00:00Why did it make sense for right now for that to be the time that you retire to Bengal?
00:05Yeah, I mean, truthfully, even when I left, I was like, I want to end my career in Cincinnati.
00:14And timing-wise for me, it's just been a lot going on family-wise, having a daughter and getting married
00:22and just slowing down for a solid year and being like, okay, let's take a breath and reset.
00:30And it's been nice for me.
00:31So, yeah, now it's like, all right, cool.
00:33Like, I can, you know, timing worked out well with Cincinnati.
00:38And, yeah, it was just time.
00:40Why was it important to you to retire in Spangler?
00:44This, I actually did this math because in my head I was like, oh, yeah, I spent so much time
00:49here.
00:50I was like, oh, I want to figure out how much time.
00:53The answer is 21.21% repeating is the amount of life that I spent here.
01:00And I don't remember the first 21.21% of my life to begin with.
01:06So, I mean, if you think about it from that perspective, right, like I spent most of my maturing days,
01:15I'm probably still maturing, but most of those days here and all of my most fond memories are here.
01:22This is, I live in Nashville, but this is, to me, always going to be my second home.
01:27I met my wife here.
01:29So, it's going to be near and dear to my family forever.
01:33So, yeah, it's just, I mean, this place will always be home.
01:37I'll always feel like I'm at home here.
01:40And, yeah, again, you think about that and it's like so much of your time has been spent here
01:46and so many good memories and so many friends and brothers that I'll have for the rest of my life.
01:50So, yeah.
01:51How much does that playoff touchdown catch against the Raiders mean to you still?
01:56Uh, yeah.
01:57You know, what's crazy is, you know, somebody else brought that up before I brought that up
02:01because that wasn't the first thing that came to mind.
02:03And the first thing that came to mind was, I mean, it's camp.
02:07Technically, they broke camp practices because it's whatever.
02:10But, you know, during this time, it's always, all right, well, the practices that you had
02:13with all your teammates of just grinding.
02:17Like, in the heat, it's a nice day today, so they got lucky.
02:20But in the heat, through the weather, through all the conditions,
02:23those are like the first things that came up or that came to mind before that.
02:27But, I mean, that playoff victory will definitely, definitely is, that's close to the number one spot for sure.
02:36What about the playoff run, CJ?
02:37The first playoff run in 21, going to the Super Bowl, what you went through personally?
02:43Recall all that for us.
02:46It's a lot.
02:47Yeah, I mean, just, you know, again, I've been reminiscing a lot today.
02:52But thinking about it from a personal standpoint of Iowa rookie year,
02:56we went on a crazy run and then lost in the playoffs, and that was very disheartening.
03:00And then, you know, you have some not great years in between,
03:04and then all of a sudden you're like, all right, well, we're back here.
03:06What's going to happen?
03:07From my perspective, it was, oh, we finally got it done, right?
03:10Like, now what's next?
03:12And I go into the locker room, and we have a group of young guys who are just like,
03:17what's next is the next game.
03:18Like, all right, cool, we won.
03:20All right, sick, let's celebrate, but we got a game to play next week.
03:22So it was a very, like, forward-thinking situation, and it was fun.
03:29Like, it was just like, all right, well, we're still having fun.
03:30We're still the boys.
03:31We're still in the locker room.
03:32We're having a great time.
03:33Tyler Boyd's still coming over to hang out, get a drink, and then leave,
03:38just like every other game.
03:39So, yeah, that was – it was a fun time to be a part of a locker room like that,
03:46I think, just because of how connected we were and how it was just like,
03:51all right, it's another game.
03:51All right, let's get back to work.
03:54What have you connected with your personality in the city?
03:57Because you've been a fan favorite for a lot of people here in Cincinnati.
04:00Can you put your finger on why you connected so well here?
04:05No.
04:06That would be like a stroke of the ego.
04:10So I don't really know.
04:11No, I mean, I think I just let my personality show.
04:15I said earlier, I think rookies are meant more so to be seen than heard.
04:23And I think rookie year, I was very just chill and I didn't want to step on
04:27anybody's toes.
04:27I didn't want to be myself too much.
04:29And then after that, being with Tyler Eifert definitely helped.
04:31And seeing him just be like, whatever, do whatever you want to, man, it's fine.
04:36And that helped a lot.
04:37And yeah, I was just myself and goofy, quirky.
04:42And I think if I was that way and wasn't good on the field,
04:45then that would have been something different.
04:46But, you know, I gave it my all and tried my best.
04:50And thankfully, that was enough for most parts.
04:54And I think they respected that in a way.
04:58That I was having fun and also performing well.
05:02That's what I would think.
05:04You guys can tell me, but that's what I would assume.
05:07Now that you're retired and you look back on your career, I mean, it's rare to be able
05:12to do what you did for as long as you did it.
05:13What are you most proud of with your football career in the NFL?
05:16Oh, that's one I didn't think about.
05:21I would say the impact, I think, with other players, maybe.
05:29You know, Oren and I never played together.
05:32And he and I are unbelievably close.
05:35We live a street away now.
05:37And the fact that we didn't play together, but we had the mutual respect when we played
05:41against each other.
05:43And we're close enough to be friends now.
05:46And he's on the opposite side of the ball.
05:48And I didn't think I'd ever be friends with anybody on the defense.
05:51I think that, to me, is something that, you know, I would like to think that most players
05:58that I came into contact with, whether out of respect because we're playing against each
06:02other or out of respect and having fun in the locker room, we have that connection for
06:08life just because of that.
06:09Like, if it's for a year or two years or seven years, whatever it is, we will still hit each
06:16other up, hang out, grab a drink, grab dinner, whatever it is, talk about our kids.
06:22And, yeah, I think that's what I would be most proud of.
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