NFL Star Brandon Flowers on the Importance of the Cornerback

I'm Oliver Trevena in the Young Hollywood studio with a footballing genius, Brandon Flowers. How are you doing? How are you?

I play football too.

Good, good, good, good. But we're just different football.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. We're different football.

We were just talking about the World Cup and stuff. Your football requires a lot more shape than our football, you know, I might need to train with your football, you know, to get in shape for my football. I might be. I don't know, I'd probably prefer my football to your football.

Yeah. We we could swap one day and just see and see if we feel it out.

I think I'd come off worse. All right, I like that. You guys don't hold back, do you, in your tackles and stuff like that.

No. No, no. You kind of relieve a lot of stress out there. You can run into each other, bang into each other and get away with it.

Yeah. Is that what attracted you to the sport then?

It did. It did. When I was eight years old, you know, I just had a lot of energy. You know, um, eight years old I started playing football and I seen one day in practice, you just run into each other and get away with it and just have fun. Fell in love with it.

Right. And that was back in Florida.

Back in Florida. Back in Florida.

And then you were at Virginia, Virginia Tech. Uh-huh. And then got drafted by Kansas.

Yeah.

Now, now San Diego.

Now San Diego.

You don't stop travelling.

Hey, I just work my way on the map, you know, uh, went up the East Coast, went to the Midwest, now it's time for California, man. I'm looking forward to it out here. Great weather and I'm just taking it all in.

It's not bad. San Diego's not a bad place to live.

Can't be it at all. I feel like a vacation spot when I visit it. It's great.

Yeah. Describe a cornerback's job in three words.

Ooh, three words is hard. That's all you got. Reception out there. Uh, Risky, you know, Intimidating. A lot of guys are scared of it. You know, it's valuable.

Right. Yeah. So, risky, intimidating and valuable. And what's the most important aspect that you've got, you know, your most important part to play in in the game?

Um, I think you're so valuable because the game is on you. You make one mistake, a team can score a touchdown, that could be the winner or loss of a game. So, whenever a team feel like they have a great cornerback, they definitely value that position. You know, um, the game is mainly won and lost on you, just like on the offensive side of the ball, the quarterback. So, Right. Pretty important.

As far as cornerbacks go, you've pretty much got got it nailed.

I got it nailed. I've been playing it since I was eight. Know it like the back of my hand. Even though these, uh, freak athletes, these amazing guys in the league is just so talented, make it hard on me, but I pretty much got it narrowed down for you.

And you've got the confidence as well.

Yeah, you you have to have confidence in the cornerback, you know what, you gotta have it, 'cause if you don't, they can tear you apart out there.

No wonder you came to San Diego, you'll be moving up to Hollywood, won't you? No wonder you signed a one-year deal. I know what you're after. You're after the movies.

You're filling me out. You're filling me out.

Yeah, yeah. I've got you worked out, Mr. Flowers. Don't you worry. We've got a few, uh, quick questions as well for you.

No problem.

If you could be one person for a day, who would you be?

If I can be one person for a day.

And you can't say me, just in case you were going to. You can't say me.

It's spinning right out of my mouth. Yeah. You know what? I'll say JAY-Z, 'cause I always wanted to know what it is on the stage to have like thousands, thousands, you know, uh, the crowd that you're entertaining, they're just watching you. Singing every lyric to your song because artists put lyrics in their songs that they was heartfelt, things they went through in life. So, for people to understand your story and they relate to your story, it got to be cool just to rock a whole crowd like that. So, that that'd be cool.

To be enough revenue for you.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't think there's anything you can't do.

I appreciate it.

If you had the power to time travel, where would you go?

If I had power to time. You know what? I would want to go back into the eighties and the nineties when everything was just so fun. There's no social media. Right. You know, you go to events and parties and everyone's dancing, having a good time. It's just the eighties and the early nineties just felt like a good time. You know, I was too young to experience it, obviously. That's when I was born, it had to be a great time. My parents had fun during that time, but, you know, uh, I just wanted to go back to, you know, the eighties and just see what the vibe was back then, you know.

That's a good that's a good time to go back to.

Yeah.

If you could create your own Subway sandwich, what would you put on it and what would you call it? You've got your own name.

I got my own name. Like, whatever you like. I would call it the B-Flo Sampler. It would just be nothing but seafood. I'm a seafood guy. So, I'd put shrimp, uh, a little conch on there. You know, I gotta go with a little bit. A little Floridian fashion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotta go with the conch, and you know, just put a whole, just load it with seafood, a seafood sandwich, yeah. The B-Flo Sampler.

I like that. Can I have that?

I appreciate it.

Who's impressed you as an athlete this year? It doesn't have to be in your sport, it can be in any sport. Is there one athlete that sticks out for you that should be getting recognized?

You know who stuck out to me was Tim Duncan. You know, he's been doing it for so long. A lot of guys, they have at the end of their career, they fall off and guys just say, give it up. You know, he's been consistent ever since he stepped in the NBA. Right. You know, guys like that you just admire. Myself playing the sport, it's hard to stay on top of your game for that long of a period of time. So, he definitely get my respect. That's a legend.

And so, if you weren't playing football and you were playing another sport, is that your go-to? Would you say basketball?

Yeah, I'm kinda short, so I don't know how good I would be in basketball. I I can convert to baseball. I was pretty good in baseball. So, yeah, yeah. I'd go to baseball instead of basketball.

You like to keep the style. You you take this very seriously, the whole image persona and you you know, you are out there. You're out there as a face, not just an athlete.

Yeah, I think it started when I was young, you know, uh, I didn't grow up with a lot of money, but my mom always wanted me to kinda be the best dressed in the class and best dressed in school. So, I just kinda just had that with me through school. So, whenever I see nice things in stores, I just felt like the shopping problem kinda happened over years. Yeah. Blame it on my mom.

Okay. Okay, I understand that. Always blame your mom whenever you can.

Yeah, whenever you can.

Going back, going back to the sport itself as well. Uh-huh. Um, do you think your the longevity, your span of playing, is that do you do you think about that? Do you think about the future already?

I definitely, uh, put my number on the amount of years I wanna play. You know, um, 'cause I don't wanna limp out the game and cripple out of the game 'cause when I have kids, I wanna play with my kids and enjoy life after football. I feel like it's my job for now, but I don't want it to be anything that hinder me for life in the future. You know, um, so, I definitely try to keep myself healthy, take care of my body, and just have a goal. You can't go inside nothing, go into a situation without a goal. So, once you hit that goal and the amount of numbers you wanna play, then after that, if you can play, it's a bonus, but you gotta have a plan.

That's a good attitude. You are known and you do extremely good stuff for giving back.

Uh-huh. Definitely, definitely. It's all about giving back. It's all about giving back.

Tell us about some of the organizations.

You know, uh, I was with Prep and Sports, uh, a nonprofit organization back home. We always have scholarships, you know, uh, that we give out. We have mentors around the city for kids from the inner city where I'm from, who father's aren't in their lives. We have mentors, I go back, train with the football players, talk to the guys on how important education is, not just sports. You know, you can't play sports without education. Let education be your key to college. And then if you can make it to the NFL, NBA after that, that's cool, but everybody don't make it. You have to have a backup plan. So, just try to stick everything in those kids' minds at an early age so it won't be as tough for them as it was for some of us coming up who didn't have that alley or someone to talk to them.

Smart mind. Smart mind. And you have your Brandon Flowers weekend. Is that right?

That's right.

I have a Brandon Flowers weekend, you know, um, I didn't do it this past year because all of the I had rehab with injuries and you know, the picking a new team, but I'm starting it right back up next year. This is the first year I missed. All the kids were, you know, waiting for the Brandon Flowers weekend. So, what I did was sometimes at the weekends, I go to the local park, you know, to the football games, play around with kids, work out with them. So, I still be active in the community.

That's great. Great stuff. He can do everything. He can own a food franchise, he can be in movies, he can play football, and he's going to release his own fashion line. This is Brandon Flowers. Thank you.

All right. Thanks for having me.