NFL retiree Vince Wilfork talks about why he loves retirement and how he spends most of his time lately. He reveals what it was like to work with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and the surreal moment he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame
NFL retiree Vince Wilfork talks about why he loves retirement and how he spends most of his time lately. He reveals what it was like to work with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and the surreal moment he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame. As a Floridian, Vince sets the record straight of whether Florida should be considered “southern” and the meals he loves to cook for his family. Vince affectionately talks about his many pairs of overalls and how they have become his signature look. He dives into what it was like to film a food competition show and the behind-the-scenes moments with his co-host Sunny Anderson on NFL Tailgate Takedown. Vince shares his favorite NFL stadiums and what city’s tailgate dish he loves the most before revealing his feelings about that famous ESPN Body Issue cover.
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Jaymee Sire:
Hello, hello and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and food network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire, and today we have a Super Bowl winner and a Patriots Hall of Famer on the show to talk about his star studded career and co-hosting with Sunny Anderson. He is a former defensive tackle who is now taking on hosting duties with the new special NFL tailgate takedown. It's Vince Wilfork. Vince, welcome to the podcast. I do have to say I'm a little disappointed you are not rocking overalls today for this interview, even though our, our listeners can't see
Vince Wilfork:
No, no, no. It, I, I was just saying that, you know, I just finished working out, so it's like I'm hot. I haven't started my, I haven't started my big yet with working, so the overalls is in the closet collecting dust right now, so I'm sorry.
Jaymee Sire:
That's all right. What, what do you love about overall so much? Or why are they so useful for the life that you lead?
Vince Wilfork:
You know, because when I'm outside working, I don't like to wear shorts because I'm always doing something in some bushes or mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yep.
Vince Wilfork:
Just a lot of compartments.
Jaymee Sire:
Know. Yeah. I mean, they, they seem like very useful. Do you have multiple pairs or just like one? Okay. Yes,
Vince Wilfork:
I have different colors and everything, so it's not just a regular blue. I have a flag, one or red. Okay. Red, white and blue one. I have, you know, white, I have black on, I have gray one, I, you name it. I try to get 'em. So
Jaymee Sire:
Trust, I'm sure a closet dedicated to overalls, right? Yes,
Vince Wilfork:
Yes. Like women's, like women like shoes over.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. You know, there you go. I love it. Well, you have been retired from the NFL for about five years now, and now a co-host of a brand new food network show. Was something like this even on your radar when you thought about what retirement might look like for you?
Vince Wilfork:
You know what, I've always loved food. You know, I loved cooking and, um, it was just one of those things that if it fit right into who I am, my lifestyle, the way, you know, I handle things and how I roll, you know, I'm really not a big flashy type guy, you know, I like what I like, you know? Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. I mean, you know, working in sports broadcasting for most of my career as well, and, and working with, you know, former athletes like yourself, I think the one thing I always noticed was, you guys are so coachable, right? Because that's what you've done your entire career. So you want that feedback. You want those tips, those, those like little, you know mm-hmm.
Vince Wilfork:
Absolutely. You know, they, they surrounded me with some great people. I mean, when I tell you I fell in love with the, with the team, I fell in love with the team. I mean, he was, we became family so fast and so quick, and everybody, it was like we knew each other for the rest, the whole, our whole life. You know, it was like one of those things we spread in. I mean, everybody just took their place. And I went into that understanding like, Hey, listen, I don't know how to hopes, so I'm going to take, and I'm going to learn everything I possibly can for everybody that's around me. Somebody that's coaching me, even, you know, my co-hosts, even the judges that done it for a living, so I'm going to pick their brain. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Awesome. Well, we are gonna dive more into that in a little bit, but I wanna, I wanna go back a little bit. First, I guess, talk a little bit about your retirement, because, you know, after 13 seasons in the n as a defensive tackle, what were you most looking forward to in this next chapter of your life, and how have you been spending most of your time?
Vince Wilfork:
You know, I've always, I always said I wanted to be into real estate. You know, that was one of my main things when I was playing. I'm like, okay, real estate, I like, you know, and that was something I wanted to do. And from a marketing standpoint, I say, you know, I wanna do something that I enjoy doing, you know? And the crazy thing is, when they came to me with the show, I was thinking about something similar to this round, um, COVID. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I spent a lot of time doing Covid, just kind of brainstorming, understanding what I wanna do Once, you know, everything opened back up, what direction I would go in. And that was one of the things I'd be like, I wanna do this. I wanna go in this direction. And so for them to come to me and say, Hey, this is the idea we have. And I was like, man, somebody stole my idea. That was in my head,
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. No, I, I get the same comments all the time. People are like, why? Like, why is it, why aren't you doing a mm-hmm.
Vince Wilfork:
No. I, you know, I, and people ask me that all the time, do you miss? Yeah. You know, and my aunt says, no, but I miss my teammates. I miss the camaraderie, you know, I miss the locker room. I don't miss the playing. I doesn't, I don't miss the workouts, I don't miss the meetings. You know, I just miss being in the locker room with all of your brothers and just talking about life. Sometimes it's not even about football or sports, it's just conversations you have where you get a chance to learn about one another and just talk about real life situations. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
It was unreal, you know, and I played the game never thinking about, you know, being a Hall of Famer or any type of accolades individual, you know, and for them to basically say, Hey, you a Patriot Hall of Famer, you know, I had to take a moment and really understand what that means. And I'm so grateful and so humbled that, you know, an organization can think of me that type of way. Because if anybody know anything about me, I'm not a selfish person. You know, I never thought of myself once, even the position I played, like it was a unselfish position. Like, I didn't get the accolades, I didn't get the big plays, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. I was always the last one getting off the path, you know,
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. And I had a big reason for that. You know, that legacy that you speak of as your coach, you know, bill Belichick, and I'm sure you've been asked this, uh, a million times, but what was it like playing with him? What was your relationship like with Bill?
Vince Wilfork:
Man, lemme tell you, my relationship with Billy is, is personally is, you know, guru. The older I got, the more our relationship grew more than just football of a friendship, you know, and it's to be coached by the greatest to ever do it. It's like, I've been coached by the greatest that ever did it. Right. And then I played with Tom Brady the greatest, whoever, right. Quarterback the game. So here I am sitting here with two of the greats,
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
And just throwing in the organization itself. So you, I'm sitting there with three greats that I had a relationship and have a relationship with. And to look back and see what all we've done, it's just an amazing feeling. So it's not a lot of people that can walk around seeing what I just said, but, you know, that, that always keeps me kind of humble and understand how important the game was to me and the relationships, how important the relationships were to me. And Seal is to
Jaymee Sire:
Me. Yeah. You and Tom Brady, the only two from those teams to, to win a Super Bowl in both decades, I think that's a pretty, pretty good company to be at. Right. Stress, pretty stressful.
Vince Wilfork:
Yeah. It's, it's so, you know, it's so hard because, you know, I can say plays and I can say speeches and I can just say moments where we had even some losses. Sometimes people look at the greatest, you know, games and the games we won. But a lot of character come from, you know, losing ball games, you know, and I can think back when the Dolphins, we played the Dolphins and they came out with the Wildcat the first time where we saw it. I mean, we were just, we had no idea what we were doing.
Jaymee Sire:
Few, yeah, I made
Vince Wilfork:
A few, you
Jaymee Sire:
Know, that
Vince Wilfork:
Those weren't the biggest, you know, I'm all our team, right? So it's like, what stands out to me about who we are as a team. And those was two instances where I realized how good we were in that moment, because what we accomplished afterwards.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. I, I think that's so fascinating because, you know, obviously you expect the answer to be, you know, winning a Super Bowl mm-hmm.
Vince Wilfork:
Well, what one thing we did was we trusted one another more. We kind of, we stepped our game up, you know, we, we watched more film, we spent more time on the field going over a situation of football. If this happened, this is what we're gonna do. And, you know, we just continue to build, build, build, build after those moments. You know, especially with the Dawsons, we just continue to build. And I just remember that week of practice, it was like, we spent 15, 20 minutes after practice every day, just kind of going over different scenarios. And we always went over, you know, scenarios. But after that he was like, okay, if a team come out like this, this is how we, like, we went over every single thing. I mean, I think Bill went to college and watched what college was doing. It was like, okay, we might get this, so we're going to go, we going to cover it. So I think it raised our awareness of anything can happen, so we have to be prepared. We never wanted to feel like we felt coming into that locker room without an answer. And that's exactly how we felt. You know, we, we was in our locker room, it was like, at halftime it was like, we don't know how to adjust because we don't know, we don't know. We never practice this. We never seen it. But after that, it was like, ah, we can have anything if they did this. We were so confident because we done practiced so many different scenarios, our team could throw anything we had answer for
Jaymee Sire:
We did. So
Vince Wilfork:
I, I think that kind of lit a fire up on all of us, even the coaching staff of like, Hey, it's more we can do. And from that day on we
Jaymee Sire:
Did. I'm always curious to talk to athletes, especially now that I've, you know, gone into the food realm as well, just about nutrition, because obviously it's something that has changed and evolved probably a lot during your career. What, what does a Super Bowl winner eat on a regular day?
Vince Wilfork:
Well, I think everybody's different, but you know, you had the basic stuff like, you know, your almonds for nutrition, you had your grilled chicken, Turkey breath, and all the, you know, your veggies and all that stuff. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
I ate afterwards. Trust me on that. I ate after. Now. So
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
Man, I, I probably didn't say anywhere from 3,500 to 5,000. Wow. If I had to guess, but I never counted. You never counted that. Listen, you're doing it for so long. Like, I, I indicted my whole career, so I know the amount of food I eat, basically the number of calories mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Mm-hmm.
Vince Wilfork:
It's a hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, every, every team has a nutritionist. I mean, they have somebody that you can go sit down, you can draw up diet, you can actually have food. They like, they have that. So one thing that I love about football, and I'm pretty sure it's Gary's football, I can only speak about football, is, you know, anything you possibly want and want to want to learn and, and you need, they have it for you. You know, they have the resources that they can reach out and get it to you. But NFL does do a real good job with that though.
Jaymee Sire:
Ha ha. Has your, have your eating habits changed since retire? Obviously you're eating a lot less, but you've also, you've dropped a ton of weight. Oh yeah. Even Coach Belichick was, was shocked. I heard that. What he saw you for the first time is that, did that just come naturally from not eating as
Vince Wilfork:
Much short? It came, it came, it came natural because, you know, when I played I had to eat to maintain a certain level of strength and size. You know, my whole career weight was always an issue for me. You know, that was, my diet was always predicated off of, you know, my weight and I had to be at a certain number, so I had to make sure I, I was at a certain number, so there was certain things I had to do. And when I retired, when I didn't have to lift all the time, my body wasn't stressed. Uh, just basically the everyday grind that I did for 20 years, once my body realized they didn't need that, you know, I was just out, you know, coaching my son's baseball team one day and, and I was like, man, one of my shirts I put on that fit me, you know, it fit me, but now it doesn't fit me. It's too big. So I'm like, man, I, I lost a lot of weight, so lemme get on a scale. So I got on a scale, I was down 15 pounds. I'm like, wow. And I was sitting, I say, what, what I, I haven't changed what I was eating, you know, I still eat what I want to eat. And I started thinking about everything that I was doing. Well, I was practicing two and a half hours a day with the baseball team in the heat, drinking two gallons of water. And I wasn't eating much. I still was eating what I wanted to eat, but I wasn't eating much. I, I mean, it was just one of those things where I was just, I didn't even think about food. Like, I didn't have a craving for it or anything. So I was like, okay, I'm down 15 pounds. Okay, I like this, you know? So before you know it, I'm down to 80 pounds. I'm like, holy smoked. And it, it just, my appetite, just, I don't eat the way I used to eat. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
You know,
Vince Wilfork:
It's so, it worked out for me. So, but it basically came just by me just living a different life, you know, and just mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Good. That's good to hear. You know, growing up in Florida, what were some of your favorite food memories?
Vince Wilfork:
I was a kid that I ate everything my mom cooked, except for the vegetables.
Jaymee Sire:
Really? Oh no. That was too much of a vegetable
Vince Wilfork:
For you. Yeah. I'm like, no, that's, I don't,
Jaymee Sire:
No, that's that girl's in the ground. I'm good. Yeah,
Vince Wilfork:
If you, if you get, and I was like, Hey, if you gimme a potatoes, it better be mashed potatoes
Jaymee Sire:
When you think of tailgate foods, what are you eating when you're watching a game? What, what comes to mind? I'm
Vince Wilfork:
A huge chicken wing guy. Huge. Yes. I, I grew up a chicken wing guy today. I'm a chicken wing guy. So when I'm tailgating highlight even you could, you could fix these sliders, you know, chicken sliders or hamburger sliders. I can't eat that. But chicken wings is a must, absolutely a must.
Jaymee Sire:
Coming up next, Vince tells us all about the new special NFL tailgate takedown. Well, all of this said, I feel like it makes you the perfect co-host for NFL tailgate takedown, along with Sunny Anderson. We kind of teased it a little bit at the top here, but tell us a little bit about the show and the format.
Vince Wilfork:
Well, the show, like my, my co-host is Sonny Anderson, right? So they was like, Hey, we're gonna have you work with Sonny Then I was like, okay, cool. You know, and first day I met her, I mean, she talked to me as if we knew each other our whole life,
Jaymee Sire:
Okay.
Vince Wilfork:
I ate slaw.
Jaymee Sire:
Okay.
Vince Wilfork:
Okay.
Jaymee Sire:
Like
Vince Wilfork:
The food that I taste, I mean, I'm a taste tester, so it's like you going see once things got going, I I, my, I really came outta my shell because I'm like, oh, I wanna taste that. Oh, I wanna taste that. Oh, that too. I want taste that. Don't call me when it's ready. Like, we just had a great time and everybody enjoyed it. You know, the, the contestants, the fans that we had out there, the, the host, you know, the judges, like, we all enjoyed it. We all had a good time. So we, it was always people smiling and laughing on the set. And that's one thing I love about it the most is mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. Back in that team atmosphere that Yes. That you missed from your playing days. Right? Absolutely. Do you think that the tailgate chefs were as passionate and competitive in the kitchen as they are with their teams or, or vice versa?
Vince Wilfork:
No, I, we had some, listen, we had some chefs that were very, very competitive, like
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
They were like, I can't believe I lost this round. Like this is ipo. Like, they were like it, and, and we had to get 'em back in. And because I could see as a competitor, I could see how one round could kind of lead into the next. And I had to make sure we had to, as host, we had to make sure we let them know like, Hey, listen, you have two more rounds left. Don't let the first round roll over into the second round mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Have to Right it
Vince Wilfork:
Ma it made a lot of sense, especially when you're dealing with some vision rivals. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire:
So
Vince Wilfork:
It was like, okay,
Jaymee Sire:
And as you mentioned, you guys shot at several locations, NFL stadiums, which, which one was your favorite? Oh,
Vince Wilfork:
Buffalo. Oh, Buffalo. Yeah. Oh yeah, Buffalo. The
Jaymee Sire:
Fans there. I
Vince Wilfork:
I, you know, I played, I played Buffalo twice a year, so I know what it's like going in and pulling up in Buffalo and going to stay and seeing Bill Smoky. Right. So I seen it as the players. So my main thing is like, okay, I'm gonna see how it really is now that I'm not playing. I want to see him be here all day and see what he really brings, you know? And when I tell you they came, they did not, they did not disappoint me. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah. Well, looking forward to watching the entire season and it's been such a joy chatting with you. I could sit here and talk to you forever, but we are gonna finish off with some rapid fire questions and then we have one, one final question for you. Okay. Here on Food Network. Obsessed. All right. Rapid fire. One word to describe working with Tom Brady.
Vince Wilfork:
Intense
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
Ooh. I would say killings.
Jaymee Sire:
Barbecue. Okay. Do you, do you consider Florida Florida to be southern? There's much debate.
Vince Wilfork:
Absolutely. I have to. Yes. Cause it's, it's the furthest one south. Yeah, you're right. I'm
Jaymee Sire:
Geographically, geographically it. Yes. Yes. Favorite thing to grill?
Vince Wilfork:
Pork ribs.
Jaymee Sire:
All favorite sauce for wings.
Vince Wilfork:
Ooh. I like hot sauce.
Jaymee Sire:
Okay. On a scale of one to 10, how nervous were you for the ESPN body issue cover? Because it is incredible. Zero.
Vince Wilfork:
All. No. Zero
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
Not at all.
Jaymee Sire:
If anyone's not seen it, you have to Google it. It's, it's incredible. It is incredible. I remember I was at ESPN n I think when that came out. Oh,
Vince Wilfork:
That said miss out, man, it
Jaymee Sire:
Was so
Vince Wilfork:
Good.
Jaymee Sire:
Yes. It was the best ever.
Vince Wilfork:
Sprout,
Jaymee Sire:
Brussels sprout. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Vince Wilfork:
Tried 'em all. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
Ooh, I'm a big mystery guy.
Jaymee Sire:
Oh,
Vince Wilfork:
Okay. I like who done it. But also I love to watch food, any food network show, because I love to get ideas.
Jaymee Sire:
Yeah.
Vince Wilfork:
I love to get ideas, so I like to see it and try to mimic it and see how it taste myself. So those are my three areas.
Jaymee Sire:
All right. All right. Well that makes sense given everything we've just talked about. Okay. Our final question, this is not rapid fire, and we just wanna know what's on the menu for your perfect food day. So, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. If you eat dessert and there are no rules, so calories don't count. You can travel time, travel. Anyone can cook these meals for you. Living or dead does not matter. It's just your day. But
Vince Wilfork:
You know what, I'm simple. Like I'm simple. Like for breakfast, I'm a, I'm a huge eggs and sausage guy. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Okay.
Vince Wilfork:
And for lunch, you know, lunch is, you know, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a burger guy. You know, I can, I can do burgers, I can do wings. I'm not too
Jaymee Sire:
Much picking. What kind of burger do you like? Do you like a big, like thick one or like a smash burger? No,
Vince Wilfork:
I like a thick juicy burger. Cook medium. Okay. With, with some good quality of meat. I'm not just don't gimme anything. Like, gimme like a risky burger. Yeah. With like, gimme the real deal. Don't gimme nothing to say. You know, I gimme a wa burger, like gimme something like that, you know? So I'm big on like sandwich and like, you know, wings as I said. Mm-hmm.
Jaymee Sire:
Okay.
Vince Wilfork:
You know, that makes sense. I'm not too, I'm not too big on desserts like that, but I do like to bake cakes so, but if, give me the banana pudding. Me cuz I love bananas. Bananas is probably one of the bananas and apples one of my best truths. So I'll, I gimme that. And that's a done deal.
Jaymee Sire:
Vince Wilfork:
Thank you. Thank you. It was fun.
Jaymee Sire:
Love having sports guests on the podcast. My world's, uh, colliding and it's my favorite thing. You can watch new episodes of NFL tailgate takedown Wednesday's nine eight Central on Food Network. Make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcast so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.