Jelani Jenkins | The NFL Wasn’t Enough… So He Walked Away

What happens when you walk away from the NFL at your peak?

In this episode of the Intangible Podcast, we sit down with former Miami Dolphins linebacker Jelani Jenkins—team captain at the University of Florida, NFL starter, and a player who made the rare decision to retire at just 26 years old.

But this conversation goes way deeper than football.

Jelani opens up about the mindset his father instilled in him from a young age, the power of belief and affirmations, and how those intangibles carried him all the way to the NFL. He shares what it was like going head-to-head with Tom Brady, earning his starting spot, and navigating the pressure, injuries, and business side of the league.

Then comes the turning point.

We dive into the mental and emotional challenges that led Jelani to step away from the game—and how that decision forced him into a journey of self-discovery, financial awareness, and building a new identity beyond football.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm excited to be sitting here with Jelani Jenkins. Um, Jelani is uh has a tremendous story that I'm really excited to dive into. Fourth round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2013. He was a starting linebacker there from 13 to 16. Uh racked up over 200 career tackles in NFL. Um, and again, he was one of those, he's an LCC guy, Florida Gators. You know, he was uh definitely, definitely he's definitely uh uh uh um one of those leader type guys because he was a team captain there. Um he had the versatility, the football IQ. Uh but interesting story about him is you know what I'm excited to dive into. He retired, he walked away from the game. Most guys don't walk away from the game early. He walked away at age 26, uh, became an entrepreneur, investor, and an advocate for athlete financial literacy. And so really excited to dive into the story. Um Jelani, welcome to the welcome to the Tangent Podcast, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I'm happy to be here. Thank you, thank you for the intro. I feel good coming into this with that intro.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, here we go. Well, Jelani, like I said, man, your story is so interesting uh because you know, the inner we all thrive, we all strive to get to the NFL and and play for a long time. And you decided to walk away at the age of 26. And so, which which for me makes me think about again, all these pieces around intangibles makes me think about upbringing. So I want to kind of really start there, you know, uh before Florida, before the league, you know, what shaped what shaped you as a as a young man to, you know, hindsight now looking back and say, you know, these are the things that was my foundational pieces within my family that that helped me and made it easier for me to make those type of decisions.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, you said it right there. It was family. I was truly blessed. My childhood was truly blessed. I I had two parents in the home. My mom and dad, they got divorced, um, but it wasn't like a terrible situation. I went to my mom's one week, went to my dad's the next week, and my stepfather, very close with my dad and my stepfather, like played basketball together. So it was like a very like loving environment that I grew up in. And they were very supportive. And I would say when I when it comes to like my upbringing, my foundation, it was rooted in love. It was also rooted in um purpose. My father, he is an architect, and he always challenged me to have a why behind sports. He always challenged me to know how I'm going to use that platform to support my community, to uplift the people who need it most. And that was instilled in me from a very young age. Another thing that was instilled in me from a very young age was mindset. So my father was big on like affirmations and speaking life into me. Um, so that foundation truly is what I'm still using to this day and how I'm actually starting to serve in my life after sports.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, and so, you know, when you think about it, think about those type of affirmations and that that kind of foundation, you know, how was the the discipline side of, you know, was was pushed around education? And so, you know, did you were you're the kid that had to come in with straight A's or hey, you're in the doghouse, or were there was a different approach when it came to to the education side of things?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

You know, I was never the child that that that ruffled the feathers with education because I was always getting good grades. Like I don't remember ever getting bad grades to have the conversation of you better only bring AIDS into this home. Like I think uh I think I was always inquisitive and I always wanted to learn. And I mean, maybe that was just the natural environment that my my household had. Like I did have to do my homework, I did have to get things done. Um, but they they they put me in a really great school. My elementary and middle school was a small private school. It was a school called Roots Activity Learning Center. It was an African center school. We wore dashikis in our graduation, but we were taught like African American history. We were taught about, like, we walk in, and there were pictures of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, all of these great heroes and Shiroes. We would, for our um for Halloween, we wouldn't celebrate like Halloween. We would have like this masquerade disco where everybody would come dressed up as a um a prominent African-American figure, and we would get up to the mic and we would say who we were and what we did and what we accomplished. So there was a lot of pride in being being in my skin color. And I think all of that, just the environments that they had me in, made me truly be purposeful every time I stepped into a classroom. Um, so I didn't give them too much trouble with the with the with the bad grades, you know?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, that that's what's up. Now, um I'm thinking about the um you know the type of school that you're growing in, growing up in, you know, when did sports kind of really really take a hold for you? When was that a it became a thing for you?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So my brother, he's seven years older than me. I I just have one sibling, a seven-year-old brother. Um he went to a school called St. John's, which is in the same conference of the school that I ended up going to. But watching him at his football games, um, you know, I was in the bleachers, playing underneath the bleachers, playing with the other kids, throwing balls, you know, you know how that goes.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Not watching the game.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Not watching the game, but playing our own little game on the side. That was when I first was introduced to football. That's when I first kind of fell in love with the idea, fell in love with the sport. So I would say I was um like eight, maybe, when I first started. I started off flag football. Wasn't great at flag football, to be honest with you. I was uh like my parents knew that I wanted to tackle, they knew that I wanted to like get contact. Um, and so I started that next year in contact football. I think I was like eight or nine years old. And yeah, the rest, the rest was history. Again, I had a father and a mother and a stepfather and a support system that was on the sideline every single game. Like my dad used to be running up and down the sideline, making other pants and set. And they can't stop you, Jelani. Every time he touched the ball, he's supposed to score. Two people, three people, four people can't bring you down. He would just be running up and down the sideline the whole time. So that was like that was my uh that was my that was my upbringing. So sports kind of picked up probably like eight, eight or nine years old.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Yeah, was it was that embarrassing as your parent, your dad was walking up and down, up and down the sideline? How did you believe that?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

It was. I mean, it was uh it was embarrassing, but it was also effective, you know? Like I I didn't know any better. I was naive enough to believe everything he was saying. Um, and I think I think at the time I noticed that there were no other parents who were doing that. So I was just kind of like, I was shy. So growing up, my dad was kind of my my my microphone. So we would walk in places and I wouldn't be saying much because my dad would be my dad was the type that like we would walk into a 7-Eleven and he would have like all my newspaper articles in his in his hand. And we're just trying to get like a damn like uh smoothie or something or slurpey. And he's talking about, yeah, my son was in the newspaper article, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. So, you know, I just got used to being like, that's my dad, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Do you think about what what do you think about from a subconscious level of what did that really do for you growing up with a father that is giving you that kind of affirmation? Uh, not just the the words, but the visuals. Do you think about that from a subconscious level?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

I do now. At the time I didn't know it. At the time I thought everybody was getting it. It wasn't until probably when I stopped playing that I allowed myself to reflect on what was it that got me to this level? There's a lot of people who are just as talented, more talented, that I was able to keep moving past. I was like, what was it? Like, what was that thing? It was it was it was waking up in a room. My father, again, artist, architect, he had a large-than-life painting of me over my bed, running a football, and then he had like Hall of Fame pictures all around from Barry Sanders to Walter Payton to Dick Buckus. And I was the largest painting in that room. And you feel me? Like that, that was a psychological. So I had to look back and be like, oh, oh, this mindset thing is serious, this mindset thing is real. And that is what inspired me to do what I'm doing now in like mental performance and helping others out. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah, no, that's man, what a what a um foresight that your dad had and and how he was, you know, again, these subliminal messages that was that was that he was instilling into you early in life, and and it goes true. Like when you can look back from a you know where we are now, hindsight, um, mindset has become everything for me. You know, it's it's really there's really, you know, the work that I put in day in and day out is around that mindset aspect of things, and then the body and the mind, the rest of it follows when you have the right mindset. The the good deeds and the good things happen when you have that kind of mindset. So um so again, not everyone was getting that. I would I can tell you that I, you know, as a kid, I wasn't getting getting that. I was getting a lot of love, but I wasn't getting it that way. And so um, good for your dad for being able to see it that way.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yeah, it's a blessing. And it's interesting when I see other, you know, prominent figures who have made a lot of success in sports in life, and I look deep into their stories, it does seem like they had like one parent that was their biggest confidant, you know, from the Michael Jordans of the world to the Tiger Woods of the world. I mean, you you can keep going down the list. There was a prominent adult figure who believed in them and helped them instill their own belief in themselves. Uh, so yeah, it's it's it's remarkable. That's part of the reason why I have a podcast about fatherhood is because it's it's that important that we instill it in our kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

You know, you started getting introduced to football. You know, were you thinking about was football a goal of yours to go forward in football, or was it, did you have something on in your mind that was much bigger that you wanted to do in life?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

That's a great question. I that school that I shared with you, Roots Activity Learning Center, I remember we did an assignment. It was called Dreams and Goals, and we had to write down what we wanted to accomplish and why we wanted to accomplish it. And way back then, I wrote down I wanted to make it to the NFL. Um, I said my plan B was to be an architect like my dad. Um, but I said that I wanted to make it to the NFL so that I can um bring people closer to God, like share my relationship with God through my platform. So again, it started very young with my dad saying, like, I couldn't do a science project. I couldn't do a science project without explaining to him how it's going to help the black community. Like, I couldn't just go in there and do a volcano simple science project because he'll look at me crazy and be like, how is that going to help your community? Um so yeah, I always had a why behind it, and I always knew that like the NFL wasn't the top of the mountain. Yeah. And I always knew that um I wanted to get there because I knew that was gonna, you know, put me in a give me a platform to be able to do more. Muhammad Ali was always my uh my kira, and he was like the the example of what it meant to use your platform to impact more people.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Absolutely. Now, when you look back, when you look back at um, again, I always like that going back to hindsight. Um, you know, what what part of your upbringing really prepared you to even play in NFL?

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Um I can look back at a couple things. One thing that stands out to me is I took karate at a young age. Um, I should have been a black belt. They said I was too young to be a black belt, so they gave me a brown with a little tip, which I'm still upset about. But competitive. Karate taught me how to explode through contact. It taught me discipline, it taught me to be coachable, which I think were three major things that I used all the way throughout. Um what else prepared me? I went to the University of Florida, you know. I was I was very fortunate to play under the system of Urban Meyer the year after they won a national championship to feel what that feels like. That was that was probably the biggest thing for me. Um I chose to go to the University of Florida knowing that I was going to be behind Brandon Spikes, knowing that I wasn't gonna start. Um when I had a really prominent high school career, I was I was very fortunate. I was one of the top 10 players in all of high school and all the in all the country. And I chose to go to a school knowing I wasn't going to start my first year, but I wanted to feel what the number one in the world locker room felt like. I wanted to see it, I wanted to learn from it, I wanted to be coached by it. And being in that locker room, I mean, it was a it was a fast track to understanding, okay, this is how you get to the highest level. Um so yeah, that's what I would say. Prior to college, obviously, family, the support system, the village and the environment that I was around, once I got to college, it was like, oh, this is what a championship level feeling team looks and feels like.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Man, that's um I forgot that you came in, you know, behind those guys, right? I mean, spikes, I mean, you guys, and that team, and that, you know, even when you look at the documentary that came out, I mean, it was tough training, tough workouts. I mean, it was like no hose bar in that place. And so you you you go on to become a captain. So, what did that environment early on teach you about being a leader? Teach you about being the guy that guys can turn to and look at, and you can hold them accountable while doing your job at a high level.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Again, you used the right word in the question. Accountability was one of the biggest things I learned. I got there, so if you saw the documentary, uh Swamp Kings, I got there the last, I was the last episode. I got there the year after they won a national championship when the pressure was high, when it was like media outlets, it was like T-Bow Mania, it was, it was, it was a whole lot of stuff that ended up like, you know, infiltrating kind of what made the team special and started to make us, you know, hurt us a little bit. But it was accountability. Like I tell people all the time, it was nothing like the night before the game being at the hotel, and we're all sitting there in like suits or whatever, and we're in the meeting room and the special teams, and they and they call out the special teams. We're doing walkthroughs and they call out the special teams, punk team up on the field, and we all run up on the field. It's not even a field, it's like a hotel conference room, but we all run in there and we're we're moving around, acting like it's real life. And he's like, Jelani, what do you got? I got number two, I got a reroute of my side. Boom, Bastic, what do you got? I got number three, I gotta make sure I keep contained all the way down the field, blah, blah, blah. And if you hesitated for a second, for a second, he was gonna make sure you knew about it. So it wasn't just you knowing what you were doing, it was you instilling confidence in everybody around you that you knew what you were doing. Every time we stepped on that field, I was very confident that all other 10 people on that field knew exactly what they were doing and why they were doing it. And that was his mantra was like, when is a team ready to play when they know what they're doing and why they're doing it? And we all knew what we were doing and why we were doing it, and we had to hold each other accountable for it. So you saw that. I came in as a freshman when you saw spikes and Tebow going at it at that Mississippi State game halftime locker room, that was two juggernauts holding each other accountable. And it's like, oh, nobody is nobody is uh not able to be held accountable. So I I took that with me, and that that is a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah, that's cool. I mean, again, we see we see talent. I mean, we've been in locker rooms, we see guys who become captain based off their talent. You know, what really separates those guys from, you know, the guy from who is the a good captain, a great captain that can lead, not just because he's talented.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

I think it's somebody who is able to understand the standard of the locker room that we're aiming for. Like, what is that championship standard? What does that look and feel like? I think a great captain is somebody who can help to set that standard, to embody that standard. So when people see you, it's kind of like a like a you look at a like like a war, somebody's like a flag bearer, and they're you know, everyone has to look at that person and be able to see and feel what that standard is, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So they got to set the standard, they gotta embody the standard in all that they do. Even when they're tired, they gotta make sure that whenever somebody looks at them, they see that standard, that flag. And then I think the last thing is they gotta be able to elevate others around them to also meet that standard. And that's sometimes that's holding each other, holding others accountable. So if you see somebody and they're showing up late, they're not running to the ball, the best captains are the ones that are going to, in their own unique way, make sure that they can elevate that person up. It's not all mother effing them. Sometimes it's pulling them to the side, like, hey, you know, we're better than that. You're better than that. I've seen it in you. So you can speak life into people, you don't got to shoot them down. And then there's others who, you know, the Michael Jordans of the world, they won a lot of national championships. And he was mother effing them. You know, Tom Brady, I heard, was an amazing teammate, but I'm sure Tom Brady, I've seen him get fired up in people's face too. So, like, if you can elevat however you choose to elevate is your unique style, but you got to know your teammates around you to know what is going to elevate that particular teammate. Because Mother F and this person could work. Mother F and this person could shoot them completely down. So it's just about knowing your team, setting the standard, embodying it, and elevating others around it, around it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Absolutely, man. I love the analogy of the flag barrel, man, because that is, you know, in war, you that you looking at that guy. And then on the other side is being able to hold accountable. And so I love that analogy around that. Um now, when you when when you look at playing at the University of Florida at SEC, coming off championship, you know, um, before you get there and now wanting to carry that all, what was one of the biggest pressure moments for you in college?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Probably the decision to leave a little early to go into the NFL. I coming into my red shirt junior year, I was projected to be a first rounder. And I had a lot of injuries. And my first second game against Texas AM, I broke my hand, was out a couple of games, had a cast on, coming back in. As soon as I came back into play, I pulled my groin, which took me out three games, and then I got better. I got some good taping, even with the with the broken hand. And my last game of the season, we were playing Florida State, and I was running off the edge, and freak accident. I took a step and all of a sudden couldn't put any weight on my foot anymore. I ended up breaking my fifth metatarsal. It was called a Jones fracture in my foot. Yeah, and that that put me out. And I remember contemplating, you know, I remember I had some coaches, and I won't name the coaches' names, but I had some coaches who were doing everything that they could to make sure I stayed at the University of Florida. And they were telling me things like if you go into the draft, you won't, you're not gonna get drafted, you're gonna end up being a free agent. And I had to really sit with it and believe in myself. And that was the biggest pressure moment was. Making the decision to say, I'm ready to go. And not only am I ready to go, I'm going to trust that who I decide to choose as an agent, where I decide to train, that that staff is going to get me ready for the combine, or at least for a pro day, to be able to. I was confident enough with my senior year film and my junior year film, my sophomore year film, to know that I can make this happen. I can do it. So ended up going fourth round and was proud of getting my foot in the door. I just knew if I needed, if I got my foot in the door, I'd be fine.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah, yeah. That was a tough decision. I had the decision to make my Richard junior year and decided to make it. And uh it worked out for me, but it was it's definitely a lot of pressure because it's the same thing. You got coaches on the other side. We have new coaching staff and they're doing everything they can to keep you there. Um and and I'm thinking that I'm going back because I'm you know loving Oxford, Mississippi, loving, you know, being at Ole Miss. Went to O'Mills. Ole Miss. Yep. Love being at Ole Miss. And and um, and so it was uh definitely uh a high pressure moment for me. Um but I never really thought about it as like I always think about it as high pressure moments and in like you know, actually being on the field. But but when you really take a step back and look at it, man, that was a really high pressure moment because it was life-changing for me. And and it could have gone one way, could have gone two different ways, you know. And so uh so it it did it did work out.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

In that, in that in that moment of making that decision to go, um, you know, was there any was there any doubt? Uh was there any questioning the decision? Were you, you know, questioning, you know, I've had some injuries, give my body whole up and at the next level, being that now it's you know, I'm with the best of the best. Did you have that kind of thought process uh or those type of doubts going through your through your mind as you were making that jump over?

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yeah, I think I think anybody would be lying if they said that it didn't, if it didn't cross their mind, like what if it doesn't work? Um I remember, you know, fourth round is the third day of the draft. And if you were told at one point that you would go first, that first day goes, eh, didn't hear your name. Second day goes, eh, didn't hear your name. I was like, oh shit. Here we go. And then that third day came, and thankfully I was like the fourth pick of the fourth round. It was like the one of the first picks, so I didn't have the full third day. But yeah, there's definitely doubt. Um, I think back at that injury that I had, that Florida State game, when I was in, and I didn't see this, my dad told me this, but when I was in there getting surgery, one of the coaches came to the hospital where I was getting the surgery. My dad was sitting there in the waiting room and they came up to my dad and was like, How's he doing? Good, good. Or they they don't know, he's he's in there getting surgery, and they handed him like some information showing why it would be good for him to stay. And my dad was like, Man, get that out of my face. Man, my son is in there getting surgery. Y'all in the Doing surgery? Wow. During surgery, and they're they're in there with the papers, like completely rubbed them the wrong way. But anyway, to answer your question of if there was doubt, yes, certainly. But it goes back to my upbringing and the fact that my dad was right there, and I knew I believed, and I knew that he believed, right? And that's all I really needed. You know what I mean? So I had doubt, but it was the belief was stronger, having a lot to do with my upbringing and my support system.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, it again, it worked out for you. You end up getting drafted by Miami Dolphins in the fourth round, and then you go on to become a starter, you make over 200 tackles uh in your career there, you know, from a successful standpoint and making that transition, you know, what was that, what was that experience like? What was the the uh internal experience like of now I've proved it now that the decision that I made actually you know worked out because I've been able to really produce at this highest level?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Yeah, I never I never really felt comfortable until I until I got the starting position, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable. But I mean my first year, my first year, I was a third-down guy. So we had like Danelle Ellaby and Philip Wheeler who had just gotten these big contracts. So I kind of understood the business. I was like, okay, I didn't get paid that much, so I'm not expected to be the guy, the starter. Um I'm not in like the I'm not on the jumbo triumph for the ads and whatnot. So I kind of understood. I kind of get special teams gonna be my way in here in third down. Um my second season, the second game of the season, we were playing the Patriots. We were both 1-0 at the time. And the Patriots came to Miami Dog, to Miami. The first series of the game, Donnell Ella B goes down, out the game. Second series, Phillip Wheeler goes down, he's out the game. It's like three or four minutes into the game, and they throw me in there, and and uh Jason Troznet, um, who is he was mainly a special teams guy. And we're sitting there, and Tom Brady's staring us in the face, and they smell blood in the water. They went after me. They went after me from Gronkowski to Shane Vereen, like they went after me. And fortunately, I not only held my own, but I I think they attempted to pass on me about 13 times, and they only completed four total. And we ended up winning that game in the last second. I don't know if you remember that game, but it was a game where Michael Thomas caught an interception on the last play in the end zone, and we ended up beating the Patriots. And the rest, you know, I never didn't start after that. So like that was kind of that moment for me. And I tell people it's like you you I grew up rooting on Peyton Manning. I've seen Tom Brady destroy my coach for a long time. And you're you're staring, he's staring you in the eye and he's saying, you know, 53 is the mic. You don't got time to think about nothing else. It's like we're here, you know? So, like what prepares you for that moment? Everything that led up to that moment, but the biggest thing in that moment is just to be present and to and realize God puts you right in this moment, you know? And and I believe that the opportunity in that moment wouldn't come unless you're ready for it, you know. So yeah, trust yourself.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Yeah. Well, I was that guy on the other side of you saying 53 is the mic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it. I know it. I know it. 53 is the mic. And and if he was a thumper coming down here, I might have to cut this guy one time just to let him know.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

I hated it, man. I was the type that I would I would take the back of the helmet and mush it in the ground if y'all got me good. I'm like, I'm gonna get you back, man. I would get I got cut left and right though. That was that was my my kryptonite.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

I don't know if I mean I I don't know the rules now, but I don't know if you can cut the way we used to be able to cut. I mean, really? I don't I don't think so. Um, yeah, we all if that's the case, I'm happy.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

I'm happy that it is moving in the right direction. Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Well uh I don't know. You know, you you got guys coming downhill now at four seven, four five is then four seven is at 260 pounds, and you still in your stands. I mean, you gotta be able to do something.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I feel it, I feel it, I feel it.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Well, um, when I think about these high school athletes now, college athletes, and this constant, you know, evaluation, not just when you talk also talking about social media, they're getting constantly evaluated um, you know, amongst their peers, um, you know, especially, you know, you talked about these DBs, they don't want to get head topped, they don't want to be seen, you know. So there's a constant evaluation. How did you how did you handle constantly being evaluated um day in and day out, and not let it not let it waver you from being the type of player you were?

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Um I mean I think I think social media was just starting to get to that level when I was playing. Um yeah, I I remember, let me think. I I mean I remember some games I wouldn't play well, and I remember seeing a lot of comments that were disturbing to me. I had some good mentors around me, like some good older players who were like, Don't focus on that, don't pay attention to that. But it's you know, it's not easy. It's not an easy thing. I do think that it affected me in some ways. I don't think that I had the tools back then to navigate it. Um another part of my story is my last year with the Miami Dolphins. I played, um, we were playing the 49ers at the time. Um I'm sorry. It was the year that Kaepernick did the protest, and we were playing the Seahawks, it was 9-11, and I participated in that protest. Um, it was me, Mike Thomas, Kenny Stills, and Arian Foster with the Miami Dolphins. Um, and I mean after that, you know, social media was. I remember going on to the bus and talking to my homeboy, and they were like, I was like, y'all, they are letting me have it on social media. Letting me have it. And he was just like, anyone just put that phone down for a second. Just put the phone down. Um, but you know, after that, I mean, it was challenging, you know, we we got through it, but I do think that a large part of me walking away from the game had to do with psychologically not having the tools to navigate the mental health challenges I was going through, for sure. And I learned it. I got to a point where I had those tools two or three years after the league, but when I was that young pup in the league, you know, I felt like I had to step away to find my groundedness, to find my truth again. So to answer your question, um, I don't think I figured it out while I was playing. I think I figured it out after the fact.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

All right. So you you talked about, you know, the not having those tools, which we'll get into, you know, but did the business side of the game really hit you at some point where you like, when you realize, like, oh my gosh, this is a real business?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yeah, definitely. I think what I loved most about football had to do with the feeling I got in the University of Florida locker room. You know, in college, like you're with the same folks, you come in with the same folks. This is before the transfer portal was doing its thing, but back then you go in, you come in in college, and you're with the same people and you build like a family of love. I was on that path, you know. I have four years at my high school, four years in the same college team, and four years with Miami with the Dolphins. I played really well. That fourth season with the Dolphins, which I didn't talk about, was very similar to my fourth season with the Gators, where I had a bunch of injuries. And these weren't injuries that like took me out, they were injuries that just made me a little bit less effective. So you know how that goes.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

It it really is things that don't don't don't completely sideline you, but just those little nagging things, you know. Like I broke in my thumb where I had to all of a sudden on my right hand my snap hand go and start snapping with my left hand, you know, two, three days before game, play a game, and and then really trying to figure out how to adjust to that. And it was just always, oh, then you have an oblique strain, then you have uh, you know, ham little calf strain. And so all these things that don't really sideline you, but just really nagging and just not make you as effective as you want to be. So I totally understand that.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

And now it's third down, third and five, and they throw to my guy, and I usually can make that tackle and I miss it. And now our defense is still on the field. Now you're letting the team down. You feel me? Yeah. Now now you're in your head about it. Now you're like, you know, do I got it still? And they had told me because I had a knee injury, um, ACL. I had a PCL, I had loose cartilage floating, I had like surgery right before the year, but it was surgery, it wasn't bad. It was like I could still play in 10 days. It was like a knee scope kind of thing. Um, but anyway, my fourth year with the Dolphins did not play well. Like played at 80% most of the year and and did not had had broke my hand again and had a had a club, and it was, it was a lot. And I was in love with that locker room, that feeling. And that was the first time I got cut. I didn't get cut, but I didn't get brought back the next year. Um, and that's when I it was it was interesting because we had a Tannenbaum, who I think he was a high-level position at the Dolphins at the time. And at the beginning of the year, he was he was given like personal letters. He gives like four or five people, like Lamar Miller was one of them. I was one of them who had like a personal letter in my in my in my cubby. And it was like, we're really happy to have you here. So I'm thinking, all right, I'm on pace. I'm on, I'm on pace to get that second contract. And then I ended up getting injured, end up not having a great year, and I never heard from them again. They got me, they got rid of me ASAP. So, like that was the first time I was like, ah, this is this is different. Then I go to the Oakland Raiders, and it's a completely different situation. It's like the the love, the the locker room, that was the locker room, that was the environment that like really took the love of the game away from me. Like it, I felt zapped going into that locker room. And you know, I don't know how many teams you played for, but like every culture is different, every environment is different. And that was an environment where I knew, first off, I knew that no matter how much talent they get, they're not gonna win until they do an uprooting of that culture. Um, but yeah, that's when I started to feel the business side of things. Again, I didn't feel like I had the tools to navigate all what I was going through. And I I decided not to not to keep going. I had an opportunity to work out for a couple teams, but I had told my agent, like, you could just tell them. You could just tell them about it. Thanks, but no thanks. Thanks for no thanks. Yeah, no thanks. And a lot of that too, Chris, was like having a lot of confidence from a child that like this was never supposed to be forever. You know, like I you know what I'm saying. So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Those are things that is, those are things that are uh I'm hoping that parents and you know are instilling in their kids now a purpose of this podcast to instill those things in these in the young athletes now so that when they do get to that transition, they're confident that this was never supposed to be this, you know, be be be my everything. It was just supposed to be a thing, a part of one part of my life. And so uh that's why these conversations are important. All right, well, I'm gonna do a quick pause here. We're gonna do a quick two-minute, you know, going into this is our halftime, going into a halftime, two-minute here. Some rapid fire questions for you. So you ready for these? Yes. All right. Uh, hardest NFL quarterback to read. Aaron Rodgers. It's a good one. It's a good one. Um, especially that snap count. Uh what trait, what trait every great linebacker must have?

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Communication. Gotta be. Using their hands. Using your hands as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Um what's tough what what was tougher for you? Um what was tougher for you meant mentally? Injury or roster uncertainty?

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Injury. Um one money mistake players should avoid not getting passive income before they leave the game so that they can operate with the banks who are gonna ask where is the income coming in?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, that's a good one. That's a that's a really good one. Really good one. Um can you give me retirement in one word for you?

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Self-discovery.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

I think I'm gonna stick with this one word ran here. Um Identity to you in one word.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

It has to be one word, isn't it? You can give me multiple.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Um I am I like it. I like it. Last one for you. Because it feels like you are you're definitely one of those guys who are at peace. So, peace and one word for you.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Alignment.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Goes all the way back to your dad, man. It goes back to those those that that poster he had on the wall of you amongst all these greats.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

Alignment to me is just like you um knowing that wherever whatever you're going through is like you're right where you're supposed to be. And if you keep showing up, keep moving with intention, then you know you're right where you're supposed to be. And if you can you can trust that you're moving with the right intention, no matter what's going on, you're supposed to be going through it.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

So absolutely, absolutely. Well, we're gonna jump back in. We don't have very many more here, but uh, you know, I want to jump back into um, you know, the walk away. You walked away at 26, you know, where most guys either you know won't or can't walk away from the game. I can tell you, I was one of those guys that I was probably gonna, you know, I was thinking they was gonna wheel me out in a wheelchair. Um, but you know, God had a different plan for me with Toronto Achilles, and and it was time for me to hang him up. But um, how did you know that it was time for you to hang him up?

SPEAKER_01 41:12

I knew that I was searching for something, and I felt like I wasn't able to find it while still being within the system of it. Um so I don't know, it was just a it was an internal feeling that I needed to step away and I needed to go into the trees or something and just like figure out what I'm dealing with, what I'm going through, what I'm feeling. So I think it was just a a lot of internal discomfort. Um it was internal discomfort along with the confidence that I could be successful in the next phase, and I could find the thing that is going to bring me joy and fulfillment in the next phase. I'll be honest with you, I was very confident going into it, and I found out very quickly that it wasn't as easy as I thought it was gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

One of the big things, go for it, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

No, go ahead, no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

I was gonna say one of the big things is I mentioned you asked me like the biggest financial decision. That was a big thing for me. I, my dad is an architect, and I was very sure that I would be doing a lot of real estate transactions with my father, buying and flipping different things like that. And I remember finding out very quickly once I stopped playing that no matter what I had in the bank, they was like, okay, but what is your monthly income looking like? And I was like, What are you talking about? It was like, oh no, so now I gotta pay with cash. I can't even work with the bank to do what I want to do. So that was the first lesson of like, oh, oh shit, it's gonna be a little bit more challenging than I thought. That's that was a play for me. So part of it was uh a lot of internal discomfort, the desire and the the need for self-reflection and true like quietness and stillness and confidence that all right, this next phase of life, I'm gonna I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna be just fine.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

So yeah. Yeah, man. It's it's it's great we have the mindset to go there, but it's also the the having the tools to sustain there. Like we have built all these tools and sports to be able to sustain, to be able to get through it. But you know, uh, how what does that toolbox now look like? What tools are we rearranging there that's going to help us sustain on the other side of the of the coin? So you talked about you know not having the tools to navigate, you know, in in some areas of while you was playing, which led you to walking away. You know, what tools do you think now looking back that you were searching for? To help you, you know, manage just some of those tough tough times that you were in.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Meditation, um breath work, a gratitude practice. I do Tai Chi now every morning, every night. Journaling. Like these are all things I I got introduced to after I stopped playing. I know for a fact, I know for a fact, if I had those tools, I would have continued to play and I would have worked through it. If I knew how to tap into a state of gratitude, if I knew how to like shift my mindset to recognize that this is happening for me, not to me, um, it would have allowed me to like weather the storm. I didn't have the tools to like weather the storm. I got up out of it, you know? So um, yeah, those are some of the tools. Basically, all the tools centered around mindfulness and mental preparation.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Yeah. Mental performance key, man. It's key. Mental performance, yeah. We can we can have a a lot of a lot of athletes, a lot of us have mental toughness. We we know how to pull up our boots and keep moving, keep work pushing through it. But it comes a time where that stopped serving us. Um, we still it still serves us to have it, but it comes time where we need to pair it with something else. And so it what it sounds like is you start to be able to recognize that you needed more tools to pair with the mental toughness that you had. And those tools are mindfulness, the tools of breath work and the and and journaling. I mean, um, these things were introduced to me as well after my career. And as I start to have and kind of run into tough times, things are moving so fast within life, you know, getting to those tools then helps clear my mind where I could then see, all right, here's a decision that I need to make right now. Um so um because I I remember having some stingers one year and just thinking after having back injuries, shoulder surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, thumb surgery, and one offseason, and then and then coming back and then starting to have stingers really bad, and mentally I was just fried. And and it wasn't until I started having a conversation with sports ecologists, you know, again, building that toolbox on that, that mental performance side of hey, um um, how do I get through this? And I start to work on that, and then I realized like, okay, I can get through it. But I just start to scratch the surface. I just start to scratch the surface. And so um now, man, I you know, so thank you for sharing that because I think it's important that it's it's okay. We do need those same tools and and and mental toughness to you it it only serves us to a point where you need the other part of what it is, and that that's mental performance. So I really appreciate you sharing that side of it. Yeah, absolutely. Um as you think about, as I think about the um that transition, you know, was it fear, you know, that that people question you and question question your decision, knowing that you were so young and you were so so talented, you know, what did that fall in line for you?

SPEAKER_01 47:30

I think the biggest thing that was challenging was 99% of the people around me, I could tell, you know, were genuinely concerned, like they genuinely were supportive, but there was like this inkling that I could feel where they were like trying to push me to like you should keep playing. Yeah, you should keep playing. There was one person, one person who I didn't feel any of that from, and that was my dad. My dad was the one person who I mentioned to, and he was like, okay, all right, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna keep it pumping, we're going to the next thing. I mean, my wife now, who I who I love dearly, even her, she was like, my mom was my brother was I think that's what people fail to realize is it's not just an identity crisis for the player, it's an identity crisis for the mother of the athlete, for the wife of the athlete. Oh, yeah, for the for the brother of the athlete. They were really used to being that, you know what I mean? So we're all going through it in our own way. Um so there was there was there was some resistance there. That first year and a half, I mean, that was some of the most stressed I had been, you know. I remember I punched a hole in the wall in my in my home, you know. I remember, man, there's this one moment that really shifted things for me. And we were, I was at home, I was playing Call of Duty, I had like my headphones on, I had a big old weed bomb on the table in front of me. Um, but what happened was my my wife, she had just gotten like this Polaroid camera. And the first picture that she took, she was just like trying it out. She took a picture of me and I saw the picture, and I was disgusted by the picture. And that was what the picture was. It showed me I was on the couch, I had gained some weight, I had the headphones on, and I had the bong in front of me. I had like two empty plates on the table that never made it to the sink. I had like dirty clothes around me, and I was just like, eh. Yeah, that didn't feel aligned at all. Um, but that was the moment that I needed to like kick me in the gear. And I ended up reaching out to the head of player development for the Miami Dolphins, Caleb Thornhill, who was my guy. Caleb Thornhill, you know, and a full circle moment with Pac, and I know we're both a part of Pac, but like Caleb kind of pointed me in the right direction, introduced me to someone who's now one of my mentors, took me to a Tony Roberts event. That kind of just shifted my trajectory from there. Um, but the pressure of leaving the gang, knowing other people were like, you know, they they wanted me to stay hardly, you know, because they knew it would probably be good for me. They knew I could get through it, but they also had like their own like personal reasons for wanting to, and and me just like resisting it, me like trusting my intuition, but then going through more challenges and learning that I can't work with the bank to work with my dad. And it was it was like a lot of it was a lot of stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Yeah. No, I mean, uh it's it's a hard transition, and we all go through it no matter how prepared we think we are, it, you know. Um, but reality sets in. The reality check is, you know, you've been doing this one thing for so long. What makes you think you can make this transition over here and not put the work in and build that foundation? And so uh it's a hard reality check for it, but it's the the the things that you you learn in the game truly carries over where you now say, okay, let's put the work in, let's put our head down, let's create a schedule, let's, you know, let's build that framework that we had, that we learned, and we we just we just you know transplant it over here. Um and so so so it doesn't it doesn't mean that it's gonna go well, it doesn't mean that it's gonna fail, it just means that now you got to put the work in and and get yourself back at the foundation. And so being that you found your footing, you've gotten yourself, you know, back into a you know, after that Polaroid picture and and the reality check that you probably needed at that time, now you're you're you're sitting in a place where you know you're you've leaned into the investment side of things of financial literacy, you know, why has that been so important for you?

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Uh I mean, specifically when I see other athletes going through their transition, I I see myself in them. And I I see the version of myself who wish I knew. I wish I knew, I wish somebody told me to maybe get a little property here while I was playing, you know, just a little simple little property. I wish I knew those things. So, like it, you know, part of it is just wanting to give back. Um, as I mentioned in that story, I got introduced to Tony Robbins, and Tony Robbins was the one. Well, I didn't, I met him, but I saw him live. I saw the experience. I didn't see a lot of people look like me. Um, so yeah, the the desire to be a uh to to speak, the desire to coach, the desire to give back in that way, has been something that has uh has continued to um I've continued to pursue, and it's all been a result of seeing that version of me who wish who needed that coaching back then.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

Yeah, man, it's you know, it's so amazing that you never know what's gonna be that spark that you need. You never know what's gonna be that thing that says, all right, okay, now it's time. You know, you sitting in it, you're sitting in it and all of a sudden it's like now it's time. Um, all right, so I I I got a you know, a couple more questions for you. That you know, one is um if you when you look back over your your your life, your career, your family, and you think about that younger, younger version of yourself, if you're sitting here talking to that, I mean again hindsight, talking to that your your younger version, what would you say to him?

SPEAKER_01 53:47

I would tell him to breathe. I would tell him, I would tell him to breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. I would tell him what I tell my little kids to smell the flowers, to blow the candle. That's the most important thing. Um I would also tell him, while he's playing, to get out of his comfort zone. And what I mean by that is when we're playing, we are so used to the Caleb Thornhills of the world bringing people into our space to speak to us, to give us knowledge. We're so used to there being a curated environment for us that it almost puts us on like the passive side. And I would tell my younger self to get out of the building, to reach out to people I don't know from different walks of life, to make connections, to find other Dolphins fans who are in real estate, who are in public speaking, who are in X, Y, and Z, and to just have lunch with them. They would love to have lunch with the Dolphins player, right? So, like I would have told, I would tell my younger son, my younger self to prioritize building a network, meeting people, getting out of your comfort zone, and not just living a life that's curated for you.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

Right. Man, that's strong right there. That's real strong. Um all right, last one for you. Um this one I like to end on when you think about the purpose of this podcast around intangibles. Um that foundation that you've built, when you look at it, what are several intangibles that has made you who you are today?

SPEAKER_01 55:45

The biggest one is there's a couple. One is uh belief, one is having that strong belief system um in yourself through affirmations, like different techniques to get yourself to believe in yourself, to believe in your vision. Like that is a big and tangible skill set. And another huge one that I would say is my superpower, if I gave myself a superpower, it would be coachability, it would be teachability. Like I attract mentors in my life. I have a lot of mentors in my life who probably I didn't go to them expecting to be a mentor, but I just I ask questions and I'm I'm curious. And so people want to share with me. People want to take me under their wing naturally. So I have a lot of mentors in my life, and it's because I I live life coachable. I can learn from everything, I can learn from everybody. I'm coachable even with my kids. Like my kids teach me so much about myself. I look at life as like a mirror that is always reflecting lessons back to me. So like living a coachable, teachable life is another huge and tangible. So I would say those two are the biggest ones: belief and being coachable. And then gratitude, like gratitude. Gratitude is the thing.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

Gratitude is a thing.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Yeah, those are those are strong ones, man. Coachable takes you a long way. Uh learning from others and and looking, and you're looking at it it the right way, a way that I've had to learn how to look at it. The world is a mirror and it's constantly teaching me something. And so um, Jelani, man, I really appreciate your vulnerability, your honesty, your leadership, and just your your story on, you know, redefining success, you know, and not allowing, you know, giving, giving young people and other others who are what may watch this podcast and listen to it the uh another side of the human inside the athlete. Um, that, you know, there's a lot on the table. There's a lot of money to be made, and you you chose to to walk away from it and redefine yourself and look at you now and to be able to share the tools that you've been able to develop throughout that that transition um that has become some of the most important things that you use in life. Um, man, I really appreciate you sharing that story, sharing who you are. Uh, we're rooting for you, man. And uh again, thank you for joining Intangible Podcast. It's been awesome.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

I appreciate you as well, Chris. I'm rooting for this podcast. I'm rooting for you. Thank you for the platform. Thank you for creating space for this, these type of conversations. Um, so shout out to you, shout out to the work y'all are doing here in Intangible. Absolutely, man. I appreciate it.