I walked away from pro football and a $2.9 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers because I didn't want to develop CTE.
Without a doubt in my mind, I should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You look at my stats without my USFL stats, and I don't know how you can argue with that. Look at my combined yards. I'm not one to make excuses, so I'll play by their rules and not even count the USFL stats.
When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt anyone deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something.
I had to decide whether I should try to play pro football after high school or try to pursue my powerlifting career.
Everybody who knows anything about me knows all I ever wanted to do is play pro football. But I didn't have the talent, and I got hurt a lot. I'd do anything to be out on the field.
We never knew we'd have kids playing pro football or going to Super Bowls. That wasn't ever a part of our plan in raising kids, so we really feel blessed.
I'm very proud of high school, college and pro football, the strides have been made to make it a safer game.
I played a little pro football, didn't make much money.
I knew the statistics of playing pro football were 1% of 1%, so I just never planned on it.
When I got out of college and signed a contract to play pro football in the USFL, the first thing I bought was a Remington 1100 shotgun and a Remington .30-06.
When it's all over I might be able to say I've had the strangest career in pro football history.
I'm not like some guys who, if the Ravens lose, are ready to jump off the top of M&M Stadium. There are other things in life besides pro football.
I love college football and I love pro football. This is how fair-weathered I am. I used to be a Giants fan, but my son who's turning 12 has really gotten into football, and he likes the Jets, so I totally jumped ships so we can root for the same team.
There's far more that goes into being a professional athlete than being a college athlete. So many differences that people don't realize. It's not just about playing football and getting paid to do it. There's a lot of things that you have to deal with.
Since I was in high school, I wanted to play professional football and professional baseball, be a two-sport star.
I don't say I'm necessarily a professional football player. I'm a competitor. That's what was instilled in me as a young boy.
My failures were something for me - my first contact with professional football. Though it didn't go all that well, it's not a regret, it's just like that. But looking back, those failures helped me consider football differently, consider the professional game differently.
You know how much money I could have made playing professional football as a tight end? But I can't jump, and I can't run fast. That was my problem.
I was just a kid who had arrived in the world of professional football and thought he could do anything he wanted. But I have learned from my mistakes. I have done everything to change, both on and off the pitch.
I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don't dream about being a professional football player or an actor.
