What types of hairstyles did you have before going bald? Well, you're not going bald, are you? You are just bald. "Oh, I am going bald. I'm receding, I'm thinning and I'm going bald. But I haven't had a length of hair since probably eighth grade. I was buzz cutting it forever before I started Bic-cing it with a regular face razor. Before that, I was buzz cutting it with some trimmers. It was real popular back in the early 90s, it was a parted down the middle, shaved under the sides look. Down in South Florida, it was like the Nirvana grunge look. That was big back in the day with me and my friends. I have some really bad pictures from that that I'm sure (my wife) Jenny has let out and will probably let out more for the rest of my life. It was getting too hot all the time in Miami, so I started cutting it. But there was this one time in college it got to a certain length and I ended up cutting a Mohawk and! keeping my sideburns. It's on my Instagram. That was an interesting look for me."
How often do you go to Miami in the offseason? "We try to make it back at least once. My wife's from Philadelphia and I'm from Miami so we go back and see family back and forth. My grandmother and my mom and dad and immediate family are all still down there and all my wife's family is directly in Philadelphia. We actually are probably going to settle up in the northeast. We bought a shore house in south Jersey, so we've been going there every summer. We were actually just lucky enough to be able to get a plot of land and put a deposit on that just outside of Philly."
Is there one place you have to visit every time you go back to Florida? "I'm a big fan of a place called Flanigan's, it's a huge spot. It's a typical sports bar type of feel but their wings are my favorite wings I've ever had. I go back there all the time and eat wings with the family. We have a Thursday night O-Line dinner here but in college we had a Wednesday night dinner. Our offensive line went there every single Wednesday night and ate wings. I'll tell you, I used to eat about 15-20 wings myself, so multiply that by 15 guys. We could do some damage."
What about your favorite Houston spot? "Man, it depends upon the mood, I guess. If you're talking about steak, I'm a real big fan of Del Frisco's. We're frequenters of Del Frisco; it's right up the street from our house. As far as Mexican, it's either El Tiempo or Escalantes. Those are our go-to spots, and I'm a big fan of Island Grille, as well."
Do you speak Spanish? Darryl Sharpton is fluent, you know. "I do know that Darryl Sharpton is fluent. I took years of it in south Florida and my best friend in college was 100% Cuban. I used to hang out with him all the time. I can understand it more than I can speak it, but I cannot communicate. I can probably get by and say 'yes' and 'no' in conversation. I used to say 'Que linda' a lot."
I know what that means, "how pretty." Speaking of pretty, got any good Ben Jones stories? "You've probably heard them all, but last year in his rookie year he was so – which every rookie is—so amazed that you could do stunts or dares for money in the locker room. We did one where we emptied a small water bottle and went into the hot tub when the foam was all in there and stuff. We made sure it was in the middle of training camp when everyone is in there every day, so there's some dirt left over, some bodily stuff. We made sure to fill it up and have some foam and dirt on the top. I think we ended up pooling the locker room to see how much it would take for him to chug that. And I think he ended up getting paid over 1,000 bucks. Later on in training camp I think he ate a cockroach for a few hundred dollars. So Ben Jones is definitely willing to do a lot of stuff for some money. Trust me, my mind is wandering thinking about stuff to bet him."
You have two daughters and a son. Do you think when your daughters grow up you'll be one of those overprotective dads that shines his shotguns when boys come to the house? "I want to say no because I consider myself relaxed and laid back, and I want to have raised them right so I don't have to worry about that. But anytime I see any kind of stories about little girls starting to date for the first time in high school or something, I'm always thinking about whether I'm gonna be able to trust who she's going out with. I think that's the biggest thing for a dad. My oldest is almost four now, and she's getting to the point where she's getting to be fresh a little bit back to you .I've heard that turns into daughters not wanting to talk to their dads at all later on. So I'm not looking forward to that. I'm definitely going to have a trust issue letting them go for the first time. I'll have to have a man-to-man conversation with their dates. Or just open up my gun safe when the guy walks in the house."
