More Than One Play | Brandon Bostick on Failure, Identity & Starting Again

One play in the 2014 NFC Championship Game followed Brandon Bostick long after he left Green Bay. But the story most people know is only the beginning. Brandon joins Pat Sitkins on "Two Types of People" to talk candidly about the NFL, public failure, depression, identity, rebuilding his life, and eventually returning to football as a coach at the University of Minnesota. This isn't a story about a mistake. It's about the person who had to live, grow, and find purpose after it. -------- Brandon Bostick knows what it's like to have millions of people associate your name with one moment. An undrafted player out of Division II Newberry College, Brandon earned his way into the NFL and spent five seasons in the league, including three with the Green Bay Packers. The 2014 NFC Championship Game in Seattle and an onside kick that changed the trajectory of his life. Most people know that part. This conversation is about everything that followed. Brandon takes us inside the moment itself, including something rarely discussed when we watch professional sports: what it actually feels like to make a mistake on one of the biggest stages in the world and then have to stand in front of reporters and answer for it minutes later. He also talks candidly about what came afterward. Brandon continued playing football, but underneath it was depression, anxiety and an identity increasingly tied to what had happened. Years later, when life finally became quiet enough for him to confront it, he sought healing and began rebuilding himself. That process eventually led him somewhere unexpected: back to football. Today, Brandon is coaching at the University of Minnesota, working with young athletes from a perspective he didn't have when he was one of them. He talks about breathing, mindset, therapy, communication, spirituality and developing the entire person rather than simply building a better football player. We also get into the strange relationship high performers can have with accomplishment. Brandon went from an undrafted Division II player to a five-year NFL career, yet says he rarely stopped long enough to realize he had actually achieved the dream he'd carried since childhood. His Two Types of People? Talkers and Doers. People who talk about what they're going to do, and people who do the things they talk about. Maybe there is no better example than Brandon himself. The kid who had to write a letter asking for an opportunity to attend college eventually made the NFL. The player whose football identity was shattered eventually returned to the game as a coach. And the man once known by millions for one mistake now gets to use everything that followed it to help prepare the next generation. We talk about: Going undrafted and learning how to become an NFL player The mentors who appeared at different stages of Brandon's life Driving from Green Bay to Chicago during training camp to see Eric Thomas Competition versus camaraderie inside an NFL locker room What really happened during the NFC Championship Game in Seattle Facing the media immediately afterward Carrying the emotional weight of the play for years Depression, anxiety and finally asking for help Separating identity from the uniform Returning to college to finish his degree Starting over as a volunteer coach His path to the University of Minnesota Why today's Brandon trains his mind as intentionally as he once trained his body Teaching players breathing and self-talk during practice Why he asks his athletes, "What are you going to get better at today?" His Two Types: Talkers and Doers The spiritual necklace that keeps him grounded Why "Free Mind" by Tems is now his walk-up song This is not an episode about forgetting what happened. It's about discovering how much life can exist on the other side of it.