Andy Studebaker reflects on his Chiefs tenure and life after the NFL

Former Chiefs linebacker Andy Studebaker reflects back on an unlikely career in professional football—one that continues even to this day.

The vast majority of NFL players have lived with the dream of doing so for as long as they can remember. Andy Studebaker was not like the others. From his D3 college background to his current role as a player director for the NFLPA, Studebaker’s journey into the league was a perfect blend of natural talent and opened doors. He credits God for both.

From 2008 through 2015, Studebaker excelled on special teams and played linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, and Indianapolis Colts. He should be most familiar to Chiefs fans given his five seasons with the team, one that stretched from Herm Edwards‘ final season as head coach through the entire Scott Pioli tenure.

We recently caught up with Studebaker to hear more about life after the NFL and to reflect back on a a most unexpected journey.

Was working for the NFLPA something you envisioned doing after your career was over?

Not originally, no. It was one of those things where I was a player rep for the teams I was on, including the Chiefs. Each team has a player rep and a couple alternates who handle that side of the game, the business side of football. I was sort of involved in that my first year which was the NFL lockout. That whole process intrigued me. You see the whole thing from a different angle. You’re training, you’re playing, you’re with the team but then you see the intricacies of how this whole thing gets thrown together and the amount of work it takes to get a CBA done, for example. To see that from the player’s perspective was interesting to me.

Every year you go to a rep meeting and players from all over the league would be around and you develop this community of guys from all over the league that you end up developing pretty good friendships with. It was just always something that I enjoyed doing.

Toward the end of my career, I wondered what would be next. I got into coaching for a little bit and really enjoyed it but it wasn’t a great fit for a lot of reasons. I called one of the guys in the department, because I’d worked with them so long as a player, for a refererence. He said, ‘Hey, we’re actually interviewing for an opening for one of these jobs. I think it could be something you’d be interested in.’ They ended up hiring me and the rest is history. I’m 2.5 years into it and we’re rolling. It got thrown together at the last second, but I’m really happy it worked out the way that it did.

It’s so interesting that your entire working life is in football, because you started at Wheaton. I attended Taylor University, so I know that level of college very well. That’s not exactly the home of future pro football players.

You don’t go to a D3 school thinking you’re going to have an eight-year NFL career, right? [Laughs] That’s written into the expectation. I wasn’t recruited heavily coming out of high school—mostly small schools from Illinois, Indiana. We sent my tape to Division 1 schools and no one was interested. I came from a small town, small school. I was a late bloomer physically. Ultimately I thought I was going to play basketball in college, just go to a smaller school, play ball, and do something else.

But I decided I had four years to play football, whereas I could play basketball every weekend for the rest of my life. I had this unique window of time to actually play the game of football. Then it was a question of where to go? My brother had gone to Wheaton. I knew the atmosphere up there. I wanted a Christian school environment. I wanted an elite academic school. So that became clear to me as a fit. I loved the coaching staff and the community and the guys on the team. I just thought it’d be a four-year deal.

I started training hard and eating well and doing the things college programs could provide. I started developing and having great statistical seasons. By my senior year, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this thing might actually happen.’ It’s funny. I didn’t know that much about the world, but I did a junior pro day. A scout wanted to come and get a 40 [yard dash] on me and I’d never paid attention to combine stats or any of those things. I went up there and took the Wonderlic test. They took my height and my weight and then I ran a 4.51 in the 40.

I don’t say that to give myself a pat on the back. I say that because I went to lunch with my buddies right after who live for this stuff. They’d make fun of me because I didn’t pay any attention to it. They said, ‘What’d you run?’ I told them and they said, ‘Are you serious? That’s amazing.’ I honestly didn’t know. It seemed like a good run but I had nothing to compare it to. I’d never paid attention.

So then it was clear. All these teams start scheduling visits for your senior year and the ball starts rolling heavily. You realize it could be a reality. I wasn’t really focused on it. I was just focused on working each day as hard as I could and making the best of the situation I was in. I was getting a good education and having fun and working my body hard and enjoying the experience. Then all of a sudden, doors are opening everywhere.

How did you spend draft weekend?

My story was that I was supposed to be a relatively high draft pick. There were a lot of expectations on me, this random kid who is tall and fast who can rush the passer—all these things. I ended up getting hurt in the middle of my senior year and I lost six games. I thought I was back to being the D-3 kid who would never get a shot again. I ended up having a pro day a week before the draft, a private pro day. A bunch of teams flew out to see, ‘Can this kid still run?’ I wasn’t even fully recovered. I was recovered but not fully trained but it went really well. I thought I’d proved I was almost back to where I was.

I went down on draft day thinking I would be a late-round pick but I honestly had no clue who was going to take me. I thought Kansas City was going to draft me, because I went there on a pre-draft visit and had a really good vibe about it. It was the Herm Edwards crew but they didn’t draft me. I got drafted by the Eagles, by Andy Reid, which at the time, I’d never heard a word from them.

I went down to my parents house in Illinois. My family and friends were over and my dad had a big TV with this big spread. The draft was going on and you’re thinking, ‘Okay, this is really weird or humiliating.’ You feel this pressure but none of it is in your control. Then you get the call and it works out. It was a neat experience.

Was Andy on that call?

Yeah I ended up talking to him for a couple minutes. When you get that call, it’s usually the GM, the head coach, and then the coordinator for a minute. That’s usually how that goes. You don’t remember any of it since everyone around you is so excited. There’s a lot of noise. Your whole world has just changed. You have these conversations but you mostly forget about them. But the next week I was in Philly. It was crazy.

You were on the practice squad and then the Chiefs came calling? How much of any of this did you see coming?

None of it. That is the NFL experience, I think, is that mostly you don’t know. I’d been on the practice squad. I’d changed positions in Philadelphia. I was becoming a 4-3 linebacker, so I was stacked. Had no idea what I was doing. I was completely lost. If you talked to Andy, he’d say the same. I’d rushed the passer at a Division III school and now I was playing linebacker in the NFL. I’d never dropped into coverage in my life.

So I deserved to be where I was. I was on practice squad. It was a great experience. At the time, the Eagles had been to five NFC Championships and had a really great veteran presence and coaching staff. I would just work my tail off. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew could run fast and work myself to death every day. I knew if I did that enough, they might see some value in me. They did cut me, but they told me on the same call that they’d love to have me on the practice squad.

I did that for 10 or 11 weeks or so and then one night we went to a comedy club. One teammate was doing a comedy bit and we were going to see him on a Monday night. Then my agent called and said, ‘Hey, the Chiefs just called me. How’d you like to be an active member of their 53-man roster this weekend?’ It was an easy decision but it was a hard decision. I’d grown to love the environment i was in and I saw some light at the end of the tunnel because I was picking it up. This team had drafted me, kept me, gave me opportunities. But with the uncertainty of the future, I had to go where there was an opportunity.

I flew to Kansas City, a city I’d never been to. I knew nobody. I was just back to where I was in May just after getting drafted. All of a sudden you’re on the active roster on a team of guys who’ve never heard of you. I’m really glad I did it. I’m sitting now in my garage talking to you and a lot of it has to do with that single phone call.

And then they cleaned house.

Then they fired the entire organization. I played six games that year and then they fired everyone while I was back at home training in January. I thought, ‘I’m the last guy they signed. I’m first to go.’ The new regime came in and took a liking to me and I became the first guy they signed to a contract extension the next year. You just look at it and realize, ‘I don’t have any control over this.

I believe in God’s providence over my life, so I just need to wake up each day and keep pushing.’ You cannot predict what your future is going to look like in the NFL. You just can’t. You can only control your effort, your attitude, the ways you are as a teammate, the ways you invest in the community you’re in. That’s all you can control. The rest is hanging on to the roller coaster handles and enjoy the ride.

What is that like when the new regime takes over? Does Scott Pioli give you any feedback?

Nothing. You don’t get any feedback in that world. You knew from day one that every single player was under the microscope. It was a very Bill Parcells culture. That transition is, ‘We don’t know who to trust. We don’t know if we like you at all. We are going to watch you and watch you and watch you.’

In a lot of ways, that played to my strengths because I just assumed they didn’t like me. I thought I was gone anyway, so what do I have to lose. [Laughs] So every day you wake up and try to prove wrong what you think they believe about you.

When we conditioned, I ran as hard as I could. If I didn’t throw up, I felt like I didn’t push hard enough. I think when you do that over and over, they start to notice. Yeah, there are probably more talented players around the league. I’d be crazy not to admit that. But in some way, they grew to value me as a person and how I could help them build a team and a culture.

I found myself getting opportunity and I just kept growing as a player. It wasn’t perfect. I didn’t play perfect. But at the end, I think they valued what I was trying to bring, so they rewarded it.

What’s the moment you’re most proud of from your tenure with the Chiefs?

I think most people would point to the game I had two interceptions. If not that, most would point to the fumble recovery I had on Monday Night Football. Most people remember those moments. For me, those were great and fun, but what I miss and what you look at when you think back to your playing days is the relationships you had with the guys. It’s ice cream the night before a game in the hotel. It’s the conversations and ways you invest in your teammates and their families. That type of stuff is special. I don’t know if there’s a moment that I’m most proud of. Those two highlights made me feel valued in the city, no doubt. It’s like, ‘Okay, these people have taken a liking to me. I’ve earned their love for something weird like that.’

It’s probably when they called me and said they wanted to sign me to a four-year extension. I thought, ‘Well, I haven’t arrived and yet I feel like there’s validation for what I’ve been trying to do since I got a call from the Eagles. I’m not lost anymore. I feel confident. I’m not where I want to be, but it’s part of the process.’ That was a moment that I was really proud of.

We don’t have to discuss this if you’d rather avoid it, but toward the end of your Chiefs career, things got…

Yeah, they were crappy, huh? [Laughs]

Yeah, things got real dark. How was that for you on the inside?

It was hard. As a player, you show up every day and we went through a lot. There was a lot of turmoil and rumors. In 2010, we thought that in the next year or so, we’d be winning Super Bowls. The wheels just kinda fell off and we could never put a finger on it as players. You look around the locker room and think, ‘We should be winning. What’s happening?’ Once that doubt starts creeping in… it was just one of those things that we didn’t have control on it. For me, I thought it was bizarre. I could see the work. Guys were working. We just couldn’t put it together. It’s hard to know what we could have done differently. I’m sure books will be written about that time in Chiefs history but I don’t know for certain what could have been different.

As a player you get discouraged, you put in the work but it never quite comes together on game day. The first year I looked at as a rebuild year. The second year, we won a ton of games and went to the playoffs. The third year, we were in a position to win and we just lost a few key games that ultimately kept us out. We were close but not there yet, just a little step back. Then the last year, it was like, ‘What happened to this team?’ We had tragedy at the facility, things like that where you could feel the tense environment. Guys were struggling.

The relationships on the team were good. Guys weren’t fighting, at least not at our level. But at the end of the day, we just didn’t have it. That’s when they cleaned house and started over and I was one of the guys who got gone. [Laughs] That’s just part of the business. When I signed that contract with the Chiefs three years before that, I thought I’d be here forever. Then it wasn’t three years later that I was gone and on to the next chapter.

You went on to play a few more years for a couple more teams. Was that pretty tumultuous? Did you consider retirement at various points in there?

Yeah, right after the Chiefs, I didn’t get signed all the way through camp but the Jaguars picked me up. I got called by the linebacker coach the night of final cuts and he said, ‘Hey you made the team, man!’ I kept it quiet because I wanted to make sure it was all certain but I’ve known you were going to be on the team since last week. You came in and had two weeks and you made the roster.’ Then the next day I got a call that they’d cut me. It was crazy. [Laughs]

I was home the first five weeks and then the Colts called me. The Chiefs special teams coach was with the Colts and a guy who had worked in the scouting department in Philadelphia was now their GM [Ryan Grigson], so there was some familiarity there. It’s funny, the day I got cut from the Chiefs, my dad asked me who I’d want to play for. I said I think I’d be a good fit for Indianapolis. I want to play there. Six months later, they finally called.

I spent three years there and it was an interesting experience. I got fired from a struggling team at the time and went straight to a team talking about Super Bowls every year. The vibe was different. The culture was different. It was an entirely new group of players of guys I’d not known before. We made a lot of good friends. We had a lot of good times in Indianapolis and I loved playing football again. Winning fixes a lot of problems. It just does.

I never wanted to retire when we were struggling in Kansas City or even when I was struggling to find a team because I love the game and the process. So that never really crept in. But after that stint in Indianapolis, I just never got signed again. That’s how I rode off.

You live in K.C. now. Is it safe to assume you’re still a Chiefs fan and that these are fun times for you?

Yeah, the Chiefs are one of the teams that I work with. I don’t find myself rooting for specific teams anymore. My kids are Chiefs fans and get a ton of mileage out of the fact that dad used to play. They don’t remember my days playing at all. I think my oldest daughter remembers one game when I was with the Colts. But they clearly get some mileage out of this that they shouldn’t. [Laughs]

I took my daughter to Arrowhead last year because she wanted to go to a Chiefs game so badly. I told her it was funny because I’d never been to Arrowhead as a fan. I’d never been to an NFL game as a fan. So I got to experience taking my daughter to Arrowhead, which was great. We got the tour. She saw my picture on the wall. She thought it was really neat. That’s fun. I’ll root for them, but what I like in my role is that I get to know the guys more personally.

I don’t care ultimately who wins or loses. I just enjoy watching these guys have success. So my kids are all Chiefs fans which means but I don’t have a dog in any fight. I personally know the guys on six different teams and I usually find myself rooting for all six.