Episode · May 8, 2026 · 1 hr 18 min
From the Raiders to Reinventing Himself
with Miles Burris
Miles Burris is a former Oakland Raiders linebacker who later built a career in acting and online comedy.
“If you're good enough, the NFL will find you.”
Summary
Burris grew up in Granite Bay, California, and moved from soccer, baseball and basketball to football. His early years at San Diego State were frustrating, but a coaching change brought a stricter practice culture. The Raiders, the team he had watched as a kid, drafted him in the fourth round, and he became a starter right away. He recalls lining up against Peyton Manning and nearly intercepting Tom Brady.
After making 110 tackles in his third season, a recurring knee problem worsened. Burris tried injections and stem cells, then spent two years trying to return; at a Vikings minicamp, he realized the volume of practices was more than his knee could take. He describes football's end as losing both a career and the structure that shaped his days. His wife got him into acting classes and helped set up his casting profile.
He began booking parts, including roles in Code Black, The Righteous Gemstones, Safety and Lucifer. After moving to Nashville, remote auditions made acting work easier to pursue outside Los Angeles. Because acting jobs were uneven, he learned screenwriting and started posting comedy sketches. Those videos brought new acting offers and brand work, and he now wants to make film and television for YouTube.
Show notes
Former Raiders linebacker and actor Miles Burris joins Ken for a conversation about identity, reinvention, and what happens when the dream you chased your whole life suddenly ends.
Miles grew up in Granite Bay, California obsessed with football from the moment he first put on pads. After becoming a standout linebacker at San Diego State, he was drafted by his childhood team — the Oakland Raiders — and thrown into the fire immediately as an NFL starter. He talks about the reality of playing linebacker in the league, facing quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, rookie camp chaos, injuries, Toradol, identity loss after football, and the pressure of trying to hold onto a career that was slipping away.
But this episode isn’t just about football.
After injuries ended his NFL career, Miles fell into a dark stretch trying to figure out who he was without the game. His wife pushed him into acting classes, which eventually led to roles in The Righteous Gemstones, Lucifer, Safety, and more. He opens up about the transition from athlete to actor, the uncertainty of Hollywood, moving to Nashville, and how funny neighborhood skits on social media unexpectedly opened even bigger doors.
This is a conversation about effort, reinvention, masculinity, confidence, and betting on yourself when life forces you to start over.
Transcript
Made from YouTube's automatic captions and lightly corrected, so a few words and names may be off. Click a time to play the video from there.
Ken Rideout
Miles Burris, welcome to the show, man.
Miles Burris
Thank you for having me, Ken. It's an honor.
Ken Rideout
You're the kind of guy that I see on Instagram and I'm like, I [ __ ] hate that guy. He's handsome, he's athletic, he's huge, drafted by the Raiders, funny as hell. I'm like, what the Why does this guy get everything? Can I just have one? Can I just be athletic or handsome or funny?
Miles Burris
You've got the VO2 max. I got
I got no lungs, man. After 40 yards, I'm going kaput, okay?
Ken Rideout
Well, I love watching you run out of your house in your skits and like bully your neighbors.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
So funny.
Miles Burris
Treating that suburbia like the locker room. They need to know.
Ken Rideout
Oh, hell yeah. They do need And a lot of people need to learn know what it's like to hang around with men.
Miles Burris
100%.
Ken Rideout
And if you And for the audience, if you don't know, follow Miles on Instagram and be prepared to laugh your ass off. Anytime I need a good laugh, I watch that or watch you on The Righteous Gemstones, which we'll get into. Where'd you grow up?
Miles Burris
About 30 minutes outside of Sacramento, uh east in Granite Bay, California. Spent my whole childhood there, went to Granite Bay High School, and uh met my now wife. We were high school sweethearts.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I took the the best thing out of Granite Bay. Got it. Took it with me.
Ken Rideout
What sports did you play? Obviously played football.
Miles Burris
I started with uh Well, I started with soccer. I was probably the worst kid on the team for a couple years.
It was like when you're young enough to where your your parents just kind of take you places and uh it was like the first day of like the third year and they they never really asked, but you know, they could tell I wasn't really good at it or into it or know what's going on. They You know, you don't have to play. I was like, oh, okay, yeah. You know, let's do baseball then. And I loved baseball. Yes, and then it went baseball and uh basketball and football.
But once I put the helmet on and got to run around and hit people and be applauded for it, it was like, okay, everything else is just we're tunnel vision. Um to the point in in freshman year high school, like it wasn't like I need to You know, kids nowadays it's like how you just focus on one sport. Yeah. You don't need to do that, but that's all I wanted to do was play football. And if I wasn't, I wanted to be in the weight room and on the field training for the next football season.
Freshman year, I just stopped playing every any sport and just started playing ball and then I got the iron bug. And I was like, what is this, you know? And you know, cuz you bench one week and then the next week you bench, you know, a couple reps more. Your max goes up and that just boom, it clicked. And I was just just getting after it every single day. Staying late after school and I ended up, you know, breaking all the high school records and you know, all that being said, I just loved the game and and
Ken Rideout
Breaking all the weightlifting records?
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was funny, too, cuz we had a really good football program at Granite Bay High School. It was very It was like we'd have like 90 guys on the on the varsity roster. And so their big thing was like you you can only go one way, you know? So you have to you know, freshman year basically pick what's your position. Cuz even like the best of studs, like we could have probably been better if they put me and some other guys both ways, but they said it's one way.
So I had to make a business decision at like 14 years old. It's like, man, I want to be sweetness. I want to be Walter Payton. But you know, my dad
Ken Rideout
Runner?
Miles Burris
I was, but you know, I was I was fast for my size, for sure. And I was like, my dad is, you know, about 6'3. I'm probably going to be somewhere around there. My best shot is probably linebacker. And so so I went that route.
Ken Rideout
How was your high school team? Like was it a Were you the top division in the state like for size of school?
Miles Burris
Yeah, we were I think we were division one. Yeah, we were division one and we were always competitive, but once I got to varsity, we had the second round curse. But we you know, our class like we were undefeated, I think, freshman and JV year. And so there was a lot of expectations and um really it was like our best player got hurt, you know, in the playoffs.
Ken Rideout
When you were freshman, when you started to really focus on football, did you think like I could play Division I football in college? Did you think like I want to be a professional football player?
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think from the first time I strapped on pads in fifth grade, um it was at the park down the street from my house and then you know, for the first week you just have to do this conditioning stuff. I don't know about football and then you strap the pads on. I didn't know what a first down was. I was like tackling offensive linemen. I was people without the ball and the coaches were just laughing. They're like, "It It's just the guy with the ball, you know?
But good job, you know?" Um
Ken Rideout
Did your dad play football?
Miles Burris
He did. He played at Oregon State University.
Ken Rideout
He must have been a good athlete.
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, and so I I knew But that wasn't ever ever anything that kind of influenced me and he never pushed me into the sport, either. But again, just got the bug for for football when I started playing and I I went up the street after the first practice with pads and I told my mom, "I'm going to I'm going to play in the NFL." And then she was like, "Oh, okay, honey. That's great, you know?" Called my dad. He was on a business trip. Told him same thing.
Ken Rideout
Were you also doing Were you like into theater and stuff as high in high school?
Miles Burris
No. No, I was just a super jock and meathead.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really?
Miles Burris
I was giving swirlies to the theater kids.
Ken Rideout
That's what I was wondering is like cuz usually you don't get the jocks like really into the theater or the art stuff. But actually there was a kid at Brentwood High School where I live, the Ravenwood High School. They have a kid Maverick Chance, I think is Maverick was his first name. I think his last name was Chance. Going to the Naval Academy, was the quarterback, was unbelievable, was in the theater, won the talent contest like playing the guitar and singing. I was like, "This kid is like the whole package."
Miles Burris
When was this?
Ken Rideout
This year. My daughter is a freshman at at the school and I'm like the kid was like a literally like a rock star in high school.
Miles Burris
Wow.
Ken Rideout
She was like, "Yeah, people are asking to take pictures every day." It was crazy. But they had a really good team. They had a They had two quarterbacks that rotated. One kid, a tall Nigerian kid, is going to BC to play full full ride. But now when you see those kids who are super talented and they're just good at everything. It's like one of those things like I was saying earlier like, why does this sound why can't I get one of those things?
Miles Burris
You got a few, bud. You got a few.
Ken Rideout
I'm trying.
Miles Burris
The the fastest 50-plus in the world, that's a pretty cool thing to say.
Ken Rideout
Anyone can do that if they just put their mind to it.
Miles Burris
That is what everybody says that did it.
Ken Rideout
Exactly. So, coming out of high school, where did you go to college?
Miles Burris
Uh I went to San Diego State University.
Ken Rideout
Oh, that must have been fun.
Miles Burris
So, that's what most people think. It was the number one party school. Um but when you're an athlete, cuz all the parties are on frat row, you know, and it's all the fraternities and sororities are these old houses stacked next to each other. And they don't like athletes, you know, cuz that you could come in and not have a drill or anything. So, you get any door and they're like, "Who Who do you know, bro? You know, how many girls you bringing in?" It's just like, "All right, dude.
I don't want to do any of this." So, it was kind of normal in regards to like parties from an athlete perspective. It's like being anywhere else, but uh you're 15 minutes from the beach, which is cool. And um yeah, I had a lot of options coming out of high school. And
Ken Rideout
Where else we recruited Who else recruited you?
Miles Burris
I think I had about 10 offers. Uh Nebraska was was my biggest one. I had had um Boise State, uh Nevada Reno, um I think I had an Arizona or Arizona State, one of those.
Ken Rideout
Are you the same year as um or close to the same year as Will Compton?
Miles Burris
Yeah, I think
Ken Rideout
Have been at Nebraska with Will Compton. He's a funny guy, too.
Miles Burris
That would have been a a crazy white boy linebacker squad right there. Yeah. He'd probably he'd man down the mic cuz he's got more smarts than me and they just throw me somewhere I can see ball get ball, you know. Yeah, but he's about I think he was came in the league a year after me. So, we were both starting at the same time at one point, you know, I was with the Raiders, he was with the Redskins. Yeah. And I remember seeing him cuz it's like I you see somebody else on film like you.
Who's this white boy?
Ken Rideout
How was San Diego State when you were there? How was the team?
Miles Burris
Man, we were bad. So, coming from that good, you know, with great football program in high school to like you're slapped with like a you know, we went three and eight nine or something or whatever it was my first year and I'm redshirting and then I'm not playing. It's just like, "Whoa, what's going on here?" Um to the point I remember considering maybe I'll transfer. Uh but the part that hurt about that back in the day was you lose a year, you know, and then they don't have that anymore.
So they're going four teams, some kids, you know, throughout their career.
Ken Rideout
That's crazy.
Miles Burris
You know, I talked to my dad about it and you know, we we you know, we talked about it seriously and he was like, "You know, you got to have thick skin. Let's just see what you know, get through this year and see what happens." And we got a coaching change and Brady Hoke came in and he brought Aaron Wellman. He brought an entire new staff and Brady Hoke eventually ended up going to Michigan, but he revamped our entire uh program to where there we hadn't been to a bowl game in decades or something, you know.
And then we were going to bowl games every single year for it was it's rare that they miss one.
Ken Rideout
What was the biggest change that he made that you think transformed the uh program?
Miles Burris
Yeah, two things. So one, Brady Hoke brought this mentality. Like he almost made what we had a a fraternity and it was like this is serious. You buy in or you get out. And the guys that and they pushed us to the tilt. So they were kind of trying to weed guys out in combination with who he brought, Aaron Wellman, who I think he's still the head strength coach at the New York Giants. But just incredibly smart dude when it comes to training. Um but just really pushed you.
Great leader and and it just caused this thing where it was like people still talk about it. I think it was winter of '09, the survivors, you know. Like it was every day you're just like, "Man, what are they going to have for us today?" And you never knew and and it would weed a lot of guys out cuz we had this reputation at at State where it was like you hit them in the mouth, they're going to head to the beach.
Yeah. And we had all these great athletes and a lot of guys that would go to the league, but that we couldn't quite put it together um and and they were just all about toughness, all about running to the ball um even if it's 40 yards down the field, you better be sprinting and they would you know call guys out on film and circle them oh you know that's a loaf and you in front of all your peers and you're like all right and it it's just taking the seriousness of the game, the love of the game, the respect of the game to the nth degree and that was the culture, you know, and that infused in the culture of the locker room with all the guys that's like man this is serious every lift we're getting after every lift we're screaming and we're getting in each other's face pushing us to it you know to the to the next level.
Ken Rideout
Doesn't it seem crazy in hindsight that you would have a coaching staff that wouldn't take that approach in a division one football program? And that's San Diego State like who doesn't want to live in San Diego? If you guys can just get an ounce of traction like
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
That should be the number one that's like one of the greatest places in this country to live. San Diego is perfect.
Miles Burris
Yeah, even the simplicity of like I said like running to the ball that got me drafted really is like cuz you think about it like say you make eight tackles a game or whatever and there's 10 games in a season, there's 12 but for the for the math, that's 80 tackles a year and that's great and all but if you would just bust your ass to the ball every single time, you're going to get in on probably like two more tackles per game. Now you're a 100 tackle guy, but I mean I had a scouts that mean you know, a lot of them they would highlight the same different plays where it's like where they're like this is what we love about you boom like some guy breaks down and I I talk him down from like 60 yards down the field and hawk the ball out of his hands too.
It's stuff like that that like when I see it on the field somebody playing with that kind of effort I get the chills and and so does the sideline. It's similar to like have you seen like when a kicker comes up
Of course.
They're supposed to get run over
Ken Rideout
Weatherford on the show.
Miles Burris
Oh yeah.
Ken Rideout
He's tracked down more than a few people. I'm trying to think
Miles Burris
Steve is a stud physically though too.
Ken Rideout
He tracked down someone famous. I'm trying to think who it was. Like he caught someone who shouldn't get caught. And they were like it but it was like so big that it was like when you think of him, that's who they think about. I just wish I could remember who it was. But I mean Steve's a freak of nature.
Miles Burris
He is.
Ken Rideout
He's a sweet sweet sweet guy, but he's First time I met him, I was like, "Holy shit." Someone's like he played in the NFL. I'm like, "Oh, I didn't know who he was." I was like, "What position did you play?" And someone says they had said he's a a punter. And before he could say punter, I just kept saying, "What position do you play?" Linebacker. And he's like, "No, no, I was a defensive end." He's like, "Punter." I'm like, "You're the biggest punter in the world."
Miles Burris
But he is a sweetheart of a guy.
Ken Rideout
Sweetheart of a guy. But you know what?
Lately I've been speaking to a ton of teams. I'm I'm speaking to the Brew Boston Bruins in July. I've been talking to Mazzulla about talking to the Celtics especially after this recent first first round loss to the Sixers. But when I and I spoke to the high school lacrosse team uh a couple days ago, Mark Kerr was here, the smashing machine, the Rock played him. And he came with me to the speech and I'm like, "Guys, you see that guy over there? That's the smashing machine." But one of the things that I always talk to kids and athletes about is there's like low-hanging fruit that's available to everyone.
I say I can sit in the stands at any sporting event, lacrosse, soccer, football, with my kids and I can say, "Which guy out there is trying the hardest?" And and we can all pick the same person. That takes no talent.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
That takes purely effort. Like what you're describing with San Diego State, they didn't get new players, they got a new coach, new mentality.
And all of a sudden they're going to bowl games.
And I hope that young athletes that might be listening to this recognize that there's a [ __ ] free option for everyone.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Effort. If you're out there, why not just try as hard as you can? And when my kids now they're playing flag football, two of them play tackle, when they come off, I'm like, "Could you I think you might have been able to try a little harder there." And it's like, "I know you didn't want to hit that kid." And he's like, My my middle son has no has no problems with anything. I look at him. I'm like, "Looks you're scared. He's like, "Yeah, I am." I'm like, I'm like, "Well, you're going to have to learn how to do things scared." Yeah.
And I think once you get to that point where you're like, "Okay, I Now no one's stopping me from trying hard." And everyone is scared to a certain extent. So, once you get comfortable with that, like what you're describing with San Diego State, you can transform an entire program and certainly your own career through effort.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Miles Burris
The scouts will start hitting you up, um, you know, when you have prospects to play at the next level and and they what either you're eligible and they think you might leave early or, uh, you know, you're in your senior year and they, you know, leading into your senior year and they're trying to get in your ear before and be like, "Yeah, let you know, let's lock this in." And
Ken Rideout
How many years did you play at San Diego?
Miles Burris
I, you know, four and I redshirted as well, so I was there for four and a half years.
Ken Rideout
You got a degree?
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Okay.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And then the the scouts start reaching out to you what year?
Miles Burris
If I remember correctly, I think it was after my maybe even during part of my junior season in college. And you know, they they start peppering you, too. So, I remember I ended up hand handing it off to my dad just so I could be fully focused in the
Ken Rideout
I love that cuz that's what I would tell my son, too. I'm like, "Don't talk to this idiot. He's 19 years old He's 20 years old. He doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Come and talk to me."
Miles Burris
100%. So, my dad got
Ken Rideout
Don't You don't appreciate how important experience is until you have some.
Miles Burris
Yes.
Ken Rideout
Cuz you think you know everything.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Myself included. I mean, even with the [ __ ] podcasting. When you Anyone who's done it knows like after 50 episodes versus one, you're like, "Oh my god, I was so bad." But sometimes in the early days, you're like, "That was a great show." And you're like, "Oh my god, that was horrible." Even now, I catch myself now talking too much.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
So, so they start reaching out, you send them off to your dad. What are they asking? Like, what do they want to know? What does that process look like?
Miles Burris
Yeah, they kind of like they want to come through and tell you kind of what representation would look like and and you know
Ken Rideout
These are scouts or agents?
Miles Burris
Agents. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. So, yeah, the you you asked scouts, didn't you? Okay, yeah, the scouts don't really talk to you, but agents do. And they might sometimes tell you, "Oh, this these scouts are talking to me about you." And they
Ken Rideout
Okay. Okay, okay. That's good, though. So, the So, agents start reaching out.
Miles Burris
Agents are in your ear, yeah. And uh and they could get kind of distracting and they all want some time with you. And I I took some meetings and then eventually just handed it off to my dad and he
Ken Rideout
Offering you stuff?
Miles Burris
No, and they weren't allowed to then. They you know, they weren't even allowed to pay for my lunch. Um and you know, the agency I ended up going with they're really high integrity. They were called Rep 1 Sports. Bruce and Ryan Tollner and Chase Callahan and Nima Zarabi. But they ended up selling that and now it's there's a different name for it. Can't remember, but
Ken Rideout
So, the So, agents are reaching out and they want
Miles Burris
They're reaching out and they want to talk. And so, then yeah, delegated that to my dad and it It his idea. I'm glad he did offer that cuz it would have been so distracting during your senior year and you're trying to finish the season. Um and his thing was like if you reach out to my son, you're out, you know, like don't he's focused on the season.
Ken Rideout
And so what was their pitch? Like what would a what would an NFL agent and because again, you were a fourth round draft pick. So to get drafted is a big deal cuz a lot of guys make it to the league who are superstars that don't get drafted. Yeah. So drafted you're like a huge prospect. So I assume like they all want to sign you. Like what's their selling point? Hey, I'm the best at this. I'm going to like do this and do that. Like what are they going to do for you?
Yeah, they they talked about all that.
Miles Burris
Yeah, yeah, exactly. They talked about their connections and like it you know, I remember one guy had a book. He's like this is my list of all these numbers of people I've got in the NFL and I all the GMs numbers and I you know, I've got them.
Ken Rideout
Should have said I can reach them all on Instagram, buddy. Stop with the [ __ ] What's next?
Miles Burris
Yeah, 3%. That's what it was in the football world agent. I remember there was one agent that was like, you know, we'd be willing to talk, you know, one and a half percent to if you if you went with us. My big thing was like you know, do do I get a good feeling from this person? Do they believe in me the way that I believe in me? What you know, rounds are you thinking I might go? What do you what do you believe in that?
You know, I was wanting to be, you know, top three round guy and so some of the people had the same vision and some didn't and that made made things a bit easier for
Ken Rideout
That the agent can influence any of that?
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Really?
Miles Burris
I think a bit. I think now it might be easier to be able to to suss out like who's really legit because of you know, before everybody you know, everybody was so informed on everything and had the access to the information. I feel like things could have been swayed easier, you know, and in hype wise, whereas now it's like everybody has the same access to the same information and can kind of figure out who's got what to offer, you know.
Ken Rideout
So when you finally decided on the agent, they they take a percentage of the contract.
Miles Burris
Mhm.
Ken Rideout
And is that is that all they get and they just negotiate the contract for you and that's it or they do all of your deals?
Miles Burris
Yeah, it's it's mostly just the the rookie contract, but the those were so slated. There's really not much wiggle room that you had because that was right after they you know worked through the new CBA. So it was almost like this pick gets this much, this one just a little bit less and less even from the first pick of the draft really.
Ken Rideout
That's why I'm asking. I'm wondering where the value lies. In other words, why couldn't you just have been your own agent?
Miles Burris
Yeah, just having to like negotiate for yourself and read through contract. It was just that it would have been like trigonometry for my brain. And could they also link you up with you know like they got me my Nike deal and
Ken Rideout
Oh, that's what I meant. So they did do things outside of that.
Miles Burris
Yeah, yeah. And they're they're interfacing with you know the GM if the GM has stuff to relay you know about how we how I'm doing or things like that or they're in talks with the GM about you know leading into a second contract and hey where you guys at? Are you interested? You know what I'm saying? Um taking in calls from other teams that might be interested that kind of thing.
Ken Rideout
That's interesting. I had Ran Carthon on who was the GM for the Titans
Miles Burris
Okay.
Ken Rideout
For 2 years after being with San Fran as an exec. That was an interesting conversation, but I feel bad cuz he couldn't really say much cuz I think he had a non-disparagement clause, but I know he probably wanted to unload on ownership.
Miles Burris
Oh, I bet. I bet.
Ken Rideout
Poor bastard. I mean, I know for a fact that she got a [ __ ] deal there, but he's a really nice guy. Um so what happens on draft day? What does the process look like?
Miles Burris
So I wasn't like a top you know I I wasn't slated to go in the first two rounds or anything. So um it's a little different for those guys where they've got you know some of them just they travel to New York or whatever they're doing it. For me I was just at my my folks' house and you know I had my wife and her family around and we really thought I was going to go in the third round to the Raiders. I I knew they were high on me.
We met a lot. I knew they liked me and the toughness style of playing and kind of the Raider way, you know.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
And so I thought I was going to go in the third. They picked Tony Bergstrom. Uh which made sense. He was an offensive lineman. They needed that. But my my family was all, "Man, the Raid We were all so excited about the Raiders. And oh, he's going to be the Raiders. And then the next day after they're all pissed off at the Raiders, the Raiders picked me. And they're like, "Yeah, Raiders." They just flipped right back.
Ken Rideout
I knew it.
Uh so is the first two rounds uh day one, right?
Miles Burris
Uh well, just day one is just the first round. And then I think day two's two and three. And then day three is four, five, six, seven.
Ken Rideout
Okay. So at least you got picked early in day three.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
All right. And were there were there any other teams where you were like sweating it like either you wanted to get picked by someone else or you didn't or was the Raiders definitely your first choice?
Miles Burris
Uh the Raiders I wanted to go to cuz I knew they were highest on me.
Ken Rideout
And they were still in Oakland, right?
Miles Burris
Yeah, they were still in Oakland.
Ken Rideout
And that's close to relatively close
Miles Burris
Yeah.
That's
I was kind of a hometown kid in some ways. I I grew up going to Raiders games and seeing all those guys come out the tunnel and
Oh, that's crazy.
Yeah, so that was a really cool full full circle deal.
Ken Rideout
So you grew up watching that's your team and now you're like you get drafted by the Raiders. Are you like, "Holy [ __ ] this is a dream come true."
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah. I still remember the feeling, you know, taking the call and as I'm, you know, talking to Reggie McKenzie, I'm I'm just getting you know, everybody and their mom texting me. People I didn't even know had my number texting me. They were yeah, it was just a really cool deal. And you know, my very best friend my entire life, you know, who went to high school together, grade school, everything. Um he was the one I said he got hurt in the playoffs and then we lost, you know.
Uh he got drafted in the same round to in the same division division rival this to the Chiefs. Um and so that was a really cool story. So then we all got together, you know, later that day and kind of celebrated with our high school coaches and all those Yeah, it was really cool.
Ken Rideout
I have this crazy reoccurring dream since I was a little kid where I putting on a Bruins uniform and skating out onto the ice for Boston. I played college hockey.
Miles Burris
Oh, did you?
Ken Rideout
Yeah. If I played football and hockey, but I mean I was terrible at both. But I have this dream where I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm dressing for the Bruins. I have the jersey with my name on it." And then I wake up. I don't even get to play. I'm just like I'm just so happy to like skate around the rink with like on the team. I don't have any like delusions of grandeur where I'm scoring goals. I'm just on the team. So okay, so you get drafted.
What happens when you show up at training camp like in terms of comparing the speed and the aggressiveness of the pros to college? It must just been of like night and day.
Miles Burris
Yeah, I think the biggest difference that I I remember noticing was how much bigger and faster the offensive linemen were. Because in college, yeah, there's guys that are big, but the the guys that get drafted that are big, it's cuz they got some juice behind them and they got good feet and stuff.
Ken Rideout
The ones who are coming down and cracking your ass.
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah. Yes. You know, and having to take on pulling guards with a 7-yd head steam of just hitting me hit me in the gap and I bet you love it, you know. You see
Ken Rideout
Do you know Chris Spencer? He was a center at Ole Miss with Eli Manning. He might be older than you. And then he played I think eight years, six or eight years in Seattle, little bit in Chicago, and a couple years in Nashville. But he was a center and a guard and he's such a big guy. Every time I see him, I'm like, "And he's athletic." I'm like, "This guy." And I think about the poor linebacker getting cracked, this guy coming down with a head of steam and you're like trying to fill a gap.
Miles Burris
Yeah, there's that that was the biggest difference is guys like that you're having to hit. Um Otherwise, it was like your my brain was in such chaos cuz I I Um there was an injury, so I stepped in and I was kind of starting from day one and just kind of drinking out of a fire hose while I was doing that.
Ken Rideout
So you show up at rookie train to the train first training camp and and the starter goes down and you're like next man up.
Miles Burris
Yeah, essentially.
Ken Rideout
Come on.
What did you if anything what did you struggle with? Was it like knowing the plays, the schemes, like the cuz the linebacker is basically like calling the plays, right?
Miles Burris
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so the Mike linebacker and especially in a 4-3. So I was still off the ball linebacker, but I was a will and they put me there to kind of fly around and not have to think as much and that was that was kind of my game. I was never an X's nose guy like Luke Kuechly or some of these guys that are just amazing players and they can kind of see it in the the smarts of the game. They know what what's going where.
You know, I knew where I got to line up and maybe what my gap is and where to drop, but otherwise it was kind of see ball get ball. Um but you know, I had good athleticism and size and so they let me fly around and they let me make mistakes which if you have to start a rookie, that's the that's the difference with the game today is like they get these first round quarterbacks and they throw them in right away. That didn't used to be the norm.
I remember, you know, when Peyton Manning started his first year, it wasn't the norm. Right. But if you're going to do that, you know that they're going to make a lot of mistakes and you ride with them. And and Peyton Manning set the, you know, interception record in the NFL. I think it still stands. Yet he's Peyton Manning cuz they didn't move on from him and nowadays they just throw these kids away and their confidence with it and maybe they'll have like a Baker Mayfield come back if they keep their their mindset right, you know.
Yeah, for the next opportunities. But yeah, I kind of was thrown in there right away and made a lot of plays and made some mistakes as well. I was one of the leading tacklers and really started every game with the Raiders that I was healthy. I had a injury most of my second year. My third year I played I started every game at Mike linebacker which you do have to, you know, get everybody lined up, call the plays and deal with all the audibles and shifts that Peyton Manning's doing and that's more thinking, you know.
Ken Rideout
Be very difficult when you're trying to like outfox and outcoach a quarterback like Peyton Manning.
Miles Burris
Oh, you can't. Yeah, no, he knows what I'm doing better than I am probably just from some alignment you there yeah, I don't even realize I'm doing.
Ken Rideout
Cuz the guys who are good at that like him, Brady, those guys, they're so good.
Miles Burris
Oh, dude.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Savants.
Miles Burris
They are. Like it yeah, I felt like so frustrated when I would um one game when I was playing Peyton he kept finding a way to motion things around to get me on the slot against Welker. I Welker's going to run an option route, you know, based on my leverage. It's like a nickel back can't cover Welker and you think I am, you know. Yeah, that was that freaking guy, you know.
Ken Rideout
That's pretty good. That's like the kind of insights that you don't get just watching the game of like kind of trying to look at how they're trying to get those isolations and how he's trying to set everything up like a chessboard. Yeah, I think Brady is like that, too, right?
Miles Burris
Yeah, Brady was I mean top of the game, dude.
Ken Rideout
When you were a rookie, how did the how was the Raiders team? Like did you guys have a good squad?
Miles Burris
Yeah, we had a lot of talent, but we didn't quite put it together. We went four and uh I think we went four and 12 that year. Um it's uh you know, it was hard to be on the the losing end that many times, but it was a great experience to be able to start every game and um you know, make a lot of plays and and make a splash your rookie year. I mean, that was that was the dream as a kid as you know, praying every night before bed I got to be playing in the NFL and uh you know, it was having my my family at every single game just rocking.
It was awesome.
Ken Rideout
Well, did you have any like welcome to the NFL moments where you were like holy [ __ ] you get smashed or like
Miles Burris
Probably so many and they smashed me so hard I don't remember a lot of it.
Ken Rideout
Did you have any picks or any fumble recoveries for a touchdown?
Miles Burris
Yeah, I I picked off um Cam Newton in um you know, at their house over there in Carolina. I sacked him in the same game and I notoriously picked off uh Tom Brady.
Ken Rideout
Was that in the
Miles Burris
I dropped the pick. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Oh, you did?
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Where was it? In Oakland?
Miles Burris
New England. Yeah, it was in New England.
Ken Rideout
What happened?
Miles Burris
I man, if I you know, if I had caught that, you would have been announcing me as the guy that picked off Tom Brady.
Ken Rideout
I was like, I don't remember that. What What happened? It just hit you in the hands and you dropped it?
Miles Burris
Yeah, I like Justin Tuck got a good hit on him as he was throwing it and uh you know, I kind of went to go dive for it and it hit me in the hands and It would have been a tough catch, I think, but um yeah, it hurt.
Ken Rideout
My kids are uh 14, 12, and 10 and they all play Two of them play tackle and they all play flag football and anytime they drop a pass, I'm like, "Oh, buddy, don't worry about that. One hit you in the bad spot."
Cuz they're always like, "Yeah, Dad, right. It hit me right in the hands." I'm like, "Yeah, bad spot for some people." positions are they?
Miles Burris
They all play receiver and quarterback, yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. I was a quarterback in college, again, terrible.
Miles Burris
14, 12, and 10, is that Yeah, freshman or eighth grade?
Ken Rideout
Eighth, sixth, and fourth.
Miles Burris
Eighth, sixth, fourth.
Ken Rideout
And they all play lacrosse, but the little one, as like with most youngest brothers, the little one is probably the most athletic right now.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
I don't want to hope the older ones don't hear this. But he's in the fourth grade and they they all play on the middle school lacrosse team and he in the fourth grade scored a goal in the varsity middle school lacrosse game. Yeah, dude, he's little, but he's scrappy and he's hungry.
Miles Burris
That is awesome.
Ken Rideout
Dude, but he played the whole season with the even with the JV team, the youngest kids in the sixth grade except him in the fourth grade.
Miles Burris
Yeah, that's incredible.
Ken Rideout
He got a concussion this year playing flag football. He went to dive for a flag and just banged his head awkwardly on the ground and he got up and he was like I wasn't there, but my wife was picked him up and he says uh I she comes back to get him cuz she had done gone to drop the other kids off. She says to him, "Come on, buddy, let's go. Let's go get in the car." And he's like, "What happened?" And she's like, "You banged your head." "How do how?" "You were playing football." "I was playing football?" "Yeah, you were playing football at your flag football game." "What position was I playing?" "You were playing quarterback for most of the game." "I was playing quarterback?" Two seconds later, "Mom, what happened?" Like like where am I?
And I was like, "Oh my god." I actually called the Andrew Huberman in the neurosciences and he's like he's like just keep an eye on him, but he was he he bounced back. They're like little resilient little balls of rubber at that age, but man, it was scary cuz I was like, "Dude, no more playing flag football without one of those little helmet things on." Of course, he's like, "I'm not playing. I'm not wearing that helmet."
Miles Burris
Cuz my swag, man.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, exactly. So, after your rookie year, you come back, now you're a starter. What how how was the training camp being a rookie versus being a vet?
Miles Burris
Um
Ken Rideout
And was there much hazing your first year?
Miles Burris
Yeah, it was a little bit. You know, they shaved my head and uh
Ken Rideout
Oh, it must have been torture for you with all those flowing locks.
Miles Burris
Yeah, yeah, it wasn't as long then, but I didn't mind it. You know, they they cut it into like a like a flat top.
And then uh there was some sort of rookie show that they did and I just danced like a goon and they liked it and you know, applauded me and I got to leave.
Ken Rideout
When you got to the league, like at what point did you think like, oh, I could be an actor, too?
Miles Burris
Yeah, a good question. You know, that kind of was born in college a little bit where I was I mean there was no CBA, there was no protections. Like you there was you they were getting after you in college. You know, you're just dog tired at the end of every day. So, I would go to Redbox when that was still a thing. Just you know, all I wanted to do once I got home was just watch movies and veg out on my bed. And I was on a a Brad Pitt kick at the time where I was, you know, watching Fight Club and Troy and um just all these different things he he'd done.
I'm like, man, that looks like pretty cool. You know, you get to play all these different things. They're so different and um I don't know if I'd be any good at it or or like it, but I'm going to give it a shot. I think I might like it, you know. Uh but I kind of that was always shelved. It was like all in on football and I knew once football was done, I'd give it a shot. And so you know, I got injured um right after my third year with the Raiders where I finished that year with 110 tackles and uh
Ken Rideout
110 tackles?
Miles Burris
Yeah, and
Ken Rideout
What's like a What's a What is a typical linebacker getting a year?
Miles Burris
Yeah, I mean to get a 100 tackle season is a good good deal. Um
Ken Rideout
What's the record for tackles?
Miles Burris
Um Oh, man, I don't know exactly.
Ken Rideout
150?
Miles Burris
Usually it's Yeah, probably even somewhere somewhere between there and 200 probably for like the record in in a season. Um I Charles Woodson beat me by two tackles that year. He had 112. Um but yeah, so I I finished that season and then that off season kind of tweaked my knee again, the same one I'd had some trouble with and uh they got a regime change in 2015. Jack Del Rio came in with brand new coaches and you know, I was still kind of lagging a little bit with my knee and then, you know, the draft came.
They they drafted some linebackers and
Ken Rideout
How's that feel when you're when you're a linebacker and they draft linebackers? Do you want to go in and be like, "What the [ __ ] is going on?"
Miles Burris
Yeah, it's never fun to watch the draft and and wonder, you know, okay, who they going to pick? Are they trying to replace me? And then oh, they pick a linebacker and then you you try to deduce, okay, which linebacker spot is this? Okay, let's more more competition, I guess. And what does that mean about what they think of me and their plans for me? A million [clears throat] things go through your mind, but those are kind of the uncontrollables and you go back to work and you know, on on what you can, but but what was hard for me is I had this kind of ticking time bomb knee where I couldn't control it, you know, I was doing everything.
My my third year in the league, I was, you know, on the off days, I was not reporting, you know, how injured I was so that I wouldn't be forced to go to treatment the day after the game because they're just going to ice and stem you and say that, you know, that's that's what's going to get you better. You know, I was flying to like Utah and Arizona and getting prolazone injections and stem cells and different just weird things that, you know, you try to throw everything at it and but you know, I spent a lot of money trying to trying to save this knee and do whatever it took, um but it just had, you know, so much tread on the tire.
So, I chased it for a couple years after, you know, it took about a year to get healthy enough to start taking workouts again. Took a bunch of workouts and just never quite caught on. You know, once I realized that after a mini camp where it just kind of I went to the Vikings, did a mini camp there cuz I was working out every day and I was okay, but I think I can do this again. I know and I feel good. I I was fast and everything was there, but it was like the the constant pounding that you have in season where it's like you're on your feet all day, you go to meetings, you go to you get your lift, you go to the walk-through, you go to the first practice, you come back, do the meetings, walk back out there, you do the second practice.
It's just that amount, you know, of constant stopping and starting acceleration. It's like my knee couldn't handle that amount of volume, and it was just a softball the first day. I knew it was over. And so I got home, I was just depressed. I was like, man, you know, watching Parks and Rec on repeat. My wife was like peeking in there every now and then. She's just like, give me a day or two. So like, all right, you you you you got to get moving. We can't, you know, can't keep sinking lower and lower.
You talked about, you know, acting stuff. And so she got me signed up into an acting class in LA. And she's like, you know, I signed you up. And she got my casting profile set up and stuff. And so she was really kind of the spark to to get me moving into into that and into something else. Cuz she was kind of the one of the only people I'd told about my acting aspirations. [snorts]
Ken Rideout
Before we get into the acting, did did they when you were having the issues, did they how often did they give you Toradol?
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah, I took Toradol a good bit. Um I think there's a a pill form of Toradol as well, isn't there? Yeah. And I remember just being really sketched out by by that, you know, cuz you feel a big difference, but you know that it's not good for you.
Ken Rideout
That's
Miles Burris
And I'd done a lot of research and read a lot of books. I was very into the body and I you know, I was tapped in with Bill Romanowski as well.
Ken Rideout
Yep. And Bill Romanowski tried some different different therapies.
Miles Burris
And he didn't he didn't recommend anything shady for me, but he was like, you know, if you if you have to, you know, do those, but you know, you don't want to cuz all these different things. He gave me a lot of good advice. And Bill was was really good to me. So I tried to stay off of them, but man, I was just there's so much you can do. I was having to get I would have to show up to the to the facility before games like four five hours early just to do the different things to get the thing to bend enough for me to run, you know.
Ken Rideout
The No, the reason I asked is I have a torn rotator cuff, and I think it's caused me to have tendinitis in my elbow, which I've never had. It's like tennis elbow. The pain is excruciating.
Miles Burris
Really?
Ken Rideout
It's it's crazy. I've never had anything and I'm like I'm also 55 and I'm like starting to fall apart. But a couple days ago I took a shot, an injection of Toradol, which is like an anti-inflammatory and I took it in the evening. When I woke up the next day my body never felt better in like 10 years. I was like, "Oh, I feel awesome." And then I was like, "This sucks." Cuz now I know that I have like crazy inflammation everywhere. Like my legs are always sore.
I'm always sore from running. But the pain in my shoulder and my elbow went like it was like magic.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But it sucked because I was like, "This is how I should feel, but I don't." Now I'm like looking at is my diet off? What should Maybe I should be doing more recovery, but I'm like there isn't enough time in the day for me to do any more than I'm doing.
Miles Burris
Yeah, I mean you're running how many miles every day and
Ken Rideout
10 at least.
Miles Burris
10 at least. That's a lot, yeah. Do you do you do like blood panels and stuff like that? Yeah. I feel like
Ken Rideout
I've always had like genetically high cholesterol and lipids are never like great.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But all the other things I could my cortisol's always really high. But all the other things that matter are like good, like blood cell counts, like everything is pretty healthy.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But man, getting old sucks.
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, no doubt.
Ken Rideout
But I think if if I don't stay after it it's just going to go downhill quick. That's what I've noticed as I've gotten older. If you don't stay on top of it, you lose it much quicker and it takes longer to get it back. So when I get in shape like for a race or something I try to like it's it's not rational to think I can stay in top shape all the time. It's just like periodization, you know, you really fit, but it's really hard being in that trough of in between like up and down.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And being sore like this, oh.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Dude, it sucks and nothing works like peptides not like rearranging [ __ ] chairs on the deck on the Titanic. I'm like nothing
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Helps and now I'm going to get surgery on my shoulder which sucks but enough about me.
Miles Burris
Is it a is it a full tear on the rotator cuff?
Ken Rideout
So. I had it fixed before and the guy told me don't do anything for 4 weeks and of course 5 days later I ran 10 miles with my holding onto a belt around my neck and I was like oh it's good and and for and for like 2 years it was good until it wasn't.
Miles Burris
Okay.
Ken Rideout
And now it's like I just did the MRI Friday but I'm you know when you know
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Like you're like something's wrong with my shoulder. It's not like stem cells ain't fixing this.
Miles Burris
Right.
Ken Rideout
So but I think it's now affecting my elbow too which sucks.
Miles Burris
Yeah that does. Yeah so the peptides weren't weren't cutting it.
Ken Rideout
No nothing. I don't
Miles Burris
That's interesting that Toradol boom.
Ken Rideout
Oh dude that not only my elbow and my shoulder my legs and my lungs everything was like it was like magic.
Miles Burris
Did you immediately you knew you're like ah okay. It's just covering this stuff up but I'm going to get after it.
Ken Rideout
Well of course that day I like destroyed myself with a workout but I was I was seriously I was bummed cuz I'm like I
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Hate knowing that this I'm a drug addict. I don't want to know that Toradol makes me like it didn't give me like a euphoric feeling like opioids. It just made my body feel good like what like what you would hear NFL lineman describe like when they're like yeah I got that Toradol I had no no sores no aches no pains then go home and wake up and you know crippled.
Miles Burris
Dude yeah.
Ken Rideout
But then there were those guys that took Toradol so much that's how they realized that oh this really isn't that good for you. They had like kidney or liver damage cuz they were taking it every day.
Miles Burris
Yeah I don't know exactly what it does to you. I just know that it's not great for you. And when I look back at some of my pictures you know from the the time when I played I'm like sometimes I'm like dude I look kind of pale or weird almost like yellow
Like you know I was always on NSAIDs or you know anti-inflammatories and you're like it must be compounds after it.
Ken Rideout
Did you see anyone taking anything illicit?
Miles Burris
Never never did. No and people in the locker room they wouldn't really hand that information out you know.
Ken Rideout
Do you mean talk openly about it?
Miles Burris
No even some guys would just like which is dumb. It's like you know what it is, but they would take the uh the labels off their protein powders and creatines or whatever it just to be like, you know, I'm not let giving out what people It's like you know, it's not legal. It's not going to do something that crazy for you.
Ken Rideout
But I think for a long time they didn't have a test for growth hormone, right?
Miles Burris
Right.
Ken Rideout
Was one that you could
Miles Burris
Doing blood testing and I remember one year, I think it was 2013 or Yeah, I think it was 2013 they said, "Okay, they're are going to start, you know, blood testing." So if you know, that's something you got to worry about, get right.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
Um
Ken Rideout
But that's but the the weird thing is like that is a drug I think a performance enhancer that could help, but when you're that young, when you're in your 20s and 30s like you're at your peak. Like you can take that stuff. I don't think it's going to move the needle. I mean, anabolics maybe, but like growth hormone, that's like a very dangerous thing to play with because once you start taking that and affecting your own hormone levels, there's like so many systematic issues that you could run into.
It's just interesting.
Miles Burris
I knew of some guys that did um and I you know, I'd heard from other guys of people they knew that did. And the consensus was like for most people they say like you know, it feels like the fountain of youth and then other rarely some people take it and they say it just makes them feel even more like [ __ ] you know.
It was like a small genetic thing like some people don't have smelly pee after asparagus.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
Some people, you know, they they uh feel worse on growth hormones.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
Um I don't know what that is, but I did know of one guy where it was like it it moved the needle on his physique.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really?
Miles Burris
Like even like his this part of his like forehead filled in a little bit. Um man, and from what I'd heard like he could like stay up on like 2 hours of sleep and then, you know, go in for for mini camp or you know, whatever the practice was next day and just crush it and um so I knew some guys were were using that.
Ken Rideout
It's also interesting when you see like did you when you come in and you're a rookie you're on a rookie cat rookie contract and then you see like the quarterback who's on like a $50 million or whatever it is with a lot of people don't who don't understand much about the league itself don't understand the discrepancy between the guys on the league minimum and then the guys on like
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
You know, it's like working at a bank. You got the teller and then the CEO.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
How was that? Like did was that obvious that some guys were driving shitbox cars and other guys were driving Ferraris?
Miles Burris
Yeah, I mean nobody really I probably drove the most shitbox car there was. I just wasn't like I was never a car guy. My mom bought me a car when I was 16 a 4Runner and and I was still driving that, you know, and then some guys be like man I want I'll buy you a damn car. I don't want I'm tired of looking at that, you know.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really?
Miles Burris
Yeah. They were just messing with
Ken Rideout
How many years did you play?
Miles Burris
I played four years technically but was injured that last season but still paid and got the year.
Ken Rideout
So when you Okay, so on your rookie contract is that a one-year contract?
Miles Burris
It's a four-year.
Ken Rideout
Oh, was it four-year?
Miles Burris
A four-year.
Ken Rideout
And did it did it like step up based on incentives? Like how who signs a four-year contract on a rookie status? Wouldn't you want to like bet on yourself and be like sign me up for one or two years?
Miles Burris
That was kind of the standard. If you didn't get drafted you could sign I think shorter term deals but you you know that it was four years was the standard there.
Ken Rideout
So what does that contract look like? It must be public anyway, right?
Miles Burris
It was This was 2012. I think my signing bonus was like 300 or 300 something and then the first year salary was 390 and then I remember the the next year it would always go up like 90 so it would be like 480 like 570 but then I was slated in that that fourth year because of how well I performed uh it's some sort of internal bonus that they said I was I was going to make like 2.6 or something. And you know, I ended up getting a settlement you know, cuz I was released injured and so I did get some of that money but and got credited for that year but you know didn't play it.
Ken Rideout
And then do they provide any benefits post playing career?
Miles Burris
Yeah, you know, if you're beat up enough you go through the line of duty test that was like 7 and 1/2 years where you you know, you get little change every month and then the insurance lasted I think 5 years after
Ken Rideout
Oh, that's not bad.
Miles Burris
You know, you're officially retired. I you know, I wish that was lifetime. I think
Ken Rideout
I know.
Miles Burris
Most of the other sports.
Ken Rideout
Should have been a you should have been a politician instead you go be a congressman senator house of representatives you get benefits for life I think.
Miles Burris
Do you?
Ken Rideout
Oh, the best of the best of course.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Why not?
Whatever you can't steal they'll give it to you for free.
Miles Burris
Yeah, that's it.
Ken Rideout
How did you handle the transition like after the career was over were you like down in the dumps thinking like I cuz you got injured instead of like retiring on your own free will you like [ __ ] I can't play anymore. How hard was that?
Miles Burris
Oh, it was so incredibly hard because of you know, demanding a lot of yourself having unmet expectations being like man, I I want to play 10 plus years but the wheels fell off earlier and that this was not my plan and so that was you know, part of that 2 years trying to come back was like, man, I got to redeem this career. Like, this is not the way it's supposed to end. Um which sadly that you know, a lot of times football players, you know, if it doesn't end the way they want, they keep training for the league sometimes up to like 5 years after and I remember like, come on.
Nobody wants to tell them that it's over, man, but they it's that's what you've been your whole life. It's your identity. It's what you've always been known as, you know, Miles the football player, and that's stripped away and and I think there's some part of it's like the subconscious not wanting to face reality and not wanting to accept because then what does that mean? Now I got to feel all this and you know, um but even the guys that go out on their own terms, you know, right into the sunset on a Super Bowl and played 15 years, um it's still really difficult on them because it's just this this thing that it's so your life is so structured.
You know what you're working towards every day and now it's just gone, you know.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
I mean, I remember it was a couple years where I'm like, I don't how do I just like schedule my own life? You know, my own day cuz it's you know, I I did a lot I had a lot of personal growth afterwards with with a lot of that, but it was just a lot of hard times, you know,
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
And then the acting, you know, it's like my wife wasn't a big fan of like, you know, in the NFL it's super high job insecurity and then acting is probably even worse maybe in some ways even more competitive. Like in football it's like, that's the best guy. He's the fastest. Those are the numbers. He had, you know, 12 sacks this you know, you can measure it, you know.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
It's not measurable in acting. It's very like you don't know when your big shots coming or when the right rolls and
Ken Rideout
Subjective to some nerds sitting in the casting room.
Miles Burris
Yeah, exactly. It's like people are objectively better in football and in in acting it's just it's it's a weird deal. So you don't as an athlete, you don't have much control in like the at bats that you get. You don't know what your agents are doing. You can't be the, you know, desperate actor saying, hey, I'm you know, trying to
Ken Rideout
You can't be
Miles Burris
You can't do cold reach outs.
Ken Rideout
Be Yeah, you can't be proactive as an actor. You just kind of like do your best work when you get the shot.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Um exactly.
Ken Rideout
So, does your wife work? Or was she working when you were playing?
Miles Burris
Yeah, she was in marriage and family therapist when we were in California. Um she got, you know, all her her master's and, you know, all her certifications, her thousand plus hours, and was starting counseling, and then we ended up moving to Nashville, and all those things didn't transfer with her. Um so that's another crappy thing about California.
Ken Rideout
So, what what brought you to Nashville?
Miles Burris
So, one of the off-seasons we came out here, rented an Airbnb for a few months. I think it was 20 I don't know, 14, 15, somewhere in there. And um just fell in love with the city. It was, you know, the just the people were
Ken Rideout
Just out of curiosity, you were like, "Oh, let's try Nashville."
Miles Burris
Yeah, we'd heard great things, you know, from from some of the teammates, or Jenna had heard great things from the teammates' wives, "Oh, Nashville's great, yada yada." And uh we got here, and first time we go to Hattie B's right away in Midtown, and it was like the first place we go, and we see Steven Tyler just in line, and like, nobody's bugging him. It's like, "Who is this place?" you know? And uh just, you know, anybody talks to anybody, just that that southern charm and kindness um is awesome.
We're like, "We want to live here," but we just we're always landlocked with either football or acting.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, it's funny, a similar thing when I was in California during COVID, my wife had gone to Vandy, and she came out here for something, and then she's I I said, "Yeah, if you find a house out there, just buy it. Just tell me what what where you want to go." And uh she came here, she found the house, was like, "All right, let's go." And I saw the house the first time when we moved in.
Miles Burris
Really?
Ken Rideout
Yeah. We drove from LA with like all the kids. We have four kids, a dog. It was one of the worst decisions of my life to to drive.
Miles Burris
Oh, to drive it.
Ken Rideout
Oh my god. I I was like having an anxiety attack the whole time. Just trying to manage. I'm driving my car, and my wife's in a minivan with the dogs and the kids. keep an eye on it. Oh, it was ho- it was horrible. Then we stop we stop like 3 nights to you know, we drive all day, stop and then I'm like, "Oh, thank god. Let's just put lock everything up and let's go out for a nice dinner and relax." He's like, "We got the dog.
We can't leave the dog in the in the hotel or she'll start barking like crazy." So, I'm like ordering like takeout from the Olive Garden and eating in the room. I would Dude, literally like I would lay there at night like ready to cry. I'm like, "Why did I do this? I probably saved like five grand. I should have just freaking cars and flew like an adult."
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
It was horrible. But
Miles Burris
Realize you were in LA right before moving here.
Ken Rideout
Oh, yeah. I was in the Palisades. It was it was awesome.
Miles Burris
What what what brought you over to LA?
Ken Rideout
Oh, in like 2015, I was we just had our fourth kid. We were living in Westchester County outside of New York and I worked in finance for 20 years. So, I was driving back and forth to New York City every day from Westchester. So, in the morning I'd go in at like 5 4:35, get into the city, run, work, and then at like 3:30 4:00 I'd start looking at my watch, looking at ways, looking at the watch. It was it was like running the gauntlet going home.
I had like almost had like 20 rage road rage fights.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Every day just traffic like you can't imagine with the most aggressive people.
Miles Burris
Yes.
Ken Rideout
And I finally was like, "Dude, I'm not going to survive. I have to move."
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And I moved out to LA with a financial technology startup firm
Miles Burris
Okay.
Ken Rideout
That I knew might not work and taking myself out of that job pool in New York like trading desks, I was like really limiting my options.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And I just linked up with a guy in LA who had an asset manager and I convinced him to let me run business development. Like I offered to do it for free.
Miles Burris
Wow.
Ken Rideout
And he was like, "All right, do it." And it just went crazy. It it worked. And then I started raising money for other people like other funds and companies and it just like all worked out like a perfect storm.
Miles Burris
Wow.
Ken Rideout
But it's like running. Like the person who works the hardest and the most usually wins.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But, when you're in it, you're like, "I'm never going to be able to do this."
Miles Burris
Right.
Ken Rideout
And then it starts to work, and I'm like, "Oh my god, thank god, I got lucky there." And then you get lucky again, and again, and eventually at like 55, I'm like, "I think I'm pretty good at this."
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And I just developed a knack for like putting together capital with good ideas, and um
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
So, then we were out there during COVID, and I was working from home right before COVID started anyway. I started working for myself, and uh I was like, "I don't have to stay here." I was paying like $12,000 a month for rent.
Damn.
It was The place is so expensive. It's outrageous.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But, we were living in a nice place. Like, Chris Chris Bosh was our neighbor.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Cheech from Cheech & Chong lived next door.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
It was a It was a wild neighborhood. But, we then moved to Nashville, and it was like, "I love it here. I I would rather live in Malibu, but I love living here for the kids. It's like It's like perfect like Americana.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
School bus, cool neighbors.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Actually, you know who my neighbor is? Um You know that guy uh Reacher who beat the [ __ ] out of the guy?
Miles Burris
Yeah.
He's Dude, he's
That's how I found out he lived in Brentwood.
Ken Rideout
He's He lives in like the neighborhood next to mine. I live in the Governor's Club, and he lives in this place called Witherspoon.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
I never met him, but his kids play lacrosse with my kids.
Miles Burris
Okay.
Ken Rideout
So, literally like 2 days after that, my youngest son comes running over like, "Dad, Reacher's over there." Cuz I said to him like, "I got to meet this guy." Cuz if you when you saw the first video of the guy who who got beat up, he's like, "Oh, Reacher was speeding on his motorcycle, and he stopped to I stopped him to tell him to slow down, and he just beat the [ __ ] out of me." So, then Reacher was like, "Oh, really? Here's my body cam."
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And that's how that came out.
Miles Burris
Yeah, dude. And Wow, that guy was really trying to
Ken Rideout
This guy wasn't Dude, the guy Reacher is a [ __ ] humongous dude.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
He's like he's he's like probably your size, a little taller.
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah. [snorts]
Ken Rideout
And And again, like the handsomest guy you've ever seen. Like, I'm just like, who would want to fight with this guy?
Miles Burris
Well, and I was actually impressed with how long he stayed restrained.
Ken Rideout
Cuz that guy kept punk That's what I said to
Miles Burris
The bear and poking the bear and then finally it's like, dude, he went over his handlebars, the guy came after him again and it's like, you're getting beat up, dude.
Ken Rideout
That's what I said. That's what I said to Reacher. I'm like, dude, good for you for showing restraint. I would have [ __ ] mauled that guy.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
He jumped I go, who I said to him, who starts a fight when you don't know how to fight?
Miles Burris
Yeah, right.
Ken Rideout
Like, you know you don't know how to fight and you're going to go out and like he won't even let the guy go. He's like, no, no, we're basically like we're fighting and the guy was finally like beat the dog [ __ ] out of him.
Miles Burris
Yeah, I was
Ken Rideout
But he like shoved him off his motorcycle. Then Reacher knock pushes him down. Then the guy gets back but Reacher doesn't know how to ride a motorcycle cuz you know he got up on the motorcycle and he must be new on it and it like kind of like launched out of his hands into the grass.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And that's when the guy went over and kept like yelling in his face and then Reacher just started cracking and he was like, stay down. I was like, how humiliating.
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, turns out Reacher knew knows what to do with that big boy body, you know.
Ken Rideout
Some shots. But anyway, he yeah, he's one of the neighbors there but my neighbors are awesome. All the people there are great.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And I have an Ethiopian daughter and we have really diverse neighbors, like a bunch of cool like former athletes and guys that are just like ran car thrown they're like always look out for you know, they're always like inviting us to do things so she's like in touch with the culture.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Which she's not without our friends.
Miles Burris
Yeah, that's cool.
Ken Rideout
So back to your acting. So when when the playing career ends, you're in you're in Minnesota for training camp?
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, I mean that was where I realized it's over, you know, cuz the knee just couldn't respond to all the pounding.
Ken Rideout
And where did you go from there?
Miles Burris
I went to Laguna Niguel and we we were at a spot. We were staying out there with my just my wife and I.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
Again, just watching Parks and Rec and kind of depressed and she was like, all right, let's get you into the acting thing classes. So I started going once a week driving up to LA and I remember thinking, well, I could just stay in living in a gallon you know, drive to LA whenever I get a gig and it's just an hour, right? You know,
Ken Rideout
Yeah, right.
Miles Burris
On paper. And then I did that once and I was like, oh, okay. It's like 6 hours just one way with all the traffic.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
So, what where are you taking the acting classes?
Miles Burris
Uh I was taking it in um I think it was Studio City maybe even. Um
Ken Rideout
Was it a school?
Miles Burris
You know, it was a it was Katshe. It was just one that randomly like kind of popped up at the top of Google and um started there and I trained, you know, it was cuz I had you know, a money cushion from football so I didn't have to work or and do anything else. So, I just started training and training cuz it's what I know. It's like, all right, if I know that, you know, the tunnel vision in football works so I'm going to do that in acting and just that's that's all I know.
Ken Rideout
And so, what was it like when you when you first started? Like what was the experience like?
Miles Burris
You know, the experience was like, I don't know anything about acting so I don't know if I'm like just dog crap bad, you know? And so, I probably would have believed somebody if they told me that, but I was getting, you know, good responses from my my acting coaches. And then my first audition I went on I ended up getting and it was uh I didn't know what the project would be until I got there. And the first guy I met was Randall Park who was leading the show, fresh off the boat actor.
And I was seeing familiar faces so I my first taste of it was uh legitimate like big budget pilot, you know, it didn't get picked up. Um but I had a, you know, big a good role in it. I got star role and that's where I met my manager. And so, things all kind of just aligned and um you know, I just felt like God was opening doors for me really quickly and that I was like kind of booking all my first auditions which is rare.
Ken Rideout
Did you have lines in that first show?
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
How nervous were you about remembering the lines?
Miles Burris
You know what? And this is I think some people might think I'm lying, but I've never really had a lot of nerves in acting. Um in football I I certainly did. Um and And of it might have been, now that I'm thinking of it, that first experience um on that show because I I I get there in the first and that was where I first fell in love with it, too. So, at the first rehearsal before we even, you know, had a real scene, like we're going through it and I was doing this character and and kind of threw a weird accent on it and that's partly how I booked the part and everybody laughed and stopped the rehearsal like when my first line came and I was like, "Oh, yeah, I love this." And then the first time in a scene it's just action, you just have to be on.
It's a similar kind of electricity that you get in football in some ways. And so, in that moment football was behind me. I was like, "That was oh, I can do this the rest of my life." I don't have to get hit by a 350-lb guard and, you know, you could do this forever. It's just fun, man.
Ken Rideout
That's awesome. So, no concerns about memorizing lines, you just jump in there. You're like, "Do you have lines?"
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you get um yeah, I wasn't really scared of of not memorizing [snorts] my lines. Um again, I think it's like a one of those things where I never understood what where there's actors are like, "I'm just so intimidated to be in a scene with this big
Ken Rideout
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Miles Burris
I'm like, "Why?"
Ken Rideout
Ever watched him play in the NFL?
Miles Burris
Yeah, like
This is not like the you got it's not a competition, you know? He's not trying to He's not trying to make you look bad for the movie. He wants to look good, you know, and everybody else. And if you screw it up, they'll just say, "Okay, let's do another take until you get it right, you know?" So, I never got that, you know, I get, you know, he's staring down the hood of just looking, "Okay, Marshawn Lynch, I got to meet him in the hole." That's really scary.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you can actually get hurt, not just your feelings.
Miles Burris
100%.
Ken Rideout
So, what was the first show you booked that was on TV?
Miles Burris
Um that one. Yeah, that one. Um and then
Ken Rideout
Was it the pilot or the pilot got aired?
Miles Burris
Yeah, they aired it and then
Ken Rideout
But they didn't pick it. Wasn't a regular.
Miles Burris
Yeah, exactly. Um and then Code Black was after that. It was a CBS show about like a hospital drama. Um so, I was just like some football player that got hurt and felt really guilty about it and um
Ken Rideout
Oh, so you had a dramatic scene. I always thought I I would have thought all your roles would be comedic.
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah. So, I need to start throwing other characters out there. I got a lot in my sleeve. I got
Ken Rideout
No, I got
Miles Burris
Comedy comes most natural to me. Um and yeah, I did trying to I can't remember the order of all of them, but I think the the roles that I'm most memorized or recognized for would be the Titus you know, Titus in season 2 of Righteous Gemstones. I played Keller one of the leads in the Safety movie. It's like a football Clemson movie on Disney Plus.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
Um I played Joe Feil which was an angel on the Lucifer show on Netflix and Rip Hardcore in this kids show called The Really Loud House. And uh oh, and Triple H in in The Young Rock. So, you know, there was a NBC Yeah, I think it was NBC.
Ken Rideout
How was the Righteous Gemstones working with Danny McBride? Cuz there's a lot of funny guys on that show.
Miles Burris
Dude, yeah. It was That was the hands down like the coolest set I've ever been on. Danny McBride, you know, on the first day just came and introduced himself and just seemed like a really down-to-earth dude and the whole set was very non-Hollywood kind of same vibe. Like a very down-to-earth, but um the whole thing was written like it's written so well, it's so hilarious. So, you go through kind of the scenes would work like you go through the the whole scene just as it's written and then they just kind of would keep the cameras running off often times.
And then all my scenes were you know, to support Adam DeVine and Tony Cavalero's characters. So, those guys are like improv geniuses. So, you have to be on your toes cuz they like throw you layups here and there and you know, you're like, "Okay, I got to hoop it."
Ken Rideout
What was the audition process like for for that show in particular, Righteous Gemstones?
I love that show.
Miles Burris
Yeah, that was a self-tape and that was that was really cool cuz
Ken Rideout
[clears throat]
Miles Burris
You know, I got to move out of LA to Nashville. You know, it was still kind of like a leap of faith in some ways because when COVID hit, all of the you couldn't audition in person. So, they they went fully to what's called self-tape, you just, you know, set your camera or your phone on a a tripod and read with your wife or some other actor, you know. And um and then you send out downloadable link, but that was so much more efficient and convenient and just more productive that they're like, all right, that's the new gold standard.
Ken Rideout
Dude, that's one of the silver linings of COVID for a lot of people. Look, I think that uh there's a lot of like woksters out there, [ __ ] artists that think like, I can't come to the office. Like, some businesses I think like a trading desk, I think you should probably be all sitting together in an office, which sucks for them, but it is what it is. I would always tell people like even with my own agency now, I'm like, "Hey, if you can get your job done efficiently for I don't care.
You could do it from the beach. You do your job." That's it. I don't care where you are, but some people can't handle that. Some people can.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And then some people have like six jobs. Yeah, but that's a different story. So, does that still carry over now? Do people still do Is it still a lot of it self-tape, which is probably what allows you and like Alan Ritchson, Reacher, to live in Nashville?
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, well, his his is that he's a big-time he's big-time now, so he can kind of live where he wants, but um yeah, it's still the thing and that was the when I the first job I booked when I moved to Nashville was was Righteous Gemstones.
Ken Rideout
Where did it Where did it record?
Miles Burris
Uh Charleston, South Carolina.
Ken Rideout
Oh, dude, that's perfect.
Was it a drive from here?
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah, I would drive it just so I could have my car and um
Ken Rideout
Not the same 4Runner.
Miles Burris
No.
But that was fun, you know, it was cool to be part of like throughout the whole, you know, the the season, you know, and just to have a, you know, normal steady job.
Ken Rideout
How many episodes?
Miles Burris
I was on, I think six of them or something.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really? How does something like that pay?
Miles Burris
Not
Ken Rideout
Get too much into your business, but I'm just curious.
Miles Burris
So it's all governed by SAG-AFTRA rates. Um And and you know, that's a big part of why I kind of got into the online space, too. Um again, you can't really you don't know when your next job is that you're going to book. And um there's a lot of time between. And as an athlete, it's just like, I'm going to go nuts. Like, I need to get on set. I need to So, I was like, okay, you know, watch the YouTube. Sylvester Stallone wrote himself in in Rocky.
I'll start writing. Maybe that's the fast track, you know. I just just like, I'm going to go the traditional path. I wasn't focused on social media at all. I didn't think it was going to be a thing. And um so, I built the craft of screenwriting and uh had one spec script that I wrote kind of take off a little bit in Hollywood and got a bunch of meetings and Netflix and other different production companies and realized, oh, this this actually could take like, you know, maybe 5 years before I ever see this on a screen and it's not what I thought it was.
So, uh got into the online space and it you know, changed my my life pretty immediately. Um monetarily and just, you know, even in Hollywood really. Because you realize like, okay, everybody from every industry is on these same apps swiping through and the algorithm's so, you know, sophisticated that whatever brand of whatever you're doing or kind of comedy, if they're into that kind of thing, like, they're seeing it. And so, like, the people in Hollywood and the producers, I've had, you know, in all those years I was an actor auditioning, you know, hundreds of auditions, you know, you get not very many of them.
Um I'd never had an offer where it's like, hey, you you got the part, you don't have to audition. We want you. You know, I've had like, I don't know, somewhere between five and 10 offers in the last eight months of doing social media. Just cuz people, you know, see me on there. It's like, oh, this is what I should have been doing the whole time. This is like the true marketing of getting your getting yourself out there and people seeing what you can do is just creating it yourself.
Ken Rideout
This is what every actor and every athlete should recognize of what's going on here. When people don't, like, a sport like running.
Mhm. know professional runners that don't make a lot of money and I know freaking runners who aren't real runners. They're influencers and they make a shitload of money. Yeah. The world is your oyster. Like if you want to make money, put yourself out there and make yourself marketable. If you're an actor, like uh you know the girl Issa Rae, the black girl that did Insecure? Dude, she was trying to be an actor for years, wasn't having luck. She made her own YouTube series. Like I think it was called initially Insecure Black Girl or something.
It became Insecure.
Miles Burris
Diaries of an Awkward Black Girl, She's a megastar now.
Ken Rideout
She did it on YouTube. And what I love about that is she was like, "Oh, you guys don't want to let me in? [ __ ] you. I'll make my own show." And now she owns Hollywood. She could do anything in Hollywood. And the same thing with Lena Dunham. Like these girls, I mean it's not really my style, but she literally puts her own stuff out there and it's just like, "I'm going to control the narrative [snorts] around me." And that's what I think when I see your stuff is like, yeah, the skits are hilarious and the like the fact that your neighbors go for that [ __ ] when you pull the shirt over the guy's head.
Like, "This is a Raiders neighborhood." It's so funny. But like I could see you making that character have a short YouTube series where it's like 15-minute episodes every few days. It's not highly You don't have to be having a highly produced. Your wife could be out there with a camera. Because if you make good content, they will find you. And I could if if I knew you had a YouTube series on this character like [ __ ] neighborhood bully, I would watch it every time. I'd be like calling you.
Like, "Hey, can I can I be in one of the things as a runner or something?"
Miles Burris
Could.
Ken Rideout
You had the guy there the guy with the curly hair and the hairy hairy body. There's like a neighbor guy. Dude, that guy's funny, too. But I don't even think he knows he's funny. He's so hairy. Is he just a neighbor?
Miles Burris
No, he's a buddy of mine. He was We met on the safety movie. He was my stunt double and then we kept in touch and we were in the Madden movie together and kind of, you know, got in touch again. And he's a musician. He was coming through Nashville. I I "Let's shoot Let's shoot some know?
Ken Rideout
Yeah, dude, he's funny. He's so hairy.
And then you got the um the guy that Todd's friends with, the little guy. Yeah, and yeah, Evan. He's hilarious.
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah. Yeah, we got we got a good comedy chemistry, Evan and I. And so we we've got some, you know, some We've actually We've got some projects we have to finish where it's to your point where it's, you know, kind of probably 20-minute series. Uh we made a pickleball pilot. Um
Ken Rideout
I'm going to come over and be your freaking manager and agent. I'm going to like start directing you guys and be like Guys, cut the [ __ ] Come up with a game plan and let's start putting out real content cuz I we work with a ton of brands that are just A lot of these brands are just looking for eyeballs.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And they're looking for content like guy content. You're like catering to guys like 18 to 50. Whatever the age demographic is, you can easily identify with all the metrics on YouTube and Instagram. But like that's your audience. This is Like you you could literally create your own destiny. Like, yeah, I don't need to [ __ ] do some acting gig, you know, a halfway across the country at SAG rates. I can make a YouTube video and make 100 grand in the next 2 weeks with this thing.
Miles Burris
Right. Yeah, and that's It's funny you're saying that. This has actually been like the next play for me that I've been uh really excited about is like, man, I want to just start making my own film and TV. Just putting it out for free on YouTube. And then because I've seen like, okay, this is this is going to work. Like I've started just throwing these things out here and I'm getting jobs. I'm I'm getting all these brand deals and people will find you to your point and and that is That's really cool because that was true in athletics.
It's like it doesn't matter where you're at in a small podunk town of 37 people. If you're good enough, the NFL will find you.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Miles Burris
You know, and that hasn't been true in the traditional Hollywood system, but that's not the traditional path anymore. It's like you better you got to go like in Hollywood, what makes you attractive is building heat in something else.
Ken Rideout
That's right.
Miles Burris
It's like the wrestlers and the that but you you got to create your own thing, get buzz, and now they're interested.
Ken Rideout
Well, dude, I mean, you were a [ __ ] superstar football player. Fourth round draft pick to the Raiders is a is a like real athlete. I didn't know you from the Raiders, but I know you from kicking over trash cans in the neighborhood. And I said to Todd, I'm like, this guy is hilarious. I want to like learn more about him.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Which is why I was telling you earlier like I try to find out as much as I can during the conversation. So people at home are like kind of learning about you with me.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
You know what I mean? So sometimes people like, you don't even know anything about that guy. I'm like, yeah, no [ __ ] That's why I wanted to interview him on the show so I could learn more cuz it was enough that I was interested. But I think that you have like so much potential to do that to do the kind of stuff like you're talking about. What what brands are you working with? Let's give them some plugs.
Miles Burris
Yeah, right now Alpha Lion Ends.
Ken Rideout
Alpha Lion sounds like the perfect brand for you.
Miles Burris
It's a good partnership. It's been fun.
Ken Rideout
What do they make?
Miles Burris
They make Yeah, I rip like their pre-workout supplements, but they make a bunch of different supplements.
Ken Rideout
Sounds about right.
Miles Burris
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's strong too. Yeah, it's it's you hit her.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, it's got cocaine in it.
Miles Burris
The old Jack3d ones? Remember those? Um so I'm working with like 12 or 13 brands this month.
Ken Rideout
Oh, Jesus, really?
Miles Burris
My tracker, but um yeah, but you have
Ken Rideout
Ends make?
Miles Burris
Ends is performance pouches. So, you know, a lot of people are trying to get off nicotine pouches. So, they like the ritual though, so they switch to to this and so it's nootropics in there. It's a GPC, L-theanine, L-tyrosine and there's ones that have also 50 mg of caffeine.
Ken Rideout
Oh, perfect.
Miles Burris
Which I've kind of noticed too that 50 mg, you know, pound for pound goes hits harder than like a you know, soda can has probably 50 mg, but I think it's just cuz it goes right into your gums, you know. Um so those feel good.
Ken Rideout
People um don't understand how lucrative YouTube can be for um for people that perform because it's literally like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more eyeballs you get, the more your rate per click goes, the CPM. So like every if for people that don't know, when you click on a YouTube show that has like a million views, you'll notice that you get ads served to you in the middle of the video, which is so frustrating.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
When you see that, you know they're making money.
Miles Burris
Money.
Ken Rideout
Cuz they don't keep If you see a video that you just click play and no ads come up, [ __ ] they're not getting paid. But when you see those lots of ads run, like you can't watch a Mr. Beast video without getting served 10 ads. But that's why he's making probably 100 million dollars a year from YouTube. It's crazy.
Miles Burris
It is wild, man.
Ken Rideout
But the build the bigger you build that audience and the more eyeballs you can get for YouTube/Google, they'll pay you for that.
Miles Burris
Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to start to your point like kind of low-fi content, like not It doesn't have to be super high production, but you know, where I can run and and really let loose is in character and in dialogue. I can write all day.
So, if you set a camera up, I mean I won't have any problem have with some buddies and some cameras, like we can we can riff all day and make stories and do that. Uh and I want to throw a lot at the wall and it just takes one to really pop off. And we'll dial in on that one and, you know,
Ken Rideout
Yeah, but you got you've already got that character and that that guy that's so funny. The one recently where you were like pulled the draft card out of the mailbox and you're like, "Oh, I see who the Raiders are on the clock fourth round draft pick." That's how I even knew you were a fourth round draft pick. I'm like, "Oh [ __ ] he got drafted in the fourth round." It's crazy.
Miles Burris
It is. And that was even a cool situation. The Raiders reached out to me, you know, um that's my team. Yeah, I played all my career there. I grew up going to games there. Uh I've always wanted like make content with them and and that kind of thing and they reached out just cuz, you know, they'd seen me on there and they and they needed So, they're like, "We're actually going to save your post for, you know, the actual draft day." And it popped off, I think a lot more than they even thought it would.
And so, they're like, "All right, all right, come out to Vegas for the uh for the parties, you know, but you know, leave
Ken Rideout
Have told them, "I'm only going to do it if Brady will agree to make one of the neighborhood videos with me." Dude, he owns the team. He's the kind of guy that would do something like that.
Miles Burris
Yeah, he might.
Ken Rideout
He knows how to market.
Miles Burris
He does. He definitely does.
Ken Rideout
You tell him like, "Hey, we can get some more eyeballs on the team. Let's do this." Come up with a concept where it's like neighborhood guy with it's like I could see him out there like playing with his kids and then you come up like, "Hey guys, what's up? You guys training?" And then Brady starts like throwing you drilling you with a football.
Miles Burris
I go pick off the ball he's throwing to his kid. He'd be like, "See, it's the second time, dude."
Ken Rideout
Or swarming him like or swarming him and sack him as he's like throwing passes to the neighborhood kids.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
That's funny. Well, brother, thanks for doing this, man. I hope that everyone's enjoys this. Uh things aren't over until you say they're over and one where one door closes another one opens and it can sound of corny and cliche, but [ __ ] life is what you make of it. Whatever you think of yourself, it's the truth.
Miles Burris
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
You think that you're that you're just a football player? Okay, then that's who you are. But in your case, you were like, "No, I'm an actor, too." And now I think that more people will know you from acting than football and you had an awesome football career. So,
Miles Burris
No doubt.
Ken Rideout
Happy to introduce you to some more people and uh I'm definitely going to come over and be your manager/agent on your YouTube channel. So, thanks for doing this, brother.
Miles Burris
You're in. You're If you show up, you're getting thrown in some videos, too. That's just how it goes.
Ken Rideout
Go. I'm ready.
Miles Burris
Well, thanks for having me on Ken. This has been awesome, man.
Ken Rideout
My pleasure, bro. Thanks for being with us, guys. If you want to check out my book, it's available everywhere you buy books. Everything you want is on the other side of hard. Miles will tell you it's hard to play for the Raiders. It's hard to be an actor, but all the good stuff is on the other side. Thanks for being with us. Boom. All right, guys. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a quick minute to subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening.
Ken Rideout
My new book is called Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard and it comes out March 10th available everywhere you buy books or again go into the other side of hard.com. There's multiple links there where you can find all the retailers carrying the book. Thanks a lot for being with us and we'll see you next week.
Key takeaways
- The new San Diego State staff changed the team's culture by pushing effort and accountability.
- A rookie can grow into the job when coaches allow room to make mistakes and play to his strengths.
- A serious injury can end a career before an athlete is ready to let it go.
- Treating acting like football meant training consistently and taking each opportunity seriously.
- Making original work online can create new audiences, acting offers, and brand opportunities.
Nowhere to Hide
A weekly letter from Ken Rideout about doing the uncomfortable part, and the reasons we use to avoid it.
It starts with 3 Days, 3 Hard Things: one short story from Ken and one hard thing to do, every day for three days. Then one letter a week.
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