2 years after retiring, Eric Weddle eagerly answers the call from the Rams – Orange County Register

Eric Weddle did not retreat to the couch. He doesn’t spend his idle time looting the pantry.

He retires to the weight room and basketball court, and gets in a car to take his kids to various games and practices across sports. He calls it the Weddle Taxi Service.

Unknowingly, he was in the Rams’ taxi fleet.

Weddle ended his NFL career at the end of 2019, his only season with the Rams. He still keeps in touch.

After last week, the Rams need to open a new safe. Raheem Morris, the defensive coordinator who coached Weddle at the Senior Bowl 15 years ago, texted him with his usual cheerful words.

“Then he said, ‘You’re not fat and out of shape, are you? ‘ said Weddle. “At that point, I knew what was to come.”

Weddle will match 20th on your program, when the Rams open the playoffs against Arizona on Monday night.

He’s probably more excited to be the Chargers’ rookie, but not by much. He practiced Thursday and reported that he didn’t miss any tests or calls.

“I think I can still help in 15, 20 seconds or whatever they need,” Weddle said. “It’s amazing, I feel great. I have lost some weight, I have reduced some damage from my knees and back. I trained like a madman.

“I play basketball every Wednesday night. But that’s how I always train during the season. Lots of the same fast movements. I still know how to fight back. I can find a way to make it work for anyone. Who knows? I’m just here to make sure Monday plays at a high level on Monday. ”

Retirement is a trap for many players, a cold bucket of reality for many others. If you are not a player, who are you? And who cares?

They go back and visit their boys, but behind the politeness, they sense an openness. Besides, this is football. If you can still play, someone younger won’t be using your locker.

Weddle, as always, did it the other way around. With the Chargers and the Baltimore Raven, he delivered great shots but also sharp diagnoses. He played 13 seasons, nine games at San Diego, and had four pick-6s, 29 interceptions in all, 9½ tackles, 38 tackles on loss and seven rebounds.

Twice he was the All-NFL first-place team. As a rookie, he played and lost an AFC championship game in New England. He thinks Super Bowls are coming. They did not. That was another reason why he parked the taxi.

Instead of stopping football, Weddle reveled in it. He watched every Rams game. When he had to record a piece, he lived in the dark until he was able to watch it.

He texted Jalen Ramsey regularly, complimenting him, sometimes correcting him. When Jordan Fuller was injured Sunday and Weddle’s name popped up, Ramsey texted back: “Get your ass up here.”

“A lot of that came from Raheem and Evero (Ejiro, safety team coach),” said head coach Sean McVay. “We thought, this guy is crazy enough to really think about this.”

“It’s like we’ve got the Pro Bowl here,” said lineman Von Miller. “We have everyone.”

Weddle said he enjoyed living next to football. “It’s great, not having everything focused on me,” he said. “Before, we would go on vacation and I needed a place to work out, or it was vacation and I was playing. But in a way, I didn’t miss a single tick.”

At Utah, Weddle sometimes played both ways and, in the game against the Air Force, scored two touchdowns and played 90 times. Falcons coach Fisher DeBerry told him Utah was cheating on him. “You deserve two scholarships,” he said.

Weddle also felt the cold heart of the NFL. He signed with the Chargers and stay in the yard during the break to see her daughter Brooklyn perform the dance. The Chargers fined him $10,000 and barred him from attending the season finale in Denver.