Exclusive Interview with Former Giants & Broncos WR, Ed McCaffrey

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00:00All right, we're live here Super Bowl 59 from New Orleans, and I got the man the myth the legend right here

00:06It's Ed McCaffrey. It's Donnie right side here, and I got to tell you Ed. I was a 510 division 3 wide receiver

00:12What do you think about the profile could have been pretty good shape look at that?

00:15Yeah, how many years ago was that man? You just like graduate a couple years ago?

00:17What do they look at me butter me up? I like to see this point right now

00:20So I mean, I'm 47 years old played in the late 90s here

00:24But I feel like we have a kinship already from wide receiver to wide receiver. Yeah, we speak the same language

00:28We do absolutely let's have some fun that we got him here for a couple minutes, and I'm certainly gonna do it 13 years

00:33In the NFL yes, how did that happen long time three years resilience? Yeah, just didn't quit

00:39Yeah, you know you got to overcome a lot of adversity people telling you you're no good

00:43You'll never make it in the league you gotta get in my case. I got cut from a team

00:47Yeah, had to make a team

00:48Yeah from scratch

00:50Compete a bunch of against a bunch of great players who were on the team the year before

00:54But it turned out pretty good no, right

00:56I think one of the one of the great qualities that professional athletes who last in professional sports for a long time have is

01:02Resilience yeah, because it's so easy to quit. Yeah, it's so easy to listen to the noise

01:06You got to believe in yourself. You got to keep getting up keep working hard and keep moving forward. I'm a Northeast guy

01:12I'm from New Jersey. You're from Pennsylvania. How did you end up at Stanford? We used to play Phillipsburg high school

01:17So there you got a state liners remember Ned Bullard back in the day went to Notre Dame a u.s.

01:21The year did you cook them out there? Oh, no they kill I think they beat us 48 to 7

01:25He was a really good player Phillipsburg had like 14 16 division 1 players back then I went to Allentown Central Catholic yes

01:32And we went 2 and 9 and oh and 11 my senior year, but you know what I still remember the bus rides

01:39ACDC yeah Ronnie James do yep Van Halen. Yep. We had a lot of fun. We were just not that good

01:45Yeah, but the league was very good

01:47We had the defense player there a lot of d1 players take one Barkley matter of fact went to Whitehall High School

01:51Which is in these pen league yep?

01:53but I was one of I think two players that played in the the

01:57the Hershey

01:5933 was a big 33 game, and I think we played we play Ohio State. I forget we either rotated, Ohio State, Maryland or

02:07Split it up east west and yes in Pennsylvania, and I think it was one of two players that left the East Coast Wow

02:12It's back then you remember you know I visited Michigan visit at Notre Dame visit at Penn State

02:16They're all winning national championships. Yeah took another visit

02:19To Purdue and then visit at Stanford and when I visit at Stanford

02:23We had just finished a basketball practice

02:25Yeah

02:25And I walked out to my car and remember how cold it used to get to my my hair or icicles by the time I got

02:31Down to the car. I might have had a little bit of a mullet. I'm not gonna lie to you

02:34And then I went out to visit Stanford

02:36And it was already ranked number one in the country in USA in US News and World Report

02:42Academically, but it was 78 degrees driving down Palm Drive. You see the church in the background

02:46I'm like I just came from negative 40 windchill so in addition to being a great school academically

02:52It's a beautiful place to live and then Jack Elway mm-hmm John Elway's dad. Yes was my coach Wow he recruited me along with Tom

02:59Beckett who went on to be the AD at Yale for a long long time and

03:02He believed in me, and it felt good to have a coach that believed in me as you would have it

03:07Yeah, I play with the Sun John yeah years later with absolutely we win a couple of Super Bowls

03:12Yeah, but I didn't know that at the time. I just really

03:16Respected him as a coach really wanted to play for him, and it meant a lot to me that he believed in me

03:20Yeah, you you come from a family of athletes brothers kids

03:24We're gonna get that in just a little bit, but I'm so fascinated where you come out of college

03:27You head to the New York Giants. What was the process like leaving college before you were drafted by the New York Giants? Oh?

03:34Yeah, well I had I had a great college career in terms of making a lot of friends having great teammates great coaches

03:40We did go through a coaching change. You know Jack Elway left and Denny Green came in yes. We had some success

03:45I had some personal success. You know it's an all-american had a lot of confidence in myself

03:49But you got to go through that whole yeah pro day combine routine, and I went to the Senior Bowl play in the East West Shrine game

03:57Brett Favre was in the East West Shrine game

03:59We kind of got co MVPs of that game, and I was feeling pretty good about myself

04:02but then draft day came and

04:04You see yourself slipping down the board and I got drafted in the third round

04:09But it was frustrating to see other players that I thought I compared pretty well to go ahead of me

04:14But I was so excited to go to the New York Giants because they had just won the Super Bowl yes

04:18They just beat the Buffalo Bills. They set a record for time of possession

04:21OJ Anderson just ground and pound salute over to defense Belichick was the D coordinator Parcells as a head coach

04:27And I'm like man. I'm going to a Super Bowl champion, but then Parcells had a like a heart issue

04:32Supposedly yeah and stepped down yeah, and Ray Hanley came in there

04:35But we're at a weird time where a lot of who was a Stanford man who I respected great guy

04:40But a lot of our older players were getting older. Yeah, some guys retired

04:44There was a quarterback controversy between Haas Dettler and Sims who a boat. I love both those guys

04:49And we you know we fell to eight and eight yeah fell to six and ten then we had a coaching change and

04:54new head coach came in and

04:57Cut me yeah

04:58and so that was rough because you know I'd led the team in receiving the year before the new coach came in and and

05:04For whatever reason I wasn't in his plans

05:06But it turned out to be a dream come true

05:09Because then I went on to be on three Super Bowl championship teams in five years

05:13And it was such a blessing didn't seem like it at the time my wife

05:16And I moved into a little apartment in Harmon Cove and see caucus there you go right next to the stadium, New Jersey

05:23Yeah, right across the street, and you know the Hudson would rise and fall and get that nice aroma when we did our morning run

05:31Yeah

05:33But we just moved in our son Max was two months old and I was written down on my goals

05:38You know put your goals down like your long-term goals your season goals this many catches

05:42Become a starter yada yada yada, and then you get a phone call saying they have enough receivers in camp

05:47I'm gonna go try out somewhere else, so I'm thinking business school law school

05:50It's gonna go, but I went out to the 49ers, and I'll never forget it

05:54I was walking out to practice one day, and there's 14 or first of all there's 14 receivers in camp

05:58I'd already gone to the coach because he put me in a room with eight other receivers in bunk beds

06:01Yeah, this is the NFL yeah, I'm in bunk beds with George Seifert

06:04Yeah, coach yep great coach by the way two-time Super Bowl champion head coach, but uh, but I'm like this my fourth year in the league

06:09I'm not about to sleep in bunk beds with us, so I said look if you don't want me on the team

06:12That's fine. Yeah, but I'm not gonna sleep in bunk beds. Yeah, I thought he's gonna cut me on the spot

06:17I'm like here we go again, but he's like okay

06:19And I end up getting my own room cuz William bar none Floyd was hold now or not so I got my own room

06:24Which was pretty cool, but then I go up to practice. There's 14 receivers. They keep four yes

06:27That's unheard of Wow right and two of them are Jerry Rice and John Taylor

06:31And there's two other guys Nate Singleton was on the team and so I'm competing with 14 guys

06:35You already know two of the spots and the two guys that were the three and four receiving year before we're in camp

06:41Yeah, so it wasn't looking good, and I guess who I got to compete against Deion Sanders Wow every day

06:46And so Ulster, I'm like okay. It's a hundred and twenty-two degrees in Rockland, California

06:52I got to make a team that has all four of the receivers back their Super Bowl championship caliber team

06:58I'm going against Deion Sanders every day

07:00I had a sprained ankle and I remember walking out to practice one afternoon

07:03I just sort of laughing like this doesn't even matter anymore like you know what I'm gonna tell my son Max

07:09That I caught a pass against Deion today in practice

07:11Yeah, and I'm gonna live off that story for the rest of my life

07:14And it did happen in that practice as fate would have it and I did end up making the team right and didn't play

07:20Didn't play a whole lot

07:21But Mike Shanahan was our offensive coordinator

07:23And he noticed the effort I was putting forth in practice and then brought me to Denver the rest is history absolutely now

07:27I always wanted to ask you this question too because as a wide receiver. I try to get as fast as possible

07:32Yeah, you cut everything out of your shoulder

07:34I did or your pants was it was it more mind games for you, or did it actually physically help you on the field?

07:39Well, you know in the beginning. I didn't do it like when I played for New York

07:42I had knee pads at one point had a neck roll. Do you see what they wear today, though?

07:45It's like but for shorts out there well

07:47I wore nothing I wore a helmet yeah, and I wore the punters pads that I found yeah in the locker room at a college

07:53Yeah, and the reason is when you get cut and people are calling you slow, which I wasn't I did run a 4 3 8 40

07:59Yeah, but they're calling me slow and somehow I get a slow time on my report card that little index card this broadcaster

08:04Uh-huh two minutes right correct, and you're not the starter right you got slow man anyway

08:09I'm like you know what if I lighten up how many pounds of equipment can I shed yeah and lighten up and if they're carrying around

08:1612 pounds of equipment, and I'm carrying around for yep. I got a little bit of an advantage so absolutely no knee pads

08:22No, thigh pads. No hip pads. No anything cut all the extra material out of my jersey

08:27That was a little bit of a superstition every single game. I played in I'd cut a little bit more material there

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08:55I'm super bowl championship trust him. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you appreciate it

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