Three years before I retired I started to have an inner desire to do something beyond just the game. I knew the game was a platform, it was a period of time and it was for a purpose. I also knew there was going to be time afterward, so I went back to college and got my MBA. In 2006, while I was going back to school and playing for the Jaguars, I broke my leg in one of the games. That moment gave me permission to realize, ‘you know what, it is time to transition.’
For most guys, they don’t know when they want to retire or when they want to transition. They have to give themselves permission to do it. Being injured and already going through the thought process of doing something next gave me the opportunity to say, ‘I know I am at the end of my career and this chapter, and now I can start embarking on whatever the next chapter is.’