of them."

Matt Cassel2:10:58

Because a lot of these

Stadiums that have now either redone their whole facility or their stadium and all that stuff, those are state-of-the-art.

Matt Cassel2:11:08

A lot of what I grew up in was old school.

Matt Cassel2:11:19

Depended on the trainer. There's some of these trainers that like, "Hey, you want to go in, grab yourself some t-shirts, this that and the other open." Like when I was in Tennessee, they're awesome. Like, if you want to go get a few t-shirts, if you want to do this, of course, you'd always I would always ask. Some guys would just go grab whatever or grab a whole thing of socks,

Right? Most organizations though, you'd go up and they'd issue they'd give you whatever you want for you. Yeah.

And then you'd say, "Hey, is there any way I can get some hats for my family, some t-shirts? Friends are coming in." They're usually amazing because their inventory, they can't get rid of all that stuff. They got so much inventory that most of them are cool.

There's every now and then you'd get a stickler about, well, I can only give you two hats. And I was like, bro, come on. You know, you got 50 of them back there.

Matt Cassel2:12:41

Yeah, that that's fair. And I think some of the coolest stories that you hear are from those guys.

Matt Cassel2:12:48

Because they've seen it all.

Matt Cassel2:12:53

Yeah. And not just players, coaches stories when they were young Bucks coming up and having to drive people around and they the skeletons that are in certain closets, they know them all because they know everything going on in the organization. I used to go back there and just, you know, they'd be scuffing up the balls and do all that and I just sit there and listen to these guys tell stories and just laugh my ass off. It was the greatest thing ever.

Matt Cassel2:13:24

I never got that deep into it. I was like, do some guys do for sure. It's like, do they have Mississippi mud? How long you do this? It needs a little tacky. I mean, when I first came in league, when you went to an away stadium, they would supply the balls right out of the box. It still had that like film plastic on it. If it was hot, like when we were down in Miami, oh my god, you couldn't grip the ball to save your life.

Really? It was It was literally like holding something that had like an oil on it, right? Your hands so sweaty and they it you couldn't even really touch the leather at that point cuz they weren't broken in. It was the worst. But then

I don't know what year it was. It was Brady and

And Payton and these guys, Breeze, I think they all got together and went and said, "Hey, we should be able to break in the ball going to an opposing team for fairness of play, right? If you got a broken ball at home, that's

Matt Cassel2:14:14

Yeah. And bring your own. And so they changed that rule and then it became like these guys this science behind it. They some guys would go scuff it up on the ground. You brush it out. Some people would put it in the dryer. They everybody has their own system. And then it's really they put these ones that they've doctorred up into a bucket and you go in and you pick out your 12 for game day and you feel it some. And the only thing that I would really pay attention to, there was a shape to the ball.

Not all of them were made the same. Some one was a little bit more narrow, some of them were a little bit fatter. And so I picked the ones that felt good when I picked it up in the grip.

Matt Cassel2:14:51

And but it was it was a game changer when they had finally broken in balls because it made a major difference.

Matt Cassel2:15:00

That was after I left. So I want to say 200.

Matt Cassel2:15:20

You still got to throw catch it? No. Exactly.

They say that I I think part of it is when maybe the ball's deflated slightly, you have a better squeeze or grip. But almost everybody has big hands when you're playing.

Matt Cassel2:15:23

like and you know the it was cold out this that and the other. The the funny part about that whole deal,

You've got the ball that you said was slightly deflated um below whatever the standard was. But then the second half they go back, they change the balls out and he throws for more yards and more touchdowns and wins the game. So it's definitely doesn't have the impact that people are saying. I think it's on the back end of Spygate.

Matt Cassel2:16:03

So, everybody still remembers that, right? And so,

Matt Cassel2:16:13

Right? I I think if you're a Boston fan, everybody loves you. But if you're outside of Boston, they they hate you because why? You're winners. That's right. And then you add a little controversy in between that and it tries to give them validation for why they actually hate you.

Matt Cassel2:16:28

And it just it's part of being part of the Boston Patriot uh culture.

Matt Cassel2:16:48

I've never even thought of it because at the end of the day, you take your game balls, right? You've got the 12 and then I think you've got backups just in case maybe one goes out. I don't really know.

But you have to hand those over to the ref.

Matt Cassel2:16:59

The ref comes in and checks every ball and make sure if it's not pumped up to where it is, they it's their job to pump it up, right?

Matt Cassel2:17:08

So then the but once they're out of your hands, it's zipped up. Boom. Taken out to the field and that's your game balls.

Yeah. So, I don't know at what point somebody can sneak in after the refs take him to their locker room to check all the balls.

Somebody sneaks in and like unless it's you got the greatest ball boy over there and just is like which you would think would be captured on television with every view that you have now. So, I don't know how it all works and how they even figured out like, "Wow, this ball's deflated." But obviously, somebody noticed that.

Matt Cassel2:18:26

Which would make sense, right? If somebody's doctoring a glove and then that punch feels a little bit different.

Matt Cassel2:19:17

Suspended.

Matt Cassel2:19:23

I was going to say that would be as about as controversial as you can get in boxing if you

If you put anything in with the Yeah,

Matt Cassel2:20:12

Yeah, I wouldn't think that would be up on my list for sure. I mean, like I said, if anything, maybe a little bit more control over the ball cuz you can feel a little bit more, but

Matt Cassel2:20:24

You still got to read the defense and throw it and avoid sacks and do everything else that you got to do. So,

Matt Cassel2:20:32

Five kids.

Matt Cassel2:20:37

I worked in I worked with NBC Sports Boston for a few years when I first got out. I went and uh we do the pregame, halftime, postgame. Yeah,

For NBC Sports Boston, which was cool to be back there. I got a call and I didn't know

What direction I wanted to go in terms of after being done after 14 years. You know, it's a major adjustment for anybody that's done it for any any time of period where period of time, excuse me, where you've had longevity in something and then you kind of have to start something new. It's always uh you know, you kind of have to recreate yourself, so to speak, right? you don't have the locker room, you miss those guys, this that and the other. The the way that your season was so regimented and everything in terms of, oh, it's offseason, now we're getting to mini camps.

And it's the calendar year is based on the season that you've always related to.

Matt Cassel2:21:27

Yeah, I love routine and it's hard when you don't when you have that structure and that routine gone. Um, but then I knew that I wanted to do something and have purpose. So, I got a call to do Patriots and I I did that for two or three seasons and then I got I met with the NBC people and been working for NBC for the last three years doing college football. The

6:30 we we've had this 7:30 night game on prime time on NBC. So, I'm part of the pregame, halftime, postgame show there and that's been awesome to be still around the game. Now, my contract was up this year and they're they're changing the format of the show, but that's what I've been doing. And, you know, there's part of me really for my kids, too, cuz like I told you, some of my kids don't really remember me that much. um is to see that their dad works, goes out and has has to go out and leave for a few days or leave a little while because I want them to understand that all this

The life that we get to live and the privileges that we have is all because

We you have to work for that and I felt like

Sitting around the house or just which look I have the ability to be home

All which is awesome.

Matt Cassel2:22:47

Yeah, exactly. But I do get to experience the like the the games and be there and be around and see them grow up while at the same time. The last few years I leave for Thursday through Sunday for whatever it was 13 14 weeks, but then I'm come then I'm home in this and then I'm also started a p podcast. Bobby Bones and I have a podcast called Lots to say and that's been a lot of fun through NFL and iHeart.

Um, so it's just honestly always reinventing and always trying to figure out the next direction that you want to do and um, it's been a lot of fun up to this point.

Matt Cassel2:24:26

I appreciate you brother and I I love being with you and just following you for a little while and understanding what you're about. I got nothing but respect and admiration for you and and what you've put together and the life that you've built, but also

Damn, dude. You're a mentally tough dude. I would tell you I'd go for a run with you, but I'll pace you out for about a mile or two and then you can keep going.

Matt Cassel2:24:49

Perfect. Let's do that.