Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. Hey everybody, this is Peter
Speaker 1: Schrager from the Season with Peter Schreeger. It is a
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, Week fifteen. I'm joined by my colleagues, Aaron
Speaker 1: wang Kaufman, our fine producer, and Jason English from the
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia team. And if it sounds like I'm running on fumes,
Speaker 1: just because I was up all night, like off the couch,
Speaker 1: like cheering like a madman, for two incredible football games.
Speaker 1: The Giants somehow finding away over the Packers, and then
Speaker 1: the Dolphins give a game away to the Titans that's
Speaker 1: not even fair to the Titans. The Titans take the
Speaker 1: game from the Dolphins. The history books will tell you
Speaker 1: that that game was as unusual and as unique a
Speaker 1: game as you will ever find. Here's the story. Since
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, right nineteen seventy six, there hasn't been
Speaker 1: a game with a team that has been up fourteen
Speaker 1: points with less than three minutes ago that is lost
Speaker 1: in regulation. Happened last night. On the other end, You've
Speaker 1: got Tommy DeVito and the Giants absolutely dead to rights
Speaker 1: after Jordan Love has an incredible tribe and a touchdown
Speaker 1: take lead after a terrible Saquon Barkley fumble, and then
Speaker 1: DeVito takes them all the way back downfield and they
Speaker 1: win in the final seconds. And yet the story of
Speaker 1: the day is not necessarily de Vito. It's his agent,
Speaker 1: his agent, Shaun Stillotta. Why because Sean is dressed in
Speaker 1: a top hat, in a zoot suit pinstrit suit, and
Speaker 1: it's all over the ESPN broadcast. And if you hear
Speaker 1: me smiling, I don't know if that's the thing through
Speaker 1: your earbuds or you can sense them smiling. It's because
Speaker 1: of our podcast that we have for you. We got
Speaker 1: two guests. The first guest is the biggest sensation in
Speaker 1: New York City not named Tommy DeVito. It's his agent,
Speaker 1: Sean Stillado. And our second guest is maybe the most
Speaker 1: dynamic player in the defensive backfield in the NFL over
Speaker 1: the past few weeks. It is Vikings breakout superstar Josh Mattellis.
Speaker 1: Both guys are awesome and I'm excited to speak with them,
Speaker 1: which brings us two our guest today. I've known this
Speaker 1: guy for like a decade, so with everyone sending out
Speaker 1: memes and Dave Portnoy on barstool being like, who is this?
Speaker 1: And I saw that there was a million and the
Speaker 1: Manning brothers are commenting on him as if he just
Speaker 1: flew in from Naples or Sicily or from Bay Ridger
Speaker 1: benson Hurst and decided he was going to put on
Speaker 1: a suit and a hat and say here, I'm Tommy
Speaker 1: DeVito's agent. You're missing the deal, guys. This has been
Speaker 1: Sean Stallato since the day I met him ten years ago.
Speaker 1: And he's also an incredible agent, like fighting for those
Speaker 1: back end of the roster guys. I don't know who
Speaker 1: he represents currently, but like I remember, he used to
Speaker 1: represent guys that I would be like, who is that player?
Speaker 1: And it'd be pre draft and he's like, you gotta
Speaker 1: give this guy a shot. You gotta talk about it,
Speaker 1: and then that player would be in the NFL like
Speaker 1: two years later, making plays, and Sean was the agent
Speaker 1: and was the only guy who believed in him, took
Speaker 1: a risk on him and got him to the league,
Speaker 1: and then of course from there pivoted and then got
Speaker 1: Tommy de Vito as a client. Our guest today is
Speaker 1: Sean Stallato, the agent for Tommy de Vito and so
Speaker 1: many others. I'm just gonna let the interview run. Let's
Speaker 1: bring him in right now, mister Seawan Stallato. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the season with Peter Schreker.
Speaker 2: Peter, I appreciate those kind words, my friend. Always great
Speaker 2: to have a little time with you. And yeah, exciting
Speaker 2: time right now.
Speaker 1: All right, So this is Tuesday morning, Monday night for
Speaker 1: like the Apex, but it might even go higher and
Speaker 1: hire for Tommy DeVito seventeen of twenty one game winning drive,
Speaker 1: third straight win, no interceptions. And yet it's the vibes,
Speaker 1: it's the it's the off the field stuff, it's everything
Speaker 1: that goes into it that New York is having a moment.
Speaker 1: Take us through yesterday. Please, when your day started Monday
Speaker 1: and the Monday night went over, the packers, what was
Speaker 1: going down went.
Speaker 3: Out of doubt.
Speaker 2: I first got to bring my CNA sicily to Kindergarten,
Speaker 2: so that kicked off, and then I drove down, had
Speaker 2: a meeting in Manhattan, and then shot over to that
Speaker 2: Electric stadium. You know, obviously the cutlets the tailgate was
Speaker 2: five star led by Lexi and Tommy SR. And the
Speaker 2: two to three hundred people. But just we knew last
Speaker 2: night was a huge coming out opportunity. Look at he's
Speaker 2: already came out a little bit, but we knew the
Speaker 2: Packers obviously playoff contention. Monday night football home, he was
Speaker 2: ready for the You know, Tommy was in a lead eleven.
Speaker 2: He was a dark huss for the Heisman in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: Ye I knew how good he was. He is, And
Speaker 2: let's face it, sometimes you just need that opportunity and
Speaker 2: luck is where preparation meets opportunity. He's continued to show
Speaker 2: his worth and that he can be deserves to be
Speaker 2: a starter in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: We had you on Good Morning Football, and we had
Speaker 1: Tommy on Day three of the draft, and he comes
Speaker 1: in and we'd loved him. We love his energy, we
Speaker 1: loved everything about him. He goes undrafted, then you guys
Speaker 1: have to hustle a little bit and figure, Okay, who
Speaker 1: are we going to sign with? First talk about the
Speaker 1: disappointment of not being drafted, and then the quick pivot
Speaker 1: to what's the best situation for us?
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody wants to any player that's trying to get
Speaker 2: to the NFL wants to hear their name call and
Speaker 2: let's face it's some of the greatest to play the
Speaker 2: game haven't had that opportunity. But we know about projecting
Speaker 2: value in long ball game. And I think what it
Speaker 2: came down to, Peter, Yeah, coming in the studio, he
Speaker 2: showed all thirty two GMS that morning that you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm the real guy, I'm your guy. I'm confident what
Speaker 2: I did at Illinois is just something that I'm going
Speaker 2: to continue to evolve off of. And that's what he did.
Speaker 2: Draft day was a little bit. Let's face it, there
Speaker 2: should be a Day four in the NFL draft. Three
Speaker 2: days undrafted market is the wild West, and you know
Speaker 2: it's tough. You're making a life time, life changing decision
Speaker 2: and moments, and I don't think that's very reasonable. We
Speaker 2: didn't have a ton of ton of office. I stood
Speaker 2: on his father's office desk that in a begging, claring,
Speaker 2: scratching why they needed to draft him, and no one
Speaker 2: really wanted to listen. And I remember the rings when
Speaker 2: they took sets in Bennett and I said, come on, man,
Speaker 2: this kid is better. I know we didn't win the
Speaker 2: National championship and then he went else, but he has
Speaker 2: been a humble kid and it came down to the Commanders,
Speaker 2: and it came down to the Giants and my relationship
Speaker 2: with Joe going back with the Bills having a player there,
Speaker 2: cam Lewis and then Coach Gable his development of quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: We were looking a guaranteed money to the local to
Speaker 2: come back home and let's be you know, let's have
Speaker 2: an opportunity to do what we need to do. One
Speaker 2: of the greatest markets of you know, a football of fashion,
Speaker 2: and the stars kind of aligned and he knew he
Speaker 2: was going to have to go in there. And I
Speaker 2: met with coach early, right after the draft, and he
Speaker 2: laid it on on the table what he's going to
Speaker 2: need to do to stick. And let's face it, he
Speaker 2: did a great job with Josh Allen. He's done a
Speaker 2: tour in Jalen. We knew that was his guy, and
Speaker 2: he loves coach and he loves the organization and it's
Speaker 2: been obviously the story couldn't be written any better.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about you, your story, because we always talk
Speaker 1: about the gms and the coaches on this podcast and
Speaker 1: where they came from their humble beginnings. But you played
Speaker 1: at Maris and you were a stud at Maris you
Speaker 1: were a good player, then you went from being a
Speaker 1: player to an agent. Take us through your rise through
Speaker 1: football and kind of where you're at now.
Speaker 2: You know, my dad gave me a football when I
Speaker 2: was six years old and we watched Doug Flutie do
Speaker 2: the Miraculous Pas eighty four, November twenty fifth. I looked
Speaker 2: at him and I said, Daddy, I want to be
Speaker 2: a football player. And he said, hey, you know what,
Speaker 2: You're not going to be the biggest, strongest. We don't
Speaker 2: have the resources like a lot of others, but no
Speaker 2: one can ever outwork you. And I took that. He goes,
Speaker 2: this ball gonna be a compass. And football has changed
Speaker 2: my life in every part of the rem and I'm blessed.
Speaker 2: And you know the title of my book, and no
Speaker 2: backing down, that's my mantra. You know, Maris gave me
Speaker 2: an opportunity. I just miss getting in the Columbia Richmond
Speaker 2: offered me a scholarship and I wanted it. My mother
Speaker 2: doesn't fly, so I said, I'm gonna go out to
Speaker 2: be a Red Fox and embraced, you know, two Division
Speaker 2: one sports. I did play two years of pro ball
Speaker 2: arena football. Jeff Brown Yep, yeah, coach. I knew Jeff
Speaker 2: his rookie first year of a coaching was an absolute star.
Speaker 2: He has run on the forty nine Ers Chargers playbook.
Speaker 2: And then you know, obviously I operate now, you know,
Speaker 2: through primary source experience, not through speculation, kind of like
Speaker 2: a GM agent, you know. And I've been able to
Speaker 2: really go after guys that I believe in, the maybe
Speaker 2: guy that are underdogs because we share that same mindset
Speaker 2: and that grittiness and that walking with a boulder on
Speaker 2: our shoulder, and Tommy defines all those core values and
Speaker 2: let's face it, the Italian heritage. We're both very very
Speaker 2: proud Bisons. We know all our ancestors who came before
Speaker 2: us and made those sacrifices. So it's been fun, you know,
Speaker 2: been in the game. SES Sports is ten years old,
Speaker 2: so not a rookie, been in the game for eighteen years.
Speaker 2: And I'm just excited to be in this moment because,
Speaker 2: let's face it, we all build and we work for
Speaker 2: these type of moments. But I'm so proud of Tommy DeVito,
Speaker 2: how he's handled himself off the field, never forgetting his roots.
Speaker 2: He is inspiring and he's being that iconic figure that
Speaker 2: so many people need of hope for that underdog. And
Speaker 2: let's face it, everybody can get to hit the Ovarian lottery.
Speaker 2: Everyone can be at.
Speaker 3: A certain level.
Speaker 2: But Tommy has taken the bull by the horns. And
Speaker 2: that's a testament to Lexi and his dad how they
Speaker 2: raised him, and test him into my mom and dad,
Speaker 2: how they raised Themlet's face that, I got an awesome wife,
Speaker 2: and you know, Peter, you know you can be good,
Speaker 2: becoming great. You got to have that right lady on
Speaker 2: your corner. And my wife is my Adrian uh and
Speaker 2: you know I'm trying to be there or for her.
Speaker 1: Last night, you put on that that that hat, you
Speaker 1: got the suit on, You're kissing Thompson and it goes viral.
Speaker 1: The Mannings are talking about it. Did you wake up
Speaker 1: this morning to about a thousand texts? I think it
Speaker 1: might have been two thousand. Peter, absolutely crazy. I know
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: You know Tommy. See he kissed me first, and I said,
Speaker 2: you know what, I was so so, I I know
Speaker 2: he broke the ice. Yeah, you know what, I put
Speaker 2: the hat on. I'm a big Frank Sinatra, Rocky Balboa fan.
Speaker 2: Let's go I've kind of lived my life as as
Speaker 2: the Rocky Balboa and in that passion, that gritty underdog.
Speaker 2: That was a special moment with his dad. He able
Speaker 2: to experience that the energy uh doing in New York.
Speaker 2: You know, I just wish you know Sinatra New York
Speaker 2: was playing when he kissed me. That would have been
Speaker 2: kind of like the icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: That's Yankee Stadium. That's how they ended there, the Yankee
Speaker 1: Stadium with New York, New York giants. I think they
Speaker 1: go to New York state of mind with Alicia Keys,
Speaker 1: which yes they do.
Speaker 2: But Peter I got engaged a Rockefeller ice. I can't
Speaker 2: even ice skate, So I appreciate the Red Sox, but
Speaker 2: I am a Yankees fan. I know that's kind of
Speaker 2: a crazy statement to make, which has been cool, But
Speaker 2: I'm just so happy to Tommy. You know, Tommy is
Speaker 2: a he's a warrior, he's a fighter, and he has
Speaker 2: that quiet swag and confidence that is just intoxicating.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, I'm happy for you because I've known you
Speaker 1: for years and you've had play like You've had a
Speaker 1: lot of guys come through, a lot of Patriots players.
Speaker 1: I remember. I mean I saw a tweet this morning
Speaker 1: from Jonas Gray like hey, that's my agent. Like that's
Speaker 1: the man right there. So it's not like you're this
Speaker 1: overnight sensation to us in the football world, but you were.
Speaker 1: You guys are leaning into this and I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: The thing that DeVito said at the end of his
Speaker 1: personal is like, hey, it's good for business, and I
Speaker 1: let's call it like it is. The football has been great,
Speaker 1: but he's not afraid to go and do the off
Speaker 1: the field stuff and really lean into his Italian heritage
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we look through those similar lenses and I think
Speaker 2: that's important, the business side of things. But obviously we
Speaker 2: know our main commitment is to the New York Giants
Speaker 2: and being the best football player he can be. But
Speaker 2: then there is a side. Let's face it, we're in
Speaker 2: an informations you know, tech savvy era. You know today
Speaker 2: Tom Brady didn't have that, you know, when he was
Speaker 2: killing it early years. So we know we've got to gradually,
Speaker 2: you know, pick and choose who we want to collaborate with.
Speaker 2: But let's face it, you know, our names in and
Speaker 2: a vowel. We're passionate about our heritage and it's a
Speaker 2: great market that shares that same passion and all those traditions,
Speaker 2: and let's face it, Christmas Times comment Pete. We got
Speaker 2: the Seven Fishes, and we've got a lot of unique
Speaker 2: traditions of that Italian culture that we're looking forward to.
Speaker 2: So playing on Christmas Day is going to be extra
Speaker 2: unique for him this year. Obviously we can't look. Main
Speaker 2: focus is New Orleans.
Speaker 1: But you know, I didn't even realize that is that
Speaker 1: game in is that game in Jersey? Or is that
Speaker 1: game in Philly?
Speaker 3: Billy?
Speaker 1: Oh, so Dom Desandro, Nick Sirianni, John Ferrari and Tommy
Speaker 1: DeVito will all be in the building together.
Speaker 2: And you know what, my wife, you might have to
Speaker 2: set up Christmas tree in the hotel and come down
Speaker 2: to Philly and have Christmas and I'll do my Rocky
Speaker 2: step run in the morning.
Speaker 1: Philly's got there no shortage of you know, Vince Papoli
Speaker 1: and Rocky Balboa and cousin Paulie. I feel like there's
Speaker 1: some Phillies up there too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that really is yeah, the Philly. Yeah, Philly is
Speaker 2: a cool city. I had four players when they won
Speaker 2: Super Bowl fifty two, you know, which was a cool experience.
Speaker 2: It was weird going up against the Patriots. It's like
Speaker 2: I had guys on both sides. But Brian Brayman is
Speaker 2: one of my first you know, firstborns in the industry,
Speaker 2: and uh, it was special to see him, you know,
Speaker 2: PARTI Trophy and the owners. You know, mister Lorie Howie Roseman,
Speaker 2: great great guy and you know, I had a good
Speaker 2: good John Tish last night. We had a good moment
Speaker 2: on the field game. You know, we're good. He's he
Speaker 2: picked away at the Gunnery. I went to Gunnery School
Speaker 2: for a year. Any lum of that school and that
Speaker 2: was a year in my life.
Speaker 1: When you when you see, uh, you know, some of
Speaker 1: the tweets coming through and the Mannings obviously commented on you,
Speaker 1: but like, who's the who's the icon that that is
Speaker 1: talking about Tommy DeVito or even an Italian American icon
Speaker 1: that has talked about you and de Vito and DeVito's
Speaker 1: dad that has been like, are you serious that guy's
Speaker 1: paying attention? Oh my gosh, pinch me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. There's a lot of iconic names. Look
Speaker 2: at Scott Pioli is a huge Italian roots guy. I
Speaker 2: mean he brought up the draft day and you know,
Speaker 2: the you know, in terms of the the setup for food,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of guys Sebastian, you know. Sure now
Speaker 2: he called Tommy up and congratulate. You know, I spoke
Speaker 2: Joe Pesci. I'm getting inducted Friday into the National Italian
Speaker 2: American Sports Hall Fame in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Slow down, slow down, You're getting inducted this week to
Speaker 1: the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, amongst Mike Piazza,
Speaker 1: and uh you go through the Joe DiMaggio, Sean Stillado
Speaker 1: is going to be in there.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just so humbled, Joe Montana, Dan Marino,
Speaker 2: Vince Lombardi. I mean, yeah, those men, Mac Bavaro, to
Speaker 2: stand on the shoulders of those great men who you know,
Speaker 2: allowed me to dream a little bit bigger. I'm it's
Speaker 2: it's just surreal to the extent. And then obviously going
Speaker 2: in there with Tommy performing like he did on the
Speaker 2: biggest stage, you know, Monday night football, truly a blessing
Speaker 2: pete And uh, it's you know, obviously there's no slowing
Speaker 2: down in this industry, as you know, so just uh
Speaker 2: the Naro said, the high high, the low low. You
Speaker 2: got to kind of maintain that same pace. And but
Speaker 2: you know, being Italian, being passionate, loving the game, it's
Speaker 2: hard to turn it off.
Speaker 1: You know, one gear, You've always worn your heart in
Speaker 1: your sleeve, whether it be at the combine or whether
Speaker 1: I see you at NFL game. So it's a warm embrace.
Speaker 1: I love seeing you. What's the outfit in the closet
Speaker 1: we haven't seen yet?
Speaker 2: Oh man?
Speaker 1: And how big? How big are we going?
Speaker 2: It's crazy. You know my mother, you know, grew me,
Speaker 2: when I raised me. She's like showing you the daughter
Speaker 2: I never had because I was so My grandmother worked
Speaker 2: in a men's department store, filings my Latiti and my nanna.
Speaker 2: She immigrated from Ponte Grande, Catanzaro, collaborator, and she always
Speaker 2: used to hook me up, you know the white sport code. Hey,
Speaker 2: let's give it the uncle look. And you know, I
Speaker 2: started rocking a couple of suits in the middle school
Speaker 2: fashion show. In high school and then college, I was
Speaker 2: in a couple of fashion shows. And I remember in
Speaker 2: the industry with my early years. Know, one of my
Speaker 2: tailors like, hey, man, when you walk in the room,
Speaker 2: someone got to say, who the fuck is that guy?
Speaker 2: On my French? So we can definitely go kind of loud.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I obviously I love the Fedoras, you know some you know,
Speaker 2: some of the shoe collaborations through the years. The suits, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I've got some. I've got some stuff I haven't even
Speaker 2: busted out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Look, there's like there's there's Ferragamo and there's Gucci. But
Speaker 1: like I feel like you've got different brands. You've got
Speaker 1: like the custom brands. Yeah I do.
Speaker 2: I got you know, a couple of tailors I work
Speaker 2: with it that in terms of the custom I mean
Speaker 2: I told my wife, I got to try to maintain
Speaker 2: the six pactal I at least sixty so we got
Speaker 2: you know, we got fifteen years. But uh it's it's
Speaker 2: you know, when you have thirty custom suits, you gotta
Speaker 2: you can't get you know, I do got you know,
Speaker 2: someone asked me who has the bigger closet out of
Speaker 2: you too? I said, ah, man, I said, you got me.
Speaker 2: I said, I got to see the closet for my
Speaker 2: suits and then my walk in. Uh so I might
Speaker 2: got her on that, but uh, which is cool. But yeah,
Speaker 2: you know what I've always I'm looking forward to going
Speaker 2: to Italy. Uh you know, we're looking to potentially have
Speaker 2: a football camp in June like this, Yeah, I've got
Speaker 2: a couple, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, Like this is opening up doors
Speaker 1: that maybe two months ago weren't possibilities. But now you
Speaker 1: see the success, you see the fan reaction, you see
Speaker 1: what Tommy does to the Italian American community, maybe Italian
Speaker 1: community at large. What what's what's the uh, what's the
Speaker 1: future for Tommy DeVito and honest Tommy, what's something? What like,
Speaker 1: have we done Madison Square? Garden court Side yet? Have
Speaker 1: we done that? And then big scale? What are we thinking?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, big scale, we haven't done Madison Square.
Speaker 2: They've reached out a couple of times, you know Islanders,
Speaker 2: Uh in the Knicks. I know he's a Knicks fan,
Speaker 2: an Islanders fan.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna hopefully look at the Yankees. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get that first toss out because I know they're gonna
Speaker 2: cash probably mister Cashman is probably gonna offer him, you know,
Speaker 2: try to be a dual's threat like the one.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: But the kids very talented, big scale, look at we
Speaker 2: you know, we're obviously going to continue to evolve. He's
Speaker 2: got that you know, Boulder on the shoulder. He knows
Speaker 2: it's about preparation. He knows in NFL is an opinion
Speaker 2: based business and you've got to get better. And he's
Speaker 2: going to continue to work on his craft. I know that.
Speaker 2: And he's with a great coach that's gonna in a
Speaker 2: storied franchise that's going to continue to walk with him
Speaker 2: and help him, you know, get it done. Off the field,
Speaker 2: you know, impact all those young potential future Tommy de
Speaker 2: Vito's be that post to child for them, but also
Speaker 2: continue to evolve as a player. I think he's solidified
Speaker 2: himself as a bona fide starter in the National Football League.
Speaker 2: You know, my job early in this whole process is
Speaker 2: to project value. I knew Tommy was special. I thought,
Speaker 2: I screamed, you know, in him doing what he's doing.
Speaker 2: That's just a testament to his mindset and the aura
Speaker 2: about him. And he's embraced, you know, all the blessings
Speaker 2: God given him. And let's face it, he's a proud
Speaker 2: Italian American with a big upside and he's he's going
Speaker 2: to continue to rise up to those challenges. Wouldn't write
Speaker 2: them off the playoffs. I'm excited for the rest of
Speaker 2: these next four games.
Speaker 1: Last question as we wrap, has the Tommy DeVito explosion
Speaker 1: and maybe your profile getting a little bigger on the
Speaker 1: national has it led to any help in the recruitment
Speaker 1: game for these college athletes?
Speaker 2: You know what it's that recruitment game is just a
Speaker 2: whole different animal, and I go through it every year
Speaker 2: A lot of times. I've got to the finish line,
Speaker 2: you know, with top one hundred guys coming in second,
Speaker 2: I can't control any of that. I look at I'm
Speaker 2: excited about the two guys I have two to three
Speaker 2: that will be coming off of the twenty five fourth
Speaker 2: twenty twenty twenty four draft. Hopefully players can see the
Speaker 2: value in that. You know, what you see is what
Speaker 2: you get with me, and you know my passion, my energy,
Speaker 2: my tenacity, my attention and detail my relationships with all
Speaker 2: thirty two teams right there. I mean you said it, Peter.
Speaker 2: So hopefully eight some of the guys will look through
Speaker 2: the smoke and mirrors and really know how they want
Speaker 2: to be represented, and we'll embrace the you know, the
Speaker 2: opportunities to come out away and get the right guys
Speaker 2: on the bus and have fun with it, but most importantly,
Speaker 2: get them employed. And hopefully have a long, lucrative NFL career.
Speaker 2: So uh, like Sinatra said, the best is you have
Speaker 2: to come.
Speaker 1: Bestors, you have to come come. I love it, dude,
Speaker 1: this is speaking my songs. I'm gonna let you go.
Speaker 1: I'm wishing you all the luck, Senior Ball. I might
Speaker 1: see Combine, I might see Uh. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: embrace you in person. I'm so happy for you.
Speaker 2: To Thank you, Peter, much love and thank you. Thank
Speaker 2: you for being a good friend through the years. Man,
Speaker 2: much much love.
Speaker 1: All right, Absolutely, Sean stillado the age at the time
Speaker 1: of the Vito and hopefully many many more. Thanks Sean,
Speaker 1: you got it.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: Respect guys. I got a room to get on an
Speaker 2: eleven oh five. But hey, guys, all the best love
Speaker 2: bus here shout.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much to download off of it.
Speaker 1: There's a must. Where do we begin. I'm bringing in
Speaker 1: Aaron and Jason. I'm happy for Sean because he's a.
Speaker 2: He is a fighter.
Speaker 1: Like you see these agents and you know, the big
Speaker 1: ones come through and it's Joel Siegel and Drew Rosenhouse
Speaker 1: and Dodd France and they're talking about Dax contract and
Speaker 1: you're talking about Nicole Lynn, who is a bit of
Speaker 1: a newer entry into the scene, but she's got Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 1: and you know, you love those stories of the agent
Speaker 1: and the client and they're getting these two hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar contracts, and then you've got about fifty agents who
Speaker 1: are scrambling to get two to three guys drafted each year.
Speaker 1: And Sean is one of those guys who's practice has
Speaker 1: gotten bigger and bigger over the years. And he's had
Speaker 1: some legitimate guys in the past, super Bowl winners, as
Speaker 1: he referenced, But holy crap, was that something. And to
Speaker 1: see him, of all people who I've known for all
Speaker 1: these years, the lead story on barstool and the lead
Speaker 1: image on ESPN and NFL Network, I'm bringing in Aaron
Speaker 1: and Jason. Aaron, your impressions on the Sean Stillado experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, he was a character, and I I mean
Speaker 4: similar to what I'm sure everyone else's experience was. I
Speaker 4: had people texting me photos of him last night who
Speaker 4: don't talk about football, like they just knew about him
Speaker 4: on the sideline, and he reminds me, I don't know,
Speaker 4: if you've ever watched I think you should leave.
Speaker 3: Robby.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he reminds me of the driving crooner with the
Speaker 4: get up in that picture. Oh, but he was incredible.
Speaker 4: He was incredible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Jason.
Speaker 5: Three weeks ago, Tommy DeVito, I live in Wayne, New Jersey.
Speaker 5: Lifelong Giants fan. Tommy DeVito made an appearance at Primo
Speaker 5: Hogi's Wayne, New Jersey near my house. I thought, how
Speaker 5: great is this? This guy got a shot, and someone
Speaker 5: figured like, let's let's embrace this and get ours now.
Speaker 5: Now the Giants are in the in the Hunt, They're
Speaker 5: on the graphic, in the the the in the Hunt,
Speaker 5: and and I just love as a Giants fan, I
Speaker 5: did not see this coming. I love it seeing a
Speaker 5: number fifteen back up running around Stetler body of Hostetler
Speaker 5: and this guy he delivered. I've been I've been texting
Speaker 5: today while you've been talking to him, all the people
Speaker 5: who texted me last night. So Jason, keep this going.
Speaker 1: You're a Jersey guy, you live up in Wayne, Like
Speaker 1: talk about what Don Bosco is and talk about what
Speaker 1: Tommy's place in Jersey sports is, because it's like, this
Speaker 1: isn't the first time for a lot of these North
Speaker 1: Jersey fans knowing Tommy DeVito, like he was the dude.
Speaker 5: And every if you didn't know Tommy, you knew a Tommy,
Speaker 5: and you knew a Tommy's Day, and you knew a
Speaker 5: Tommy's agent. And this is the whole region is just
Speaker 5: behind him in a way that's really fun. And the
Speaker 5: team is playing well. This team was not. We were
Speaker 5: talking about tanking a month ago.
Speaker 1: So I know. So you know my buddy Ditro My,
Speaker 1: you know, dear Italian American friend who's also a Giants fan.
Speaker 1: He lives out in Long Island, but his father was
Speaker 1: president of the Sons of Italy. Like very proud Italian American.
Speaker 1: And Dietro texted me this in the morning. He says,
Speaker 1: you know, in this part of the country, everyone over
Speaker 1: seventy looks at him like he's their grandson. This is
Speaker 1: the veto. Everyone in their fifties looks at him as
Speaker 1: their son. And if you're in your thirties or your forties,
Speaker 1: you're watching your cousin or your younger cousin who was
Speaker 1: born when you were eighteen, and you've watched him grow
Speaker 1: up your whole life. I think you know, I grew
Speaker 1: up in Freehold, New Jersey, Jersey Shore, Like I'm not saying,
Speaker 1: I know a bunch of people like Tommy DeVito, but
Speaker 1: when you grow up up in New Jersey, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of Italian Americans and those families that go generations
Speaker 1: that have all the cousins in the pregame tailgate and
Speaker 1: they live and die with football. But there's also that
Speaker 1: delicious Sunday pasta dinner that you will not miss on
Speaker 1: Sunday night, Like that's a real thing. And here's Tommy
Speaker 1: DeVito representing those folks and doing it and his hometown team, and.
Speaker 4: It seems like he hasn't reached that point where he's
Speaker 4: he's an exciting story and no one's like, there's you know,
Speaker 4: there's no one's.
Speaker 1: That was my fear. I thought there would be a
Speaker 1: lot of a all right enough with to the Vito thing.
Speaker 1: B all right, it's kind of becoming condescending now and
Speaker 1: now it's a parody. And maybe last night, when when
Speaker 1: Stillado shows up with that suit and that hat, maybe
Speaker 1: it did veer towards that. But they're leaning into it
Speaker 1: and like embracing it in a way that makes it
Speaker 1: all okay for us to have fun with it too.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I remember very specifically my grandfather my Chinese grandfather
Speaker 4: loves and when Sandy was a thing, he was all
Speaker 4: on board. And then suddenly he switched and he was like,
Speaker 4: he's a sloppy player. I don't like him. He's not
Speaker 4: as good.
Speaker 1: What do you think that is because he leaned into
Speaker 1: the the I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think it was like he became too big. It
Speaker 4: was just too much of a story. And I don't
Speaker 4: feel like that's the case right now with de Vito
Speaker 4: so very exciting. Yeah, he's it's a fun thing to
Speaker 4: talk about.
Speaker 1: Can we break down shown Stillado interview real quick? Like
Speaker 1: this is like you know on Howard Stern they have
Speaker 1: the after show, the post show, and it's usually like
Speaker 1: John him and Ronnie and and Richard and sal they
Speaker 1: start discussing it and Jad the post show of that interview,
Speaker 1: he mentioned he's going into the Italian American Sports Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame in Chicago. Now he is an agent now
Speaker 1: granted he played a couple of seasons at Marris and
Speaker 1: then the Area League has anyone While we've been doing this,
Speaker 1: done a little research on this building slash Hall of Honors.
Speaker 4: All right, so I've pulled up some information. Most important,
Speaker 4: I think when you go to the National Italian American
Speaker 4: Sports Hall of Fame. You scroll down the website just
Speaker 4: a little and it says new website coming in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three. All right, guys, it's December of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: You gotta get it.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 4: So the forty fifth Annual Gala an induction ceremony. The
Speaker 4: other members of the twenty twenty three inductees include Mike Rizzo,
Speaker 4: sports executive for Washington Nationals, Louis Scrippa Junior, who was
Speaker 4: just listed as sports endurance, Mario Massa, who's a bachi player.
Speaker 4: Ed Kelly, who's the former superintendent of the Chicago Parks District.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be irish Ed Kelly.
Speaker 2: Okay, go on.
Speaker 4: He's the very first regional inductee. But so I was
Speaker 4: looking at these names, and I was like, Okay, I
Speaker 4: don't know. These aren't like blowing my socks off. But
Speaker 4: I'm looking at actual members who are in already. And
Speaker 4: here are some of the names. Mario Andretti, race car Dragon,
Speaker 4: Brian Boitano, figure skater.
Speaker 1: Let's play a different game. Let's play a different game.
Speaker 1: You're going alphabetical, I name a name. You tell me
Speaker 1: if they've been on there. All right, I'm going to
Speaker 1: start Mike Piazza. Yes, yes, Piazza made it. Jason, you
Speaker 1: give one.
Speaker 4: I have to say, I'm I'm very happy I'm the
Speaker 4: one looking them up and not guessing them.
Speaker 5: How about we stick with with football. Vince Lombardi?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, oh yeah Lombardi.
Speaker 1: I'll stick with football too. How about Vince Ferragamo. F
Speaker 1: Vince Ferragamo played for the Los Angeles Rams, took him
Speaker 1: to a Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: He's not Oh yes, yes, yeah, yes, sorry sorry, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: He's How about how about Dan Pastorini, like quarterback for
Speaker 1: the Oilers. Oh yeah, Jason, give me some more.
Speaker 5: About Tony Siragusa.
Speaker 1: The late great. This is definitely in there, do you,
Speaker 1: s irr Yes, He's built that place. We have to
Speaker 1: have that's a posthumous entry. We have to have the
Speaker 1: ghosts get in there.
Speaker 5: That's absurd. You can be one of these guys who
Speaker 5: gets the media members, who champions the guys for all
Speaker 5: the same cases.
Speaker 1: Long after they're passing. Yes, belongs to that, but like
Speaker 1: I love that Sean Stillado is in that hall as
Speaker 1: he should be. Uh. The other point, and I sure
Speaker 1: hope NFL Media puts this tweet out there as a
Speaker 1: as a viral video. When he's talking about his dual closets,
Speaker 1: one of them is cedar, the other is walking thirty
Speaker 1: custom suits and he has to maintain a six pack
Speaker 1: because he doesn't want to out grow the suits. Gentlemen,
Speaker 1: the floor is yours. Aaron he lost.
Speaker 4: I looked him up, just like to get an image
Speaker 4: of him, and if you look up his name, one
Speaker 4: of the first images that comes up is him. It
Speaker 4: looks like from college. He's he's built, he's in shape,
Speaker 4: Like I can see that. Yeah, and look, if I
Speaker 4: had thirty custom suits, I would want to be able
Speaker 4: to wear them for the rest of my life. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I'm on board with that.
Speaker 1: Jason.
Speaker 4: The U.
Speaker 5: Is Phileen's basement still, yeah, he said.
Speaker 1: Leans, So he said Fileens, but not Fileen's basement. Because
Speaker 1: if the jumping is phi Lean's the men's store and
Speaker 1: Philein's basement the woman's store, I wonder if because he's
Speaker 1: like I go to I want to fight. My mom
Speaker 1: worked at phi Leans, and I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: Everything he was saying words that sounded so good out
Speaker 1: of his mouth like that just I was hungry listening
Speaker 1: to him because I just think of like meatballs and
Speaker 1: par and like you're like you know and parm when
Speaker 1: he's talking. But the way he said Phileins is fileings
Speaker 1: and filing's basement. Are they linked?
Speaker 4: Yes? I don't know if filings in particular as Men's
Speaker 4: where I feel like I went to filings with my
Speaker 4: mom in the mall, Like I don't think it.
Speaker 1: Was a so Silens might have been the sort of
Speaker 1: filings basement might have been their version of like ADJX
Speaker 1: or like Marshall's. All right, one last thing. If you're
Speaker 1: a prospective college kid, do you not want to at
Speaker 1: least take the meeting? You know, like all these agents
Speaker 1: come in and they're all basically saying, for three percent,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get you the most money possible. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: wake up ey day thinking about how I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: you more money and we're gonna do great things in marketing?
Speaker 1: Do you not take the meeting with what Seaan Stellato
Speaker 1: has done to maximize Tommy DeVito in the New York market. Jason,
Speaker 1: your thoughts.
Speaker 5: If you're the dad and you see how much airtime
Speaker 5: the dad is getting, I think if you if you
Speaker 5: fancy yourself a TV superstar, you might push your son
Speaker 5: in his direction.
Speaker 1: Aaron, Yeah.
Speaker 4: The only thing I would think that might make me
Speaker 4: second guess it is how many agents get this much
Speaker 4: like attention, Like is that something where you might be like,
Speaker 4: you know, of.
Speaker 1: Course that's an absurd thing. Of course, of course the
Speaker 1: biggest red flag.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like change you way, it's a huge red flag.
Speaker 4: Oh no, I don't know real quick.
Speaker 1: In closing on that whole thing. Like, guys, I didn't
Speaker 1: even realize they have a Christmas Day game, Like they
Speaker 1: have a game in New Orleans, So this show goes
Speaker 1: to New Orleans, like Stilada will be there, like he's
Speaker 1: gonna be dressed in Florida leze this weekend, like he's
Speaker 1: gonna be down Bourbon Street they want to and then
Speaker 1: Eagles Christmas?
Speaker 3: Are you serious?
Speaker 1: So the best is as he said Sinatra, the best
Speaker 1: is yet to come. Come baby, Uh, it's the best
Speaker 1: is yet to come with Sean Stillado, I am so
Speaker 1: happy for I'm glad that. I don't know if he
Speaker 1: looks at it as like like you know, the Mannings
Speaker 1: were making fun of him, that wasn't laughing with that
Speaker 1: was laughing at I don't think he gives a shit,
Speaker 1: like all right, Elion Payton. They've never met me, so
Speaker 1: I don't care, which I kind of respect to. That
Speaker 1: was a great interview, and on any other week I'd say,
Speaker 1: all right, let's wrap, let me do a little playoff
Speaker 1: picture talk. Before Sean Stillado became a national household name.
Speaker 1: We booked the guests that I thought was a great
Speaker 1: get in itself, and it's Vikings defensive back Josh Mattelis,
Speaker 1: who has played thirteen different positions and is fresh off
Speaker 1: a game in which his Vikings won three to nothing
Speaker 1: and stayed alive in the NFC playoff picture. I love
Speaker 1: Josh's story. Their PR guy, Sam Newton, is a friend
Speaker 1: of mine. Sam's like, Josh is a great dude, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, eh, we don't really do player guests, Like
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you. I get a lot more
Speaker 1: out of coaches and gms who have nothing to lose,
Speaker 1: and in a lot of cases, media members and celebrities
Speaker 1: who just want to play can usually be either really
Speaker 1: buttoned up or cliche. And He's like, now Josh is
Speaker 1: the leader, Like, get Josh on. I'm so happy to
Speaker 1: have Josh mattel Us because I am excited for this interview.
Speaker 1: The more stuff I watch of him online, the more
Speaker 1: I know we're going to hit it off. So with
Speaker 1: no further ado, let's get to our second interview. Vikings
Speaker 1: defensive back Josh mattell Us. Josh, welcome to the pod.
Speaker 3: What's up? What's up? Peter? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, man, it's been some months since that happened.
Speaker 6: You know, I've been getting a lot of questions about
Speaker 6: that interview, and you know, just to see, you know,
Speaker 6: where this has gone, where this has gone, and you know,
Speaker 6: for people to really see, you know, my impact on
Speaker 6: this team.
Speaker 3: It is a great feeling, all right.
Speaker 1: So you're drafted in twenty twenty and you're playing special
Speaker 1: teams for the most part. You're a two team, two
Speaker 1: time captain this year though career high thirteen starts, and
Speaker 1: you're one of only two players in the NFL to
Speaker 1: have at least a sack, one interception, and four forced fumbles.
Speaker 1: You're doing it all. We're gonna get to the positions
Speaker 1: that you're playing. But you had to wait for this opportunity.
Speaker 1: I mean, you weren't a first round pick. Talk about
Speaker 1: your perseverance and knowing that your time would come.
Speaker 6: Yeah, man, I would say a lot of it is
Speaker 6: just the type of person I am.
Speaker 3: I'm very relentless. You know. I even talked to the
Speaker 3: team about this in camp.
Speaker 6: You know, I think this league is built on your
Speaker 6: confidence and your resiliency to get back when it knocks
Speaker 6: you down. And you know, for me, it happened very early. Drafted,
Speaker 6: but then cut, you know a month later, you know
Speaker 6: at the camp cut dates, brought back on the team,
Speaker 6: on Peace squad, you know, finally get a shot on
Speaker 6: special teams, you know, having to make my way through there.
Speaker 6: Then you know, come in, you know, they draft guys,
Speaker 6: you know, for my spot, having to fight through that.
Speaker 3: Then we get a whole new coaching staff.
Speaker 6: So you know, there's always been that sense of, you know,
Speaker 6: having to fight for my spot, and but I just knew,
Speaker 6: you know, I just had to break through. And I
Speaker 6: always told myself, you know, once I get that one opportunity,
Speaker 6: that one shot, I'm gonna make sure that, you know,
Speaker 6: they can never take me off the field. And lo
Speaker 6: and behold, you know, I've set myself up, you know
Speaker 6: for exactly where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's this this quote that I think
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh uses a lot. Nobody cares work harder, and
Speaker 1: it's you know, and I tweeted that out with an
Speaker 1: image yesterday, and the image was from the Fox broadcast
Speaker 1: and it says, Josh mctelli's positions played this season. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna listen them. Strong safety, free safety, left cornerback, right cornerback,
Speaker 1: slot cornerback, left inside linebacker, right in side linebacker, middle linebacker,
Speaker 1: left outside linebacker, right outside linebacker, right defensive end, left
Speaker 1: defensive tackle. You've played thirteen different defensive positions. Is that
Speaker 1: something that you keep track of? Or it's just hey,
Speaker 1: where if you need me, coach, put me in?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 6: For me, it's just plays. It's the line up here
Speaker 6: and do this. You know, it's not even really like
Speaker 6: positions for me. You know, they call it. We're all exes,
Speaker 6: so it doesn't really matter, you know, in our room.
Speaker 6: But when you look at it on paper, it sounds
Speaker 6: kind of crazy. But then when you look at the tape,
Speaker 6: you know, it kind of looks crazy too.
Speaker 3: So just what we do?
Speaker 6: You know, it works for us. I'm just you know,
Speaker 6: I would just tell people I'm a football player, you know.
Speaker 6: I just want to play football. You know, I think
Speaker 6: I'm really good at it. It doesn't matter where you
Speaker 6: put me. I just want to make game changing plays.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's interesting because Flores comes in and a
Speaker 1: lot of you guys were all there last year. There's
Speaker 1: been a couple additions. The rookie pace has been a revelation.
Speaker 1: But that Vikings defense. When you hold a team to
Speaker 1: zero points and you keep your team in it with
Speaker 1: all the different quarterback changes and win three nothing, It's
Speaker 1: easy to look at the defensive coordinator and then you
Speaker 1: look at the players on the field. You and Flora
Speaker 1: seem to have a great chemistry and seem to speak
Speaker 1: the same language. He is high on intellect, high on
Speaker 1: being prepared, and also he'll throw a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: at you. Has it been just a sensational time learning
Speaker 1: from this guy, And what is the Flora's effect had
Speaker 1: on you as a player.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I would say it's been life changing.
Speaker 6: I think you know, his his impact, you know, not
Speaker 6: only for this team but for me in general, has
Speaker 6: been huge.
Speaker 3: From the first time I met him.
Speaker 6: One of the first things I said about him was
Speaker 6: just you can see the experience who was in out
Speaker 6: of him. He walks through the through these holes and
Speaker 6: I think, you know, just his uh, his intellect and
Speaker 6: you know, the way he cares himself and the way
Speaker 6: he respects the game. I think has uh inspired our
Speaker 6: whole team, you know, especially on the defensive side. It's
Speaker 6: definitely inspired me. If I ever wanted to coach, you know,
Speaker 6: I would want to be a coach just like him,
Speaker 6: you know.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 6: I think he has a great way of just you know,
Speaker 6: inspiring guys and getting guys ready to go, you know,
Speaker 6: teaching the fundamentals and what it takes to actually win
Speaker 6: football games. And I think he's he's doing a great job,
Speaker 6: and you know, we're lucky to have him.
Speaker 1: I've mentioned this Ivan Pace already three times in this interview.
Speaker 1: But when you have thirteen tackles and you are all
Speaker 1: over the field and you're an undrafted guy doing that
Speaker 1: in your first year, A lot of the a lot
Speaker 1: of the listeners this podcast don't watch the Vikings every week.
Speaker 1: They've never heard of Ivan Pace Junior. When he walked
Speaker 1: into camp as an undrafted guy to Cincinnati. Did you
Speaker 1: know he'd be leading all rookies and tackles. A couple
Speaker 1: of months later, did you have a feeling.
Speaker 3: Uh, after a week of the practice, I did. You.
Speaker 3: You know, he come in, he's a quiet kid. He
Speaker 3: was really to himself.
Speaker 6: You know, I think you know, it really was just
Speaker 6: the fact that he was mad that he went undrafted.
Speaker 6: You know, he had that chip on the shoulder, so
Speaker 6: you know, he didn't talk to anybody. He was just
Speaker 6: by his work. But the minute he stepped on the
Speaker 6: football field and we put on cleats and he ran around,
Speaker 6: you instantly knew he was going to show up popped
Speaker 6: on the tape instantly, A guy who loves football, hall
Speaker 6: who loves to be around the ball. And you know,
Speaker 6: I think me and him we hit it off because
Speaker 6: you know, we have that same dog mindset. You know,
Speaker 6: it doesn't matter what size we are, how fast we are,
Speaker 6: you know, we're gonna find a way to make an impact.
Speaker 6: And he's been used for this team and I'm excited
Speaker 6: to see where he goes. You know, he's been growing
Speaker 6: a lot, especially in these past couple of weeks, you know,
Speaker 6: having to step up and call the plays. So you know,
Speaker 6: I think his his his career is going to go
Speaker 6: in a great trajectory if you know, he keeps it
Speaker 6: up and he keeps doing the work that he's doing.
Speaker 1: Tell me really quick about the celebration you guys had
Speaker 1: in the keg stand. I saw you. You were the
Speaker 1: one who was disney walking. That was me in college.
Speaker 1: I was like forty four with the captain's logo. That's me.
Speaker 1: That's Peter Striker twenty years ago. Uh is that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff orchestrated? When do you work on a keg
Speaker 1: stand the celebration.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we have one of our dB rookie DB's Najie Thompson,
Speaker 6: our special Team's gunner. He's he's a celebration coordinator. About
Speaker 6: I would say like eight weeks ago, you know, when
Speaker 6: we were like two or fours, you know, trying to
Speaker 6: make our way out.
Speaker 3: Uh, Flow appointed him as coordinators.
Speaker 1: That's an extual conversation. Florus is like, you know what, Naji,
Speaker 1: You've earned that title. You were going to be the
Speaker 1: celebration courter.
Speaker 3: That's exactly how you said it.
Speaker 6: And every every day before the game, the meeting before
Speaker 6: the game, that Saturday night, Friday night, whatever day we
Speaker 6: play on, we have a lot of time for him
Speaker 6: to come and talk to us and show us the celebrations,
Speaker 6: and you know, we talked through them. You know, we
Speaker 6: practice some however you want to do it. But yeah,
Speaker 6: we definitely, uh, we definitely plan those and they're not
Speaker 6: just something we just think of right on the spot.
Speaker 3: They all have meaning to it and that means something
Speaker 3: to us.
Speaker 1: Looking at these stats and Josh mctellis number forty four
Speaker 1: for the Vikings, I see the leaders of quarterback pressures
Speaker 1: from defensive back position. You lead the NFL with twenty three.
Speaker 1: The next closest number is fifteen. You have eight more
Speaker 1: quarterback pressures than any other defensive back in the league.
Speaker 1: Talk about getting to the quarterback and rushing off the edge,
Speaker 1: and how about you enjoy doing that?
Speaker 3: Oh? I love it.
Speaker 6: I said, in another life, I would be an outside
Speaker 6: linebacker and just rush the pass it for a living.
Speaker 6: I think it's an art and you know, it's definitely appreciated.
Speaker 6: You know, that's why they get paid the big bucks.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: Me as a dB, I always admired it, you know,
Speaker 6: and this year, finally getting a chance to do it
Speaker 6: is something I definitely took pride in and you know,
Speaker 6: it feels you know, just it's a different feeling. You know,
Speaker 6: you could get the guy down, you know, save your dbs,
Speaker 6: you know from having to cover too long, and you know,
Speaker 6: just impact the game in a different way. And you know,
Speaker 6: being with guys like the Neil and DJ Wannham, you know,
Speaker 6: you get a lot of tension taking away and you've
Speaker 6: got I have of pace, you know, running through God's faces.
Speaker 6: You know, it's a you got to too coming off
Speaker 6: the edge. You know, it's just a lot of a
Speaker 6: lot of a lot of guys moving around it and
Speaker 6: I just sneak my way in, you know, make an
Speaker 6: impact that way. Yeah, but I loved it, and you know,
Speaker 6: I'm excited to see where you know, we keep building
Speaker 6: this thing all.
Speaker 1: Right as we're rapping because you got meetings. I love it.
Speaker 1: We don't often do the players you should do coaches
Speaker 1: and gms on this podcast. I love that we have
Speaker 1: a current player who's actually a huge part of this
Speaker 1: Saturday game that you guys have talk about you where'd
Speaker 1: you grow up? Talk about your household growing up, and
Speaker 1: then maybe your path to the NFL just a little bit,
Speaker 1: and shed some light on the people that helped you
Speaker 1: get here.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'm originally from Noo, Miami, Florida.
Speaker 1: UH.
Speaker 3: Born and raised there. I grew up with a single mom.
Speaker 6: Uh My dad was in my life a little bit
Speaker 6: growing up, and I have six I'm the oldest of
Speaker 6: six kids. So I always really been that you know,
Speaker 6: leader in that type of role, you know, having a
Speaker 6: take on a lot. Like I said, my mom has
Speaker 6: four kids on her side, so I was always always
Speaker 6: in the house with three of the kids, having to
Speaker 6: you know, be the oldest male in the house. So
Speaker 6: that was something that always you know, just prime me
Speaker 6: for a position of leadership. And you know, we moved
Speaker 6: a lot as a kid. My mom had me when
Speaker 6: she was in high school, so you could just imagine
Speaker 6: the struggle she had, and you know, it was just
Speaker 6: a lot of resiliency, you know, a lot of having
Speaker 6: to stand back up on my feet, knowing, you know,
Speaker 6: I've been knocked down, and a lot of you know,
Speaker 6: working hard. When I don't see the light, I don't
Speaker 6: see the the and I can't picture, you know, what
Speaker 6: it would look like. But I know it's going to
Speaker 6: be there if I just keep working hard and I
Speaker 6: go start playing football, fall in love with the game,
Speaker 6: go to high school and playing running back. You know,
Speaker 6: we need a guy to play safety in a seven
Speaker 6: on seven game, in a seven on seven tournament, I
Speaker 6: go play safety.
Speaker 3: Fall in love with that kind of like how I'm doing.
Speaker 6: I just put myself in a position and just play football,
Speaker 6: you know, in it out later and you know I
Speaker 6: figured that out, you know, end up getting a scholarship
Speaker 6: to Michigan going up there.
Speaker 1: Time out. You get a scholarship to Michigan. What's your
Speaker 1: mother's reaction when she finds out you getting I mean
Speaker 1: to Michigan is one of the top institutions in the world.
Speaker 3: Crazy. My mom was so excited.
Speaker 6: That was one of the biggest things, you know, as
Speaker 6: a child for me was you know, finding a way
Speaker 6: to get a scholarship. I had actually a couple of
Speaker 6: academic scholarships, you know, before I had my first football scholarship,
Speaker 6: so she was excited for those two. So you know,
Speaker 6: it was kind of a win win, and uh, you know,
Speaker 6: I get to Michigan. I actually played my first my
Speaker 6: started my first game at linebacker, you know, trying to
Speaker 6: just fit fit in, you know, trying to follow my
Speaker 6: freshman year, they moving back to safety. Playing three years
Speaker 6: there and come out of me, my wife, Uh, at
Speaker 6: the end of college, going into the league, and uh,
Speaker 6: you know we have our we have our son, and
Speaker 6: it's just you know, for me, it's just been a
Speaker 6: lot of a lot of successes in my life, you know,
Speaker 6: off the field, that's just been you know, just a
Speaker 6: result of hard work and putting my head down, you know,
Speaker 6: doing the right things, living the right way, you know,
Speaker 6: treating people the right way. And you know, I think
Speaker 6: as a player and just as a person, you know,
Speaker 6: I just want to shed light.
Speaker 3: I want to give light.
Speaker 6: You know, I want to be that driving force for somebody,
Speaker 6: you know, anyway I can help.
Speaker 3: And you know that's just how I am with the team,
Speaker 3: That's just how I am as a person.
Speaker 1: I look at you as not only an ambassador of
Speaker 1: North Florida or North Miami and what you've done at Michigan.
Speaker 1: But like it's kind of cool to now have this
Speaker 1: feelings like, hey, Vikings, put us anywhere, put us against
Speaker 1: any team, we'll figure it out. Take our quarterback, we'll
Speaker 1: figure it out. Have our free agent running back that
Speaker 1: was our superstar b somewhere else, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: From the Zilf family, you know, Ziggy and the Will
Speaker 1: family from Ziggy on to Mark to down to the
Speaker 1: GM to the coach. Do you feel like this Vikings
Speaker 1: team is something special and you guys can go on
Speaker 1: a bit of a run right now.
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. I love our organization.
Speaker 6: I think the top to bottom they're doing great things
Speaker 6: and it's definitely shown within the players and.
Speaker 3: Within just the culture of this team.
Speaker 6: I say, you know, we were voted number one in
Speaker 6: the best organization, and I would say I firmly believe
Speaker 6: that that's true. You know, we have great we have
Speaker 6: great leadership here and I think you know it's going
Speaker 6: to show in this month of December. You know where
Speaker 6: football matters the most. You know, we're going to show
Speaker 6: our true our true characteristics and then the true the
Speaker 6: true value of this team will showing this month. You know,
Speaker 6: as we know, had to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Number forty four captains Cee on the chest. We're all
Speaker 1: gonna be watching Saturday. You're going to be out there
Speaker 1: super excited. Dude. It is great to get to know you.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan, having not known you, just knowing
Speaker 1: your game and your story and this was awesome. Thank you,
Speaker 1: josh I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Peter. I'm a big fan of you as well.
Speaker 6: Say hi, did accrue for me? I want to try
Speaker 6: to do this offseason meet you guys. It'll be fun,
Speaker 6: no doubt, dude.
Speaker 1: If you want to host the show during the off season,
Speaker 1: we'll throw you in the host chair. You could sit
Speaker 1: in for three hours. We'd love to have you.
Speaker 3: I would love that. I would loved it.
Speaker 1: Just another hurdle you'll be able to leave. Josh Mittelis,
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings have a great game on Saturday, and we'll
Speaker 1: be watching you the rest of the way.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys.
Speaker 1: All right, Josh mttelis a great young man. Really dug him.
Speaker 1: I bring back Aaron and Jason. This is what we
Speaker 1: do now. We just do a PostScript on the interview.
Speaker 1: Had you heard of Mittellis before today? Yeah.
Speaker 4: I went to college in Minnesota, so I have a
Speaker 4: soft spot for the Vikings, and I always like to
Speaker 4: keep them in mind, even if I'm not, you know,
Speaker 4: actively rooting for them while I root for the Bills.
Speaker 4: But I remember, like I loved Questi when he came on.
Speaker 4: He was one of my favorite interviews we had. And
Speaker 4: I have a couple of friends who are huge Vikings fans,
Speaker 4: and I remember like during that interview, texting them and
Speaker 4: just being like, your guys, is you're in good hands.
Speaker 4: This guy's amazing.
Speaker 1: And he said he was on that interview saying the
Speaker 1: one guy to watch for is Mattellus, and I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: he could have gone anywhere. I was like, okay, he
Speaker 1: gave me like a special teams guy. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: he was going to ball out and be like the
Speaker 1: leader of Flora's defense.
Speaker 3: And I love that.
Speaker 4: Today we had two separate, two separate interviews, two separate teams,
Speaker 4: both of them talking about players coming from These are
Speaker 4: not first round picks, these are not second round picks.
Speaker 4: These are guys who who got drafted and then got
Speaker 4: cut or as as Sean was saying, there needs to
Speaker 4: be a day floor of the draft because he was
Speaker 4: in a UDFA. I mean like that, that's amazing to
Speaker 4: have two separate players I think making a huge impact
Speaker 4: that are not draft darlings or anything. I love that.
Speaker 1: You know, not to get dramatic about it, but when
Speaker 1: Mittellis is telling his story and it's like I was
Speaker 1: the oldest male in my household, and my wife and
Speaker 1: my mother had me when I was when she was
Speaker 1: in high school, in high school. It never it never
Speaker 1: stops amazing me what people overcome, It never stops amazing me.
Speaker 1: And I can only imagine I got emotional when he
Speaker 1: sayed it. But like, what do you think his mom
Speaker 1: says when he comes home and he's like, I've got
Speaker 1: a scholarship offer to go to the University of Michigan,
Speaker 1: which is one of the blue chip universities in the world,
Speaker 1: And like, this kid put it together and did it,
Speaker 1: of course with the support of his family. But like
Speaker 1: it's an you can never and that story never gets old,
Speaker 1: and it's an age old story of the player emerging
Speaker 1: from you know, circumstances that might might not be ideal,
Speaker 1: and yet it was ideal. It was ideal for him,
Speaker 1: and it was ideal, and they never pitied each other
Speaker 1: and they made it happen. Like I love that stuff.
Speaker 4: I also love you know. You were asking him, like
Speaker 4: what'd your mom say when you got the scholarship to Michigan.
Speaker 4: He's like, well, I already had two academics, like chefs,
Speaker 4: so you know this wasn't as big a deal. Baby, No,
Speaker 4: it was amazing, and everyone can sort of give that
Speaker 4: mind of like, oh, well, when I've been knocked down
Speaker 4: and this support the thing has happened, I get back
Speaker 4: up and I, you know, try again for him to
Speaker 4: be able to say one of six kids, single mom.
Speaker 4: You know, she was not even in college or age
Speaker 4: when she had me. And then I was drafted and
Speaker 4: cut and then I'm watching the team draft more guys
Speaker 4: at my position. He plays thirteen positions or whatever, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: he's he was and he was so nice and kid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to be friends with him.
Speaker 4: Joking with you before the interview and everything.
Speaker 1: I know he was busting my chops. Let's let's watch
Speaker 1: Joshuma tell us this weekend. That's the early game on
Speaker 1: the Saturday slate. So here is a PSA public service
Speaker 1: announcement for all the listeners to remember that there's football
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and it's not just one game at night.
Speaker 1: It is football on Saturday, and it's all day long.
Speaker 1: It's actually on the NFL network exclusively and on NFL Plus.
Speaker 1: So those games Saturday one eastern ten am Pacific, Josh
Speaker 1: Mattelis and the Minnesota Vikings will take on Jake Browning
Speaker 1: Chase Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati. That's at one.
Speaker 1: Then if you're on the East coast at four point thirty,
Speaker 1: you've got Steelers at Colts. Those are four playoff hungary teams,
Speaker 1: and if the playoffs were today, all three of those four,
Speaker 1: the Bengals would be out, would be in it. And
Speaker 1: then at night Broncos, one of the hottest teams in
Speaker 1: football against the Lions, who just stubbed their foot again
Speaker 1: for the second time in three weeks, losing an inexplicable
Speaker 1: divisional game, this one to the Bears. The Broncos and
Speaker 1: Lions is at night at eight fifteen. So Saturday Vikings
Speaker 1: Bengals early one of those like you're not going to remember,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you're going to see
Speaker 1: tweets and people are gonna be texting you about the game.
Speaker 1: I'm reminding you Saturday, one o'clock NFL Network, Steelers Colts
Speaker 1: right after, and then Broncos Lions, and then Sunday.
Speaker 4: The Saturday games there, none of them are nothing. Every
Speaker 4: other team, they're all good games. Five of them are
Speaker 4: seven and six, and then the Lions are nine and four.
Speaker 4: So every single team there as a winning record. Every
Speaker 4: single one of them is in the playoff hunt.
Speaker 1: That's wild Saturday. Then Saturday ends and you're like, all right,
Speaker 1: Sunday one o'clock Giants Saints is a huge game now,
Speaker 1: and we have Sean Stillado, the agent of Tommy DeVito.
Speaker 1: His client Tommy is playing. Okay, everything's gonna be about
Speaker 1: Shan Stillado. The rest of the one o'clock schedule, Jets
Speaker 1: Dolphins becomes interesting, Chiefs, Patriots, eh, Texans, Titans gee. And
Speaker 1: then the four o'clock window. I'm looking at it. My
Speaker 1: phone's going off. Someone's calling me. I'm shutting that off.
Speaker 3: Sorry, blowing you off. Whatever that was.
Speaker 1: Four o'clock window. Forty nine Ers, Cardinals, maybe, Rams, Commanders Yeah, oh, Bills, yeah, Boys, Bills,
Speaker 1: all right, great, great one, and then Ravens Jaguars Sunday night, awesome,
Speaker 1: and then Eagles Okay, great, great, great three days of
Speaker 1: football Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Yeah, guys, that's the pod. Stellato, Mattelis, Schreger,
Speaker 1: Wan Kaufman, English.
Speaker 3: There we go.
Speaker 1: I love today's podcast. If they win, and I want
Speaker 1: to hear from the listeners and the viewers and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. If they win, do we want to have
Speaker 1: Sean Stillado on it again next week?
Speaker 4: You remember how we used to do, like we talk
Speaker 4: about White Lotus every week when that was on or something.
Speaker 4: I just want Sean to come on. I'm like, I
Speaker 4: don't know what is he.
Speaker 1: Going to talk? Like?
Speaker 4: Tell us about the hotel in New Orleans? What was
Speaker 4: that like?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 4: Where did you put your suits in the how?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Exactly? Do you take only two of them with you?
Speaker 4: I don't know. Yeah, Sean could come on and talk
Speaker 4: about anything.
Speaker 1: Do you want of the beauty of this? As we wrap,
Speaker 1: I had a whole episode dedicated to the offensive off
Speaker 1: sides penalty with research with a guest lined up with
Speaker 1: all sorts of data. The NFL moves so quickly no
Speaker 1: one gives about the off sides from Kadarius Tony. By
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, we're already on to the following week, and
Speaker 1: that just was another game. It was another game because
Speaker 1: everyone got upset this week, and there's all sorts of
Speaker 1: crazy stuff. So the Bill's beat the cheeks, big deal.
Speaker 1: Onto the next and onto the next week.
Speaker 4: Go.
Speaker 1: I had a great time with you guys. Aaron Wan Kaufman,
Speaker 1: Chason English to everybody from the iHeart and NFL side,
Speaker 1: I'll just make one point. We've been talking about the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and you know, to me in Vegas and
Speaker 1: who came in. If the Cowboys freaking make the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: all bets are off on this being one of the
Speaker 1: craziest weeks and one of the craziest and they look
Speaker 1: like a super Bowl team. Maybe we'll discuss that next
Speaker 1: week if they get past the Bills. We don't want
Speaker 1: to jump too soon, but a Cowboys and Cowboys Nation
Speaker 1: in Vegas for the super Bowl with Tony Romo on
Speaker 1: the call. Yep, that's a possibility right now. I'm believing.
Speaker 1: But we'll get to that next week if they beat
Speaker 1: the Bills. All right, guys, till next week, Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: Tell your friends, share the YouTube, do all that stuff.
Speaker 1: As the Great Sean Stillato once said, the best is
Speaker 1: yet to come. The Season with Peter Schrager is a
Speaker 1: production of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.