Exclusive: How Bussin' with the Boys' Taylor Lewan, Will Compton transitioned from NFL to Bud Light collabs appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Since 2019, the Bussin' with the Boys podcast, which is hosted by former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, who were teammates on the Tennessee Titans, has grown exponentially to the point that they are doing commercials for Bud Light.
It's a match made in heaven, to be honest. They have been drinking Bud Light for years (legally, as they will have you know). Lewan, who went to Michigan, emphasized that on the day he turned 21, he grabbed a case of Bud Light. He called it "the biggest honor of my life."
The only thing to top that day of "responsibly" drinking a Bud Light beer was discovering a Can-o-Flage can. This is the brand's latest collaboration with the NFL. All 27 of the NFL teams that partner with Bud Light have a special Fanatics-designed Can-o-Flage sleeve. They retail for $40, and might be a must-have for fans on gameday.
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"They look pretty cool, but they're perfectly insulated," Lewan explained after Compton corrected him for saying "double insulated."
NFL logos popping up on Bud Light cans signal the start of the season for Lewan and Compton. They count down the days to the season during the summer. Now, they know it will fly by in a heartbeat.
"All we've been able to talk about is football; it's that time of year," Lewan said, before Compton hilariously added, "It gets the blood flowing below the belt."
Andrew Nelles /The Tennessean via USA TODAY NETWORK.
After years of being teammates and podcast co-hosts, they "make one brain." That is made clear when Compton saved Lewan from calling the Can-o-Flag sleeves "double insulated." Perhaps the enthusiasm comes from the boys wanting to be partnered with Bud Light for years, dating back to when the Bussin' with the Boys bus was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.
For the Missouri-raised Compton, working with Anheuser-Busch wasn't a choice. As he explained, "When you grow up in Missouri, there's no crossing the family by going anywhere outside of Anheuser-Busch." He's even more excited to now be a Bud Light guy.
Compton is a big fan of Bud Light's campaigns, too. This year, they filmed new commercials with fellow NFL legend Peyton Manning and comedian Shane Gillis.
However, it was the recent Super Bowl ads that caught Compton's eye — especially the one with the baby horse and the eagle. He also named the wedding commercial that featured Gillis, Manning, and Post Malone.
The one that Compton "hates," though, features Gillis as well. It's one where he is wearing Texas Longhorns gear, which (jokingly) rubbed them the wrong way.
"You know the one I hate? It's Shane Gillis wearing Texas Longhorns gear. Only because you know how much of a stan he is for Notre Dame," which prompted Lewan to add, "I'm like, 'Oh, buddy, you're a frog right now.'"
Ultimately, these are just "fun jabs," as the boys wanted to emphasize. Lewan also mentioned the commercials where they are barbecuing, on a safari , and fighting tailgaters as his favorites.
Lewan and Compton were star players in the NFL for years. That dedication to their craft certainly helped when launching Bussin' with the Boys in 2019.
"When you come from a world of football where, especially during the fall, you're up at five, six in the morning, [and] you don't get home until seven, eight at night, and every part of that day is structured — whether it's meetings or two-hour practice, watching film, being hypercritical of yourself, having main character syndrome but also imposter syndrome at the same time, that's very difficult," he reasoned. "And then when you go to this (podcasting), you're no longer judged by your abilities on the field. You're now being judged on your personality that's yours and yours alone.
"That can play a little bit of [an] insecurity game. But dude, the more you do reps, the more you realize that the internet and the world that we live in now, [where] it's news is 24 hours, we're failing forward. You can say [or] do something dumb; it's like, this is gonna be gone very soon. So as much pressure as you might feel in the beginning of doing a podcast, you start to realize people really care about their story and things that they're going through 24/7. They might poke and have fun and jab a little bit, but nothing's ever as big or as small as it seems," Lewan continued.
George Walker IV / The Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Ultimately, Lewan feels very grateful. He and his good friend get to sit on a bus and interview interesting people. Even Lewan says to himself, "Yo, we've got the best job in the entire world."
It's still busy, as he also hosts Rippin' with the Boys in the fall, while Compton does For the Dads. Still, he would not trade it for the world.
For Compton, he dispelled the notion that podcasting is easy. It takes a village, and the former linebacker knows everything matters. From the "chemistry" of the hosts to those behind the camera, it's all crucial to making a successful show.
"You would assume you just flip the camera on, grab the mic, and you go, but everything that goes into it behind the camera, like our team, getting the right people, and having good chemistry with everybody, scaling, those are the things I look back on and think, Oh, those are things I didn't necessarily think about and overlook ," Compton conceded.
The former Titans players went from being asked questions by the media after every game to being part of the media. Bussin' with the Boys may not be the most serious podcast out there, but the two are part of the media, whether they like it or not.
Compton's perspective of the media has shifted since his playing days. He explained you're "in the bubble" as a player. This may cause you to become paranoid and believe "the media's out to get you."
"Now that I am on the other side, and I'm getting farther removed, you realize how every little thing or quote is not as serious [as you think]," Compton said. "It's crazy to think about where we are and how far we've come to where I'm getting to sit [at] a table with people I grew up watching, whether it's [Mike Greenberg], Adam Schefter, Dan Orlovsky, getting to mix it up with Andrew Hawkins, rubbing elbows with guys like Kirk Herbstreit."
Someone who was especially helpful was Pat McAfee, whose podcast started small and is now airing live on ESPN daily. Bussin' with the Boys and The Pat McAfee Show both started in 2019, and look at how far they've come.
After seven years, Lewan and Compton are just getting started, and Bussin' with the Boys is going strong. There's perhaps no better example of that than their dream-come-true partnership with Bud Light.
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