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The NFL sort of reminds me of the tobacco companies, pre-'90s, when they kept saying, 'No, there is no link between smoking and damage to your health'.
If you're in college, if you're in high school, if you're in elementary school, if you're in a youth league, if you're in the NFL, football's football.
While I believe in second chances and giving players an opportunity for redemption, I also believe that playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right.
Look it, let me put it to you this way. The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.
I figured this was the easy stuff, and if we couldn't show up on time, looking right and acting right, we weren't going to be able to do anything else.
Calculated risks are part of what you do, but the idea that something completely crazy will work just because it's completely crazy is completely crazy.
If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.
I think every kid who wants to play in the NFL has a dream of hoisting that Lombardi. It's what we all strive for, and it's the end goal for every team.
I think, when people think of NFL athletes, they forget that they are citizens of this country, that they are bothered by the problems that we all face.
Befriending Pro Bowlers and future Hall of Famers is pretty cool, but I'm just enjoying the ride, looking at every day in the NFL as a memorable moment.
My father took me to my first game in 1971, and I fell in love with the Redskins and the NFL right then. I was hooked. And we didn't even win that game.
Of all the awards given to NFL athletes, the Walter Payton Man of the Year is the one that stands out above the rest to me because of what it represents.
I've been overlooked, praised, questioned, lauded, labeled, celebrated, and derided - sometimes all in the span of a single week. That's life in the NFL.
They're on the right road, but there's a long way to go on concussions, not only in the NFL, but college football, high school football and all football.
So many kids dream about playing in the NFL. But I was 130 pounds in ninth grade. I looked around and didn't see any 130-pound wide receivers in the pros.
I think that, in all of my time, I got just one fan letter, from an NFL fullback named Darian Barnes. NFL players might not have enough time for my books.
One cheerleader per season per NFL squad is chosen to attend the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. All season long, the cheerleaders speculate about who will be chosen.
They're willing to let Matt sit and wait until they believe he's ready and I can't do the best I'm capable of doing. I'm completely comfortable with that.
I think every person who gets a football scholarship thinks the potential for great success in college - and maybe even a career in the NFL - is possible.
I was the kid that was the 199th pick that never had the body for it. People didn't think I'd play one year in the NFL, and now I'm going on my 17th year.
Ideally, I would like to be in a position where I represent 100 guys in the NFL, to be in a position where I could control whether some teams win or lose.
For me, the NFL was a little bit faster than college because you've got guys who played five, six, seven years and knew all the ins and out of the league.
When I was15 years old, I couldn't look at the NFL and look on TV and say, 'Boy, there's a head coach, African American. That's something I'd like to do.'
I've always said it takes more courage to stand back there and throw a ball knowing you're fixing to get drilled than anything I can think of in football.
I've wanted to put myself in that position to be the best wide receiver in the NFL, and I definitely think I'm putting my foot forward to make that claim.
One thing that translates from college to the NFL is winners, and, I think, being a quarterback, that's the biggest thing: being recognized, winning games.
The one thing every NFL defense has in common is that it's sound. No matter where guys move on the field, every single foot of space will be accounted for.
It's hard to win in the NFL. You have to maintain a very delicate balance putting together the right team to be able to win and have any amount of success.
From the third grade, I knew that I wanted to play in the NFL. It's pretty cool to see the dream about to come to fruition, but it's just a starting point.
It won't change that I'm an Olympian if you call me a football player, and it won't change that I'm an NFL player if you call me a track and field athlete.
I'm in pro football to win, to have the Raiders dominate, to have the Raiders global, and we're not going to be able to do that with a half-filled stadium.
Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back.
Ties in the NFL absolutely suck. Trust me, I was involved with a tie against the San Francisco 49ers when I was with the Rams in 2012 and it felt pointless.
I worked hard at becoming a professional football player, just like society says you should. It said you had to be fierce. I was fierce. Tough. I was tough.
I'm the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that is the result you are going to get. Don't you ever talk about me.
You know it's only 50 miles but I've relished every moment of the longer route to get here. Thanks for letting me reflect on those great moments. Thank you.
Over the course of my career, I'm trying to win Super Bowls... I am an NFL football player now, and I'm going to try the best that I can to be the best one.
Nobody is thinking they're going to come out here and put a team here and become a multimillionaire. I don't know anybody that comes into the NFL like that.
It's just part of the NFL. There's going to be moving parts constantly. There's going to be roster changes. There's going to be coaches going somewhere else.
The true fans were capable of not only painting their cars and homes their team colors, but also naming family pets and offspring after famous NFL all-stars.
I'm much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines.
As an NFL player, and as a veteran in this game, no one cares what you're doing during the offseason. They only care about what you do on the football field.
I made it to the NFL and I had an injury, a really bad injury, actually, where I was out for 18 months in football. And the doctor said it was career-ending.
I don't believe you could be a 39-year-old quarterback in the NFL and eat cheeseburgers every day. I want to be able to do what I love to do for a long time.
It's sad when a MMA fighter talks to an NFL or NBA player about how much money they make. That's embarrassing. You tell them how much you make and they laugh.
Playing in the NFL isn't really - and shouldn't have to be - every black boy's dream. But black boys don't always know that their dreams off the field matter.
I'm playing in the NFL and getting to compete with these guys every single day, getting to play in the pre-season games. That's a dream come true right there.
I've always been supremely confident in my abilities. But the biggest confidence boost is when the guys around you, you feel like they have confidence in you.
When I retired from the NFL, no one knew who I was, and I had to start all over. I ended up doing security in L.A., and I was just on movie sets and watching.
These opportunities don't come around too often. It's quite an honor and a privilege to be able to sit here today saying that I'm a part-owner of an NFL team.