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NFL: Good Morning Football

Jonathan Vilma finds redemption in his NFL second act, relives his role in the famous "Beastquake" run, talks the almost Saints dynasty

NFL: Good Morning Football

iHeartPodcasts and NFL

Football, Sports

4.3655 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the latest NFL Players: Second Acts podcast, Super Bowl champion Jonathan Vilma joins Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper for an honest, insightful, and wide-ranging conversation about leadership, controversy, redemption, and what comes after an NFL career.

Vilma opens the episode reacting to a special surprise — hearing Jimmy Graham and D.J. Williams place him on their personal Mount Rushmore. He shares why being a team captain meant everything to him, and Roman recalls the famous 2009 defensive meeting where Vilma called out the entire unit and set the standard for a championship run.

Vilma also dives deep into Bountygate, discussing how he handled being the public face of the scandal, why he never felt pressured to defend himself publicly, and how the ordeal unexpectedly opened doors for him in broadcasting with ESPN and FOX. He also shares stories from the 2009 Super Bowl season, the heartbreaking 2011 playoff loss, and his final attempts to return to the NFL before realizing his playing days were over—while watching training camp on TV at a Dave & Buster’s.

From his leadership style, to playing at Miami, to his ventures in finance, real estate, and the restaurant world, Vilma breaks down the full arc of his second act. The guys close out with Vilma’s personal Mount Rushmore and a few hilarious stories from his playing days, including Roman’s memory of getting run over and discovering Vilma speaks German.

The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.6

Guaranteed human.

0:05.0

To be very frank, we were brainwashed.

0:09.0

And Roman, you know what I'm talking about.

0:10.8

We were brainwashed defensively because we only knew one speed.

0:17.0

When I say one speed, it wasn't like, oh, go hard speed.

0:20.2

It was go until someone tries to fight you because you're going way too hard speed, like that type of speed. And I say somebody else will pull you back. Somebody will pull you back. I want you go live on the edge, play on the edge. But do not hurt the team. But go over the edge. I'll pull you back. Somebody will pull you back.

0:39.1

So it started in training camp when we went against our offense

0:41.5

and man, we had so many fights.

0:43.9

We had so many fights

0:46.0

that Sean Payton made us run

0:48.2

until we stopped fighting.

0:49.7

Like that's how many fights we had

0:51.3

because we couldn't get through practice.

0:59.8

Okay. That's how many fights we had because we couldn't get through practice. What up, everybody?

1:01.1

I'm Peanut Tillman, and this is the NFL players second act podcast.

1:06.0

And with me as always, as my trustee co-hosts, Roman, I am Gray up top Harper. I appreciate that peanut. Look, I'm just really excited for our next guest. He's one of my best friends. I want you to do the intro for this guy. Oh, you want me to do it? Because I'm, I got to read a couple of things, but I feel like it's so natural when you just say it off the cuff because you should know all this if he's one of your best friends. He is. We're going to test if you know some of this stuff. If he's not just saying it just to say it. So I want you to introduce one of your best friends. All right. Well, let's start it from the top. The original work husband. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt about it. He's the president of Coral Gables himself. He went to the U. All right. He was the 12th overall pick. Don't look down. In the 2004 draft, I didn't know what number he was. I knew he went to the New York Jets. He played 10 seasons with the Jets and then also with the New Orleans Saints, where now he's the Saints Hall of Famer. He's a three-time pro bowler and he's also a Super Bowl champion. Shout out. You know what I mean? Super Bowl 44, my guy. And he's now a color commentator for on Fox covering all NFL games on Sundays and you can watch him. Shout out to my boy, Jonathan Vilma. There we go. Jay Boy! John Boy! That was an intro, Roman. I appreciate it. No doubt, my God. I probably would have did it better. All he did was, look, I could have did that. I thought you was just going off the cuff, buddy. No, because I didn't know all the numbers specifically, and I don't want to mess up on my guy. You know what I mean? This is like... Then we'll have beef throughout the whole thing.

2:38.0

We can. It's going off the cuff, buddy. No, because I didn't know all the numbers specifically, and I don't want to mess up on my guy.

2:35.1

You know what I mean?

2:35.7

This is like...

2:36.5

Then we'll have beef throughout the whole thing. We can't have it. I've had beef with him before, and it's not as fun. Don't worry. I told that story. Yeah, that's the true statement. All right. So, J.B., you know, we, we do this podcast. I've been doing it for a couple of a while now. And since we've been here in Miami, we've had a couple of guys on. And we always like to ask them this question about Mount Rushmore, about who's this person of influence and things of that nature.

3:08.6

And I want you to just look at this.

...

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