A Quote by Russell Wilson

As a young rookie NFL player, you go to the rookie symposium and the one thing they tell you is, "You guys know what the NFL stands for?" Everybody looks around like, "National Football League...?" The guy's like, "Nope - Not For Long." They tell you right there to get prepared for your second life. You take that in, and I've always been one to prepare early, to see ahead and anticipate and believe in great things happening, and they do. I'd already known that concept and appreciated that concept, but for me, I was always going to be here for a while. I just believed in that.
I'm in a unique situation. I'm 5-foot-6, 175 pounds, so I wouldn't say people are super afraid of me. I live a normal life. I don't walk into a room and everybody looks at me and says, "He plays for the Cleveland Browns" or "He's an NFL superstar" - that doesn't happen. I go under the radar. Most people don't realize who I am until I tell them. So it's not like my life has changed since I've been in the NFL or people treat me any different.
I think the part that people get confused is that when you come in National Football League at a young age, they tell you to try to look for other things to do, and be ready for everything else in your life just in case. But as soon as you have a bunch of success, they think that's the only thing you can do, that you can only be a football player. I think God has gifted me with so many other things other than just football, and that's what I want to bring to the world.
When I first got to the NFL, I didn't see no double coverage at all. I was getting single coverage. I was killing it. Then they were, 'all right, this guy can play and we have to double this guy.' Since probably like the 11th or 12th game my rookie year, I started to get double-teamed.
The biggest challenge for me was all the rumors you heard before you get to the NFL. You know, just hearing guys won't help you. They'll turn your back on you, they'll tell you the wrong plays, everything like that.
For me, I was always just a down-to-earth guy. From Day 1 my rookie year, I've been the same. As an offensive lineman, we just want to be under-the-radar, humble guys, just like to do our work and not be noticed.
Patrick Peterson, obviously, is one of - it depends who you talk to - is the best, or one of the best, corners/return guys in the NFL. You just turn the film on and you're like, 'Wow, that guy plays corner? He looks like a linebacker and runs a 4.1' or whatever. He's a great player.
I just know as a rookie, a young guy, you see the game totally differently and it could take awhile for it to slow down the right way.
I would go after any rookie. Any rookie with a lot of hype. I used to do it to Jason Kidd. I would go at him. I'd be like, 'Young fella, you're going to get a rude awakening in the NBA.'
Going to that level, a lot of guys get to the NFL, and they don't make a long career out of it. The NFL is very hard. One percent of college athletes make it to the NFL.
I don't use the word 'rookie' because it just doesn't sound right. Little things go a long way and make a big difference for these young men who are trying to stay and establish themselves in the league. If we can help them out in any way, then that's great.
All these guys are just like me. They were a rookie at one time in their life. They treat me like I'm one of the guys. I look at Greg Maddux and saw him sitting over there and said, 'Man, that's Greg Maddux. That guy is going to be in the Hall of Fame.' Now I sit there and talk to him like a teammate. It's a reality check, and it's a great feeling at the same time.
I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn’t go out and get a quarterback to help me so I knew it’s going to be all on me again. I could see my mortality as a football player, that I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I’m going to enjoy and it’s time for me to do something different.
Getting 1,000 yards in the NFL is an amazing accomplishment, and being the first rookie ever for the Giants to do that is even a bigger one. It's big because even though my name might go in the record book, it's not just myself - it's the offensive line play and the guys in the running back room, all those guys have been a tremendous help.
The NFL has done a great job in giving players information on how to go to a second career after football and how to invest their money while they're playing to ensure when their career is over, that they have something else in place to fall back on. One of the big things the NFL does is promote education in different fields.
For me, the NFL is the thing that's always been, kind of somewhat like the Heisman, it's been a dream as a kid to be able to have an opportunity to even be talked about being able to play in the NFL.
For me, I spent four years at Duke, and I was 22 my rookie year. For a lot of guys, I was old as a rookie, but nothing could prepare me for the NBA, both on the court and off the court.
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