Britain Covey

[Ted Lasso]

I’m not really a religious person, but I heard Covey was coming to my stake, so I went to hear him speak.

My favorite story of his was when he was at a fancy banquet at a hotel, and AJ Brown offered him $1000 if he would jump in the pool with all his clothes on. He said that for AJ Brown, $1000 was nothing but for Covey as an undrafted rookie, that was a lot of money. So he jumped in the pool and he has a screenshot of the Venmo from AJ Brown.

He also talked about the huge amount of pressure that comes with playing in the NFL and particularly in Philly in front of the crazy fans. He said he’s used to playing the entire game, so it’s difficult being a punt returner where you pretty much have no room to make a mistake. He talked about how he muffed a punt in week 3 and roughly 250 Philly fans sent him messages telling him he sucks and that he should leave town. And then the next game the fans booed him when he ran out onto the field. He said he had a tough time coping with the pressure, especially during the Super Bowl when being watched by 100 million fans. Also said it was tough being away from his wife all season long who is currently super pregnant.

He talked about how at the beginning of the season, his teammates would make fun of him for wearing his grandpa underwear aka garments. And then he explained to one of his teammates the meaning of the garments to him, and then that player never made fun of him again and also made sure no other players made fun of him for it either. He basically said that he learned from his experiences in the NFL to be unapologetic and proud of his religion, and that other players would respect him for it.

Another funny story is the first time he met Fletcher Cox, he said that Covey looks like he’s both 14 and 40 at the same time lol.

Also said he is the second smallest player on the team. The smallest is Devonta Smith.

He mentioned how it was difficult growing up always being known as the grandson of Stephen Covey and feeling the pressure of living up to the Covey name.

Anyways, I was really impressed with Covey. I never really followed him much in college since he played for Utah and I lowkey hated him because he made some plays against BYU. But I can’t help but root for the guy. He seems like a better man than he is a football player, so I will be a fan of his going forward. Just thought you guys would be interested in what he had to say.

[MauchDawgUte]

Devonta smith is smaller than covey? I know he is skinny but isn’t he much taller?

[Ted Lasso]

Youre right I think he meant that Devonta weighs less than Covey.

[Tony (admin)]

Thanks a lot for posting this. Awesome stuff. 

[The Miami Ute]

This was one of the best posts I’ve read here in a while. Yeah, you always knew that going from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia was going to be a culture shock.

[Duhwayne]

City of Brotherly Love, lol. Bill Burr had a rant about that.

[The Miami Ute]

On another note, that anecdote regarding AJ Brown, and the $1000 to jump into pool fully dressed, is a perfect example of why 70-80 percent of NFL players have financial difficulties after their careers end.

[Hellhound152]

Not sure AJ buying a candy bar at the Maverick (which is what him dropping a grand for amusment is equal to) is indicative of players winding up broke.  Pretty sure it has more to do with financial advisors, agents, and hanger ons that bleed these players dry and toss them aside when the money and gone.

It is easy to blame the athletes, however, when the people who are supposed to be trusted to protect and grow your money (your contracted fiduciaries) have their hands in the cookie jar as has been shown over and over since basically Joe Louis (the first modern athlete make serious prize money) and can walk away blameless citing bad invesments, that is real issue. 

[The Miami Ute]

“Not sure AJ buying a candy bar at the Maverick (which is what him dropping a grand for amusment is equal to) is indicative of players winding up broke.”

It’s indicative of someone who doesn’t place much value on money. And this type of thing is very common as just a cursory Internet search will demonstrate. At the end of the day, all of these athletes are adults. It’s easy to place the blame on other people, like you did, but a lot of these guys end up broke because of their lack of financial literacy and poor spending habits.

[Central Coast Ute]

Good post. Do you live in Utah?

[Ted Lasso]

Thanks! And yeah he came to the Provo area