With his football career behind
him
Ryan Allen
Jerseys 2019 , we asked Jonathan Casillas to recount his favorite memories
while playing college and in the NFL.Casillas was a three-year starter for
Wisconsin at outside linebacker, but it was a moment from his freshman year
which stood out. He¡¯d go on to play 102 games in the NFL for the Saints,
Patriots and Giants, winning Super Bowls with New Orleans in the 2009 season and
with New England in the 2014 season.MORE CASILLASEx-NFL, Badgers LB Casillas
aims to ease pain with cannabidiolJonathan Casillas¡°There¡¯s so many in college.
I had a great time at the University of Wisconsin. I tell you what, the reaction
and the response for the block against Minnesota in 2005, my freshman year. I¡¯ve
never seen or felt anything like that.¡°I was 18 years old, you know what I mean,
I was very young and made a historical play for the Badgers. We were at the old
Ogg Hall across the street from the old Surf, right next to the Kohl Center. It
was a 13-floor building, there was like twin towers that faced each other, as
football players we put our jerseys in the window so you could see where our
rooms are at. My room was on the 10th floor, so whatever. When I got back from
the game from Minnesota, I basically became a household name around Madison, I
get back to my dorm and I look across and they have a big banner on the side of
the building that says ¡®We love you number 46.¡¯¡°That was like, holy
crap
White James
Develin Jerseys , that¡¯s crazy. That was like the eye-opener. This is
college football, this is what I wanted to do.More Badgers coverageTop Tweets:
Former Badger TJ Watt has impressive four-year transformationTop Tweets: Former
Badgers QB Wilson plans to play for ¡ a long timeBadgers RB Taylor named to
preseason all-Big Ten teamEx-Badgers TE Traylor training, waiting for next NFL
opportunityEx-Badgers star Hayes having fun during latest NBA audition¡°Of
course, everybody that plays ball has aspirations to play in the NFL, so I was
able to do the ultimate. I¡¯ve been to the top of the mountain ¡ª twice. Now those
experience are unbelievable.¡°Winning the Super Bowl ¡ my second time around I
was playing for New England. I got traded in 2014 from Tampa Bay to New England.
Tampa Bay was <em>the </em>worst team in the league, like literally.
They picked first, they got Jameis Winston the next year. And New England was
the best, they won the Super Bowl; they picked 32nd. I¡¯m not just saying it ¡ª I
literally went from worst to first.¡°I got to this New England team and they knew
me as a special teams guy, really good linebacker, like I guess they kind of
knew who I was, some of the guys I could tell. And I played against Gronk [Rob
Gronkowski] and (Brandon) Bolden and some of these guys throughout the roster,
whether it be offense vs. defense or special teams. I feel like I was very well
respected when I go there, which you could expect from the Patriots. They know
who they¡¯re bringing in to their organization.¡°But Gronkowski asked me, when we
were on our run, maybe sometime towards the end of the season or in the playoffs
¡ Gronkowski had never actually won a Super Bowl at this point. I think they
lost one or two at this point. He¡¯s like, ¡®Hey
man
James
Develin Jerseys 2019 , what does it feel like to win a Super Bowl?¡¯ It was
a crazy question coming from Gronk. I had to sit down for a second. I was like,
¡®You know what, Gronk, for what you¡¯ve created ¡ª you¡¯re Gronkowski, you¡¯re Gronk
¡ª you¡¯ve done a lot for yourself, for the franchise. You created you as a
business; you¡¯ve created such a successful business. Winning a Super Bowl will
be the closest thing to being a god as you can be. You will be godly like.¡¯¡°I
hope you remember what kind of rampage Gronk went on after winning his first
Super Bowl. He was hosting parties, he was twerking on stage, he had a Gronk bus
¡ª he was off the chain from that Super Bowl. And you know what? No one will say
anything to you. Not saying you could do whatever you want, but some guys are
like hey man he just won a Super Bowl, so if he wants to twerk on stage, go
ahead. It is what it is.<noscript></noscript> Jonathan Casillas
celebrates after the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX.¡°OK, one more thing because
you got me thinking down memory road. After the Super Bowl in New Orleans my
rookie year. We get our rings ¡ I could sit here talking for another hour about
the ring ceremonies alone, for the both of them. But for the one in New Orleans,
we got our rings and I was with a friend of mine, Anthony Waters, and we decided
to drive towards Bourbon Street.¡°When we got over that way we decided to drive
<em>up </em>Bourbon Street. Now I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve ever been to
New Orleans
before
Infant Byron
Cowart Jersey , but you can¡¯t drive on Bourbon Street. They actually have
barricades that prevent you from doing so. We started out doing it and as we
were going and cop saw us and he was like, ¡®What are you doing? Pull the hell
over.¡¯ We got our music playing all loud and when you go up the first street of
Bourbon off of Poydras you run into I think Iberville, if I¡¯m not mistaken, and
you have to make a right-hand turn. ¡ We had to turn off, but what we told
somebody was to go move the barricades. We were driving up pumping our music
load and had our hands out the window with our rings out and there¡¯s like a
<em>mob </em>around us going up Bourbon Street.¡°So fast-forward to
our interaction with these cops, they¡¯re walking up the street and they¡¯re using
very explicit language, like ¡®What the f are you doing, turn that damn music
off.¡¯ And as soon as the first guy comes up to the window, I started to speak
and I showed him my ring and he was like, ¡®Oh, Jimmy look! They got their
rings!¡¯ And he called partner up and we took pictures with the cops (laughs) and
he was like ¡®Jimmy man, move the barricades!¡¯ (laughs) So now we got cop
clearance and we¡¯re driving up Bourbon Street and people are moving barricades.
And it¡¯s Bourbon Street. There¡¯s a lot of people out. But we¡¯re not driving
fast. We¡¯re driving like a couple miles an hour ¡ª we want people to see our
rings, you know. And we got a mob going. New Orleans people. Grateful people.
People that deserved that. They deserved that Super Bowl for everything they¡¯ve
been through. So we were there showing them what they deserve. That was a crazy
experience.¡°Then the next day, we were having this brief team meeting, I don¡¯t
remember exactly what it was, but we had a conversation and Drew Brees said he
was actually on Bourbon Street and saw us. He said the only reason he was able
to walk through unscathed on Bourbon Street was because we had the entire street
following us attached to the driver¡¯s side and passenger side window. And I just
thought that was awesome.¡°I have to say there¡¯s nothing like that high of
winning a Super Bowl. I like to smoke (laughs) but there¡¯s nothing like
that
Byron Cowart
Jersey Draft , there¡¯s nothing like that, that pure adrenaline. That¡¯s
what football brings. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll miss the most. That natural high, that
pure adrenaline, making that play on fourth-and-goal, making the interception to
end the game. That¡¯s something you can¡¯t ever replace. That¡¯s the part of the
game I will miss the most for sure.¡± The five favorites to be on the show all
have ties to New England one way or the other." />Skip to main
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CoverageSportfolio ManagementFiled under:Patriots First ReadHBO¡¯s ¡®Hard Knocks¡¯
could feature plenty of Patriots connections in 2019New,2commentsRelated: Eight
current members of Lions¡¯ defense have Patriots tiesEDTShareTweetShareShareHBO¡¯s
¡®Hard Knocks¡¯ could feature plenty of Patriots connections in 2019Photo by Stacy
Revere/Getty ImagesEvery training camp, HBO¡¯s Hard Knocks follows along one NFL
team on its journey towards the upcoming season. There are, of course, rules
about which clubs can appear on the show: teams that have a first-year head
coach, have reached the playoffs in either of the last two seasons, or have
already been featured in the past ten years are exempt from participation. With
all that in mind, let¡¯s take a look at the five teams eligible, ranked by their
odds (via betonline.ag) and including their connections to the New England
Patriots:Washington Redskins: 5/4The betting favorites to be featured on the
show this year revolve around first-round quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Three
former Patriots are also with the team, however: former Tom Brady backup Kevin
O¡¯Connell is the team¡¯s offensive coordinator, while ex-New England linebackers
coach Rob Ryan serves in the same role in Washington. From the on-field
personnel, linebacker Marquis Flowers spent one season with the Patriots.Oakland
Raiders: 5/2Jon Gruden is the main attraction in
Oakland
Byron Cowart
NFL Jersey , but there is also a notable former Patriot with the team:
Trent Brown joined the Raiders this offseason as the highest-paid offensive
tackle in NFL history. Beyond Tom Brady¡¯s 2018 blindside protector, the club
also brings some intrigue to the table in terms of position battles: who can say
no to a quarterback matchup between Mike Glennon and Nathan Peterman? Or a duel
of the long snappers?New York Giants: 3/1One year before Oakland made Trent
Brown the league¡¯s richest lineman, the Giants bestowed the honor (and money
associated with it) to long-time New England left tackle Nate Solder. The
31-year-old is not the only former Patriot in New York: Jon Halapio was a
sixth-round draft choice by the team in 2014. On top of the personnel
connections, the two clubs will also again meet in week four of the preseason ¡ª
New England could be featured in one of the show¡¯s final episodes.Detroit Lions:
7/2No team among the favorites to be on Hard Knocks this season has as many ties
to the Patriots as the Lions. General manager Bob Quinn, head coach Matt
Patricia, various members of the coaching staff and the roster ¡ª among the
latter: free agency acquisition Trey Flowers and Danny Amendola ¡ª all previously
worked in New England. Furthermore, the club is a prime candidate to hold joint
training camp practices with the Patriots: Detroit will host the world champions
in the two teams¡¯ preseason openers.San Francisco 49ers: 9/1Two of the most
important people in the 49ers organizations have close ties to the Patriots:
general manager John Lynch spent his final training camp before retiring in New
England, while quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was selected by the team in the
second round in 2014. Needless to say that both would see plenty of screen time
if Hard Knocks were to take place in San Francisco in 2019. Another man to
watch: Wes Welker, who joined the team as its wide receivers coach this
offseason.With all that in mind, which team would you want to be featured on
Hard Knocks in 2019?