After being selected as the sixth overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft, Kevin Carter dominated offensive tackles for 14 seasons in the NFL. He amassed over 100 sacks and ranks 19th on the all-time NFL sack leader board. It all started taking down Brett Favre in 1995 and he catapulted from there. Kevin took that passion and now applies it to the Kevin Carter Foundation, School of the Legends, and his family.
Being that Kevin was a member of the NFL Player’s Association Executive Committee for a number of years dating towards the end of his career, I spent some time talking with Kevin about the NFL lockout, his thoughts on where the talks are headed, School of the Legends, and reminisced about his 14-year football career and why he left the game.
Steve Wyremski (SW): How’s everything going? You must be glad you’re not still playing in the NFL with lockout mess, huh?
Kevin Carter (KC): Oh … I am so glad. It’s pretty much some bull. I would hate to be going through that right now.
SW: I know you have contacts with the NFL Player’s Association from when you were on the executive committee in ’07 and ’08. There’s all this stuff out in the press on serious talks occurring and progress being made. There’s definitely some optimism out there. What are you thoughts from what you’re hearing on all of that?
KC: I think they’re at the point, both sides, where they’re willing to actually try and negotiate for what they want. Earlier in the process can be best categorized with and exemplified through someone standing on your front yard and offering you a 100 dollar bill for your house. It’s foolish because you’re not going to even entertain that offer. I think that’s what the owners were throwing out there to begin with and it was all about posturing.
We’re at the point now where the sh** is going to hit the fan and people are sincerely worried about not having football for this upcoming season. I think that time has come. Now they’re [at the point] where they’re alienating the fans. People are unsure about their season tickets [and] everyone is really worried about not having football. It’s getting to crunch time.
SW: What’s your feeling on the whole situation? You think we’re going to see an agreement reached soon?
KC: I’m hoping so. The reason I say we’re getting to crunch time is because of the time of year it is. Not because it’s approaching some sort of deadline as far as it being June. Your June mini-camps are when you’ve got everything hitting on all cylinders. You’ve acclimated your rookies by now; your free agents have gotten themselves into the community and environment. [These new team members are] practicing with your team and learning your system. Now is the time you start building that continuity and chemistry that teams really thrive on and have going into training camp. Without having any organized team activities, mini-camps or anything else, it threatens the quality and outlook for most teams on how they’re going to do this season.
It’s hopeful that both sides are coming together with, not necessarily what they want but, what they’ll settle for. That’s a good sign.
SW: You go back a month or so ago and you co-hosted the NFLPA Rookie Draft Party. What’s the feeling among the rookies with the lockout? Are they still able to enjoy the thrill of being drafted?
KC: I think they’re still able to enjoy it. Being there at the draft and at the Rookie Debut 2011, it was a lot of fun [and] I didn’t see any indication in their eyes that would dictate anything different. They’re going to go into the NFL, play football, make a lot of money, put on a uniform, play 16 games, be on Sportscenter, and go about their lives. They weren’t really that affected. If you watched the draft, you saw them walk up there and shake Goodell’s hand like he was their best friend even though he’s the guy responsible for locking them out. It was their dream come true. To walk up and shake the commissioner’s hand, hold up the jersey … those are magic moments. Those are things you don’t want to take for granted. You only do them once.
SW: What have you been spending your time doing over the past few years since you back in ’08? I know you and your wife started the Kevin Carter Foundation back in ’02, which I’m sure is taking up some of your time.
KC: Being that I was on the executive committee [of the NFLPA] for six years and being that I did so much charity work, a company called School of the Legends (SOTL), which is an officially licensed partner of the NFLPA, approached me about a year ago to be a spokesperson. When I first caught wind of this project, I thought it was awesome. The first thing we wanted to do was establish a database of current and former football players. SOTL is a social networking site that is like Facebook for football. We have over 1,300 former and current NFL players that are engaged.
The thing that I’m excited about is the training videos on the site. We have position specific, high-def, web based training videos that are taught and given by football legends. Players like Michael Vick, Tony Gonzalez, [and] Larry Fitzgerald. [You] have a position specific video that details how Michael Vick became one of the most versatile quarterbacks to ever play the game. You can learn how to play the Cover 2 technique from Darren Sharper. We’ve got 22 videos available on the site.
Football is a great physical violent sport, but within that is a whole lot of technique, craft and skill. If I had something like this when I was a kid, I would have jumped at it. For me personally, I get to converse and form an online relationship with Bills Bates, Cornelius Bennett, Eric Dickerson, guys who I idolized growing up. So, it’s a really cool site.
SW: With the NFL game changing all the time. I want to talk a little about your career. You played 14 seasons in the NFL after being drafted as the sixth overall pick in the ’95 NFL draft by the Rams. As the game changes, how are you able to keep up with that and change your game?
KC: There are so many things that helped me along the way, but a wise man once told me when I was in my second year (a guy named Leslie O’Neal), “As you get older in this game you have to continue to perfect your craft, but you have to work out harder and find new innovative ways to exploit the things that are naturally slipping away from you”. He told me to increase [my] flexibility, core strength, grip strength, and work on individual pieces of my game. He was someone that really mentored me. I was big strong and in my second year. I could run through 10 brick walls, but I couldn’t get to the quarterback half as effectively as this guy who was in his 12th year and it seemed like he couldn’t even walk straight [since] he had so many surgeries and issues. He really gave me the edge to get better. I actually explore a lot of these things in my training video on SOTL.
It has a lot to do with your nutrition and training. I’ve got a really crazy wife who likes to run marathons, do triathlons, and do fitness competitions, so I’ve kept myself pretty healthy by default as I’ve been away from football. The one thing I can tell a young student athlete who wants to play for a long time is to take care of your body. The game is too hard to play and too hard to get to the top level even if you’re great. You have to give yourself every added advantage. The one thing you have control over is your own conditioning and nutrition.
SW: You body takes a beating in the NFL. Stepping back and thinking about your 14-year career, you played over 200 games. How does the body feel now after a few years of being away from the game?
KC: My body feels great. I’m one of the lucky ones. I know that from personal experience that whenever I don’t work out, don’t train, don’t eat right … my body starts to hurt. I just keep working out. At least 4-5 days a week, I’m doing something to get myself moving. I have a 10-year old son, so it’s not that hard for me to stay moving. I’m one of the lucky ones and came out of the game with a few little injuries or cuts and scrapes. I’m blessed.
This is why the players are standing up [in the labor negotiations]. The rights, health insurance, benefits, and all of the programs that we’ve done to tweak the current working agreement (Collective Bargaining Agreement) are what the players are taking a stand for. For guys like Gene Upshaw (God rest his soul) whose body took a beating. When you compare us to baseball, basketball, and hockey, we don’t have the same rights, benefits, and overall salary take from our game. We’re trying to get where they are.
SW: Going back to ‘95, your first NFL sack was against Brett Favre. What did that mean to you then and what does it mean to you now to have your first career sack against a guy who goes down as one of the best quarterbacks to play the game?
KC: For me, that was always special. Going up for that first game, I remember it like it was yesterday. We beat the Green Bay Packers 17-14. Getting my first sack on Brett Favre was monumental for me at the time. I’m sure it didn’t mean anything to him. It started off my career in dramatic fashion. Sometimes you don’t know what you can achieve until you go out there and do it. That was sack No. 1 and I made up my mind right there that I wanted to be in that club of guys who had over 100 sacks. It took me 14-years to do it, but I got my 100 sacks. Having that sack on a guy like him, it humbles me.
SW: [Explain PFF]. I know it was some time ago, but I want to try and take you back. From your last season in the NFL, we have stats from back in 2008 on your individual games. That season with the Bucs, we ranked you as the 13th best 4-3 DE in the NFL at +15.3. With such a solid season in’08, why hang up the cleats?
KC: You know what? There are so many reasons why I decided to walk away from the game. You never want to leave the game, but anybody will tell you if you have to leave the game … you want to do it on your own terms. Every time you walk back into that locker room, there’s a chance you take that you will NOT leave the game on your own terms.
People leave the game for many different reasons. Some times no one wants your services. Some times you just don’t have it any more. Some times you want to play on a certain team and they don’t want you and maybe you have to go somewhere else to play and it’s just not worth your time, or you can’t make the money you want to make.
For me personally, when I took a look at it I had a couple of offers from some really good teams. I could have gone to Carolina. I took a trip up to the Patriots and sat down with Coach Belichick. That was a situation that was a match made in heaven. It was a dream come true for me. I had always wanted to play for Belichick and this opportunity lay right in front of me. I really wanted it, but I always told myself that if I don’t have the same fire walking back into the locker room after the season then that’s my indication that I don’t need to play anymore.
I was in a situation where the Bucs decided to go younger, so I couldn’t play there anymore. I had to take my show on the road. I had opportunities on the road at different places, but it wasn’t worth it to me anymore. I didn’t have the same fire and I didn’t want to go after it the same way. If you don’t have the same fire going into the locker room, that’s when you get hurt. For 14 years, I felt the same way. The one time I felt differently, I walked away.
I left the game on my own terms. I left the game healthy, wealthy, and blessed. Should I have played a couple more years? My agent thinks so. He thinks I probably should have played a little more, but I’m satisfied and thankful.
SW: Sticking with ’08 for a minute, I want to test our rating system, as well as your memory. I know it’s going to be tough. It’s going back three years now, but if I learned anything … it’s that you guys vividly remember a lot of games. If I were to ask you what game you’d rank your best game of the ’08 season, what would you say?
KC: Oh, man. Oh, wow. [Laughs]. You know what, I had a pretty good game against Carolina. We played them on a Monday night up in Carolina. It was a pretty good game; I had a sack or two. I think I had one sack on Jake Delhomme. I had a good game against the Seattle Seahawks.
SW: I’ll tell you what we ranked your top two games… your game against the Lions in Week 12. The other game that we thought was your best was Week 3 against the Chicago Bears. We ranked your pass rushing that game through the roof.
KC: That’s it … yes. That’s it. I remember. I was going against John Tait. Yes, good game. Very apropos.
SW: [Discusses PFF in further detail]. What are your thoughts on that and what we’re trying to do?
KC: I think it’s great. Some times the objectivity isn’t as objective as it can be. When you talk about coaches and players when they rate people, it’s often different from when a media outlet does it. Some times, there’s prejudice both ways. If you’re just watching a game from an arbitrary/objective standpoint and you’re not considering that one player is a 10-year veteran, this one’s a hot new rookie, has potential, or any of those kind of dangerous terms that get thrown around, [it’s great]. Sometimes people with give guys more credit than they’re due just because of one’s salary or draft status. I think it’s a great thing you guys are trying to do. Let’s face it, in this sensationalistic media world that we live in, some times the wrong players get held up on a pedestal. That’s why there’s always these unsung heroes.
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Hopefully Kevin’s right and we see an agreement reached between the players and the owners sooner than later. The news that they’re 85% of the way there is certainly encouraging.
I’m hoping to see who the next guy to chase the 100 sack club is over the next month. Just come to an agreement already, huh?
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