The 6-1-1 Podcast Ep. 5: Justin Tuck
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So hey, welcome everybody to another episode of the 611. It's your boy Ryan Howard along with my man Young James. Yes sir. Jimmy Rollins. Jimmy. Yes. The person that we have on today is a two-time Super Bowl champion. Okay.

First team, all pro, 2008 was a great year. A fantastic year. Fantastic year. For everybody here on this podcast today, 2008 was a great year. Amazing year. Second team, all pro, 2010. We're going to have to go back and we're going to have to talk to somebody about that. Two-time pro bowler.

New York Jets Ring of Honor. Jets. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. New York Giants. The disrespect. New York Giants, the disrespect. The disrespect. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm going to slap myself. The disrespect. The Jets can only wish. The Jets can only wish. New York Giants Ring of Honor, my bad. But even more so and important is now the managing director at Goldman Sachs. Oof.

- Man. - That's doing something. - Let's give up a 6-1-1 welcome to Justin Tuck. - Yes, yes sir, yes sir. - Thank you, thank you. - What's up, sir? Welcome, welcome.

Hold on. Before we get started, hey, look, if you want to get back at him about that Jets comment, you can have it. We going to be quiet. You need to take that line. Hey, I fumbled that one. There's a lot of things I can say, but I learned that my wife's from Philadelphia, so I know he still loves in that time.

- I don't wanna get any more enemies 'cause Philadelphia's not that far away, man. Them guys are not that crazy. So I'm somewhat okay with going to Philadelphia and I wanna keep it that way. So I'm gonna let R.A. slide on that one. - I appreciate you. - All right, there it is. - Well, hey, you know what? Actually, that's a great way to kind of get into this because obviously having played in New York for the Giants. - For the Giants. - Right? - Not the Jets, the Giants. - The rivalry with the Eagles.

right yeah us playing and playing for the phillies and having played against the mets how would you say or compare like that that rivalry was when you were playing yeah i would say for the most part during my tenure in the nfl that was the bigger of the robberies for me personally because i have so many ties down to the philadelphia area there's more of a respect for the rivalry um while we

my wife's from philadelphia all her family still lives in the area i still want to be invited for thanksgiving right he's an up off of that yeah i was the business school in philadelphia so i have love for that city differently than i would have love for dc or dallas just because i haven't spent as much time in dc and dallas so like yeah philly is uh and then obviously seeing what they're doing now uh they are the model of the nfc east right now in the nfc for that matter so yeah that rivalry was pretty strong when i was playing

And just to get a little bit deeper into it, it is a respect thing. Two teams that are really good at the same time fighting for literally the same honor. There can only be one champion at the end of the year. And you look at the other side and you go position by position and you see the talent. And you look at your side and you go position by position and you see the talent.

Outside of respect, you said, you know, Dallas, you hate it. I'm a Niner fan growing up through and through. So I feel the same way we share that. I cannot stand them cowgirls. Cowboys, my bad.

You said it right. For us, at the same time, I just, I did not like the Mets. My favorite color is blue until I saw it with the orange stripe. You know what I'm saying? It's just, we look at position by position and it was what New York represents versus what Philly represented. I think there's always going to be some disdain. So outside of the respect thing, were there times where you just like, I really can't stand this team because...

Just because. There's no rhyme or reason. I didn't have a reason to not like the Mets. I just didn't. You know what I'm saying? You didn't need a reason. Listen, I grew up a Cowboy fan. I mean, growing up in Alabama, there was only one, depending on which side you was on, there was only one team that you rooted for. That was either the Crimson Tide or the Auburn Tigers. But outside of that, I mean, listen, I grew up

I kind of went back and forth from an NFL perspective between the Cowboys and the Niners. To be honest with you, I love running a lot and Jerry Rice and didn't really like quarterbacks, but Montana was cool, right? Because he was good with the defense. I just never have liked quarterbacks and that's probably why I was a defensive end. So like, yeah, running a lot and how he played the game. Charles Haley, those guys, I love them. The Cowboys was like,

during my time man growing up they were like 18. so it's easy to flock to that i mean when i got drafted by giants though that that disdain for both of those teams quickly quickly quickly happened right and i mean now i think it's no secret that project child boys is the team that i hate the most i've been very verbal about that but i think a lot of that comes from

Again, some level of respect, right? Because they were so good. They were so talented. To your point, you look at the guys you get to play against, you know, those games, I'm assuming y'all guys feel the same way, but those games that y'all played against the Mets, they were always heated. They were always important. No matter if you guys were in the race or not, or they were in the race or not,

Those type of games always seem to bring the best out of you and they challenge a lot of different things. Your manhood, how you play the game. No matter if that team was 3-8 or they were number one seed in the NFC, those games are always really, really, really intense. I think a lot of it could have had to do too with, for me personally, like

I was, you know, my first couple years in the league and then obviously with the success that the Mets had, my mindset was always to be the best, you got to beat the best. And so in looking at the Mets and then how the rivalry just grew, New York, Philly, big brother, little brother type city. And then my man over here, Young James, made the comment in 2007 that we were the team to beat. Now, mind you.

We hadn't won anything. It didn't matter. We hadn't even made the playoffs since like what, 93? 93, yeah. So. It didn't matter. But we were the team to beat where the Mets I think had won like the last two years. No, no. So what happened, the Braves, they had just knocked off the Braves. Yeah, they just knocked, yeah. So it was kind of like the Braves mystique on an NL East was like, it's over. Yeah. As I saw it, it was like y'all did a favor for everyone else. Right. You took the mystique off. It's not yours though.

Like it's one year, they won 14 straight or whatever it was. And y'all just happened to be the team that knocked them off. So it's up for grabs. That's how I felt, which is why I looked at our team, you know, made the statement, but you know, as history reflects, you know, I wasn't wrong. Well, when you made the statement, obviously that Russell, that, that Russell, a lot of feathers. Yeah. And so thankfully. Yeah. And, and, and,

And like I said, it was one of those things where it was like the next time we went to New York, the blues got louder, the atmosphere got more intense. And it was one of those things where it's like the hairs on the back of your neck stood up and it was like, hey, let's go. Let's go. Man, I remember it was like, I'm not condoning it. It was about at least three, four fights in a stance. You know what I mean? Every time. It was every game. So it was like you knew, we knew the intensity on the field.

But even more so in the stands, it was like they weren't putting up with it. So the New York-Philly rivalry will be forever. It'll be forever. It's never going to happen. There's a lot of that kind of complexity around the fact that Philly is so close. When you think about great rivalries, typically that adds that extra, extra to it. For sure.

There are some times I saw some of the Eagles in Atlantic City or saw them in New York City. And like when we see each other in a restaurant, it's kind of like that, you know, respect, but also like, I don't really, I don't really mess with you like that. Yeah, for sure. He can be a great guy, but he played for the Eagles. He could have been on the Eagles for a year. Right. Just because you're now on the roster, it just kind of, you know, and that's just how it is. That's, that's what it is. I felt the same way, but yeah,

With that being said, trash talk. You know, like when I said we're the team to beat, it was considered trash talk. But in my heart, I was speaking facts. But there are times you're going to trash talk. Now, in baseball, we don't have the opportunity like you guys do. Y'all lining up every day. No.

across from somebody in their face, in their head. You know what I'm saying? They double team you. You know what I'm saying? You get around them. What is that like? Because in baseball, we get the first base. I talk to Ryan. You know what I'm saying? That's pretty much about it. We don't really get a chance to unless it's intermediate. But for y'all, y'all lining up every down. Depending on how much you want to get signed, we can do it.

You can go see anybody on the field. Like a D-line can go see a wide receiver doing a play or vice versa, right? It's just like knowing like, all right, what's my – there's been some times, right, where I'll tell my guys like, listen, I know I got the C-gap, but like I'm going to go down in the A-gap because me and this center got a problem. So that's – I got to go see him this play. So just – like stuff like that happens in the game, absolutely. Absolutely.

But like trash talking NFL, I mean, I wasn't a trash talker. I was more of a, I retaliated, right? My thing was like, listen, I'm out here to play the game. I love playing the game. I'm going to compete at the highest level. And I don't need, I never needed this kind of rah-rah mentality.

to like get me ready to play the game i don't need to like go and pick a fight to get me more excited to play the game when i step on that inside those white lines i'm ready to go that's how i've always been but like obviously some people need to like wrap themselves up and so like guys are coming like i'm like why would you start with me i'm the quietest person out here but i do have that street where if i get flipped it's it is what it is so typically i was kind of like the retaliators just like listen man whatever

Whatever. But like, I've seen some cats just they woke up in the morning talking. And that's just how they get ready to play the game. So it happens a ton.

Typically, you try to let people know if you mic'd up because, hey, man, we don't want this stuff getting back to the airwaves. But most of the time, I didn't really run into a lot of trash talking because we got the opportunity to take it out on each other during the play. So it wouldn't need me talking about it, right? If I had a problem with you or if I wanted to exert my dominance, I got the opportunity to do that every play. So it wouldn't even need me talking about it. It was more about, hey, I'm going to show you this.

So, but when you did flip that switch. He would call a stunt. Right. He going to take that right leg out wide, get him a shift, and come all the way around to the center. Well, that's where the coach is like.

we didn't call that play. So then do you, when you go off on the sideline and coach was like, Hey, we didn't call that. Like, and then you got to explain to him and say, Hey, I had some business I had to go take care of real quick. Listen, I obviously didn't, I didn't start doing that until I, you know, second contract, Justin, man. You become captain, you win a couple of Superbowl, you can start doing stuff like that. But honestly, it was more about the team, right? It was more about like, we had got, we, I,

I hate this term dog, but we had so many dogs on those teams where it'd be like Antonio Pierce being my captain and my middle linebacker. Bruh, we had hand signals, and he would know, like, all right, cool.

and like he would make sure the linebacker slip slipped a different way or make sure we rotate our safety a different way just by like knowing that like either me oc or straight hand or all of us was going to do something up front because that's how we won and again i'm not i'm not i'm not saying one position is more value than the next but like we won those championships because we dominated up front and i think our our linebackers and our safeties understood that so they gave us a lot of

a coverage from our being creative up front and put a lot of pressure on quarterbacks and offensive linemen. So like when we did it, if you did it and you won,

you got to do it again and like we won most of them right so we got a lot of a lot of a lot of clearance from our office our defensive coordinators because hey when we we typically did something yes it was to feel a vendetta but it was also going to be like hey i'm going to make a play too right i'm not going to go down and sacrifice the scheme of the defense just for me to you know go you know prove a point so

All of that, I mean, that's why I think the best trash talk was where the people who could back it up in a way that still benefited the team. Was there any quarterbacks that when you did flip that trash talk switch on that you spoke the most trash talk to? Listen, the only quarterback that ever literally talked to me in a trash talking way was Phillip Rivers. It's funny, we grew up playing against each other. I remember that.

I don't know if y'all know Phillip. Phillip is an awesome dude, Christian dude, but on the field, he just constantly. So that's the only quarterback that literally I probably wanted to rip his head off. Even though he's a nice guy, we went in the Alabama Hall of Fame together. He's from Alabama. We played against each other in high school, college, and they ended in a pro.

He just talks so much. But again, he backed it up too. So it wasn't like he didn't. And plus, like quarterbacks, if I was a quarterback, I would be the one that probably talks the most crap because you got five 360 pounds in front of you to protect you. Can't nobody touch you. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. And plus, they create all these rules around where you can and cannot hit a quarterback. So even when we get to him, we still got to be somewhat careful.

Gently. Unless you want to get dinged 100K or something like that. Right? So, like, if I was a quarterback, I would talk trash, too. All day, every day. What's the funniest thing a quarterback said to you, like, after you hit him? I mean, the funniest thing is just noises. Like, sounds in there. Ha ha ha!

I mean, listen, that ain't me saying like, oh, I'm big and macho, but think about it. I'm 6'5". I played at 270, 275 pounds. I ran, you know, sub 4'5". So I ran like 4'5"-ish.

So you think about that type of force coming off the edge, and typically the quarterback doesn't actually know he's about to get hit. I would make a noise too, but like I just remember like – I ain't going to say his name because I like the guy, but like I just remember sacking the quarterback. It's okay that you like him. It's okay that you like him. We got to know. It's not even for us. It's for the listeners. They want to know. I'll narrow it down. He's a Dallas quarterback. Just heard him like kind of just give like a –

Like weird noise. And after the game, he came up to me and I think he broke my ribs. And it turns out, I think I did. I've always did. You were happy about that, though. Don't lie. You can say it now. You were like, yeah. I mean, I've narrowed it down. I'm guessing people can Google and figure out what I'm talking about. But anyway, he's a really good golfer. Got it.

And after the game, I just found that funny because I was like, man, y'all guys get paid a lot of money to do what you do. But like, there's no way I want to be quarterback because I know what people like me think. And I'm trying to do every play. And no, I don't want to be back there. I give a lot of credit to those guys for staying back there because we got some crazy people in that D-line that's trying to. And like, that is like the golden grail. A sack for us is like you guys hitting like a grand slam in the bottom. In the moment.

That's the moment. Right. And like it could be a sack where you listen. I've seen guys get up and celebrate like they just won a lotto and their team is down by four touchdowns and they got a sack in a meaningless game. And it's still like that is still like stupid for them. Right. So like that's how we feel every time we sack a quarterback. So just imagine how much emphasis we're putting on that play to play to get back there. So I would not want to play quarterback.

At all. Yeah, see, and this is why I play football, but it stopped at Pop Warner because when that weight limit got outside of the norms,

I wouldn't get hit by dudes like Tuck. Dudes like, first of all, you wouldn't gonna catch me because I'm going out of bounds. I'm not even funny. Ain't no north or south. It's east and west. If I could get a little north and I'm hitting that sideline, I'm out the way. But yeah, that's why. Because I was a quarterback because I could throw the ball.

but I could barely see over the line too. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, I could barely see over the line and you trying to chase me down? Nah, nah, that's not gonna happen. That ain't gonna happen. - I mean, I don't know if y'all been paying attention to it, but these guys are just getting bigger, faster, stronger, man. I looked at some new linemen and this guy is like six, eight. He's like Julius Peppers type, like six, eight, like 295 and can run on like a four, five. I'm like, bro.

Just a free. And, like, you guys know how you play games, right? Like, I don't think what the casual fan will understand is, like, okay, that 4-5 in the heat of a game turns into a 4-4. Right. Because he's chasing somebody, right? That speed just kicks up even more, right? So, like...

I mean, man, it's impressive to see where these athletes have gone. And I'm not that old, right? I've been out of the league that long. But these guys are just bigger, faster, stronger. It seems like every event each other is getting better and better. Obviously, I'm talking about football. But I'm sure you guys are seeing it in the baseball side of things, basketball, et cetera, right? So it's pretty impressive what these guys can do now.

Is there anybody, when you look at baseball, look at baseball, and you're talking about the guys that we call freaks. Is there anybody, well, one, two-part question. One, who are some of those in your tenure guys that were playing, that you sat there and

whether a teammate, somebody that you played against and you had to watch them because what they did was so impressive. You said Julius Peppers, he's one, you know, are there others? And two, is there anybody, when you look at baseball, cause we know you pay attention to sports, you know, you never, you never too far away from anything. Is there anybody in baseball that you see could possibly have a chance in football?

Well, on the football side, obviously, I'm a huge fan of Pep. Just like he was kind of like that. My like a little bit older than me, but my advantage of a guy that like, man, you just look at him like, yo, you built. I know you play basketball, but you're not a basketball player.

And that's just because he was a phenomenal athlete. But like, he was built to play football and not only play football, he was built to play D line. Like you, if you look at that dude, it's like, it's stupid. Uh, he is definitely one. As far as a teammate, I would probably say Jason Pierre Paul is just a freak. Like, you know, getting to watch Jason as a, as a rookie come in. And I mean, not no, not nothing about football. Yeah.

And people don't believe me when I say that. I will be like, hey, who is Joe Montana? And he'd be like,

I'm like, who is Barry Sanders? No clue. Cricket? Zero. And we thought he was joking. But like, to his credit, this guy grew up in Haiti, went to Florida. I think he had played like equivalent of like 18 total football games by the time we drafted him. Because he played like half a season in high school, went to Juco, played like six games, went to South Florida, played like one season, but he didn't finish the season. Like, it's weird. And

And we drafted him first, you know, our first pick. He comes. And I was wondering, like, man, why did we draft? I see long arms, tall, you know, freakish, whatever. But, like, why did we draft? And then one day after a two-day practice, like one of our hardest, hardest sessions of the year so far, we're full past both practices. I was just dead tired. We used to...

We used to train camp up in Albany on this field and you got to walk up the hill. He walks up the hill carrying our pads because he's working dead tired. And then we make him say, we said to him, we saw the video of him doing those backflips. I don't know if y'all seen it. If you haven't, go look up Jason Pierre Paul backflips. This kid drops the pads and does 13 full backflips.

Backflips. Fully padded. Helmet on. Yeah, that's crazy. Cool. And he's 290 pounds, bro. Wow.

And I was just like, okay, I see why we're grabbing. I mean, like, because I got to see him so up close and personal every day, just how freakish he was. That guy, he sits up very high in my list of like one of the most freakish people I've ever been around, given his size. 6'5", 285, 290 pounds. Just, you know, freak. And on

On the baseball side, I mean, I got to go with Judge, right? Yeah. What position are you putting him in? I'm sure it's Moore, but he's so, like, different than the typical baseball player just looking at him, right? You know, I would definitely put him –

my number one draft pick of a guy who probably could play football. He looks like a type, like one of these new model wide receiving tight ends. Non-blocking, non-blocking tight end. Yeah, you know, they put him out on routes. He could run he big. Who'd you say? I said Gonzalez, Tony Gonzalez, Gronk or something like that. They could run routes. I'm trying to take out the physicality of the game. Yeah, exactly. I think Judge can be physical. That ain't what I'm saying. I'm just saying like,

In that position, he gets to utilize his size, his speed, and I'm assuming he can catch, right? You know, they'll find, you know, those guys are pretty, they're a high commodity right now. I feel like, ah, Cruz from the Reds could be like. Oh, Ellie, Ellie. This athlete, I don't know what position he would play, like wide receiver, safety, whatever, but that dude, his speed, his length,

Like he looks like he's not afraid of contact. Again, it's hard to say that in baseball, but like he just looks like he's not afraid of contact. That guy, I think that would be my sleeper. - Oh, yeah. - That's a good call. I didn't see that. - Yeah, you can put him-- - I didn't see that, but that speed, yeah. - Yeah, you can put him like slot. - Yeah, I mean, anything in a skilled position, you feel like you need to be a wide receiver, a corner or safety, and just be able to just go play ball, right?

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Tuck, did you ever get over any of the Yankees games or Mets games and be able to take batting practice? No, actually, I never did batting practice. Can't you hit? Can I hit? Yeah. I mean, I used to. I played baseball. I've had some shoulder surgeries that doesn't allow me to rotate like I want to. But yeah, I can hit. What would be the equivalent of...

for us as baseball players to go over, like how they would come over and take batting practice, what would that be the equivalent of of us on the football field? - Maybe trying to run a route. - Is that running a route? - Yeah. - Against the DB or? - Nah, nah, you can't, nah. We ain't, we not even getting off the, if a DB on us, we not getting off the line. - Nah. - Nah, we not getting off the line. That's what I'm saying. - We getting jammed up? - Yeah. - Yeah.

- It just like BP, we just gotta run a route. - I'll be honest with you, I think Ryan is thinking like, nah, I'm big, nah. - Nah. - Nah. - I could just-- - Lock him up immediately. - No, no. - Nah. - It's different. - Listen, I used to do stuff like that in practice and just like mess around and then like it would get serious 'cause they like punched me a little too hard and they would get serious.

And like, yeah, I can like bully them off the ball without, I mean, I would have to get called for an offensive pass interference to do it. But like those guys' hands and feet are just automatic. And that's just, I mean, again, that lets you know how good these wide receivers are too, right? Because just the amateur coming in there and trying to get off the line of scrimmage for a DB 5'11", you know, maybe 200 pounds, maybe. Nah, no.

And that's the same way I always say, like, nah, if you show me, you know, three curveballs back-to-back to fuck what I can hit, I'm going to be the first one to tell you that guy, too. Nah. Nah. Nah. Exactly. That's different. Like, I've sat behind home plate enough at games and, like, look at that rotation of that ball. And, like, what people, again, casual fans don't understand is that, okay, the pitch before that was a –

you know, a 95 mile per hour, you know, some type of split seam that looked exactly like that cutter or that curveball out of the hand, but it's 20, 15 miles per hour slower or faster and completely breaks it the opposite direction. Like, man, nah. Right? Nah. Yeah.

That's one thing y'all not going to have me doing. Up there looking like I'm an idiot. But you got somebody. You got somebody that played for your favorite team that said he could do it. Who that? Micah.

- Straight? - Oh yeah. - Michael Parsons. - We got a little clip. - Yeah, Michael, he said he could do it right now. He could go, he could hit 200 in the big leagues. - He said he could hit 200 in the big leagues. - Actually, now that you say it, I do remember him saying this. Nah, I take the bet against that all day every day. - All day. - All day every day.

I love you, Pars. I love you, Pars, but nah. All of his hits are going to be like those things where it's like it's a dribble to the third base. Pars is acute. He's fast. He's athlete. Could he beat out a throw to first base? 100%. But him sitting in the box and hitting liners to left and right field, nah. That ain't happening. I got to see him take batting practice first. Yeah, I want to see the swing. I want to see the swing first. I want to see the swing. I was with Russell Wilson last week.

Last night, sorry. And he grew up playing baseball, played in the minors, and I don't think Russ can come in right now and hit 200. Yeah, nah. Nah. Actually, you could go Kyler too because Kyler got drafted as a first-round pick. Kyler may not be able to step in there. I mean, listen, man. You got guys who do this every day, and they're basically hovering around 230, 250, and that's their only thing they do every day. Yeah.

Nah. I've had conversations with people like Ken Griffin about, like, knowing, like, all these little signs about what this guy was going to do because of what he did with his glove, what he did with his foot, what he did with his hand. All that stuff, right? And even then, it's still like, ah, we still got to make contact with that ball. Like...

I don't think people understand the margin. That baseball bat is not that wide, and that baseball is not that wide. So you can be around the pitch and still miss it or still just dribble it off back to the catcher, whatever it is, right? You still got to execute and hit the sweet spot on that ball. Like you said, our job is to beat as hitters. We just need to beat the pitcher because he has goons behind him. He has a catcher. He has a –

First, second, third, short, left, right, center, that can make the play. I can't control it. I can do everything right. They can make a good play, but I beat the pitcher, and the pitcher knows it, and that's all I can control. If I'm beating that pitcher every day, eventually success will follow, but if I'm not even able to square the ball up and beat the pitcher, it's a wrap. You're going to be back in the minor leagues or out the game. You ain't going to be up here long, buddy. No, at all, at all.

At all. NFL, not for long. You know what I'm saying? Yep. You're right about that. But let's transition, you know, to life after a career in the NFL, which is something you've been very successful in. And I'm sure that's not sure. I know it's a different type of pride to go back and seemingly start over, you know, to reinvent yourself.

And that's something I know Ryan and I, we invest in things, but we haven't taken to the point where you have, where you've become partner. Walk us through that because we all want to do it. You know what I'm saying? We all want to do it. We're not all dedicated to put in the work that it takes to get there, but

What is that like? You said something just a minute ago that I learned at a very, very early age. You said the NFL stands for not alone. I grew up in Alabama. Football was predominantly the biggest sport in our area. I was really good at a young age.

So I had all these people tell me, "Oh, you're going to the NFL, you're going to the NFL, whatever." I had a cousin that played in the NFL. He got in the NFL five years before I did. And I picked his brain one day about what it was like. And he said, "Hey, man, the NFL stands for not for long." And it just triggered something in me. It was like, all right, even if I'm good, right?

And I have a great career. I'm still coming out of this thing 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 years old. There's a lot of runway left for all these athletes who play phenomenal careers. I ain't even talking about the ones that, you know, just get a little bit of burn two years in and get out. We all know those stories. I'm talking about the ones who have, you know, arguably great careers. Even for those, it's still like, man, my athletic journey is over 100%.

pretty early in my life, right? So what do we do now? So that's kind of how I think I thought about it for myself. So day one in Notre Dame, I started networking. I started talking to my classmates, what their parents do, you know, how'd you get here? Because I knew how I got there. I wouldn't be in Notre Dame if it wasn't the fact that I could run fast and I like hitting people, right? Mm-hmm.

But like these other kids were there because they were smart or they had influence or their parents had influence. They had access, you know, whatever, whatever reason was right. They got to that place a different way than I did. I wanted to learn more about those type of people because, again, I didn't think I was that good at getting in the NFL. So I'm starting to think at 18 years old, like I'm already thinking about transition out of college football. Luckily, football works out for me.

But being in New York City, it's like I'm an idiot if I'm not going around just meeting people. All the billionaires in this city, all the millionaires in this city, all the CEOs, private equity, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm on the hottest team in the world. So like every Tuesday, our day off, I'll go to our suite owners, our suite team. And I'm like, hey, man, who owns this suite?

And sometimes they can give me a name and sometimes they can't. But every name I got, I was like, all right, I got to meet this person. I got to go have a coffee or dinner or something with this person. And they're not going to say no because I'm a captain of the team they love. They're going to love to have that meeting with me. Well, when I got that meeting, it wasn't sitting there talking about Justin Tuck and I'm, you know, I sacked Romo twice last night or whatever. Maybe it was about learning more about their businesses, learning more about how they got to where they got to. If there is any advice, who else should I meet?

So if you do that for 11 years, you really have a Rolodex of people, not only from a perspective of them being fans, but I did it at such an early age. I had 11 years of really, really building a rapport with people, building a relationship where people are friends, mentors, et cetera, et cetera.

The reason why I finance is one, I've always loved numbers. Two, as we all know, man, we're so young when we get money in these leagues. There's so many horror stories. I just got tired of seeing the horror stories. I got tired of people coming because I had, you know,

I graduated from Notre Dame and understood finance at an amateur level. So I was a guy in the locker room. People were asking about their 401k. They were asking about what to invest in, who I should talk to if I wanted to buy real estate, et cetera, et cetera. So I had a lot of those conversations. And it just dawned on me one day, probably like my eighth year in the league, ninth year in the league, that we just don't have anybody that looks like us

that has been through what we've been through, that understands the athletic and sports side of our lives, but also could understand the finance side or could understand the business side. So I started really like honing in to the fact that like when my career was over, what I wanted to do. Ended up going back to business school, went to Wharton,

I actually was working for David Robinson's REAP at the time, and a friend of mine from Goldman called me and was like, "You should come in and talk with me." So I did. And long story short, ended up getting hired by Lloyd Blankfein, our previous CEO. But to answer your question, honestly, the reason why I love this and I wanted to do this because my grandfather used to say something to me. He used to say, "If you're not at the table, then you're on the menu."

And if you think about it from a financial perspective, a lot of times we haven't been at the table. Right. We make a good living playing the sport, but we're not in a decision making room. Right. We don't have ownership. We don't have equity in most situations. So now I get the opportunity to be at a lot more tables and a lot more rooms than I did previously. And for me personally, if I'm in that room, then we all are.

Because I just live by the creed of like, I'm never going to, like somebody said something to me last night. I'm on the board of a really big charity in New York City. And one of our grantees was like, you're not successful. You can't bring success home. And that just hit me because all of my success or all of my, you know, access or, you know, research or relationships. Why do you have all that you can't share with someone else who doesn't?

Right. It's the same thing in a locker room when y'all guys draft a young rookie. It's like, I guarantee you, if they struggle with hitting the curveball, you two are going to be one of the first two to go like, hey, man, this will help me do it. Right. For sure. Why do you have that expertise if you're not trying to make everyone else around you better? So for me, it's more about, all right, I'm sitting in a pretty good spot with a huge conglomerate of a bank in Goldman Sachs. How do I...

How do I bring the resources of Goldman Sachs to more people? And that, I mean, like obviously somebody out there listening to this would be like, yeah, because you want them as a client. No, that's not about it. Now, we get the opportunity to work together, sure. But like, even if for me personally, even if that person is a client of my competitor, if I can help that person, that's kind of how I've been raised to do it. And for me, I mean, I'm at an age now where like,

I get more value and get more, you know, the light out of what I, what I'm able to give more than what I'm able to receive. And I know that sounds cliche, but like, trust me, try it. How do you, when you take on a new client or a younger client, especially a young client, how do you educate them on how really, I guess the easiest way is how to say no. A lot of times it's just showing them what,

certain portfolios do in certain times, right? Having them understand what a certain portfolio will return in certain markets. But I think the biggest thing that I do for especially younger clients is helping them understand what a budget looks like and how much difference those returns look like if you're spending X versus spending X, right? And letting them see that visually, helping them understand like, man, that

that $25,000 purchase while in the midterm doesn't seem like much. But think about that $25,000 compounding over the course of 20 years, what that actually looks like versus like sometimes, hey, you need to make a $25,000 purchase. All right. But sometimes it's more of that pressure of like,

My friend wants me to buy this watch or my, you know, my my girlfriend or wife wants to take this private plane instead of going first, whatever it looks like. Right. Just helping them understand how these decisions make a long lasting impact on what they've told me that they want their success to look like.

That is number one. And again, from there, it's about, again, continue to educate them around these little things that I don't think a lot of us as players or, you know, young investors, you know, have thought about. Is there any point as you're making this transition, you know, like, like you say, we trying to get a seat at the table. And for people that look like us, it seems like they only have one seat, you know what I'm saying? One seat. And, and,

you know, somebody has to leave in order for that seat to open up. They don't create this seat. Are there times that you felt out of place in the business world, not really seeing, you know, black people that look like us having our type of career coming where we came from being at those tables? I mean, listen, yeah, all the time, but it's also what I do with that. Right. I mean, think about all the, I'm not saying I'm going to be a hero, but think about all our heroes, right. When they first left,

went into a new space. I'm sure they felt uncomfortable. I'm sure they felt unloving. I'm sure they felt in some cases their life might be threatened or whatever it may be. Like,

For me, I'm so used to that, right? I'm so used to that. I'm used to being the only black person in a room or one of the few. But I'm also used to thinking about it from this perspective. You know, I don't live by this creed of I want a bigger piece of the pie. I live by this creed of I want to make the pie bigger. Because, and it goes back to those relationships, right? It goes back to those 11 plus years in New York City of

talking to people who not only had to see the table, but in a lot of cases it was their table. Right. So having those type of relationships gives me a lot of flexibility and strength in who I bring to the table. But, you know, I also have to be very, very aware of who I'm bringing to the table. Because like there are some people that you want to bring along on the ride and they really don't want to go. Right. You got to be very careful with that as well.

Yes, I want everybody to eat, but there are some people that hurt you from keeping your seat. I got to be very strategic on who else I bring into this because I have to make sure that that person is doing the exact same thing. It's an elevation. It's not a detraction. Whoever I bring into that seat, when it does open up, and sometimes it is by subtraction, but hopefully more time it's just like, oh, we just made a bigger table.

and that person you bring into that it has to be in in in lock and stuff and what your mission is or what you're about you're i mean not just me personally just like the 360 mission is because you know what i know once we get in these rooms and once we get that seat at the table that opportunity that seat doesn't just automatically keep

you know, refreshing itself. Right. Because, yeah, they open the door for you. They also can close it very easily. So like, anytime I get the opportunity to go in those, I try my best to one, perform above and beyond what their expectation was. One, two, add value in a way that whoever I bring into that is going to do the exact same thing.

Because then everyone eats. And once everyone eats, everyone's successful. It's just that I feel like it's the opportunity to make this thing, you know, something that just flows like a conveyor belt. That's how I look at it. Right. I like that, man. That's yeah, that's that's dope. I'm going to switch it up as we start to start to wind it down. Yes, yes, yes. And we have a little a segment that is brought to you by Banana Boat, the Banana Boat ritual segment.

So we're going to lighten it up a little bit. Tuck, did you have any...

- Any pre-game rituals? - Superstitions. - Superstitions, anything you saw from your teammates? - On the football field, my only superstition was around the national anthem. I always had to stand to the right side of my defensive line coach. Most times it started with a guy named Mike Waffle, who was my first D-line coach at the Giants, and it continued with the other two that I had while I was there.

And there's a white line around the football field. I used to always tell people, like, I'm Justin Tuck on this side. On the other side, I'm number 91. And at the end of every national anthem, I would always click my cleats on the other side of the white line. It was kind of like my way of saying I'm activated now. But that was it. Oh, I always prayed in the –

in the left corner of the end zone, I always move the pylon and pray right there before the game. Those are the only things I did. No doubt about it. That's what's up. That's hey, we all have our thing. And Tuck, we really appreciate you coming on the pod today, sharing your experiences on the football field and the business world, talking about the transition, the dedication, and all the things that are needed to be successful in life.

We know it's not easy, but you put in the work and because of it, just like on a football field, you have success. You studied up, put yourself in positions and these things can happen. So to all those youngsters out there that, you know, think it stops the day you walk off the football field or baseball field or court. That's just beginning. Keep pushing forward. And this is an example of it right here.

Well, listen, man, I appreciate you guys having me, man. Continued success on what you guys are doing at the 6-1-1. And listen, man, anytime you need me, I'm here. You got to play some golf soon. So let me know when you guys want to get out to the foot. For sure. Yes, sir. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.