Ty Montgomery, Julius Thomas, Sam Barrington, Brett Hundley join 'GMFB' from Pro Athlete Community Accelerate

Tue, Mar 31, 2026

Former NFL players Ty Montgomery, Julius Thomas, Sam Barrington and Brett Hundley wake up from "GMFB" from the Pro Athlete Community Accelerate.

Video Transcript

B, over 400 professional athletes, executives, founders, and investors have gathered in Arizona this week for the Pro Athlete Community Accelerate.

And joining us now live from the three-day summit are former NFL players, look at this crew, Ty Montgomery Hey Julius Thomas Hey Sam Barrington, and Brett Hundley.

What's up, gents?

How we all doing?

What's up, boys?

What's up?

What's going on?

Yeah.

What's going on?

What's happening?

Awesome to see you.

Ty, we just had Jason and Devin McCourty on earlier, and they were speaking with us about why they got involved in PAC right after they were done playing.

But can you tell us from your perspective what the benefits of being a part of this community, but specifically this summit and this week working together is like?

Absolutely.

the thing about football is as you're growing up playing football, the path is laid out for you.

you play in little league if that's what you do, and then you play middle school, high school, you get scholarships, and then you go to college, and you play in college, and then, you go on to the pros.

But then after that, there's no real path forward, and you're almost kinda punished for having a career because it doesn't automatically translate.

You have to learn how to tell a narrative that helps people, in the business world off the field understand what it is that you bring to the table.

Because on your resume, just saying, "I played X, Y position and played with these teams," that doesn't really translate to what these businesses and what people really want off the field.

And some of us have real entrepreneurial spirits, and we have to learn how to, how, how to start that.

Spoken like a true Stanford Cardinal.

I know, right?

I freaking love that.

Okay, Julius.

when we found out that you were coming on the show yesterday, the, the producers asked me, "Have you ever played against Julius Thomas?"

I was like, "Yeah, I played against him."

He's like, "Do you remember a play?"

And I said, "A matter of fact, he scored on me my rookie year in Qualcomm Stadium."

Ugh.

I was in c- quarters coverage.

Julius catches this ball and runs down the sideline.

Julius- Oh.

Do you remember this play, bro?

Woo!

What are your recollections about those match-ups against the Chargers of- Big, ooh hey, hey, don't, don't look at me that way, Zach.

Yeah.

Don't look at me that way.

Well, number one, man, it's good seeing you again.

Um- You too, brother.

Yes, I actually do remember that play because, you know, when you, you're a tight end, you're like me, we don't get the ball in enough space.

So then people don't think we got speed.

Yeah.

Right.

And so in practice, you know, I'm always running past people, and I'm telling them like, "Man, I'ma pop a big one one day."

Yeah.

And then that was the, the longest touchdown of my career.

Right.

So I, I specifically remember that because I finally got to show off some speed.

but we had some great battles, in San Diego.

I actually loved playing in Cali 'cause I grew up in Stockton, so every time I was back in California I felt like I had a few extra superpowers.

So that maybe gave me, like, an extra mile an hour, and so- Mm-hmm I was able to squeeze one up the sideline.

But no, man, it's good seeing you and- Yeah.

You too, my brother I'm very happy to be here.

Well, I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of your record book, bro.

I'm not used to being on the highlights- Yes.

Yeah, yeah you know what I'm saying?

Oh.

But man, to be that, bro, I, I respect the heck out of everything that you've done on and off the football field, bro.

Good to have you here.

Ju- Thanks, man.

I, respect what you've done as well.

Appreciate it, bro.

Julius threw some shade at him.

I'm telling you.

No, no, no.

No, it ain't no shade.

No he didn't.

Julius threw shade.

Ain't no shade.

He said he was back in California, he got an extra speed.

Nah, Julius said, and he said, "It was good seeing you again, man."

See.

That was crazy, bro.

People- Hey.

It would've been wrong, bro.

I didn't wave this time.

I'm the man.

I didn't wave this time.

Quarters coverage.

Late leak.

Exactly.

Late leak by the tight end- Hey, bro number 80 to the left.

You got to give yourself- Hey, bro.

I, I did the effort run after.

Yeah, you did.

You know what I'm saying?

Yes, yeah.

I was like- Looked like you're going fast.

All right, man, listen up.

Let's get, let's get into some Packers.

My boy Brett, man, it's good to see you over there.

let's talk about Jordan Love.

He feels like he's right on the, right on the cusp of, being elite, man.

Everybody's trying to question whether he's good or, or elite.

Do you agree that he's elite, and what is going on?

What's gonna take him from being good to being in that great conversation?

Yeah, man.

Good to see you guys all.

and you know, I think the biggest thing with Jordan Love, he's competing against, you have Aaron Rodgers, you have Brett Favre before him, and so Green Bay is used to quarterbacks, you know, who are coming out winning Super Bowls, and Jordan Love is getting there, and I think he's been great since he started playing.

I'm a huge fan of him.

I think he's done such a great job, a phenomenal job not only learning when he came into Green Bay behind Aaron, but now when he took over, really stepping into the position and taking them where they needs to go.

So I'm excited to see them this year, and I th- I think he will be a great quarterback.

Once he gets a Super Bowl, I think all the, all the squash will be done.

Love, got all the talent in the world.

Hey, Sam, man, we're, I wanna talk to you, brother.

We're less than a month away from the NFL draft.

What do you remember most from going through the process, and what can these draft prospects expect?

Yeah.

I mean, it seems so long ago.

I mean, here it is 2026, and I retired 2018.

And I've been running my company, Skyland McCrane and Rigging.

I tell people I'm more of a construction guy than I am an athlete- but they still wanna consider me an athlete.

I'm fine, I'll use that in certain rooms.

I have two draft experiences.

I was drafted in the seventh round in 2013, and I just remember waiting.

I knew I wasn't a day-one guy.

I was fine with that.

Thought I could be a day-two guy.

Got a few phone calls that wind up not, coming to fruition.

And then day three I knew that was my opportunity.

And so, beyond anything, what guys should expect, you should expect a ton of emotions.

You should expect, an opportunity to celebrate your colleagues.

and, and, and be ready for those phone calls that'll come in because when they come in, you know, you just need to present yourself professionally.

And sometimes the phone calls are if this, then that, but then some of those phone calls are letting you know that, hey, you're going to be with this, ball club.

I think the cool, the more cool, you know, draft experience I had, when I was the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee in 2016 for the Green Bay Packers, it's like a Green Bay Packers reunion up here.

They know how to draft good character guys, I'll say that.

but that being said, and had an opportunity to actually travel to Chicago and, and announce our fourth-round draft pick, and it was Kyler Fackrell.

He was an outside linebacker.

Wind up being a great player for the Green Bay Packers.

But that experience actually not being a day-one guy, not having the opportunity to travel to the draft during my playing days or my draft experience, just getting there, seeing the glitz or the glamour, being around some of the guys who are now household names, as a result of their pl- their playing career, and just, just watching guys' lives being changed in real time, it was a pretty special experience.

So beyond anything, just live in the moment.

allow the moment to come to you.

Don't chase it.

And at the end of the day, all that matters is an opportunity, and once you get that opportunity, just take it and run with it.

You can be a seventh-round guy sitting on Good Morning Football 15 years later.

That was it.

Sam, you say you call yourself an athlete in certain rooms still, which we appreciate, but you said you have a construction company.

What are you building these days?

Let's shine a light on what you're doing.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I'm building a ton of things.

The two projects I'ma brag about, I got both my, um-My undergrad degree and my graduate degree, thanks to the NFLPA, the scholarship that they gave me after I was finished playing.

Wow.

I got both of those degrees at the University of South Florida.

Go Bulls.

We're building the football stadium on campus right now.

Ah.

Wow.

The same football stadium that they talked to me about while I was being recruited back in 2008, so that's a special one.

But the one I'm gonna really brag about, we're working for Elon Musk at SpaceX right now, and so those twins, those scissors that catch the- Wow rockets as they land over in Florida at Cape Canaveral, we're having an opportunity to build that with a steel- Wow erection client.

It's an amazing experience, and, I'm just having a great time after football.

Wow.

Without the Pro Athlete Community, I don't necessarily know if I'd be here.

You know, you got a ton of people on my, my executive team, Michael Linares, Mike Yarmo, I'll talk about everybody.

But the opportunity to be doing this and seeing these projects happen in real time is a pretty special experience.

I'm kind of jealous of the construction community, because you'd be excellent on television, Sam.

Ty, I will bounce back to you.

Nine years in the NFL as a great pass catcher, very versatile.

Played for a handful of teams, but two of which you overlapped with are the Packers and the Saints, which meant that you played with both Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.

We constantly talk about how we want these young quarterbacks to develop and become great.

Are, is there a characteristic or two that you can pull from both of those quarterbacks that you define as, like, that is the true- difference maker when you played with those two?

Instantly the first thing that comes to mind is consistency and discipline- when nobody is watching.

And by discipline, what I mean is doing what has to be done the way it has to be done, and doing it that way all the time.

And watching both Aaron and Drew show up when nobody else is watching, was just, like an, an experience that, that taught me something as a player who's not even a quarterback.

But for young quarterbacks, you have to be willing to do what everybody else isn't, and that's the boring, mundane things- Mm-hmm that seem like you shouldn't have to do it because, "Oh, I've already looked at this play enough times.

I've already seen the film.

I've already studied this."

It has to get to the point to where you just, you know it without even thinking, and it, and it does become muscle memory.

Ty, I'm, I'm, I'ma, I'ma go down the line real quick, guys.

We only have a couple of minutes left.

But I wanted to ask you guys, was there something else that you wanted to be when you were young besides being a football player?

For me, I thought I was gonna be a pilot.

Ty, I'll start with you.

Was there something else, another career that you thought when you were little that you wanted to do besides football?

Oh, man.

I wanted to be a sports scientist, specifically, a biomechanical engineer.

just throw that out there, huh?

Yeah.

I'm gonna be honest, like, listen, I'll, I'll lie for you before I lie to you.

I really enjoy what I'm doing now as an investor with Next Leg- with Next Legacy Partners.

But I, it, that wasn't what I wanted to do, you know, growing up.

I didn't even know what it was, but thankful to, thankfully to PAC, I do know what venture capitali- venture capitalism is now.

Nice.

Julius?

Yeah, you know, I'm I don't know, I feel like I've been a consummate journey man throughout my life.

I can't say I grew up wanting to play football.

You know, I was a hooper in college and, and did that for four years before having this crazy idea that maybe I could be an NFL football player.

but I think in college, what, something that really stood out to me was maybe being an NBA GM.

I thought, like, just the, the intricacies that goes into building a team, and really that development process.

And I think that having an interest in the human being and how the human being can develop and become their best is really what took me into the work that I'm doing now with Optimal Performance.

it's been a great journey going back to school, getting a doctorate in psychology, but now being able to apply that with the lessons that I learned in performance from sports and really helping corporations to develop their people, to create their culture.

And, it's been s- such an amazing experience with PAC because this is what PAC is about.

Like, how do we develop the men and the women now that are involved with PAC off the court, off the field, off the ice, and how do we help prepare them for what comes next?

And that's a really special opportunity- Mm-hmm to pour into the lives of others, and it helps you sleep good at night.

Yeah.

Now we know what Sam's doing.

Well, Brett, how about you?

Skip, skip, skip.

No.

no, when, when I Growing up actually what I wanted to be was a firefighter.

my uncle- worked for the Phoenix Fire Department out here, and so I grew up as a kid, in my little, fire, firefighter outfit going to fires, putting out dumpster fires and stuff like that.

So I always said if I didn't, football didn't work for me, I was gonna go ahead and be a firefighter.

But, now after football, getting into real estate, building homes, doing flips, and, enjoying it.

Brett, that's so cool.

All of you, Ty, Julius, Sam, and Brett, thank you so much for joining us from PAC.

Fantastic.

You guys, at, with all the work that you're doing, the development both personally and after your playing career, really important for people to hear, as Manti said, what you wanted to be, what you were for people as an athlete on the field, and now what you're becoming, as a grownup, if you will.

Mm-hmm.

PAC Accelerate, everybody.

Visit proathletecommunity.com to hear more about this, but this is a fantastic insight into PAC.

Well done, everybody.

Well done.

Thank you for coming on GMFB.

We all can do TV, too.

I know, right?

Manti-