Welcome to Entrepreneurs of Playbook. I'm David Meltzer and sometimes dreams do come true. There's dream keepers and dream Steelers. And these two gentlemen are dream keepers of mine, both on and off the field. They've been friends of mine for years. And I want to welcome two of the greatest running backs ever to play the game. Hearts bigger than even Stephen Jackson is. But Stephen Jackson and Austin Eccler, thanks for joining me. Okay, I appreciate you having us on. This is like the running, this is a little, this is a special episode right here. It is. I don't get this very off. I have this little bullshit. Marshall Falk was here. We'd really blow it out out. Right, right, right. Except he's jealous of Stephen because he holds all the Rams records. Ah, he does. Most people don't know. But to that end, you know, we have different pieces of careers right here. And we were talking about post-career. You're coming in the next few years to the end of your

career. And one of the things I never was jealous about playing professional football, which was my dream,

was that I knew it was limited to the amount of time. The stuff that I do today, I'm only going to

get better and people are going to pay me more for. What I do today is almost a benefit to be old.

You know, they started hiring you because you're Uncle Dave.

Right, right. And then it'll be Grandpa Dave.

Oh, we need like a grandpa up here. I'm like, perfect.

I wanna talk about the attachment to an outcome of a dream, right? We dream these dreams and you guys have been blessed

to fulfill a dream that most people never get to fulfill. And it comes to an end. You are on the

other side of that and now you have other dreams. And Austin, you know that your dream of playing

NFL football is going to come to an end.

How do you deal with the end of a linear dream

that does expire because of what other circumstances there are?

And I'm to start with Stephen

and also maybe give a little bit of advice to Austin

as he comes to the latter days of his career.

Great question.

You know, Austin and I were talking about, before we came on air, we were just talking in the back about his playoff run this past year with the new team. And I was asking, like, what was your experience with the new team? Because the team that drafts you or the team that signs you to your first contract, there's a sense of loyalty, there's a sense of, like, family, family, you're like, I'm just going to stay here.

And then eventually, you know, it's running backs, we get pushed aside. track. There's a sense of loyalty. There's a sense of like family. You're like, I'm just going to stay here.

And then eventually, you know, it's running backs. We get pushed aside, right? And you become an uncle at 25. They're like, whoa, wait a minute. So, so, you know, leaning into your question about

separating the identity from living a dream is really hard. And for those that are familiar with my career, I had long hair, I had long locks. So the day I decided to retire, that was the first thing I did. I cut my hair. I just wanted to change that identity, how I saw myself, how the world saw me, how I wanted to be received was completely different than those past 12 years as a professional running back. So for me, it was first looking in the mirror

and seeing a new me.

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