YouTube Star John Malecki on His 850 Million Views from Craftsman Content, Being Cut 13 Times, Playing His Lone NFL Game for His Hometown Steelers, and The Definition of a Yinzer

NFL: Good Morning Football

iHeartPodcasts and NFL

Football, Sports

4.3 • 655 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the latest NFL: Players Second Acts podcast, Peanut and Roman are joined by former Steelers lineman–turned–YouTube craftsman influencer John Malecki, whose second act is as wild as his NFL journey. John takes us through his NFL journey of going undrafted, of being cut 13 times – and why the last one shocked him – to the glory of playing his lone NFL game in his hometown of Pittsburgh in front of his family. We then hear how his struggles with his transition from the game accidentally led to his second act as a social media influencer. John breaks down how his social media and YouTube following took off in 2018, and how his channels have grown to nearly a BILLION views behind his craftsman content. He also shares how he helps other creators monetize their work.

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

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:02.5	Guaranteed Human.
0:04.4	I feel like the first time you truly feel like an influencer is when you're outside of like your own environment.
0:09.4	Right. So you could be building a following and you know, you get all kinds of attention online.
0:14.5	But when you go to an event for the first time and like you get in front of like the people that you've been cultivating in the real world, that's kind of where you for the first time will feel like, wow, this is, this isn't just like a thing on my phone. And over time it gets to like, they know your kid's names, your wife's name, their birthday. Like they'll come in and ask me how my hip and back. I'll be walking through Home Depot. And you're like, whoa, you know, nice to meet you. I'm John. They're like, how's your back, bro?
0:38.5	I'm good, buddy.
0:44.4	What's up, everybody?
0:45.5	I'm Peanut Tillman, and this is the NFL players second acts podcast.
0:50.4	And with me, as always, my trusty co-host, Roman Easter Jacket,. Is it really Easter jacket-ish? To me, I got a little Easter vibe. Oh, you got the socks, too. Oh, you didn't see the details. I didn't see the detail. The details. Okay. You got to, hey, hey, brother, you got to coordinate. You got to do that. You got to coordinate.
1:12.9	Get to our guests, bro.
1:15.2	Get to John, bro.
1:19.9	Okay, I apologize.
1:22.6	The coordination got me.
1:24.2	All right, so this gentleman, Pittsburgh, born and bred through and through,
1:30.1	played his one game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is a part of the Pittsburgh alumni. He is a
1:34.8	journeyman and now he is a world star craftsman. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the pod.
1:41.5	John Malakey! A! Yeah. A lot more energy there than I was anticipating. Appreciate that. He holds that back and he surprises everybody with that. I like it. I like it. It's really, it hasn't always been that way either, John. It's come, he's come, you know, into his mature times. He's not a rookie anymore. He's got a rookie anymore. He's feeling very confident by himself. So he's taking, you know, into his mature times. Yeah, he's not a rookie anymore.
2:01.1	He's not a rookie anymore.
2:02.2	He's feeling very confident by himself.
2:03.7	Yes.
2:03.9	Yeah.
2:04.1	He's taking it to that level all week long. I just want to let you know that. I think it's the Pittsburgh. Well, I don't feel special anymore, but you know, I appreciate you. My bad. With the setup. I just wanted you to feel, I wanted you to feel special.
	...

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