It’s always time well spent on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour talking rock music, Orioles baseball and his business as a lifelong NFL player agent with Chad Wiestling, who lives here in Baltimore but will be in Green Bay with his client and superstar running back Josh Jacobs all weekend. Lots of football knowledge in this one…
Nestor Aparicio and NFL agent Chad Wiestling discussed the NFL draft and offseason dynamics. Nestor shared his excitement about upcoming events and guests, including former Councilman Quirk and John Allen. Chad highlighted the importance of character and talent in players, mentioning his clients Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry. They discussed the devaluation of running backs and the significance of having a strong running game. Chad also touched on crisis management in the NFL, particularly the Justin Tucker situation, emphasizing the need for transparency and team communication. Finally, they talked about the upcoming draft and Chad’s clients, including offensive tackle Dalton Cooper and safety/cornerback Noah Apollo Gates.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
NFL draft, offseason, Chad Wiestling, Justin Tucker, crisis management, Ravens, Josh Jacobs, running backs, NFL agents, player contracts, team consistency, player character, draft preparation, player representation, league investigation.
SPEAKERS
Chad Wiestling, Nestor Aparicio
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 to Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively here in beautiful Catonsville. It is a sunny day. I have the lookout here Frederick road. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. We have the Back to the Future. I finally got them today. I’ve even got Ross is a read here play the Maryland lotteries, new scratch off game. Back to the Future to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the movie, this $2 ticket has seven top prizes of $10,000 in cool second price. I’ll be doing this all week. They know I love them. We’ll be giving these away next week on Wednesday at Coopers north in Simone, and excuse me, and we’re also going to be at Cocos on the 30th of the month and the seventh at red brick station in White Marsh. I got great guests. I was a little nervous this week because Monday morning I woke up and I didn’t have any guests for the Beaumont but I’m like, I’m gonna rally. You know, I had some people like Chad Weasley I wanted to have on. I knew John Allen was playing m3 Larry Stewart from Coppin State was gonna be with us today, but the NCAA decided they had to have a meeting, and I’m gonna have former Councilman courts gonna be stopping by as well, talking about money and in Trump Landia and and tariffs and all that stuff. But I started to invite guests, and it started with John, John Allen, one of my best friends in the world. So like full giveaway, we actually he’s one of my social friends. He’s one of those guys when you’re in your late 50s, they say dudes need to have friends. So I actually have two, two friends left in life, Chad Weasley and John Allen, who both came over today, but I invited John, and then I invited Chad, and I’m and like, Chad at me back. He’s like, Yeah, I can do that. And I’m like, because we were going to call in, but then you can make it today. And I’m like, Well, cool, I got Chad. And then John’s like, yeah, I can come out. And I’m like, oh, Chad’s gonna love this, you know? So I told my wife, I’m like, I like, Monday night. I’m like, I’m planning on bringing John and Chad together. That’s gonna freak Chad out when he shows up and sees John here. And I’m at the point in my life. And I told Luke this this week, I just want to do stuff for other people. I’m just done. You’ve seen me at 27 Super Bowls, right? Ask me what concert I didn’t see. I’ve seen them all, right? Ask me what I’m regretful about. I have a few, but then again, too few to mention. And I’m like, I just like, I get off on, like, doing favors for friends or doing stupid stuff, like what I did for you today, which is sort of like, you’ve been this fan of John forever. We’ve known each other from you, like, I know you know John, and then you and I went to a show, and you met him, and you bought a bunch of merch, but he was surrounded by girls and boys and fans and all that stuff. Was late at night. You felt like being an NFL agent. You know what it’s like when the stars had enough, and you like, you didn’t want to be that guy with John, so you when I went drinking that night together, and I’m like, This is gonna be fun to put, like John and Chad together, and then I got the timing all organized. Did I surprise you? I just need to know, because you had no thought getting in the car this was putting you up. Had no idea i set your ass off. Yes, yes, you did. I set you up. I knew it. I knew when I was when I parked the car down the car down the street, exactly what I wanted to do, and I came around the corner, of course, the big Did you text Jen yet and say, Yeah, John ill, and you’re mad about Cinderella?
Chad Wiestling 03:08
No, no, I didn’t know you had rock star roommates. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, well, that’s why, that’s why, you know, today was, was awesome for me, because, you know, I’ve been, it’s, you know, it’s kind of, maybe it’s the same for, you know, depending on what you do, like I’m football has been my life, you know, it’s been my life. You’re not impressed by meeting Aaron Rodgers, right? Yeah, you’re not such a baseball fan because I’m not a baseball agent. I can be a fan. So I go, I have season tickets. I go the games, you know, here and there, but I go to games and because I can be a fan.
Nestor Aparicio 03:37
But if you if gunner Henderson came in right now, would you go up say hello to him. Would you say? You would, you wouldn’t bother No, you wouldn’t. But if Sebastian Bach walked in, you’d be a geek, yeah, probably send over a drink, and you’d be like, Hey, man, can I take a picture with you? Probably, yeah, I’d be like, dude, this Sebastian, yeah, because I’m a fan. I love the music. I’m the same way. And, you know, with me at sports and rock and roll, right? And, and I have, I lack all filter when it comes to politicians, is, you know, Councilman cork will find out when he stops by that I don’t, everybody’s the same in my world. But at the weirdest thing is, like, when I have John on, or when I have, like, real friends on, or people in my real life, or celebrity friends, or whatever on, I don’t know, man, I have like, sort of one count. It’s about me. That’s the hardest part. Is when I do meet people that are more important than me, is finding some way to act that way, maybe like around men of the clergy, or, you know what I mean, older older ladies or something. You have a different tone, or children or whatever. But the radio part for me, it always kind of has to be like, I’m I’m excited about it, but I do get more excited about rock stars, right? So, and not like John But, or not even like Frank curry, you know. But like my wife would tell you, she is only legitimately, legitimately see me star struck one time in. My life. Now she’s been in the, you know, right in the company of everybody there is to be who’s rich and famous in my world that you’ve ever seen me with. So she was blown away that I got star struck and but it wasn’t starstruck we were at the Super Bowl. You might even been. There’s 2008 in Phoenix, and it was radio row on a Friday. Now, Nils Lofgren was there, and he had already stopped by and done my show, because I know Nils, and I looked over and I saw a rock star, and I knew who it was, because when Nils was with me, he’s like, Yeah, we’re playing this charity thing for the it was the NFL greats, the Dick A, what’s it called the legends, NFL legends, right? Dick, his thing that he’s been doing for 100 years, right? He said, Yeah, we’re playing this thing in Scottsdale. And it’s, like, it’s an all star band. It’s, it’s me, it’s Paul Rogers. It’s, he went on and on and on, and I looked over and there was Paul Rogers, like, 10 feet away, rubber poly standing, and I jumped over the table. My wife’s like, Dude, I’ve never, like, seen you. You move like a jackal, you know, like, I just leaped over and grabbed them and put them on. And it didn’t even occur to me that I had met him two other times in my life. I mean, I met him in New York City one time and hung out in his boardroom, but there was just this moment of my competitiveness that he needed to do my show at the Super Bowl. And anybody that ever listened to my Super Bowl still, you know what a competitive prick I am. I mean, ask Stan Charles, ask anybody in the marketplace how competitive my sports juice is. But I’m that way about guests. Like I don’t think Dan Marino is a big deal if he walked in here and sat down, but if I’m at Radio row and I got to get a guest, I’m getting damn Marina Right, right? And as the proof is in the pudding on the website, you can see all the guests we had. That’s because of my hustle in that way, but not because of my fanboy. Paul Rogers thing was total fanboy, right? And my wife saw the difference. She’s like, I I’ve never seen you act like that, dude. You weren’t, like, gonna tackle him. You had to get him over. And I drew Forrester was sitting doing live radio, and I said to him during the break, I’m like, Dude, if Paul Rogers comes over here, you’re getting up. You’re just gonna have to move because, like he said, I don’t care about Paul Rogers. I’ll make fine. So he saw me coming, Drew, just handed me the headset to go for it. And I had 12 minutes with Paul Rogers, right? And I don’t know why that strikes me as being so fanboy, except that it was a rock star, it wasn’t a football player, it wasn’t cream Abdul Jabbar. It wasn’t, there’s something about rock stars, right,
Chad Wiestling 07:32
8right? Yeah, I feel something about talent too. Like, even, like, even with John, like, listen, I He’s a talented guy, man, I’ve told you that. You know, I know you love John. Well, I just, I love child’s play. Love child’s play. I love Charm City devils, you know, SR 71 that was that kind of punky rock era. I wasn’t, you know, but, but such a music. But I rooted for him, them and Mitch Allen, because they were Baltimore, Maryland ties, you know. So I, you know, whenever I was like, but it was like, blink 182 I was like, Well, I like well, I like SR 71 because they’re from Maryland.
Nestor Aparicio 08:03
I was in Coopers North two weeks ago with my wife, and I went to the bathroom, and as I was going in, I heard the sound of the music. It was 1985 Yeah, which John wrote? Right? Oh, he’s not here. So I can tell this story. So I’m with John calls me in 2004 four or five. And this is, you know, we’re just texting at that point, but my phone rang. It was John, Hey, man, what’s up? You alright, yeah, everything. You know, it’s always you are sick. Hey, dude, I’m in Cleveland this weekend, and the Ravens are there. You think you could get me tickets, like the bands here? And I’m like, Yeah, I call Baker, and I said, that would be great. You want to hang at us? I’m sitting in the stands. This is before I this is before Twitter and all that sat in the stands. I bought tickets with my wife, so we all sat together at the game. It was the, it wasn’t the X Games, but it was the whatever the other games were that were going on. They were playing skate punk Park thing going on in Cleveland. So they were playing this, the ESPN games, the X Games, whatever that thing was, they were playing it. And it was in like, October, and it was a festival in downtown Cleveland, and he came with the band, and Mitch Allen was dating a actress, Kelly, who, at the time, she was with us, and John was there. And I’m sitting with John at the game, and they played one of the SR 71 songs on the thing, because they were there, and they were promoting the X Games thing that was there. And I said to John, I’m like, Dude, I heard the greatest song on the radio recently, song called 1985 Have you heard that song? She stole shaking my ass on white steaks car. You know, he’s like, Nestor, I wrote that song, Mitch, and I wrote that song, and I’m like, I’m sitting in Cleveland Stadium at a football game, and I just went, like, down a seat like this. I’m like, best friends all my life. I don’t know this. He’s like, Yeah, we wrote it. We were gonna record it. But, like, the was the name of the band that required me though, the name of. Band, the something of somethings, whatever they were, they recorded that song and made it leaves a big hit, right? But anytime I hear 1985 now, I have to, like, slump in my seat, because one of my best friends in the world wrote it, and I didn’t know it until I embarrassed myself by saying, Hey, I heard a great song, and it was his song. I think he thinks that, like, I knew about it was just trying to, like, elbow them up, but I really did hear it, right? But they wrote that song. So there’s, like, something people in my audience don’t even know that when I hear that song, I’m like, That’s John’s song, right? That’s his biggest hit, right? And we sat here for an hour, and you would never talk about the other other bands and all that stuff, but he wrote a big hit that
Chad Wiestling 10:40
was surprising. Yeah, that’s why did you not know that? I didn’t know that. No, I don’t think you know
Nestor Aparicio 10:44
the song. Yeah, right,
8Chad Wiestling 10:48
yeah. No, I you know. I don’t think I now. I’m now. You just told me I did not know that. Also
Nestor Aparicio 10:54
have a good football story. That’s like that. So, Mel Kuiper, because you’re an NFL agent, because this will lead us into the draft talks. This is a good segue piece for me. 1997 or eight. Well, London, 97 because Vinnie was still a quarterback. 97 I had a big job interview at ESPN at the worldwide, the only time I’ve ever been on campus there, right? So 1997 I had an interview to kick off ESPN Radio. Mike Greenberg got my job. He got the job that I was up for. Mel Kuiper was working there. This was when Joe diambrosius, Tony Bruno, um, I’m trying to think of the third guy. He was a very wonderful man. I’m seeing his picture. He silver haired fella. We’re going back 27 year. 28 years here. ESPN Radio was in nighttime weekend thing. It wasn’t like a format yet, one on one. Sports was the only nationally syndicated radio. I know this because I own the radio station at the time. So I had a big interview at ESPN at the worldwide leader in the big headquarters. And it was a Saturday afternoon, and the Ravens played the Jets the next day, Vinnie threw an overtime touchdown pass in the rain to Derek Alexander in the back of the end zone in overtime to win the game. So there’s the day before that. It was like October, and I’m like, interviewing for a big job, and I’m up there on that Saturday, spent the whole day in the offices. They’re meeting people, hanging out, and Mel Kuiper was there, and I know Mel, Mel had the hair red. He was doing the ESPN Radio, what it would’ve then radio on that Saturday, watching all the games and doing cut ins on ESPN, not on television, on radio. And he said to me, Hey, Nestor, you’re going down the game right the meadow lands. I’m like, yeah. He’s like, Hey, man, I take a train out of New Haven. You want to go with me? That was gonna rent a car, I think. And he’s like, throwing me, I got a driver. I leave here at, you know, 530 I do my last hit. We get in, take 705, train. We could be down in New York at nine. You know, whatever it was to do the train. I’m like, Mel, yeah, sure. I’ll go with you. And I don’t think I’ve seen Mel five times since. You know now see Mel, but I know Mel, but I don’t see Mel much. So that day, we gotten a gotten a town car, went down to the New Haven train station, got on the train, went into the city. We’re together. We arrive in a train station in New York City, and we get a cab. And you imagine 1997 there’s the felt Forum and the Madison Square Garden. You come up, we cab stand. We get in a cab. We’re taking Mel’s paying that. He’s made more money than me then, and so the cab from downtown over to Meadowlands, put $60 in. It was like a lot of money, more than I would have wanted to pay being a kid. And we get in the cab, and Mel and I are in the back seat, and I see Madison Square Garden. I’m in New York. It’s before I was syndicated. I was in New York a little, you know, taken back by New York. It’s big and beautiful. Um, 29 years old. That’s, I want a kid. I turn to Mel, that’s small talking like, I’m small talking to you right now, like, even John, Hey, I heard the song, I like, I said to Mel, I looked up and saw the fell form. I said, Yeah, NFL Draft. I think got drafted here. I was here last year when I think got drafted. Said, and we’re just like, I’m making small talk. I’m like, Hey, Mel, do you ever see Jerry Maguire? And he looks at me, and there’s this dead silence. And he said, Nestor, I was in Jeremy,
14:23
yeah, and I, at that moment,
Nestor Aparicio 14:25
8I wanted to get out of the cab out on Eighth Avenue just walk to the metal, because you feel like such a right, but you don’t know, but that the draft is been in my life since the 80s. I always kid, you know Howard, when I have him on from out in the desert, in in Arizona, I say I watched you on ESPN, when it was the round logo, and when it was Tom Mees and Chris Berman, and you know all of that. 1983 draft, 8485 I watched the NFL Draft when the Colts left because I was an oiler fan. I remember when they drafted Mike Munchak. I remember. They drafted Bruce Matthews. I certainly remember they drafted Steve McNair at Alcorn State, right? So I remember every draft. And then in 1996 we got our own football team, and I went up John Agnew handed me the hat off his head. I have the first hat in ravens history, the silver hat. I have that the Holy Grail for me. And I was there when they drafted Ray Lewis instead of Leland McElroy. And I guess all these years later, 30 years later, this building out here in Owings Mills, for all I think of them and their lack of integrity in a lot of ways, and just Tucker and all that stuff, but it’s been one group of people that have made picks forever. You’ve been in this business all these years. You’ve negotiated contracts as an NFL agent with all of the Eric de Costas and Ozzie newsomes. And really, they’re cap managers. A lot of people you negotiate with once you decide they want the player, you figure the money out, Cap guy. But like, How many times have you walked into the bears building or the Packers build? Maybe not the Packers, but there’s buildings in this league where every 234, years, you got different. The only thing in the building that’s the same are the walls. Right. In many cases in the NFL, look at the raiders and you know, the continuity in an industry that doesn’t have any that the Ravens have it. You must see that as an incredible strength. For 100%
Chad Wiestling 16:16
100% there are, you know, organizations that are, I call them top shelf, which, you know, the raiders and the Packers, and you know, some of the school or some of those franchises have, and it’s just consistency, just, you know, not a lot of turnover, you know, it’s, you know, then you have the teams like the jets and Raiders, and you Know that are firing guys every every other year. So it’s, it’s, you know, it’s the business, you know people, I think when you work on that side, you know, like, hey, it’s not for long, you know, you got to do, do your good. You know, do a good job. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 16:52
why you’re looking out for these kids. Because you realize that, you know, no matter who you are, it’s short lived.
Chad Wiestling 16:57
Oh yeah, yeah, very much. So, yeah, I was just talking to somebody, actually, a mother of a player yesterday, and was explained to her, like, you know, in most of the other sports, you know, you can play, you know, into your 40s, maybe or or whatever. But Joe Flacco, yeah, or Yeah, or even 30s, you know, like, but when you play football, your windows till up, maybe up till 30, you know? Yeah, there are a few people to earn. To earn, yeah, so
8Nestor Aparicio 17:24
that’s why you and I got together. You were sweating out, Josh, yeah, we spent an hour. You can Google this. Chad Weasel is our guest, a local NFL agent, and Josh Jacobs is your biggest client you’ve ever had in life, in your career, right?
Chad Wiestling 17:38
Yeah? Well, him, him and or Muhammad Wilkerson. So
Nestor Aparicio 17:42
in, in the case of Josh, you, you got him signed, we’re in a very different spot this minute than we were in Southwest Baltimore two years ago this week, when running backs were being devalued everywhere. You had probably the best one, if not the best one, saquon Derek Henry was considered to be damaged, be older or whatever it was, and no one wanted to pay running backs. And nothing with Chad, nothing to do with Josh Jacobs or Derrick Henry. The industry decided running backs weren’t that important. I’d like to think it’s a little different now in Owings Mills, probably a little different in Green Bay, certainly a little different in Philadelphia, maybe even a little different than New York Giants. It gave saquon away or to see what the Titans look like without Derrick Henry, or what Lamar Jackson looks like with him. It’s a running back position, man, it’s OJ Simpson, Walter Payton. It’s, you know, it’s Earl Campbell, it’s Franco Harris, it’s, it’s Eric Dickerson. It’s like, it’s an important position. Yet we spent an hour talking about how it’s devalued. I don’t feel devalued on the field the way they’ve been used the last two years, since we got together, right? Yeah,
Chad Wiestling 18:48
8yeah, no. I mean, the reality of it is, is that, you know, the running back is one of the most, I mean, you know, quarterbacks obviously the most important position that’s, that’s not even, you know, a question, but it’s very valuable. You know, the rainback. I mean, you have a guy, a bell cow that can obviously, you know, it’s moving the chains. And if you have a, you know, you have a running a running game, running back running game, you know, it’s, it’s football 101, that’s what I’ve been always explaining to people, or back when I was trying to negotiate with the Raiders, like guys, this is football 101. Man like you need number one, he’s the best player on your team. But
Nestor Aparicio 19:23
we touched the ball like 60% of the play. He had
Chad Wiestling 19:26
some crazy it was over 50% 50% he was the total offense, right? So and, but you know, if you have a good running game, it’s gonna open up the passing game. This is what I mean by his football 101. You know, if you have a good passing game. You know, if you, if you don’t have a passing game or you don’t have a quarterback, that’s why quarterbacks is, is so, so important, and you just gotta, you know, hand the ball off it. All the defense got to do is stack the box and stop you. You know that so, but so, but the teams, you know, it’s very much a copycat League, as you know, and it’s become over the years. You know, you. Bobby de Paul used to tell me it was, it was basketball and grass, you know, was all about throwing the ball. You know, there’s the Kurt Warner, yeah, right. But it’s still, still that we can get a running back anywhere. You know, they’re dime a dozen. Well, draft one of the fourth round, right, right? That’s the mentality. So everyone started kind of following that and what have you. But you know, this past season you saw, you saw that, the teams that, and one of the reasons why Green Bay came after Josh Jacobs, and, excuse me, probably why, you know, Baltimore, you know, I mean, Baltimore kid got Derek Henry, and obviously Philly got saquon. It was when it comes to December and it’s playoff base, or, excuse me, playoff football. Where did baseball at? Yeah, playoff football. We want to run the ball when it’s cold out of Buffalo. Yeah, when it’s cold out we’re running the ball. And I remember when I first met with and spoke to the Packers regarding Josh, they were like, because they had Aaron Wayne Green Bay, especially, I was like, I didn’t, you know, I knew the teams that were going to be in the market, and I, you know, was, was I talked to some teams, and when I, when I got contacted by Green Bay, I was like, Whoa, I had to actually text them back. I’m like, Who you talking about? Because they were like, hey, we want to talk about one of your players, like, Who you talking about, like, running back. I’m like, oh, okay, you know, because you know, they had Aaron Jones, sure at the time, who then they just went, you know, beat Dallas in the wild card, and had a pretty decent season. And they were like, well, you know, whatever it was they were, you know, Aaron was getting Aaron was 30 years old. Josh was 26 you know, Aaron was a different type of runner. Aaron Jones is very good running back, and had a good year last year, too, for Minnesota. But they were, they were like, hey, we want, you know, Josh, because we want to pound the ball. We want a three down back, a guy can, you know, can be first, second, third down. We’re going to use him in the passing game. And, you know, and when it comes to when the weather’s cold, in November, December, January, that’s, that’s what we want him. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 22:02
you brought him to me. How many years? Six years ago, seven years ago, you brought him to me at the draw, at the it would have been 19, 2019 seven Atlanta Super Bowl. Does that sound right? Or Atlanta, Atlanta. Okay, so you brought him onto the show. I had him on the show. You can go back and find this on YouTube as well. I mean, he was, he had dreams out of Alabama. He’s a polite kid, nice guy, sat down, and you must be real pleased that at how that’s gone over the last six or seven years. It doesn’t always go perfectly, not, not even with first round kids out of Alabama, right, right? You could have J, K Dobbins too. Is, you know, you could have felt good about it, right? Like, and it doesn’t always work out that the tea leaves a line and you’ve landed, and you’ve done right by him, he’s done right by you, he’s done right by his employers, right? It’s pretty happy story here. Didn’t have to work out that way two years ago. I know you were nervous two years ago about what was gonna happen,
8Chad Wiestling 22:52
yeah, because you just, you just didn’t know, you know, and, like, said, there’s that was the time, and, you know, still teams, there’s always gonna be his teams that devalue or a position, or, in this case, you know the running back position, there’s always but then, like I said, then you know, the the winning teams, the winning organizations, there’s a reason why they’re good. You know the reason why every year it’s, you know, the the usual suspects that are usually in the playoffs, because, you know, they have consistency in the front office. You know, whether it’s general, they have consistency with the coaches. And they’ve, they’ve built their team up the way they want to build them. And, you know, they stick to the routine while the other guys are, you know, you know, firing guys right and left, and bringing in new schemes, new coordinators, new you know, now they gotta get new players. And you know, it’s, it’s, you know, but there’s, you know, the teams, like I said, if we’re talking about the running back position here, if you look at the teams last year that were in the playoffs, you know, it was the guys, you know, it was the ravens, it was the the Eagles, it was the the Packers, it was even though, you know, the Vikings, it was the lions. I mean, they got Gibbs, and it seemed, you know, Singletary, you know, the running backs, like they’re all, they were all running teams, you know, running well, they have to have that, yeah, yeah. So,
Nestor Aparicio 24:01
had a feature back, yeah, or system in some way, right, right,
Chad Wiestling 24:05
right? And they’re the ones that are, like, said, they’re the ones that are winning, so, you know, or at least last year, you know, so and made it to the playoffs. So we’ll see if that changed in it, you know, it’s a deep class this year, running back, very deep. So what do
Nestor Aparicio 24:17
8you got going on? Yeah, how many players you got in the league right now, other than Josh Jay, because that’s the big bright light,
Chad Wiestling 24:21
yeah. I got, you know, 888, guys right now, yeah. So you got,
Nestor Aparicio 24:25
you represent eight national football league players, maybe a couple handful more in a week or two, right?
Chad Wiestling 24:29
Yeah, yeah. I’m representing two guys, you know, for draft eligible guys for this, you know, upcoming draft. And is that a lot? No, no, no, no. I mean, for me, some years you done three or four, yeah? Well, yeah, for me, what I I’ve done, and I’ve done more, I’ve had, you know, more players than that certain time. But you know, my model over the past 10 so years has been keeping it small, and you think yourself is boutique, yeah, I’m very boutique, and that’s how I present myself and to the and. When I’m recruiting the players and or the families, that’s how I sell myself, because that’s, that’s who I am, and, and, you know, I Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 25:06
there’s CAA with 100 Yeah, yeah. So, so,
Chad Wiestling 25:09
you know, I keep it down. I try to send like, two to three guys each draft. And then, you know, so I can do give them the full turn players down, yeah? Oh yeah. I do
Nestor Aparicio 25:23
over money, over potentiality, over ideology, pain in the ass, you know, enough to not have pain in the ass now, right? Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. I had employees here. People come to me all the time and say, this, that, whatever. I’m like, you know, I was in the police with a band, and I’m better solo artist. I just am. I mean, I’m 56 I you know? I mean, I work with Luke, and I work with who I can work with, but, like, I I’m not in the talent business at this point, you know? I mean, I just, I don’t want to manage people, and I know enough to know even on a client basis with advertisers, I might not be the right fit for everybody, right? I mean, if you’re going to tell me what I can and can’t say, you probably can’t say, you probably shouldn’t be advertising, right, right, right? So I’ve seen that, and I would think the same thing with these young people, where you’re like, I just, I’m not gonna enjoy working with that kid, and maybe I make some money, but it might not be the juice and the squeeze,
Chad Wiestling 26:15
8right, right? I use the expression, I’m not for everybody, not everybody’s, you know, for me, right? So, yes, I have learned over the years to do my due diligence. Have
Nestor Aparicio 26:25
you had one real nightmare client, one player that just jail middle of the night caught? You’ve had bad things happen? Yeah?
Chad Wiestling 26:32
Yeah. I have. I have. And, you know, at this certain, you know, this point my life and in my career, I was just like, No, I’m not, you know, I’m not doing that anymore. You know, I try to do my best to, you know, vent and, you know, get as much information on the players as possible. Number one, and I say this when I recruit players, you know, every year, you know, two things I look for is, you know, and during my homework is, are they good enough to play on Sundays? And are they good young men? You know that? That’s you know, I’m not. You know the other you may be good to play on Sundays, but if you’re going to be, you know, you know a trouble for me or whatever I’m at this point. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 27:12
Rex Ryan would always say to me, he pulled me into the office out there, him and Mike, we don’t coach effort here. We don’t coach effort. And I would think, I can’t coach character, bro, I can’t coach integrity, man, I can’t, and I’m, I’m way old to know that, like, I can’t fix you, and I can’t be your daddy, and I can’t, you know, you’re gonna have coaches, you’re gonna have baby moms, you’re gonna have moms, you’re gonna have family, you’re gonna have money for the first time in your life. If you’re the wrong guy to handle that, I probably don’t want you on my team either, right? You know, I probably don’t want to draft you because of that, like in my building every day with those kind of problems, Chad whistling is here. He is a boutique NFL agent, rock star fan and a huge Oriole guy. I mean, I could talk Orioles with you all day. I’ll do that in a minute. I want to keep it on football. Justin Tucker, not the kicker side, the Hall of Fame, side the money, side the ravens, the investigation, which would, and I’ve been doing my own investigating this week on that you’re the agent for that what, like, I know too much about the legal side and how much money he has, and he’s fighting this, and he’s put his Instagrams out and all that. But the crisis management side of this, from Chad Steele and Sashi brown to the banner having a lawyer up to these 16 women on the street, to his reputation to Royal farms and chicken, I It’s so greasy and sticky and messy all the way through that I even lose sight of Rob Rocha, his version of you, who used to call me, trying to get 10 grand a night for Justin, to come out and do something I don’t know even how you react to that, to shield up if he is innocent, if he is guilty, if you’re some middle ground, I don’t know, but I know the first call is probably the Agent, right, right? The agent, the agents in on that at a level that is white, white hot, no matter what the allegation, no matter what the crime, no matter what it is, oh yeah, you are red light 3am it’s going off, and you gotta, you gotta be the fixer, right? You gotta come in and help, right? And this is when your player needs you more, guilty, innocent, jail, no jail, cops, red lights. Needs a lawyer, right? But then you’re involved. Give me a little crisis management on that, because that’s why I ask you, did you have a nightmare client? Because when you take on that nightmare client, even if he’s a first round pick and he might flare out, he might get you paid once, but you know, he might go to jail, or he might be dead, or he has a problem that, you know, is an unfixable problem, right? I would think at your level, the last thing in the world you want is to have Justin Tucker be your guy for 15 years and then it had, you know, right? Like, that’s even crazier for the ravens, for everybody involved in all of this. But I would think that that is your. Or Dickens pattern, to use a Tony Robbins thing to say the ghost of tomorrow is that girl’s trouble, that boy’s trouble, that things trouble that I shouldn’t do that, right? And I would think that you you should get older. You like to think that you can avoid those things. But no matter what, the phone can ring and you’re getting it first,
8Chad Wiestling 30:20
right? Absolutely, yeah. So, you know, when something like that happens, I mean, whatever situation, whatever player it’s, yeah, we’re, I’m usually the the first, the agents, usually the first player gets to call from the player or whatever the situation is, you know, could be the from the police to, you know, players
Nestor Aparicio 30:37
say to you, yeah, I did it. Help me. Or they always know I didn’t do it. You have to be, don’t lie to me, right? You have to be, don’t lie to me, right? Like you’re in a different level of right. Patient privilege here, right? Client,
Chad Wiestling 30:48
yeah, no, it’s, no, I, yeah, that’s, that’s first thing is, you know what’s what happened? Tell me the truth. Don’t lie to me, you know. So then, then, you know, usually, probably, then the next call for me is, depending on the situation, is to the director of security with the team. Okay, all right, fair enough, yeah, so that’s good to know. I’m letting the team know ASAP, you know, so they don’t get caught off guard. You know. You know whether it’s you know, whether it’s, you know, drunk driving or fight or or accusation of doing something, whatever. Gotta let the team know, you know. And it’s usually the, you know, the director of security,
Nestor Aparicio 31:26
8and it’s the agent that does that, your job, fair enough. Okay, you know. And then you know. So players in jail, players in trouble, he reaches for the phone, you literally are the first text, yeah, yeah. Not his parents, not his wife, not his a It’s not his lawyer, it’s you. And then you get the lawyer. Then,
Chad Wiestling 31:41
yeah, then I’m quarterback, yeah, then I’m getting a lawyer. I’m contacting the general manager. I’m contacting the team security, you know, how
Nestor Aparicio 31:48
many calls you have to make those three. Then there’s three lawyer, Team boss and team security, yes, all right. And then then what happens, you know, I guess. And then it’s
Chad Wiestling 31:59
just, you know, then it’s just, you know, kind of communicating between all of us how to, you know, kind of get, you know, what happened where, you know, where’s the, you know, what it would depend on the circumstance where the player is in jail now or out, or Did anyone get hurt? Did anyone, you know, what is the dynamic and of the whole story? And then, you know, just basically, then communicate with then, then it’s more into the lawyer’s hands, sure, you know, so, but I, but I’m still involved, but
8Nestor Aparicio 32:29
in the headspace of you and the player in that relationship is sort of like calming that thing down a little bit, yeah, in regard to the human being who has or hasn’t committed a crime, right, right? But his is now as a public figure. You’re in the NFL, but bro, you know, it’s just,
Chad Wiestling 32:44
but now it’s now, that is, which is important, because eventually, you know, it’s going to come out, it’s going to come out in the media, you know, depending what, whatever happened to come out of me. So that’s when you’re working directly with the the team of you know. Okay, how, how do you put you know? How do you put this out, you know, or you know? And usually, the typical response is, you know, we’re gathering information, you know. Yeah, these time Chad Steele has a boiler place, right, right, right, right. There’s no comment on this until, as we continue to gather information, that’s usually the, you know, the response. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 33:16
just shocked by all of it, right? I mean, the Justin Tucker thing, for me, he’s stolen a roster, so they’re standing by him, I was but I was thinking, we
Chad Wiestling 33:25
8all know that. I mean, the difference with that is, if he was a guy that’s on the bottom half of the roster, he’s gone. He’s gone. Even if it’s just an accusation, which you know happens out there, that you know there’s just accusations, it’s different when there’s 16 of them, but when you know, when there’s, you know, accusations that guy, you know, if he’s bottom of the barrel on the roster, I’m finding the whole thing
Nestor Aparicio 33:47
to be fascinating, because they were zero tolerance organization. They endured an awful thing with Ray Rice, and they lied all the way through. He lied, she lied. They lied. Dick Cass Kevin, oh, they’re all they all lied. Nobody lost their job. But Ray. Ray lost kind of everything. I took a wrong turn. I didn’t take a wrong turn all the way over here. I got detoured. I went by Milford Mill. Yeah, first time I’ve been by Milford Mill since I wrestled there in 1984 you know? But like I took, I took a turn through Pikesville, coming this way from curio wellness in their new location in Pikesville, which I encourage everyone to visit, just opened today, and, you know, 10 years later, whatever zero tolerance, or whatever Bucha, they say, there is a point where, like Ben Cleveland got rung up for a DUI. Three weeks later, they gave him. They gave money like I would think, as the agent, if, if you’re the agent for any player that’s got a DUI who’s in a walk year. It’s been an unorthodox off season for the ravens, for me, and watching their crisis management lack thereof. And here’s the part that really set me off. And I’ll, I’ll say this to you as my friend, but also as a warning that if your player ever gets arrested, the Tucker thing, and I. Told a person in journalism this yesterday, had a long chat. The thing that’s most offensive on the Tucker thing for me isn’t whether he did it or didn’t. That’s up for the 16 people in him and his creator. It’s within five minutes of that story coming out, he was smearing the journalists right right now that like to me when he gets his fond farewell from me in writing, when it’s time for the door to not hit him in the ass and it’s time to go, that’s really unacceptable to me. It’s one thing to say I’m innocent. This never happened. Whoever’s writing this or saying this is making this up. But the attack on the journalist, calling it low level, calling a tabloid like all of that was crafted by the agent, crafted by the lawyer. It was, it sounds like it came in his voice, and I’m thinking to myself, that’s going to be my takeaway within the first half an hour, if I had reported that, and I had brought 16 women onto this mic, that he would call me, this the bad guy. And I found that to be odious, you know, and I find that odious with Trump. I find that odious with anybody that’s going to blame the messenger, who’s there, who’s always reported the truth, who’s, you know, I mean, the banners got their lawyered up now, or whatever, but this whole thing is really tawdry, and I think about it from the agent level, the team level, but then the fan level, and then these women, and we’re making the accusations or whatever’s happened, but how it all gets managed and shoved under the rug through the league, that’s been the crazy thing for me to witness, because I’m like, You, I would have thought, like, if you think he’s guilty, you probably should make that move in the same way where, if you see a kid and you’re like, I probably shouldn’t be my kind of Kid. The fact that he stole on the team. I remember early on, my wife and I were having an early morning conversation. She’s getting ready for work, and we were just talking brushing our teeth in the in the in the bathroom. I remember looking up in the mirror at me, and I was like, I said, I you know, I think they’re gonna cut him. And she looked up at me, she’s brushing her teeth. She’s like, he is a really good kicker, right? This is my wife saying this to me, right? And now that we’re up against the draft, I keep thinking he’s going to kick for them. He’s going to kick for somebody. Oh, yeah. Oh, you don’t make any dispute about that. He’s going to kick in this league. I’m sure Steve Bucha is thinking, Well, I’m behind closed, you know, I’m on a gated community. Nobody’s
Chad Wiestling 37:18
bothering me long. He’s not going to jail, and he’s not. He’s Yeah. I mean, look at, look at the McManus last year from the kicker for Jacksonville, right? Remember, he was accused from flight attendants, right? You know, so they cut him right away. Jacksonville got ready. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 37:33
also the punter from Buffalo who punked in the playoffs. Yeah, yeah. That guy,
8Chad Wiestling 37:37
yeah, that man, that’s right up there with the Duke of La Crosse, yeah, yeah, that poor guy. Holy cow, you know, but you know, but that’s you. As I said earlier, there’s accusations. That’s one girl or whatever. One accusation, sure, you got to start, if there 16 of them, you got to start thinking like,
Nestor Aparicio 37:55
well, that’s why the whole thing is, thinking about
Chad Wiestling 37:59
this like they’re even, like 16 massages versus in town, it’s Baltimore. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 38:05
8um, why do you need 16 the bigger issue for me, after all this is out, is sort of how many people in my world had walked the streets of this city and knew about it or brought it up. It never came to my desk. I can honestly say I never got an email, any whispers or whatever. But you know, I’ve spent a lot of time with the journalists that reported this. I’ve spent time with Justin Tucker, I spent time with the people at knowings Mills, who would cover it up if they could. And this is where the NFL investigation comes in. And you don’t have to opine, because you do business with the league. But like, an NFL investigation at this point is a punch line for me, that if they called me and said, whatever the lady’s name is, who’s their head of whatever this investigation is, she called me and said, I want to talk to you. I hear you have some information about the Ravens. You want to share. I bring a lot of witnesses. That’s all I’m saying. You know, I wouldn’t with any of them, because I’ll trust any of them, because of Luke has a press credential, and I don’t you tell me why. So there, and there is no reason why. So being veteran to this the way I am, the whole playbook of the Ravens saying NFL is investigating. Can’t say anything anymore. Boy, that’s convenient. That’s they. They have a playbook for all of this from the lawyers baked out that Justin Tucker will be kicking in this league for the next five years, whether it’s here or somewhere else, is up to Steve Bucha at this point, he’s under contract. If they want to eat it, bite it, look the other way, have him go out and kick. He didn’t kick that great last year. That’s another point of performance, right? And I know as an agent, you’re concerned about that, but this is, this is a tension point for the Ravens in the fan base to say, where is the tolerance they signed Ben Cleveland, I guess that that’s what I’m saying. It’s been a really telling off season for me to some degree. And if he’s back kicking for them, it’ll say a lot about them and a lot about him, and a lot about the league, but he’s going to kick in the league. We already know that, right? We already know that, right? Yep, he called you tomorrow and said. My agent, you know, he’s got five years left in him. You know, he’s, he could still kick the football. I don’t think they all know that, right?
Chad Wiestling 40:07
And he’s arguably the one of the best to ever do it, to ever do, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 40:12
I lost sight of that. I mean, maybe I shouldn’t lose sight of, right? You never lose
Chad Wiestling 40:15
sight of that, right? Yeah. So, I mean, he’s, that’s, that’s why I think a move hasn’t been made yet. You know, maybe, maybe it has. Maybe
8Nestor Aparicio 40:24
Sean wants in situation, how badly four or five teams wanted him, yeah, so I would think if Justin Tucker hits the street tomorrow, no, yeah, the problem would be the suspension the first six game, whatever they’re going to give him, whatever they’re going to do. But his career is not over, no, and his reputation is not over either, because they can’t prove it. You know, this is going to be one of those smoking guns that never ends smoking. And I That’s unfortunate for everybody all the way around. And I don’t know what I’m doing if I’m the ravens and saying, Well, is there a better kicker in the could you represent a kicker, or is that
Chad Wiestling 40:59
a special you know, I do, I do. Yeah, that’s not a specialty thing. Okay? No, no. I thought maybe the age of kicker agents were special. There’s some that are specialty. That’s coaches, especially team, right? Yeah, there’s some that are but there’s your kicker. Well, the one I have, I have Jack Browning, who was the punter last year for the Tampa Bay Bucha nurse the last half of the year and then playoff game for the bucks. He’s currently out on the streets, but I think he’ll be back in the league at some point. Okay, so
Nestor Aparicio 41:28
that’s a stop than that, because you’ve got a guy that you believe in. He’s your guy. He’s out on the streets, man, it’s your job to get him a job, right? That’s really like your that’s your, all you. That’s the number one thing you do is get that guy job, right? Yeah, get him opportunities because he’s young kids. You’re pumping them up, but they’re going to get picked. And wherever they go, you go or they don’t get picked. And then you get
Chad Wiestling 41:47
8on the show. It’s pretty much done. The draft’s done right now. I mean, because as far as the age of stuff, I mean because the boards are set each team, you know, every team’s have their draft meetings probably a couple weeks ago. The boards are set. Now. Where are your kids going to go? When you start to perk up? Uh, date, minor, day three. Day three guys. Okay, yeah, so I’m gonna be out in Green Bay with with Josh Jacobs, doing, you know, he’s got a bunch of appearance and stuff. So, you know, round one or day one and two. I’m just, I’ll be, are you
Nestor Aparicio 42:15
universally happy for give me your two kids, so I know who they are. Are you universally happy for them? Or is there a team that would take him? He’d be like, he’d be like, Oh, or is every place a happy place, and you can position it to your your your player that way? Or do you have targeted in your mind? Are there five teams that one of these kids are going to wind up on in your own mind, that you will kind of already know, three guys or three teams are looking at my kid in the fifth or sixth round, kind of, sort of, maybe,
Chad Wiestling 42:41
yeah, yeah. I mean, when it comes to the draft, I mean, they’re gonna, you know, I tell everybody, it’s like, hey, it’s and it’s not in anyone’s hands right now. I mean, because, you know, not in my hands or yours, are gonna someone team’s gonna draft you’re gonna draft you so you don’t have a choice, you know, sure you so be, you know. And
Nestor Aparicio 42:59
in Browning’s case, then you team needs a punter, right? Right, exactly, right, you know, right,
8Chad Wiestling 43:03
yeah. So you know, it’s, it’s, it’s an honor, like I said, it’s exciting. There’s no, there’s not any situation for me or my players where it’s like, yeah, man, I wish you know,
Nestor Aparicio 43:15
are you hopeful for both who are your two guys? Dalton Cooper,
Chad Wiestling 43:19
big offensive tackle from Oklahoma State, and the the player I was just telling you I just recently signed was no Apollo gates, was the nephew of Troy Palama, and his cousin plays for the Raiders, Isaiah Paula, yeah, but I know mine is Paula gates, but, yeah, so you know he’s, he’s was played in Nebraska and then transferred New Mexico, but a big safety corner.
Nestor Aparicio 43:49
8So in your mind right now, do you have one team you’d like? In your mind, you say both these kids, he’d be perfect on this. Do you think about it that way? Like, I hope the Chiefs take him, and I hope that Panthers take care. You have a thought like that? Or no, never. Well,
Chad Wiestling 44:02
I’ll give you an example with that. If they get drafted, it’s once again, don’t have a don’t have any say in it. It’s great. The players and families are excited they got drafted. Their name was called. It’s a dream come true. Where the the agent really comes in is when they don’t get drafted and they you have to find them a place for as an undrafted free agent right after, you know, right after the draft. So that’s where, you know, like said, at this point, you know, 10 days or seven days, whatever, before the draft. I guess seven days. There’s not much really to do at this point. You know, as far as either the guys are gonna get drafted or not gonna get drafted. Because, you know, teams may have a player on the draft board, you know. And it’s like, you hear this all the time, they’ll call and be like, hey, you know, we may take your guy in the next round, or a pick coming up, and, of course, like, hey, you know. And they’ll call the player like, hey, the you know, the example, make sure he’s alive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And exactly. And then the team comes and they pick someone else. You know, it’s like, oh, yeah, you know, but, but I’m always, I’ve been like, I said, I’ve been used to it. I always tell players even prior to, like, you know, when they say, Hey, this team called, this team called, I’m like, they said they’re gonna draft me, you know, they said they’re gonna draft me if I’m available. I’m like, we’ll see you know, yeah, they tell, they’re telling, well, you’re telling 20 other guys the same thing. They’re calling saying, Hey, if you’re there, we may. We’re going to take you. So you know which I will give Jon Gruden credit in the 19 2019 Draft. He called before told Josh Jacobs and myself. He said, if he’s there, he goes, we’re taking and I was kind of like, yeah, yeah, we’ll see. Okay, Chucky, yeah. I was like, Yeah, okay, we’ll see. And I, you know, I told Josh, tell me, you know, we’ll see. They all say that. And sure enough, you know when, when they came to their pick, they took him. So I was like, Yeah, you’re a man of your word. I was like, I respected that.
Nestor Aparicio 46:00
Chad weaseling. I respect him. He is local engineer in Canton, Maryland. He will be out in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Lambeau Field, with this guy, Josh Jacobs, last week, next week, Orioles, pitching, you got anything worried? Yeah,
Chad Wiestling 46:11
just got my just got my shoulder replaced in August. I’ll take it, man, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I can’t throw a party right now. Pitching wins, man. You know that pitching wins? You worried? Yeah, oh yeah. I was worried in the off season, but he didn’t sign anybody. Well, I’ll get you
8Nestor Aparicio 46:27
back. We’ll talk some baseball in the summer. We’ll get you two kids drafted off to Green Bay. We’re here at the Beaumont in Catonsville. Amanda Tom quirks, gonna be coming up in a couple of minutes. We got back to the future scratch offs here, they have delicious steaks here, delicious chops here, delicious tenderloin here, they have a chicken fried lobster tail that is to die for. I love the Beaumont salad. Stay fair across the street, we got El Guapo and the basement. Life is always great out here in the 21228, my dear friend John Allen Chad, weaseling rock and roll. We got some baseball in. We got a lot of football in for the draft. Luke is monitoring the Orioles tech services alive as well. And we’re just mixing match and rock and roll. We’re gonna get some politics in here momentarily. Go knock them dead out in Green Bay. Man, eat some cheese out there for you all right, and drink some beer. I’m back for more. They have that here in Catonsville too. Well. We’re here at the Beaumont it’s Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. Stay tuned. We’re in Catonsville having fun. You.
