0:01

Are you ready for this? Sean

0:04

Merriman A one hand effect. Boom

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boom boom, out go the light. This

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is Lights Out with Sean

0:12

Merriman. What's up, guys,

0:14

Welcome back to another Lights Out podcast with me,

0:16

Sean Merriman, and uh. This week er

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special the NFL Draft a

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life changing day for most,

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if not all, guys get coming out

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of college. Think

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about it for me myself

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growing up in the Maryland, d

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C. Virginia area. You know, we grew up

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in a very lower class home.

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We didn't have much and then

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boom, one day somebody

0:42

calls your name and it changes your life. But

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I kind of rewind it a little bit before then. Um,

0:48

I just told you guys, I grew up in Maryland and

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and we grew up tough. We didn't have much, if anything

0:53

at all at some point in time. And

0:55

to even uh fathom

0:58

someone calling your name on

1:00

national TV to draft

1:02

you and to uh, you know,

1:04

get behind you that much financially. I mean

1:06

they pay these guys, you know, big contracts.

1:09

Um one University of Maryland, and so

1:12

I used to watch a lot of the

1:14

older guys, especially the ones I knew

1:16

coming into University of Maryland my freshman

1:19

and watched them get drafted, and I would

1:21

call them and say, man, what you know, what's it like? What's

1:23

it like from to call your name? And UM,

1:26

yeah, I see, I've seen players

1:28

and parents and family and friends

1:30

crying, and You're like, man, come

1:33

on, guys, it's just you know, what's all

1:35

the crying for? And then

1:37

uh, you realize you get to that day and you're

1:39

the one crying. Your family's crying.

1:42

Went to Maryland three years, left school early.

1:45

UM. A fun fact, I'll

1:47

tell you guys this my sophomore

1:49

year in two thousand four. UM, I'm not sure if

1:51

you remember or not, but Maurice

1:53

Clarette and Mike Williams were

1:56

petitioning to um,

1:58

you know, leave school or sophomores. And

2:01

if they would have uh

2:04

got that rule lifted or that band

2:06

or whatever you wanna call it lifted so they can go and

2:08

uh leave school early. I I probably

2:11

would have tried to leave school my sophomore

2:13

year. It was definitely a

2:15

discussion, uh

2:18

in the head coach's office that there

2:20

was a possibility. Luckily

2:22

I didn't go to Maurice Clarette and Mike Williams

2:24

route because they weren't able, wasn't able to come back to

2:27

school. I believe they got

2:29

agents and and they had already crossed the lines.

2:31

And um, you know, they had

2:33

a rule ant double a. Once you get an agent, you can't

2:35

go back. So they sat out a year. But

2:37

if that rule would have passed, I I

2:40

just might have would have went my sophomore year. I was,

2:42

I was ready, you know. I think I had

2:44

an opportunity to get drafted somewhere in the first

2:46

three rounds and that sounded good for me. But

2:49

anyway, you know, decided

2:51

to leave school early. And it was a big decision

2:54

really, Um, you

2:56

know, not starting for two years. I mean I go

2:58

back and I tell people all the time when I talk about

3:00

my time in Maryland, and I say, hey, I played

3:03

a lot my first two years, but I didn't start until

3:05

my junior year. Uh. And as soon

3:07

as I got on the field, you know, it was

3:09

it was lights out. Literally. Once

3:12

you uh, you know, sending your draft

3:14

grade to the NFL and and and your

3:16

paperwork they basically tell you as

3:18

a junior um they come back to

3:20

you with a draft grade. They'll have you know, first

3:22

round or top fifteen, top twenty,

3:25

and you submit basically

3:27

to the general managers and the scouts, and

3:30

they come back with a draft grade. My draft grade

3:32

came back, uh somewhere in the early first

3:34

round. And I knew

3:37

that once I got an opportunity to go through the combine

3:39

and uh show what I can do physical

3:41

and just show my physical attributes, and I knew I was gonna

3:43

have a chance to jump up even higher. And it happened

3:46

just like that. I was blessed and fortunate to

3:48

have that opportunity. But

3:50

it's scary, you know. You you look

3:53

at these guys in the NFL and you start to maybe

3:55

question yourself a little bit, are you ready to go? And

3:58

uh, am I gonna get drafted

4:01

in the top ten like they said I will? Am I gonna slide

4:03

to the second round? Third round? You just don't

4:05

know. Uh. I was offered

4:07

to come to the NFL draft, and

4:10

uh, you know I passed on it. Seeing all

4:12

those guys who sat there for

4:15

some time hours with

4:17

a camera in their face, and uh,

4:20

you know, they were expected

4:22

to go somewhere in the top fifteen and end up going second,

4:25

sometimes mid to late second or even third

4:27

round, depending on what happens. So

4:29

I declined to go. I rented a big

4:31

house back in Maryland. So my my family

4:34

and my friends, my high school coaches, boys

4:36

and girls club coaches, uh

4:38

Forge boys and Girls Club back in Prince Georg's

4:40

County, Maryland, we all came. We all went.

4:42

But let me tell you a funny story. So initially

4:46

everyone thought I was gonna go to the Cowboys.

4:48

So I took I took a few visits.

4:51

Uh when I you know, when it was time

4:53

for the visit the teams. I took your visit

4:55

to the the Reds of what

4:57

at the time watching risk and now known as a washing

5:00

the football team, but the

5:02

Washington football team, uh,

5:04

the Lions, San Diego,

5:07

Dallas, and I believe

5:09

Miami, the Dolphins. So

5:13

I get to my trip and dot to Dallas

5:15

to Dallas Cowboys. We get there, we land,

5:18

we go straight to the facility. Well,

5:20

it's about fifteen or twenty first round

5:22

prospects in the locker room. So we're

5:24

all together, We're all, you know, talking to each other, meeting

5:26

each other for the first time. I'm meeting a lot of these guys for

5:28

the first time because all I have is all I just watch

5:30

them on TV. So this is my first time get

5:33

a chance to see them in person. So we're kind

5:35

of down there. I see all the guys is potentially

5:37

going in the first round, and I get a

5:39

top on my shoulders and

5:43

it was someone that some personnel to work for the Dallas

5:45

Cowboys. They come down to top of me and say,

5:47

hey, Jerry Jones and Bill Parcels want

5:49

to see you upstairs.

5:53

So, you know, the first thing that comes to my man mind is,

5:55

Okay, what did I do? What did I do wrong? Why

5:58

didn't they come to grab anybod to else? Right?

6:01

And uh So, anyway, they wanted to see me

6:03

upstairs. I go and follow the

6:05

player personnel Guyles, the guy who worked

6:08

for the team. I follow him upstairs, went to uh

6:10

Bill Parcels office and

6:12

Jerry Jones is in there, and you know, so

6:14

I sit down and the seat I'm right across from

6:17

Big Tuna for the first time, and I've heard all about him

6:19

and heard you know, Lawrence

6:22

Taylor talked about him and all these great players he's coached,

6:24

and uh these awards and

6:26

just I mean, this is this is the Big Tuna. This is Bill

6:28

Parcels. I'm in the office with as a

6:30

twenty year old kid at the time, and

6:32

I'm sitting across from him, and also Jerry

6:35

Jones. So you know, of course, you know, being

6:37

a kid, you're intimidated. You don't want

6:39

to say the wrong thing, you don't want to say anything at all. So

6:41

I just kind of sitting there and listening and bobbing my

6:43

head and shaking it up and down. Bill

6:45

Parcels tell me and say, look, Fox Sports

6:47

Radio has the best sports talk lineup

6:49

in the nation. Catch all of our shows

6:51

at Fox Sports Radio dot com

6:54

and within the I Heart Radio app search f

6:56

s R to listen live. We

6:59

don't think you're gonna be there. They had the eleven pick it

7:01

up the two thousand five draft. We

7:04

don't think you're gonna be there by the eleventh

7:06

pick. But if you are, we're gonna

7:08

draft you. And

7:10

so, you know, my head, I'm thinking like, wow, I'm

7:12

gonna be a Dallas Cowboy. And

7:14

anyone know that if you're from the DC

7:17

Marylan, Virginia area, either a Washington

7:19

football team fan or you're a Dallas

7:21

Cowboy fan. And that's it. No

7:24

other team Dallas Cowboys

7:27

in the Washington football team. These are only two teams

7:29

that you're a fan of. So I'm gonna make some

7:31

members and some side of my family extremely happy

7:33

by being being a Dallas cowboy. So I'm sitting

7:35

there and I'm excited. I turned blood

7:38

shot red because I can't believe he's telling me like he's

7:40

telling me. But he stopped for a moment

7:42

after that, and Bill part. Bill Parcel

7:44

said, but when you

7:47

get here, we're gonna work the dog

7:49

shit out of you. And

7:52

I went from this happiness and and smiling

7:54

from in the air and and wanting to just run

7:57

around the room happy to hell.

8:00

No, I don't want to come here, you

8:04

know, um, And you know I love

8:06

tough coaches. I played for many of them over the

8:08

course of my career from high school on college

8:11

and then the pro. I may played for tough coaches, but

8:14

you gotta think that's pretty intimidating if you're a twenty

8:16

year old kid. You go somewhere in the first going somewhere

8:18

in the first round, and you you can land any one in the thirty

8:20

two teams, and here you got, uh.

8:23

Bill Parcel is one of the greatest coaches

8:25

of all time. Sitting across from you're telling he's gonna work

8:27

the dog shit out of here. So,

8:29

uh, you know, I shook my head and I

8:31

said, okay, thanks, coach, I appreciate it. Can't wait

8:33

to work, you know, I said all the right at

8:36

that point, you say all the right things. So

8:40

I go back downstairs and I'm shaking their hand and

8:42

we talked about thirty or forty five minutes. I

8:44

go back downstairs and I started texting my family

8:46

and I said, hey, guys, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna

8:48

be a Dallas Cowboy player.

8:51

I'm pretty sure that Dallas Cowboy was gonna draft me.

8:53

Now that year, uh

8:56

you know, they had Cleveland Browns at three, which they

8:58

went with Braylan Netwards um, and

9:00

they had I believe the

9:04

Minnesota Vikings, but they went with Troy Williamson,

9:07

the fast wide receiver out of South Carolina. I

9:09

believe it was he had. Then they went, uh,

9:11

Mike Williams at the Lions and

9:13

then the leventh pick. So now I'm I'm back

9:16

in Maryland. I'm with my family, friends, high

9:18

school coaches already told everybody I'm gonna be a Dallas

9:20

Cowboy because I said, look, if I slide

9:22

to the leventh pick of the draft, they already

9:24

told me. They told me that I'm gonna be a Dallas

9:26

Cowboy, So you know, just get ready.

9:29

And I look around and you know, my family

9:34

have Dallas Cowboy hats. They have Merriman

9:37

Dallas Cowboy jerseys. And

9:40

that's that. There's no other team team's

9:44

jersey or hats in the

9:46

house. So the

9:48

leven pick come and they're on the clock and

9:50

everybody's getting ready, And with the leventh

9:52

pick of the two thousand five NFL Draft,

9:55

the Dallas Cowboys go with DeMarcus

9:57

Where. And when I tell you,

9:59

you can here a pen dropping

10:01

the room. I mean, it was a moment of silence.

10:03

You would have thought somebody had just passed away.

10:07

And let me tell you, this is no knock against the

10:09

Marcus. DeMarcus Where's a bona fide Hall

10:11

of Famer. They didn't make a mistake. I mean, you

10:13

know, DeMarcus Ware's the ball, and we also remain

10:15

close friends throughout our time. Now, but there

10:17

was also always some competition there, but I'll get to

10:19

that in a second. Uh So, anyway, they

10:21

go with de Marcus Ware. Now,

10:24

when I took my visit to the

10:27

charges, I sat down, I flew out there. And

10:29

mind you, I've

10:31

never been on the West coast. I've never

10:33

seen palm trees in person. I

10:36

never saw an ocean that blew. I mean, the

10:38

whole nine. I mean, I'm I'm I'm d C Merll of Virginia.

10:41

I'm used to the city and I'm used to that

10:43

that life. And so for the first time,

10:45

I'm flying over to San Diego. Now

10:48

I met with flying to the team. I met with

10:50

general manager at the time, A J. Smith.

10:53

A J. Smith tells me the same thing that Bill Parcels

10:55

and Jerry Jones tells me, we don't

10:57

think you're gonna be here about the twelve pick, but if you are,

11:01

we're gonna draft you. So

11:04

since the Dallas Cowboys already passed me up, I'm

11:06

you know, I've already heard the same thing from

11:08

uh now two gms. I'm thinking

11:10

also that the at the time, the San

11:12

Diego Charge is gonna pass on me too. So

11:16

it's still complete silence in this room.

11:19

I get a phone call, My

11:21

phone rings, and so wow,

11:23

I'm like, okay, I'm going to the charges. It

11:26

was one of my best friends asking

11:29

me, was the draft

11:32

live? Listen

11:36

When I tell you I was level ten mad.

11:38

I couldn't believe that. He called me on drafted

11:40

to asked me was the draft live? And

11:43

was I watching it? Like

11:45

you fool, I'm getting drafted? What are

11:47

you talking about? I couldn't hang up the phone fast enough.

11:50

About thirty seconds after I hang up the phone, my

11:52

phone rings again. So now I'm thinking that he the call back

11:54

because he's mad, and I hung up on him or

11:56

to Another friend asked me the same ridiculous, dumb

11:59

question. I

12:01

answered the phone. I said hello, and

12:05

he said Sean. Sean Merriman said,

12:07

I said, yeah, who's this? This is

12:10

Marty Schottenheimer. And

12:12

from right there, my heart just dropped. I

12:14

mean literally, I felt like I was gonna think. And

12:17

he said, hey, are you ready to be at San Diego Charger?

12:19

I said, coach, are you ready to draft me? You

12:23

said, yeah, we're about to pull the trigger. We're gonna do it

12:25

right now. And you

12:27

know, I go back and I laugh

12:29

at me watching the draft growing up as

12:32

a kid at the at the at

12:34

the guy's crying, the family and friends and all

12:36

that other stuff, and you

12:38

know, I I got choked up and I held it in

12:41

and I walked out. I took about three or four steps

12:43

away, and I got closer to the TV, and I turned

12:45

my back to the room and I was looking at

12:47

TV and not just bawled, I bought

12:49

because you do realize that that day

12:51

that you've been watching since you were, you know, nineteen

12:53

years old, playing playing football, playing sports,

12:56

that that day is going to be your day.

12:59

And so and like why, I tell a lot of guys it is

13:01

a life changer, not just for you, but your family,

13:03

your friends, and everybody else around you. It's

13:07

a special day. So I tell these

13:09

guys this, Um,

13:11

you know, take the moment, take

13:14

it in. And I just got off the phone

13:16

here with a couple of guys getting drafted. Here soon take

13:19

it in. It's one of it's gonna be one of the best days

13:21

of your life. But also remember

13:23

this, it's not where you're drafted,

13:26

it's what you do when you get there. So

13:29

that's just a fun story for me.

13:32

Um, I was fortunate enough to even

13:34

have the opportunity to get drafted by the Charges. For

13:36

one, I just believe the San Diagles one

13:38

of the greatest places on earth. But

13:41

too, I went to

13:43

a team full of Hall of famers,

13:46

full of them

13:48

great, great guys, great teammates, and

13:50

it really was a blessing. So that's

13:53

my story on a draft. Good luck to all you guys

13:55

out there just getting drafted. Take it in, enjoy

13:57

your day. It's one of the best days of your life

14:00

living up. Thanks

14:05

guys for listening in to another lights Out podcast

14:08

with me Sean Raymond. And um, that's that.

14:10

That was my draft story. And and I

14:12

kind of went back down memory lane and

14:15

and and start backtracking and everything

14:17

that happened during that time. Um,

14:20

but it really is. It's one of the greatest

14:22

moments of your life. And you'll never

14:24

forget it. You you won't forget what you were wearing,

14:26

you won't forget who was there, who said,

14:28

what who did was because it is

14:31

that much of a life changing So thank

14:33

you guys for listening to another lights Out

14:35

podcast with me Sean Raymond. Um,

14:38

keep listening and keep leaving those reviews, man,

14:40

keep subscribing. I read them. I try

14:42

to apply to a lot of you guys. But um,

14:44

we'll be back next week.