Former NFL star Jimmy Graham takes on his boldest mission yet — and it’s not on the field.
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00:00I try to express to people what my rookie training camp was with Sean Payton. They try to turn boys
00:07into men in six weeks in training camp in New Orleans with the heat index at about 118 and
00:13I thought I was going to absolutely die. This summer former NFL great Jimmy Graham will be
00:18part of a four-person team taking part in the Arctic Challenge 2025 in a state-of-the-art
00:24rowboat. The four will be rowing across the treacherous Arctic Ocean looking to raise money
00:30for charity and break the world speed record. Jimmy took a break from his intense training
00:35to get ready for this to talk with Athlon Sports about how his NFL career helped prepare him for
00:41this. For all the off-season adventures and things that you have loved to do over the years and
00:54helicopters and planes and skydiving and this and that. None of them all that safe necessarily,
01:00but this sounds like it's just another level. I would always have coaches in the off-season
01:05always text me and just say, Jimmy, you're the only person that could get away with this.
01:12But then again, everything I was doing was all about risk mitigation. I was either learning from
01:20the best or flying with the best and some of the best machines ever built. There's ways,
01:23especially being a pilot, some of the things I did. There's a way to go into it where you're
01:27all the gear, no idea. But I was always trained by complete experts. I took that very, very serious.
01:33One, my life. I love my life. I want to keep living my life happy and healthy. But two,
01:40I knew the commitment that teams had to me as well. I took that very serious. I know that I committed
01:45to be there for them and try to help them win games. So that was number one. But let's say
01:50there's this line right here. I think below that line can be your comfort zone with anything that
01:55you do, especially anything that's fairly dangerous. Then there's a line up here in
02:01between that line is, so your comfort zone is below. This is the part that is uncomfortable for
02:08you. But above this and this line itself is your skill level. So if you can stay below that line,
02:14but above your comfort zone, you will continue to get better. And your palate and understanding of
02:20what you're doing is at such a base that what might seem very dangerous to others is not for
02:27you whatsoever. And I think that's how I operated within aviation, skydiving, sailing, biking,
02:35everything. I've always ran my life like that. So I've been blessed enough to have a little bit
02:40of sense about me. But this is something that, you know, I'm new to all this. You know,
02:45I started all this a year ago, never rode a boat before. I do know that my, my background does help
02:51me, you know, from aviation, having 10 licenses, being commercial, everything. My understanding
02:56of weather is there. Navigation is there, you know, but this is, this is going into things that
03:01neither of us have, well, maybe Andrew Trope, you know, from being a SEAL. But the rest of us have
03:07never experienced, you know, we've never experienced sleep deprivation at this level.
03:13You know, we've never experienced all the things that could possibly happen. I think
03:17the biggest dangers of this, like compared to the other things I did between racing and flying is
03:24the majority of things that could be an issue, I have control over, right? If the weather's bad,
03:33I can determine to not go that day or to go somewhere different or fly around it, fly above
03:38it. There's, there's a lot of things I can personally do with this, you know, we are, we're
03:44at the mercy of nature. And there's no running away from a storm. You know, the max this boat
03:51will go is three, 3.5 knots. We're going to be on a drogue chute. And we're going to be in the
03:56cabins, two and two, holding on for a day or two. And, you know, just waiting for that thing to be
04:03over with. So I think that's the biggest thing is there's so many variables involved that no one,
04:10no two or no four individuals can have complete control of what could possibly happen. So
04:16I think that's one of the crazier things about it. And one of the scary things for me is most of
04:22the things I've ever done have always been about risk mitigation. And this is a true first of just
04:29going into the unknown and embracing that and responding. You know, I truly know that I will
04:36learn a lot about myself. I'll have many, many hours and days to think about my life, things I
04:42probably haven't thought about in forever. And, you know, I know when I get back to land,
04:47I'm be very appreciative of all the people that helped me got to that moment. Very appreciative
04:54of where I started and where I am now. And, you know, just blessed to be back on land and have,
05:00you know, have the mission over and successful and be able to do a lot for, for the organizations
05:06that we're doing this for. There are those comparisons to the flying and biking and sailing
05:10things like that. Not to, I mean, it's hard to imagine comparisons, but as far as the training
05:17goes, is there anything from your NFL days, training camp, team bonding or planning that
05:26is comparable or, or prepared? Yeah. I mean, I think so. I think, I think one of the bigger
05:31things that, you know, we have had to make some like on the moment decisions and on the sea
05:37trials, all of us collectively. And I think, you know, my experience through making good
05:42decisions under pressure from playing football for so long, I think definitely helps me to staying
05:47calm, just having a clear vision and decision-making at, you know, very, very dangerous moments when
05:56things have to be decided. And two, you know, I think just the pallet for training, you know,
06:01I've spent, I've been, I've been working out since I was 15. Um, the longest I've taken out
06:08from working, uh, taken off from working out was probably, um, two weeks after I had wrist
06:16reconstructive surgery. And then, you know, I was training the rest of my body, even, you know,
06:20even after I blew my knee out, you know, I was, I was training my entire body to try to, to try
06:26to make my knee catch up. So, um, you know, I think the pallet for that and, uh, you know,
06:31just, just understanding that even with football, I, I try to express to people what my rookie
06:38training camp was. That was back in the two days, uh, with Sean Payton, um, obviously a big tuna
06:46disciple. Uh, so, uh, they try to turn boys into men, uh, in six weeks, uh, in training camp in New Orleans
06:53with the heat index at about 118. And I remember, you know, my first week, uh, Jeremy Shockey,
07:01uh, he had some back spasms on the second, um, uh, on the second practice. So he couldn't practice
07:08and I had to practice with the one, twos, the threes, and I do four core special teams.
07:13And, uh, I thought I was going to absolutely die. And, and, you know, the only thing that kept me
07:18going was, you know, just one more route, one more play. And, you know, I think this will be kind
07:23of that mentality of, um, you know, I just got one more session up there and, you know, I'm just
07:28doing my best on that and just keep stacking that. And, and, uh, there's a lot of like misconceptions
07:33of what the NFL is. I think a lot of young kids, like I, I speak to a lot of kids and mentor a lot
07:38of kids and try to describe to them, to them what being a professional athlete is. You know, most
07:42people, they see all the glory, right. They see the touchdowns, the pro bowls, uh, they see the
07:46commercials, you know, they see the fanfare and, but the real moments in the majority of the time,
07:52it's a lot of work. It's a lot of sacrifice and it's a lot of suffering. Um, especially after
07:58injuries, you know, I've, you know, coming back from my knee was one of the hardest things I've
08:01ever had to do. Uh, you know, I had people tell me I never play again, a lot of doctors
08:05and, um, to march back and play nine months later and make a pro bowl that year was, uh, you know,
08:12I don't, I, I genuinely have no idea how I did it. And I think those moments and I, you know,
08:18for the next six years, you know, I would wake up some mornings and couldn't walk and it'd be Sunday
08:22and I was like, all right, well, let me, let me, let me get there four hours early and get this
08:27thing warm and see what happens. And, you know, I ended up wouldn't end up scoring a game,
08:32one touchdown or something. So I think, I think those things suffering through all that for so
08:36many, for so many years, um, you know, this is just going to be 15 days or less and that's all the
08:42suffering I have to do for this. And, you know, it's a, it's, it's a, it's a lot easier to
08:46palate than, than, than a seven month, uh, season. If you say so. So you mean, you talk about 118
08:53degree heating index. What about, uh, you know, let's talk about the cold. It's not going to be
08:58comparable to what you're going to be doing in 40 days from now, but do you remember the coldest
09:03game you've played? Forget the games called us practice. Uh, um, you know, the games you can always
09:08get up for that. It was, it was always in green Bay. Um, we practice outside every day. Uh, we would,
09:16start individual and start like routes on air and stuff like that all inside stretch. So we'd get
09:23nice and warm and they'd be like, all right, team drills outside. And everybody go outside.
09:27I remember one day it was probably zero degrees, you know, maybe, maybe three. It was single digits
09:34and it, it was as if we were practicing in a snow globe and, you know, we're not wearing sleeves
09:41because we're carrying the ball. So, and Aaron is throwing this ball, like it's 90 degrees outside
09:47and just dotting you in the hands. It's like, I remember it cutting through snowflakes. That's how
09:54big the snowflakes were. So, uh, definitely green Bay was a great preparation for this, uh, Chicago as
10:00well. Um, you know, but the average air temperature up there was going to be 37 to 45 degrees. And the
10:05average water temperature is 28 degrees. The average wind is 17 to 27 gusting 34 to 42. So, um, you know,
10:17I think I've had a little bit of prep for it, but in the end, um, you know, it's just going to be
10:22suffering, keeping the digits and the feet, uh, dry and drying as warm as I can.
10:27Miami to Isla Murata is not going to prepare you.
10:29No, no, no, no.
10:31So what goes on between there are 40 days to go literally, right? Exactly 40 days from today.
10:36So what's, what's left?
10:39What's left is, uh, we are finishing up our gear order, uh, to make sure we have the right gear
10:44as far as clothing goes, let's stay warm. And right now, starting January one, I start two-a-days.
10:50So I'm biking right now, I'm biking only about eight hours a week. Um, I can step up, uh, I'll bike
10:58probably, uh, 12 to 15 hours a week and, um, start to row as well. So every time I get on
11:06the row machine, it's 20,000 meters or more. Um, so on like a Saturday, the idea is I bike 60 to 70
11:16miles. And then at night I'll row, uh, to start with like the beginning of January, about 20,000
11:24meters. Um, and then that'll, I'll take that up. I'll keep the biking consistent, but then I'll start
11:31to, I'll start to row more, uh, you know, 30 and 40,000. And, um, and then eventually towards the end,
11:39about a week out or two weeks out, I think about two weeks out, I'm going to do an all-nighter.
11:43So I'm going to spend about 24 hours, uh, just to prepare my back and just my sit bones and
11:50everything. Um, and I'll do a, I'll just sacrifice a day of my life and, uh, I'll row two hours on two
11:58hours off for 24 hours nonstop. Um, and I'll just work that kind of in, uh, and then usually after
12:05that, I'll probably get maybe an hour of sleep and I'll, and then I'll try to do 80 to a hundred
12:10miles on the bike. And, and then after that, I think I'll be pretty good to go. Um, and June,
12:17I start to, uh, I, I start to implement yoga and Pilates for core stability and stretching
12:23just from past injuries. I've got shoulders and elbows, wrists and knees and hips and backs
12:29and all kinds of stuff. So sounds crazy. 15, 15 days. That would, would that be the record
12:38as far as you guys trying to break the record? Yeah. The, the record is 15 days, six hours
12:44and a couple minutes. Uh, so we're going after the, you know, the speed record for sure and
12:49supported, obviously, uh, we're on with, uh, Guinness book of world records are being tracked
12:54by the things that they need. Uh, we're going to have a tracker on our website, uh, the, uh,
12:59the Arctic challenge, uh, 2025.org. We're also going to start something called the million
13:05meter, um, challenge where we try and raise or get people to donate a dollar a meter. Cause
13:11this is going to be a million meters for, uh, for us. Uh, so it'll be 500,000 meters in two
13:17weeks. Um, and if we can raise, you know, a dollar a meter, uh, it'll do some good work in
13:22New Orleans for, uh, for their youth. I mean, it's going to be the hardest thing I've ever
13:25done in my entire life. Uh, definitely interesting to see where the mind goes and, and, um, you
13:31know, how to sort that.