00:00I'm not sure I've done I did more than in the last couple years it might just be
00:04a little more publicized now you guys get to see a little more of it but
00:09certainly you have to find some happiness outside of football in the
00:17time that you have because you know I want to play this game a long time and
00:21it can't just be football all day every day you have to find some some other
00:29places that you can find fulfillment especially as you get older you know
00:34football can be 24 7 for a while but I'm closing in on 30 I gotta find some some
00:42other places for that I don't know yet I don't know I don't know if that's just
00:47day-to-day soreness or if that's just getting older as well as you do as you
00:54show up to different events and stuff does it feel different I mean certainly
00:57it's uh I'm getting used to it though it's not it's not anything new for me and
01:05as I as I get older and and reflect on on that I get more and more comfortable in
01:15in those positions obviously it's never going to be normal it's never going to
01:19feel normal but I'm getting better at handling it was there anybody involved in
01:24the flag football event and we were talking we were at Arizona for the
01:27league meetings with Larry Fitzgerald he said like you were actually working the
01:30phones trying to like put it together how did that all come together and how did
01:35you end up kind of so involved in that part of it um well obviously I have a a
01:41good relationship with Michael at fanatics and and with Tom obviously and and flag
01:49football means a lot to to the league and they're trying to push that
01:53internationally and obviously but the Olympics coming up they're trying to make
01:58that more and more popular and that's for me it's an exciting thing to be a part of
02:04trying to grow football whether it's flag or or tackle football and I think one
02:13will go with the other if one gets popular the other one will as well and I
02:16want to be a part of that I mean what so when you're calling guys what's your
02:20pitch what's your not sure I was pitching anybody I was more so just like
02:24hey are you playing I'm just trying to figure out who was who was going to be
02:31out there with me you know yeah when you a lot of guys focus on themselves their
02:35contracts their football life obviously being an ambassador for the game is
02:39sounds like it's been kind of important to you over the years when did that
02:42become an important thing to you um I would say early ish in my career the
02:52first couple years when you see how the league pushes certain teams and put
02:58certain teams in big spots why they do what they do studying that and the teams
03:07that are in those positions year in and year out there's a reason for it and
03:12that's a position that I want the Bengals to be in to follow up on that I
03:17believe it was Sean Payton who said that after the flag football experience that he
03:21maybe would be surprised if a real NFL player ended up playing in the Olympics you
03:27said that you wanted to be a part of it so do you plan to be a part of the
03:30flag
03:31football in the Olympics after this experience yeah we'll see we'll see um you know timing is
03:36everything and uh you know those conversations kind of started this year
03:41but you know there's a long way to go until we get there it's something that
03:45that I'd like to do depending on obviously timing and um how people here feel about
03:51it but that'll be a conversation for a later date
03:53what are those conversations like with the team like how hard is that working that
03:57balance of what you can do something like that off the field versus obviously not
04:00wanting to feel like you're putting yourself at risk
04:02some those conversations are great uh you know there were no qualms about me
04:10doing that but if there were then I wouldn't have done it um so there's
04:16constant dialogue with Duke and Zach and and everybody about things that I want to
04:24do things that maybe I should or shouldn't do there's constant dialogue with that
04:29are they going to let you keep playing has that been a conversation or they or
04:32have they said hey we don't want you to do this moving forward or are they still
04:35pretty um we haven't talked about it since since the the game talk about the
04:39idea of trying to elevate the Bengals onto a bigger platform uh during the course of
04:44your career do you think that the Bengals are in a better spot now than they were
04:49years ago and how much more work is there to go in that
04:52definitely I think the number one thing is you have to win
04:57and you know we're going to go win a lot of games this year and play great and
05:01and win a Super Bowl and uh you know everything that comes with that comes with
05:05that part of that too is playing internationally you've spoken in here
05:09before about your desire to do that you're going to get that chance this year
05:13what was your reaction when you found out you're going to Madrid yeah it's exciting
05:18um not sure when we're going to go out yet but it'll be exciting to
05:21experience that um you know predominantly soccer city
05:28um you know I know some people that live out there so they'll be able to come to
05:31the game and um you know hopefully put on a show for everybody
05:34there's something exciting about bringing the Bengals brand to that you know you
05:38talk about yourself Jamar T the exciting brand of football you guys play is that
05:42part of it too that excites you about taking that brand overseas
05:45definitely the this you know we're in the entertainment business at the end of the
05:50day and you know I want to go and put on a show for the fans on every single time
05:55that I step foot on on the field and having new platforms and new places to do
06:03that is exciting for us do you know any of the uh Madrid or athletic players I do
06:07yeah a lot of focus has been on the defensive additions this year but for you
06:13personally how significant was getting Flacco back yeah that's exciting you know I
06:18love being around Joe and and watching him play and knowing that I have somebody
06:25behind me that can come in and step in the way that he did last year is I think
06:29will put our team in a good position are you surprised you didn't get a starting job
06:35yeah I would say
06:39based on the way he played I was surprised nobody wanted that
06:45to happen what did I say what I say I was surprised
06:54I was surprised based on the way he played last year yeah
06:57talked last year about the carbon fiber plate in your foot bearing your shoe is that a thing of the
07:03past or is that something you'll continue we'll see it won't be as stiff I'll
07:08definitely wear wear something this year
07:13yeah we'll see where that goes I'm trying a lot of different things out right
07:16now to to figure out what what works best for me right now but it definitely
07:22won't be as stiff as it was last year just preventative when moving forward it's
07:27true yeah yeah why why not you know
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