- 2/5/2025
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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
08:32You go get faster faster by the way the first family of football the McCaffrey's here get this in here
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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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