00:00All right, it's Friday, you can get junky and funky, and you can talk to the Iowa grad himself,
00:06Mr. Danan Hughes. We have him join the show now. Danan, rumor has it, you might be in your
00:12baseball mindset right now, because you got a little bit longer until football starts. How's
00:16life going, Mr. Hughes? Everything's good, fellas. Good to be back with you guys, you know, briefly,
00:22I guess. But yeah, I am in baseball mode. I'm up here in Omaha calling the Big Ten tournament,
00:29about to call the USC versus Michigan State semifinal game. Great Big Ten rivalry. Great
00:34Big Ten rivalry. So storied. Yes, it is. Hey, since you're doing baseball, man, like this
00:43Royal situation sucks. I mean, how do you develop as a player if they don't play you? Like with
00:48Jack Caglione, as a former player, how important was playing time for you? Well, it's huge. I mean,
00:54I think we talk about that in football as well. There's only but so much you can learn in practice
00:59and in baseball, in the cages and tunnels and so on and so forth. They're not really having
01:05full practices. So really, it's, you know, you're limited there. So you'd like to see the young
01:12talent, especially if the team is not playing up to their potential or up to the standards that we'd
01:17like. And hopefully they'll turn it around and get those young guys in.
01:21Dana, what was it like for you as a young athlete coming up in the ranks with the Kansas City
01:26Chiefs
01:27when you've got to earn your keep and, you know, kind of prove to the to the vets and the
01:32coaching
01:33staff that you've got what it takes to play every day? Oh, well, it was huge for me. I mean,
01:38I came
01:39to the Chiefs with a broken foot. They literally drafted me four days after I had surgery on my foot.
01:46So
01:46part of this off season, the OTAs back then, I was literally on crutches and just able to soak up
01:53the playbook. So it actually worked. And it was beneficial for me because I was able to just take
01:58care of the cerebral part and soaking up every position, every wide receiver position, learning
02:04how to play special teams, watching other guys and how they performed. And that pressure was kind
02:11of alleviated because all I could do is watch. So I got to see the JJ Burns and the Willie
02:17Davises
02:18and those guys go out. I got to see the Benny Thompson's and Freddie Jones play special teams,
02:23Todd McNair and all those guys. So it allowed me to say, okay, wow, this is what professional
02:28football is like. And this is the adjustment I'm going to have to make. So once I was physically able
02:34to get on the field, then it felt really good. And then I was on practice squad for 10 weeks
02:38until somebody got hurt. I got activated and never looked back. So it kind of was a perfect storm for
02:45me, the type of athlete I was, because I feel like I was more cerebral. I did pay attention to
02:52those
02:52small details on the field and preparation and reading defenses and tendencies and all that stuff.
02:59So I didn't have to get thrust right onto the field and learn everything 100% full speed. So a
03:07little
03:07different for me, but it worked. And, you know, six years in the league and four times as a captain,
03:12you know, nothing to shake a stick at.
03:14Now, man, hell of a career for you. The Dayton Hughes, we're talking to here on 96.5, the fan,
03:18how does Rashi Rice get better when he's in prison?
03:23Well, yeah, I don't think there's a chance to get better in prison, especially if you're rehabbing
03:28from knee surgery and so on. So it's an unfortunate situation. And I think I've told you guys this in
03:35the
03:35past. Every year when the Chiefs, after the draft, they have a rookie dinner and they invite some of
03:41the Chiefs ambassadors over, sit down with the guys, introduce them, have conversations at the
03:47table, talk about what it means to be a pro. And I remember when Rashi was drafted and he was
03:52at the
03:53table with me and I sat there and chatted with him. And I walked away from that, that, that dinner,
03:58like, wow, this kid has got it. He was respectful. He looked engaged. He looked you in the eyes.
04:06You know, you had conversation, you felt like he was, he had some takeaways from it. And then,
04:12you know, he obviously had a very solid rookie year and you thought, wow, this is, this is the
04:17makings of the next superstar wide receiver that we can latch onto for possibly a decade. And then
04:25everything started to spiral downward. And if you would have asked me that day within those months,
04:31with all of this had transpired for Rashi Rice, I would have bet everything I had in my pocket
04:36that it would not. So it's disappointing. And then to see it continue to pile on with different
04:42bad decisions is just so unfortunate because he's such a great talent. Obviously we have the, the,
04:48the top shelf organization. And you just like to see when the light turns on with some of these
04:54guys that they can become the true professionals that they're supposed to be.
04:58Dana, and as we see this happen, like what would be the next step for somebody like you to mentor
05:05somebody like Rashi Rice, who has a chance to be insanely profitable from an NFL career,
05:11have a long 10 year career, but just keeps seemingly running into hiccups along the way in his young youth.
05:18I think it's really just about a sit down one-on-one. If I was that guy, if I was
05:24that mentor figure in
05:25his life, I'd sit across from him one-on-one and say, okay, are we done yet? Like, is there
05:32anything
05:32left in the tank that you're still trying to sort out in your life from a social, social perspective,
05:38from monetary perspective, maybe expectations from friends and people outside of football?
05:44Are you done yet? Have you hit rock bottom? Is it, is everything that you've experienced,
05:50the injury on the field, the less than par, uh, you know, play with the drops and inconsistencies,
05:57and then the off the field stuff, are you done yet? Uh, can we now become a, the true pro
06:03that
06:03you're supposed to be? And I think it takes a person that's close to him, somebody that he respects
06:08and that he will, you know, heed their advice. I think that's really what it comes down to.
06:13Everybody hits a wall in life at times. Sometimes we, we might've had crazy college
06:17years. We might've, as soon as we graduated college, we didn't, it took a little while
06:21for us to figure out our way in life and what we were going to do as an adult. But
06:26everybody
06:26also has those opportunities where when you hit rock bottom, uh, whether you were sick or
06:32injured or maybe an arrest issue or a close call, uh, you hit that rock bottom and then you
06:39got to shake yourself loose. And he hasn't been able to do that yet. And I'm hoping that
06:44this is a reality check. When you sit in that jail cell, I'm assuming when you sit in that
06:48jail cell, there's gotta be a lot of time for you to kind of do a self inventory and
06:54a reality check with yourself. And hopefully he's mature enough to recognize when you are
06:59a professional athlete, when you are a guy that could be making upwards of 30, $40 million
07:04a year and you are relegated to a jail cell. Like what more could anyone else ask as a
07:11reality check? And I'm hoping that he's going to be able to sit there. He's likely going
07:15to be in there alone. And he's going to be able to look at those four walls and that cage
07:21and say, is this really how I want my life to, to transpire? Is this, this, the story that
07:26I want to be attached to Rasheed Rice for the rest of my life. And, you know, throughout
07:31she's history, you know, you mentioned, you know, Dan and, and it really hit me
07:35hard. Are we done yet? And like, I could feel my stomach sink when you said that, could
07:40you imagine like for, for a guy like Rasheed Rice, Andy Reed walks in and that's what he
07:44says to him. Like if you, if you aren't done yet, when Andy Reed comes in and says, are
07:49we done yet? Then you better be done after that. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's
07:53a hard question to ask somebody, Dan, because you're looking at him and you're going, you're
07:57a total screw up in life. Are we done yet? Can we now move forward?
08:02Yeah, I think it's going to be tough. And especially with the persona of Andy Reed, he's got that
08:07fatherly grandfatherly figure type of approach. I have the luxury of interviewing him after
08:14every single game during the season. So, you know, you look somebody in the eyes, you, you
08:19talk about the great things that happened. And there's obviously times, at least 11 times
08:23this past season, where we had to talk about the not so great things that were happening
08:27on the field. And you get engaged with that type of person. So I can only imagine that,
08:33you know, the effect of it, like, you know, I never, I don't know about you guys, but I
08:37never wanted to disappoint. My parents definitely did not ever want to disappoint my grandparents.
08:43So like to be that grandfatherly figure. And if he's the guy, you know, I kind of envision,
08:49obviously this won't happen, but I kind of envision like Andy Reed being the guy that's
08:54at the door when Rasheed Rice is released. And like, that's kind of got to be the visual
09:00that Rasheed has got to have to circulate in his head right now. You know, when I, when
09:05I walk out of these gates, who's that first person that I see now, the physically is probably
09:11going to be a family member or maybe a chief security person or something like that. But
09:15mentally, the first person I need to see is Andy Reed in my vision, in my head, visualizing
09:22what that conversation needs to be and what, when that eye contact hits. And even if Andy
09:28doesn't use the words, are we done yet? That's got to be the mindset. And then how convincing
09:34am I going to be to Brett Veach, Andy Reed, Clark Hunt, the entire organization so that they
09:41can, you know, basically still take another chance at with me.
09:44Dana, short answer here for you, a long question. If you were the Chiefs, would you go get one
09:49of these veterans that are available, like a Stefan Diggs, AJ Brown, Tyreek Hill name?
09:55Yes, I would. And the reason why is this is an incredible window of time with Patrick Mahomes,
10:01even though he's coming off an injury with all the success that we've had, we set the standards
10:06so high and the expectations so high that I don't think you can go into a season and not
10:13feel good about any position, especially the wide receiver position, or at least have question
10:17marks about that. So, and that might also be the jolt of reality too for Rasheed Rice.
10:23So going and getting those guys or one, at least one of them can tell him, Hey, this is a
10:28business.
10:29The game moves on. And, and the reality is, is that you are either with us or you're not
10:34with us. You're going to jump aboard this train and move towards another Superbowl run,
10:39or you're going to, you know, keep flailing in a puddle that you have been. So like, I feel like
10:45getting a, uh, another established wide receiver that will give an infusion of energy to the wide
10:52receiver room, to the offense as well. When you go and get Kenneth Walker to the third at the running
10:56back position, when you feel so good about what the, the, the capabilities of this offense
11:02can be for 2026. I think it's only fitting that you look, uh, and see if you can go and
11:09get a
11:09stud wide receiver that can be helpful as well. Perfect. You know what I do, Dan? I'd tell Rasheed
11:13Rice, go read the book of Peter, my man. That's what I'd say. Amen. Yep. Dan, we appreciate the time,
11:19man. Enjoy the big 10 tournament. Enjoy everything you're doing. And we'll talk to you soon. All
11:23things chiefs are there right around the corner because we're dang near to June, man.
11:27Sounds good, fellas. Take care, Dan. Thanks, Dan.
11:29Bye.
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