Mize

Brian Westbrook reveals what Andy Reid said to him while standing beside his own son's casket at his funeral, Westbrook approached his former coach hoping to comfort him during the most heartbreaking moment of his life, and says instead Reid looked at Westbrook and asked how he could help him because he knew he had just transitioned out of football and was looking for what was next “I’ll say Andy Reid. Andy Reid was important and influential in my life because you go into the league from a Division I-AA school, and you don't really know very many people. You're just there to grind. And the one thing Andy Reid said was, ‘Listen, I don't want to hear you talk. I don't want you to do all this other stuff. I just want you to listen to your veterans, follow their lead, and grind every single day. And if you do that, I'm going to give you a chance. I'm going to give you an opportunity.’” “And he was a man of his word. When someone says all you have to do is these things, and you follow those things, and they're going to give you this, that's meaningful to you. And to this day, I'll never forget this. This was one of the most, it was actually weird—but I think it shows the man that Andy Reid is.” “His son had a bad drug problem and ended up passing away at camp. I was a year out of the NFL at this time, and so I'm going to the funeral. And the strength of this man, Andy Reid, he's standing at his son's casket. I mean, there's lines a mile long to see him. And I walk up to him, and I'm broken because I knew these kids since I was in college. I'm broken.” “And I give him a hug, and I'm crying, and I'm like, ‘Coach, you good? What do you need?’ Before he even answered my question, he said, ‘What do you need? How can I help you? You're out of the league now. You're doing different things, TV, radio, all this other stuff. How can I help you get to where you want to?’” “We're literally at his son's funeral, beside his son's casket, and he's asking me this. And I'm confused because I'm like, ‘I'm here to comfort you.’ And through all of this, he is still trying to help former players. Still trying to mentor. Still trying to do those things. And even today, when you hear players talk about Andy Reid, they say he's a father figure. He's a great man. He's the best coach.” “Even the issues that him and T.O. had, they're tight like this today, right? And so, you know, I think about guys like that. I probably could name another 50 guys that certainly had an impact on my Mount Rushmore, but those people have influenced my life in so many different ways. Things would be totally different for me if I didn't have those men in my life, and my mother, of course.”