- We could be walking down the hallway.
He can be coming this way and I come that way.
And I’m supposed to be the star receiver, you’re the star quarterback.
You look down at your phone,
so guess what I do?
I put my head down, and we walk right past each other
and won't say nothing.
♪♪♪
- You had a long career in the NFL.
- Uh-huh.
- And a lot of people know you for taking it back to the crib.
Special Teams, dude, there are very few, if any, that were better than you.
Only person I can think of is really Dante Hall that would be in that same category,
and if you take that as an insult, correct me if I’m wrong.
How do you take that?
- Insult.
- Do you think there's anybody better than you as a returner?
- Not what I did.
I do think there’s some good guys out there.
Some great returners out there.
But I don’t think anybody had done it the way I did.
- People believe return specialists like Brian Mitchell and yourself
belong in the Hall of Fame.
- Right, right, right.
- Do you think Brian Mitchell and Devin Hester should have a space in Canton?
- I think so, but I think they all waitin’ on me first to make it.
Once I’m in, I think some of the other returners will get in.
But to be fair to myself, I do feel like I should be the first one in.
- The other question I’ve always had about your career was why you weren’t used more as a wide receiver.
Especially in Chicago, it seemed like
those first couple years, they were kinda using you
in a similar way that, you know, guys like Cordarrelle Patterson right now—
- Right, right, right. - You know, are being used.
- Right.
- What happened there? Why didn’t you get more opportunities at wide receiver?
What’d you feel the real reason behind that was?
- So, my third year, that’s when I
redid a new contract
and became the No. 1 receiver.
That’s the same year we brought in Jay Cutler.
He’s not really a sociable guy.
He’s not a talker, you know what I mean?
He picks one or two guys,
and he just leeches on ‘em and separates himself from everybody.
As a quarterback, like, I’d tell him to his face today that,
to me,
my years in the NFL—I played 11 years.
He’s the best quarterback when it comes to
accuracy, power, knowledge of the game.
The best quarterback, hands down, I ever played with.
Now when it comes to leadership,
the worst.
- The worst?
- The worst.
- He don’t know how to communicate.
He don’t know how to get his teammates involved.
For me to be, like,
at that time, one of the No. 1 or No. 2 receivers, like,
you supposed to have my back regardless.
- So clearly y’all didnt have the best relationship.
- Nah.
- I feel like personally, the only person I feel has been cool with Jay Cutler is Brandon Marshall.
Correct me if I’m wrong. It just, it feels like ever other person has some sort of story or some sort of
disagreement or at odds with Jay Cutler.
- That’s true that you mention that.
So B. Marshall voiced his opinion a lot.
- Mmhmm.
- Him and Jay Cutler came in together
at Denver.
They was, like, bros. Like, they argued.
B. Marshall would cuss him out, let him know how he feels.
I’m on the sideline. We in practice, right?
They doin’ pregame, warming up, tossing and throwing the ball.
Jay Cutler and B. Marshall get into it.
B. Marshall yells out,
“I made you!” You know what I mean?
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be Jay Cutler!
All these Pro Bowls and stuff, you got this cuz of me!”
I was lookin at Julius Peppers, he’s looking at me. I say, “Listen here,
we finna make a bet.”
I say, “I bet you Jay Cutler throw B. Marshall the ball.
If he throw him the ball, you give me $50.
If he don’t throw to B. Marshall, I’mma give you $100.”
- That's how confident you were?
- That’s how confident I was. I said, “I know how this practice finna go.
He mad at Jay, but Jay Cutler finna give him the ball the whole practice.”
- What you walk away from?
- We stopped betting.
The betting stopped.
We stopped the bet at 21 passes.
He threw— - 21 to Marshall?
- He threw 21 passes to B. Marshall.
21 straight.
I looked at the coaches like, “Are you really fucking kidding?”
And wasn’t nobody saying nothin’. That was what really pissed me off.
21 times straight, bro.
- That’s like a rack you got from that.
- We stopped betting. He said, “Bro, I don’t even wanna bet no more, bro.”
- He gonna have to give you a game check at some point.
- It was like 21 times straight, bro.
- What was Julius Peppers saying? After 21 times, and you looking straight at Julius.
- He was just laughing. He was like, “I can’t believe this, bro.”
Like, “I can’t believe this, bro.”
Like, “This really what your offense got going on?” Like, “Bro, listen.”
They argue like cats and dogs.
That’s why B. Marshall give Jay Cutler all the praise, man.
- Go ‘head and get this shot in real quick
- OK.