Former Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets offensive lineman Willie Colon had a successful nine-year career in the NFL. He has carried that success into broadcasting with his work on Jets PreGame and Jets PostGame Live on SNY in addition to the roles he has had at Barstool Radio and currently on SIRIUSXM on the Morning Men show.
However, Colon wasn’t exactly sure right away if being in the media was going to be the right move for him. On the Courtside Club with Rachel DeMita podcast, Colon said it was his wife who watched him do work at SNY and thought he could do great if he put in the time and effort.
“I was very bitter when I left the field because I left the field injured and forced to leave because my knees went bad on me. I was in a grey space about what I wanted to do next. I was doing a couple of hits on SNY and my wife was like hey man, if you take this seriously, you can be really good at it.”
One of the reasons Colon was unsure about becoming a member of the media was because he saw players who were not accepted back into the locker room they were once a part of as players because of things that they said.
“Part of my pushback was I still wanted to play. I wasn’t anti-media, but I was just like half of these guys don’t know what the hell they are talking about. I don’t want to be that guy. The guys who were leaving the field and getting into that space, some of those guys weren’t welcomed back into the locker room because they were talking too much, letting go of house secrets, putting the team that they formerly played for in weird positions. I had a very skewed position of what my role would be in the media.”
As Colon has become more comfortable in his second career, he realizes he can tell the difference with which broadcasters are sincere about their takes and which just want the headlines.
“It took me a lot to just be comfortable in front of the camera and be comfortable in what I was going to say and how I was going to deliver my message. When I got on the other side of the fence, I realized there are professionals who do care about their takes and how they go about their stuff and then there are guys who cut on you because they want to be in the headlines.”
