Catching Up With Former Player Rep: Jay Feely

What inspired you to become a player representative?

I worked as a financial advisor for 2 years prior to getting into the NFL. I worked with clients and tried to help them be financially literate and set goals for retirement, while also trying to help them plan for their dreams. It was kind of a natural carryover for me when I got into the NFL, to then want to do the same thing with NFL players. I wanted to be part of that group that was selfless and tried to lead while planning for the future of players even when they didn't really know you were planning for them.

What lessons and experiences did you take away from being a Player Representative?

The biggest thing that I took away was that sometimes leadership has costs. For many Player Reps there is a tangible cost. There is no monetary benefit, there's not a lot of benefit to them personally. However, there is a benefit to the group collectively. There is a cost a lot of the time, because sometimes you have to take a stand towards your head coach or the general manager and hold them accountable to the rules that they have agreed to but may not want to follow. When you stand up, you're representing every member of your team. There are times when you have to go talk to them about injuries and what they need to do to protect themselves, and that might not necessarily be what the team wants you to say to them. So, I do think I saw it with myself and many others where there is a tangible cost, but sometimes doing the right thing has a cost attached to it. I think that standing up for your players and your friends is the right thing to do. I think most of the reps have come to that realization at some point in their career. I give all of the Player Reps a lot of credit because, at some point they do realize there is a cost and they're willing to accept that.

Why do you think more players should be involved or be active with the NFLPA?

It's twofold. I think that personally for your own self, you should understand the business aspect of what you're doing, and it helps you to have a long-term perspective on your career financially and understanding the cost of what other Player Reps and past players have done for you. If you're not involved, you won't necessarily understand those costs as much. The second thing is, if you want to have the best bargaining position going forward, you need to have the most guys involved. If every player on every team understands every issue, you're going to do a better job collectively representing and having the will of all the players behind you, and it only comes with education and understanding.

What is one piece of advice that you have for players who are starting that transition?

Start early. I think you should start before you're done playing. There are so many doors that are open to you while you're playing that are closed as soon as you're a former player. I would encourage players now to have an understanding of what they want to do when they're done. It's hard because you feel like you're not focusing on your playing career as much as you should if you're focusing on something else. So, there's kind of a dichotomy that works against you, but I do think if you can start early and get involved and open those doors to start talking to people in the power positions in the career you want to go into, it will benefit you after you're done playing. Then the guys that are done, I think they have to be willing to fail. That was probably the biggest thing for me, just taking chances and being willing to fail. Going after a career, a new career, the same way you did your NFL career, you have to put the same effort in, have the same focus, and be willing to sacrifice the way you did when you lifted, ran, practiced, and did everything you had to do to succeed in your football career. You have to be willing to do the same thing in your post-playing career.

What is one piece of advice that you wish you got when you started your NFL career?

Do all the little things right, because you don't want to have regrets when you are done playing. The last thing you want is to be done with your career and look back and say, “what if I had worked harder? What if I had been on time more? What if I had studied more?” I think you should try to give everything you have to your career. So whenever that day is, whether you play for a year or you play for 15 years, you know in your heart that you've given everything you had to be the very best you could be. Then when that career is over, you're going to have comfort and peace walking forward into your next career. You won't have regrets while looking back and asking yourself, “what if?"

What are you doing now in your career?

I have been doing a lot of different things. I currently work for CBS as an NFL analyst. I started working on college games for them and then worked my way up to NFL games. This is my 10th year with CBS. I'm normally up in the booth as one of the analysts, and in the playoffs, I go down on the sidelines and work with our A crew, Jim Nance, and Tony Romo.

I am on a couple of boards for two private companies, one defense company, Strongwatch and one tool company, Klein Tools. I have also been an angel investor in two different health companies. Kamanu is one of the health companies, and it is a mental health company. We are working with some of the NFL teams. The other company is Jevity, which is an at-home health company that does blood testing to understand what exactly you need and then provides the medicines and supplements that you need without having to go into a doctor’s office. So, in the offseason when the football season ends, I kick into business mode and am working with all those companies whenever they need me and trying to help them grow.

Additionally, I do direct lending as well to private lenders with the basis of those loans being homes, single family homes. I have dipped my toes in a lot of different areas, but the main job has been working for CBS and then the other jobs are on the side. My wife and I run our foundation, and we do a lot of work with refugees, from Haiti in particular. I started going down there after the earthquake, and we have tried to help rebuild that country. We dug and built a couple thousand homes in a big sports complex in Haiti. Carson Wentz and Tom Brady were a big part of that project. It has just been hard down there just because of what has happened. It is an absolute mess right now. We have a couple of young men who have moved into our home here, and we have gotten them into and through college. We gave them an opportunity, and that's how I view charity. You give somebody an opportunity and they have to take advantage of that and run with it.

What inspired you to stay in sports when you were exploring a career after football?

Well, first, I love football. I love all aspects of it. So, to get to be behind the scenes as a broadcaster, to do a production meeting, to get to talk to head coaches and coordinators and general managers and ask them the questions every fan wants to know like, “Why do you do that?" Or "What were you thinking here?” It's a blast. When you work on a broadcast team, you have a big group that's working together for a collective goal. It has elements of being on a football team, and I think the thing most guys miss the most, and this is true in my case, is the locker room, the players, your teammates, and the time that you get to spend with them. So, when you're doing games on a broadcast crew, you have some of those elements as well.

How do you think the lessons that you learned while you played football applied to your post-playing career now?

Missing a game winner isn't easy, and you have to be able to come back the following week, forget about what you just did, the failures you just had, and then go out there and be willing to put yourself in that same situation a week later. For me, with broadcasting and coming in as a kicker, there's only been one other kicker in the broadcast booth, and that was Pat Summerall. So, it doesn't happen very often, it's not a normal hire for a TV company. Most of the time they want a quarterback, tight end, receiver, running back, or someone like that. I had to approach broadcasting the same way I did in kicking, not being afraid of failure. CBS asked me when I was just finishing my career if I wanted to try broadcasting the game. I knew nothing about it. I didn’t know how to do it, or what success even looked like. I obviously called a bunch of people that I knew were in broadcasting, and asked them questions. I ended up saying yes, and I just went out and did it. My first game on CBS was between Middle Tennessee and BYU. When you finish the game, you have no idea if you were good or terrible, because it’s subjective. There's no objective measure, unlike when I was a kicker, I knew when I kicked it down the middle, off the upright, or if I missed. It was very black and white and broadcasting is not. You have to not worry about what other people say about you on social media because it's so negative towards broadcasters always. You have to be willing to fail and not be afraid of that failure, and I think I learned that playing football and that it certainly carried over and helped me tremendously in my broadcasting career.

What does the NFLPA fraternity mean to you?

I think that the NFLPA doesn't get the collective respect and admiration that it should. Not only players and former players, but the public in general, because at its core, it is a service organization. The NFLPA serves players, current players and former players, and that's all they do. They are trying to make the lives of current players and former players better and that's what stands out to me the most. It was why I loved being a part of it, because I have a servant mentality. I like to be involved in community service and utilize the platforms that I have, to try to make an impact on others. At its core, that's what the NFLPA does and that's why it was so special to me.