- [Host] You guys rollin'?
- [Cameraman] Yep, we're good.
- Okay, cool.
What fish do you like?
(upbeat music)
- Welcome to episode one of The Fish Bowl.
I'm here with my friends at a goat farm,
because this is where
Aaron Donald came from.
He was just a little
baby goat when I met him,
and now he's a full grown G.O.A.T.,
reigning defensive player of the year,
and we've got him on the Fish
Bowl premiere, episode one.
- Oh go, yeah go ahead.
By all means, grab the
fish with your hands,
you absolute psycho.
- Please enjoy.
- Oops.
(laughs)
(intro music)
- So this is, this is a
guest I'm very excited about.
Like a guy I've seen grow
up through the years,
but truth be told,
when he got in the league he
was better than me already,
so I can't really.
(laughs)
Aaron Donald,
two time reigning defensive
player of the year.
I've recently referred to him
as the best player in football
and naturally best player in football,
I saw him pull up outside in his car,
he's got one of those doors that goes
(car door whoosh)
What's that door called?
- It's just the aight.
- [Host] Aight?
(laughs)
Is that a suicide door or
is that a different type?
- [Aaron] Um, I don't
know what they call it.
- [Host] You just got it.
- Yeah, you know.
Nice little car.
- [Host] I love it.
I love it.
So you know,
I referred to you as the
best player in football.
You're probably for every quarterback,
the scariest dude in football,
O linemen alike.
What is Aaron Donald afraid of?
- What am I afraid of?
I don't know.
Failure.
You know, I'm really not,
honestly, I'm not scared
of nothin' like a bug.
- [Host] Lights go off at night, nothing?
- Nah, see I got kids, so
I gotta be the tough guy.
- You gotta be the tough guy.
- And I gotta be,
I'm the protector, so I
can't be scared of much,
but you know if I had to say
I was scared of something,
just scared to fail.
- Snakes?
- Nah, I ain't scared of no snakes.
- [Host] So no animals?
- I used to catch snakes growing up,
so I can't be scared of 'em.
- Hold on a second, you
used to catch snakes?
- Yeah.
- With your hands?
- [Aaron] Yeah.
Well, it was in Pittsburgh.
They were little garter snakes,
they ain't no rattlesnakes or nothin'.
- [Host] Okay so like,
so if you're from like Pahokee like Jenk,
like Janoris.
He played with Jenk.
And they said they caught
rabbits down there to train.
So you caught snakes?
- Yeah.
- And what'd you do with 'em after?
- We just put 'em in like a container,
put some grass, some rocks,
and then let 'em live
in like a little container.
It was like our little pets.
- [Host] You're fucking crazy.
(laughs)
So you're into reptiles, dude.
- We grew up, we used to go to the creek
and get the little lizards and everything.
- Dude are you serious?
- Yeah.
- Like a little geologist.
(laughs)
Like a little baby training to be
defensive player of the
year slash geologist.
(ding)
- Hi, I'm Dr. Crystal Dilworth.
Geology is the study of earth's structure,
substance, and the
processes that act on it.
It has nothing to do with snakes.
Herpetology is the segment of zoology
that deals with reptiles
and amphibians, or snakes.
(ding)
- So one question I was going to ask you,
if you didn't play
football, what would you be?
I guess maybe you'd be like
some sort of a Steve Irwin.
Rest in peace.
- See I always talked about, growing up,
I always said I either
wanna play in the NFL
or I wanna be a business man.
- [Host] Yeah.
- I just always wanted to
do something that you know,
that earned some good money, so.
- [Host] Right.
Well, you got plenty to
start a business with now.
Congratulations on all your success, man.
You know,
being the two time reigning
defensive player of the year,
being a five time pro
bowler, five for five, right?
Bettin' a thousand there.
You know, a lot of people would say
you know, you've made it.
It's a lot of success,
a lot of money to be heaped on early.
What's next for you as you stare down
the barrel of another year?
Are there goals that keep you driving,
numeric goals, a sack record, what else?
- I just wanna win a Super Bowl.
You know so, I'm just
grinding and do that.
You know I gotta,
when you make a name for yourself,
I always say that it don't get easier,
it just gets ten times harder.
So I gotta keep working,
keep trying to find ways to get better
and I ain't get that ring yet,
so that's what's pushing me
and what's motivating me.
- [Host] Yeah, I mean you talked about
trying to win a Super Bowl.
You talk about other individual
goals in the off season.
Do you sit here, because
every time a team plays you
you're A1 in the game plan?
Do you sit here and think about,
you're kind of playing chess,
because people are
trying to figure you out?
Do you, in the off season,
try to get one step ahead of people
and figure where they might see
a blind spot in your game?
Do you sit there and study?
'Cause you're one of the
hardest studying guys I know.
Like, what's your off season
film room process look like?
- [Aaron] I usually just break down film
from all the games I played in.
The good games, the bad games,
the games I really don't want to watch.
I just study.
What I seen offensive linemen do
that I felt like you
know was my weaknesses
or what they did to slow me down,
what I can try to do to
try to free myself up,
or help myself to beat
that guy a little faster
to make a play.
When I'm off season, I'm
just studying myself,
trying to find ways to improve something
or clean something up some type of way.
So, come game time or come camp,
I can work it and try to find ways
to just keep getting better with it.
- You got a new move in the arsenal?
In the pipe?
- Yeah, I got a little something.
- [Host] You don't want
to talk about it, though?
- He taught me this little
move for play action,
some hand work to (mumbles)
- [Host] Was this Chuck?
- Nah, this is Demarcus.
- [Host] Oh, Demarcus.
Yeah, I saw you and Demarcus working,
and I'm like well, this
is some scary shit.
'Cause like, already
you're almost at 60 sacks,
five years into your career.
Demarcus is a guy well into the hundreds.
You know, when I look
at your career, I mean,
it's easily attainable to think that
you could be pushing near 200.
You know, that number's not everything
but it's what gets people paid.
You seem to enjoy the art of
it, you enjoy the process.
I watch you doin' the camp stuff,
I watch you working with Demarcus.
I watch you working with younger kids.
What is it about that
art form that you enjoy?
For a younger guy, you're
so into the process.
When did that start?
- In high school.
You come in, you're one
of the good players,
so you think you know
it all in high school.
My high school defensive
line comes to mind, Gibson.
He played in the NFL, played in college.
My dad allowed him to
coach me, and he said,
"If he act up, go upside his head",
and it took one game for me
to say something back to him,
and he grabbed me up, said
"Man you gonna listen to what I say."
That one day, I always tell
him, that changed everything,
'cause once I started
to take his coaching,
I actually started listening and learning,
and I could see my game
getting better and better.
I was doing things before,
like pass rush moves in high
school, that nobody was doin',
so I always say Demond Gibson
is what broke that curse for me,
as far as you know,
learning, taking it in.
If you have success,
you gon' have success,
but coaches and people and
places and have success,
and they're teaching you
things for you to learn from.
So I just understood that I'm gonna listen
to what somebody's sayin',
and trying to put it in
my game someway somehow,
it ain't gonna do nothin'
but make me better.
- [Host] Yeah because
when you got to league,
I remember we, one of my biggest regrets
was not being able to stay
healthy and play with you longer,
but at the tail end we overlapped,
and I remember I was
always the kind of guy
that, and I've told a
bunch of people this,
I was the kind of guy
that I was bored in camp.
Like, what am I gonna do?
Go back to the hotel and play video games?
No.
Like, I wanna watch a little more tape,
I wanna stay a little bit longer.
It's almost peaceful when
everybody empties the building.
And I used to walk in at eight at night,
'cause we'd have our one film room,
shitty little film room
in Earth City, Missouri,
and I'd walk in, the lights would be off,
and I'd be like "ah,
fuck, AD's in here again.
I guess I'm not watching film tonight,"
'Cause young guys'
watching film is something,
and watching extra film
is something you're not used to as a vet.
So you were ready made.
I mean, you were a ready made pro
from a work ethic standpoint.
You know, it's unmatched
when it comes to the prep
and being a student of the game.
The turning point was your coach, huh?
Cause you talk about your dad a lot,
and your dad called you at one point,
I heard him say he was lazy
at one point.
- Yeah, real lazy.
- You were really lazy?
- I was a little chunky kid.
(laughs)
- I was chunky so my dad
tell me do my chores,
I would complain about it.
Take the garbage out or
something, he'll leave.
It'd still be there, go upside my head,
so he'd say to get me out that lazy state
was to get me in the weight room.
He'd say, once you work out
and you start seeing
a change in your body,
it'd change your everyday life.
And it really did that for me.
- Well 'cause I've seen the
pictures of you at Penn Hills,
and you had this epic mustache.
You must have been pretty young.
You were the kid in little
league that people were like
"This guy's not 12 years old."
You seemed like you had that
grown man strength early,
but you didn't realize it.
And I know that that weight room,
that kind of has become
legendary up at your old house
was a big turning point as well.
- [Aaron] Yeah, just grinding.
I started lifting free
weights when I was 12.
So, 12 year old waking
up at 6:00 in the morning
to work out as a kid,
a lot of people ain't doing that.
- Grown ups aren't doing that.
- Yeah, and so, I was always
taught by my dad, you know.
He was training me to be a pro
before we knew what he
was doing, so you know,
working to keep myself on
a schedule was just normal.
That's why I'm like that now.
- [Host] Right.
I mean, I remember when I
was a kid, my dad was...
I guess I was lazy,
and my pops hired a guy to
just basically break me.
Run suicides, he was an
old AU basketball coach.
I had no business being
on a basketball court,
so I thought I was out
there to play basketball,
and I thought I was gonna be good.
But this guy's sole job, and
I learned this 10 years later,
was to make me cry or puke
or the whole nine yards.
And I look back at it and I say,
where did I get the work ethic
that carried me through 11 years?
It was that one moment,
it was that one coach.
But you had that weight
room, and supposedly,
I hear you still go
back there and work out.
- Yeah.
- Is that true, or is that just
for a story?
- No, that's the truth.
That's the truth.
- [Host] So you go back
there and grind it out?
- That's probably like
my Thursday workout,
or a Saturday workout.
One of my days I'm supposed to have off,
I go down to my Dad's basement
and do some extra work.
- [Host] And the basement, and
this is pretty interesting.
I actually didn't know this about you.
Being your buddy, I had no idea,
but you know when you got paid,
your parents are really
important to you, obviously.
Your dad who I've met.
Tremendous, tremendous dude,
and you wanted to pay him back,
and your mom, with everything
they've done for you,
you got 'em houses
but you insisted that you
keep the house, right?
- [Aaron] Yeah.
- [Host] Does that house have a name?
- No. (laughs)
It's just the house we grew up
in, and it's the weight room.
That's where the weight rooms at,
so that's more when the
fellas get all together,
that's where we all go and relax.
(ding)
- So Aaron Donald,
ultimate football machine,
ultimate good guy,
bought both his parents
homes when he made it.
Also went back and bought
the very humble, modest
house that he grew up in.
Probably 2000 square feet,
including the basement,
and this is by Aaron's description.
And he doesn't use it as a party house.
He doesn't use it to go
drink beer at or hide away,
he uses it just to lift weights.
It's a weight room.
It's a flexatorium.
This kid is just constantly
grinding, trying to get better,
but imagine being a kid
living down the street,
like hitting a fly ball too
far and going to retrieve it,
and you have that sandlot moment.
I'm not sure if AD is James
Earl Jones or Hercules,
but, has to be pretty fuckin' intimidating
to see the reigning
defensive player of the year
step out of his i8 and
the door goes like this,
and he reaches down and he gets the ball
and hands it to you, and he goes,
"Here kid, here's your ball."
And it's kind of like that
Joe Green Coke commercial,
but it's just Aaron Donald
back in his neighborhood.
Ultimate good guy.
Makes me feel bad about myself.
The cowboys had the white house.
We all know what went on there,
or we know most of what went on there.
That would be a good documentary.
And that Aaron Donald
had his childhood home,
which he's turned into a weight
room, so he can get better.
(ding)
Is it the party spot now?
- It ain't the party spot.
- If it was me, I would be
like "I need the weight room",
it reminds me of my childhood,
but this is the place that me
and my buddies from back home,
'cause you still stay tight
with your buddies from Pittsburgh.
You're like Mr. Pittsburgh,
like you truly live, sleep, breathe,
Pittsburgh culture, football,
the whole nine yards.
I would be in there partying,
especially being married now,
I can't get a hall pass
to go out to the bar.
I'd be like, "I gotta
run over to the house,"
- And do some extra workouts.
- And do some extra workouts,
and then I'd have all my buddies there
and we'd be on the porch drinking.
- Well the thing is, it
isn't the best neighborhood,
so you really don't wanna be in there.
- You're probably good
in that neighborhood.
- Yeah we good.
- Are you saying I'm not
good in that neighborhood?
- Nah you good, 'cause you'd be with me
so you gon' be good, you good.
(laughs)
- Thanks so much for watching part one
of the AD Fish Bowl interview.
Stick around for part two.
We're going to talk about pit football.
We'll talk about the
new performance center
he did up there that he opened
his giant checkbook to fund,
and then also very fittingly,
people asking him for money.
Please subscribe, and like I said,
stick around for part two,
it's gonna be a lot of fun.
