Sam Acho: Welcome to the Sam Acho podcast, featuring Cliff
Marshall, also known as CliffNotes.
This is the place where we go first, we give space and we grow hope.
We talk about faith, family, football, and finance.
And so we're so excited, uh, once again to have a very, very special
guest.
Clif Marshall: Absolutely.
Sam, I wanna introduce to, uh, everyone out there listening, Eric Wood.
Uh, Eric is a former professional football player who was a
center for the Buffalo Bills.
The National Football League.
He played his college football for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected
in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft with the 28th overall pick.
Eric played nine seasons in the NFL, including a Pro Bowl appearance before
retiring in 2017 due to a neck injury.
Since 2019, he's been the color commentator and analyst for the
Buffalo Bills radio network.
Eric is a Christ follower, a husband, and a dad who currently
resides in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ewood.
Thank you so much for being on our podcast.
Eric Wood: It's an honor to be on.
I'm a fan of this podcast.
I've reached out to you guys before giving you some feedback and some,
uh, positive encouragement after episodes that you've had in the past.
So it's an honor to be on with you guys.
Love you both.
Clif Marshall: Absolutely, Eric and I wanna say, um, we have known each
other, I guess since 2002, 2003.
Uh, I knew you when you were as.
Senior in high school, I was a strength and conditioning coach with the
Louisville Cardinal football team, and we began recruiting you outta
Cincinnati Elder, um, Jeff Brom, who's the head coach now at the University
of Louisville, who's a great friend of mine who was actually in my wedding.
Um, he's done many great things over the course of his coaching
career at Western Kentucky, at Purdue, and now again at Louisville.
But I say his greatest feat ever.
Was finding the diamond in the rough Eric Wood, because you didn't have a
ton of offers right outta high school.
So walk me through that process of kind of how you chose to be a Louisville Cardinal.
Eric Wood: Yeah, it was, it was easy because I only had one scholarship offer,
so it became a very easy decision for me.
And you know, you, you mentioned it, Jeff Brom had, was recruiting
other guys from a high school, elder high school in Cincinnati.
We had a bunch of division one talent.
I was a tight end my junior year, switched to offensive line my senior year, and I
wasn't really on the recruiting radar.
I started gaining some interest my senior year, and then Jeff Brom
offered me my first scholarship offer actually after a basketball game
became and watching me play basketball.
And so to me, I.
I mean, there was a lot of positivity around that
Louisville program at the time.
They had a good 2003 season.
Brian Braum was the US USA Today player of the year.
He was coming in to play quarterback.
They had some other nice recruits coming in.
And so I'd love to say, you know, I saw the foresight and I saw maybe
early playing time or how good our offenses and teams would be, but.
You know, God, God, God made it a very easy decision for me.
And look, I can get decision fatigue in life.
And so for me it was a very easy decision and ended up being an incredible one
to go join the Louisville Cardinals.
Sam Acho: Eric, what do you remember most about your time at Louisville and why
did you decide to call that place home?
Eric Wood: Yeah.
Honestly, from the day that I got to Louisville, this city just embraced me.
Whether it was Tom J, the athletic director at the time, the coaching
staff, people around the community, I had a great group of friends that
didn't play football, met him through our long snapper at the time, who
was from Louisville, so I got to be.
Good buddies with him and a lot of his friends.
So I had a, a friend base outside of the football program that's actually the group
of friends that I met my wife through my college girlfriend, who's now my wife.
So got to meet her through that, that kind of friend group that I still
remain friends with to this day.
And so, to me, you know, I'm from the west side of Cincinnati.
Where we live in Louisville is, is a little bit different from where
I grew up, grew up and, um, and, and look, when I got to the NFL.
I asked some people, uh, Jason Spitz included, who Cliff coached as well at
Louisville, played a long time in the NFL.
I said, what gets guys outta the NFL the fastest?
He said, you forget what got you to the NFL.
So, in the off season, I would go back to Louisville and train with the college
guys at least a couple days a week, maybe, you know, if I had, you know,
certain areas I wanted to improve on.
I, I'd go see, you know, a one-on-one trainer for those, but
at least twice a week throughout my entire career, I would go back and
train with Louisville Cardinals.
I always say it kept me young, you know, my wife, someone would come
on the radio and I'd be singing along to like a newer hip hop song.
She's like, how do you even know this?
I'm like, because I train with the college guys.
They keep me young.
And, and for me it also allowed me to build relationships with
guys, to be able to mentor to guys.
And, you know, I mentioned Jason Spitz.
Well, I got to be that for so many guys at Louisville because of it.
And so.
We love Louisville.
I, I didn't know I was gonna be calling games on the radio for the bills.
Uh, when my career ended, we sold our house pretty quickly up there
and moved back to Louisville.
So, uh, commuting for work nowadays isn't super convenient because I'm going
to home and away games for the bills, and we live in Louisville, but this
is home for us and we love it here.
Clif Marshall: Well, part of living in Louisville, Kentucky, Eric, is you get
to be a part of the Kentucky Derby.
So talk to me about that, and how many consecutive Kentucky der have you been to?
Eric Wood: I'd say probably 15 or 16.
I mean, we went in college, but I wouldn't even really call that going to the derby.
We, you know, I don't even know if I ever even placed a
bet on a horse in college now.
I didn't know anything about horse racing at the time.
I didn't have any money.
And you know, we're out in the infield with, you know, the masses, I'll say.
So waiting in line to place a bet, you can't do it on your phone nowadays.
Like, uh, you can now back then.
And so, uh, the Kentucky Derby special though, you know, we love bringing people
to Louisville, showing off the city, uh, what they've done with Churchill Downs.
Uh, bill Mud, the president of Churchill Downs Inc's a good friend of ours and.
So what they've done at Churchill has been incredible.
It's an incredible experience.
I always say it's the best sporting event to bring your wife to
because there's no competing team.
So it's not like walking into a football game where if you're
wearing Steelers, you know.
If you're a Steelers fan, you're wearing a jersey and you're in Cincinnati,
someone's gonna cuss at, you know, you're just complimenting outfits.
Hey, who you, who you like on this next race?
You're, you're all there to, you know, place a few bets,
have fun, connect with people.
The wives like to show off with the hats and the dresses, do the red carpet.
And so it's fun for us to bring other couples in each year for it.
And, uh, each year gets more fun than the, than the last, in my opinion.
Sam Acho: That's so good.
Eric, you were a first round pick and an NFL Pro bowler Cliff mentioned
about some of the opportunities of only having one college offer.
When did you know you could play at the highest level?
Eric Wood: Yeah, that's a great question.
So.
I'll say this, you know, I, I, I used to run a podcast called
What's Next with Eric Wood.
When my career ended, I was trying to figure out what's next for me.
And so people from a variety, interest, uh, industries, we did over 200
episodes and I got to pick people's brains that are just successful,
uh, in life, people that I admired.
And that doesn't necessarily mean financial success.
Uh uh, that doesn't mean financial success necessarily.
A lot of times it comes with it, but it's.
Everybody from pastors, the big time businessmen, uh, and women to NFL owners,
to coaches, to players, whoever it may be, guys I looked up to and I just wanted to
learn from, and it stood out to me that.
Someone at some point gave them the confidence to either take that
risk to go all in, that gave them the confidence to say, Hey, I can,
I belong in this room that I, that I deserve to be in this position.
For me.
That moment came, I made the freshman All American team, um, my red
shirt freshman year playing center.
And look, I mean, I played between two guards that played in the NFL.
We had a.
All American quarterback.
I, I di I, I was just a freshman in that role at center.
You know, maybe I deserved it, maybe I didn't.
We had a really good offense, but I got that award and we got a note
in the mail that came with the award and it gave the breakdown of.
X amount of percentage of guys that are first team freshmen, all American
end up being a first round draft, pick a second round draft pick,
playing this many years in the NFL.
And I framed that, you know, that was, you know, I was 18, 19 years old and I framed
it at the time 'cause I wanted to keep it.
I wanted to save it.
And to me that put confidence in me to say, Hey, I can go all in.
You know, I came to the University of Louisville with one goal
and make sure they got a good return on their investment.
Whether that was me, you know, practicing hard, working outta the weight room hard.
Or if that was gonna be a star in the field, I wasn't sure, but I was
gonna go in there and work my tail off because that was my only opportunity.
And I know you weren't, at the time, you weren't getting cut in college, like you
kind of can now with the NIL and all that.
But at the time, you know, I was just trying to, to, to
find a role within the team.
And so that note that I got from rivals.com,
I guess.
It gave me the confidence to say, oh, I got a shot in this league and
if I go all in, I might one day be able to be a first round draft pick.
That year, Nick Manel got drafted in the first round as a center and I thought.
Okay, there's only gonna be one potentially.
Now, my year there was two, me and Alex Mack, but there might
only be one because there was only one that year in the first round.
And that became my goal.
I became obsessed with it.
Um, and, and it really drove me to say, okay, I can, I can go out and
change the trajectory of, of my family, maybe financially just by
going out and putting in the work.
And it, it, and it drove me to, uh, to really go out and attack each
and every day to go try and be.
That first round draft pick that NFL football player.
Clif Marshall: That's great, Eric, you had a heck of a career with the Buffalo Bills.
Um, then you transition into, you know, your role now working with the bills,
um, and, and doing media, but you're also a husband and you're also a father.
Talk to me about how you manage work-life balance.
Eric Wood: Yeah.
That's interesting.
And that's something I ask many people that, that I've met throughout time.
Kind of the common denominator that I've gotten advice on is, look, there's
gonna be different seasons of life.
You know, the fall for me is a lot busier work-wise than the off season is.
But wherever you're at, be all in there.
Whether it's with your family, be all in with them.
If you're at work, be all in there.
'cause it's never, it's not likely gonna be a perfect 50 50 balance, or
I'm gonna be, you know, 80 20 at home.
I, I don't know how that looks based upon the season of life
that we're in or the season.
Of the year that we're in, that, that determines what that work looks like.
But, you know, when I'm home, you know, am I taking the kids to school?
You know?
Yes.
Can I, if I, if I'm able to, yes.
I wanna be able to do that.
And so, you know, obviously it.
I'm, I'm blessed to just have a completely supportive wife that when I
get outta the NFL, she goes and lets me chase my next dream in broadcast again.
You know, she understands it's good for my soul to be around the Bills organization
and to go travel and call games.
Now I try and bring them along with me as much as I can, and school and sports.
It's getting more and more in the way of that now than it was maybe a few years ago
when we'd look at the off season or the schedule for the bills that year and say.
What are the best away trips that we can bring the family to?
Where could we sneak into vacation?
That's getting harder and harder to do.
But you know, my wife is so supportive and you know, she never makes me feel guilty.
Those times where, you know, we got a long road trip and then I gotta stay
and do an appearance for the bills.
I never catch any grief.
But then that also makes me want to go all in on the back end when
I come back home because I'm not catching grief in those moments.
So.
You know, I know that's a, you know, kind of a long-winded answer to say, my advice
would be wherever you're at, be all in and, and then just understand, you know,
when you, when you feel that angst, maybe you've been gone too long, maybe the Holy
Spirit's trying to tell you something that, you know, as you continue to learn
those seasons and those rhythms, maybe.
Okay.
As we schedule out the next one, we try and figure out something where
maybe I'm not gone as long because.
I'll tell you this, I, I, I, I rarely ever get angst that I'm not working enough.
I, I generally get the angst like, man, I, I'm not pouring into
the family enough at this time.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: Hmm, Eric dig.
Let's dig deeper there for a second.
You played at a high level, you succeeded at a high level.
You are in broadcasting media at a high level, but you talked about this angst as
far as feeling like, man, family matters.
Where is that from?
Eric Wood: Honestly, it probably comes from coming from a divorced
household to where, you know, just deep down, you just think like,
man, I don't ever wanna ruin this.
I don't ever want to.
See my kids 50% of the time, and I don't ever want to get to that spot
to be where my parents were, where you only get custody of the kids so often.
And, and I would imagine that's where it stems from, uh, just, just being
completely honest and, and just.
If I'm telling you my values and, and where I say I'm prioritizing my life
and that would be my faith, then my family, and then football is my job.
And so, you know, it kind of goes back to the faith, family, football, finances, um,
and then I know it doesn't begin with an F but I always say philanthropy as well,
but, but it's like, okay, if that's what I'm gonna say, I'm about in that order.
When it doesn't become that order, I know deep down that's when the
Holy Spirit starts tugging on me.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Great.
Uh, great wisdom, Eric, right there.
I do want to transition and talk a little bit of football because we have
you, and obviously we have Sam, both experts, both in the media, right.
And both study the game like no one I know.
So I want to ask you, what is your prediction first on the Buffalo Bills,
and then secondly, what is your prediction on the Louisville Cardinals this year?
Eric Wood: Well, I'll start with the Louisville Cardinals.
It's harder and harder these days to stay up with these college programs.
Sam, I see you on college football live all the time.
I don't know how much prep work you gotta do for those, but this
is not like when I first got to ESPN, that was pre transfers in NIL.
And you kind of knew the rosters.
Hey, here's who's coming back.
Here's who the studs were.
Well now, okay, where's this guy even at now?
Okay, I recognize that name or, and so college football's
getting harder and harder.
I have full confidence in Jeff Brom, and they've adapted so
well to this transfer NIL era.
To where, you know, they're going out and a majority of who they're
bringing in or transfers that they, that they're working on, you know,
throughout the year to bring those guys in to fundraise to get those guys in.
So I got a lot of confidence in my Louis Cardinals.
They got a fairly, uh, favorable schedule this year as well.
Uh, prediction for them.
I'll say, uh, 10 and two and probably likely, uh, just missing the playoffs
based upon strength discussion.
So that would be my guess.
I, I hope somehow they can sneak in there.
Uh, they got Miller Moss at quarterback this year.
The transfer from USC.
I'm not gonna lie, I haven't seen him play a ton, but I did see him
torch my Cardinals in the bowl game a couple years ago, and it's not
surprising that Jeff went out and, and tried to go get that dude this year.
As far as the Buffalo Bills goes, they've been so close these last four
or five years, just barely can't get over the hump at the end, whether
it's been the Chiefs or they've got knocked out by the Bengals one time,
uh, in the a FC divisional round.
Part of it's staying healthy throughout the season, especially on
the defensive side of the football.
They've been dinged up on defense in the playoffs.
So can they stay healthy?
Can they put pressure on the opposing team's, quarterbacks in the
playoffs without bringing a blitz?
That's been their Achilles heel, and so to me, they bring in Bosa this off season.
They bring in Michael Hoyt, they sign Larry Ogen Joby.
They draft three defensive linemen in the draft in the first four rounds.
If those guys can make an impact this year, I think this is a team that can.
Go all the way.
This is the last year in the historic Highmark Stadium.
I saw Sam there last year and it's a special place.
It's gonna be a fun sendoff season as they moved into a brand new,
beautiful facility across the street.
We're right now, I mean, it is old school in Buffalo, but it.
But it's our old school.
It's our, yeah, I don't wanna call it a dump, but I mean, it is what it is.
But it's a fun, awesome atmosphere, uh, friendliest people that you're
gonna meet in the NFL for the most part as you're going into the stadium.
It looks like a big college tailgate out there.
I hope we don't lose some of that with the, uh, you know, the cost that's
gonna come with getting seats at the new stadium, but it would be a storybook year
to kind of ride off Highmark Stadium.
Hopefully host throughout the playoffs there as well, if the
bills can go out and get the one C.
But honestly, I think two biggest things for bills this year handle business in
the regular season control home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
I think that gets them over the hump.
And then can this defensive front put pressure on the
quarterback in the playoffs?
Because that's what's knocked them out.
I mean, they just simply have not been able to affect the Mahomes,
the boroughs in the playoffs, and that's what's bid 'em.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
Eric, you talked a lot about influence, right?
Whether it's influencing the quarterback or maybe people who have had a, that
stadium that's had an influence on you.
I wanna talk about a coach.
Which coach has influenced your life the most and why?
I.
Eric Wood: That's a, that's a great question.
I would say to me, my offensive line coach, when I got to the University of
Louisville, Mike Summers, um, I didn't.
I'll admit, I didn't realize how special he was until maybe now, later in life.
Then we've remained friends and you know, the, the little lesson, you know,
you're talking about a Christian man.
Married still to this day, to his wife Kathy, who I absolutely adore, and
they would have us over to their house.
And I got to see him not only be a coach on the football field,
but then how he treated his wife, how he treated his daughter, Amy.
I get to see how he is with his grandkids now, and we'll go out and visit.
My daughter loves horses.
I'll go, Michael texts me, Hey, we got some fos.
Bring your daughter out.
Come meet these horses.
And, and still to this day, he's pouring into me now on the field.
I was a sponge.
I, and I played one year of high school offensive line.
So when I got to the University of Louisville, one of the great
things, and you know, you talk about blessings in life, you could say,
well, I had no experience at O Line.
Well, I had no bad habits either.
And so Mike Summers could just mold me into the player that he wanted me to be.
And so I really appreciated, uh, and still to this day, the impact that he
had on me and the others in that room.
And then when I think about.
Guys that you know, affected my career.
We had an offensive line coach come to the bills named Aaron Kromer,
and he was absolutely outstanding.
He had kind of a, I don't wanna say checkered reputation
coming into the bills.
He had the J Cutler comments when he was in Chicago.
He had the incident prior to coming to the bills with a little scuffle on the beach.
But talk about a guy that really helped transform my game to the next level.
Kind of get out of the like.
Meathead, we're gonna use all we got and we're just gonna move these
guys off the ball into, Hey Eric, I need you to become a technician.
You're getting older and I'm gonna, I'm gonna really teach you some
techniques to transform your game.
And he did.
And it wasn't a coincidence then.
That's the year that I get into the Pro Bowl, Aaron Cromer's first year, and so.
Uh, Aaron Kromer when we had a coaching champs, uh, a coaching staff.
Change goes out to the Rams, wins the Super Bowl with the Rams, and then Sean
McDermott calls me a few years ago, and I'm glad Sean told this stir 'cause I,
I would never wanna bring it up unless Sean told it first and he did last year.
If someone asked how he got connected to Aaron Cromer, 'cause he's now back
with the bills and the bills had one of the best offensive lines in the league.
So this is actually kind of a funny story.
So a FC championship game, we have some people over our house.
I get a call from Sean McDermott.
I knew that they had just fired their offensive line coach, and I looked
at my wife, Leslie, and I said, I think Sean's about to offer me a job.
And he wasn't offering me the job.
He wanted to know who I would recommend.
And I said, Hey, if you can get Aaron Cromer, who loves Buffalo, his family
loves Buffalo, if you can get him back.
That would be the ideal coach for this group.
Just knowing the young guys they had the talent that they had, and they
absolutely love him up in Buffalo.
So I, I would say Mike Summers and Aaron Cromer would be the
two most influential on me.
But that, I mean, I, there's so many I could name, you know, strength coaches,
they spend so much time with the players.
I think back to a Joe Ken, who I had laid in my college career,
who treated me like a pro, I mean.
If I wasn't feeling, if, if something was bothering me, it wasn't a hey, he
would get tougher and push through.
It was a no.
You're a, you're, you're a, you're gonna be a pro, so I'm
gonna treat you like a pro.
And he taught me how to manage my body and maximize some strength gains.
Jason Amp.
I mean, he was there early in my career at Louisville.
He did so much to transform my body to a division one and future NFL Center.
And so there, there's, there's a lot of those folks out there, Joe Dallas,
Andres, um, who passed away last year.
He was with the Ravens.
He was my offensive line coach earlier in my career in Buffalo.
I mean.
Like I said, I mean, Sam, same way.
I'm sure with you, cliff, you think back the people that influence you, you hate
to just name a couple because you're gonna leave the people out, but man, just, just
so fortunate to have been around so many great coaches, and I'll end with this.
We had very little success throughout my time in Buffalo.
We broke the longest playoff drought in all of professional
sports my last season in the NFL.
When you're that bad, we had including interims, seven
head coaches in nine years.
And so you could say, Hey, that's, you know, terrible
because there's constant turnover.
Well, I also got to meet so many tremendous individuals because there
was so many of those people coming through the facility every, you
know, one and a half to two years.
And then now I get to see those guys through broadcasting on the
sidelines and catch up before games.
And so, you know, at the time where I probably didn't see it
as a blessing, that's something I do see as a blessing now.
Clif Marshall: Well, Eric, you talked about some coaches
that have influenced you.
Is there a book that you've ever read that maybe had influence on your life as well?
Eric Wood: The book that probably has had the biggest influence on my life
actually stemmed from a Tony Dungy book that I read, and he was referencing,
uh, apologetics writings, and so.
I had never kind of delved into that world.
And so I started with the Case for Christ, which is maybe the most popular
Christian apologetics book ever.
And look,
however you get down to it, you're gonna need some type of faith to
believe in what you cannot see.
But I loved the Christian Apologetics writings and especially the Lee
Strobel, uh, writings that he's done.
And he's written a bunch of 'em now.
I've read, I believe 'em all at this point, but.
Being able to, to really say like, this, this happened and this is why it happened.
And you know, the apostles, you know, they all died.
11 of the 12 died extremely violent deaths.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Eric Wood: And they wouldn't have done it.
Like maybe one or two of them does.
But if they didn't witness it, if they didn't see it, they wouldn't have done it.
And the book's great.
It goes through many other examples.
Case for Easter is incredible.
Um, case for Faith.
I mean, you could read 'em all, they're all great.
But I would say the case for Christ is probably the book that had the biggest
influence kind of on my walk with Christ, which is the biggest influence in my life.
And, uh, but I give Tony Dungy the credit for turning me onto that.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
Eric, I'm gonna transition a little bit.
You know, on this podcast we talked about going deep.
You know, we, we like to kind of talk about some hardships and struggles,
and so my question for you is, what's the biggest adversity that you faced
in life, and how did you overcome it?
Eric Wood: Yeah, I mean I've, I've been through a good
amount of adversity in my life.
I would say the biggest.
The biggest one that stands out would be having the career ending neck injury.
Before the 2017 season, I signed a contract extension with the bills.
Everyone thought we were tanking.
Um, call me an eternal optimist, but I didn't see it.
I mean, we had a lot of talent still on the team.
We had just brought in Sean McDermott.
We had the new ownership group in place.
Brandon Bean was getting hired, or Brandon Bean had been hired.
And so I had a lot of faith in those guys and I said, I believe we got,
we can have a winner here in Buffalo.
And so I signed a contract extension before the season first contract that
Brandon Bean ever gave out as an NFL GM and play every single snap that season.
We break the playoff drought, we're getting ready to draft our
future quarterback in the draft.
Who ends up being Josh Allen and I go to exit physicals.
Which every, every player in the NFL has to take a physical before you
leave the facility for the off season.
And they said, Hey, let's, let's get an MRI on your neck.
You had some stingers this year.
I'm like, my high school buddies had stingers.
I, I never missed a snap the entire season and my son's
about to be born in Louisville.
I need to get the heck outta here.
And so they said, let's get grab an M MRI on your neck and you can leave.
Three days later, I'm in the hospital room waiting on my son to be born.
So 50 minutes before he's born, I find out my career is over.
I have a career ending neck injury.
Disc and bone sitting into my spinal cord at C2 C3, and they said, look, I know
you saw Ryan Sha ear laying on the field.
That should have been you.
I don't know why it isn't based upon the MRIs, but as high as it is, you
could never come back and play football.
And so at that time, it's not only hard on you, it's hard on your
family, it's hard on your wife.
I mean, we were worried about how we were gonna get a two week old to the Pro Bowl,
and now we're trying to figure out what are we gonna do with our house in Buffalo?
What does this next stage of life look like?
You know, there was some disputes contractually with the bills, which
was tough because those are my buddies.
Those are myrie, you know, I thought you guys cared about me.
And the second part of the question on how I got through it, I'll say
this, it, it was my faith in God.
It was the people that.
God had put in my life for a reason and I didn't know exactly why.
I was surrounded by such a great group of people nationally, but
especially in Louisville that could really just pour into me.
Through that time, I was working with an executive coach
at the time, uh, six months.
I started with him six months prior.
To my career ending, who ended up just being perfect to help me.
Throughout that transition, I wrote a book called Tackle What's Next?
It's chronicled much deeper in that, uh, in that book there, I honor many
of the podcast guests that came on and helped me through that transition,
people that poured in into my life.
But you guys will get a kick out of this.
So, uh, uh, our team chaplain in Buffalo, he based our entire.
Chapel series that year around Matthew 25 7.
He who builds the foundation on the rock, you know, the storms will
come, the winds are gonna blow, but he will not crumble because he has
his foundation built on the rock.
And I, I just kept thinking, man, this could be really valuable for somebody in
here, but like, life's good right now.
I'm not injured.
And I had dealt with injuries throughout my career.
I got hurt my first four years in the league.
Went on IR twice, broke my leg again in 2016, like.
I was thinking, man, this is gonna be so beneficial.
And it was me.
It was literally for me, I had rocks from the season.
'cause that was the theme that year.
And we'd have different verses on these rocks all kind of
based back off of Matthew 25 7.
And it was amazing that it was all for me, and thank God that through U of
LFCA and through the people that poured in my life, that I had a foundation
built on the rock that included.
My faith in God, but also friends and family that, that they lifted me up and
people came into my life and said, Hey, if you want to transition into media,
please let me help you out because you've been so great to me, you know,
throughout your time with the bills.
And it, it just really helped.
Was it all sunshine and rainbows?
Absolutely not.
Is it sunshine and rainbows now?
No.
I don't know if I'd still be playing at 39, but at 32, I felt as good as I
did throughout my entire career, and my confidence level was so high in the game.
In my game.
And then at what point would I have hung it up?
You know, it's, you're on the verge of the Super Bowl, each year
you get to snap to Josh Allen.
Uh, and me and Josh have become pretty good buddies now.
And you know, it just, there's times where it hurts.
You see them report back to training camp this week and I'm like, I really wish
I could have had a few more of those.
But But you know what?
Life gets better each and every year.
We're at such a fun stage with a 7 and a 10-year-old now.
Me and my wife are, are in, in as good of a spot as we've ever been in
our relationship, and it continues to get sweeter in, in our marriage.
And so, uh, extremely blessed to be sitting in these shoes right now.
But at that time, in 2017, heading into early 2018, it was difficult.
Clif Marshall: What a great testimony.
Eric and I tell you, God doesn't cause pain, but he can use
pain to draw us closer to him.
And you explained that through that adversity.
You leaned upon your faith and you, and you grew closer to God through
that, if that was your greatest
Eric Wood: I was gonna say real quick, real quick.
I would get asked to speak often prior to the career ending injury
at, you know, an FCA event or a a, a men's group at a church, and.
I would always say like, my testimony's boring, you know, I got poured
into by a good amount of people.
I'd never necessarily had a rock bottom moment to where I came up.
Uh, I didn't have that, you know, saw to Paul transition per se.
I just kind of, you know, over time I said, wait, that guy's a Christian.
He's a Christian.
What's the common denominator here?
I wanna be like all these people.
What's the common denominator?
Okay, well let me check this out.
Let me, let me dig deeper.
Let me dive deeper.
Got baptized in 2012 and after that I have my testimony.
It, it is like God has used that story to put me in rooms and put me around people
and potentially impact so many people because of that pain that you mentioned.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
Cliff, can I ask one just to dive deeper?
'cause Eric, you kind of went back and, and shared about that testimony.
What was God, what did you learn about the character of God during that sudden stop?
Eric Wood: I don't know if it was the character of God, but kind of just
going back to that foundation like.
Chris Morgan at U of L, our FCA director always says, you know, in
life you're either going into a storm, in a storm or coming out of one.
You know, it's, if you're in a sweet spot in life, just get ready.
Those storms are coming, you better have your foundation.
Right.
And I realized the importance of that, uh, much deeper.
And I mentioned, you know, coming from a divorced household and we had some
turmoil in the house as a kid, like.
I've, one of my biggest transitions in my faith over the last probably four
or five years, and some of it comes with having a son now, is I, I, I, I
would always say that I believe God was my Lord and Savior, but when I prayed
Heavenly Father over these last four or five years, it feels different now.
And, and just like the, the way I see my son and the love I have
for him and understanding that.
God's love is so much greater in in, it's in almost incomprehensible.
But that's kind of been one of my biggest transitions in my faith journey over
these last four or five years is God is my father and not just my Lord and Savior.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
Hmm.
Clif Marshall: Eric, if that was your greatest adversity, the neck
injury, right, that ended your career, what is your greatest victory?
you've had some great victories too.
I mean, being a first round draft pick, being a pro bowler, you know,
being a dad, what would you consider your greatest victory in life?
Eric Wood: I would say career wise, um, I got the nomination for Walter Payton
Man of the year twice with the bills.
And, you know, that's not the sexiest award in the NFL.
It's not, you know, MVP of the league, but to be voted on that by your
teammates, which is a, a character award and also a performance award,
but to be that twice for the bills.
You know, I, I just remember sitting there as a rookie and a young guy
in the league thinking, man, I wanna be just like Fred Jackson.
And Brian Scott, and a number of those guys who had won.
That nomination in the past and to get honored with that was career-wise,
probably my greatest victory, I'd say.
Now making the Pro Bowl was extra special.
You know, we didn't grow up going to Hawaii as a kid.
I got to bring a bunch of people out to Hawaii with me to experience the last
Pro Bowl in Hawaii that, you know, they had never experienced Hawaii before.
And to be in that setting was was absolutely incredible.
Honestly, I'd say my greatest victory right now is just looking
around at my family and just seeing my kids and how they interact
and my relationship with my wife.
And look, that doesn't come without work.
And we've been in a couple's bible study for, uh, we were trying to
do the math the other day, I think about 12 years now, where we're
getting poured into by other couples.
We surround ourself with other couples that we can learn from.
We have.
Close friends that are, you know, our age, but I almost see them as
mentors in relationships as well.
But, you know, I, I would just say, you know, where I'm at as
a husband and father, I would consider my greatest victory.
And I give all the credit to the people that I've got to witness
and learn from throughout my life to be able to make that happen.
Sam Acho: Who are some of those people who you've learned
from, who've made that impact?
Eric Wood: Yeah, so Dave and Beth Stone.
So Dave Stone was the pastor at Southeast Christian Church for.
19, 20 years.
And so he invited me and my wife to a, a bible study, a couple's
bible study at their house.
I believe it was 2013, right after we got married.
And so we've been doing that and you know, we might meet 10, 12
times a year, but super impactful.
Um, I was in a disciple development group with seven other guys at
Southeast, including Kyle, Adam, their.
Current head pastor at Southeast.
And just learning from those guys has been really special.
I mentioned Chris Morgan on here a couple times, our U of LFCA director,
just seeing him in college and how he interacted with his wife and how he
served our team and then served his three girls was just beyond special.
Um, and then, and then we just have some, some close friends, you know,
whether they're our age or older, where we, you know, I'll say, you know.
What, what makes it work?
You know, how, how do you, how do you get to be 60 years old and you're
having fun with your wife still?
You have a relationship with your kids, you have a
relationship with your grandkids.
'cause you see it all the time where people don't have that.
They, you know, they just didn't make the investments along the way
and it becomes an estr relationship.
So, um, you know, those are a few specific names, but.
Like I said earlier, I, I know I'm leaving some out, you know, and, and I, it's,
uh, I've remiss to not mention them by name, but, um, you know, those, those
are the ones that stand out right now.
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Eric, I have a great respect for Southeast Christian Church.
I actually started attending that church in 2004 when I was finishing up my
career at the University of Louisville, and Dave Stone was preaching there.
Kyle Iman was his.
Assistant at the time, and we often visit that church, uh, from time to time
when I'm driving back down to Kentucky.
And I know you're a part of a men's group there.
Um, you know, as you mentioned, and one of the bible verses that I like is Proverbs
27 17 and that says iron sharpens iron.
Can you talk about just getting plugged in at that church and in those bible studies
and how that's helped you in your walk?
Eric Wood: Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, when you attend the fourth biggest church in the country, I
don't know where the metrics are now.
I know.
At one time it was fourth, and maybe, you know, I know that
that changes each and every year.
But if you're not getting in with a small group of dudes or couples, it's
gonna be tough to, you know, get those personal touches each and every week.
Now, you, you, that's not taken away from anyone who doesn't attend the
small groups, but I would recommend if you're at a really big church.
To get that accountability in life, you're probably gonna need,
uh, to get in a smaller group.
You know, we've all been in locker rooms.
You get enough accountability in a locker room, you know, you can't get
away with anything in a, in a locker room, whether it's college, NFL, whatever
it may be, with a coaching staff.
Someone's checking you constantly.
But when you get with a small group, it allows you to dig deeper with a
smaller group of guys or gals that can, that can check you in life
and say, Hey, I see these blind spots, uh, in your life and, and.
Look, I, I've always really prided myself on being coachable and, and I
want to continue to be like that now.
I mean, I love to play golf.
I have a dude who gives me lessons and can.
Tell me what's going on there.
I have, you know, I had an executive coach, a, a, a life coach per se, uh,
for a while, for a long time, three and a half years, to, to try and help me in
my transition and check for blind spots.
I've had my own personal advisory board where I open up my finances.
Everything and say, Hey, pick this apart.
Tell me where I'm going wrong.
And these are all guys that I look up to and, you know, have the
characteristics I wanna be like in life.
So, you know, I just think there's tremendous value in, in being a part
of a small group and you know, even especially, you know, people that
transition from military or team sports or whatever it may be, finding
that group again can be so valuable.
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Sam Acho: So you talked about Cliff, your life verse.
Eric, I want to ask you, what is your life verse?
What verse in the Bible has kind of emanated with you the most?
Eric Wood: Yeah, so we have a, a verse that's on our wall right
before you leave our garage door.
Proverbs 1125.
He who refreshes others will be refreshed and a generous person will prosper.
And look, there's, there's so much that can.
Stray our attention, our kids' atten, you know, attention on what they
should be like, what they want to do.
And I say, look the woods, we want to be joy spreaders.
We wanna refresh others.
We are beyond blessed.
And I'm not just saying find like we are so blessed in our current stage
of life with health and resources and where we live and all that.
Like we should be joy spreaders and we're gonna be generous.
We've been given a lot.
Time, talent, and treasure.
We're gonna use it to benefit others.
And so that's become, that's become our family's verse.
And my personal, it was my verse personally, and then I
made it our family verse too.
Like, but it, but it just simplifies it, you know?
It's like when my daughter gets outta the car before school, I
say, what are you gonna make today?
Best day ever.
What are you gonna do?
Spread joy.
Alright, go get it.
I, you know, do I want her to get good grades?
Sure.
She rides horses.
Do I want her to win first place?
Absolutely.
I take more pride in watching people light up when she walks in a room because
of how she treats people and how she treats classmates like, to me, that's
what the woods should be all about.
And so we try and spread joy and bring generosity everywhere we go.
Clif Marshall: Great wisdom Ewood.
At the end of every show, I like to give a cliff notes and two cliff notes that I
took from you today, both very impactful.
The first you said, be all in, be where your feet are, so if
you are at work, be all in.
Be where your feet are.
If you're at home and you're being a dad.
A husband, be all in, be where your feet are, and the second one you just
finished saying it, refresh others so you can be refreshed, spread joy.
And that's Proverbs 1125.
So thank you brother for the wisdom and the um, the great advice you've
given us here over the last 45 minutes.
We can't thank you enough for being a part of our podcast today.
Eric Wood: No, like I said at the start, it, it's an honor to be on with you guys.
This is a, this is a bright spot of my day to be able to connect with you.
Two.
Big fan of the podcast, appreciate what you're doing, the message that you
guys, uh, spread in your daily lives and then now spreading through the podcast.
And I'm glad you're doing the podcast so more people can be exposed to it.
So I appreciate both you guys.
Sam Acho: Now we appreciate you and one thing I know we usually, this is
usually our ending, but man, you've mentioned this a couple times, uh,
on our podcast we talk about faith.
We talked about it on this podcast, family talk about family football.
Finances.
You've mentioned that word a couple times, and I, I have a question because
you went from kind of, people might call it like unknown to first round
pick, to signed a big deal, and then all of a sudden, unbeknownst to you,
your career ends, but you've talked about finances in different ways.
How have, what has money been for you and your family?
Eric Wood: Man, that's a great question.
And, and, and honestly, you know, you look around and you could
compare yourself to anybody.
We see the salaries that some of these guys are making nowadays,
and you could say, Ooh, and, and, and one of the things I've tried
to just strive for is contentment.
Like, yes, I still want to be successful.
I wanna be a good steward of my money.
I wanna make successful investments And I want to be paid what I
deserved in broadcasting, but being content, we, where we are.
You know, money has provided us a, a, a certain comfort level in life to
where, you know, I remember as a kid, my parents constantly fought about money,
and me and my wife don't have to fight about money and, and it, you know, so
it provides some comfort and security.
It's allowed us to be generous and make an impact, and that's
really what we want to do.
It's allowed us to have.
Incredible experiences.
I'm getting off the grid with the family before the season starts
to back up next week, and we're going out to ranch in Montana.
And had I not played in the NFL, we might not be able to do those
types of things, but you know, I, I just never wanna let money define.
Who I am, it's not gonna be my identity.
Yes, we're blessed.
You know, do some people have more?
Of course.
Do some people have less?
Sure.
But that's not gonna define how I look at anybody.
Um, but I also feel like the way we have been blessed financially, we
need to be good stewards of the money.
We need to be generous.
We need to be generous at the church, and we need to, we need to make a, a
kingdom impact because of the financial security that we currently have.
Clif Marshall: Amen.
Sam Acho: Amen.
That's so good.
That's so good, man.
Well, Eric, we're so grateful to have you.
On the Sam Macho podcast featuring Cliff Marshall, I thank you for your
time, effort, energy, investment.
I remember watching you from afar and being like, man, there's
something about this dude.
I know you said that about guys, that you got a chance like,
well, what is it about this guy?
And for me, you being, uh, a few years ahead of me, I'm like, man,
there's something about this man.
And so from just from one man to another, now I'm in media, but yes,
as a player and all those things, it's like, dude, I respect you.
And it's, it has very little, I would say, to do with.
The stats or accolades as a football player, but it's
the way you played the game.
You talked about that return on your investment to the coaches like that.
For me, you said I was a freshman, I wanted to have a great return.
I wanted them to have a great return on their investment that showed up.
You talked about that Walter Payton Man of the year like that showed up.
That's something I cared about as a player.
Yes.
Pro Bowl first round and so, and then now what you're doing in
media, we got a chance to connect.
Last year in Buffalo, and I mean, we had, don't know, 10
minutes, 30, whatever it was.
But it was so refreshing to hear the way you talked about God, about
money, about your family, about your career, about your future, and
for those reasons, uh, thank you.
Thank you on behalf of, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, a man.
I would say a young man.
Uh, we're both young men, but a man who admires you and respects you.
Thank you for, for, uh.
Going all in because it shows up in everything you do.
Eric Wood: I, I, I really appreciate those words, Sam, that
that was extremely encouraging.
I appreciate that brother.
Sam Acho: Uh, definitely.
And thank you all so much for listening to the Sam Macho podcast.
We can't wait to see you soon.