Rob Ninkovich joins the show!
Live from Sam Adams Boston Taproom! Rob Ninkovich joins the show!
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00:00The former New England Patriot linebacker, our pal, Rob Nikovich.
00:05Hello, everybody. How are you?
00:07What's your choice of...
00:09So this, I do believe, is Boston Brick Red.
00:12And you can only get that here or some of the old bars from what I was told.
00:17Is that accurate? I think yes. Yes, that's accurate.
00:20So you can't get this...
00:21Are you happy with it?
00:22Yeah, it's terrific.
00:23I've never had a red beer before.
00:24It's good.
00:25Before we get to everything else, I have to say this.
00:27Yesterday, my YouTube algorithm is just bizarrely dedicated to old Patriots games.
00:32Yeah.
00:33You were absolutely monstrous in the divisional game against Tebow and the Broncos.
00:37Oh, yeah. I killed them. Yeah.
00:39That might have been your best.
00:42You know what I regret about that game?
00:44And I should have done it, but they approached me to do mic'd up, right?
00:49And at the time, I might be a little bit OCD, a little crazy.
00:55And when I'm playing, I don't know what I'm saying.
00:57So I'm thinking to myself...
00:58As soon as the words came out of their mouth, did Edelman jump in front and say,
01:02I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it.
01:05So I just was like, I don't want that in my head.
01:08I don't want to have to think about what I'm saying to somebody,
01:11what I'm telling somebody.
01:11Really?
01:12Oh, yeah.
01:12Are a lot of guys like that? They don't want to do it?
01:15Well, remember, I mic'd up was different.
01:18Yeah.
01:18This one is a concealed mic'd up.
01:21So if you go up to somebody and you say something and they say something back
01:24or you're going into something, everyone knows what you're saying.
01:27But isn't the NFL going to protect you guys?
01:29So they're not going to release if you say something.
01:31No. You've seen some people say some stuff that they wish they don't have out there
01:35for everyone to hear.
01:36And so for me, I didn't want to have to go up to somebody and be like, yo.
01:39Like, especially in a playoff game, because you're focused in on...
01:43When you sacked Tebow, did he say like, and also with you?
01:48That guy, he's pretty good. He's strong.
01:50Let's just say he was strong.
01:52Throwing the ball was a challenge.
01:54And that's very, very key as a quarterback.
01:56You have to throw.
01:56The trash talking was next level.
02:01I don't know.
02:01You think it's as intense as it was back then?
02:04Well, I don't know.
02:05Maybe back then.
02:05That's why I mic'd up was when we did it, it was very beep.
02:11Everything was beeped out.
02:13And I think guys are aware.
02:14It's a little bit more rah-rah.
02:16I think people are just too nice now.
02:17Yes.
02:19I mean, think about Ray Lewis.
02:20He used to be like, oh, let me help you up.
02:22He was trying to kill you.
02:24Well, literally.
02:27Did you happen to hear Robert Kraft on the show?
02:30I did on the write-in.
02:31Yes, Beantown.
02:32What did you think about what he said about Gerard Mayo and his ability to coach the new player?
02:42So I do think that if you are a former player, you have the ability to express to a player.
02:51I know how it feels to miss a tackle.
02:54I know how it feels to have a mental error and mess a play up.
02:58Let's move past that.
02:59And I think you go into certain instances where there were times where I would look
03:04at Matty P and just say, here, take my helmet.
03:08If you're so good, you can do it better.
03:10Can you do it?
03:12And then we'd get in an argument about it.
03:14I know how it feels that you want more money.
03:16Yeah.
03:19And I love Matty.
03:20And we have a great relationship.
03:21But there's a difference.
03:23And I think certain players look at guys that played, and they have a different viewpoint
03:29of those guys.
03:29And Mayo, having been a player, Rookie of the Year, team captain, you can put yourself
03:36in the player's shoes, how they feel in training camp.
03:39If you're the last guy on the roster, and you're doing everything you can to just scratch
03:44and claw to try and stay on the roster, you know exactly how that feels.
03:48So you can relate to the pressures and the feelings that you have in the preseason, in
03:54the regular season, in the playoffs, all those things.
03:56It's very taxing.
03:58Everyone asks me, like, wow, Niko, you look great.
04:00I'm like, yeah, because I'm not stressed out of my mind.
04:03And every single day, I was having someone look at me and be like, oh, he's kind of chubby
04:07today.
04:08Let's see if we can replace him.
04:11It was a very stressful environment.
04:12Everything you do is, you know, always critiqued.
04:15Do you think it's hurting the fact that Matt Judon is being so vocal right now because
04:20he feels that maybe deeper connection or more open connection with Gerrard Mayo?
04:25Well, you know, anytime you're going through contract stuff, you know, for me personally,
04:30I always wanted to keep it close, tight to the chest, right?
04:33I know there's different ways, tactical ways of negotiating.
04:37But honestly, as a football player, you're trying to maximize every single day that you
04:43have because we all know that it's a very short amount of time that you can play football.
04:47And the contracts right now are getting crazy.
04:49They're not out of control.
04:53They are in line with what the market says they are, right?
04:56So if you have a defensive end that's supposed to make 20 million bucks a year and he's
05:01making 10, then you got to try and bridge that gap, right?
05:06So I think that Judon is in the position now where he's at an age that it gets difficult
05:12because if you're 32, then you're 33, you sign a three-year deal, then you're 35.
05:17You know how many 35-year-old guys are still playing?
05:20I mean, Aaron Donald right now is retired at 33.
05:22But you don't think you win by making your coach look bad, by dressing your coach.
05:28You can't think that was a good move.
05:29When I say keep things close to your chest, I feel like conversations,
05:34you know, interactions should always stay private, you know?
05:38And when you start to put things out there, then that creates more conflict, more tension,
05:45you know?
05:45And it's never good when you're trying to get something done and they're trying to get
05:50something done and there's conflict.
05:51But see, the issue, I think...
05:52It's like me and doing the dishes, me and my wife.
05:54If I put it out there, it's not a good thing.
05:56I just got to keep it real quiet, do what I'm told, you know?
06:00I think the biggest issue that a lot of...
06:03Because you got to understand, it's every player handles things differently.
06:07Some guys like, Rob, keep it close to the chest.
06:10You know, I was a guy that I was always trying to be the nice guy because I knew I didn't
06:15have the leverage, right?
06:16So there are guys like, Judon looks at it, goes, well, I played in four games last year,
06:20I had four sacks.
06:21I got the leverage.
06:22He doesn't have the leverage.
06:23So the problem is, as you get older, your leverage is, no matter how you play, is diminishing
06:30because of the fact that they don't care.
06:32I don't care what you did five years, four years ago.
06:34I don't care what you did last year.
06:35But the older you get, you get to F you.
06:38Here's what I'm going to say.
06:39Some guys do.
06:40And then you can look at your roster and you say, well, 93 looks pretty good.
06:44They got some rushers that are pretty hungry and they're doing whatever they can.
06:48So you have to look at things in a perspective of, okay, what's my timeline here?
06:54What do I have?
06:55What's the most amount of time that I can get something done?
06:58And dependent on what that player wants.
07:01So I don't know what Junon wants.
07:03Nobody knows what the price is or the asking price is because I assume that if it was just
07:09guaranteeing this year, it would have been done.
07:11If it was extending for three years or something that was more relative to what the top five
07:17pass rushers, I mean, the top pass rushers are making $35 million a year.
07:22But do you think Junon looks at it?
07:24You have to be smart in that situation.
07:26Do you think he looks at it from the perspective of, okay, I'm making what?
07:30Six and a half million dollars this year.
07:33I know that I should be valued at, I don't know, 17, 18.
07:38I'm just pulling a number out of that.
07:39Do you think he looks at it and goes, if New England is to trade me, I'm going to get that
07:44from another organization?
07:45The hard part about that is age, right?
07:48And that everybody is up against the clock.
07:50And I sat down at a table and me and Bill Belichick looked at each other in the eyes.
07:54He said, Rob, I've never extended a 33-year-old defensive end ever.
07:58I was like, oh, wow.
07:58Okay.
07:59Well, I better re-evaluate this situation.
08:04All right.
08:04I'm 32.
08:05I'm going to be 33.
08:07So I think that's telling me something.
08:10So you have to look at things in the perspective.
08:13You have to appreciate the honesty.
08:14Oh, a hundred percent.
08:15Transparency.
08:16I said, okay, that's great.
08:18Thanks.
08:19I appreciate it.
08:20Bill doesn't like his players and other people.
08:22So I mean, and you talk about this is the slippery slope on production.
08:28You look at David Andrews, for example.
08:30Right.
08:31I would give David Andrews the bumps to help, hey, I feel a little underappreciated here.
08:37I've done a lot of things for this organization.
08:39I've won Super Bowls.
08:40I've been the guy.
08:41I've been the captain.
08:42I've done everything the right way.
08:44I'd give him a bump.
08:45Yes, because you have young guys that look at the older guys.
08:50If you're an offensive lineman, you're first in the league.
08:52You're looking at David Andrews like, man, this is how I want to replicate my career.
08:57I want to play a long time.
08:58I want to make money, provide for my family, all those things.
09:01So you give a guy like that a bump because every single day he comes in.
09:06He's a leader.
09:08He does the right things.
09:09He makes the right moves.
09:10Now you have to make sure that you give the right guys the right bumps and the wrong guys.
09:18You just have to either let them walk if they want too much.
09:20When you look at the past of the Patriots, there are plenty of guys that could have been extended
09:25that walked out the door and got huge contracts.
09:29And that's the name of the game.
09:31You were on the Saints.
09:32You were on the Dolphins before you came to the Patriots.
09:35And the Patriots today more resemble those Saints and Dolphins teams in terms of-
09:39Oh, no.
09:40No, no, no.
09:41Not even close.
09:41I was one in 15 with a Miami Dolphins team.
09:44Fights on the airplane.
09:46Guys losing $300,000 before practice.
09:50Real issues.
09:50I'm talking, I saw guys lose their whole paycheck in one hand.
09:55Hooray for the boot.
09:56Yeah, hooray for the boot.
09:58You know, I was doing it.
09:59He knew exactly what I was doing.
10:00The whole paycheck?
10:01Bang, $300,000.
10:02I'm like, my goodness.
10:04$300,000 in one hand?
10:05Oh, yeah.
10:06Oh, my God.
10:07Oh, yeah.
10:08Oh, yeah.
10:08Hooray for the boot.
10:09You owe me.
10:10And I'm sitting there like, man, we're owing 10.
10:11I wonder if this is an issue for chemistry.
10:15Not good.
10:15That's an IOU.
10:16Yeah, yeah.
10:17And you thank God for Greg Camarillo in overtime.
10:20A slant route against the Ravens.
10:22And we were not owing 16.
10:24Because if the only reason we were not owing 16 was Greg Camarillo.
10:29And you know, we had Trent Green that year that went down.
10:32Cleo Lemon was our starting quarterback.
10:34Joey Porter, they just gave a ton of money to.
10:36He's talking about taking shots at Hennessy before the game.
10:38Oh, my God.
10:38It was nuts.
10:39Not him.
10:40IOU's got to be paid by Tuesday.
10:42It was nuts.
10:43You know, Joey Porter walks up to me.
10:44He's like, Niko, can you grab this $100 bill?
10:46And I have no money.
10:48I have no money.
10:49I'm just a practice squad kid.
10:51He takes the $100 bill.
10:53And he goes, here, try to grab it.
10:54He drops it.
10:54I miss it.
10:55He goes, you owe me $100.
10:56I said, no.
10:57No, I don't.
10:58And he didn't even call me Niko.
10:59He called me Koo Coach.
11:00Because I look like Tony Koo Coach, I guess.
11:03I didn't even know your name.
11:04He's like, Wiki.
11:06We got to take a quick break.
11:07All right.
11:08I want to get your thoughts on last night.
11:09If you can get anything from that.
11:11I know.
11:11Yeah, there's a long game.
11:13When I watch preseason, I'm like, oh.
11:15I want to know.
11:15I like to see the order of when guys are in,
11:19who they're going against.
11:21And at the end of the day, production, if you produce,
11:26whoever you're playing against is great.
11:28So when they put guys out there, they
11:30put them in there for a reason in certain orders
11:32against who they're playing against.
11:33It's maybe backups, maybe third strings,
11:36guys that might not be there.
11:37OK.
11:37But we'll get your thoughts.
11:39All right.
11:40The great Rob Ninkovich is our guest here
11:42at the Sam Adams Taproom, downtown Faneuil Hall.
11:46Our fifth birthday show.